Pillars: Victory Conditions and Mechanics

I have put my main project on hold for a bit, mainly because of a design change that will take awhile to develop. I've already spent quite a lot of time on it and want to let it breathe before I start again.

Anyway.

Pillars is a card game civilization builder; strickly using only cards. You will use the 4 pillars of civilization - Military, Government, Economy, and Culture - to attain victory.

What I am picturing is 4 different ways to gain Civ Points (victory points) allocated to each of the Pillars, allowing for a wide variety of strategy.

Before we get to my ideas, I will let you know the balancing scheme I have come up with...

Each card will have a power value of 1 to 5, these will be compared to each other during various points in the game. In order to balance abilities and such, lower power cards have more options/abilities whereas higher power cards have less options/abilities. Each ability will have a cost and an area in which it can be played in (there are different areas infront of you, each having unique qualities such as a "Build" area where cards will stay throughout the game unless conquered and a "Play" area used for one-time card actions).

Example:

Card Name
Power 2
Play (cost): draw three cards
Play (cost): target player discards 1 card
Build (cost): you may trash 1 card per turn, if you do draw 1 card.

On a given turn you may only choose one of these if you wish to use this card.

Here are my current ideas...

Military - Conquer

Conquer cards by comparing power. You may do this with any card that the enemy has exposed (face up or face down). When you conquer that card you will gain Civ points equal to its power.

This is still under development. This is where higher power cards come in handy. Being able to conquer and gain points easily.

Government - Establish

You may place a card from you hand face down in the "Establish" area. In order to score this card as Civ points you have to trash resources equal to its power. Once you've done this you gain Civ points equal to its power.

This is cool because some cards will have Establish abilities that trigger when it is established and can give you an edge. Higher power cards give you more reward but cost more. Simple give and take.

Economy - Invest

You can invest any card in hand with another player and place it face down in the "Invest" area. They can choose to accept or deny anytime during play. If they deny the card stays in the "Invest" area until acted on. If they accept, they must also choose a card from their hand and place it face down. You flip them simultaneously, the lowest card wins and you gain Civ points equal to the power of the card if you had the lowest power card. If they are the same you both win the points.

This is my favorite. Lets say I invest in Jerry. I say, "its a five power card put down a five and we both get five!!". I'm not a nice guy... its actually a 3 power card. Jerry is smart though, he has a 4 power card in hand. He accepts and reveals the 4. I reveal the 3. Yay I win. But now I have ruined Jerry's trust, investing with him may never work. This bluffing mechanic is an easy way to win points but an easy way to lose them too!

Culture - Sell

You may place a card from you hand in the "Sell" area in the middle of all players. A player can pick up any cards in the "Sell" area. If a player picks up a card from the "Sell" area, who ever placed the card gains Civ points equal to its power.

I like this because it opens up the game so much, allowing players to use other cards outside of their deck is really cool (especially if they are weak in a certain area).

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What are your thoughts? Do I need to explain more? What works and what doesn't? Are they interesting enough?

Let me know what you think...