The "inflation" of similar techs in the military research tree seems to stem partially from needing to differentiate all the different kinds of weapons and armor that are available for unit customization, with different game stats.
This results in having a very long series of equipment types with only slight functional differences, for example Dagger > Shortsword > Broadsword > Bastard Sword > Longsword > Greatsword > Claymore.
I've already commented that qualitative choices, between options that do different things or can be used for different purposes, are more meaningful than quantitative choices between +1 or +2 stats, etc.
This progression is a good example, because it means that the more options we add for customization, the more we extend the series of different kinds of weapons/armor with only slight differences between them, which contributes to several problems:
- It increases the number of military techs in the game which give relatively little benefit, which people have already noted.
- It raises the "upper range" of unit costs in the game, as each different kind of weapon/armor is progressively stronger – and therefore more expensive – than the last, which aggravates the game's pacing problem – I'm sure people have noticed the disproportionate cost of training military units in the game. One company of well-armed and armored knights can cost more resources than the player might spend on developing cities in an entire game.
- It makes the game harder to balance, as the range of stat bonuses that are possible in the game grows more extreme (dagger 3 versus claymore 30).
- It causes conflict with the idea of being able to customize units and equipment for "fun" purposes. Players who want to equip one particular variation of weapons/armor because they like the look of it are penalized if that item has a slightly worse cost/benefit than another one that is used for basically the same purpose.
So what I suggest is a pretty simple solution: Add a system that lets players select different cosmetic/appearance variations of the same item, and then group the many items in the game that are similar to one another together, defining them as the same item with the same game stats but several different possible visual styles a player can pick from. To illustrate:
- Instead of seeing a long list of different swords/armor in the customization screen, the player gets a selection of more general categories of item such as Single Handed Cutting Weapon, Double Handed Cutting Weapon, Cloth Armor, Leather Armor, Plate Armor etc.
- Upon selecting one of these, the player can then select from a sub-menu of different variations of items in that category. So for example, if selecting Single Handed Cutting Weapon the player can now pick between a short sword, broad sword or war axe to equip. If selecting Plate Armor then a player can pick between the Light Plate, Standard Plate, Heavy Plate, or Master Plate styles.
- What's important is that this choice of variations is strictly a cosmetic choice. Gameplay properties are assigned to the more general categories of items, so that all Single Handed Cutting Weapons, all Plate Armor etc. have the same stats and costs.
- There is no need, and it doesn't add depth or strategy to the game to have four different variations of plate armor, where a player will always just choose the "best" one where they can. There will be fewer variations, but the different kinds of weapons/armor can have more pronounced differences between one another that make the decision between them significant, and the research that unlocks them more rewarding.
- This system will allow the developers and modders to use all the different kinds of graphics and models they make for equipment, without having to worry about differentiation and play balance for each one. It will allow players to choose different-looking equipment as a matter of style, or to help them distinguish between units that are different in other ways.
- Also, this can help make the customization screen less cluttered. There are already items in the game which are only cosmetic choices without gameplay stats – all the different styles of shirt, pants, dresses, boots and so on. Grouping these together into single entries with sub-menus (i.e. one entry for all Generic Boots, another for Generic Coats) means we can expand the wardrobe without displaying all the choices at once.
