There is some Mandate of Heaven in my Despotic Empire

[richtern]

Disclaimer: The feature I am proposing would strictly be for future expansion/dlc. I know it is much too late for initial release.

I had an idea as I was thinking about playing a game as the Byzantine Imperium. Yes, I am one of them...

Anyway, I was considering my government choices when I realized that none of the choices represented what I wanted.

As such I would propose a system by which different govt aspects are coded a point value that correspond to one or more ethos and players get points based on the ethos they select. Players are then able to pick government aspects that align to the ethos of the civilization they built. I.e. Fanatic Individualist and Materialist would receive two Individualist points and one Materialist point. To describe the idea further here is an example:

Civ ethos: Militaristic, Collectivist, and Spiritual
The resulting government would have something like the following:
- Military leaders can lead the nation (from Mil Ethos)
- Slaves +5% resource gathering (from Col Ethos)
- Ethos divergence -5% (from Spir Ethos)

What are everyone's thoughts? I think it would add a new level of depth and customization to the game but at the risk of breaking the KISS principle...

 

[Hertzila]

Future DLC possibility. I'm not sure I like it, because I think the static government foms can be balanced better than a dynamic form.

Also, I think it's better to think of the government form as the practical government of the nation. So a republic could very well be any of the democracies or oligarchies, and a Byzantine style empire could simply be a Despotic Empire or something else from that line.

 

[TheBeautifulVoid2]

This sounds like one of those systems which in theory gives you limitless flexibility, but in practise will have one or two optimal combinations and everyone will just use those instead.

As such, while I think it's a lovely idea, I don't think it's workable.

 

[Haldan]

Byzantine Imperium.

 

[Murmeldjuret]

While I don't oppose the idea, it looks great if well balanced. I almost prefer all that development went to making techs specific to the different ethoses/governments. It is not so much the starting conditions that add replayability and divergence but what happens after.

 

[richtern]

Yeah, something like that. I always enjoy a hopeless cause...

 

[usul294]

I think that while you've got an interesting idea, I think it's more realistic to hope for more government types in future content, perhaps some that aren't unlockable at the start and you grow into as you get larger. After all, Space Byzantium as a new fresh empire looking to expand doesn't make much sense to me.

That said, when you do your Space Byzantium run, please call all of your sectors "theme of _____".

 

[richtern]

I agree it would be challenging to implement well yet I wanted to throw it out there. It may spark an idea in a developer or community member that WILL be implemented.

 

[richtern]

That said, when you do your Space Byzantium run, please call all of your sectors "theme of _____".

Count on it!

 

[richtern]

I think that while you've got an interesting idea, I think it's more realistic to hope for more government types in future content, perhaps some that aren't unlockable at the start and you grow into as you get larger. After all, Space Byzantium as a new fresh empire looking to expand doesn't make much sense to me.

They already do have advanced government types implemented for release. While additional government types would be nice a more fluid government design that would change over time to confirm to the prevailing ethos would be great. However, now I think I may be getting too much Vicky into my Stellaris... Greater customization at the expense of micromanagement and programming hell...