Sorry if this has been put forth before, but any word if they are adding in new tile improvements for modern times? I can think of a few that I've been craving since Civ II, and this expansion seems like a good as time as any for new stuff. Anyways, might be fun to speculate. Here are a few ideas to toss around:

Canals: Basically, roads for ships. The catch is that you can only build them within 2 tiles of the coast (so that you don't see, say, every single city being able to make boats). They could first be made available with the discovery of Construction, and the discovery of Steam Power could allow them to be built on Hills. I just want this for those pesky little land bridges.

Some sort of improvements that give beakers/culture instead of the Holy Trinity of food, hammers, and gold. Here are some ideas:

-Shrines (+2 Gold, +1 Culture, Can only be built within the radius of a Holy City, Requires Priesthood)

-Solar Power Plant (+2-3 Gold, +2Beakers, +1 Hammer, Can only be built on Desert tiles. Requires Ecology)

-Amusement Park (+3 Gold, +3 Culture, Can only be built within the radius of a Corporate HQ. Requires Electrification)

Anyways, just my thoughts. Anyone else got some neat ideas?

Tiles don't give net Gold, they give Commerce; this is then divided divided into Gold, Beakers, and Musical Notes... er, Culture.

Canals sound like a good idea if well implemented. Solar Power Plant as an improvement for otherwise barren deserts is interesting, but it could conceivably become a city building in the upcoming expansion pack.

Good call on a desert tile improvement.

Would a canal replace an existing improvement?

Would a canal replace an existing improvement?

I'd imagine it would be like a road tile, stacking on top of an improvement. One real life example is the Suez canal, which is surrounded by farmland.

Canals have been discussed in the past. It goes something like this: If canals, why not navigable rivers? Problem: Currently all rivers run on the edge of the tiles, not on them.

Maybe a Grove to work olives..available with Monarchy? (like winery)

Canals have been discussed in the past. It goes something like this: If canals, why not navigable rivers? Problem: Currently all rivers run on the edge of the tiles, not on them.

They could simply keep the rivers at the edges of tiles and put canals in the middle. It's even accurate since quite often you find canals running in parallel to river IRL.

Rince

But if you can sail a ship on your shiny new canal, why not on the river next to it?

Implementing canals would make un-navigable rivers illogical.

Edit: Rivers, of course, should have been navigable from the beginning.

Yes, rivers that could be sailed on is something I would have liked to have since Civ I. It would probably mean 2 kinds of river terrain: deep and shallow with shallow being un-navigable. Then you could possibly improve them to deep, and build canals...

Simple solution:
Say that only navigable rivers are shown on the main map...
ADD CANALS!
;)

How did the Vikings found Russia? With ships in rivers!

Really like the idea of the desert tile improvement.

Good call on desert tile improvements. I'd like to be able to build something there.

yes! desert tile improvements! the solar plant is a good call.

and yes to navigable rivers and canals too.

how 'bout resorts on coastal tiles? improves commerce via tourism.

Good call on desert tile improvements. I'd like to be able to build something there.

:agree:

America has plenty of improvements in the desert ... all kinds of military bases, test facilities, proving grounds ... I'm sure if I put enough thought into it, I could come up with a variety of improvement ideas -- nearly all of the :science:-related.

But if you can sail a ship on your shiny new canal, why not on the river next to it?

Implementing canals would make un-navigable rivers illogical.

Edit: Rivers, of course, should have been navigable from the beginning.

Just because it's a river, doesn't mean its navigable.

Some rivers are too shallow for ships. Some too rough. Some too swift.

Canals on the other hand are made to be navigable and are thus free of all inhibiting factors.

But that really doesn't matter.

I would like to see all rivers navigable by ships smaller than a Frigate -- after which you would need to improve the riverside tile with a Canal.

Beyond that, only coastal land tiles could be improved with a canal. This would make the largest landbridge 3 tiles (Canal - City - Canal).

:agree:

Just because it's a river, doesn't mean its navigable.

Some rivers are too shallow for ships. Some too rough. Some too swift.



If you were to represent all the rivers in the world in a map it would be covered in rivers. Rivers as they are in Civ 4 only represent the largest rivers in they world and they should all be navigable

One thing that I've been missing is the ability, in the later game, to build roads through the mountains. Making mountains impassable early on is a great idea, but once I have gunpowder I should be able to blast my way through.

The way to do this would be to make WORKERS able to cross mountains without roads, and everyone else need the roads. A road might take a lot of time to build, but once completed . . . it would be a nice addition to the modern era. Very strategically useful.

We might even allow it pre-gunpowder but make the roads take something like 50 turns to complete. Thus showing how hard it was to blaze a trail through the rugged terrain without the proper tools. Then if you really wanted to you could build an ancient road through the mountains in about the same time it takes to build a great wonder. lol.

Well i wish theyd include breweries, which can be built on any tile +1happy - 1 shield.
Canals would be an interesting idea,for spreading precivilservice irrigation, and possibly for moving ships, although I doubt the latter would be plausible.

