Things I'd Like To See Next

[Willem]

Well it doesn't sound like there's going to be very many changes made in the editor next patch, so it looks like we'll have to wait until the next expansion pack. So I figured I'd put in my wish list now, so maybe I'll get a present or two next Christmas. Or the one after, who knows. Anyway:

1. I would like the wonder flag, "Resources Required in City Radius" moved to the general flags for improvements. I could do alot with new improvements if that were the case.

2. I'd like to see a flag that prevented an improvement from being built in a particluar city size. For instance, I think it's a bit silly that I can build a University in a dinky little Town that only has a population of three. That type of structure should only be built in a City or Metropolis. And Research Lab could be set for only Metropolis, etc.

3. For Luxuries, as well as being able to select when they appear on the map, I would like to have the option of making them disappear as well, or at least have them become bonus resources. People's ideas of what luxuries are has changed slightly in the last 6000 years.

4. I would like to have an option that prevented a particular gov type from using a specific building. For instance, a Communist government should not get any benefit from a Cathedral, and shouldn't be allowed to build one. All the others can however.

5. I would like to see the flag "Replaces Improvements with this Flag Checked" expanded so that it can be used by other building lines. Or at least something like the "Rendered Obsolete By:" only for buildings, not techs.

6. I'd like to have access to those four pull down menus at the top when making a small wonder.

7. Instead of just being able to select whether an improvement makes people Happy/Unhappy, I would like the ability of making someone Content as well.

8. I would like to have an "Irrigate To" command for my Workers instead of the current "Ctrl-I". This would be much more effective if I could select where to send the irrigation.

9. The ability to add new Eras.

10. The ability to set the Railroad movement rate.

11. Instead of having several different types of centralized corruption, and just one of communal, I'd like to see these functions split in two. So there'd be a flag each for a Centralized or Communal model, then a second set that would select the severity for each. This would make it much easier for adding different gov types.

12. Just like now we can override the movement penalty of a terrain, I'd like to be able to override the defensive bonus. So that a Archer/Longbowman would get a bonus in a Forest, but the Horseman/Knight wouldn't. All overrides would be set to the value for Grassland.

[Patroklos]

Amen.

I would also like adding units to be made easier. I hate having to modivy civpedia text and the like all the time, I think it should be easier.

Alos, I would like two seperate invisible flags, one for land and one for sea (with their corresponding "see invisible" too). This will keep invisible land units from bieng detected by ships, and visa versa.

[Der PH]

Agreed to a lot of the mentioned points.
Now it's my turn ...

1) Separation from land and sea bombardment (maybe by adding the option 'naval bombardment only') in order to improve the use of submarines. I'd very much like to lower their A/D-values and give them bombardment instead (get the torpedoes out and then hide from the hunters), but without my wish-flag the AI would mainly use a bombard-value to destroy tile improvements, which should not be possible with torpedoes.

2) Ability to restrict a unit's movement to tiles with rails, so you could implement armoured trains and (especially) railwayguns (I love those things).

3) Ability to raid trade routes as it was possible with CTP. That's not easy with Civ's trade system, which I like very much, but it would enable real trade wars and make the privateer more useful.

4) Set a unit's maintenance cost. I think, an aircraft carrier should be a little bit more expensive to maintain than a galley or a warrior. Additionally this would allow to implement mercenaries: Units with low production, but very high maintenance cost.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

Well, I am in complete agreement with all of the future editor suggestions that have been written here . To this list, I'd also like to add the following:

1) Events Scripting (Obviously).

2) The Ability to make units dependant on the presence of Wonders and/or improvements (i.e. giving a unit a building prerequisite instead of, or as well as, a resource and tech prerequisite!)

3) Ability to add/edit terrain improvements, so that we can have things like more advanced mines in later ages, as well as advanced farms etc.

4) On a non-Editor note, Civil War would also be nice to see back in the game, as well as advanced diplomacy options!

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker

[plexus]

1) Make the AI willing to sell cities in peace time
2) Event/Diplo Scripting
3) Firaxis made scenarios

[Willem]

Oh yeah! I'd like to be able to add disease to more terrain types. It might be interesting to have the Black Plaque sweep through my empire once in awhile.

[zulu9812]

1. The removal of icon sheets so that units, resources, pop heads, buildings etc, simply use individual files.

2. The units tab of the editor should have sections for inputting pedia text and pathnames for pedia icons, but being able to do so in plain english w/o worrying about stuff like PRTO, # or ^. In fact, that should probably go for all the tabs. If that takes up too much space, then a button with a pop-up asking you to type the stuff in.

3. The diplomacy text should be restructured so that it isn't reliant on knowing how many civs there are. That way you wouldn't need to mess about with that horrible string text when you add a new civ.

4. The AI should stop patrolling. The number of times I've seen AI units moving back and forwards to and from the same tiles...it's ridiculous and causes a huge drain on system resources.

