[quote=âGrigor, post:14, topic:1242, full:trueâ] [âŠ] the player should have the choice between:
- Executing all the prisoners (or the people inhabiting the city, village, or the tribe)
- Banishing, exiling, unsettling or deporting them, driving them away from what was formerly âtheirâ land, now âoursâ.
- Enslaving them, and either selling them outright on the spot, or taking them all back to the playerâs city, to work for us (or send them to our colony, a mine, to toil?)
- Assimilating them, by for example marrying each woman to our warriors, or killing off only the men of the right age, or something.
[âŠ]
I hope the player would be able to change between different pre-defined position, for example:
- âWomensâ inheritance: none / meagre / substantial / equalâ
- âPrivate property: only the king / only nobles and priests / all citizensâ
- âSlavery: legal for criminals, debts and enemies / legal only for enemies / illegalâ
- âSlave status: inherited / not inheritedâ
- âCitizenship: only children of a citizen / only children of a citizen and persons of a certain wealth / any free personâ
⊠and many others.
[/quote]
I took time to read your post, @Grigor, as I wanted to do since you posted to say I totally agree with you. Iâd even be bolder: I think that those types of decisions should be one of the prominent features of the game.
In my view, those decisions should be linked to various situations (which is easy to script with triggers). One example: youâre lacking food, and the harsh and long winter prevents any harvesting. Fortunately, there are wild animals in the forests: wolves, bears, etc.
Who should be authorized to go hunting in the wild nature surrounding your settlement? Men and women, sure. Children, if you donât frown upon âchild workâ (even if theyâll find one way or another to find food instead of die by hunger). What about other peoples in the village, either âprisonersâ/âslavesâ or any recent migrants you only half trust? Would you allow them to take weapons and go into the wild, taking the risk they donât come back, or even turn against your own?
An awful lot of such situations may have arisen â and still arise today, as shown by every national newspaper everywhere in the world. Thatâs the common lot of any society facing a new situation and having to react for adaptation.
Aside of replayability given by the fact that different conditions = different choices, this would have one major benefit: it would allow you to forge a whole society, while keeping in the track of historical plausability.
On this topic, I have to answer by advance on critics that would be totally justified: thereâs another city builder expected soon, that relies on such mechanics, making it even one of its core features: Frostpunk, by 11-bit Studio (the creators of This War of Mine). If you look at their website, you may find for example the chains of decisions linked to child work and adaptation to the harsh condition in this world.
Thereâs one major difference though with A.C.: in Frostpunk, youâre a group of survivor having to deal with a frozen, cyberpunk, 19th-century world. Youâre in a âpoint Aâ (critical situation), and try to go to a âpoint Bâ (ideally an established society allowing decent survival in this given universe, by making choices that are morally disturbing).
A.C. places you in a very different situation, in that you donât have any real society established (âpoint 0â instead of âAâ) and the aim is to forge an entire society, historical plausible for Bronze Age (âpoint Aâ instead of âBâ).
As such, this needs far more choices, regarding society, religion, politics, economy, religion, warfare, justice, diplomacy, etc.
Aside of that is the fact you have to deal with foreign influences: every situation creates debates. How they have to be dealt with is also one part of the decisions, as people may react more fiercely to such or such decision, impose a common decision or rely on the leader choices, etc.
As a conclusion: I think that this feature, conveniently done, would be an essential element to give A.C. its very soul. Because each of those decisions made is the common basis for a common live in any society, this also enlarges the short-term considerations: this creates rules and habits, customs, traditions, that will constitute the common ground of the nascent civilization youâre forging, creating debate when taking the decision, but also later between âtraditionalistsâ and âpragmatistsâ/âmodernistsâ.
A few examples of decisions that could appear in the game:
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Society: Should warriors be given a prominent position in society when the common security relies on them, at the risk they show violent against others?
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Society: How should be considered enemies defeated in fights? Prisoners, slaves, welcomed in the tribe? May adult men be considered on the same basis as women? And what of child or elders?
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Religion: Should foreign gods âimportedâ by migrants be allowed at all? What in the case of a foreign priest having a violent religion but great medicinal knowledge?
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Diplomacy: Should foreign tribes be considered as either enemies, submitted or allies; or should they be given any right to neutrality?
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Society/Justice: How should thieving or murder be punished inside the tribe?
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Society/Justice: Should internal family affairs (fights, violence against one member) be left to the family for settlement, or should the community has right to judge any member involved?
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Politics: Should any person be allowed to make common rules by herself/himself (be a king or chief), or should the community discuss those matters at an Assembly? What should be the criteria to be a member of this Assembly: fathers, every adult, non-foreigners, warriors, elders�
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Economy: Should anybody be allowed to possess a granary or a field by him/herself if he builds/grows it and all others are destroyed by a climatic/natural event?
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Society: Should parents of a disabled child be allow to kill/bring him up, if heâs alive, unable to work, needs a part of the meager food rations of the whole family and aside of that wonât survive more than a few months or years and be a burden for the community?
EDIT : as an afterthought, another game may be conveniently used for comparison: Stellaris, where there are policies allowing to take similar decisions: open/close the borders, attitude towards unadvanced civilizations, slavery, etc.
The troubles with this system are double in such a game as A.C. as I dream it:
- Each policy in Stellaris is taken at a cost of âinluenceâ, meaning that if you donât have enough influence left you canât hire a new leader (scientist, governor, admiral), colonize a new planet, change your government form, etc. This limits their use and donât allow any real sentiment of a change in your society. Instead of âinfluenceâ, I think a chief/ruler/king should have to use a part of his/her charisma (low charisma = lower chance to have it succeed); in the case of a collective decision as in an Assembly it should be in accordance with the opinion of the tribe members allowed to speak, whoever they are.
- Each policy (in Stellaris) is quite static. In A.C., if ever implemented, it rather should be called âcustomâ or âtraditionâ, meaning itâs also there to be broken, frown upon, rebelled against. This would allow smooth mutations in the society, exactly like Assyrians were essentially merchants before facing a dire military situation driving them to grow increasingly militaristic, or Hebrews sharing a common faith with most people of the Near East before making the choice to rely entirely on one God.
(the end )