veeery good thread. i had the same ideas, and often i just said to me, that this resource system of civ3 is a very bad thing, that makes the game lack of realism - which i always admired at civ.
when i think of a solution to this problem i think of colonization (**** ... i got no tools...), where the concept of resources made a basis of the gameplay, think of all the specialists, the trade routes etc.
Or i think of real-time games, like command and conquer; there are collector-units, that stockpile resources.
so, i don´t think, that such a more "complicated" resource system would be impossible and bad for gameplay, if implemented. but it would change civ. for instances, the concept of food-shield-trade couldn´t be used any further.
what i was thinking of the whole time, was a solution to this problem, with instruments of editing civ3 - some brainstorming.
1. more resources. i thought of that for a ww2 scenario. panzer I perhaps just needs iron, coal (=steel) and oil; panzer II iron, coal, oil, copper (first tanks which had a radio connection between driver and commander); panzer III iron, coal, oil, copper, alumium ... and so on. the world would then be clustered with resources, but trade and allies would be of much more importance; ... but over all not so good idea.
2. units can´t be anymore "built" by cities. units are produced by small "wonders" or improvements, which need resources within the city radius.
in that idea, the how-many-of-oil-do-i-have would make sense. you could also make an industrial centre, by building 2 or 3 cities, that share that resource. but trading of resources wouldn´t make any sense, and is very unrealistic, because kuwait doesn´t build much tanks. this idea becomes more useful with idea nr 3.
3. resources become obsolete - in a way. that idea, i thougt, that in civ, the player is the one, who controls what is build in the city, not nature, but isn´t that so in real life? yes and no, what i'm trying to propose is something like in the Rhye-Mod, these invisible resources. the resources should appear with the technological advance and should not represent "natural" resources but _industries_. perhaps the rhine region has some of the resource "steel industry" that appears on the map with industrialization, which gives a lot of production, (and perhaps makes it possible to produce big artillery)with this option, it`s possible to create big cities where no fertile land (in civ categories) is (a resource that mirrors population density). oil could become a "oil raffinery"-resource which gives a lot of trade, so that you can buy the tanks (like the saudis do). could also mean that you make a technology and resource like "synthetic rubber industry" ...
4. resources used as technological markers - i saw that in a scenario. SU can trade soviet-resource to Romania, making it produce T-34, and so on. i guess, there are tricks, how you can mod the technology-tree by that ...
one of the lacks of civ3 is the missing selling and trading of units!!! why only workers?? i ask myself, why the did delete that lovely tool. if this wasn´t done civs which do not have the resources to build units, could buy them from their allies.
