2 Things I'd Like to See in Civ 4

[Elek]

1) A more developed trade system with caravans/tradeships and the like...You ship resources to far away places and could get more gold the further you take it /the rarer the resource is.

2) A mercenary unit. Would be 50% extra the normal price and would disappear after 1 non movement actions.

Mercenary warrior would be 15 shields. You send him into enemy territory and he then destroys a road leading to the enemies saltpeter resource and then disapears.

But if the merc is attacked he then "tells" them you sent him and it would hurt your rep really bad.

 

[WildWeazel]

Trade: I agree. Nations throughout history have based their econmies on foreign trade. All types of resources should play a more important role in the game. I have in mind a more automatic system though. Instead of having actual units (I assume that is what you meant) on the map, a CTP-style trade system would require less micromanagement. If you are not familiar with it, trade routes between civs were shown as land or sea routes with the resource displayed traveling on the route. This would still leave room for piracy or WWII style shipping lane protection.

I don't really see the significance of the mercenary idea, but I think the ability to "buy" soldiers for an x-turn period would be interesting. Maybe you could even buy UUs or other units that are not buildable by your civ.

 

[MarkoPolo]

I also agree with the Idea on a more advanced trade system. Alot of times I wish that supply and demand would come into effect more. Such as when I control all the supply of a luxury and another civ wont pay as much as something that is less rare.
Something I would like to see in Civ 4 is more units that are not labeled by their country, like the privateer. With a chance for them to be discovered as their civ.

 

[Elek]

Originally posted by WWWeasel

I don't really see the significance of the mercenary idea, but I think the ability to "buy" soldiers for an x-turn period would be interesting. Maybe you could even buy UUs or other units that are not buildable by your civ.

Its so you can make attacks on neighbors without entering a war and ruining your rep.

 

[MaximusParthas]

1) The option to say "get the hell out or declare war!" whenever I want to.

2) FEAR!!!! The next time a spearman from a civ with 3 cities walks up to my stack of 20 mech infantry and 30 modern armor and declares war I"M GONNA SCREAM!
Somehow someway theres gotta be an intimidation result factored in for the AI.

3) either make helecopters and paratroopers worth having or get em the hell outa here. sheesh! Your in modern times with advanced flight, and all you can drop off is one wak azz paratrooper into an area loaded with mechs and mods. yagottabekiddinme.

4) somebody tell me what the hell a "stealth fighter" is good for?
dodadamnthang right or don't use it.

5) Can we get the chance to barter peace treaties between other civs?
Hey china, I'll give you wines if you'll sign a peace treaty with germany. whadaya think?

6) Illegal trades. Drugs, arms, technology, something. Many real world countries have their whole economy based on illegal contraband. can't we get in on the action too? can anybody say "columbia"

7) Natural disaters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, floods, tsunamis, volcanos, meteor stikes, anydamnthing.
Howindahell can we go through 4000 years of time without so much as a rainfall?

 

[NewWaver]

Originally posted by MaximusParthas
1) The option to say "get the hell out or declare war!" whenever I want to.

I've encountered this problem many times before. I SO agree with you.

4) somebody tell me what the hell a "stealth fighter" is good for?
dodadamnthang right or don't use it.

Bombing...but I'm yet to actually hit something with it still.

5) Can we get the chance to barter peace treaties between other civs?
Hey china, I'll give you wines if you'll sign a peace treaty with germany. whadaya think?

I'd love this.

6) Illegal trades. Drugs, arms, technology, something. Many real world countries have their whole economy based on illegal contraband. can't we get in on the action too? can anybody say "columbia"

Now that would make the game very interesting. "Newsflash: Alexander is a coke addict!"

7) Natural disaters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, floods, tsunamis, volcanos, meteor stikes, anydamnthing.
Howindahell can we go through 4000 years of time without so much as a rainfall?

Yeah, was a bit of a let down having no freak accidents challenge you in the game.

 

[MaximusParthas]

I'm glad somebodies feeling me. ty NewWaver.

 

[troytheface]

mercenaries would be a good idea , but i am thinking that u actually buy them from a city (as oppossed to Civ-to keep the number down) at a real high price - and as time goes by, u buy them (or sell) from a civ but only like 1 unit
In so far as trade-the abstraction of it is ok with me , but the power of it should be amplified-i mean the ol "follow the money trail" quote is a quote for a reason-the viking attacks were in large an effort to secure money-byzantine survived by bribing enemies away-Renessaince was an economic change that brought all the other stuff- America is stroing becuase of Economy
(resources as economy -granted -but even here resources are secondary-ie Brazil-lots of resources-bad economy-

 

[Globetrotter]

There has been an old thread when we spoke about hiring mercenaries from other civs, and buying equipment (tanks, artillery, planes).
That would be nice to have it.

