Indeed. That's all I was getting at back on page 1. I think the majority consensus on this will be that minor factions need to be considered a little more then just "Minor" or they'll turn out as just "fancy goodie huts". If they're going to be in the game at all (which honestly does kinda go against the whole ruined world thing) they need to be able to have a purpose all their own. They need to be able to build up at least a little bit so they can prove to be worth keeping around. I've always preferred the type of "Minor" civilization/empire/faction in whatever game I was playing that would actually have a use. Diplomacy (known as Politics in the real world) can have much greater uses and can actually allow these Minor factions to have weight. If they have at least a little bit of power behind them you can have "proxy wars" through them against your enemies or even allies without breaking an alliance.

Minor factions need to be able to spread out some and gain power, even if it is at ten times a slower rate then the player or standard AI Factions. The fact that they would spread so much slower and Not have a Sovereign (maybe even not having a hero) would be all that's needed to make them "Minor". Without a centralized form of leadership no civilization or group or settlement would ever get very far. They wouldn't have someone to say "Hey, lets go build another colony over there" or to say "We should Ally ourselves with this strong Empire over here". Instead, their form of government (or lack there-of) would have them looking to the "Village Elder" or "Town Mayor" for guidance. In Elemental's case since Frogboy is giving minor factions these "guardian units" then if the "guardian" has a high enough Intelligence perhaps in Diplomacy you'll be talking to the "Guardian" directly. I think that would be pretty cool.

I also wouldn't mind seeing Minor Factions that specialized in certain areas. Perhaps one type of Minor Faction has ancient secrets of a lost form of magic. Perhaps one minor faction knows how to be better miners than their neighbors. If they each grant certain bonuses (think about resources in space and building starbases in GalCiv2) and the player or Ai can only get that bonus by successfully bringing the minor faction into their Empire/Kingdom, this gives yet another reason why the player or AI shouldn't just wipe them out. I think that would be pretty cool as well.

So, we don't need Minor factions that are as fleshed out as normal AI Factions. They wouldn't need as advanced an AI as a normal AI Faction would, but they need to be more then speed bumps and they need to be worth keeping around or they'll just get mowed over or seen as fancy goodie huts.

"In regards to the factions being able to give you benefits via diplomacy, could that extend to include swearing fealty, and/or becoming a protectorate?"

I'd vote for being able to do that with anybody, major or minor.  I'd vote for me being able to become someone's vassal too.

Also, trade caravans with minors sounds good.

Agree with just about everybody that minors should be more powerful than in GalCiv 2.  No strong opinions on how to make them so.

You know that's what I meant  . Pretty sure Brad knows that's what I meant too, at least...I hope... Oh No!!!

LoL

This is like Warlords of so many years ago.  It really is a great idea.

Actully that sounds pretty awsome. Why would you think that was horrible? I would love for Minor races to do this. At least make it an option to allow Minor races to expand and or become a major race.

Something else that I think would work well establishing minor factions would be if they had the option, once diplomatic relations were established and decent, to bargain for your Sovereign's spell casting prowess.  It would reinforce that they were independent nations, but small, and without the one big resource that makes you different.  It would also subtly reinforce the importance of Sovereigns in the world to the player as well. 

Maybe as part of the trade agreements for their special unit/resource they ask you to enchant their cities production or to give them a summoned unit.  That sort of thing.  It may also be neat if they knew enough to ask for your sovereign to shape the terrain (build a mountain, create a beachhead, etc) around them as part of the deal, but I'm not sure how complicated that would be for the AI. 

They could even trade to become a major faction with a casting souvereign. This would work using the imbue hero spell (via a diplomatic option) transfering essence to their non-casting souvereign.

I am not sure if there is an option of diplomatic victory but strengthening your ally could be a wise choice when trying to archive such victory conditions.