v1.0 and a few pages of updates and discussion is here.
a
For starters, a comprehensive, systematic and thorough summary of v1.0 can be seen and commented here.
The v1.0 of the ruleset itself can be checked here.
Current v2.0 unit summary is here.
Current v2.0 ruleset is here.
And further ideas, comments, criticism, discussion starters, can be posted in this thread.
OPERATIONAL:
When in Anarchy, unhappysize is 1 making cities to be in revolt by default.
- city defence bonus rises by 10% per size point until size 10 (max 100%).
Tribalism: no money (tax or any upkeep cost), no taxmen, scientist gives only half (one bulb), +3 veteran levels
New tech: Tools (preq: Pottery, Bronze), removes the 3+ penalty (instead of Pyramids and non-Despotism)
Fixed Manufaktur: now stops working with Factory built and serves as a museum.
All production bonuses (Factory, Mfg, Plants...) are 50%
Prerequisite switch:
Republic needs Philosophy (was Literacy)
Democracy needs Economics (was Banking)
Tech_upkeep_divider set to 2000
Tech_upkeep_free set to 1 (base) and 2 (Tribal only)
Among other things, this means no tech upkeep until you research 2000 bulbs (or 4000 for tribal government).
Migration_Pct adjustments: size 1, +100; City Hall, +200; size 1 & Granary, +1000 (10^3)
Approximate tips:
- city size 1 is safe from disbanding by migrating to size 6 or less;
- with Granary, s1 is safe from migrating to s15 with City Hall
Equation:
upkeep = ((bulbs / divider) - free) * cities
Anarchy: No Trade!
Monarchy: +10 Trade in capital (Palace)
New units, unique to Tribal government, also replacing other units that can't be built under Tribal government:
- Raiders (replacing Legion and Pikemen), can attack from boats
- Bowmen (replacing Archers)
- Boat (replacing Trireme) - slower, can carry only 1 unit
Bombers AND fighters are "Bombarders". Explanation: a unit doesn't represent a single airplane, but an airfleet, and those don't get destroyed, only damaged and reduced. Damaging an airfleet in Civ has the same effect as in reality: it makes it less combat worthy and increases time until it is ready again. Also, make sure the upkeep cost is large enough so that there is no overproduction.
Scorched earth: most or all buildings are destroyed upon conquest.
Tribal government can't build Triremes, only Boats.
New units: Skirmishers, Arquebusiers, Boats
Arquebusier (2/2 - 20/1) - Gunpowder
Musketeers (3/3 - 20/1)
Only Raider units decrease city population when atacking.
Raiders can not capture units.
Gunpowder = Feudalism + Physics
Leadership = Theology (not Chivalry) + Banking
Removed Leonardo
set diplchance_steal=50
set techlost_recv=0
/set unreachableprotects disabled
Catapult (et al.) should attack non-native tiles.
no upgrades across classes
Add pre-fort (and check fortress border) (terrain.ruleset) - remove "NoAggressive"
All governments except Despotism, Tribal and Anarchy, +10 Trade in the capital
Barracks don't work in Anarchy and Tribal
Farmland can be built in deserts.
Freights can carry 2 Missiles
City foodboxes now corresponding to Manual (now granary_food_ini = 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 26, 30, 35, 40)
(?) Diplomats couldn't travel by roads and rivers?
Tribal government gets no Trade
Tribal scientists produce 1 bulb (instead of 2)
Tribalism, food upkeep free : 99
Fixed Manufaktur:
+2 shields
with Factory, 2 Trade instead of 2 Shields, no effect on Factory construction
Freight can carry 2 missiles
No automatic upgrade at all
Invention does NOT halve the upgrade price
New/changed techs:
Physics = Philosophy + Feudalism
Alchemy = Trade + Philosophy
Chemistry = Alchemy + University
Gunpowder = Alchemy + Feudalism
Leadership = Gunpowder + Chivalry
Monarchy fix (+20 -> +10 trade)
Warriors obsolete by Raiders
Raiders obsolete by Militia
Celebrating communist cities have increased shield production.
