Civ 5+ Tradable maps/Stealable maps

[Fatheredpuma81]

There should be a way if you have a spy to see for a turn where X's units are (X being who your spying on) for 1 single turn. There should also be the ability to trade maps and on your map in the corner you can see either A. have 2 maps 1 of what they explored when you traded which is switchable but if visible by a boarder in the real game where you have explored and where you haven't so you can meat a city state or civ. B. It should just be marked on the map as a color of what you explored and what they did and the same thing on the map.
The map that you traded should also NEVER update unless you do another trade (should be a 15 turn before can retrade thing) and even if someone placed a city there afterwards on the real physical map you cannot see it since you don't have constant updates to it.


I tried using the search engine for maps or tradable maps and saw nothing so sorry if there is already one about this.

 

[PhloxCapacitor]

I like the idea of trading maps. It allows the opportunity to see other civilizations' territory when you don't have an open borders agreement, and it saves turns of exploration.

However, I'm not sure how to value maps in trades. In previous Civ games (where map trading is an option), other leaders would offer a map-for-map even trade. However, I would have already explored the entire map, and there would be no benefit to me. Even in cases where I hadn't seen the whole map, I don't quite know what I'm getting when I ask for a map in a trade.

What if there were a way to know beforehand how much new territory would be revealed to each player through a map trade? This might make it easier to put a value on a map trade (e.g. 1 gold per tile revealed).

 

[awesome]

In civ4, the ai always seemed to know the value of your map, though I sometimes wished I could charge them extra.

 

[andreafin]

yes but i would prefer the system biased to steal maps rather than trade for, once espionage is up and running...although it would be great if there was an option with the spy to notify their leader when they can steal a map but the civ in question needs gold or a resource urgently. that could mean opportunity to pick up the map with no risk to the spy for as little gold or resources/luxuries as possible. or even threaten war if they happen to be weak militarily to get it. sort of like in civ rev - we will leave you alone for 10 turns in exchange for....

 

[awesome]

I don't think a map is worth going to war for.
At least, not in civ terms.

 

[andreafin]

I don't think a map is worth going to war for.
At least, not in civ terms.

yes but we all know that leaders view things in own terms and the calculation could seem quite reasonable to some types. and having been intimidated once maybe next time for other requests the target civ might give in easier. it might be the map is one part of a set of demands for resources and even a city.

 

[epicivfreak]

Yes, a map, in civ terms, is far more than a map on canvas, it's also the ability to find and communicate with uncontacted Civs, set up trade routes, etc. With that said, maps should be expensive, 1 gold per tile sounds about right for large trades, but for small ones it seems too cheap.

I'd propose the following map trades:
City Map - requires a Classical Era Tech - costs 8 gold per tile
Territory Map - requires a Renaissance Era Tech - costs 4 gold per tile
World Map - requires a Modern Era Tech - costs 2 gold per tile

You get a discount for buying in bulk! If you're swapping maps, the cost of the lower is subtracted from the cost of the higher and only one Civ has to pay at all. You can only trade city maps for cities you are either next to (with a unit) or can already see on the map (but you only pay for the tiles in black). AI's should be disinclined to trade maps unless you've already seen most of the land anyway, it's extremely hard up for cash, or threatened with war over it. Trade routes should slowly reveal the city maps of those cities they trade with as well, so you're not totally reliant upon stealing or trading them. Up the gold cost if you want to encourage less map trading.

 

[Fatheredpuma81]

Yes, a map, in civ terms, is far more than a map on canvas, it's also the ability to find and communicate with uncontacted Civs, set up trade routes, etc. With that said, maps should be expensive, 1 gold per tile sounds about right for large trades, but for small ones it seems too cheap.

I'd propose the following map trades:
City Map - requires a Classical Era Tech - costs 8 gold per tile
Territory Map - requires a Renaissance Era Tech - costs 4 gold per tile
World Map - requires a Modern Era Tech - costs 2 gold per tile

You get a discount for buying in bulk! If you're swapping maps, the cost of the lower is subtracted from the cost of the higher and only one Civ has to pay at all. You can only trade city maps for cities you are either next to (with a unit) or can already see on the map (but you only pay for the tiles in black). AI's should be disinclined to trade maps unless you've already seen most of the land anyway, it's extremely hard up for cash, or threatened with war over it. Trade routes should slowly reveal the city maps of those cities they trade with as well, so you're not totally reliant upon stealing or trading them. Up the gold cost if you want to encourage less map trading.

For a moment there i thought that was gold per turn. I was thinking more of 8 gold per 2-3 tiles since well you start with 7 tiles and it gets cheaper as you go. Maybe they could implement a part of the map you want and it shows howmuch they have. Like its all grey in a menu where they have and the rest if fog while it shows everything in ur area that you see so you dont buy the same thing. Like ex. F= Fog, L= Land you have seen and B= buyable land.
FFFFFFFB[BBBB]BBFFFFFFFLLLLLLBBBBFFFFFFFF
FFFFFFF[BBBB]FFFFFFFFFFLLLLLBBBLFFFFFFFFF
FFFFB[BBBBBBB]BBBFFFFFFLLLLFFBBFFFFFFFFF
for each letter its a tile. The b's would be grey (like it would look like flat grey land even over the ocean) and the F would look like fog and the L would well you would see regular. Then you could choose the part of the land in [] on the grid. (But you would highlight it instead)

Maybe with spys it could be the same just with a set amount of tiles and risk for being caught. There could be the gamble onewhere you can just trade maps without seeing how much they have (because you need to at least by 4 peices of land if you go into the menu to buy it so they cant just see if they want that land etc)

 

[Trackmaster]

I'd like to see more information available in the late stages of the game. You get satellites very late in the game, but by that point, you've already explored all of the map, and the fog of war is still there. Maybe the satellites should reveal the map and clear the fog of war. However, you can produce jammers in your cities that will still make the fog appear within the boundaries of that city for opponents unless they have units there.

 

[Redaxe]

I agree that espionage does need a bit of attention. You could simply have it that once your spy is established in another city then you see the locations of all that Civs cities (under FoW of course). Or this could be a gradual exploration as others have mentioned.
Alternatively it could also be related to one Civs tourism over another Civ, though I imagine this should work both ways... If you gain cultural dominance over another Civ you can both see each others city locations...