About 5% of my ideas:
No plots
-Movement should be a radius, as well as culture. However culture should not be a perfect circle, but depending on several factors:
1. Resources, Mountains, rivers, and coasts
2. Distances between other cities of that civ.
-Cities will be able to be founded
on a river (depending on the dynamic thickness). Rivers wont move in just cardinal directions, but in all directions zigzagging across the frontiers.
-Mountains/ hills should come in all sizes and shapes.
-There should be islands of tiny proportions (such as 3 in per one Civ4 plot).
-Land taken in war should not come city by city, but with greater incentives for
taking and controlling resources first, instead of just destroying them.
Resources
-The size of the military should depend on the resources, including population and demand for war/ public support (citizens should call for war rarely). There should not be 50 cruisers per 1 oil. There should be sufficient food productions as well. ( incentives for scorched earth).
-Currency should be set on the luxury (silver, gold, or salt for ex). The more of each, the stronger the currency.
There should be more consequences for rash decisions, agreeing with the evil/good feature. Decisions rapped around war, diplomacy, and civics.
-IRL, America declared war on Iraq, captured the cites, and now occupies the country, but is not another 'state' or territory. Same with America liberating France, Italy, Benelux, and others in WWII... when a nation in civ falls, it should not be permanently disbanded from the game; it should have the possibility to have territory annexed as well as occupied, and liberated. When Germany steamrolled France in WWII, it annexed some, captured the rest, but did not annex the whole country.
-In diplomacy, especially war, their should be direct reasons for invasion: Resources, land, relations, puppets; all affecting other civs relations towards
each side, the peoples moral, and the terms or the treaty. If somebody is winning a war, their citizens whould not be angry, but supporting (Vietnam War for America =
; Pacific War in America =
. Based on aggressor/ defender, reasons, and victories/ losses.
-Civics changes should be by demand of people first and foremost, with retaliations of rebellion, anarchy, and war, if not met. But only in some sectors of a nations, not all.
Other:
-Cultural diffusion should produce new civilizations.
-Starting civs should start close, but barbarians scattered.
-Not all civs should be created equal; where it civ starts should not be where it settles. If it happens to settle in a cruddy place, SOL. Strong civs should be created by chance.
-Dynamic rivers and islands.
-Some barbarian cities should be destroyed randomly, for reasons of location (food harvest, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions).
-Early civs (by birth, not era) should gain random cites (AI settlers), with increased odds with a city state civic.
-Entire civ annexation. Minor civs should rarely ask to be added to another country, depending on culture and enemies.
-New civs (by birth) should not start with their own culture all the time, unless it starts far from civilization. It should depend on distance to neighbors and the strength of their culture. They may start with a proportion of their own culture however and build up over time.
-Unions (I don't know how this would work, but based on history:
1. Aztec alliance
2. Kalmar Union
3. Iberian Union
4. Austria Hungary
5. Soviet Union
Etc)
Thank you for reading this far