 

[ThePrankMonkey]

2) FEAR!!!! The next time a spearman from a civ with 3 cities walks up to my stack of 20 mech infantry and 30 modern armor and declares war I"M GONNA SCREAM!
Somehow someway theres gotta be an intimidation result factored in for the AI.



hmmm i dont think so. many of us arent "afraid" of taking on the AI and giving them fear because of a superior unit would give us an unfair adavantage because as we know they'd have to program this into the game in a generic way that will either be over dramatic or they wont be afraid enough. it would keep them from having ANY chance at all if they just ran away. i say nay to this


i want terraforming back! i want to turn a hill or mountain square into steppes like they've done in other parts of the world that have a moutainous region. i think changing desert to grasslands is unrealistic but turning a hill or mountain into farmable land is realistic.

i also want to be able to put cities on mountains. its been done in the real world (not often but still)

as for idea number 5 i agree completely. ive seen wars go on for an entire game before. to add on to your idea, i'd like to have the ability to sell or give units to a civ, instead of having a MPP with them and fighting to defend them you can help them out by giving them or selling them units (either equal to your OR their technological advances) they could make it so this will effect how the other civs act towards you much like how the world works.

 

[Mr. Cackle]

It would be cool if there were certain things that could be invested in, and would give extra little bonuses. You would have to pay to research them, and would get one every so often. Also, you would have to research in a certain field for example:

Textiles: Increases happiness
Munitions: Increases unit strength
Experimental Weapons: Chance of getting random bonus for a random unit of the age you are currently in
High-tech: Helps speed up science

Can't think of other things, but you get the idea.

Also, I would like to see all my excess food go into a pool, that could be sent to a city when the people are starving/to get the pop growing faster.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

WWWeasel: the CTP trade system was useful, BUT - you could not control the route path. Many times the game INSISTED upon setting the route across an area vulnerable to piracy, even if I had roads (eg, along the shoreline).

I would also like to see much better trade, giving gold, allowing unit trading (perhaps even technology transfer to give your proxies a factory to build tanks to scourge your enemies with).
Happiness is nice but gold will buy a lot of it. Let's see, would my citizens prefer some silk or shall I rush build them a new cinemaplex and a digital cable network? Hmm...

Some combo of automated routes and player - controlled trade vessels would be optimum, I think.

 

[Japanrocks12]

Individual citizens as units you can control, but have a voice of their own

 

[MaximusParthas]

hmmm i dont think so. many of us arent "afraid" of taking on the AI and giving them fear because of a superior unit would give us an unfair adavantage because as we know they'd have to program this into the game in a generic way that will either be over dramatic or they wont be afraid enough. it would keep them from having ANY chance at all if they just ran away. i say nay to this

Not fear for us. fear for the AI. Come on. Show some realism. In any way shape or form, a man with a stone ax representing 20 spearmen and 6 archers WILL NOT walk up to a metropolis with a modern garrison and declare war, attack a damn tank and have every expectation of winning both the battle and the war.

Here's a few examples of how it should work.
Intimidation factors can be raised and lowered by a point system.
2 points for every era above the interacting civ.
1 point for every strategic resource.
1 point for every 25% difference of the size of the nation.
1 point for each MPP.
1 point for each army on the feild.
ect, ect, ect...

Vrs england, China has an intimidation factor of (let's say 6) They're 25% larger have an army on the feild, have oil wich england does not, a MPP with japan, and are in the modern era while england is still in the industrial age.

for the AI, an intimidation factor of 6 would tell the AI "NOT TO ATTACK UNPROVOKED".
If the difference were a 4 the AI would be programed to "AMASS MILITARY BEFORE UNPROVOKED ATTACKS"
and if the difference were a 8 the AI would be programed to "KISS MAD AZZ"
Pretty simple when you look at it like that huh?
Well, why can't we get something like this initiated?
I bet we even have people here who could create a patch program that does this.

 

[MaximusParthas]

I'd love to see the next version of the game let you "choose" leaders to play or play against. It would be as easy as choosing your opposing civs.

This came from Newaver. I thought it was a great idea as well.

 

[PUBH]

I'd like to see:

The ability to give units to another civ.

In other words, you should be able to just give units to another civ if you want to help them out or something (IE, you don't have to ask for anything in return).

But you should also be able to setup deals with other civs, like, "I will give you these units if you give me..." X total gold, or X gold a turn.

It would also be nice to be able to loan units to other civs.

