Canals

[Smt]

I think that a major idea that the civ creators are missing is the concept of canals, I.e like roads on land which ships can travel through.

They have allowed coastal forts which sort of act as canals, but I think that giving the option to build canals in the same way as roads would be a major boost to the games in terms of strategy

Any questions?

 

[johny smith]

Well I am for canals, but.....

Before we discuss canals I think we should be discussing rivers. Rivers are important in relation to canals. Let me give a good example. Rhine–Main–Danube Canal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine–Main–Danube_Canal

This depends on rivers. I am aware of just the idea of a Panama Canal or Suez Canal, but if we really want to show a trade network based on water we should be talking about the most used form of transportation historically....rivers.

Now saying that as well. We could look at large bridges and tunnels as well. I think we are doomed by the fact that rivers are represented poorly. The game likes to have these long routes for ground units versus using rivers. If we want to get some more realism on troop movements for example we need rivers.

Roads were not used as much as displayed in the game in the beginning stages. Roads in 3000 BC? I think the makers of the game abstracted the wrong formula on this. Well I guess I will hear like usual argument on how rivers were not important now for transportation.

 

[JDexter]

I'd love mods to improve on the river mechanic - and also to implement some form of terraforming land into river tiles/canals. Of course this should take a reeeeeally long time or even consume workers (and become cheaper/faster in the industrial era).

 

[johny smith]

I'd love mods to improve on the river mechanic - and also to implement some form of terraforming land into river tiles/canals. Of course this should take a reeeeeally long time or even consume workers (and become cheaper/faster in the industrial era).

Yes it would have to be quite large of time frame. I have not seen the game yet but i could see how a great engineer could be used in this context.

 

[Doskias51]

Very interesting idea. It would be cool also as a military strategic point for like a coast guard down the rivers or even a special ability for navy seals and cruising on their little low profile boats. I can see now the old steam houses that ran the rivers of yesteryear. Man there is so must history with rivers. Unlimited possibilities but as with all ideas you don't want to go over board.

 

[B-29 Bomber]

I think that the time has come that we step away from 'Rivers along the boarders of tiles' which is plaguing this idea. This would allow for all of what you guys have been saying. I have actually posted this on 2k forums months ago. There are problems with this. Prominent among them: River Defense Bonus/River Attack Penalty. There are solutions to these problems and I think that we have enough grey matter to come up with some good ones. One solution to RDB/RAP is to just Give the bonus to the unit standing on the tile with a river or give the penalty to the unit attacking into a tile with a river.

 

[bruce monti]

Ive been wishing for canals for years. How come theyre not possible by civ5?

 

[Souron]

Actually, somebody should do a rivers mod that would make rivers their own terrain tile layer (like forests and hills), and tried to basically go overboard -- tried to make rivers as important as possible, though reflecting history. It would be a baseline for what works and what doesn't.

Rivers were a huge part of history. If a mod focused on rivers overplays that importance a little, it would still be a good mod.

Canals, like the Erie Canal would basically be rivers produced by workers. Some boats, like longboats, ladyas, ironclads, and others could go on river tiles. Maybe units can embark on rivers for faster movement. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

[Zhahz]

Any questions?

Why? It doesn't really add much, if anything.

 

[B-29 Bomber]

Ah but in you would be able to create canals such as the panama canal and unlike in civ 3 it would not simply be a city so you can add to diplomacy AND economics by negotiating passage by other civs and the economics part comes in because you can during talks place a toll on the canal like in real-life that would be a Pay-As-You-Use price. You can only do this if it's within your borders if not then it's a neutral canal. These points would be centers of great conflict as they would be extremely strategic as the civ that controls it can pass through freely and gains a great boon to their economy. Also having rivers ON tiles would make them much more important. If you have a huge river system you would have almost no need for roads and it would save you the maintenance cost for roads so there's an economic value for having this(Rivers would act as Roads). The civ that controls the rivers of a continent rules that continent. So yes this would add to gameplay.