Choosing a legacy is choosing what the civ will value. What the civ values effects how they respond to the events of the turn, and thus what choices they present us.
If Exploration wins, I think we'll get a lot fewer isolationist choices, if ferocious wins than I think we'll get a lot fewer peaceful options. A lot fewer doesn't equal zero, and I'm guessing that if we choose against our legacy enough we'll be able to change or replace it, I just don't think it'll be easy.
Given that we seem to get legacies quite rarely, I'm assuming they'll be important
Here's where I disagree. I think the biggest effect of the legacy is in how AN presents things to us, in part through our POVs, but also in terms of
how he rolls his dice. Ferociousness as a legacy colors those perceptions just like any other, it 'taints' for lack of a more neutral synonym, our POVs. Given we're still holding fast to the concept of Mana, I suspect ferocity will primarily manifest as a tendency towards assertive, struggle-oriented, or otherwise generally competitive behavior, which will color what he does with his hidden dice and how he shows what we ended up with. Perhaps our
traders or
diplomats or
explorers will have that tendency to dominate in their sphere, either with words, goods, or in being the best of the field. Yeah, it might make us kind of annoying, but that competitive flavor I view as an interesting driver for social progress.
Yes, it will probably end up with a few more crises and uppity, striving people that like to make semi-independent cities or what have you, but I view that as also not necessarily a bad thing.
The others I view similarly. Exploration is a legacy of wanting to know for the sake of it, not unlike Tehme himself. Obviously the color here will be a trend towards being inquisitive and questioning, as well as a populace that has internalized a desire for wanderlust. I'd argue that this is both the best and worst for developing society and philosophy this early in civilization, since it gives the whole population that little bit of philosopher groundwork I desperately want, but I'm ultimately holding onto ferocity because I've become more interested in AN's portrayal of it.
Diplomacy is in keeping the peace and being cooperative, internally and externally, I dislike it primarily because it strays somewhat closer to that uniquely Ymaryn brand of collectivism, even though we'd probably have to go hard at it to end up with Fire is Warm and KILL NOMADS BUTTON again. It's what it is in progress development, but I'm not here to optimize.
Trade is evolutionary to the initial gift-giving behavior, it seems to me a sort of desire for things and status. It's similar to ferocity, but has a different tone than the struggle and strive I feel from that, it's more cooperative, but not as cooperative as Diplomacy. It's usually pretty good at staying ahead of the curve in terms of development.
Finally Craft, is that classic if you build it they will come thing. It's all about a people that venerate awesome displays, because craft is not just
things, it's also
skills. To me it tastes of a best-of-the-best attitude, of arete and merit. Interesting, but I feel it gets most of it's impetus to raise the peak externally rather than internally.
