Hottie: "Damn! I'd tap that!" - Born with such good looks the opposite gender around your sovereign become dribbiling morons that don't respect them for who they are. -2 diplomacy with opposite gender. On the other hand you can have anyone you want. +2 children.

 

I definately prefer the trade off within one concept style. It is more consitent and makes more sense. Just sayin.

How about:

-Shakmatist: You are a strategic mastermind. In battle your units receive a bonus (that part is up for discussion).

-Spoiled: You were raised in a bubble of patronization and are even now surrounded by corrupt psychofants. Your economy and culture is proportionally stagnant. (The last Tsar syndrome)

-Rasputonned: A charismatic charlatan has taken the ear (and likely much more) of your wife, promissing to heal your ill child for a price. A significant portion of your treasury is directed to this end.

-Uniter of the people: You have the ability to raise units to defend the motherland, Gorodskiyeh Streltsy (City Guard).

The russian soveirgns have a plethora of personality traits that may be useful for such a game. Who doesn't love Ivan the Terrible (actually translated as imposing)?

 

Not sure if some of these are advantages or weaknesses, apologies if some of them are just plain stupid

'Wildmagic' - where some spells occasionaly have weird effects. One time a fireball might Do double damage, or instead summon an army of chickens... maybe tying this in with the 'insane' trait would be good

'Stealthy' - When traveling alone the soveriegn is invisible/hard to find on the world map

'Lich' - The soveriegn is undead, giving resistances to death & weakness to life magic, (hmm might make having kids awkward to)

'Polygamist' - Has lots of wives/husbands

'Rampant' - Has lots of children

'Itchy' - 2% spell failure chance

'Winged' - Has a pair of wings and can fly!

'Martial artist' - Can fight well unarmed

'Vengeful' - If deafeted explodes in a massive explosion

 

 

Again, I like the general direction.   I've 2 wishes here, hope our beloved devs will listen.

Use % (or something that scales at late game) as bonus & penalty.    There is nothing wrong for meditativeness to generate "4" spell points without the aide of city.  However, 4 spell points aren't probably that much in the late game.   Make most, if not all, of these Sov trait affect how player play the game both in the beginning and at the end game.

A Combined slider for talent & weakness for all talents.   Instead of having "ugly" as a weakness, use One slider that ranges from "Ugly as hell" to ugly to normal to handsome to  "the most Handsome man alive".    Let gamer choose the level of +ve and -veness for all traits.   I should be able to choose anywhere from being extremely clumsy to extremely agile

One thing that struck me as odd... That guy with the huge chin - who is one of the canon leaders - has a penaly to the cost of buildings when he is in the city, but a bonus to finishing the buildings when he is present. Bonusses like these make it very hard to actally circumvent them. You can easely boot our sovereign from the city when ordering buildings done, and then move him back the same turn afer costs are substracted form the treasury.

One way to prevent abuse like this would be to give a city a bonus when the sovereign is there. This bonus should build up over time. If your sovereign should leave a city for even a turn, the bonu8s should instantl vaporise so that moving in and out of a city to 'cheat' is not rewarding.

 

On the topic of suggesting talents and weaknesses:

I am all for talents and such tha are interesting from a role-playing perspective rather than useful. One of these things may be that your sovereign carries with him an amulet that he cannot remember where he got it, and that he will not part with. Then there can a a quest or two related to this amulet, for better or worse... At creating the sovereign you have no idea if it belongs to an ancient evil dragon that will want the amulet back, or that it turns out to be an heirloom that rightfully apoints the sovereign as the leader of all empires or kingdoms. Anything less dramatic would also be possible of course, the fact that you never know how it may impact the game is what makes it awesome.

Also a talent where your sovereign is magically bound to a gem or something while the nation is led by an underling would be cool. That way you can have a hero as leader instead of a sovereign. You start with a weaker leader, but your armies will be led by the sovereign spirit, making them more effective overall, boosting their morale and making them resistant to charm effects.

A trait where your sovereign can get bounties for wandering villains or bandits may also be cool.

Any trait related to questing would be nice. Your sovereign may be able to get more quests, or get a bigger reward for them.

Your sovereign may get a bigger benefit when drinking potions.

 

 

Related to the discussion I think: any chance we could save the game progress when simply in the midst of building your character? There are alot of decisions to make and a great deal to choose from - it would be wonderful to be able to come back to the process later, after you`ve had time to think about things, and once more time has been made available in your own schedule to seriously sit down and continue with your 'generation'.

A lot of good ideas in the replies. I particularly like Wintersong's proposed talents and weaknesses, "Soul eater" is a great one.  

