Sorry, if they have been posted already, but the thread is really quite, so I wont check all pages to be sure. I have three major ideas I want to post here:
1) new resource system based on countable, depletable resources:
I kinda find it odd to be able to power my whole army of swordmen or tanks with just one iron or oil resource, etc. think that thing has been discussed before, so its a known issue. now, what I suggest is that resource be split into regenerating and now-regenerating.
regenerating include food resources like wheat, deer, fish, etc, etc. there is a certain per-turn output and you can with it as you please. I'd say for any city you want to supply, it consumes 1 resource unit per turn, irrespective of city size (it would get too complicated otherwise) and total output per turn should vary between 5 and 10 units. the system autonmatically distributes a newly acquired resource to any cities that need them for staying in positive happiness/ health, but you can also enter an upper limit as to how many units may be consumed. this would be helpful if you plan to trade your surplus with other civs.
non-regenerating would essentially be mostly strategic resources, such as iron, copper, marble, oil and the like. they would start with a finite source and every unit, building or project would consume a number of those units, more advanced units should consume more. as the resources go beneath a certain level, also the tile benefits start to suffer, like if there is only 50% of the iron resource left, the tile output goes down one hammer and so on, until the resource is depleted and gives no more benefit (other than the mine, etc.).
however, and this is the interesting part, certain types of research raise the available resources again (or could lead to the discovery of additional resources). like steel could increase all metal resource stocks by 10% of the original value, advanced components or some other tech could increase oil resources by some %. this would symbolise the increasing technological possibilities of exploiting resources, like deeper mining shafts, more efficient purification methods, etc.
that way you have to be careful how much to use of any given resource and can make inter-temporal choices, whether to have more benefits now or later. course it would need some balance, but it could be possible.
2) trade
right now, trading resources in civ iv is essentially free. no caravans, no cost in setting up trade lines or maintaining them. I think that is incorrect and there should be a small cost involved in trading resources to show the use of ships or caravans, import, export formalities, etc. not much, if it were possible only like 1 gpt for every 2 or 3 resource trades at the beginning. additionaly techs or international agreements (see below) could lower that amount further, to show the power of globalisation and trade. eventually, trading costs could become very low, like 1 gpt for every 10 resources trade agreements.
also, with the new resource system, a more numeric trade system could be possible, like enough bananas for 4 cities vs enough wine for 3 cities or whatever, instead or just all or nothing.
3) free trade agreements.
now, here is a very nast one. basically, what a fta does is lower the cost for trading between the parties (see 2)), so in theory its an attractive contract. however, there is also a side effect to symbolise the increasing inter-relatedness of civs on an ecnomic level. I imagine that as trade becomes more viable, a portion of each civs production would be exported, because of their competitive advantage in some industries, but some part of local consumption would also shift towards imports, because of cost disavantages. my idea would be to base it on exports, eg your hammers increase by 10% because of exportation and by that same absolute amount of hammers your partners production is reduces and vice versa. this is to show that larger, more developed economies tend to have a cost advantage and tend to profit more from fta than smaller ones.
I guess no one really understood how that works, so a quick example:
civ A has a hammer output of 1000, civ B one of 200, both have export rates of 10% which substitute one anothers production.
so, civ A's final hammer output is 1000 + 100 (hammers gained from export) - 20 (hammers lost to imports) = 1080
civ B's output is 200 + 20 - 100 = 120
the result is what I described, so a smaller nation would be very unwilling to participate in such a thing, but then, the agreement could well be a thread also. it would however be very useful for two civs of similar size and keep in mind, the values may be different, so the effects need not be that extreme. alsol, there could be other factors determining how much production is substituted, like tech level and such, so that it really does affect those that really are far smaller, behind in tech, where it wont make any difference anyway.
it quite a nasty things I believe.
4) I'd like to see more in the range of regional organisations, sort of part alliances where nations cooperate on a number of fields. the could for example forge a scientific community where one common reseach goal is set (they of course have to agree on it) and then beakers are increased by some % (you now, greater international exchange of scientists and such). or market unification, where resources are more easily/ efficiently shared or some other benefit. maybe even military unions, where a common level of armment is required and tech to build advanced units is either shared or available more easily (eg via a part of research already done by default with others just having to complete it).
right, thats it, maybe some interesting stuff I hope.
Civ 4 is a tactical game.
. Later when the newer religions like Christianity come into play, the old religions will die out, leaving room for the new ones.