######################################## v2.1 ####################################################################
----- Tribal government -----
"Tribe" unit - Same as Settler, but:
* 10 HP
* cost 10
+1 food in every city
+1 in capital (Palace) (+2 total)
Tile penalty - unconditional
type = "Martial_Law_Max"
value = 2
type = "Martial_Law_Each"
value = 1
------------------
Manufaktur turns to museum with Industrialization
specialists in Anarchy
Bombers losing HP
Removed Shakespeare's Theatre
########################################################### v2.99######################################################
VARIATIONs, MAY BE IMPLEMENTED IN PARTICULAR GAMES:
* Tribal: size 20, step 2; Despotism: size 50, step 2 -
* DamageSlows: by default, this will be OFF (full MP for damaged units); depending on a particuar game, it may apply only to fast or all attack units; check in-game help!
Fixes:
- taxmen (???)
- some units - mounted mostly - from "Big Land" to "Land"; now only "long range" remain "Big Land"
- Skirmishers should be Bombarders!
Granary cost 30 -> 20
City hall 50 -> 40
Manufaktur 40 -> 30
- City_Build_Slots
WARNING!
fixed rails (1/9 MP instead 1/6)
Pre-fort noStackDeath removed
Alpines -> Commando 20 ->30
Caravan cost 50->30; upkeep = 3 gold!!!
Ironclad is Trireme (check tech), move 6, cost 30
Naval units - no unhappiness
Set air units "Unbribable"
Adjusted veteran raise chances, now slightly less chance.
Navigation -> Advanced Navigation
Magnetism -> Navigation
Navigation = Astronomy + Seafaring
Advanced Navigatio = Navigation + Invention
Physics = Philosophy + Astronomy
Industrialization = Banking + Engineering (was Railroad)
Remove Guerrilla Warfare
Flight = Machine Tools + Mass Production
Environmentalism = Labour Union + Recycling
Automobile = Combustion + Mass Production
Mass Production = Corporation + Machine Tools
Destroyer: Steel
Cruiser: Combustion
Partisans to Communism
Fanatics to Communism
Marines should be weaker ("Early marines")
Paratroopers to Advanced Flight
Mech. Inf. to Combined Arms
Tech_upkeep_divider set to 2500
Tech_upkeep_free set to 0 (base) and 1 (Tribal only)
Among other things, this means no tech upkeep under Tribal government until you research 2500 bulbs
veteran progression chance slowed down for both workers and military
Migration range: 2 -> 1
Navigation -> Advanced Navigation
Magnetism -> Navigation
Steel: Shipyard I: Destroyer
Combustion: Shipyard II: Cruiser, Submarine
Mass Production: Shipyard III: Battleship
Port Terminal possible to build like Harbour
Steam Engine = Chemistry + Metallurgy
Naval Doctrine = Advanced Navigation
Engineering: Farmland
Steel: Shipyard I: Destroyer
Combustion: Shipyard II: Cruiser, Submarine
Mass Production: Shipyard III: Battleship
"DamageSlows" removed altogether!
No farmland on city tile
Supermarkets: 2nd step Granaries
Code: Select all
15 50 100
16 60 110 5%
17 70 120 8%
18 80 130 12%
19 90 140 14%
20 100 150 17%
21 110 160 19%
22 120 170 21%
23 130 180 22%
24 140 190 24%
25 150 200 25%
*** Governor's Office: cost 20, upkeep 3, decreases corruption 80%, only in Monarchy
*** Tax Office: cost 20, upkeep 5, decreases corruption 90%, only Republic/Democracy
*** Commissar's Office: cost 20, upkeep 5, decreases corruption 90%, only Communism
all three influence migration
Copernicus Observatory: 300 -> 100
veterancy! - marketplace, library and temple removed; of civilian buildings, only university, cathedral and bank give veterancy
Ships do not become obsolete and can't be upgraded. Exception: Cruiser - AEGIS Crusier
Trireme is Monarchy-only
Caravan upkeep
removed DamageSlows
Cities with a City Hall and more size can build more identical units at the same time (if shields are provided): +1 for Hall, sizes 10, 20, 30
IgTer units spend 8/9 MP per no-road tile
Settlers cost 10 shields, but upkeep is 3 food
Trade: Food Market: +3 food, -5 gold
Railroad: Grocery Store: +4 food, -8 gold
Refrigeration: Shopping Mall: +4 food, -10 gold
Industrialization: Coal mine: +5 production,
Oil: +1 shield (not +3)
Once any player discovers Corporation, a city with Oil Refinery AND Oil Rig produces a LOT of gold.
Oil Refinary, req: Refining, World!
