Propaganda
Warlord
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2002
- Messages
- 120
I've been pondering the issue of Culture in Civ III, and how to fix/improve it, for next time around.
First off, I'd like to say the primary idea behind the culture system is a good one. However, I feel it has been implemented in a terrible fashion. Yes, I like the idea of accumulating culture points, and awe the AI with numbers, but what I don't like are the concepts of Culture Flipping, and Border Expansion BASED on culture. As Zuoave would say, they are ABSURD, and completely BRAINDEAD.
I completely agree.
What I propose is a system of emigration/immigration. This has been talked about before, I believe. To those unfamiliar, how it would work is basically this: Say one civ has very high ammount of culture points compared to the others, the other civs' population numbers in select cities would drop, every dozen turns, and yours would increase. The number would be dramatic or minimal, depending on your culture compared to the other civ. To combat this, I propose a new improvement: the INS. Basically, how this will work is it decrease the emigration OR immigration numbers by a certain percentage every few turns(you have a choice of either or both. If you let rapid immigration continue, it would overpopulate cities and cause famine, as a penalty). It will not completely eliminate them, however. To take a drastic step forward, you can build an "Iron Curtain" around your borders, which will completely eliminate both immigration and emigration(doing this, however, will reduce the ammount of growth in your cities). It can also be used a defense mechanism against an invading force. For this to happen, you will have to discover a certain OPTIONAL tech, which would open a choice in the domestic advisor screen, and you can click either, "Yes, put it in" or "No, do not!" IF yes, your workers will proceed to build an "Iron Curtain" around your borders automatically(some mines will do). I feel this would give more of a challenge to the player, and quite frankly, make the game much more exciting.
As for border expansion, I feel it is unecessary to base it on culture. What I would like to propose is an Exploration System. Don't know if this has been mentioned in the Ideas thread, but here is how it goes; As you start in 4000BC, you are given a settler(and depending on your trait, for example, expansionist, you get a scout, as well) and are allowed to build a city on whatever tile you like. Once that is done, you are now required to build a scout, in order to expand your influence/borders(A scout should have no defense/offense characterists, so you need to tag along a few warriors, as well). As you discover more land with your scout, it adds on to your borders, and they expand to where you have explored. Once you have reached another civs borders, or just completely stopped exploring, your borders will remain(unless of course, you find another continent, you can continue exploring, and YES, it will connect with your empire on the other continent; you probably wont have this happen, because you can't build transports for a while). Once you have founded your borders, and here's the catch, YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO SETTLE WITHIN THEM. So, if you did not explore, you'll have a small strip of land(however, you can still have high culture). I know I'm borrowing a few ideas from Brian Reynolds' new game, Rise Of Nations, but what the hell.
So, what do you guys think? Pitch some ideas, or comments.
First off, I'd like to say the primary idea behind the culture system is a good one. However, I feel it has been implemented in a terrible fashion. Yes, I like the idea of accumulating culture points, and awe the AI with numbers, but what I don't like are the concepts of Culture Flipping, and Border Expansion BASED on culture. As Zuoave would say, they are ABSURD, and completely BRAINDEAD.
I completely agree.
What I propose is a system of emigration/immigration. This has been talked about before, I believe. To those unfamiliar, how it would work is basically this: Say one civ has very high ammount of culture points compared to the others, the other civs' population numbers in select cities would drop, every dozen turns, and yours would increase. The number would be dramatic or minimal, depending on your culture compared to the other civ. To combat this, I propose a new improvement: the INS. Basically, how this will work is it decrease the emigration OR immigration numbers by a certain percentage every few turns(you have a choice of either or both. If you let rapid immigration continue, it would overpopulate cities and cause famine, as a penalty). It will not completely eliminate them, however. To take a drastic step forward, you can build an "Iron Curtain" around your borders, which will completely eliminate both immigration and emigration(doing this, however, will reduce the ammount of growth in your cities). It can also be used a defense mechanism against an invading force. For this to happen, you will have to discover a certain OPTIONAL tech, which would open a choice in the domestic advisor screen, and you can click either, "Yes, put it in" or "No, do not!" IF yes, your workers will proceed to build an "Iron Curtain" around your borders automatically(some mines will do). I feel this would give more of a challenge to the player, and quite frankly, make the game much more exciting.
As for border expansion, I feel it is unecessary to base it on culture. What I would like to propose is an Exploration System. Don't know if this has been mentioned in the Ideas thread, but here is how it goes; As you start in 4000BC, you are given a settler(and depending on your trait, for example, expansionist, you get a scout, as well) and are allowed to build a city on whatever tile you like. Once that is done, you are now required to build a scout, in order to expand your influence/borders(A scout should have no defense/offense characterists, so you need to tag along a few warriors, as well). As you discover more land with your scout, it adds on to your borders, and they expand to where you have explored. Once you have reached another civs borders, or just completely stopped exploring, your borders will remain(unless of course, you find another continent, you can continue exploring, and YES, it will connect with your empire on the other continent; you probably wont have this happen, because you can't build transports for a while). Once you have founded your borders, and here's the catch, YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO SETTLE WITHIN THEM. So, if you did not explore, you'll have a small strip of land(however, you can still have high culture). I know I'm borrowing a few ideas from Brian Reynolds' new game, Rise Of Nations, but what the hell.
So, what do you guys think? Pitch some ideas, or comments.
