Two "new" ideas for a Civ4/civ3 patch

[Pilfur]

1. Natural Wonders:

I loved the idea of resources in Civ3. It really changes the game and gives me a REASON to go to war which was seriously lacking in Civ 1 and 2. But what about some natural wonders?
Places on the planet that would not only jazz up the art work but also provide something to fight for. Imagine a Niagra Falls on the map or a Mt Everest.

2. Event Storylines and Personalization:

The game, as mentioned before seems rather empty. One in which you conquer and do litle else. Turn by turn goes by with maintenance and warring and nothing else to do. This is too bad. A huge waste of potential.

Civ3 is a PERFECT backdrop to a mess of good storylines. Bring back advisors and give them personalities. Give them goals of their own that you must meet to keep them happy. Have them be actual units on the board, who when present in a given city gives that city a boost in production, science, commerce, battle training, whatever the advisor's specialty is.

Have it so that you have a line of rulers and not just the immortal one that lives over thousands of years. Simple things like inter-empire marriages between leaders and having babies and naming them could add a dimension of reality to the game and immerse the player.Maybe even have it so that you can bribe or court an enemy civ's advisor unit to join you and turn against their own civ (leading to severe penalties in their specialty)

[Captain]

I remember way back when we were discussing civ 3 wish list before it had come out...

these ideas surfaced then and I loved them, but I don't think the majority did. each has their own priorities i guess. I was personally hoping for more revolutionary changes as opposed to incremental, and the culture thing and resources was a big change...
much more fun too!

but I think it still lacks immersion in the gameworld (that came up in one of the polls, and many threads).

multiplayer helps a lot since it gives a face/personality to each rival. but in SP, something's missing.
I think your storyline idea is cool. See how well it worked for Starcraft? MP was the most fun, but even against the comp, having a storyline and specific objectives made the predictability of the comp much more bearable.

I think most folk would say events scripting would be the key here to making the game more fun, even for non-scenarios.

actually that succession idea has been debated somewhere.. I don't remember now though.
succession games are a neat innovation people came up with - check out the civ 3 stories section for some awesome succession stories!

[Adagio]

The Natural Wonders thing... that's a great idea! We have been talking about this before, but I don't think they will make that in an update, but in the XP it would be great. These wonders ofcause requires a name, which will be shown on the map.