Not as much with the locked civics, but if you get bioascencion, I think Catalytic Proccessing should be free. Accepting the chosen one as your permanent leader shouldnt drop all your civics just give Imperial Cult for free. Other Ascension Perks could make other civics they fit with thematically free as well. Synthetic Ascension could give a choice of Mashine Empire Civic for free (within reason). The total Cap would be 5, so you can't go crazy with 100 civics.
It force changes all your Ethics and Civics. I was doing a RP as the Brotherhood of Nod so Ofc I want to make Kane the Chosen one ruler with Imperial Cult, but it would break my militarist ethic and remove some good civics I like with that roleplay, very unsatisfying. this was before Cyborg Ascension was a thing which would work well with the Nod fantasy.
I initially wrote ascension perk but changed it to half of ascension perks. The my logic is that an ascension Perk takes up a limited slot, while tech is “free” in the sense that once you’ve researched it, you just have it. Trading an ascension slot for a civic feels like it could cause issues where the endgame number of civics not received from events would no longer be consistent, and the power level of civics v ascension perks would need to be more closely evaluated, otherwise you either get an auto pick perk or a useless perk.
This is why I like the Ascension Perk option and hate the tech option. The Perk is another trade off, more options, the tech is less options its a thing your always going to get the only question is when.
I think for civics, at least for me, it’s not about indecisiveness so much as the amount of combinations. There are more combinations to fill three slots than two, and more combinations to fit five slots than three. It’s about more variation about the sorts of empires you can create and allowing for some of the more niche civics to shine.
This
I mean I actually think tradition limit should be increased but it has a separate opportunity cost, the Unity expenses getting really out there so only a Unity focused empire can get at it rather than all the empires in the game.
I mean obviously, *definitionally* having more options increases the number of combinations, provided the number of selections doesn't exceed half of the total number of options. That's just simple mathematics. The problem is it also increases *power* and *complexity*, especially at the start of the game.
Power increases are fine imo if the game is balanced around it. It’s currently balanced around 2 into 3, if they went for 3 into 4 or 5, other parts of the game or the civics themselves would need to be balanced to account for that, and considering their recent track record with overhauling huge aspects of the game, I think that would turn out fine. Having two civic slot pickups through the game would also smooth out the transition from early to mid to late game.
See, here's the thing: What you want, and what's actually best for the game, does not have a perfect overlap. The fact that you want it doesn't actually make it a good idea. Traditions, Civics, and Origins should not just be a checklist, they should be strong, *mutually exclusive* decisions about the nature of your empire. If all you're doing is collecting a giant pile of stuff, you aren't actually making bold, complex decisions: You're just hoarding. Good strategy games are just as much about what you *can't* do as what you *can.*