All units have additional defense against fast units (except against Mech. Inf.) on some terrains:
* forest, hills: +50%
* swamp: +100%
* mountains: +200%
No hard limit on city size; plague probability increased, Aqueducts and Sewers improve health.
illness_base_factor = 75
illness_min_size = 4
Graph: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/az8toikgfj
(red: no improvements; blue: aqueduct; green: aq. & sewers)
Medicine doesn't improve health; instead, there is a new building: Hospital.
Swordsmen demoted, new unit: Legion (Tech: Formation)
Trade routes possible between capitals.
Killstack OFF!!!!!!
Palace: +200% defence,
trade only with nations at peace or allied
########################################################### v3.0######################################################
cannot revert to Tribal once you've discovered Alphabet OR Currency
Barracks I -> Chariot
unit unhappiness only in Republic/Democracy
rivers are NOT roads, they spend 1 MP regardless of terrain
NO TAXMEN, NO SCIENTISTS
Entertainers don't work in Anarchy
There is still tech upkeep in Anarchy, although smaller, so choose the moment wisely and prepare for a potential tech loss.
Amphitheatre - 2 content AND Entertainer gives 3 luxuries (instead of 2) - removed SHakespeare
university 100% bonus
? tribe transforms into Settlers ?
Tribal: easily bribable cities
Enemy_Citizen_Unhappy_Pct = 67
Manhattan (Great) wonder -> Trinity (Small) wonder -> Fat Man and Little Boy unique bombs (move: 0) -> Uranium Enrichment Plant -> Atom Bomb unit (move:0)
Stack Max defined. For every unit above Max, all units receive -25% defence penalty resulting in 0 Defence for 4 units above Max. Default Max: 3, except Mountains (2). If units are in a city, Max is increased by 1 for each 5 city sizes (new Max at 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20).
Tribal impossible with Bronze
......................................
Elecrticity doesn't give embassy with all, only contact
Police Precints 1-...
food upkeep in Tribal
Chariot <- Barracks I
----------------------------------------------------------
Help text for "Little Boy" begins with "Fat Man is a unique unit...". Pretty sure that's supposed to say "Little Boy is a unique unit...". Same for Atom Bomb and ICBM.
no poisoning
cities can be bribed only if there is 1 (Diplomat) or 2 (Spy) or less units in the city (feature untested)
unit unhappiness only in Republic (2) and Democracy (3)
#################################################################################################################
########################################################### v3.1######################################################
Add "CanPillage" flag for workers (and settlers, tribal workers + engineers)
Make junglesmore useful? 1/1/1 plus techs
Farmland desert
Stock Exchange with Industrialization
Taxmen can only be employed after there is a Marketplace in the city.
Scientists can only be employed after there is a Library in the city.
merged Offices
base HP_Regen: 10%; In city: +20%; With Barracks: +20% for a total 50%.
################################################# v.12/2022######################################################
Techs: Animal Husbandry, Spirituality, Smelting
add hills to resort stuff
Tribe is even cheaper, but has 2 fuel
Raiders and Bowmen: Shield2gold for all except Tribal gov
Scientists: with library (1), University (+1), Research Lab (+1)
Taxmen: with Marketplace (1), Bank(+1), Stock Market (+1)
Manufaktur ends with Factory, not with Industrialization
################################################# v. 01/2024######################################################
Newton's College does not affect Universities. Instead, it gives 25 base bulbs to its city
Great Library doesn't affect Libraries. Instead, gives 10 base bulbs to city, 1 immediate tech and Tech_Parasite
type="Enemy_Citizen_Unhappy_Pct"; value=80
Caravan disbands for 90% of value
Communist cities celebrating get +1 production for every tile that already has production.
multiresearch ENABLED
set unitwaittime_style = "ACTIVITIES|FORTIFY|DELAYGOTO
***************************************TODO:******************************************
; "Provoking" = a unit considering to auto attack this unit will choose to
; do so even if has better odds when defending against it
; then when attacking it. Applies when the autoattack server
; setting is enabled.
(!) Increase building prices
(?) connect nukes with apollo - maybe think about it
(?) migration pct, additional buildings
resort - not base, shortcut
(?) Unit_Buy_Cost_Pct
(?) Output_Add_Tile
Brainstorming: raiding cities. No conquest (or temporary conquest) that results in more loot and less expansion.
Thoughts so far: Raider unit (Tribal gov only) has A:3, D:0. Or BadCityDefender and/or CityBuster flag. Or "can't conquer cities".
If it's the latter, make Tribes (Tribal Settlers) an option to conquer cities.
