Re: Henges - pregame discussion
 

Yep. A script will check who owns the provinces and which spells are cast and change them accordingly. To be fair I don't have everything worked out yet - except the research, gem gen (including national gem boni) and recruitment (except for balancing and foolproofing concerns :) ). I know of a way to make the discount thingy (thanks to lch) which might prove tricky in practice and some of the national boni won't be easy either. This thread is mostly here to check interest and get some pregame balancing ideas, so that I don't do it in vain. As I should maybe add (I'm to honest to end up in advertising ...) there is of course the possibility that I have bugs in that show up a couple of turns into the game. I will of course have backups and try to fix them asap, but there's no guarantee that nothing bad happens.

I know. But I don't want to play on a balanced map (as long as balanced means everyone starts in a farmland and has a forest next to him).
I think you should not take balance questions so serious - the game is not balanced in the first place, the water nations are a pretty good example on any map.
If you have another map suggestion that fits the "realistic" geology condition you can put it forward, but I will take the best map that suits my fancy which is Parganos atm. Glory of the Gods is fine also, if we get enough players.

I wanted to make capitols dormant henges also (without the astral income). No special boni on henges.

Yes. One at a time though. Noone wants to know what happens if you open up gates into hell and into heaven at the same place and time. Although if people really want and it's not too difficult to code I might just add the possibility. :D
For the lower elemental gates, as well as the other enchantments you can overwrite them if you want but you can always have just one in place at a time. I'm thinking about keeping the paths about the same, except maybe lowering astral to 7. Also remember that these setting will affect your SC factory habits a lot. If I make the tartarian gate to last 3 turns, I d7 mage can keep two or three of these up (depending on wether they are remote spells). You will be more limited by nature access and gem restraints.

All EA nations are allowed, none is required (i.e. I'm fine to play without water nations if noone takes them).

I'm more thinking along the lines of how many RP per gold. I'm not entirely decided but here's an suggestion.
Let's say a cost of 8%*researchers active of your income (hopefully after upkeep :)).
Each 100 gp of cost amounts to ~ 25 rp for the first 1000 gp, ~ 15 for the next 2000 and 5 for the next 4000. So this gives us:

• 25 rp for 100 gp (needs > 125 gp income)
• 125 rp for 500 gp (needs > 625 gp income)
• 250 rp for 1000 gp (needs > 1250 gp income)
• 550 rp for 3000 gp (needs > 3750 gp income)
• 750 rp for 7000 gp (needs > 3750 gp income)

Ok. I'm not to sure I can picture them TNN as being more into air than Caelum though, if you can think of some other boost that would help them?
This would free up the N gems for Pangea, which I'm fine with.

I really don't think Arco is very strong. Oreiads are nice but the first berserker or fireball that's coming your way...
Their research bonus won't be over the top (~ 10% or maybe I make it sloth dependent 4% per sloth) and no nation will be able to finance full research and still recruit their national thugs early on.
(And as in vanilla, philosophers are treated as knowledgeable about magic).

Make a better suggestion. :p
Well, it is quite hard to implement and I'm still considering it a bit dull so... Where I'd like to end idealy is something that makes turmoil a good option (since Germans = lots of infighting).

Hmm, ok the dain oni sounds really powerful but the kuro oni/oni general sounds fine.

Hmm, speaking of which I could give nations with completely overshadowed cap-only also the possibility to recruit them from henges, I don't know if that's possible for everyone though.

Re: Henges - pregame discussion
 

If you don't think Arco is powerful, I'd be happy to play them =)

Is it possible to artificially increase the luck scale in provinces for TNN? That might be thematic, although it also encourages taking misfortune. Admittedly, with how desperate TNN is for pretender points, this might be a positive change overall.

Ulm - not sure how possible, but freespawn barbarians or something in provinces relative to turmoil strength? (Sort of like Pan's maenad batteries, but not dependent on a unit, just the province generates free recruits)

Re: Henges - pregame discussion
 

Yeah, Dai Oni could be really overkill.

Oh, I had a few map recommendations. There are 2 different versions of a map called Orbus Deus that I think would fit your prefered map style. I believe they were made by aristander. This is a pretty large map... over 300 provinces.

Rim of darkness. This is a mediumish sized map and would ideally support about 10 players. Has serious income disparities that might need to be looked into.

Tyrande 108. I'm not sure if the version available on the map and mod browser works out of the box, but I have a working version of this map. It's pretty, does terrain clustering, and ideally supports about 7 players.

Thinking about it, world of warhammer would work also if you don't mind the cave network.