IDEA: Colonial war

Not sure if this is possible as the concept of war is probably hard coded into the game but...

Wouldn't it be great if a country could declare a 'colonial war' where combat can only take place within certain co-ordinates (such as cities within the area where the A.I has been told to colonise in the new world.)

This would make war more historical, for example, Spain could declare a colonial war on France but because combat could only take place in the colonies of each coultry, you wouldn't have hordes of units routinely streaming over the pyrenees and taking out a whole civ. (perhaps this could improve the game balance by making sure that one civ does not end up taking over most of Europe)

(This would be in addition to normal war)
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there could also be a a relationship modifier for colonies.

If you have culture within the area that the A.I has been told to lay claim to you could get a
-1, you laid claim to our land

if you don't you could get a
+1, you respect our territorial claims

This would probably result in civs that want to colonise the same areas being more competitive and hostile to each other

Just an idea

I like the idea.
I would love to see the european states figth more over seas wars. However, the AI is not very good at this.

If you change "not very good" to "completely unable to", then yep, you're right.

I don't see how this could be viewed as either realistic or a good addition to the game. Name a major conflict between two colonial powers that did not have a component in the European theater please?

Well the colonial wars were more violent on colonial land, and more violent in European sea.

But nah, I think it would increase the chances that the AI would misinterpret(given that it works) it, and declare colonial wars when their rival is attacking them in a normal war, causing each area to be eaten up by the opposite civ.;


I do however, like the second idea, but by what you said about it, do you mean that lets say a civ makes a settler, and he heads for a specific area to colonize, and you make a town right next to(or within two spaces of) their target they get mad at you?

The idea of colonial wars is interesting, but I believe the game already simulates events such as the 7 Years War - civilizations attack the least protected enemy cities. And even that war, which was colonial between France and Britain, started and was fought over mainly in Europe.

What about proxy wars? In the XX century it became nearly impossible for a nation to hold territory against a native population that recieved support from some other power - and this without open war between the competing powers. Rebelions and partisan activity simply made wars of conquest economically irrational.
Civ2 had partisan units popping up arround conquered cities late in the game. Would it be possible to allow a civ to "offer" units to an occupied/destroyed civilization, to simulate a proxy war? Ou rather, to turn some of its units "barbarian" and release them to plunder around cities recently conquered by another civ?

You can already do that. I frequently gift units to the losing side in a war, just to piss off the AI.

Yeah, you need open borders with the nation in question though.

Yes, that's the problem. In order to offer units you must place them within the borders of that civilization. And once it is defeated you can interfere no more.