My dream ET game would be:
*Real time, I have nothing against turn-based, but after all those games something different would be fun. You get your daily income, and troops have their own speed in which they travel per day. Buildings also take multiple days to build.
*province-based. But not like wc2 and previous, every tile can only posses one unit, so it works relatively the same as the current hex-system, yet the map can be more detailed.
*Random events, like in ew5. Examples: Crisis, x% less income in the upcoming ydays. The plague, your units lose x% of their health Etc. Ofc also positive ones
*diplomacy, every country has a 1-5 relationship with every other country. 1 being at war, 2 being enemies, 3 being neutral, 4 being friends, 5 being allies. When your friend and you go into war, your friend might join (and vice versa), when your allies, your friend has to join (and vice versa). This also applies to the country you're at war with ofc.
Diplomacy can be improved by sending gifts and can be worsened by insulting them or something similar. Other countries can also improve/worsen relationship with eachother and you. This can also be affected by events.
*General system:
#generals can hold an item
#generals have stars, not battle ability
#generals health can be improved by exp, which you get by killing units with him
#generals can have up to 4 different skills (like wc3)
#generals can have one special ability (like 3kc/ew4)
*there's a technology three like in ew6
*The era is set in the 15/16th century simply because there's no game in that era yet.