Interesting comments on this thread. Saved me having to start my own thread.
The remarks about global warming are approximately correct. That is because as a species we are not long-lived enough to perceive the effects of our activities. This is not to say that the effects of poor husbandry of our environment do not exist. You only need to consider the activities of the Mongols in the C13th. They slaughtered millions of people in Mesopotamia and destroyed the irrigation works that had been there for thousands of years. That part of the world has never properly recoverd. How about the over use of North Africa by the Romans, once considered to be the grain basket of the Empire. Of course a lot of things have happened since then (the Civ equivalent of I've slept since that happened, please re-educate me).
On climate in general, I would venture the opinion that we still do not fully understand how this works, but we have information that ought to have some bearing on how Civ works. We know that Ice Ages take water out of the oceans into the ice caps. The effect on sea level is fairly direct if you exclude the effect of uplift and plate settling. The range of sea levels associated with Ice Age melts and freeze ups seems to be between +50M and -200M based on present seas levels. The most recent Ice Age ended some 10,000 years ago. As a rule Ice Ages take a long time to build up to maximum glaciation and then rapidly (over a period of 10,000 years or less) move back to interglacial conditions. Work on determining the periodicity of the glaciation events points towards a link with orbital cycles although ocean current deserve an honorary mention for local climatological changes. Ice core samples taken from Greenland indicate that average global temperatures have changed by as much as 10C in less than 30 years.
The effect: well the Mediterranean has been land locked enough times in its history for the salt deposits from previous dry-ups to be identified. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that what we regard as continental shelf to have been part of the happy hunting grounds of our very distant ancestors.
I make that point 1: how about a rising sea level / inundation threat during the earlier stages, it will make that search for lebensraum even more poignant. Heck maybe you just lost eden to inundation (well I made that one up really)
Point 2: If we are capable of tipping the balance of the glaciation - deglaciation cycle with a good old fashioned bit of warming, we just need to think Volume of Ice in Ice Caps = amount to spread over the oceans and any low-lands. I would be fascinated with an end game that told you what was left in the Ice Caps and how far you were off from drowning some of your rivals. So please Mr. Civ 4 designer give it a whirl.
The remarks about global warming are approximately correct. That is because as a species we are not long-lived enough to perceive the effects of our activities. This is not to say that the effects of poor husbandry of our environment do not exist. You only need to consider the activities of the Mongols in the C13th. They slaughtered millions of people in Mesopotamia and destroyed the irrigation works that had been there for thousands of years. That part of the world has never properly recoverd. How about the over use of North Africa by the Romans, once considered to be the grain basket of the Empire. Of course a lot of things have happened since then (the Civ equivalent of I've slept since that happened, please re-educate me).
On climate in general, I would venture the opinion that we still do not fully understand how this works, but we have information that ought to have some bearing on how Civ works. We know that Ice Ages take water out of the oceans into the ice caps. The effect on sea level is fairly direct if you exclude the effect of uplift and plate settling. The range of sea levels associated with Ice Age melts and freeze ups seems to be between +50M and -200M based on present seas levels. The most recent Ice Age ended some 10,000 years ago. As a rule Ice Ages take a long time to build up to maximum glaciation and then rapidly (over a period of 10,000 years or less) move back to interglacial conditions. Work on determining the periodicity of the glaciation events points towards a link with orbital cycles although ocean current deserve an honorary mention for local climatological changes. Ice core samples taken from Greenland indicate that average global temperatures have changed by as much as 10C in less than 30 years.
The effect: well the Mediterranean has been land locked enough times in its history for the salt deposits from previous dry-ups to be identified. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that what we regard as continental shelf to have been part of the happy hunting grounds of our very distant ancestors.
I make that point 1: how about a rising sea level / inundation threat during the earlier stages, it will make that search for lebensraum even more poignant. Heck maybe you just lost eden to inundation (well I made that one up really)
Point 2: If we are capable of tipping the balance of the glaciation - deglaciation cycle with a good old fashioned bit of warming, we just need to think Volume of Ice in Ice Caps = amount to spread over the oceans and any low-lands. I would be fascinated with an end game that told you what was left in the Ice Caps and how far you were off from drowning some of your rivals. So please Mr. Civ 4 designer give it a whirl.
