Eh, um! I was going to mention this before, but since I haven't done so, I'll do it now. In the Civ2 Game Options window you are able to turn on/off some the features that slow down the AI, and there is one you can turn on the will speed up the the entire game! They are the following:
* Always wait at end of each turn
* Show enemy moves
* No pause after enemy moves
* Fast piece slide
For best results, unlike Civ2, Civ3 should have the first two options above turned off and the last two turned on as default. Though being able to see your enemy moves may be important to some, with so many civs it may not be important at all. I mean, think about it, you can always check in on certain civs at when it comes your turn, and who would want to worry about "distant" civs that currently have no impact on your own civ. Haven't you ever heard the saying, "Don't worry about it now, we'll cross that road when we get there."
Though the maximum number of civs in one game may be HUGE, the maximum number of human civs should be much less--I would say anywhere from 8-12 human civs and over 100 AI civs would be maximum, and you can always choose less if you want to speed up the game. Time limits for each human player on every turn in multiplayer games can be applied, as in Civ2, but should more customizable, ie., instead of choosing from a list of time limits you can type in a time limit yourself.
Because some people have less powerful computers than others, a warning message should be displayed if you choose to have more civs than your computers processing power can handle, thus helping you to experience a more enjoyable game.
Think about it.
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JRH
[This message has been edited by jrhughes98 (edited October 30, 2000).]