Conceptual: city trade and shield penalty - by distance in Tribal, by size in others
Obsoleting barracks - obsolete idea
increase cost for mid-late buildings
(only bigger cities get no-upkeep units?)
check everything about Oil Refinery
Factory, fixed + instead of % ? Industrial zones? Traderoutes with raw materials?
Technical:
-- Include effect names in help
-- Techs: Mining,
-- manual help on governments needs updating/fixing/deleting --
Check: DiplomatDefense and Spy_Resistant (terrain, effects)
Problems:
Anarchy: no food surplus even if it is produced. However units requiring upkeep take first from food produced and only then make it negative - is it by design?
Just founded new city - no waste, no units, food 2, surplus 0:
Made it home city for 1 unit - food grew to 3 ?!
Resort problem: http://forum.freeciv.org/f/viewtopic.ph ... 59#p104659 --- fixed? (to be tested)
(persuade AIs to build Raiders instead of Bowmen)
Other:
diplcost -> diplbulbcost and diplgoldcost
razechance?
Option 'spacerace' not recognized
happyborders?
>>> "Enemy_Citizen_Unhappy_Pct"
FIX ELEPHANTS (???)
New features:
-> Ivy Mike (Great) wonder -> bigger bombs, maybe Tzar Bomb
Also, Apollo Wonder -> ICBMs
missile silo base - invisible
unit: the Bomb
unit: strategic bomber, long range, good air defence
remove range changes for Nuclear
SLBM
transported and launched from submarines
submarine can build "prepare for launch" base, ocean only
subs and all BMs are unhomed
* Test: Requirement for Musketeers is Barracks Once the tech is discovered, but barracks are not built, is it possible to build pre-Musketeers?
* Check: attack/defense for commandos attacking and armour/Fast defending cities
* reconsider "dest_unlimited" (server)
* Bomber help: attack vs. ships?
* Swordsmen obsoleted by Legion (or not?)
- small caravan - trade wagon
- Nomads (Tribal Migrants), losing HP fast, non-unique
- building: Research Centre - for small cities... ?
- Tribal limiting factors: empire size, shield unit upkeep
- Overseas Company, small wonder - reduces (removes?) unhappiness from Migrants
Fundamentalism: last-ditch defensive government
"DiplRel","IsForeign","Local",FALSE
"CityTile", "Claimed","Local",TRUE
Code: Select all
[effect_irrigate_source_well]
type = "Irrig_Possible"
value = 1
reqs =
{ "type", "name", "range", "present"
"Building", "Well", "City", TRUE
"UnitClass", "Sea", "Local", FALSE
}
Code: Select all
(maybe not working)
[effect_units_in_a_city_1]
type = "Unit_Upkeep_Free_Per_City"
value = 1
reqs =
{ "type", "name", "range", "present"
"MaxUnitsOnTile", "0", "Local", FALSE
"OutputType", "Shield", "Local", TRUE
}
Industrialization: Coal mine: +25% pollution
??? Refining: Oil refinery: Oil rig: +5 production, +25% pollution
Coal mine: ++ pollution
(Navigation?) Trade Harbour: +1 Trade on ocean OR deep ocean tiles?
Super Highways also gives trade from roads on ALL tiles
check Partisans help (availability)
stockade
effects: Weaker defence against IgWall on: forest, hills, jungle
- foreign wonders
units.ruleset
IgTer help (?)
Defence bonus vs. Archers/Bowmen in forests, jungle; also in cities after some tech
......
Tech upkeep correction:
at 100k (B)ulbs and divider 2k, upkeep-per-city (UPC) is around 50
city size 20 (25?) and more should pay full upkeep, city size 1 should pay minimal
Bonus per city = 50 * B/100k - 2*size = B/2000 - 2*size
100k: full tree
Max bonuses--
University: 1 (1)
Sanitation: 2 (1)
Electricity: 3 (1)
Engineering: 5 (1)
Industrialization: 6 (1)
Corporation/Communism: 7 (1/1)
Genetic: 9 (2)
Miniatur: 11 (2)
MassP: 13 (2)
Automobile: 17 (4)
Computer: 23 (6)
Environm:26 (3)
Plastics:28 (2)
Laser: 30 (2)
Superconductors/Stealth: 40 (10)
Fusion: 50 (10)
Aquaduct and Sewer System revamp
Non-priority:::::::::::::::
Sun Tzu - more veteran levels (?)
