Legends mode is a great look into the history of a given world. It is however not a great way to get a good and quick overview of the world. As such, I would like to propose an overview mode that provides a look at the current situation in a world, divided into a number of topics. The topics I think would be of interest would be:
Major Civilizations
* This topic would list the ten largest (in terms of population) civilizations along with the race of the civilization, plus any extant civilizations playable in Dwarf mode that aren't on the list already (helping to avoid that "I've played for an extinct civilization for all this time?" moment). The Dwarf mode playable civs could be color-coded to make them stand out.
* Choosing a civilization from this list would then give an overview like the following:
The Pillar of Fire is a dwarven civilization existing in the Realm of Gems. Its capitol is *Stormgear*. It has an approximate population of 35000, with about 90% being dwarves, 10% being humans, and a small number being elves and goblins. The Pillar of Fire consists of 7 mountain homes, 30 hill settlements, and about 100 assorted sites of other types, divided among three duchies.
The current king of The Pillar of Fire is the dwarf Urist Axeiron. He is married to the dwarf Kogan Spearpalace the Destroyer of Storms, who is also the general of the Pillar of Fire, and has five children. He has ruled for 30 years and is 67 years old.
The Pillar of Fire is currently at war with the goblin civilization The Lies of Hatred and the human civilization *The Nation of Sorcery*, and is allied with the human civilization *The Empire of Bashing*.
Mayor Cities
* This topic would list the ten most-populated sites, plus any capitols of the mayor civilizations that aren't on the list already, along with their type (city, hamlet, dark fortress etc) and whether it is a capitol.
* The city overview could look like the following:
Starisland is a walled city in the human civilization *The Empire of Bashing*, originally founded by the human civilization *The Nation of Sorcery*. It has an approximate population of 9000, with about 70% humans, 20% elves, 10% dwarves, and a small number of goblins.
Starisland holds two market squares, a walled keep, seven temples, and a port as major structures. It has a mayor, the elf Cacame Rosetulip.
Major products found in Starisland include iron weapons and tools, helms, whale meat, whale leather items, and whale bone items.
Current Political Situation
* This topic would list the currently ongoing wars, alliances, and other major political situations involving the major civilizations. The overview of a war, if there is one, could include the number of battles fought so far, the number of years the war has been going, and the number of casualties.
Flora and Fauna (with sub-items)
* These listings would only become interesting in mods or when there are more procedurally-generated objects than now. The sub-items could include civilized creatures (any that are part of an entity), most common creatures/predators (and thus the ones most likely encountered), (semi)megabeasts (but not night creatures or forgotten beasts), most common trees, and most common shrubs.
Cosmology
* A topic that would only be useful much later on, this could include the general shape of the world, the sun, moon(s), stars and planets at first, and perhaps much later on planes and magic.
The number of major civilizations and cities (and other listings), while I've given them as 10 each, could possibly be controlled with init options if you want to see more or less of the world. Any
I also think a civilization-specific overview along these lines could be interesting for Dwarf and Adventure mode, as a sort of common knowledge, in lieu of allowing access to Legends mode during play.
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Topic: Overview mode as a complement to Legends mode (Read 1341 times)