As long as they aren't telling me to build additional pylons.

A Crystal Ball that cannot be removed from the inventory?

If they're anything close to Civ 2 style that would be awesome

I think a tutorial would be almost better (some sort of introduction campaign) than advisors. This is simply because (speaking from past experience) their advice becomes a redundant and frustrating intrusion for accomplished players.

If advisors are included there definitely needs to be an option to turn off their introduction oriented pieces of advice. It would be great if advisors could offer a range of micro/macro management oriented information and advice that regular players would find helpful.

Advisors are a great idea but I still think the first campaign mission or a special tutorial mission should be available.  It doesn't need to be too fancy but just enough to get people started and introduce key concepts.  You can make your advisors be the tutorial, just offer a little more advise and be a little more aggressive with the suggestions in that special mission.

2 of them actually. And they can be removed but its a painful process and not something anyone but the most hardcore player would want to do.

Anyway, about the advisers. I have only 1 thing to say: Afterlife. If you havn't played it, youtube the advisers. NEED MOAR! That is how all advisers should be. Even in real life.

I'm all for this idea, but I agree that for seasoned players starting a new game, advisor pop-ups can be annoying.

The idea of an Advisor Tab alongside those for Research, Spells, etc would work well.

It could also appear as advice underneath the report lines within your city overview.

Regardless, a good balance between Easily Accessible Advisory Information and YDHVYDWT, better known as You Don't Have To View It If You Don't Want To(tm) would be nice.

If we're going to have advisors I think they need to be extremely personal and engaging, like they were in King of Dragon Pass.

Tidy.

I like the idea of advisors, especially if they're fallible according to skillset or bias. Eg: Coupling a victory condition playstyle to each advisor.

I'm going to go ahead and put in my vote for:

No Tutorial

I think that if you have an Advisor System, you've essentially got an Integrated Tutorial Tool without the need to require players to engage in a Tutorial Level before progressing to the Real Game.  The Advisors can provide the knowledge required for new beginners to get a handle on things, while not being necessary for veterans starting new games, or for people who just want to Click Around to Figure Stuff Out (what I generally do).

My two cents.

[Additional Note] For those players interested in being immersed in the game world an Advisor System would be a far better option than a Tutorial, which generally screams "You aren't a sovereign in this game world, you're a dude(tte) sitting at a computer reading instructions about how to win."  To me an Advisor System would just be that much more seamless.  No breaks in gameplay unless you want them, and a better immersion factor.

Honestly the only way you can get away without a tutorial is a really detailed manual with the game (Hate games that don't come with manuals) or Really Really good tool tips.After playing the Beta for a bit (and yes I know this is very early beta) and being very familiar with this genre of game. There are still quite a few changes to the norm in here, and things like figuring how you are supposed to get enough housing or even that you need to be very aware that pop is key to leveling cities.

Advisors while nice are

A. Annoying

B. controlled by a AI which doesn't always understand what you are trying to do or what information you are looking for.

C. Annoying

D. Sporadicly Helpful at best

and E. Annoying

hrmmm guess as far as I am concerned they really aren't nice. Please include a turn off yappy sycophants and have them executed button. I am God Here and need no lesser beings telling me I am Wrong!!!!!

I'm not sure how the campaign menu is going to be laid out, but you could do something along the lines of

• Play Prologue (tutorial campaign that fills in some lore that isn't necessity, just nice to have)
• Play Chapter 1 (main campaign)
• Play Chapter 2 (main campaign)
• Play Chapter 3 (main campaign)