throne room

[The diplomat]

I think that in civ2, happiness determined how often you got to add an item in the throne room ( all you veterans out there, am I right? what is the formula?). I really like the throne room in civ2 but I suggest a different way of doing it. You would devote a certain amount of ressources and people from your empire to build each item of the trone room in a similar way to building a city improvement. This would give the player more control over the throne room. it would be up to the player how much ressources to devote to improving the empire or to your personal glorification.
In Ancient History, in Ancient Egypt or Rome, the leader often devoted most of the empire's ressources to building glorious palaces and monuments sometimes even at the expense of the population. With the advent of democracies, people required their leaders to devote more ressources on them rather than fancy monuments. My idea would refelct this historical reality. There would be the trone room but there would also be monuments and palaces (hopefully visible on the main map) that the player could build for his/her own personal satisfaction. (they could also have the practical benefit of increasing patriotism/nationalism/loyalty) Your population would react positively or negatively depending on your government type. In democracies, your people would get angry if you spent too much time building fancy monuments to your own glory but not in authoritarian regimes.
The main advantage of this idea is too give the civ3 an even better atmosphere, help the player feel more like a leader, by allowing the player to devote resources to building monuments to his/her own glory that the player could admire.

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No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.

i always turn off throne room as it plays no part in game.. same as wonders of world videos, having seen them a few hundred times i never watch them, but then agian i moslty paly MP not SP ...

[Nemo]

I think alot of interesting points where made about the throne room when activision decided to cut it from cpt II. It seemed that a majority of people did not find the throne room or anything after civ I (smac, civ II, ctp I) appealing. So, I would like to make a suggestion to bring it back on par with civ I (gee, that sounds odd =):
It needs options to create it in a unique way (i.e. my room/castle doesn't necessarily have to look like yours). For example, if i choose a chair, i want 3 differnt options (like differnt styles or colors or something) for that chair, then if i get to upgrade the chair later, i want 3 style type options again. if i choos a statue, i want options for the statue, etc. also it needs to be displayed again, in a small window somewhere, where you can see your magnifigance while playing - it helps make you feel powerfull =).
I think that allowing for cusomization like in civ I would be a nice (re)addition to the game.

[Empress]

hmm... I never play with the throne room on anymore. However, I think that a customized throne room is just what civ III needs

[UltraSonix]

Talk about ego-centric...

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards...

[Evil Capitalist]

I prefered the castle/palace. But as a suggestion how when the look of your cities change, so does the palace:
First era (Classical): classical palace, basic (what's the name for that chinese building? Kymono? I have had little sleep so I have an excuse), and Indian building.
Second era (medieval/rennaiscence): European castle (proper one, not mock 17th century bavarian), better chinese building and better Indian one (taj mahal style).
Third era (age of discovery): Versaille style palace, mock castle, mock classical.
Fourth era (industrial/modern): Gothic style(palace of westminster), pseudo-classical (white house), Versaille style.

You can choose which type you upgrade to. You can also pay money and resourses to get an extra wing added. This would help because other powers could see your palace when there wasn't an embassy or accurate demographics (these should develop over time). They can make decisions about your power by your palace. As this use becomes less important then parts of the building can have a positive effect on the empire. These would generally appear in the modern era, and would be things like press club, installed cameras, etc. These would be bought.

Also get rid of the wing apon wing idea, it's dull. Allow people to put in arches, fountains, stable blocks, statues and the other myriad decorations these places have. There could even be some wonders that are placed in the view (Big ben springs to mind).

[Adm.Naismith]

Hmmm, I see different point of view here.

Someone think that the Palace/Throne room is something to show your achievement with nice graphics (figures and bar graphs are not appealing the same way, I agree ).

Someone think it should be something you actually "build or pay", others that simply a display of values.

I don't think many player will spent game resources (shields or coins) to make anything for simple show greatness.

So, we must chose:
- if the whole things is for "display power" use, we can refine the way it works. I have a personal opinion about how silly is to develop a single building for thousand of years
I'll vote for a long list of age-related improvement, from gardens to castle, from statue to paintings, from city renamed to your name to special buildings (highest tower of the world, longest bridge, new modern hospital or university, etc.).

You can see it as lot of icons (easy to cusomize) in a interactive part of civilopedia that show them as they progress.

It will be a "book of your name here dinasty" or "book of your civilization here civilization".

If you prefer, they can appear on city screen instead, as special buildings (not easy to take a whole look at, but more nice to see them properly fit).

If you think that anything in Civ III must be game related or it will be useless, promote these little gems to the role of small, local wonders, or special buildings.

They will appear on one of your cities randomly (when the related pre-requisite is meet, think also to scenario triggers) or where more appropriate.

Add a small local effect on happiness, production, money, research, health etc. and you will love that small gift as you should

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant

[Adm.Naismith]

Bringing it up again, just for easy reference.

The Throne Room shouldn't be available until the Sanitation advance.

[Cyclotron]

I liked the throne room from CivII, but I also liked the customization ability from CivI. Maybe a mix?

Anyway, the Throne room should remain purely for kicks. It is silly to give it any effect on the game, and even worse to make it cost something! Remember, as CivII says, it is "spontaneously built" by your citizens! Let's keep it that way.