Such as, "I will give you these units for X turns if you give..." X total gold, X gold a turn, or etc (for resources, luxeries, etc). Also perhaps a feature that you can loan units for the period at which a civ is at war with another (IE, "I will loan you these units for the period you are at war with the Zulu"). But also other features to the loan like, at the end of the period, you can renew the loan, or the loan simply ends. Also if the civ who you loan to loses any of the units (like in battle; or if like a human, disbands them, lol), you could set like a stipulation like "For every unit not returned, you will ____", which could be like a total gold payment, or gold per turn. This way if you loan out like 20 mech infantry and 30 modern armors to say Germany to fight China, and you only get 18 mechs and 10 moderns back at the end of the loan period, and you want 100 gold for each one not returned, then at the end of the loan period the civ should pay you 2200 gold.

Also maybe like an ability under loaning units to be like "under your flag", or "under the flag" of the civ you loan to.

In other words, if you loaned like 4 modern armors to a civ "under your flag", it would be sort of like a "peace keeping" force that the civ you loan to controls. And doing this, it might affect your attitude with the other civs. Like, if the civ you loan it to (say Persia) is at war with like Egypt, and England is "good friends" with Egypt, then England would become not so happy with you (but it shouldn't get down to war because your not actually controlling your units). But if France for example is "good friends" with Persia, then France should then become "happier" with you because your helping their "friend". Overall, doing this should have a positive effect all around the world, because it would sort of be like a small "UN peace keeping force". It should make other civs on your side or not involved more willing to trade resources with you, loan/give you units, pay higher gold amounts for things, etc.

The other option, "under the flag" of the civ you loan to, should work the same, except... it shouldn't affect the attitudes of any of the civs. In other words, nobody should become "happier" or "madder" at you for doing this. The only thing that should possibly happen due to this is that perhaps your own citizens become slightly discontent that part of their nation's military isn't "under their flag".

Just some thoughts and ideas I would like to see in some upcoming version/patch of Civ...

 

[IluDeR]

TERRORISM....more kinds of weapons...like chemicals weapons or something..

The game interface, could have like an atmosfere, so with polution, we could see, more rain in one place an more heat in another....

 

[sealman]

i want terraforming back! i want to turn a hill or mountain square into steppes like they've done in other parts of the world that have a moutainous region. i think changing desert to grasslands is unrealistic but turning a hill or mountain into farmable land is realistic.

i also want to be able to put cities on mountains. its been done in the real world (not often but still)

Use the editor. Can be done now.

go to the terrain tab and select mountains, click the build city option and provide a number into the irrigation field.
Now you should be able to build cities and irrigate mountains. I know it is not the same as terraforming, but it works.

Do the same for hills.

Not fear for us. fear for the AI. Come on. Show some realism. In any way shape or form, a man with a stone ax representing 20 spearmen and 6 archers WILL NOT walk up to a metropolis with a modern garrison and declare war, attack a damn tank and have every expectation of winning both the battle and the war.

I agree. Give the AI some common sense.

I would really like to see what the other AI's offered a civ to sign a MA against me sometimes. I mean I am at war with another makor power and he gets my neighbor, a measly little 2 city civ way behind me in tech to declare war on me.

5) Can we get the chance to barter peace treaties between other civs?

One of the best idea that have been floating around this site for some time now. A good one when I first saw it and still a good one. In fact, if I was allowed to choose 1 idea for CIV 4 or the next expansion pack, it would be this one.


I would also like to see some units that have a more defined purpose and stats to match, for example anti-tank infantry units which have a higher attack against armored units and a lower attack against other units. And make subs more realistic, officially give them the bombard capability. Historically subs followed a "hit and run" tactic. Launch their torpedos and hide.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

A must have feature that I'd like to see in civ4 is the elimination of the random combat outrage. Bring back the firepower value of units

I've heard all the arguements for the current system in civ3 but can anyone tell me how a warrior kills a tank? Did he impale himself on the tanks gun so that when the tank fires the shell explodes in the muzzle? Come on Sid, get a clue.

 

[JedaiNait]

I would like to see a clear table with info obout all the civs in the game. For instance i would like to see wich civ has a technology i don't have and vice versa. And wich civ has or not has iron for instance. THen if i would like to trade 'currency' for instance, I can immediatly see that only India and Germany may be interested.

Now if i have a new tech/luxury wich i want to trade i have to go through all foreign leaders apart. This means selecting the civ, start a confrontation, see if the have/need anything and cancel if there's nothing to trade. And this proces 15 times! A decent table should avoid this. Maybe a complete different trading system would also be an option.