Archelogy good....Prospecting would be even better!

T

Toadman2

Chieftain
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Nov 5, 2011
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I saw the archeology aspect in the video regarding ancoient wonders. GOod tag to making use of ancient civilizations and culture.

However, I am one that loves the map exploration aspect of the game, but once it's reveiled the game drags. I like the unknown which adds a level of strategy independent form the A.I.

I think the game needs prospecors instead of reveiling Mineral resources. Just because you have the tech to use Iron, or uranium you shoudl have to find them. Workers can do the prospecting. It could be as simple as that. Much of our industrial history even today is "There be Gold in them there hills, I think?, or Where's the oil?"

This would leave the map fully unexplored deep into the game and never be quite reveiled.

It could be made simple as I stated above, or more complex. Such as depleted resources which force you to keep looking for them if you are using them up.
 
That would be a cool idea. I don't think it would work with iron simply because players don't have the time/units to spare for prospecting, but for oil/uranium/maybe even luxury mineral resources/gold/silver would be awesome

A really cool idea, I like it. The eXploration element of Civ has always been one of my favorite. Archaeology is cool largely cause of it and I am glad map trading isn't back. This sounds like a more fleshed out idea for resources :)!
 
Good idea for immersion, but I wouldn't make prospecting too hard. Would you have to traverse each tile to find strategic resources, or just pass by them like a scout would? And how would you know where to look? I guess a question mark would pop up in the general vicinity instead of "X-resource discovered".
 
Showing a few of each resources on the map when you research its respective tech. Hide the rest off them. The hidden ones would only be revealed if you send out a prospector.
 
A lot of people don't like exploring, ruins or having to move civilian units on a map. While I do, there's only so much civilian movements I am willing to tolerate after the early game. I don't think most would want more, esp. when archaeologists added to the mix (which I assume can be turned off like ruins in Setup?).
 
Buccaneer said:
A lot of people don't like exploring, ruins or having to move civilian units on a map. While I do, there's only so much civilian movements I am willing to tolerate after the early game. I don't think most would want more, esp. when archaeologists added to the mix (which I assume can be turned off like ruins in Setup?).
Click to expand...

I would love this sort of thing, but i can see your point.

We may eventually get to the stage where you can play Civ V or Civ V advanced (with more micro options) and the choice to customize between
 
That is one of the questions I've always asked myself after I research biology, why do I suddenly know where all the oil is on the map?

But then I thought, do I really want to send a unit around testing each hex for oil? I am split on this one, though it might be fun for a few games, I think after that it might not be as fun. One of the things Game developers have to think about with any type of game is how "real" does it need to be, and how "real" do the players want it to be before it stops being fun to play?

Which is probably why that level of exploration isn't in the game. But I am certainly not opposed to this idea, as I said, it would be a fun aspect to the game (and making it an "optional" tick box in the advanced setup menu, would probably be the best idea).
 
I've always thought about it like this:
I've known that the, let's say, oil was there for a long time. I've passed by it, dug there, and found that black, sticky goo. I just didn't think it was all that useful. But upon researching biology I had a breakthrough and found out that this black goo, which I now call oil, can be used for a lot of cool things. At that point I mark it on the map. I hadn't done it prior because it was just some useless goo before that.
 
Prospectors radius for locating regions for resources would be 1 tile at start for basic metals and such. Later in other ages it would increase depending on your science buildings, and maybe a something tied to Commerce.

Then once you find and area close you set the prospector to dig. Just some thoughts.

The resources could be in close regions so a few hills, mountains or deserts could have big strategic implications for that resource.