I also must agree with many of the first replies that just a small modifier like +1 hp or -1 strength isn't that exciting. 

In fact this is what you normally get in a game, so it would be really good if elemental could go one step further and use a system that you will actually remember afterwards.

What I realised when thinking about e.g. the system in GC2 was that a "passive modifier" doesn't make the game more fun even when it is hugely important and influential in the game. Take for example the Federalist modifier in GC2 giving you +20% (or was it +15%??) bonus to economy. Hugely important, but the game isn't really any more fun to play and you never really think about it.

What would be better is to always try and make something active out of the talents, so that the player can take action and DO something, affecting the game. For example, instead of having "Merchant"/"Commercial" mean +2 gold per turn or +2% economy/gold, it should give the sovereign the possibility to cash in a certain amount/percentage of gold (gained from an especially lucrative transaction), once or a few times during the game. This is more fun because it means you as a player can decide when you badly need more gold. Like, when you are out of gold you can use the ability to save your hard-pressed civ. Or when you need to urgently construct an expensive building you cash in the gold. Or maybe you are dreaming of buying/making that magical item but lack the money, and through your talent your dream comes true ... 

A similar approach could be used for many (maybe not all, but fundamentalism is seldom good anyway) talents and maybe some weaknesses too. Would make for a much more involving experience where your sovereign would feel more unique and you would remember how you had to play your talents instead of just going though the game with a number of passive modifiers that you don't really think about. Just my two cents. 

Here are my 2 cents.

I see these positive and negative talents as separated into a few categories.  Some could offer relatively large magnitude benefits / detriments, which don't scale but offer significant upfront advantages / disadvantages.  This could include a special weapon or artifact that is quite useful for awhile but might later become outdated, an extra / fewer set or sets of troops or scouts, a starting hero, extra / less starting gold or a unique resource, etc. Having troops with the ability to swim would be another option (ala lizardmen in MOM)

Others could scale with the size of the economy etc. and offer relatively little early but progressively larger benefits as the game progresses.  These could be percentage improvements to the economy or to research, troop hitpoints, attack, defense, etc.  Alternatively (and this is something I would really like), an especially elite or unique late game troop type might be a nice thing to look foward to down the road.  These should be as good or better than anything which is normally available in their category.  Having improved city defenses with high attack turrets and high hitpoint walls might be another option for a defensive gameplan.

Finally, I also like the idea of having some talent choices having prerequisites.  These should include some of the most desirable.  Prerequisites should make sense and would be most interesting if they included detrimental options (as others have said).

I think a fundamental decision has to be made whether or not these talents are only chosen at the beginning of the game (something which I would favor) or could be added as the game progresses and certain points, etc. are earned.  I think the former would be much easier to balance, in terms of alternative playing styles, than the latter.

Honest - 30% increased Diplomatic Power, Treatise are 30% cheaper, cannot break a deal (only cancel within alotted time)

Deceptive - Diplomatic Treatise are 30% more expensive, can break at ANY time.

 

Generous - 10% less taxes, 20% more prestige

Greedy - 10% more taxes, 20% less prestige

 

Leader of the People - 15% more prestige and diplomacy, 10% longer troop training costs

Selfish Leader- 15% less diplomacy and prestige, 10% faster troop training costs

 

Arrogant- Sovereign magic and attack damage is increased 10%, Champions and Mercenaries are 10% more expensive to recruit.

Humble- Soveriegn defense and hp increased 10%, damage decreased 15%, Champions and Mercenaries are 15% cheaper to recruit.

 

Good Father- can only take one wife, children have increased stats, longevity, and loyalty

Inattentive Father- can take multiple wives, children will have flaws (arrogance, selfishness, greed, insanity)

 

Malignant- increased diplomatic relations with Empire, decreased diplomacy with Kingdom. Soveriegn attack increased 10%, mercenaries increased cost 5%

Benevolent- Decreased Diplo with Empire, Increased diplo with Kingdom. Sovereign defense increased 10%, Mercenaries increased cost 5%

 

Harmonious- diplomatic treaties are 15% cheaper, Mercenaries are 5% cheaper, Arcane research increased 5%

Discord- treaties 15% more expensive, Mercenaries 5% more expensive, Military research is 20% cheaper

 

Sorceror- Arcane research increased 20%, troops 10% more expensive, science research 10% slower. Spells 5% stronger

Scholar- Arcane research 10% slower, science research 15% cheaper. Seige Engines/Guns 10% stronger

Warlord- Arcane research 5% slower, Science research 5% slower, troops 10% cheaper, soldiers 5% stronger

Necromancer- undead related spells are 20% easier to research, 20% quicker to cast, Undead are 20% cheaper, and 10% stronger. Living units are 10% weaker.