5. Be able to spilt your territory into regions. A good way would be to simply select one city, the city(/ies) closest to it and say they make up a new region. A box pops up asking for the region name. Simple

6. The ability to set whether or not a transport unit can itself be loaded onto other transports (like helicopters onto carriers). I imagine you'd need 2 load flags, then.

P.S. I think asking for AI scripting and events timeline in a patch is a bit much

[zulu9812]

7. The ability to add new culture groups.

8. The ability to choose which tile improvements and city improvements are era-specific.

9. It is possible to make any unit era-specific. However, as far as I know, it is not possible to have era specific icons for them (apart form the settler, worker, leader and army).

10. Be able to let each civ have it's own set of advisors. I'm not asking Firaxis to make them all, I'm just asking for the ability to make and add my own.

11. A box, similar to the Ignore Move Cost box, which would give a combat bonus to the unit when fighting from that terrain.

12. The Terraform AI strategy should still be checkable even if a unit is given less than the full compliment of worker actions.

[zulu9812]

13. Fix this damn black screen bug! It's been there since the game was released and still hasn't been fixed. It's been discussed here, here and here

14. The AI should make use of mobile aircraft.

15. Ground units should be able to use air missions w/o doing wierd things like flak units flying through the air on intercept missions. Although, I think this probably involves a change to the format of the INI file, with dedicated lines for intercept, recon, etc.

16. The game engine should automatically draw the lines between techs. Yep, you heard me correctly; that way we don't have to mess about with the pcx files and can just add techs with the editor.

17. Being able to move units, techs, buildings, etc. up and down the list would be handy since that affects it's position on the in-game build list.

18. Be able to set whether or not a fast unit will retreat on a percentage chance, or will always retreat.

19. A land Transport AI strategy flag would be nice (and obviously the AI be able to use it )

20. Remove the 1 unit per turn per airport limit on airlifting.

[Willem]

I'd really, really like to see a "View" mode. It gets annoying accidentally sending a unit off to the other side of the world, when all I wanted to do was have a look around.

[player1]

ABILITY to change Communal level of corruption.

To set how much is it corrupt (some sort of slider).

[Big Fish]

Archers/ longbowmen are, like knights, inefective in trees

[zulu9812]

21. The scenario search folders feature should be extended so that you can use it to select more specific folders. The problem was discussed here here

22. Artillery on auto-bombard should override the normal reaction to wake when next to an enemy unit (when that preference is turned on). Since catapults and cannon have to be next to an enemy in the first place, that makes auto-bombard a bit useless really. It was discussed here

23. The AI should be more aggressive to civs of a shunned government.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Big Fish
Archers/ longbowmen are, like knights, inefective in trees

I disagree. Archers were used quite often in ambushes, with them hiding in the trees. They can easily hide in brambles, thickets etc. that the Knight would have a hard time getting through. And anyone on foot in a dense forest will be more manueverable among the trees than a horse will. Quite often the forest will be so dense that the rider will even have to dismount.

[Willem]

I also want to see scrolling windows for the resources in the city view. It's ugly as crap seeing the ones I've added spreading across the top of the screen. That would no doubt save us from the odd crash as well, since I'm convinced that with to many the game crashes.

[Willem]

An idea that just crept into my head:

Walls are currently rather useless, especially in the latter part of the game. One way to make them more useful would be to provide a movement penalty for units attacking. Afterall, they'd either have to go around them until they found a hole, or stop and blast one themselves. Either way there will no doubt be plenty of rubble they'd have to crawl through as well. So losing one movement point seems like a reasonable penalty.

[mrboo123]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
... 2) The Ability to make units dependant on the presence of Wonders and/or improvements (i.e. giving a unit a building prerequisite instead of, or as well as, a resource and tech prerequisite!)...

You can't do that? Ahhh... I was going to make it were you can build peacekeepers and defend allies' cities and "free" foes' cities by building the UN! (When (or if) I get Civ3.)

[Willem]

Originally posted by 123john321

You can't do that? Ahhh... I was going to make it were you can build peacekeepers and defend allies' cities and "free" foes' cities by building the UN! (When (or if) I get Civ3.)

No, it can't be done at the moment. I've read though that it's on the wish list at Firaxis. I'm not sure whether there's any truth to that rumour though.

[Admiral PJ]

I would like it to be possible that:
when a resource tech has been found like refining, to start with no oil can be seen on tiles.
As years go by , oil is discovered and found slowly.

This would be more realistic and more fun and strategic.

Its a step further than your luxury idea.

[mrboo123]

Originally posted by 123john321
...(When (or if) I get Civ3.)

I'm getting it, but that ain't the point. Since I'm getting it, I'll try my hand at making a Canadian civ, with the Peacekeeper with as the speacil unit and is it possbile to make wonders?

[Willem]

Originally posted by 123john321


I'm getting it, but that ain't the point. Since I'm getting it, I'll try my hand at making a Canadian civ, with the Peacekeeper with as the speacil unit and is it possbile to make wonders?

