I am in argeement with these items.

Sammual

I'm sorry but I honestly don't see where mines not being depleted affects versatility. Yeah, they will allow you to build anything type of unit you want by an unlimited time. Which I suppose that would be more versatil than stone and sticks troops because of lack of resources. But units are not alone in the game. Maybe for when the mines are depleted, you are already doing Populus like magics and breaking havoc in the world anyways. Or you reach a quest victory. Etc. If my channeler can run out of essence and not being able to cast some spells anymore (I'm speculating here right now), why not mines? (or farms) If player cannot adapt to a situation or being able to prevent it even when he has the ability to do so, it's not the game's fault. That obviously supposes that the game offers you alternatives to military.

The onyl two real problems (players not liking it appart) that I can see are:

1. Really big maps. Never play those so my mind can not actually process that. No idea so...
2. Forcing players to play certain way. Min/maxers wil do it anyways. Find the best combo and exploit it. Those who prefer to play more casual, wouldn't enjoy being forced to play certain way because it's the onyl one to win. But I don't think that the depletion of mines would force players to be blitzers but to me more active in whatever they want to achieve. But without a system to test it (if I'm able to mod it for my games...) it's difficult to say more than it's just my opinion about it expecting to change in the evidence of being wrong.

Limited resources in a game like Age of Empires means turtling more often than not results in an unwinnable, unlosable stalemate. In a TBS game with multiple victory conditions it means that those conditions that don't rely as heavily on limited resources are inherently better for longer games. With finite resources, a very evenly matched game is bound to degenerate into crap, unless you stop requiring those resources, which seems unlikely. Limited resources makes 'quick' strategies advantageous, because there is little risk of running out of resources while it's being implemented.

"Maybe" is the operative word. When resources run out will happen at totally different stages of the game every time. Sometimes it the game might be won well before it becomes an issue. Sometimes resources might run out long before anything is remotely close to being resolved. Like I said before, maybe in the essence thread, hard-capped limits on any sort of resource only ever work within some intended framework. In the case of limited resources, there is some assumption about how long a game should take and at what rate resources will be used. If those assumptions turn out to be wrong in a given game, it doesn't work. When an entire map runs out of resources and no one is in a position to win, the game is broken. That just isn't fun.

And the argument, "if essence is going to be finite, why not mines or farms?" is horrible. For one, everyone who wants essence to be limited to some predetermined number wants it to be so to differentiate essence from everything else, to make it that much more precious. And using that argument on me is even worse considering I want there to be ways to get more essence. I don't want the game to ever reach the point where my channeler becomes unable to cast spells or do anything useful (like you, this is just speculation, we don't really know how essence will affect channelers). 

I think limited resources really would force people to play a certain way, unless they want to risk spending hours playing a game just to discover that it will never be resolved - or at best that it'll just become a long, drawn out battle of attrition.

I agree, and want to emphasize the "could" in "could be very bad." In the Utopia of All-Pleasing Software, I'd like to see resource models have a bit more 'realism' on the finite-renewable axis. But I try to never forget that the Greek behind the English word utopia translates as basically "no place."

I think a mine playing out should maybe be an uncommon random event. (If you get this event a mine/other resource is randomly chosen for depletion. I agree all mines should not play out.

Also, regarding my first post, I wasn't really advocating most of those things - I was just throwing ideas out to see where you might run with them. I veel pretty ambivalent on most of them, but like some of what has been posted afterwards.

I do like the idea of new resources popping up, due to weathering thru the course of the game. On further thought I am NOT a fan of the idea of mines with mixed ores. I think it would be cool when the map is generated to place resources that are immediately visible and others with a "turn countdown" attribute that would determine when it becomes visible. I like the idea that maybe someone who has an apparently bad starting position could actually be in a resource cornucopia that will gradually reveal during the course of the game. Maybe some "earth magic" could expose some of those early...

More conext sensitivity is a swell idea in general, even if the depleting mines question is moot so far as the devs are concerned. For example, I'd really love to see at least Mega Events, if not events in general, have some map-dependent variables that could make them unfold very differently depending on the player's map setting choices, how far along on that map the game is, etc.

Mechagodzilla 1?

Edit:

Wow, I want to be able to build one like that in the game. It would be a Golem, so no whinners about Steam Punk.

Edit 2:

Not sure about quoting code so... @Landisaurus: I like that cooldown idea. Very very nice.

I agree with you. For one thing, linearity in anything in strategy games provides for less strategy than parallel options. Providing options at the start of the game regarding certain resources like metals will go a long ways towards making the game play out differently each time, and makes you really play to your location. One of the things I love about 4X games the first few times I play them is how to best utilize the area around me; but after a fairly small number of games it just becomes wrote. I want Elemental to keep me thinking about these things for as long as possible, and to make each game play as differently as possible.

Limited resources can be cool, but it should be an option.

I like the fact that resources can disappear in other games (civ for example) and/or be literally used up in a linear fashion (spaceward Ho!).

Exactly finite resources if done properly only changes the strategic level of the game.  I've never even heard of a TBS game where two players were evenly matched with troops, terrain, resources, etc., etc., and then both players ran out of resources evenly matched causing a stalemate. 

Ideally the game should have the option for both finite resources and infinite resources.  If given only one choice then infinite resources would probably serve best.

And then it becomes impossible to field a full scale assault at all, and even if you throw everything you have at the other player it'll just be mowed down by his defenses (and vice versa). Then the game stops, when no one can do anything but press end turn or twiddle their thumbs.

Also, a perfect match isn't required. There's almost always an advantage to the defender, which means that even if one player is doing a little better than the other it can still easily get to the point where even the better player is out of options.

@luckmann:  with you, there is no surprise.

I find that in a game like this, having a resource to be finite, or appear to be finite (such as having mana nodes drain to a slow crawl) would encourage conflict and resolution.  At the same time, if there are many resources (like this game) there is no way to really limit resources without messing up the flow a bit.  

I wasn't really supporting resource limit or turn limit.  But that is what it does.  I don't really like it that much either, but I understand its need.   Personally I think the best way is where a resource drops down to a low income rate when it is "spent" such as in much of the Command and Conquer series, the resources slowly come back.  Or in Dawn of War, you can sometimes exhaust req sources which drops production down.