Fire Mage- Fire spells are 10% cheaper and 5% stronger, all other spells are 10% more expensive and 5% weaker.

(continued for each element)

Archer- ranged attacks have 10% increased attack, range, and damage. All units have 10% less defense. (all units)

Fighter- hitpoints increased 10%, defense increased 10%, ranged attacks 10% less range. (all units)

Bezerker- attack increased 10%, damage increased 10%, magic 10% more expensive (all units)

Barbarian- hitpoints increased 10%, damage increased 10%, prestige decreased 10% (all units)

Paladin- defense increased 10%, magical defense increased 10%, prestige increased 10% (magical defense is Sov only)

Ranger- all units movement speed increased, armies can travel faster, supply routes less important.

Knight- Mounted units attack, defense, attack(Speed), move(Speed), hitpoints increased 10% AND +1. Mounted training time increased 10%. Nobility Prestige +10% (only Royal units get increased prestige)

Healthy +10% HP

Feeble -10% HP

 

Stubborn - Diplomacy 10% harder, 10% Magic Defense, Spells 5% more expensive

Open Minded - Diplomacy 10% easier, 10% Magic Weakness, Spells 5% cheaper, Magical Attack and damage increased 10%

 

Elitist- Lower Population Capacity, increased Prestige, Troop training time +50%. Troop stats +1, combat speed doubled.

Populist- Higher Population Capacity, decreased Prestige, Troop Training time -50%. Prestige from Quests halved.

 

Egalitarian- increased prestige, 10% longer troop training time. 10% more science. NPC's more likely to join.

Slaver- decreased prestige, 10% more taxes, 15% more food. NPC's less likely to Join.

Minion- less likely to have Children, decreased Prestige

Robust- more likely to have Children, increased Hitpoints

 

Womanizer- more likely to have a Bastard. (cost points)

Faithful- never have a bastard. (will give you points)

 

Sexist- Diplomatic Penalties with Sovereigns of the Opposite Sex. Longer Troop training of Troops of Opposite Sex (if even allowed) ... includes Chauvanistic and Feminist

Austere- increased tax income and magical reseach, less likely to have children.

Lewd- decreased chances to marry, increased chances of having a bastard (even before marriage)

Beaurocrat- less maintanence, increased taxes, increased productivity, less likely to have children

Artist- increased Prestige, decreased tax income, more likely to have bastards

Experimental (on the citizens)- increased magical and scientific research, slower population growth

***Disclaimer*** the following Post is merely idea-spam, and does not take itself seriously. Rename any of the following traits if it seems redeemable or usable. Any corrolations to reality should not be taken seriously.

Russian- unit sizes are doubled (at no additional cost), Best Seige Weapons

German- HitPoints are doubled, Second Best Seige Weapons

American- trade routes give double commerce, citizens give less science but Universities give triple science

Israeli- Soldiers Equipment is 50% cheaper. All soldiers have +1 AttK/Def

Polish- all mounted units get +1 attack and +1 speed

Roman- all soldiers, all stats +1, upkeep +10, roads 50% cheaper and 20% more effective

Mongol- all mounted units get +2 attack and +2 speed ... as well as increased archery range. All non-mounted are 50% weaker.

Chinese- unit sizes increased 150% at no additional cost.

Japanese- Soldier Training times doubled, HitPoints and Attack Speed Doubled. any Tech is 10% cheaper for each player that has already researched the tech. Max is 90% cheaper.

Egyptian- Houses can hold 50% more people. Food can feed 50% more people. Chariots 20% more hitpoints and +1 speed.

Indian- Food can feed 100% more people.

Native American- Magic reasearch increased 10%, Tech research decreased 10%, spells 5% cheaper and 5% stronger

Aztec- buildings 50% cheaper

Incan- Roads 50% cheaper, City Upkeep 50% cheaper, Mountains are farmable

Ottoman- Cavalry 20% cheaper, 10% more hitpoints, +1 movement

Byzantine- Trade lanes twice as effective, Sea-lanes triple effective. Navy 50% cheaper.

Athenian- Navy 50% cheaper, +1 all stats

Spartan- Solder Training time doubled, +2 all stats, 50% more hitpoints

French- Buildings 10% cheaper, Diplomatic Treatese 20% cheaper, +10% overall prestige, art +20% prestige

Italian- Art gives +10% prestige, Buildings give +15% prestige

British- Sea-lanes are double as effective. Zero Distance maintanence Costs. Navy +1 all stats. Universities give double science. Archers 20% longer range.