Yes it possible to make any sort of improvement withan upper limit of 256 I believe. There's a bit of a learning curve involved, but it's not to bad. You can also have government specific buildings, although they don't always work the way you want them to, at least wonders.

[annoyed]

I would like it to be possible that:
when a resource tech has been found like refining, to start with no oil can be seen on tiles.
As years go by , oil is discovered and found slowly.

This would be more realistic and more fun and strategic.

Its a step further than your luxury idea.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________________

I completely agree,and resources should be depleted as used- a fixed amount of resources is silly. And oil in the oceans, with procurement by navalworkers possible.

Also, a rudimentary system of logistics and supply would be nice.

Different religions and resulting fueds, and the same with political systems, both brought about by great leaders arising spontaneously.

The replicating of dynasties and political swings through manipulation of production and econ. and war weariness and other game functions. Again, the use of leaders(not just from war but spontaneously generated) could contribute. Instead of consistent monotonous sameness in functions, a single civ can go through age of exp., of conquest, of learning, etc. Golden ages, bronze ages, lead ages, and crap ages can occur do to circumstances out of your control, but you have to learn to deal with them.

[alva]

3. For Luxuries, as well as being able to select when they appear on the map, I would like to have the option of making them disappear as well, or at least have them become bonus resources. People's ideas of what luxuries are has changed slightly in the last 6000 years.

can't you do this allready ??? I thought you could..

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by zulu9812
16. The game engine should automatically draw the lines between techs. Yep, you heard me correctly; that way we don't have to mess about with the pcx files and can just add techs with the editor.

I would give Firaxis 75$ simply for that feature, if that was what it would take.

[Willem]

Originally posted by alva


can't you do this allready ??? I thought you could..

Yes, but it's random. I'd like it so that once you reach a certain tech level, a particular Luxury no longer works to keep your people happy. It either disappears or becomes a bonus resource.

How many people in today's world think that Dyes are a luxury that makes them happy? It did at one time, but technology now allows us to create synthetic dyes, so having that type of resource no longer means much.

Another example would be Furs. When you reach Ecology, the Furs no longer act to make your citizens happy, something else would take it's place instead.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Jaguar Warrior

I would give Firaxis 75$ simply for that feature, if that was what it would take.

Curiously enough, they used to do that. There used to be grey lines that followed any changes/additions made. I forget the patch number, but they removed that feature awhile back. Can't for the life of me understand why.

[player1]

Maybe because the lines were pretty ugly, and that they were ALWAYS drawn with any kind of modified BIC (since game can't detect are just tech chnaged or not).

[Amesjustin]

I like games that have a bit of unpredicability. All of the options below should have flags for the player to toggle on and off as they see fit. Firaxis doesn't need to program these themselves, just give us the capability.

1. Event Scripting - Those of you who played Civ 2 Gold know what thats about. $100 if firaxis throws in this baby.

2. Unique (or rare) Terrain / landmarks - Like SMAC. You could find Half Dome and if it is in your territory earn extra gold for tourism.

3. Random Events - How cool would it be to have a random Cyclone hit your coastline or have a Volcano erupt and spill lava everywhere.

4. Swamps/marshes - Why not?

5. Tectonic Plates - Mountains should be in ranges, with ridges and trenches in the ocean and the occasional earthquake and volcano thrown in.

6. Splintering / revolution. When the British discover new land on the other side of the world and colonize it, shouldn't the people need A LOT of convincing not to form their own country?

7. Culture - Culture should be influenced by the environment. A civ in a polluted desert that has few resources and is under constant attack is going to have a different culture than one that has only known peace and is in beautiful, lush surroundings. The type of resources available should also influence Culture. Culture itself should be branched like advances - Militaristic, Peaceful, artistic, education-oriented, work-oriented, environmentalism, lazy, and sinful are just some of the possibilities here. Firaxis did open a new door by introducing culture, but they barely opened it.

8. Advances - Available techs should in turn be influenced by culture. Sinful Civs would desire Strip Clubs and Casinos, Militaristic - Army academies and weapons factories, Artistic - Museums and Theaters.

9. Everything everyone else has already posted.

I am sure I will think of others later.

[Azeem]

As I mentioned before - more civ-specific architecture for wonders, small wonders, and city improvements. For example, the Chinese have Emperor Qin's Pyramid Tomb at Xi An instead of a distinctly Egyptian "Great Pyramid". Or how about the pyramid temple at Tenochtitlan for the Aztecs when they build the "Sistine Chapel" wonder? There needs to be more clearer diversity in different cultures.

[Barfus]

i dont know if any of these have been mentioned above, but i would like ability to set diplomatic relations for scenarios (and lock them if needs be); triggers if possible, and the ability to toggle eras for game use. i.e., if i want to playa game that runs ancient to industrial, and no farther on the tech tree. or toggle off all of them and just play medieval techs. thanks