Canals

[thisispete]

One of the biggest problems in Civ III and prior incarnations is the length of time it takes for ships to get around the map. Canals are a real-life solution to this problem (which I had expected to be in Civ III when it was released). So maybe it can be a worker action that arises from an optional advancement in the late middle ages. There wouldn't be a movement bonus like roads or railways, but ships would be able to shorten their route.

 

[rhialto]

Well this idea hasn't been suggested before

 

[Commander Bello]

Well this idea hasn't been suggested before

Well, I guess this is what happens to almost any good idea
One posts it, some comment it, and then the thread is somewhere on the xth page and a new one comes up with it again.

So, there is no other chance as to second this idea, as it has been done quite some times before.

 

[thisispete]

Apologies to all those who've heard this one before and had to go through the extraordinary strain of clicking a mouse button.

 

[crimson238]

Canals= NEcessity for cIV

 

[Darwin420]

Hear Hear!! Just so I can play a pangea that stretches across my map and make a canal run straight through it all!!!

Seriously, though, this is a good idea, no matter how many times people rehash it. Maybe someone at Firaxis will notice it if it keeps resurfacing.

 

[crimson238]

I'd not even really mind having the "natural" cannal's that occured on the civ 2 world map. Atleast they were there!

 

[Darwin420]

As long as land units can cross the canal, too. Even if I have to build a "bridge"

 

[ivanof]

I've thought about it a lot. Besides canals could act like roads for ships, perhaps. 1.5 times faster? Canals are very nessecary. You could connect cities inland and the sea and could build your starting city on the inland.

 

[Darwin420]

@ivanof: I don't think canals should offer any movement bonus for ships. If anything, it should cut the movement rate by a quarter or half. Have you seen the process it takes to get ships through the Panama Canal? It's not an easy task.

 

[Hyronymus]

Canals provided a major economic boost to all European nations. Goods were transported from town to town much faster then by coach. Canals should therefore also have an effect on the tiles it crosses. Perhaps increased commerce or production could be one of them. On a sidenote, canals shortened the travel time and reachability of cities. A reduction of corruption with 2-5% when a city is connected to the capital by canal could be another benefit perhaps.

 

[Darwin420]

@hyronymus:

I agree with you that there should be some sort of economic boost for having a canal CONNECTING a city, not just passing through its radius. Maybe a corruption reduction would be good, too, as long as it's not TOO much.

Maybe as far as travel time is concerned, a unit would lose ONE movement as it passes through the canal. Or maybe it can be kind of reversed - the smaller the ship, the less MP reduction it has (maybe galleys and less have no reduction) but large ships either are barred from the canal, or suffer at least a half reduction in MP (try getting a full-sized battleship through a small canal.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Also. canals were the great reason for American expansion westward: the Erie Canal in particular caused the growth of the Great Lakes cities of Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago.

 

[Darwin420]

Depending of migration is instituted in cIV, maybe Canals could provide new avenues of population movement.

 

[Iver-P]

On a related issue...

If I remember correctly, Civ I had a movement bonus for land units on river squares. Seems to me they were the same as roads. Or maybe that was a different game. <searching rusty memory banks>

Also remember that you have always been able to create "canals" by placing one or more cities across the land, right?

Oh - almost forgot. I hereby cast my vote for canals in CivIV.

 

[Hyronymus]

CivI + II both had a movement bonus for units moving along a river. It was cut back in Civ III and I still wonder why. Did the prehistoric CivIII people never master shipbuilding?

 

[Kosez]

There are two types of canals. One connect seas or oceans (Panama, Suez, Corinth, Kiel, etc...) other type of canals connect rivers with rivers/sea/lakes.
In one of CivII scenarios (american civil war) Mississippi river was made from sea tiles so ships were able to go all the way up to Missouri river (or something). So i thought it would be a good idea to diferentiate rivers in big and small, so the ships would be able to sail on big rivers, small rivers would stay the same as in CivII (because in CivIII rivers are between the squares). I don´t know, maybe someone could suggest a better solution, but I think rivers could have more functions than they have now.

I support the idea about canals linking seas though, I have been playing around with this idea for quite some time.

I would like to apologize for raising my voice despite the fact I am a newbie in this forum and for my bad grammar.

 

[Commander Bello]

CivI + II both had a movement bonus for units moving along a river. It was cut back in Civ III and I still wonder why. Did the prehistoric CivIII people never master shipbuilding?

In Civ1 and Civ2, rivers were inside the tiles. In Civ3, they are between , that way disallowing units to use them in any way (but allowing for the defense bonus and the movement decrease, when crossing)

For sure I would like to see "major rivers" like Nile, Ganges, Mississippi, Amazonas and so on allowing for ship movement within the continent. Additionally, I am a strong supporter of the idea of expensive canals.

 

[searcheagle]

CivI + II both had a movement bonus for units moving along a river. It was cut back in Civ III and I still wonder why. Did the prehistoric CivIII people never master shipbuilding?

Actually that was only in Civ II. In Civ 1, the river was its own terrain square.

 

[crimson238]

I'd love to see navicable rivers.. and also being able to build a harbor on the great lakes.... I hate how you can't do thatin Civ III. As far as Canals, I think they should be done as a conlony in CivIII, plop down a worker on the 1 tiel between 2 areas of water and build a canal. This way, enemies coudl capture it and it' snot just inside a city.