Is combat or conflict automatically evil in a sim game? Imagine you had this senario: You''re a mayor / manager like in a *small scale* SimCity game. You buy buildings and place them in the best way possible. If it were purely like SimCity, then you''d build civilian buildings (schools, roads, hospitals, etc) and that would be that. But let''s say you can hire people / units, like police. There may be gameplay not only in placing buildings, but also placing units (sort of like the firefighter markers in SimCity, but with a bit more detail and variety). You could handle riots, protests, crime syndicates, and other *major* city threatening events. Now take it a step further: Let''s say you can build paramilitary buildings as well (defenses, barracks, walls). You might have to defend your colony against foes from inside and out. It''s at this point, though, that I think you''d lose a lot of Sim fans. So what if you could chose your level / type of conflict. It might range from: "I just want to be left alone to build" to "I want to be like Babylon 5, in the middle of all the action, fighting invaders and terrorists all the time!" What do you think? -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

Actually, I was thinking that you could pick the environment you start your colony in. If you start in a well guarded, peaceful area then you''ve got the feel of Sim City. But if you start on a racious frontier, you''ve got problems with pirate raiders, drunk miners, cross-town clan feuds, etc.

If you''re more interested in the gardening and growth, you''d pick the safer areas.

Or, like in the Sims meets TNG thread, maybe you''d pick safer, more scientific missions vs. flights into intrigue and danger!

But the question is, even with open ended choice would it drive the Sim players or combat minded players away?

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Just waiting for the mothership...

No more takers on this? Any sim players?

Would dangerous situations ruin a game like The Sims? Do you play sim games to get away from combat heavy games?

I''d really like to hear your thoughts!

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Just waiting for the mothership...

I like the idea of having (limited) control over a "disaster" that would overtake my city. Of course it would have to be intermittent, so that I would not feel overwhelmed by the pressures of defending my city all the time. For example, you would not want a game that modeled the Jewish settlements in the West Bank (at this current point in history). That''s pretty much a continual threat of violence with no hope of building a successful city/village.

Also, what types of things can people build to let the more peacable minded folks concentrate on building their city? The size of a city doesn''t really matter when it comes to military conflicts (of course the bigger your city the most likely it will be contested for). So what advantage is there in building up your civilian structures and zones? You''d need to be careful to not make it a glorified RTS.

So, what would be controlling these military conflicts on a larger scale? Would you have any input? Maybe the bigger your city the more influence you would have to vote for peace. Or, if your city is large enough that might mean you''ll get more military contracts for industry and/or more civilian jobs if military bases move in. In times of peace the national government would cut back on the jobs ("base closures") and contracts.

But the balance between building civilian and military structures seems to have escaped me for the moment.

Till next time,

joeG

Or you could just make something like a military fort sim. You could choose to put it deep in the country, well guarded, or out on the borders. You could choose a large or small country. This would affect penetration by the enemy, defense of your capitol, troop movements on YOUR side, resource allocation, and other things. I''m not saying you would run the entire country, that would lend too much to a Risk-like game. But instead, build a fort on your home turf, or if you''re at war, build an HQ or LZ on the front line. Then, CRUSH KILL AND DESTROY!!! Build up weapons, train men, strengthen your fortification, mobilize troops, armored units, air support, etc.

shut up
CAN I GET A WOO WOO!