I'm sorry to say this, but the ways the borders and territories are dealt with in Civilisation 3 is too unrealistic. I know that civilisation 3 is NOT based on real life, but let me first state my side of the argument.
Many, and I mean MANY nations around the world have large amounts of unoccupied or sparsely occupied space within their borders. Canada for example has almost all of the north. Australia has a vast stretch of desert in it's centre. There are probably more examples but you get my point.
If the laws of Civ3 should apply to real life (god forbid) then the northern parts of Canada and most of central Australia should be "Neuteral" territory or full of small rural towns (I know that there are probably alot of small towns in aforementioned uninhabited places, but a town of 120 people producing enough "Culture" that extends it's radius further than most cities?).
What do I suggest? well...During the "Age of Exploration" when civilisations are still beginning to get familiar with thier world and alot of territory is unclaimed, the explorer unit should come in handy. The explorer projects a "Radius" of say, 8 squares around him. As he travels through the lands, any lands within those 8 squares that does not belong to another civ, becomes the property of the player controling the explorer.
Now arises the problem of expansionst civs getting a MASSIVE advantage..and backwards civs that haven't gotten the pre requisits for explorers. To remedy this problem, I propose that ALL civs be given a scout in the beginning of the game and be allowed to create more. Expansionist can have thier scouts either move twice as fast, or maybe project a 16 square radius instead of 8. Another possible solution would be making it so that military units can also be used as scouts, or conqurers, explained a bit down.
So what happends during the industrial/modern ages when there is no more land to explore, only conqure? Well, as mentioned before, military units can also be conqurers. A swordsman should project 8 squares of "Control", a horseman 16 due to the horses allowing them to travel faster, and ALL modern units, eg. Infantry, Tanks ect have 26, because it is assumed that infantry have APCs, Humvees, Jeeps ect.
This can also mean battles become fights for territorial domination, not just the control of cities. There would actually be fronts. Battles like the Battle of the Bulge* could actually happend again as one division moves up without the support of all the others, thus creating a "Buldge" in the front.
*For those who don't know, the Battle of the Buldge was a battle fought by Australian and British soldiers against the Germans during World War 2. Apparently one division of Allied soldiers pushed ahead while the others didn't. This resulted in a buldge in the front, which the Germans surrounded and killed everyone. A friend told me this, so some details my be incorrect. Correct me at will.
So that's just my little opinion. I doubt Firaxis would implement anything like this. Let's just wait for the new editor and hope something like this could be achieved.
Many, and I mean MANY nations around the world have large amounts of unoccupied or sparsely occupied space within their borders. Canada for example has almost all of the north. Australia has a vast stretch of desert in it's centre. There are probably more examples but you get my point.
If the laws of Civ3 should apply to real life (god forbid) then the northern parts of Canada and most of central Australia should be "Neuteral" territory or full of small rural towns (I know that there are probably alot of small towns in aforementioned uninhabited places, but a town of 120 people producing enough "Culture" that extends it's radius further than most cities?).
What do I suggest? well...During the "Age of Exploration" when civilisations are still beginning to get familiar with thier world and alot of territory is unclaimed, the explorer unit should come in handy. The explorer projects a "Radius" of say, 8 squares around him. As he travels through the lands, any lands within those 8 squares that does not belong to another civ, becomes the property of the player controling the explorer.
Now arises the problem of expansionst civs getting a MASSIVE advantage..and backwards civs that haven't gotten the pre requisits for explorers. To remedy this problem, I propose that ALL civs be given a scout in the beginning of the game and be allowed to create more. Expansionist can have thier scouts either move twice as fast, or maybe project a 16 square radius instead of 8. Another possible solution would be making it so that military units can also be used as scouts, or conqurers, explained a bit down.
So what happends during the industrial/modern ages when there is no more land to explore, only conqure? Well, as mentioned before, military units can also be conqurers. A swordsman should project 8 squares of "Control", a horseman 16 due to the horses allowing them to travel faster, and ALL modern units, eg. Infantry, Tanks ect have 26, because it is assumed that infantry have APCs, Humvees, Jeeps ect.
This can also mean battles become fights for territorial domination, not just the control of cities. There would actually be fronts. Battles like the Battle of the Bulge* could actually happend again as one division moves up without the support of all the others, thus creating a "Buldge" in the front.
*For those who don't know, the Battle of the Buldge was a battle fought by Australian and British soldiers against the Germans during World War 2. Apparently one division of Allied soldiers pushed ahead while the others didn't. This resulted in a buldge in the front, which the Germans surrounded and killed everyone. A friend told me this, so some details my be incorrect. Correct me at will.
So that's just my little opinion. I doubt Firaxis would implement anything like this. Let's just wait for the new editor and hope something like this could be achieved.
