Civilization 5

[rysmiel]

Well, since we seem

The GUI. It may sound like such a trivial detail, but I think there are many, many ways the interface could be improved and streamlined. For one thing, I find the whole concept of the city screen outdated. With current horsepower it should be trivial to implement menus that smoothly pop up when you mouse over or at least select a city. With translucencies it can be made very pretty.

Oh dear me, no. I want Civ 5 to have something more like a Civ 3 or even Civ 2 city screen/main map balance; less junk on the main map, more information city-by-city.

I mean, I can mouse over a city and already get alot of info in Civ4. GP points, food growth, production, most of it I can see.

Some of us find this gets in the way.

EDIT: Oh, while I'm at it, it'd be nice if displayed information was more context sensitive. Like, currently we can toggle tile value, grid and resource markers on and off at will, but why not make it so that they automatically come on when we'd want them, like selecting a city or worker? Tile vals already show up when selecting a Settler, why stop there?

Because having the computer guess what I want when I want it would make the game unplayable, because it will never get it right enough of the time; it would be like Microsoft Word thinking it knows how to spell better than I do.

 

[Cliftor]

Well, the tile thing would be customizable of course. "Display tile value when:" and then you can choose from a list of common events.

As for the GUI, I totally forget what Civ3 looked like (only played it a few times), but I remember actually that Civ2 WAS better in some ways. There was a permanent panel on the right side the constantly showed in depth info about whatever tile you had selected, right?

I just think that the City Screen itself is annoying. Why not make it like Civ 2 when selecting a city: sidebar appears. Except with all the information you'd ever want, and enable management of tiles and specialists.

I just don't ever want to have to leave the map screen if I don't strictly have to, and I'd like to be able to view multiple info screens at once. This way I could, for instance, few and manage a city while looking at foreign relations AND negotiating all at the same time.

In general, I highly value well organized presentations of information.

 

[rysmiel]

Well, the tile thing would be customizable of course.
I just think that the City Screen itself is annoying. Why not make it like Civ 2 when selecting a city: sidebar appears. Except with all the information you'd ever want, and enable management of tiles and specialists.

I just don't ever want to have to leave the map screen if I don't strictly have to, and I'd
like to be able to view multiple info screens at once. This way I could, for instance, few and manage a city while looking at foreign relations AND negotiating all at the same time.

I could certainly go with multiple screens visible at once; but I would favour as little time on the main map, and as much on the city screen, as possible. There are plenty of other games for running empires, after all, but none where the empire arises so well as an emergent property of component cities, and I'd like the play to reflect that; I think this is a balance Civ 4 got wrong.

I'm all for well-organised presentation of data, web database design and implementation is what I do for a living; but the most important principle for a good interface is "what questions are the user going to want to ask ?" and to tthe way I play Civ, the city screen answers the questions I want to ask in the best organised fashion. Others clearly disagree, and I suppose the large-scale solution would be to have city screen-level management and management available from the main map, possibly with one or other as a selectable start-game option.

 

[Seth3]

Naval units should have a order to 'patrol'. This order will station the unit on a tile and mmediately break any sea trade link through those tiles of any civilization at war with the owner of the naval units. This way you can isolate a rivals ciites on an island by placing a ring of units around the island.

This is a great idea! I hate the fact that you can't prevent Civilizations that you are not at war with from moving through your area without attacking them (and thus, declaring war). I think you should be able to stop trade of nations you aren't at war with, but don't have an open borders agreement with as well.

 

[Seth3]

One thing I would really like to see in Civ 5 is a "Claim Land" order/mission that can be performed by recon units. This would cost 1 movement point and would place a flag (like the ones carried by units in Civ4) of your nation where the unit stands. The land surrounding the flag all becomes highlighted as "your" territory (like borders) within one city radius. No Civilization could settle a city within this territory without declaring war. Units would not be allowed to move through these tiles without open borders. Basically, this would expand your borders without building cities. For interaction with cultural borders purposes, claimed territory should have a 0% value (any cultural border automatically supersedes it). You should also be able to "trade" the claimed land by trading "flags" (each flag should be given a designator that can be traded with other Civilizations). This feature would also make scouts and explorers useful even into the late game. It would also prevent those annoying little rival weed cities popping up on that one unoccupied tundra square of your continent .

