Hoy! 

I'll break the waters in those sandy parts!

Firstly, thank you Sofia for making a proper Bronze Age Collapse game! I wish it extended to the Alps and let us have some Beaker culture in there, just a wider scope. But this is Pharaoh, and since Rome1 & Troy I have been craving for an Ancient Egypt Total War!

The points below are a broad indicator of what is wrong (un-immersive) in the current total war game design (Warhammer, Troy, possibly pharaoh) & which is slowly grinding me into not enjoying the franchise, finding it repetitive titles after titles. You have to change the formula! In Battle (free urban unit placement in exemple, entirely reworked pathfing & layouts) but mostly in Campaign.

In other words, what feels like number over-bloat and results in a disengaging experience. 

I have a personal wishlist I know some people were receptive of, here it comes:

• Family Tree & Characters Independence --Three Kingdom style. This was perfection (cross-factions porosity), and should be the basis for any future TW game, it makes sense for a Rome3 with civil war, for a pharaoh, for a feudal medieval system, for litterally any TW scenario.
  Quiet sad to not have it here, with all the family intrigue going on.
  No marriage, no diplomatic last minute foreign leader integration by marying a kingdom-less Sippu to a widowed Tausret...
  I dearly hope but certainly in vain, that it will make it into Pharaoh in some form or another.
  
  
• Feature vs Percentage based game design:
  I don't like having superficial %% bonus all over the place, there is better design to do, truly, even if it leads to fewer mechanics, it'd be for the better.
  It feels passive, is non-engaging and only tends to lure balance into an "incoherent & unstable" place, where a Unit's Performance is not driven by its actual equipment or training quality. Resulting in archers of the same category not performing the same. This is not interesting gameplay, it doesn't give players more choice or way to experiment truly new strategies. Flat buff without any balancing cons is also boring. +20% melee defense? Sure, then lower the attack rate accordingly.
  They can't be superhumans. Unit Tier & Veterancy should matter the most. Otherwise things gets lost in the noise.
  
  Exemple, inspired by watching a recent Irsu playthrough:
  Prayer -- If I pray to a god, I don't enjoy an inappropriate "unrealistic" +20% missile block chance. But I would love--
  >  Unlock 1 Moloch Priest / Divine Bull sacrifice before battle: +50% Character Aura or Morale.
  > Enable a LAST STAND command for Cult Centers garrison besieged: defenders do not retreat. This is a last stand, for their gods, and families within the city.
  > Enables recruitment of a Cult Servant unit for 1 turn / capped to 1. Or a Moloch banner to be worn in battle, acting as an Aura (better morale, +% melee defense --there % are ok, they are attached to feature elements).
  
  Pharaoh Crown -- I wear the war headdress, I don't believe in a % spike, but I believe in:
  > Uncaps/Enables Chariot recruitment -- The nobles go to war! 
  And as soon as you remove the hat, the war status changes and you have to disband them or pay high upkeep, in exemple.
  > Unlocks Pharaoh Guards as Bodyguards, they are allowed to accompany the pharaoh to war.
  > War fervor -- Reinforce commanding Generals loyalty, when they win.
  > Last Stand for professional units when in the Pharaoh's army. No one retreats, unless the pharaoh retreats safely.
  
  Resume: Enhance the importance of game-changing Active Features, instead of percentaged buffs, for Campaign related gameplay elements.
  
  
• Fleet:
  Cut out land armies from accessing the sea. This is one of the worst recent development. Go back to Rome1 days if naval combat has to be cut. But please bring back the importance of a basic navy for transportation and coastal blocking in auto-resolve.
  
  I will probe my mind after playing the game and see what is a miss, what is not. But so far the above is what I wish Pharaoh was pushing for. Bascially, fixing the issues that plague the series right now. I will enjoy Pharaoh on the 23rd, Long Live hte players bathing in ra's aura!

I'm sure this won't fly, but I'd like to see the chance that the characters could die, game over!
It adds realism. Admittedly, I'd probably cheat and go back to a previous save. Still, it would make one think twice about committing one's bodyguard into melee combat.

In a similar vein, having the character have lowered traits - physical and otherwise - after being wounded would also add realism.

Family tree doesn't really fit Pharaoh, it's a rather focused time period, think 5 turns per year so not really much of building a full family and a role for it.

Well you need to pick with the % bonuses. That is a good way to cover their training and equipment that can differ between locations, units trained in a region where there's better training should have better stats. From my experience in the testing they didn't become super humans and the resource economy kept lower tier units as part of my army, looking at the tech tree they give more boosts for higher veteran levels which is also a nice touch to show the value of experienced troops over raw recruits.

Yeah the prayers seemed a bit off but at the same time with the sheer number of deities I can see them needing to have a wide range of different bonuses.  

On fleets, this system covers it fine from the sources. There's not much in "military" ships of the time, they are just transports for the army so having it work like this is fine.

yes naval battles are something that continues to be missing. I understand that the historical period is not suitable for huge battles, but after all even in Shogun 2 and yet we appreciated them anyway. I can only imagine the beauty of playing some battles on the Nile, in the delta, on the Mediterranean coast.

they would have been beautiful maps.

toskyrun#2614 wrote:

yes naval battles are something that continues to be missing. I understand that the historical period is not suitable for huge battles, but after all even in Shogun 2 and yet we appreciated them anyway. I can only imagine the beauty of playing some battles on the Nile, in the delta, on the Mediterranean coast.

they would have been beautiful maps.

Maps might be pretty but the gameplay will be shallow, and yes pun intended. It becomes a lot of investment that could be spent else where.