Quoting the Gorgon, reply 46It would be great if you include same-sex marriages as a way to link your civ with others even if you don't have the possibility to get an heir from that arrangement. Can't believe that would be controversial for anyone with fitting age and IQ to play Elemental. I mean, today same sex marriages are celebrated in CHURCH, and so what? The greatest empire builder and warlord of all time, Alexander the Great, was more into men than women BTW. So why couldn't a sovereign be? You get to marry off your cute princess to a troll-like monster but not to an amazon queen - now THAT would be backward thinking ... I refrain from bringing up a discrimination discussion, but hey, just like the discussion on female friendly features, please make a game for our time, and you will get a lot of fan good-will back in the long run, you can be sure.     

 

Don't spread misinformation please. What Church are you talking about? Not the Catholic Church, nor the Orthodox church, nor the Islamic churches allow, nor celebrate Homosexual marriages. Even most protestant churches do not allow Homosexual marriages. You are talking about a very small minority that do allow and/or celebrate it.

 

Another thing, Alexander was not the greatest empire builder and warlord of all time. That honor goes to Ghenghis Khan who conquered the largest empire in the history of the world. I would than also go on to say look at the Roman Empire. They are probably the greatest influence on modern civilization of any other empire, not to mention the longest standing empire of all time. Alexander's empire was very short lived and did not last past his death.

I really hope your not getting all your information from the movie that came out a few years ago. It is true that in Greece, it was acceptable for older men to have sex with younger boys, but I would not say that Alexander especially loved a guy more than a woman and same sex marriage was never allowed. While they may have enjoyed homosexual sex on occasion, they understood that it had nothing to do with marriage as a marriage encompassed a man and a woman who could produce offspring to continue the family line. The movie may have portrayed Alexander in that way but it was a dramatization and personal opinion, not actual historical fact. I also don't equate racial marriage to be the same thing as same sex marriage as you are doing. [/quote]

What misinformation? I'm talking about the Christian protestant church of Sweden, which was even official State Church until some few years ago and to which the overwhelming majority of the population belongs. This happens to be my home country, so it does count. All Christians do not spend their energy on expressing their hate instead of love. Hm sounds like something Jesus could have liked. It's only a suggestion. 

As for Alexander being the greatest or the second greatest or third conqueror, that was my personal opinion, based upon his name (  ) and his interesting life. I find him more inspiring than Ghengis Khan. And if you thought the recent Hollywood film included a gay theme as a "personal opinion" of Oliver Stone; then think again: their problem was rather how to make a Hollywood blockbuster while still being true to what we know of him (and his relationships) from historical sources. (Meaning almost any such references were cut out). And on top of that, history is written by the conqueror and still today most of them think very heteronormative ... Just like scientists for hundreds of years "explained away" same sex relationships between animals that we now know are a fact (because at least the animals have to be "natural", no ...) 

If you want an even more powerful model personality I give you Zeus, the most powerful of all the gods in the classical Greek mythos, who i.a. abducted Ganymede and took him to heaven for his beauty.  

Just to put things straight.   

Anyways, a bit of controversy will be good for sales.

Also, will the human artwork look any better by release? Right now, they look like human colored trolls. Has it been that hard on the human race after the apocalypse?

You can construct harbors near the sea, then build ships and transport large #'s of folks that way too.

wow, i apologize for any role i played in completely derailing this thread.. i just like options in my game to fiddle around with and thought it might be kinda fun if gay marriage was included. since reproduction seems to be the main goal of marriage in elemental. its not likely to be something that most people would do anyway, as i cant see how it would benefit your game in any way. it seems to me, if its included at all, it'd likely just be something to do for fun. as games are meant to be fun. since none of us know for sure if that screen shot was just an example of what we cant do in the arranged marriage screen.  i think every one should just back off that topic a bit.

Freaking A, you guys.

Anyways, re: diplomatic relations, of course diplomatic marriages are a good way to bring countries together. But what about sending children to be adopted by another faction?

In feudal Japan, for example, it was common practice to do just this. You could send your son to serve with another empire as an adopted son of that lord/daimyo. It shows a lot of trust from the person giving up their son into the hands of a potential enemy.

That would be a good way to boost relations with another land.

Conversely, this was also a way for powerful daimyo to insure loyalty of vassal lords: Require them to send their wives and/or children to live in their castle.

