When it comes to random events, I don't think they should be spread too far apart. Doing so leaves a sense of apathy forming in the player which he then in turn lets down his guard for those mean dragons that pop up at his door.

The random events should be consistent...sometimes good...sometimes bad....but always sometimes; giving the player clear and visual reminders NOT to let his guard down cause one day those dragons will be a knock'n.

This also grants the player the added bonus of having a dynamic kingdom to run. No longer would we clear an area and never have to worry about it again, only focusing on your kingdom's borders. Things CAN (or at least SHOULD) happen within your borders; things that would require your to manage your entire kingdom...not just your supply lines to the front.

The addition of consistent random events also keeps the player busy doing a variety of things. A full game is a good game. If all you have to do is worry about opponent X who is a war with you, well...let's just say that I'm done playing my games by turn 200 because of this very issue.

I think Stardock is on the right track with the random event idea...they just need to fine tune it.

I'd prefer it if it was based on land owned instead of power.

The two are related, but land owned is a little more intuitive/makes more sense.

It looks so daunting to people that have no idea what things mean, even though it really is simple as far as a design goes.

What is hard about XML, is not the language itself, but learning how the game designers decided to structure their data.

Something has to call the rand() in the first place.

   Now, that was a Major Chuckle ! ... and of course, Justice would be served, if your suggestion were implemented ...

I was considering several events that I felt the game was missing over the week, and I came up with several ideas (sorry these are not completely in XML, I do not know all of the tags to properly format it for the game):

Mite infestations

<QuestDef InternalName="mite_infestation">

<DisplayName>Mite Mating Season</DisplayName>

<Description>

Heavy rainfall and high humidity have flooded your lands these past few seasons. An unfortunate side-effect of this has been an explosion of the local mite population. 

Your wardens and scouts have noted an increase in mite lairs near your cities and suggest that you place bounties on mite heads. If you do not, the possibility of new mite lairs erupting across your nation is almost a certainty.

</Description>

<ShortTextAccept>Place a bounty on every mite head [only one mite nest spawns; -100 gildar]</ShortTextAccept>

<ShortTextAccept>Mites are a pest, not a problem [three mite nests spawn with roving mite armies]</ShortTextAccept>

<AllowQuestRejection>0</AllowQuestRejection>

<SuccessText>

The destruction of the last mite lair has taken its toll on the mite populace. They are scattered and broken for now, remaining in the shadows until the next rainy season.

</SuccessText>

<QuestClass>Minor</QuestClass>

<Repeatable>3</Repeatable>

 <TriggerType>TurnNumber</TriggerType>

 <TriggerData>5</TriggerData>

<TriggerChance>100</TriggerChance>

<PostTriggerChance>50</PostTriggerChance>

<other>The event cannot occur after turn 100 (to prevent player annoyance)</other>

Roving champions

<QuestDef InternalName="champion_request">

<DisplayName>[Champion name] is offering [his/her] services</DisplayName>

<Description>

The talk of the town has been the recent arrival of a wandering champion. [He/she] is currently staying in the town's inn and amassing a large tab. Perhaps [he/she] would be interested in joining our cause for some coin?

</Description>

<ShortTextAccept>Send a messenger with an offer [he/she] cannot refuse [-x gildar; champion joins]</ShortTextAccept>

<ShortTextReject>We have no need of this warrior for now.</ShortTextReject>

<AllowQuestRejection>1</AllowQuestRejection>

<SuccessText>

We have recruited [Champion name].

</SuccessText>

<FailureText>

The Champion pays [his/her] tab and moves on to the next town.

