Structure

[Davin]

Personally I do not like the idea of re-making the Imperials and here is why.   They make for the ultimate invaders to the land and create a foe that will take everything and everyone to defeat.  Especially if they are set up to send resources back to the Imperial Homeland which I would make as a closed area of the game.  This would make them a potential problem for every faction no matter what there goal is, as they would be taking resources away from the land.  So even religions that might want to avoid conflict would at least avoid assisting them because they are taking needed resources away from this area.  This makes for a very valid enemy for most other factions.  I would see both the Boda and the Roder as highly opposed to them and keeping them in check at all cost.   I agree the Roder should be designed more like the Rohim in the Lord of the Rings. 

Well, Steve, I certainly understand about having "ultimate invaders" and I'm willing to discuss the options.  But I worry about how that's going to affect the game balance.  In the past, as I understand it, Imperials had to have super defensive structures and abilities because otherwise everyone would have to band together to wipe them out.  I don't much like that much heavy-handedness in the game design and forcing the hand of the players.  Among other things, it forces the players to do something, and I'm not comfortable with using that kind of force (in any form).

If you want to keep the Imps as invaders, why don't we back them off so they're just infiltrating a little at a time in several different places, so conflicts with them will be localized and don't require the resources of every other faction working together just to keep them at bay.  If all you need are general foes that everyone can hate, then why can't the less-organized groups (bandits, etc.) provide that opposition?

Can you think of a way to keep them working similarly to the past and yet they aren't so overwhelming that others have no choice in how to behave with them?