One of the criticism of the game has been the lack of immersion. And having played it a bit more, I can see where critics are coming from. It is just a very different proposition to play against Sumero-Mayan English led by a random Victor dude that I know little about, compared to playing against Napoleon of France or Alexander the Great. You recognise the latter, have a vague sense of what to expect from them gameplay-wise, and can build a certain rapport over multiple games. Here ... was I at war with Victor in the last game or was he my ally? What about Alyssa etc.?


Now, I get that pure historical personalities aren't the answer. They are tied to specific cultures or civilazations and it would be jarring to see them associated with something totally different, let alone occasionally fight against or alongside their historic culture. But maybe we can create amalgamations of historic personalities that fill that role. For instance, we could have Ghenghis Ghandi, Quin-Shi Bonaparte, Gaius Julius Washington and all other sorts of combinations. Some could fuse complementary underlying historic traits and the AIs behaviour parameters could be adapted accordingly. Others could merge unrelated or disparate traits, like Ghenghis Ghandi ago, which could give the AI flexibility in which cultures to pick and how to play the game.


I think such pseudo-historical characters would be a lot more memorable than the blank canvasses we have now could give the game more personality and immersion. It could also mesh with and reinforce the dev vision of factions being composed of different cultures over time. At some level, that may well be within scope of a talented modder (or someone might even have done it already) but it will always have more reach if integrated as an official patch. It also shouldn't be obscene amounts of work.


Any thoughts?