Other threads:
https://forums.galciv3.com/461008/
After playing with ideology a while and reading a forums. i came up with idea.
Currently, many players agree on few issues with ideology:
1) It scales badly with map sizes. Colonization events influence it too much, or rather there is little to no other ways to change your ideology.
2) Cross-ideology is too easy, counter-intuitive and in some cases even immersion-breaking
3) The ideology policies themselves are poorly balanced. No one would take 3 free constructors instead of 100 turns of "cant touch this".
The suggestion here is as follows:
UI on ideology system can change. Instead of three different tabs, we could use three columns.
Policies themselves would be split up on groups, sharing the same theme but different approach from ideologies.
Now, the current five choices in each branch would show up in drop-down menu.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mr_Zff3Pf_rUPDTJg4IdExLk_BAasCWVdHdezbNy-NE/edit?usp=sharing
Idea behind it that all civilizations pursue ultimately the same goals, but with different approach. When malevolent civilization tries to expand, it conquers. When benevolent does, it sends out colonists and seeks out a new opportunities on existing planets.
Now, to make choices between playstyles more meaningful, i propose two things:
First, to make cross-pathing a little more difficult and emphasize on different approaches, we could make choices in the same branch (Expansion, Relations and so on) cost more points depending on the approach. If you picked Pragmatic first, than Benevolent and Malevolent policies in that branch only would cost you more. It could or could not scale on total number of policies in other Approaches, so for example, if you have 4 points in Benevolent expansion and 2 in Pragmatic, it would make your Malevolent expansion choices cost notably more. This WOULD NOT affect other branches, as Influence or Efficiency.
Second, to make commitment in one branch more appealing, i suggest to make each consequent choice in certain branch (for example, Benevolent expansion or Pragmatic influence) more powerful than previous. Policies already do that, but to some degree, and certain branches are lacking compared to others. Besides, bonuses for finishing branches could be added. For example, if you finish abeforementioned Benevolent expansion, it would give you some significant bonus in addition to all policies.
I could make breakdown on branches, like Development or Efficiency, if needed. Overall, this gives us from 75 to 90 different policies.
Now note that English is not my native language, so i could try to explain some of suggestions and ideas if we get some issues here.