A few wishes for CivIV

ike0481 · December 11, 2003, 17:12

Here are just a couple of ideas right off the top of my head for CivIV

1) "Don't cross my territory" option. I want to be able to let everyone know that if they waltz into my territory it is the same as them declaring war on me. With this option selected nobody should even think of crossing into my territory without an army to back it up.

2) Instead of simple icons for units, I would like to see an animated graphic that grows and changes as more units enter a particlar square. I'm talking about an overhead view of all the soldiers within a unit, say pikemen, and as I move additional units, say horsemen, into that same square the graphic shows both the pikemen and horsemen graphics mixed in together. If anyone has played any of the Total War games you should know what I'm talking about. It would be nice to be able to lactually look at my army of 25 units about to strike down an enemy city instead of just an icon of one unit with the best defense.

3) World History. Let the computer write my history as I create it. I want to know when I started the 20 year war with Germany, how many soldiers were lost on my side, how many Germany lost. I want to be able to see when that big volcano erupted or when that hurrican swept in and destroyed my capital. etc...

Those are just a couple of ideas for now. What do you all think?

Brent · December 11, 2003, 17:37

3) I like.

-Jrabbit · December 12, 2003, 10:29

I really like the automated history text idea, and it's eminently do-able.

Rasputin · December 12, 2003, 11:22

1. If you dont want units in your territory patrol borders, returnof ZOC would help this. Also you can get them out by threatening them in diplomacy screen you dont take a rep hit for attacking them if they refuse to go.

2. not interested in more graphics, but would like to see icon that shows more than one unit in square ala Civ 2 which had a shadowed shield icon on the graphic to represent the extra units. more graphics will jsut slow doen the game and make it less a strategy game and more of a console game.

3. good idea, especially for end game stuff.

Solver · December 12, 2003, 12:12

Automated history does indeed sound fun, I've thought of this before.

"In 1918 AD, with the battleship bombing of Madrid, Germany declared war on us. Our fleets moved and soon we got our first victory, capturing Hamburg..."

alva · December 12, 2003, 14:44

Hmm, I like it too but won't it bore quite easely.

Rasputin · December 12, 2003, 14:48

i think for an end game report will be great... especially in MP game how cooolllll

Enriquillo · December 12, 2003, 15:10

I have only one burning wish:

Make the military side of the game less unpredictable, it's a freaking casino as it is now.

While being one of my alltime favorite games, I really would like to see a different military model without some of the outrageous outcomes I've experienced in battles.
It's one of the reasons why a warmonger like myself plays mostly builderstyle. Also I can't see how MP works with a flawed military model like Civ's.

It reminds me a lot of rolling dice in the boardgame Axis and Allies.
Battles in Axis and Allies are actually more predictable, despite the dice involved :{

filix · December 12, 2003, 15:28

I would like to have the old city manager back, where it is possible to put the workers on different hexes where they have to work. On plains or wood or swamp,...
Like in civ1/2 or ctp1

=> sorry its already in civ3.

alva · December 13, 2003, 05:01

You can already have your workers work on one city and only that one as it is.

Roman · December 13, 2003, 05:27

An absolute, resounding YES to no. 3. and number 1. I don't really care for no. 2.

ike0481 · December 16, 2003, 13:00

Here are a few more ideas for CivIV:

4) CivIV needs the talking advisors like in CivII. I would even like to have talking civ leaders. This way the advisors could actually tell me that the citizens in a city are happy or rioting instead of having to read all those static messages. Of course, there should be an option to turn this feature off if desired.

5) Bring back the ability to plan your attacks with your allies against your enemies. This was a wonderful feature in Alpha Centauri that would make having allies in wars that much more important.

6) Speaking of Alpha Centauri, how about the option to customize our own units. Everyone wants more units in the game anyways so why not let us make out own? Allow us to purchase extra armor for our vunerable archers or perhaps a weapons upgrade for our riflemen.

7) More natural disaters. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, etc... These things would add an extra bit of excitement and unpredictability to the game. I know these sorts of things happen all the time in real life but the game could focus only on the really big natural disasters that occur once every 100 years or so.

8) More buildings. CivIV needs buildings like a blacksmith or an armory that can add additional defensive or offensive values to units created in a particuar city. These sorts of buildings are found in the Total War series and I think they could be successfully implemented into CivIV

More CivIV thoughts and ideas to come.

alva · December 16, 2003, 13:24

Absolutely NO!!! to 6. Sorry

-
I like 7 though

ike0481 · December 16, 2003, 13:59

Alva,
Could you explain your opinion to #6?

Why don't you think an option to customize your army would be good?

alva · December 16, 2003, 14:40

Well, I don't like it, is that good enough.

- At least in SMAC it had some merrit, being Science-Fiction and all, but I don't think it will work at all in a Civ enviroment.

- the risk of creating super units

-(And last but not least, I'm very sceptic the AI will be able to handle it)

Solver · December 16, 2003, 15:24

Unit Workshop like in SMAC probably isn't a good idea, with possible balance problems, and AI problems... although I would love to be able to choose certain feautures (like, a simple tank, or one with a bigger gun and less armor...)

ike0481 · December 29, 2003, 10:43

Some more ideas:

9) Unit Option to destroy soil. When I raze an enemy city I either have to get a settler to that open spot quickly before the AI or declare war on whatever AI gets a settler there before me. Yesterday when the Inca declared war on me and razed one of my cities I took to razing all of their cities in revenge. I didn't want to conquer their territory of bother building settlers so late in the modern age and it would have been nice to be able to completely destroy their soil so that no other nation would bother trying to settle it. I think in our real world histroy there was a time when salt was used to destroy the soil. This should be incorporated into CIVIV.

10) Workers should continue to be able to clean pollution such as garbage and sewage from cities but nuclear pollution should be a completely different issue. They should have different graphics for each and I suppose nuclear pollution could be cleaned up but it should take a few decades or centuries for it to completely disappear. This would make using nuclear weapons as disastrous to the environment as it is in the real world and would make players really consider their consequences before using them.

11) Specialized Production. It would be good if cities that produced certain units got a bonus if they produced that same unit again and again. If a city cranks out a tank and I set it to produce another tank that city should already be geared up to produce tanks since it just completed building one, therefore it should not take as long to produce the next one. After a building, say 4 of the same unit in a row it should get an even bigger bonus because the city will by then have perfected the process of building that particular unit.

12) A city shouldn't be able to switch from building tanks to building a temple or library without penalty. I think CIVII had this feature and it worked well because it makes no sense for a city to be building a tank and right before it is completed switch to building a library instead and finish the library just as fast without any loss in shields.

Thoughts?

Fosse · December 29, 2003, 20:27

Good stuff, Ike. I think you'll find most of those ideas welcomed.

I don't like 11 at all though. I understand the realism factor, but it just sounds like giving bonuses to production that has been produced before is going to make things a bit tedious... to have the most efficient empire possible you have to build ALL of your infantry in Athens, and ALL of your tanks in Sparta.

I really like the idea of ruining the land though. You could salt city sites in the ancient age, like Romans did, or scorch the Earth, like the Red Army in WWII. I like that idea.