Stonehenge
Statues
- Ws transferring one commodity into other
Parthenon
Taj Mahal, Hagia Sofia, Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
LT40 bug, bombs away
Naval merchant unit
Check in-game help for governments.
Add AAA - same stats as fighter
- pollution on water and amphibious Engineers (MP: 1 (2?))
- river movement: 2/3 MP
- ? remove Diplomats and/or immediately start with Spies ?
- make Pyramids cheaper
Fix Fundamentalism. Ideas:
- rename to Theocracy
- sci x0.5 or less
- libraries no effect, university causes unhappiness
- low financial upkeep for units
- maybe free 1-coin buildings
Specialization: "dead end" military techs: Panzer I, II, III... Separate barracks for different types of units?
Separate factories for different military units
maybe - New unit: River boat. Native terrain: rivers only. Carried by Transporter. Can carry 1 Land or Small Land unit. (Gif?)
Caravans?
"nuke_exploded" since 3.0 or "unit_lost" with reason "detonated" since 2.6, there you can edit out some infra.
Brainstorming::::::::::::::::
- the television tower small wonder will boost science by 50%
- the fernsehturm great wonder can only be built under communism and will give 50% boost on gold to the city
- the sphinx great wonder with level 1 techs and will allow the player to build upkeep free defense units on the city
- a new tech food preservation will make the granaries 60% full after the city grows
- a new tech antibiotics will allow the units to heal faster
- animal husbandry makes the granary to be 50% full instead of 40% when the city grows
- a new tech glas crafting will give each city center +1 trade
- a mill city improvement if the city is close to a river. +1 prod
- modern medicine tech will allow the units to heal faster when fortified + makes it less likely to lose population to plague
- the ambulance unit that has A0D0 but can transport units
- the optics tech will boost trade and science by 5% -> help text: other tools allowing the merchants with better tools
- naval artillery allowing bombarding units to be loaded on ships able to carry them
- a big ship (name missing) for transporting the naval artillery units
- bookkeeping tech boosting trade 5% in cities with banks
these were for fcw maybe
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
type = "Output_Add_Tile"
value = 1
reqs =
{ "type", "name", "range"
"Extra", "River", "Adjacent"
"Extra", "Irrigation", "Local"
"Building", "Pyramids", "City"
"OutputType", "Food", "Local"
+ negated check for Oasis
Baalbek, Bisotun (maybe), Humayun's Tomb (maybe), Himeiji Castle, A Torii gate of some sort
Angkor Wat, Notre-Dame Cathedral
Golden Gate Bridge
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut Taj Mahal Potala Palace Pyramid of the Moon Hagia Sophia Notre-Dame École Polytechnique Golden Gate Bridge Empire State Building Big Ben Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg) Lenin's Mausoleum
Angkor Wat
Code: Select all
[effect_personal_freedom_unit_unhappiness]
type = "Unhappy_Factor"
value = 1
multiplier = "Personal Freedom"
reqs =
{ "type", "name", "range"
}
[effect_personal_freedom_science_bonus]
type = "Output_Bonus_2"
value = 10
multiplier = "Personal Freedom"
reqs =
{ "type", "name", "range"
"OutputType", "Science", "Local"
}
Code: Select all
[multiplier_personal_freedom]
name = _("Personal Freedom")
start = 0
stop = 5
step = 1
default = 0
; /* xgettext:no-c-format */
helptext = _("\
Each step of personal freedom you allow your citizens yields a 10% \
increase in science output, but makes an additional citizen unhappy \
for every aggressively deployed military unit.\
")
Lets talk here, we'll move back home if there is useless crosstalk. Also everything i say is the way i saw things after lt63. Many things changed after that, but i think most of what I say apply. Also, it's purely my opinion.
Hmm. How do I put it, first let's consider sim's approach to early game fun as opposed to LTT/mp2. Both of those rulesets keep the early game slow and calculative and assume that the player would find the fun by pondering over every single decision (which has a big impact over late game), there is little to do but a lot more to think. Some might think this is too slow. But the point I'm trying to make is, the more stuff you add to early game the less calculative it becomes and wants to be a more grand strategyesque game where individual details can't be bothered with.
The problem is with the current mechanics of freeciv/civ. It doesn't aim to be a grand strategy game but rather just a strategy game where you actually concentrate on the individual units. Sim seems to try to work around this by having so many units where the individual moves/units don't matter. The approach has 2 issues, one, bringing the game upto the point of having so many units. Two, does having so many continue to stay fun?
