I don't understand its need. It forces certain types of play styles which is totally unnecessary and uncalled for in a singleplayer game. I'm much more in favor of either everlasting resource nodes, or a system where new nodes are discovered at roughly the same rate as older nodes are depleted. And for higher quality resources to usually remain hidden until later in the game (not late game, just later, to prevent too much resource-rushing early on). I think that would be cool.

If you have more resources and don't have to worry about failing, there isn't anything changed by having them run out.  The guy with fewer resources is running out first, or he'd be walking all over your ass right after you lost your armies with spectacularly bad results.

Resources being finite or infinite really doesn't change much.  4X doesn't lend itself very well to the forms of turtling where you butcher massive numbers of enemy units without very many casualties.  You won't magically run down superior resources, you have to outkill them at a higher rate than they're out resourcing you.  If you're doing that, you've got the game in the bag anyway.

It does slow the game pace to a crawl when they run down though.

While I'm interested in something like that - resources depleting but being replaced at about the same rate - I'm also concerned about it. It could significantly devalue cities partway through the game, and considering settlements are going to be very large permanent investments which require essence, that doesn't sound so exciting... But it would all depend, I guess, and I'd at least be interested in trying such a system out.

NO! NO! AHHHHHHH!! *screams*

I'm, having flashbacks to spaceward ho. When you accedentally stranded your fleet on a nearby non colony planet. BUT there was NO metal! WHY OH WHY is there no more metal?? Aren't the planets like MADE of the stuff. I remember doing the auto turn and watching for hours hoping the computer might send the one more ship that would drop enough scrap on my planet to get me another colony ship since I have like 453 mini to save them. But no. It is a stalemate. A STALEMATE! This is what finite resources brings us to if they ever come into play. If they dont (you don't run out of resources) then it's fine. It just means you finished the game in time. But if they do then it's nothing but a huge pain.

I generally agree, although I wonder if a 'good' expiring+new nodes system could be fundamentally better for fun because it adds a bit of 'new game' significance to an existing game. Perhaps it's another one for the Great Bucket of Options. It does seem like it has potential to be near the GC2 Event-Mega Event border, especially if you think about resources like Adamantium in MoM.

why would cities require essence to found?  it isn't magic (well it might be, but after the 1st one there should be other ways of getting a bunch of people to move to a new location.   Its not like 'settlers' are going to stop existing as a concept to those trying to expand a kingdom.)

Land is dead. The Channelers imbues life in part of it again using his/her essence. So you would need to bring new lands to life in everyplace where you plan to build a new settlement... unless you force evolution in your civilization and make them able to farm dirt, rocks... and then be able to get nourishment from those.

@ Winter: This avatar is a keeper.

hmmm.   I don't recall him saying that directly.   Nor can I find it in any early dev posts, would you mind linking that to me?   Perhaps I have forgotten information given out back in november (or earlier?).   I was under the impression only the 1st city required essense directly (as the land would be completely barran at that point)

I understood that essense would be required to make the land habitable, but that is not directly linked to "create a settlement"   I'm under the firm impressenion that 1: you'll be making more land fertile than you will settle, 2: you'll be able to settle on land OTHER wizards have made fertile, and 3.  some games modes, multiplayer ones in particular, will not have a lot of the recovering the world mechanic.  (heck, Frogboy confirmed there will be game modes that don't even use the economy/city building mechanic)  so I don't see why "founding a city" and "using essense" should be directly linked like that.  

Essense will be spent somewhere, the effects will create land that can found a city.  But I do not believe they "are the same thing"

Frogboy did something along the line that a channeler's essence was needed in order to rejuvenate the land to make habitable once again...the logic being to keep players from commiting to the Civ series strategim of "first come, first serve" (ie; one who builds the most colonies over a broad strip of land, more or less, is the winner)