With regard to roads, there are good reasons NOT to build roads. They
not only facilitate your own travel but also the travel of others.
Not only can your units move 2 or 3 regions per turn, but so can those
orc or warlords. For that reason, if people THINK about what they are
doing, it is unlikely every region will be linked. Of course, that
doesn't mean it won't happen. I do, however, feel that roads should
require the raw material "stone". Every good road is built of stone.
With regards to adding costs, etc. to tasks such as shipbuilding, I
suggest that most tasks should require one or more of the following:
(A) A raw material
(B) Tools
(C) Gold to cover costs
Simply things like roads should only need a raw material (Stone).
Things like catching horses should require tools (rope, etc.). More
complex task such as shipbuilding might require all three. As far
as raw materials go, I think MOST task should have only 1 to avoid
too much complexity. The above IS pretty much what IS happening but
it is a universal model into which to plug specifics for each task.
In addition, I think the idea of having structures wear out and
equipment deteriorate is a good one. Olympia currently has a 1
direction economy. You buy or make something you always have it. It
never breaks, fails, or disappears. Immagine the real world if cars
never wore out, guns, once made, could fire forever, and horses never
died. I think it would be better if ALL things had to be periodically
replaced. This also would allow the occupation "repairman". As an
aside, I think the skill "breed horses" should disappear. They should
breed naturally if untrained -- at a very slow rate. Horses know how
to breed themselves and will do so naturally if "left alone" (i.e.
untrained).
As for the guilds and characters maxing out in skills, I believe I
mentioned the following idea before. To learn a skill, you must (A)
stack with a structure called a "Library" (VERY expensive to build --
you must buy books) that has "Lore Books" for the skill you want or
(B) you must stack with someone else who is teaching the skill. Start
players out in a city with a library. After that, they are on their
own. I think this would both create a demand for player run guilds
and also tone down on learning skills to absurd levels. No, I
haven't thought this all the way through. It is simply another
approach.
Just some mad ranting...
John Morrow / Varian [856]