</FailureText>

<QuestClass>Minor</QuestClass>

<Repeatable>1</Repeatable>

 <TriggerType>TurnNumber</TriggerType>

 <TriggerData>100</TriggerData>

<TriggerChance>10</TriggerChance>

<PostTriggerChance>5</PostTriggerChance>

Wraith moon

<QuestDef InternalName="lunar_wraith">

<DisplayName>The Wraith Sign</DisplayName>

<Description>

Every 12 years, the moons of Elemental align causing intense gravitational effects. The tides recede and swell in some areas and some of the local fauna display... interesting behaviors. While such phenomena can often be ignored, they tend to coincide with a large increase in magical energy which results in a thinning of the membrane between worlds.

The Wraiths have learned to harness the energies from this event by drawing additional mana from "weak spots" in the membrane between worlds. 

</Description>

<ShortTextAccept>[if the player is the Wraith race] Prepare the rituals at once! [Gains double mana income for four seasons]</ShortTextAccept>

<ShortTextReject>[if the player is another race] These signs mean nothing. [idea from Fall From Heaven 2]</ShortTextReject>

<AllowQuestRejection>1</AllowQuestRejection>

<QuestClass>Minor</QuestClass>

<Repeatable>1</Repeatable>

 <TriggerType>TurnNumber</TriggerType>

 <TriggerData>48</TriggerData>

<other> this event repeats every 48 seasons for the wraiths</other>

I'm with Heavenfall & co on this one; I hate the idea that players who are leading get bogged down with negative random events.

Rubberbanding doesn't belong in a 4X game. I didn't know this happened in GalCiv, and I would say it's just as much a crutch for the AI as anything else other 4Xs use.

Yaay
that would hit me a lot, but oh well, gotta have a challenge

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I am not sure if "Workshop" is supposed to have this function, but I was thinking if it was possible for the to have a option to go "online" and download user made content. Like those extra quest and the likes we are seeing here on the forum..

Why do I ask ?
I am not that great at figuring out where to put those modifications to the game and for some reason I always seems to delete some sort of important data when I am trying to do some modding.

Thanks  

Event suggestions:

Zombiepacolypse- Age of Haunted Nights/Walking Death

World anouncement- 'The dead become restless.' or something to that effect  perhaps triggered after x number of turns, combats or humanoid units are slain.

Numerous nodes spawn that kick out butchermen (since they have that kill and make more unit ability).  These enemies attack everything, cities, monsters etc.  This can allow some of them to group up to bigger numbers when they kill something or potentially level enemies when they shamble to their deaths.  This could be handled via a time limit or just based on the nodes closing giving a world anouncement 'the last of the dead have been put to rest' when the last generated node is closed.  optional reward could be a bit of prestige for each node closed as the faction doing so is seen as a safer haven.  The number of nodes could stay constant for Y turns, where if any were destroyed a new one would spawn in a random place/same vicinity.

Age of Waylanders and Thieves

same general idea as above but with bandits.  This could be geared toward a more pirate theme with nodes appearing closer to shores.  The nodes could be called Den of Scum.  Clearing a node would case one to be spawned in a different area say 15 or more spaces away.  The bandits would ignore monsters (though the reverse wouldnt be true, some would avoid them depending on their danger levels) and attack improvements and cities while building up.  The trigger could be tied into the world states of global unrest -perhaps wealth as well but high or low wouldnt matter as much as peoples disatisfaction.  Like above have it run for 50 seasons or something and then they would stop respawning the nodes.  Perhaps population growth goes down to reflect the people turning to a life of crime.

Modify generated enemy specials/counts.

announcement- 'the world is a lonely place'- encourages single units/small groups enemies more likely to have splash effects or fewer monster encounters, 'Its dangerous to go alone' encourages large numbers of units (an increase in enemy unit counts or an aplicable ability or more/stronger monster encounters.

It came from space-  announcement about an comet meteor, the site could have an item with some tie to GalCiv ie something like a squirle engraving (skathi) made of an unknown material -perhaps just salable or gives something relating to popularity or trade, there could be other types of things findable but meant as a minor event (item has a one use effect or is minimal) mostly just a noteworthy occurance- or the nation who gets it brags to the others and gets a few points of influence.

