Do two land tiles touching at the corners create a strait allowing ships to pass between them, as in Civ II, or do they create a barrier as in Civ III. Do a string of one-tile coast tiles touching at the corners create a navigatable river, as in Civ II or not, as in Civ III. I don't have the game yet, but am curious. Thinking about possibilities for map making.

Thanks for any replies.

I was thinking about the same thing too. The trouble with civ3 was that you couldnt simulate channels such as Suez or Panama. I started makaing a map of Europe and had a problem with Istambul: if I wanted the city to connect Europe and Asia then the Black Sea became a great lake separated from the Mediterranean (only Ottoman ships being able to get through), and if I created a strait connecting both seas then the city remained separated from Asia :( .

I don't have the game, but I think there's good news. According to what i have read about Civ IV, units can now be placed in any ally squares including cities, which means that we can create a city wherever we need a channel, and that strategic tile will be only used by ally civs. That would be even better than Civ II:cool: .

I dont know about navigable rivers. I know the grid is different this time (no more diamond shape, but square), so I dont think it is the same as in Civ 2.

Yes, thankfully, allied units can now occupy the same square and pass through each other's cities. In fact, it even includes any civilization you have open borders with. Comes in VERY handy, I must say. I love it.

I don't know about navigable rivers... as someone who wants to do a Civil War scenario that will include the war along the Mississippi, I hope that at the very least, I can make a map with a river comparable to the Civ2 Civil War scenario and not what we were forced to do in Civ3.

to make a navigable river, you could make several ocean terrain types (based off of the terrain around the river) thereby allowing your ships to go up next to the river

Yes, a navigable Mississipi wouldnt be hard to create, let's say from St. Louise to the sea, provided your map is big enough.

The only problem with that is any unit southwards from that city will need a ship to cross from one side to the other. But that would reflect reality, after all.

There has been plenty of discussion in the former Ideas & Suggestions forum about Canals. Ignoring the river question for a second, if I remember correctly, it would be a matter of modding a terrain type that allowed both land and sea units onto it. Even potentially at the same time - but perhaps limited their ability to attack each other.

This can be easily conceptualised in Civ 4, the implementation could be difficult. The canal topics were very popular in their time.

The idea was that it would maybe be a tile improvement unlocked by some massive public works/ Engineering tech.

Can't remember everything - but I am still optimistic we could see it done.

i would love to see a canal be implemented. you could make it an improvement. only problem with that is how do you get the worker off? :D