Definately somekind of way to improve glaciers/desert/mountains would be nice in modern ages.

Honestly I dont think anything is really necessary, vanilla civ was pretty well set as far as improvement diversity, and with the amount of quality changes in Bts compared to warlords, I doubt anyone will even want anymore.

Canal would be a wonderful idea, but I think it should only be built on a tile of land that is sandwiched between 2 water tiles. Simply makes the game more enjoyable and easier/more fun to play. Logic can have the backseat because the whole civ game is not logical, how do you explain that it takes an ancient age unit 500 years to move 1 tile? How do you explain a club-wielding warrior downing a gunship?

If you were to represent all the rivers in the world in a map it would be covered in rivers. Rivers as they are in Civ 4 only represent the largest rivers in they world and they should all be navigable

Not all major rivers are navigable, at least not with respect to the entire length of a river, especially not by ocean going aircraft carriers.

:agree: Good point. Just because ships can sail through part of river doesn't mean it's all navigable. I've yet to see a battleship traverse the Amazon.

Only one problem: a battleship or carrier might not be able to, but a galley should. So we're back to the old problem.

All things considered, I'm for canals, so long as they're limited to two squares or so next to water. I hate it when I have a long, skinny isthmus that's two squares wide, as I can't found a city anywhere that would reduce the time for naval units to get to the other side (the "Panama Canal" city). This would make that much more realistic.

:woohoo:I like the Solar Plant, and why not Windmill on Desert as well?

Why not a wind power plant? It can provide clean power to the city.

I think the workshop should be able to be placed on any tile. Just have it be at a minus 1 food for the city to work it, representing having to ship food to that location.

Canals are definitely missing - but their opposite is missing too: large bridges and tunnels. I want late game way of connecting land otherwise separated by water. Think English Chanel Tunnel. Should be expensive, size limited and perhaps enabled with a wonder that builds the first one.

There's an improvement in this picture (http://media.pc.ign.com/media/896/896712/img_4571440.html) that's unfamiliar to me. It looks like a new resource but I'm not really sure. Does anyone know what it is?

I only see windmills, a farm, a mine, cottages in various stages of development, a plantation, a pasture (top right). Nothing new.

There's an improvement in this picture (http://media.pc.ign.com/media/896/896712/img_4571440.html) that's unfamiliar to me. It looks like a new resource but I'm not really sure. Does anyone know what it is?

Er, you have 7 cottages, a mine, two windmills, a city, a plantatin over spice, and a few units standing around.
There isn't anything new in that picture (Besides Knights, Templars, and Supply dude)

Canals are definitely missing - but their opposite is missing too: large bridges and tunnels. I want late game way of connecting land otherwise separated by water. Think English Chanel Tunnel. Should be expensive, size limited and perhaps enabled with a wonder that builds the first one.

Cool.

I wonder though, wouldn't attacking across a navigable river be more like impracticle ( approaching impossible)than merely a penalty for non-marines?

Well, if they make canaals, why not make ships that can only sail in canals and on the coast, ships that can't go through canals, and later, ships that can pass though all water.

Call me crazy, but a better road system would be great. You'd have dirt roads, which work in the ancient and Medieval ages. With Machinery or Engineering you can build improved paved roads (cobblestone). Then once you discover, I don't know, combustion, you can construct an upgraded "highway" system. The idea would be to have different uses for roads, highways and railroads, and tie them to different resources (e.g. rails currently need iron to be built).

I've always worked on the idea that roads represent major highways only - that there's no need for a more layered road network.

Is that why roads and rails cover every workable land tile on the map?

;)

Ignoring that tiles might be considred to represent very large areas, roads and rail certainly don't cover every land tile in my games - they merely connect cities and resources (and near neighbours).

Hmm. I have to wonder what your strategy is. I basically automate my workers after I've improved all the city radii in my empire, and by the modern age every tile is covered with roads and rails.

My strategy is to never ever turn on automated workers (or anything else).

I never could understand that. I mean, once you've already settled your entire continent, and you've improved all the relevant tiles immediately surrounding your cities to their maximum extent, why wouldn't you hit automate and not have to mess with them every turn? (Except when rails come along, that is.) They're just going to build mines and roads on tiles that you can't improve (but might later have resources) so I always regard it as a logical move to keep things simple.

Er, you have 7 cottages, a mine, two windmills, a city, a plantatin over spice, and a few units standing around.
There isn't anything new in that picture (Besides Knights, Templars, and Supply dude)

Aaah. I meant the spice plantation. Haven't really played the game intensively for a while now, so I didn't recognize it. Thanks for the correction.

I don't really like the idea for a layered road system. Roads and then rails is sufficient for me. Any other type of road would just clutter things up unnecessarily.

As for canals: While I don't really need the concept to be in, I could see it work, especially with the new visible trade routes. Blocking an important canal could theoretically be a way to hurt your enemies. Would rivers be used by ocean trade routes as well?