Even though I'm one of the little guys in Olympia, getting pounded on at
the moment by some of the big guys, I have to disagree. If you CAN'T
grow to overwhelming size, the game is pretty limited. I'd expect an
open-ended game to include provisions for players getting wiped out. If
somebody grows to a size where they're dominating the entire game, well,
it's happened. In real life they can't generally extinguish all
opposition, but in games since player units never blend into the background
this is quite possible, the world stagnates, Rich opens up a new campaign,
and the guy who became dominant in the previous one either starts collecting
enough stone to build an orbital beanstalk, or stops playing.
Tom
// hudson@cs.unc.edu: Swordsman - Poet - Hacker