Many empires lived and died on Minerals and resources
Spain, Gold
Rome, Wheat from Sicily , etc. FOOD
China, Silk and spices
 
I think this is a good idea, but should probably be limited to luxuries. For my part, though, I just wish there were more later game buildings that made use of excess luxuries & strategic resources ;-).
 
awesome said:
This seems like added micromanaging. Not my cup of tea. I do that enough at work.
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For the truly lazy who are too lazy to explore, there already exists an "Auto-Explore"

There already exists an "Auto-Build" for workers

If prospecting for resources were a thing, it wouldn't be surprising if we had "Auto-Prospecting" either :rolleyes:. You would have no added micromanaging and instead it would add several layers of complexity and continued exploration in each era as new resources would be discovered (coal, uranium, aluminum, oil)
 
Gucumatz said:
For the truly lazy who are too lazy to explore, there already exists an "Auto-Explore"

There already exists an "Auto-Build" for workers

If prospecting for resources were a thing, it wouldn't be surprising if we had "Auto-Prospecting" either :rolleyes:. You would have no added micromanaging and instead it would add several layers of complexity and continued exploration in each era as new resources would be discovered (coal, uranium, aluminum, oil)
Click to expand...
If you can just automate a feature, then I see no reason to include it in the game. Games that play themselves don't interest me.

And for the record, I don't automate Workers or Scouts, because the AI makes very poor decisions for both.
 
So we shouldn't have exploration or workers building things because they can be automated? Take'em out I say then. [I don't automate them either, but they are there for people like Awesome]
 
That would be a horrible idea. By the way, archeologists do not just dig up every tile searching for stuff - when Archeology is discovered the dig sites are revealed.
 
kingchris20 said:
One of the things Game developers have to think about with any type of game is how "real" does it need to be, and how "real" do the players want it to be before it stops being fun to play?
Click to expand...

I think, this nails ist to the point!
A necessity of an all-out exploration for specific ressources would be quite tedious.

However, I could imagine a limited ressource exploration:
All ressources would be visible with the appropriate technology, exactly as in the current game. Later in the game (after researching the corresponding technology), new "unknown ressource" would pop out all over the map.

A prospector could examine these deposits and reveal their actual nature.
This might be a quite exciting and fun experince.
"Oh no, it is just another iron deposit!"
"Yesss!!! It's gold! Exactly the luxury I missed!"
"What? Nothing at all?"
 
Deggial said:
I think, this nails ist to the point!
A necessity of an all-out exploration for specific ressources would be quite tedious.

However, I could imagine a limited ressource exploration:
All ressources would be visible with the appropriate technology, exactly as in the current game. Later in the game (after researching the corresponding technology), new "unknown ressource" would pop out all over the map.

A prospector could examine these deposits and reveal their actual nature.
This might be a quite exciting and fun experince.
"Oh no, it is just another iron deposit!"
"Yesss!!! It's gold! Exactly the luxury I missed!"
"What? Nothing at all?"
Click to expand...


Yep, that's the way I think it should be done too. That eliminates the "micromanaging" concerns that some people have. Maybe new sites can pop up at various tech levels, just to keep things interesting.
 
Gucumatz said:
So we shouldn't have exploration or workers building things because they can be automated? Take'em out I say then. [I don't automate them either, but they are there for people like Awesome]
Click to expand...
Unit automation is useful when games get large and long. Both exploration and tight Worker control are important in the early game, but they become less so in the late game and so I can certainly see why people might find that tedious, especially with a huge empire. But, in general, if a gameplay feature has so few interesting choices that you can safely automate it from turn 1, then yes, that feature should probably be removed. Gameplay is about making interesting decisions; when there are no interesting decisions, it's just pointless micromanagement.

I'm not actually saying anything negative about the Prospecting feature here. I'm just pointing out that I don't think it's a very good argument to say, "well if you don't find that interesting, you can just automate them and ignore the feature." If a feature can be safely ignored, then it's not a very good feature.
 
Which can also be said about workers and exploration... Plenty of people do just automate them turn 1

Which unless you categorize both as bad/terrible features (and from your posts I assume you don't) then your argument doesn't hold any water/is extremely tenuous/poorly thought out - at best, at worst a contention with no logic behind it
 
Remember, Civilization is about mote than just a military game. That's why they have been adding more to it G&K, and now another. Once your into the modern are, it's just a "Next Turn" hit or a big war game.

There should and could be more to the game. Look at how much we focus on our economy an industry, now and in the 20th century.

We are scavaging the world to find alternative and additional resources. It is and will become one of the key drivers of the modern world.
 
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