What do you think, Frogboy?

I'm sorry, I really don't want to derail the thread, but this guy keeps posting nonsense. Nothing I have said is violent, perhaps you misunderstood me because of your incomplete knowledge of English, as that is not your first language. I also think it is funny that you consider yourself a Christian and say that Zeus might be real, your obviously not a very faithful Christian. I also never said I was Christian, for all you know, I could be Islamic, or Buddhist or an Atheist. The stories of Zeus, are just that, stories, trying to logically discuss Zeus when he isn't even real is just funny. I guarantee that I know more about this topic than you though, unless you are a teacher of history or theology, which I am. The character of Zeus often cheated on his wife with women, but I never saw it mention ever with a man. He also spawned many children from various women. That was not what I was discussing though and can we please end it? Thanks.

It might be cool to be able to send your young children to another country for a time. Might be cool if you fall in relation to another country they then use your child as a bargaining chip. In medieval times kings would often keep children of other lords under their "protective" care to ensure the loyalty of other lords and such. The same could happen with other kings sons and daughters as well.

@BlackRainZ

Dude, please stop. This is becoming offensive by insulting people's language comprehension and religious beliefs. It's further derailing this thread more and more. There is just no end in sight without some restraint here.

Ok, enough, it's ended. More game discussion, please.

LOL. In an age with magic and shapeshifting, this might need to be a mandatory practice... especially to sustain any line of succession in a Kingdom.

Quoting BlackRainz

I'm sorry, I really don't want to derail the thread, but this guy keeps posting nonsense. Nothing I have said is violent, perhaps you misunderstood me because of your incomplete knowledge of English, as that is not your first language. I also think it is funny that you consider yourself a Christian and say that Zeus might be real, your obviously not a very faithful Christian. I also never said I was Christian, for all you know, I could be Islamic, or Buddhist or an Atheist. The stories of Zeus, are just that, stories, trying to logically discuss Zeus when he isn't even real is just funny. I guarantee that I know more about this topic than you though, unless you are a teacher of history or theology, which I am. The character of Zeus often cheated on his wife with women, but I never saw it mention ever with a man. He also spawned many children from various women. That was not what I was discussing though and can we please end it? Thanks. /End Quote

Yes, please stop derailing this thread, Sir. I made a suggestion for a game mechanic based on Frogboy’s original post. You reply with stating that I spread misinformation (without any basis for it). That is simply rude.

But since you ask for it, I'll just answer you in the same vein one last time.

If you don't think you react "violently", maybe you should try and reread what you are actually posting. "this guy keeps posting nonsense" - very nice tone, thank you, Sir ... Great argument too, he, he.

I hope you realise you are only making a fool of yourself by dismissing posts from all non-native English speakers on an international forum. In this case especially, since I have published loads of English texts. And I'm not the least intimidated by your bullying. 

BTW, I have never told you anything about my religious beliefs so don't derail the discussion even further please. Calling people you don't know "not very faithful Christians" has nothing to do on this forum and doesn’t merit further comment.  

And I'm not impressed by your claims of being a teacher of history and theology after those, sorry to say, pathetic tries to cover up your apparent attitude problem with some kind of historical argumentation. You haven't added anything to this game discussion except insults to people contributing ideas. 

If you are just out of your ivory tower and new to game forums, this is not the way to start.

Ugh, end of rant, back to constructive discussion with more open-minded people trying to develop a great game.     

this thread is sad...

regarding the actual screenshots and artwork:

I do agree I don't really like the look of the races, but I believe that they are trying to keep the artwork and graphicas simple.  Serious thought has gone into keeping the computer specs of this game down.  I really support that, and would gladly have slightly worse graphics and artwork if myself and many of my poorer friends can play the game with outdated hardware.

This is a good idea.  George RR Martin writes about this in the Game of Thrones - where children of a conquered noble are sent to "stay" with the victor - to ensure the conquered's loyalty.  Or,alternatively, where the children of the conqueror are sent to stay with the vanquished noble - perhaps as a sign of trust in the defeated noble.  This could be a fairly interesting game  mechanic.  It would be interesting to use offspring as trip wires; like troops stationed in foreign countries as a deterrent to common enemies to show allies' resolve to act together.