Make seasons meaningful

One of the reasons I've thought there should be a turns/seasons toggle in Options is that they are just confusing UI clutter without some meaningful connection(s) to gameplay.

Combat modifiers would be one interesting way to make the 'calendar' meaningful, but so would linking it to other subsystems like diplomacy (the 'social' season when info flows more freely and deals are generally more likely), dynastic marriages (the wedding season), and, in my dream world, the strategic magic system--tie some big, land-changing spells to the seasons, maybe connect the elements to seasons and make summoning fire elementals easier in the summer, that sort of thing.

Four seasons and four elements... Hmmm... What about...
Summer - Fire (Heat)
Fall - Air (Wind)
Winter - Water (Ice, Snow, and Rain)
Spring - Earth (Growth, plants)

During the corresponding season your spells could act as if you had one more shard of that type than you actually do...

Good idea, but what if you have zero shards of that type? What if you have every shard but Earth in the Spring? Can you then cast the Spell of Making?

I would say no;  a season should only magnify shards that you already possess, it could even be a percentage based modifier rather than acting as a full shard level.  You're not gaining mana from the seasons like you do from a shard, so you shouldn't be able to cast spells of that particular element type without access to that shard.

Either way, things like this are difficult to justify, because it adds a level of complexity that doesn't necessarily add to the enjoyment of the game.  It would simply be another set of rules to try and consider, instead of adding an interesting and fun mechanic to the game.  Travel could be slower in the winter to mimic the difficulty of warring in the snow, except, that would just be frustrating and not much fun.  Spring could be the "Social Season" except that just means you would skip through turns to get the bonus associated with diplomacy in the Spring.

If something like this were implemented though, I think the magic system would be the best suited for it, because it would make sense in terms of the lore, or would at least be close enough to be able to tie it in without much fuss. Plus, it would make sense on a logical level, of course it should be easier for a Fire Elemental to be stronger, or take less effort to cast in the Summer than in the Winter.  The only issue with this too though is that the seasons are very short, so the benefit of having a Fire Elemental have a bonus during the summer would be marginal.

I was all set to come in here and say this was a dumb idea, because I was thinking about it in terms of realistic weather effects and logistics. (which would be good, were a season something like ten turns instead of one, but is just too much when it shifts every turn).

But tying it to elements is a brilliant idea. Sarudak's idea of just tacking another shard onto the count is simple and implementable.

brycex99's idea for a more pervasive system is certainly preferable, but it's also going to take longer to implement.

Regarding bryces99's suggestion that it adds little to gameplay: This means you and your opponent will be jockeying for position on the strategic map, hoping to have battles occur when your own magic is strongest.

I meant that actually in terms of adding other systems to the gameplay, not the magic,  I actually really like the magic idea that came out of it. It makes sense with the Elements and all that, but I feel like it would need a more robust fleshing out to make it more useful instead of just another thing we ignore because it doesn't really effect the outcome of our games that much.  Adding a shard level would be a simple adjustment, but I'm not sure how much it would actually impact my games, considering that magic at this point isn't incredibly useful in the late game.

Essentially, I want to see the magic system in it's current state worked out to a point of polish that would make adding an idea like Season/Element based modifiers more useful.

That was my subtext, which was probably obvious to anyone who is familiar with my long-term obsession with the still-scrawny magic system.

Re your 'added complexity without added fun' points, well, I can agree that seasons might be more fun if they lasted for more than one turn. But I'm an old fan of interesting trade-offs, even if they aren't particularly 'realistic.' Sure, waiting for the fall social season to do any diplomacy would become a standard practice. But, especially with multi-turn seasons, the game should be able to present occasions where a player wants/needs to try for a deal and can't delay things until the nobility head into their townhouses and start going to balls.

The other way to do it would be to have Effects change year by year and the season would be an indicator of how long the current effect was going to last.

I'd just like to have snow on tiles in the winter, and maybe the occasional rain effect in some fall seasons.  Though I'll admit the gameplay ideas are interesting, I'd think that a season would need to last at least 3 turns before it would come into it's own (better defense from hills with snow on the ground, even the magic system buffs would come around too often to be meaningful and interesting if they were every 4 turns).

The problem is if we make seasons so long then children take proportionally longer to mature. Unless you say that seasons last much longer in the elemental world. Which would actually be interesting although I don't see how it could be possible from a physical standpoint.

Seasons actually correspond to a planet's axial tilt, not its motion around the star. There's no reason why there has to be a fixed relationship between seasons and years.

Sarudak, one way to help that is to reduce the "of age" requirement for children.  25 years old is crazy (or however old they are) and I feel like 18 is a pretty legitimate year to get them out there (probably even 14 - 16 if we're in the feudal mindset). Let's face it, the world needs to be rebuilt, and you're going to let your child sit around for 7 - 9 years when they could be out helping? No way. I agree with tana though, the seasons would come and go so quickly, that the bonuses, I fear, would lose their meaning.

Swicord, I'm a huge fan of trade offs as well, I think that's what every 4X game should really be about at it's core.  What do I research? Do I need some new weapons, or the ability to build a Market? Late game doesn't matter because you can get everything within 3 turns, but early game those decisions can make or break a faction.  As long as new changes can add that sort of trade off to a player, while still being meaningful and fun, then it's worth it.  Balance is the hard part to find, and considering all the ideas floating around the forums, if they were all added, the game would be nothing but complexity and probably not much fun