Arabian- Mounted units +1 attack, all units +1 movement speed. Equipment 20% more expensive, Training time 20% faster. 10% faster Arcane research

Ethiopian- increased population growth.

Malinese- 10% more tax income, trade routes 50% more effective

Carthaginian- 50% cheaper Magical Mounts, 20% cheaper Mercenaries.

Spaniard- Mounted Units +20% vs melee units. Ships are faster and more hitpoints

Portugese- Ships 50% cheaper, +1 movement, increased carrying capacity. Sea lanes +50%

Mexican- Soldiers 50% cheaper, equipment 30% more expensive, training time 50% faster.

 

(back to purely On-topic)

Obsessed with Blood- increased experience for killing and victories, less experience for bloodless combat (taking prisoners reduces experience, killing them while helpless increases experience, torturing captured Champions increases experience, executing Captured Champions personally greatly increases experience)

Humanist- taking prisoners gives more experience than killing them. Releasing captured prisoners for free gives greatly increased experience.

 

Vile- decreased chances of having Children, causes Fear in enemy soldiers. Diplomatic bonus when conversing with Ugly and/or Morbid and Malicious magical creatures (like demons, undead, and Edar) ... even if Edar are technically Beautiful. Does not include Dragons because dragons are Solitary as opposed to particularly Malicious .... although it WOULD include a Bone Dragon or a Draco-Lich.

Gambler- increased taxes, higher RNG variation during battle (for your own units)

DemiGod- all magical items, when equipped onto you, give double bonuses and no negative effects.

 

Lizard-Skinned- increased chance of having children with a fallen spouse, decreased chance of having children with a human spouse, Bonuses towards recruiting Edars, Umberdroths, Dragons, and other scaly goodies. Penalties towards recruiting Trolls, Demons, Mercenaries, and NPC champions. Attk/Def/Hitpoints +10%. DIplo bonuses with Fallen factoins (?)

Beautiful Human- increased chance of having children with a human, Diplo penalties with Lizard-Skinned sovs, Penalties towards recruiting Dragons, Edars, Demons, Trolls. Bonuses towards recruiting Mercenaries, NPC champions, Wives. Diplo bonuses with Human race Factions.

 

Demon Worshipper- 10% Arcane Research bonus, Diplo Penalties for everyone, Bonuses towards recruiting demons, undead, and trolls. Diplo Bonuses for Demons and Titans*.

*=anything not Lizardskinned or Human/mammalian

Frenzy- each kill gives a 5% chance to go into a frenzy ... uncontrollable, only uses non-magical attacks, 20% bonus to all stats, 10% chance of wearing off per turn.

Fire-Demon- any fire attacks against Sov are absorbed as health regen. Blocks Ice-Demon, Lightning-Demon, and Earth-Demon.

Sprinter- when moving alone, (or with Champions/Cavalry only) will travel 50% faster on roads than usual.

Crippled- 50% slower when not on a Road. 50% slower move-speed in battle.

Impotent- extremely small chance of having children, may adopt NPC champions into the Family.

Inattentive spouse- increased chance for Children to not be yours (if female, this means more bastards, if male, this means ... they aint your kids? Either way, such children would not have the genetic advantages of being Channeler offspring)*

Would channeler offspring have unaturally longer lives, and greater magical defense and magical aptitutude? Lets assume most people in elemental can live to 150 yrs or so. Sovs can live 10,000 years, Sov Children can live 1,000 years or so?

Something that occurs to me is that maybe, rather than just picking talents and weaknesses, you have a system where you slot one talent and one weakness in, and use the resulting trait- different combinations would yield different results. For example, if you combine "lucky" and "stupid" you get "Fool's Luck," meaning that while you're really stupid, you're also nigh-immune to negative events.

This'd also allow to combine seemingly oppostie traits. For example, if there was a "genius" trait that aided research, and you combined it with the "stupid" trait you'd get "Idiot Savant," where you'd get huge bonuses to research but another stat would suffer dramatically.

Just thinking, I like this idea... I'd have fools luck being unlocked and automatically gained when you mix traits, lost when you lose a prerequisite.

 

Another thought, related to the above. Traits/items gained trough quests... with some form of adventurer trait, that gives different results when combined with other traits... Whatever is best used by that trait. So Adventurer + unlucky would be more likely to gain cursed items of luck. A+ lucky would be more likely to find gold. Adventurer + having slayed a dragon would give dragonslayer.

