Nomar Jalstren stood over the body of his fallen foe. He had been a good chief, but old and inflexible, unable change with the new world order. Those who claimed the land now would hold power over those who did not for generations to come. The old chief couldn't see that, for all his kindness and strength. A worthy man. A noble man. Jalstren had liked him- more, he had respected him, even loved him.
But there is only one way to become First Fist of the tribe.
"Do any here dispute that I, Nomar Jalstren, am First Fist of the tribe of the Bear God?" he shouted, raising his bloody spear over his head.
The only reply was the death rattle of the old chief.
"Very well then! Begin construction of a Barracks and a Hunter's Guild! We shall settle here- when the caribou leave, we will not follow!""But what will we eat, Jalstren?""We shall treat with the Alicians, whose food supplies are plentiful! We will share the bounty of the forest with them, in exchange for the fruit of the sea!""We are warriors!" one young man brashly proclaims,
"We want no part of those decadent farmers!""There is plenty of work for warriors, even in these domestic times! Go forth and explore the surrounding lands- give a full accounting of our territory and our neighbors! We shall remain behind, to establish our holds and barracks, and to harvest our resources!"Jalstren dramatically rams his spear into the ground.
"HERE! Here, we shall establish a city to honor our god, Timtalam!"Year One FT (Founding of Timtalam)Much later, Jalstren sat in a crude hut, the first building of the infant city. Before him, scrawled in an untutored hand, was his missive to the Alicians.
Lord General Pathor:
The men of Timtalam seek fair trade with the Alicians. We will supply you with Lumber, in exchange for Fish. Is this bargain acceptable?Short, but it said what must be said. Without further embellishment, Jalstren summoned a messenger and set him towards Alicus.
- Build Barracks
- Build Hunter's Guild
- Propose Trade
- Explore
Since I start with both coal and lumber, it'd be nice to know what exactly those are doing for me. Gonna be hard to trade for food if coal is useless.
I'd advocate limited resources to encourage competition. You could use the values suggested by Errol, or roll for random starting resource amounts. I'd also attach specific effects to each resource- one wheat can support, say, 500 pop, while one cow can only support 250 but also gives happiness, or can be converted into leather at a leatherworks or something. One iron would represent enough military-grade steel to support 3 military units with the +1 bonus, One lumber might reduce build times on one structure/year, whatever.
I'd further suggest buildings that consume one or more resources in exchange for some benefit. A Blacksmith might take Iron and Coal and produce Steel, which gives +1 bonus to 6 military units. Jewelers might take Gold or Gems to enhance the happiness boost, Leatherworks can turn Cow into Leather which gives a bonus when defending, etc.
Obviously, this can get very complicated, or it can stay fairly streamlined, depending how you do it. The more stuff people can do and modify, the more interesting the game is to play, but the more difficult it can be to maintain, especially if you have a million different modifiers from everywhere.
Also, rough maps would be nice. Doesn't have to be perfect/complete, I'd just like an idea of our relative positions. Depending how fancy you get with it, could also lead to terrain modifier fun, strategic fortifications, colonization for new resources, etc.
I'll withhold any further ideas until I see what your thoughts are, and what direction you want this game to go.