I *really* have a problem with the concept of civilization in the game, that's not a secret.
Because if civilizations are considered as diffused cultural entities, yes, the culture expansion [for example] makes sense, but they shouldn't have a centralized authority.
But, if they are considered more like countries, having a centralized authority makes sense, but culture should definitely NOT design frontiers. (especially frontiers with nothing, huh)
So I propose to either change the way territory is acquired [for example], or decentralise the authority and make the civilization we rule less of something we are able to master to our will.
Example :
1) Make civilization more towards countries : expansion through activity.
The territory of a civilization should not exceed the land worked by citizens. Of course, the ruler of the civilization, as well as the player (who have a type of victory in mind), can always have a sense of foresight, and decide that the need of his people will be larger in the future in term of territory.
So he should be able to willingly decide what is his territory and what is not, that to be represented in the game or not. (he can go to war at any time to grab more territory, the AI can do the same even if the said territory have to be designed beforehands, like it is in Civ5) But then, if it is not represented in the game, the AIs will not know why he went into war and call him a warmonger. (based on Civ5)
However, if it is represented in the game, the player could abuse the mechanic and declare all lands he sees as his own. A nice bypass to this could be to automatically make owns every territory discored first, but it may be a game breaker and not being realistic. (a tribe will never declare itself possessing a whole continent, unless it's Montezuma of course)
I think that a system of fixed points given at start could work, but please, it should not be culture. The player and the AIs would have a fixed starting sum of those points, points that would evolve according to actual population and population growth. There would not be any exception to that.
Or we could solve this issue by populating the map fully (gameplay-wise) and nearly from the start, like it was probably the case in reality. You could acquire as many tiles as you want, provided they are not occupied. That would revert back to have a changing starting territory in every game. Of course territory would not be unpassable without a right of passage until you set up actual customs.
2) Make civilizations more towards diffused cultural entities : you have limited powers in your "own" civilization, a little like being a small minister of a republic.
"Your" civilization grows and expands automatically and organically, although you can influence it. A goal could be to conquer all the territory occupied by your civilization.
The problem of expansion through culture is no more a problem : the whole map would be considered populated fully at the start of the game (huts and caves in a lot of tiles, well integrated to the rest of the graphics), and the territory your civilization would earn through culture would simply be the organic manifestation of people living, changing and even, why not, fighting. Gameplay-wise however the map around your civilization would remain "empty" of other gameplay entities except other civilizations, barbarians and city states.
Because if civilizations are considered as diffused cultural entities, yes, the culture expansion [for example] makes sense, but they shouldn't have a centralized authority.
But, if they are considered more like countries, having a centralized authority makes sense, but culture should definitely NOT design frontiers. (especially frontiers with nothing, huh)
So I propose to either change the way territory is acquired [for example], or decentralise the authority and make the civilization we rule less of something we are able to master to our will.
Example :
1) Make civilization more towards countries : expansion through activity.
The territory of a civilization should not exceed the land worked by citizens. Of course, the ruler of the civilization, as well as the player (who have a type of victory in mind), can always have a sense of foresight, and decide that the need of his people will be larger in the future in term of territory.
So he should be able to willingly decide what is his territory and what is not, that to be represented in the game or not. (he can go to war at any time to grab more territory, the AI can do the same even if the said territory have to be designed beforehands, like it is in Civ5) But then, if it is not represented in the game, the AIs will not know why he went into war and call him a warmonger. (based on Civ5)
However, if it is represented in the game, the player could abuse the mechanic and declare all lands he sees as his own. A nice bypass to this could be to automatically make owns every territory discored first, but it may be a game breaker and not being realistic. (a tribe will never declare itself possessing a whole continent, unless it's Montezuma of course)
I think that a system of fixed points given at start could work, but please, it should not be culture. The player and the AIs would have a fixed starting sum of those points, points that would evolve according to actual population and population growth. There would not be any exception to that.
Or we could solve this issue by populating the map fully (gameplay-wise) and nearly from the start, like it was probably the case in reality. You could acquire as many tiles as you want, provided they are not occupied. That would revert back to have a changing starting territory in every game. Of course territory would not be unpassable without a right of passage until you set up actual customs.
2) Make civilizations more towards diffused cultural entities : you have limited powers in your "own" civilization, a little like being a small minister of a republic.
"Your" civilization grows and expands automatically and organically, although you can influence it. A goal could be to conquer all the territory occupied by your civilization.
The problem of expansion through culture is no more a problem : the whole map would be considered populated fully at the start of the game (huts and caves in a lot of tiles, well integrated to the rest of the graphics), and the territory your civilization would earn through culture would simply be the organic manifestation of people living, changing and even, why not, fighting. Gameplay-wise however the map around your civilization would remain "empty" of other gameplay entities except other civilizations, barbarians and city states.