Things I'd like to see in RTW

[screwtype]

You can right click on the cities tab to get a screen wich gives you basic information on all your cities. the same goes for armies, agents, fleets etc. etc. etc. :) This should take care of the management tools, although perhaps not in the amount of detail you'd like.

Yes I know about that info panel, and it is certainly an improvement over 1.1, but you are quite right when you say it's "not in the amount of detail" I would like.

I want a panel where I can quickly see the *exact* happiness level in every city and adjust the tax rate immediately FROM that panel without having to go into the individual city panel. I also want to be able to see exactly what units and buildings I'm building there and what upgrades those units are eligible for.

The point as I said is to have a master interface where you can quickly manage all the important matters without having to refer to the individual city panels. I personally am really sick of having to cycle through all these info panels just to check and adjust tax rates and I'm sure that many others are as well.

But i wouldnt want too many random events. To me those are just another screen that holds me back when all i want to do is finally storm sparta with it's nasty spartan hoplites

I'm not suggesting you have screen after screen popping up telling you about this or that random event. That would be annoying. What I said is that the random event for each province each turn would be listed at the top of the province's info panel when you go to have a look at it. For convenience, it should also be listed in the master panel I talked about earlier.

As for more random events "holding you back" from trashing the opposition, it's different strokes for different folks I guess. Perhaps there should be an option to turn them off for folks like you who just want to wage war and nothing else. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who would appreciate a little more colour and challenge with regard to province management.

[On Effects of War]. Now this is a point where i strongly disagree. Or, to be more precise, i think it would be a balancing nightmare.. Afterall, if i am at war with the rebels, then there are two warring factions. Now remember, rebels pop up every few turns. So every few turns i'd be losing 10% of my population. Jus the rebels in the current game would be sufficient to completely stop any growth at all.

Actually, I forgot about the rebels, I was thinking only of the other factions.

But I don't think it would be a difficult thing to balance. You could take the easy way out and make it that rebels have no effect on population (unless they actually lay siege to a city), just on province income. In other words they are not "slash and burn" types, but more like a sort of parasitic mafia hanging around. Or you could just make it so that rebels didn't pop up so frequently. A lot of people don't like the frequency of rebels already.

But now that you mention it, you've reminded me of another change I'd like to see that I forgot to add. I think contested provinces - that is provinces in which units from two or more warring factions are present - should recieve NO income for any side. Only provinces held uncontested should get any dough.

In this way, provinces containing a rebel army (or any other enemy army) would suddenly have no income, which I think would be cool. It's far too easy to accumulate money in the current game. And rebels are more a nuisance than anything else right now. Much of the time, I don't even bother attacking them. But if they were stealing ALL the money from a province, obviously you'd need to deal with them more urgently.

Second, if sieging did cause such intense population losses, conquering provinces would be useless.

No it wouldn't be useless, it would just put the brakes on your expansion a bit. In fact the impact of changes I have suggested would probably be less severe than the previous two games, where infrastructure was lost VERY quickly in contested provinces.

Look at it this way. You besiege a city in a province with a 10,000 population. First turn of siege, the city loses 10% or 1000, down to 9000. Second turn, it loses 20%, or 1800, down to 7200. Third turn, it loses 30% or 2160, down to 5000. Three turns of siege and you're still only 1000 guys short of the same level of infrastructure the city previously had. The impact is not that severe. And how often do you take three turns to capture a besieged city?

Never mind the fact that the AI would be out of manpower completely after a few short yet furious turns in the beginning.

If it was implemented across the board, yes. But I did say the changes would only apply in provinces contested by the HUMAN player. Provinces fought over by two AI factions would not be subject to these losses, otherwise you're right, there would soon be no population left in the game.

Alltogether, effects of war can be increased if you ask me, but be very very careful about what that does to game balance.

Okay, I'm glad we agree on something

The same basically goes for losing tech levels of buildings when the population drops. Make the faction pay florins for their upkeep at lower population levels, dont destroy the buildings

I don't agree, I think the game is just too easy when you can capture cities with all of their infrastructure essentially intact. It should be harder than that!

imagine losing your high level temple, barracks, port and some other things because you built one hastati too many.. *winces*

That's a good point, I didn't consider that. Obviously the game would need to warn you when you are about to take population that would reduce your total population below one of the threshold levels. Other than that I don't see it would be a problem.

Although i think i understand the desire for more depth in the campaign, i feel that to add the level of depth you're discussing to a total war game would result in players never having the time to get down to a battle.

I think you're exaggerating the impact that these fairly modest changes would make. The idea is just to give you a bit more to consider in building your empire. AND to give you a bit more excitement as well!

For example, as the game stands you can besiege cities for several turns, at your leisure, until the enemy is weakened or you have brought up reinforcements. But with the suggested changes, you know that for every turn you delay, the population is declining rapidly and the value of that province deteriorating! So you have an extra incentive to assault at the earliest possible moment - perhaps without those reinforcements you really wanted...

Alternatively, imagine that an enemy faction sits an army in one of your provinces. Now you can't afford to just sit back and wait for him to assault your city - you have to go there and fight him off your land, quick, before you lose any more population!

With a rebel army, you still have to defeat it quickly or else lose all your money from that province. So the idea is not about "less" combat, it's about adding some more urgency to your maneouvres, and raising the stakes for defeat.

I don't think that would detract at all from the fun of the game. On the contrary, I think it would add some much needed suspense to the outcome of battles.

And BTW, if I had my "druthers", I would be making much more comprehensive changes than these! The changes I've suggested were made only because I think they could be included without making major alterations, either to the program code or to the popular, battle-centric philosophy of TW that you and many others enjoy.

Anyhow, thanks for the comments. I enjoyed the exchange