April 1, 2014 8:00 PM | Lena LeRay
In Ymir, each player controls a civilization of Pigmen in a persistent online world. It won't be "massively" multiplayer, as the current plan is to have each server hold no more than one hundred players. The gameplay will be a mix of city building and explore-and-conquer, but the thing that makes this game look really interesting is the complex economic simulations involved.
The world will consist of numerous regions. Each region will have its own climate and geographic traits, and the resources available will vary depending on those traits. Players will begin with a small tribe and grow their civilizations over time. All of that is fairly standard for a 4X game, though mixing 4X and city building is something you don't see often.
What Ymir will do differently is incorporate things like social class into the economic simulation. The wealthy will be a small percentage of the population with a large percentage of the region's wealth. Lack of housing won't stop the population from growing; if there aren't enough houses for everyone, slums will crop up. Drafting large numbers of soldiers will prevent them from producing offspring. With no way to control these factors directly, players will have to carefully manage the economic systems that impact things like those.