[JimMorrison]

Couple things-


First, on customizable units, I find this to be one of the most intriguing and interesting facets of a game that allows it. First of all, you would only have a select few chassis to build off of per race, according to what they can make. Second, there is already a robust system of gold/resource costs per equipment. There is the point that this MAY have a complicated imapact on balance..... On the one hand, I don't think there would be a "perfect" gear set, some people would go for plate for high prot, others might go scale or chain for lower enc. But it would allow a bit of tinkering such as if someone prefers mauls on their units, or likes falchions. Where it becomes complicated, is at the point of making a DW unit for a nation that usually doesn't get one, or adding shields on a nation that is supposed to be complicated by their lack thereof. I'd think that if the customization were developed for an eventual Dom4 however, that each gear type could be flagged such that everyone's available gear is different. An example would be that Coral and Meteorite armors would only be available aquatically, and only Ulm could outfit with Blacksteel. By the same token, some nations could be barred from kite shields, some would not use polearms, or perhaps would only have one particular chassis available that was flagged for 2h weapons at all. There are a lot of ways to tweak the system so that it gives people a little bit of flexibility, and the ability to play by their own preferences even when it gives no overt advantage, but still add depth to the gameplay. Also, it might be worthwhile to tie modifications in to Construction research in some way. At least for the magic items like Caelian crafted ice, or Blacksteel, you would need Cons research before you could add those special items to your own designs.


Regarding the item forging, again I think that people aren't looking at the interesting ways that these items could be limited. The first thing that I would do, is limit items to one path period, unless there were a costly and time consuming system for artifact creation. These single path items, could ONLY duplicate effects that you had access to via research. So, they would give a little help to people who went for spells before working on Cons, but their items would only reproduce the effects of spells that they can already cast. For example if you wanted a regen item, you'd have to unlock Personal Regeneration first. As to artifact construction, I think it would take some brainstorming to work out a system that makes it compelling to players, while insuring that the items are no more powerful than artifacts already available, but are significantly more costly to create. Also, adding risks of different kinds to artifact creation, such that an item that needs 50 blood slaves to create, could fail and summon a powerful demon that attacks the forger, or an incredibly powerful astral based item has a chance to leave the forger Lost in Time and Space, that sort of thing.



One other thing that I think could be interesting, would be the ability to create free form mercenary bands. The idea being that you would be able to hire independant mercenaries in a province, beyond your natural resources. The costs would be significant, you would not get to choose your commander type or unit type (though having the units be randomly chosen from what is trainable in the province makes sense), you would get a number of men somewhat relative to the amount you threw down to create the company, but there would be a random factor to it as well, to add the element of risk to it. I think this could be an interesting system for multiplayer, so that people have more options to remain competitive at game start, as well as giving a little more flexibility in how you deal with surprises. Of course, these mercenary bands would have the same 3 month contract, with the ability to renew at the end of the contract.

On the subject of mercenaries, I'd also like to see the mercenary bands that already exist, regenerate their numbers in some way. I mean if they take losses, they still demand the same amount of gold, you would think the excess would be used by the captain to replenish his manpower. They are mercenaries after all, if they're not really exotic like trolls or foulspawn or something, they should be able to hire more men, something like 10% a turn or something, which for most bands would only be 2-3 per month, rather slow but worthwhile if those mercs add something to your nation.



Just some thoughts, feel free to shoot some holes in them. <3