Thoughts to add then:
Traits having multiple prerequisites (level, other traits, events, actions)
Some traits gained automatically once all prerequisites are met (handsome gained if charisma is high enough)
Traits gained through adventure options/events would have 1 prerequisit (event) and be automatically gained for some, others could be selected later... (you may have found the book of doom, but didn't read it)

I quite like that idea... mainly because if we can add curses you'd be able to stop stealing of your items... similar theme
Ungodly - all magical items attributes are reversed... be on the lookout for curses and avoid those lucky pendants.
Ungodly troops - same as above but all normal troop equipment is harmful, have ungodly versions that would damage normal troops. (if we can loot or scavange troop equips after battle... if not it could simply be a spell to imbue heros with.)

Murderous- all units can increase their morale by killing more troops. A unit's kill count factors into their overall morale for the positive.

Pacifist- training times are increased 30%, Can only recruit from 35% of the population (as opposed to 50), 10% more Taxes, 10% more science, Trade Routes increased 100%, prestige +10%

Warlike- training times decreased 20%, all soldiers get +10% attack (or +1?). Diplomatic Ventures cost 20% more, foreign trade routes are 20% less effective.

Savage- Diplomacy is 50% more expensive, -30% prestige, training times decreased 50% (twice as fast training), all soldiers +10% HP and +1 attack.

 

 

Talented- 50% extra Sovereign points to spend, Soveriegn requires 50% more experience to level up.

Genius- 20% less initial Sovereign points to spend, however everything gives him DOUBLE the experience points, and each level requires 50% less experience.

Brilliant- 10% extra Sov points, 15% more experience required to level up, upon killing a Sovereign, will randomly gain half of his positive traits.

Mad- 10% penalty in everything. Every 10 turns, a random Physical Trait is increased 30% and an Economic/ Ministrative stat increased 20%. Every 10 turns, a different level of Child-fertility.

I would prefer each talent has hes own counterpart weakness. And you can adjust how strong or weak each part should be.

Fire Magic 0  <--|--> 0 Water Magic

 

Possibility A (Balanced Increase/decrease):

Fire Magic +3  <-|---> -3 Water Magic

 

Possibility B (Higher decrease)

Fire Magic +3  <-|---> -6 Water Magic

 

Possibility C (high Increase = more decrease)

Fire Magic +2  <-|---> -2 Water Magic

Fire Magic +4  <-|---> -4 Water Magic

Fire Magic +6  <-|---> -8 Water Magic

Fire Magic +8  <|----> -12 Water Magic

 

 

Someone may have listed these traits already but I didn't see them (there are a lot of good ones out there):

TRACKER/explorer - gains one extra tile for line of site on map.  It this is too powerful it could be split up and applied to a single type of landform.

GREAT LEADER -all units with a unit with this trait gain a bonus to their fighting skills.

THIRD EYE- has a 10% to know the nature of a random event a trun or two before it happens.

CHARISMATIC -townsfolk will not rebel while this unit is in town.

REGIONAL PLANNER- roads (by whatever means) are developed faster.

SICKLY- Now and then this units becomes sick and is unavailable for use for up to 5 turns.

GARDENER - wastland recovers at a slightly faster rate under his/her guidence

INDUSTRIALIST - mining or harventing of one resource become slightly faster.

ILLUSIONIST - if attached, there is a 10% chance that the attachers will completely miss this unit and its associated armies which are moved to an adjacent tile.

 

 

Well, personally in a game like this, I think Idea A is the best, "equal give and take".

However, in some situations, it might be better to go with Model C to prevent abuse.

Model B just seems Hackneyed, imho. Anything but model B :p

Half Tree- weakness to Fire, Orchard output Doubled, Defense Doubled when within Forest/Trees. Plant related spells are cheaper and more powerful.

Half Dragon- extremely virile, resistant to all elements, excell in COLOR type of magic (fire for red), +10 starting hitpoints.

Half Titan- you are immortal. You have acess to all spells w/o shards, however your only source of mana is from shards. +10 starting hitpoints.

Half Edar- +10 magic attack

Half Demon- +20 hitpoints, +2 attack, + 2 defense

Half Boulder- +10 defense, 75% defense against Wind attacks.

Half Rat- +5 movement speed, +2 attack speed, can travel invisibly if alone.

Half Idiot: "Oh noes! A dwagon!" - So foolish you forgot to choose the other half! Now your all idiot, all the time.

 

Are you implying the Half-traits a bit much? ... hehe, perhaps. Would probably be expensive either way. Like 20 sov points :p

In any case, you can only choose one Half. The other half will be your default race.

Invisible friend - (prereq Insane?) Chance to be given 'special' quests/tasks with unique/no rewards.