i was thinking of something similar LordC, but there is a problem with that. It'll just make it so that a faction that's down to it's last settlement will have as much a chance of success as a huge empire. At that point, it doesn't seem fair. There has to be some downside to being widdled down to a single-town nation. Now for factions that start with only 1 or 2 settlements, their starting mnai could be set a lot higher than the rest to compensate and let them get a fair start. It's only unfair it it's at the end. But I think this way, even if the player starts with that faction, he'll get a lot of starting money, which isn't great. But I'm sure there are ways around that, scripts or something.

Man, this is complicated stuff.... or at least it can be if you ramble on like this. I don't even know if what I just wrote it totall coherent... I might be a little

In the end, my trust is in the EB team to make things great, and if that fails the fans or semi-devs will come through.