Telling multiple devs that their plans are wrong and don't work is entirely different.
I've brought up what I thought were potential issues, with the intent that the devs could be mindful of them in their decision making. I would have thought it obvious that the devs coudl mitigate or choose to disregard these concerns at their discretion just as they might choose to, based on things I mention as well as things other people mention or things they discern for themselves from other sources, change paths. No decision can be made in a vacuum after all, and no good one can be made without understanding the options.
Ultimately, no, you are not on an equal basis with the dev team in that way.
So, what? I should talk to them as though they were my grandfather? Of course I'm not on equal footing with specific regard to creating the mod, but pretty much everywhere I've ever been on the net, the default assumption is to talk to people as though you're the same generation. If the devs here want to be treated like their relative wisdom is as though they were twice the age of everyone else in the thread, I'd consider that pretentious enough that for someone to request it on their behalf would be an insult to them. They certainly haven't said that for themselves. No good will come from putting words in people's mouths, especially when those words would reflect poorly on them.
Although honestly, what level of formality transmits through text anyway? After all, even if I were to stand up at my computer while they sit, it's not like anyone would know.
You are a fan, who should feel free to share ideas, not a part of the creative process who can speak authoritatively about what does or does not fit into the mod.
I can speak authoritatively about what my opinions are in that regard. If that wasn't clear, I apologize. If I'm speaking about something beyond my own opinion I'll cite it, but I suppose I can try to be more specific that things are my own opinions in the future if it's not something that people would naturally take as given.
Suggestion - Talk about what you do and don't like about the devs' ideas, rather than stating that it's a bad idea, and you'll get a much better response. Explain WHY you feel a large Asian empire doesn't mesh with the vibe you get from the setting, instead of just saying "that really doesn't fit." Give feedback, not dismissal and your own completely different ideas.
Thanks, I'll try to do that more in the future.
With regards to the pan-asian empire, There's the logic-based concern is that it's set in a world where logistical projection has broken down. China is only able to grow so large because of its two great rivers and one great cana, and its coast-line. But even then, if it were to somehow dominate diverse and far-flung cultures of east and southeast asia, that state would barely last a day before things start breaking down. At no time in history have they even had a particularly pervasive control over korea and vietnam, which are directly adjacent to the Chinese heartland, and control over mongolia and beyond has been pretty sporadic despite a massive investment (including, but definitely not limited to, the Great Wall) in that area, and Tibet is only effectively ruled by China in the modern era. And the islands are also quite separate, and there's a reason that, for example, invasions into Japan tend to fail.
As for a pan-asian empire led by someone else, they don't have the manpower, and some manner of equal union would in addition to being logistically difficult, wouldn't really benefit anybody. Nations in the area can already be huge and powerful without betraying their pride (as ethnicities, nationalities, or whatever) by forfeiting uniqueness as a political entity.
Perhaps the primary reason I felt it didn't fit is a lot less rooted in historical logic though, and more in the organization of the part of the world that we do see. America, and existing invasions, are made up of pure cultures and religions that are more extreme and more defined for not being mixed together. There are degrees to which this isn't true, and Mexico lacks some of that by sharing its religion so much, but in general part of what I really like about the mod is how there are so many diverse local cultures; it reverses a modern trend of homogenization by focussing on local color in a way that's fun and neither preachy nor offensive. Doing the opposite to Asia seems painfully boring in comparison, and perhaps more pertinently it seems to me to be blindly or willfully ignorant of the cultural differences of the people who live there; either ignoring or denying that these variations have their own uniqueness and beauty that would make them interesting and worthy of inclusion into a mod.
