Advisors

Well, I searched and did not find this topic listed so here goes:

Foreign Advisor (Secratary of State): This should be vastly improved. For each civ that I have an embassy I should get lots of information.
1. What is their attitude toward me?
2. How can I improve this attitude?
3. Why are they unhappy with me?
4. How many deals have they broken in the game?
5. How likely are they to go to war?

Military: Pretty good, IMHO, maybe should assess armies based more on combat values than on sheer numbers (i.e. Compared to the Zulus we have a smaller but much more potent military, Sire).

Research: Should let me know (at least in a general sense) how many civs have a given tech. Should let me know what the difference in increasing beaker slider will do (i.e. I should not have to switch between domestic and research in order to change the amount of money going to science).

Domestic: Should flag cities that are likely to go into disorder the next turn. This would GREATLY!! decrease the tedious micromanagement needed in Civ3. Should give real advice (not: gee we need hospitals in all of our cities even though that technology is eight techs away! Bah!) Should smile more and frown less.

Cultural: Does anyone actually consult their cultural advisor? Why?

Trade: My trade advisor should know what each civ has and wants. He should know what each civ has traded for (just as the computer knows how many luxuries I have). Thus: since the AI knows that giving me spice (for example) will give my civ 122 happy smiles, I should get to know that giving him ivory, gems and silks will give him 141 happy smiles. This is simple fairness, not some attempt to gain any advantage on the AI. The AI should not have such critical knowledge to its exclusion.

OK, I personally feel that the cultural advisor can be subsumed into the domestic advisor.

I also think that we should have an economic advisor who can advise us un the best mix of taxation and spending to get us a healthy bottom line.

Edit, your foreign advisor should also be able to highlight 'weak links' in a foreign civ. i.e. possible targets for espionage and/or propaganda, as they are close to revolt, or loaded with foreign nationals and the like.

In addition, though, I feel that some of these advisors-especially the economic, science and military advisor should have some kind of 'Governer' function in that, if you choose, you should be able to give away control to them if you're not overly keen on the micromanagement-though you might want to pop your head into their balliwick every so often-just to make sure they are doing a good job !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Give us back the original civ advisor feeling with different looking advisors, depending on your type of government! Want Breschnev looking civil servants in grey east european suits advising you during communism. Goebbels and Albert Speer could make good fascist advisors!

ditto what rcoutme said. Couldnt say it better
does anyone from firaxis realy read these suggestions ?

I really like the original idea rcoutme posted,

We want more info about how the other civs are doing.
It is not only logical that your advisors know this
but it would also greatly improve the game in terms
of fun.

I like to know how they are doing and would
love to check that out with the advisors. It makes
planning a lot more fun instead of the, 'they look weak,
I guess I'll attack them now' feeling that I seem to have
a lot lately.

I like with rcoutme says. But does it not make the game more easy to play?
Maybe you get an extra advisor on Regent level,
Or you would have to research an extra tech (miniaturization in combination with spying, or policing) to receive more detailed info.
Or increase the possibility to talk to your city governor, maybe he knows a bit more what will make his city citizens happier. Maybe he can contact you with wishes or demands.