Blake Wrote:2) Comparisons are already difficult in a game where dice rolls determine many things.
I don't really want to get caught up in this argument (I'm not a fan of mods, for what it's worth) but Blake's comparison here is fallacious. Every game has random elements, from combat to what comes out of goody huts. Unless you're playing a game like chess, that's always going to be the case. But once we begin implementing gameplay mods, players actually cease to play the same game. They are operating under a different ruleset, which is not at all the same as getting a bad combat result. Apples and oranges. I personally don't think that's the direction we should be heading in (I'm sure we can find better solutions to gameplay imbalances).
For what it's worth, I also think there's way too much attention being focused on competition at the moment. If someone pops an early resource, so what? Our games are supposed to be for fun. Heck, more than half of our events are unscored. Relax and just enjoy the events. I've played in 27 Realms Beyond games between Civ3 and Civ4 without ever winning a scored game, and I certainly don't feel like I wasted my time.
