Yep.....I believe I have found my first official "cause" to fight for in the game....and that is....the underdogs.
The little guys.
I'm not talking about the one-province minors in Europe, either. They're fine.
More than fine, actually. They can kick some serious butt!
I'm talking about the little countries with no starting tech in off-the-beaten-path tech groups.
As of the latest patch, they are essentially unplayable, and here's why:
If you pick a country to play that starts in the Exotic or Chinese tech group, and if you do not have Infra 1 at game start (and odds are good that if you're playing a little country in one of those groups, you won't), then you are doomed. Infra 1 costs you 18,000 - 25,000d, your economy is wretched (1.5 - 3.0 at best), you have no monarchs of note usually (limiting your monarchal bonus in research), your neighbors are no better off (no neighbor bonus), and you have no events (aside from random ones, which can just as easily be bad).
Now, I'm all for a challenge.....I'm all for making the game as realistic and as true to history as we can make it within the framework of the game itself, BUT.....as of the latest changes, it's somewhere between masochistic and suicidal to play the little countries in poor research groups.
Why is this important? Why should it matter to you? Well, a few reasons spring to mind:
1) The countries are selectable and playable....it'd be nice if they were actually functional enough to be viable play choices. Note that this does NOT mean I'd like to see every country that can be selected in the game, be able to do a World Conquest, World Colorization, or even be able to win in VP's....I'm simply saying that if a country is selectable, then it should at least be....functional.
2) Balance matters. People will argue that the NA indians, for example, were of no particular consequence in terms of European settlement of this continent, and that their inferior technology rendered them a moot point. I would argue otherwise. NA indian tactics had never before been seen by the Euro explorers and conquerers, and had they united against the Europeans early on, then the history of the North American continent could have well been quite different, vast technological differences or not. Balancing the game such that the major European powers do not implode within the first couple of years is more important than, say, making sure Ashanti or Brunei is even remotely playable, but as the game is a historical sim, and these nations *did* exist, and were functional entities, then at least some token nod should be given to make them so in-game, if chosen by a player (and by functional, I mean "capable of doing something other than fast-forwarding 50-75 years and praying that in that time you don't get a bad event like a rebellion or any sort of inflation, which could well set you back another 15-20 years."
3) The game engine is robust enough to handle it. Yes, it has a European center, and that's cool. Not a thing in the world wrong with that, but since the other countries are out there as selectable choices, it'd be nice to at least be able to function.
The core of the problem lies in the fact that the latest beta requires TC's to collect annual income. These countries I"m talking about can't afford to mint coin to operate, because they are already saddled with obscene tech costs, and when Infra 1 costs 25,000, and your monthly research contribution is 2d, even a 1% inflation rate is crippling indeed.
I don't have any solutions to the problem, except perhaps to exempt the poor tech group nations from needing TC's, or to make TC's available to them at Infra 0.....they'd still have to build them everywhere, which is a challenge enough when you make less than 20d a year, but at least it'd be a start.
So.....this thread is dedicated to the "little guys." Those tiny nations that everybody else either looks over or ignores. The countries that WISH they were in the Middle Eastern tech group cos it's so much better than theirs!
In the drive to make the game all the more compelling for the folks that love playing in Europe and the Middle East, I offer my voice in support of the countries nobody wants to touch with a ten foot pole, and for us quirky, strange players who enjoy them!
-=Vel=-
The little guys.
I'm not talking about the one-province minors in Europe, either. They're fine.
More than fine, actually. They can kick some serious butt!
I'm talking about the little countries with no starting tech in off-the-beaten-path tech groups.
As of the latest patch, they are essentially unplayable, and here's why:
If you pick a country to play that starts in the Exotic or Chinese tech group, and if you do not have Infra 1 at game start (and odds are good that if you're playing a little country in one of those groups, you won't), then you are doomed. Infra 1 costs you 18,000 - 25,000d, your economy is wretched (1.5 - 3.0 at best), you have no monarchs of note usually (limiting your monarchal bonus in research), your neighbors are no better off (no neighbor bonus), and you have no events (aside from random ones, which can just as easily be bad).
Now, I'm all for a challenge.....I'm all for making the game as realistic and as true to history as we can make it within the framework of the game itself, BUT.....as of the latest changes, it's somewhere between masochistic and suicidal to play the little countries in poor research groups.
Why is this important? Why should it matter to you? Well, a few reasons spring to mind:
1) The countries are selectable and playable....it'd be nice if they were actually functional enough to be viable play choices. Note that this does NOT mean I'd like to see every country that can be selected in the game, be able to do a World Conquest, World Colorization, or even be able to win in VP's....I'm simply saying that if a country is selectable, then it should at least be....functional.
2) Balance matters. People will argue that the NA indians, for example, were of no particular consequence in terms of European settlement of this continent, and that their inferior technology rendered them a moot point. I would argue otherwise. NA indian tactics had never before been seen by the Euro explorers and conquerers, and had they united against the Europeans early on, then the history of the North American continent could have well been quite different, vast technological differences or not. Balancing the game such that the major European powers do not implode within the first couple of years is more important than, say, making sure Ashanti or Brunei is even remotely playable, but as the game is a historical sim, and these nations *did* exist, and were functional entities, then at least some token nod should be given to make them so in-game, if chosen by a player (and by functional, I mean "capable of doing something other than fast-forwarding 50-75 years and praying that in that time you don't get a bad event like a rebellion or any sort of inflation, which could well set you back another 15-20 years."
3) The game engine is robust enough to handle it. Yes, it has a European center, and that's cool. Not a thing in the world wrong with that, but since the other countries are out there as selectable choices, it'd be nice to at least be able to function.
The core of the problem lies in the fact that the latest beta requires TC's to collect annual income. These countries I"m talking about can't afford to mint coin to operate, because they are already saddled with obscene tech costs, and when Infra 1 costs 25,000, and your monthly research contribution is 2d, even a 1% inflation rate is crippling indeed.
I don't have any solutions to the problem, except perhaps to exempt the poor tech group nations from needing TC's, or to make TC's available to them at Infra 0.....they'd still have to build them everywhere, which is a challenge enough when you make less than 20d a year, but at least it'd be a start.
So.....this thread is dedicated to the "little guys." Those tiny nations that everybody else either looks over or ignores. The countries that WISH they were in the Middle Eastern tech group cos it's so much better than theirs!
In the drive to make the game all the more compelling for the folks that love playing in Europe and the Middle East, I offer my voice in support of the countries nobody wants to touch with a ten foot pole, and for us quirky, strange players who enjoy them!-=Vel=-
