Retrofitting

[General Hawkwing]

Seawolf,

Maybe surrendering should not only be less frequent/easy but also more damaging. Like no/limited production for x turns, lose of facilities to "true patriots", rebellion, etc... If one looks at the nations Hitler defeated one learns of a number of different ways resistance was carried on. It would greatly improve balance.
I also believe that surrendering should not happen until an empire is down to at least 1/2 of original population. Bloody? yes but also more realistic.
Also, the AI should never, ever, never tribute or gift a home world.

[Taqwus]

Hmmm.

* There's happiness Ratings. I don't recall the happiness levels immediately after a surrender, but (in 0.56, haven't checked in 0.99) a 'gifted' planet seemed to join as 'Angry', which equates to a production penalty IIRC. If these planets started as 'Rioting'... *shudder*.

If you've previously genocided 20 million of their ilk, they probably SHOULD be rioting when they transfer to your "control"; at least the ones not facing immediate annihilation by your orbiting fleet of planetary bombers... Xenophobic and Beserker races should also, arguably, not go quietly into the night.

FWIW, it may make sense for rioting planets to *lose* facilities/population, and to be treated as enemy. So if you're the Foo, and some of your outworlds get so pissed off at you for whatever reason (say, you're letting them being raided and not bothering to defend them) they may be labelled as "Foo (Rebel)" and act independently, perhaps even attacking loyalist worlds... Right now [0.99], it appears that rioting merely halts production...

* Along the same lines, ships should probably have loyalty Ratings. Perhaps not everybody obeys the call to surrender, say.

* Maybe a 'neutral' race, or one that's simply been pushed to the brink of annihilation or otherwise sees it cannot cope on its own, should offer to surrender to empires that are a) powerful enough to help, b) nearby, and c) well-liked. Basically, voluntary assimilation. In that case, maybe you should be allowed to take advantage of the 'special' tech they have, at least at their worlds -- although this is probably a better use of subjugation/protectorate than surrender.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[General Hawkwing]

I've yet to have anything but happy/jubiliant populations. Had 1 planet gifted Last night and failed to check. I'll look tonight.

[Psitticine]

quote:

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Originally posted by Taqwus:
* Maybe a 'neutral' race, or one that's simply been pushed to the brink of annihilation or otherwise sees it cannot cope on its own, should offer to surrender to empires that are a) powerful enough to help, b) nearby, and c) well-liked. Basically, voluntary assimilation.

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I remember both enjoying the realism and grinding my teeth when an opponent in MOO2 would surrender to another, stronger race instead of allowing itself to fall to me when their oncoming defeat had become too obvious to ignore.

That would be a great piece of AI to add to SEIV, albeit a potential challenge for the coders!

[General Hawkwing]

Or tribute everything away to an ally AI. I've seen this done in AOE2.

In reply to my early post: The gifted/tributed planets are happy. They know a good leader when they see one.