'Have quest will travel...' for a few seasons all units in the game move an extra 1 on the strategic map.

'The world is a big and scary place' - all monsters gain 1 level

Season of Hope! -unrest goes down for all civs, and monsters more passive for a few turns.  A nice flower trail to follow the cursor would be cool, or all sovs get one

Forest for the trees- random normal tiles may turn into a forest, could have a small chance of a forest tile being converted to an orchard.

Wanderlust- all scout units are overcome with a greater sense of discovery and get +1 move. (more oriented to early game or based on high amount of map undiscovered.  could be global or faction specific

Call it George- Ogre lost pet!  bring him a mount (perhaps a few times consecutively as he just loves them SO much!)  Reward could be a random item or him becoming a recruit (late game could change him to a juggernaut)

Attack of the 50ft whatever-  Super Oversized version of (likely mundane or lower tier) monster with high HP and splash attacks, may also do more damage and have higher def

The grand wonders of nature- either a lookout point spawns somewhere or an existing one provides more influence.

A Beast of Legend once more walks the land- a random non-humanoid spawns with a held item that gives then a golden aura.  The item is coveted so players and ai gun for it.  Gaining the Golden Hide gives either an influence bonus (say +50) or a temp prestige bonus.

Always a bigger fish- triggers if the Beast of Legend above is killed by another monster.  It then gets the Golden Hide item attached to it with an increased influence/prestige bonus (say +15).  This continues to occur each time the beast is killed by other monsters (stops if killed by humanoids or civs without champions)   Say by a bandit- the Beast of Legend is said to once again have retreated from the world.

Old world blues- longing for family or the world from before reduces the mana produced by a sov by 1/2 for Y turns

Magical Flux- some kind of mystical equivalent of emp that dispels all active enchantments in the world

A wizard did it- bears can spawn able to do magic- either imbuing standard bears already in the game, or spawning new ones with the abilities (could be urxen magic gone awry)

Cant stop the ROC-  Theoc a giant bird of some kind will spawn and randomly kill things.

These events should be used to spice up gameplay, change the focus rather than evening out a displacement in power.  They make the game interesting.  Think Dwarf Fortress.  Losing is FUN.  Some events that only made graphical tweaks such as light filters or something to alter the 'mood lighting' would be a nice touch as well- even if that was all they did.

Catsplosion/Plague of...- along similar lines to the zombie one, lots of cat creatures (or creatures of another type) spawn the monster's regular aggression levels could remain the same (ie likelyhood of attacking cities) and have them behave normally (or put the world at seige where they attack everything of a different type)

Crusade of the Coveted-  essentially a holy grail quest a random item of any type is added to one of the goodie huts/monster loot tables and has a coveted attribute that after initially found by a faction anounces who owns it and provides them some kind of bonus (could act as a mobile shard/resource or give a set type of bonus (say 20 influence every 15 turns- you would want to set the turns longer so it didnt get anoying (perhaps as a notification that doesnt require you to close the popup- or shows up in a factions holdings (like a city or something) so that the owner can be identified that way.  Like the golden hide it could be marked as something all factions want- it could even possibly be set up as a separate special win condition where control of it for say 150 turns or something counts as a win.  When it initially is marked to occur (may not spawn imediately after announcement -to give time for the questing- 'the sov hears extraordinary tales of a legendary (item) without peer'

anouther implementation option for this would to be spawning a bunch of potential loot points around the world with this item hidden in one of them.  (note that the item stats or effect need not be otherwise special but you could put a golden or other aura on the item or character holding it

Lunox(Red/Blue)-  A planetary alignment occurs in one of 2 varieties.  Red- the monsters of the world become more aggressive (this could optionally damage all faction relations and sentient creatures in the world too).  Inversely Blue would do the opposite and calm them (or make better relations) if affecting relations could degrade over time of the event.

And have the cats appear out of a mysterious abandoned mountain fortress?