Lets talk about 1 for now. The inflation phase of sim is great. It is fun as you fight against AI and grab a significant chunk for yourself in a rapid fashion. Does capture the whole aspect of individual cities or units not being important as there is a lot of leeway for doing crazy things with some of the 100s of units you'd have.
(Part 1/n)
The real problem to me, is in 2. It doesn't continue to stay fun for me, for a myriad of reasons.
1. Grand Strategy is only emergent rather than be front and center
Yes, sim kinda reduces micro and aims at grand strategy more. But the way it kinda does it is by making micro less important inspite of the activities which engage us to the game mostly belong to the micromanagement regime. I'll elabore this point further in the later two points. But the idea is, the points of interaction with the game are cities, tiles and units, the only grand strategy things are techs and tax rates. So to make something more grand strategyesque out of this by reducing the importance of individual cities/units makes the individual moves less important and monotonous. While there is a grand strategy at play, there is a lot of monotonous movement of units and city management involved in the process which directly doesn't impact the game in a significant way.
2. It gets really exhausting to manage so many units for long times.
This adds to the point above. We have a lot of units which actually need a command every turn. Like the workers, and the need to move around units for various factors. The client is of little use here, with a lot of units it slows it down and commands such as select all on tile though being super useful doesn't really fully help to what sim is trying to do here.
So what could be done, At a ruleset level I'm not sure. I feel at a design level this can't be avoided. But i guess you could add some abstract layers. At a client level, maybe something like an option to merge units help. ie though treated in the server individually, it is shown as a single effective unit on client and moves together and works/attacks together.
I'm not sure about this or how exactly it would work. But the point being, we need more grand strategy decisions to be made.
(Part 2/n)
3. It is actually annoying to do city management.
The same as above. The stuff we do to cities regularly such as choosing working tiles, buildings. Sim's economy is actually very fun. Though not at a level of games where you don't have control over the population and control a place at a policy level (like sim city or something), migrations and playing with the city view to get cities to shrink and grow the right way is fun. But it gets monotonous precisely because it doesn't gel well with the rest of the game. The governers are little help here too since they break whenever something can't be satisfied and we have to redo them manually again. It would be very nice if there is a way to engage with this part of the game in the main window rather than play something like a pen and paper game on the city view.
On this. I have no remedy in head. You can probably think of something, but my plan was to just illustrate what works and what doesn't work for me.
This is definitely less of a problem than units, since you can ignore many cities. But what would be optimal is for the cities to react to grand strategy than forget about many small ones.
4. There is very little to do and challenge the player apart from other players.
Sim is definitely a lot better than LTT on this front. But there is very little problem solving happening within an empire. The reason why i point this out explicitly in sim rather than in LTT is that sim tries to interact with the grand strategy level more. So we need problems which interact with that on an empire level. Things such as plague and disasters aren't remotely enough to provide any challenge. We need problems which interact with the grand strategy, something like wrong tax rates can collapse an empire . And this should be an ever changing problem which constantly needs attention rather than something like tax rates which is usually mostly set and forget
Part (3/n)
I'm not sure what the solution for this is either. All the grand strategy games i play have this gradual unraveling of control over an empire as things go wrong. Civ never has this, so freeciv doesn't either. Even city management games such as SimCity do this well with things like fire spreading etc.
But i guess this will take a long time to be achieved for now. It deviates too much from civ mechanics.
Anyways to circle back to the original point. Sim is very interesting at a grand strategy level. But too many boring things to do at a gameplay level later in the game. This transition and disconnect makes it whacky.
Ah, I keep forgetting to ask. You say it's fun at the beginning and then, at some point, it becomes tedious. Is it tied to numbers, like empire size and number of cities and units, or when the game comes to a historic point, for example when you begin building city improvements, or something else?
—
It is just gradual overwhelming for me. Like everything feels nice initially but it keeps adding up.
For eg,having so many units and cities in tribal phase is fun, and controlling cities with improvements is fun etc. But it all keeps accumulating and gets more tiring as the game goes on. But again, this isn't specific to sim and what's tiring is completely opinionated. But i just find sim tires sooner than say LTT which gets tiring only quite late into the game only when you conquer many other players.
Another question would be, should we just reduce tiles per player. I feel thats a cop out. A ruleset should work for a decent range of density, not fine tuned to a specific one. For LTT is quite fun even with very little tiles per player. Just that the strategies change quite a bit.