1. There is some need to limit exponential growth in whatever area.
2. It's not fair that the old players have huge amounts of money.
I agree with point 1. Whatever we add to the game to add more complexicity,
expressiveness or plain fun, it should be harder to keep growing, but not too
hard.
However, I totally(well, almost...) disagree with point 2. (I am a relatively
new player). Whatever we(I mean Rich) add to the game we should do it as if
it is added to a new game. I mean, it is ok to put some limitations on growth,
but don't overdo it just because there are some players that have already
required vast resources.
The main limitations that should be in the game are limitations that are
region based. That means that if you want to grow really big you have to spread
out to other areas besides the one you started in. It should be possible to
conquer all of Olympia, only it should cost you lots of effort. We should not
prohibit this by making the cost of a big faction grow exponentially, only
because there are players that have the money to do this relatively easy.
If there are some objections to adding a new feature because old players (or
new ones) would be at an advantage it might be better to start a discussion
on restarting the game. This would be a good option if there are lots of nice
features we want to add, but we can't as there will always be someone who
objects because the balance of the current game is disturbed.
I KNOW that this is a difficult proposition, but maybe it would be better to
restart the game if we really want to introduce some radical changes.
Otherwise we always have the risk of creating a game that is a messy mixture
of old and new ideas.
NOT that I LIKE the idea of restarting the game. In the weeks that I have
played I put a considerable amount of effort in starting my faction.
And please, don't kill me of in the game just because I suggested this.
Frits (Friendly Freddy)
-- Frits Kuijlman frits @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl Delft University of Technology The Netherlands