 

[Seth3]

Stealth units (units that cannot be seen by the unit they are attacking) should be able to attack other units that cannot identify them without declaring war or revealing their nationality! What's the point of submarines if I can't sink everything with impunity while remaining on everyone's good list?

 

[Antilogic]

One thing I would really like to see in Civ 5 is a "Claim Land" order/mission that can be performed by recon units. This would cost 1 movement point and would place a flag (like the ones carried by units in Civ4) of your nation where the unit stands. The land surrounding the flag all becomes highlighted as "your" territory (like borders) within one city radius. No Civilization could settle a city within this territory without declaring war. Units would not be allowed to move through these tiles without open borders. Basically, this would expand your borders without building cities. For interaction with cultural borders purposes, claimed territory should have a 0% value (any cultural border automatically supersedes it). You should also be able to "trade" the claimed land by trading "flags" (each flag should be given a designator that can be traded with other Civilizations). This feature would also make scouts and explorers useful even into the late game. It would also prevent those annoying little rival weed cities popping up on that one unoccupied tundra square of your continent .

Believe it or not, you have posted the first "nonstandard" culture border idea that I have liked. I would limit land claims somehow, such as the number of cities you have or some fraction thereof so the ability is not abused, but overall this is a workable idea.

 

[Angst]

I like it too, very much.
Claiming land, does anyone know a MOD which allows it?

 

[Eklabiaan]

One little (?) improvement of the next release would be to see your own leader more often. In all Civ 4 (and earlier versions (?)) you see you own picture at the selection screen for leaders, and a smaller image on the foreign relations screen and on another one.
I started noticing that I associate my games with the leaderheads I see in the diplomacy screen. While playing as Isabella I remember the game as a Ghandi one (her nearest neighbour).

The improvement could be a two faced diplomacy screen, where you see the two negotiating leaders from the side. Or more often a popup of your leader when you reach an important milestone.
(aside: I haven't seen all niches and corners of the game yet so maybe my wish is already fulfilled somewhere.)

A second idea is the naming of lands, regions, continents, sea, oceans,... on the map. I mean that in some views the names are shown printed over the terrain tiles in the well sized and shaped fonts you see in a real atlas (historical or geographical). And of course such names should be moddable and/or could be prompted for while gaming, like one can enter freely chosen city names. This would add some/even more geographical flavour to the mapmaking business found elsewhere on the forum.

 

[Seth3]

My Final Solution to the Border Question:

-Everyone has automatic territory which is defined by their cultural borders the same way Civilization IV handles it.
-Recon Units are given the 'claim land' option, which costs one movement point.
-This action plants your Civilization's flag on the tile occupied by the unit.
-The area around the flag within one city radius is illuminated and is considered your territory.
-This claimed land cannot be passed through by other Civilizations without an open borders agreement. It functions in all ways like the cultural borders from Civilization IV, except they are considered to have 0% your culture.
-Any culture borders automatically supersede territory claims.
-Enemy cities cannot settle so that their cultural borders overlap with your claimed territory when founded (but might later expand over it).
-In the event of overlap between two territory claims, the oldest claim supersedes later claims.
-In diplomacy, squares that are influenced by two (or more) Civilizations (i.e. borders between nations), can be traded with border agreements on a tile-by-tile basis. The player selects the tiles of his territory or the desired tiles of opponent territory and proposes the trade in exchange for gold, technology, resources, etc.
-The computer calculates a value for the terrain based on food, production, commerce, improvements, and resources on each tile.]
-The border agreement remains in effect until cultural borders shift the control of tiles, or until a new agreement is negotiated.
-Any payment negotiated must continue for 20 turns, if not instantaneous (i.e. lump sum gold, or technology), unless war starts between two, in which case, natural cultural boundaries take effect.
-A player can only gain control of tiles that he has a cultural influence upon in this way.
-A player can also trade territory claims by trading flags. The computer calculates the total value of all tiles in the territory claim radius and then makes a decision of how much to ask for/pay for based on that.

I hope you enjoy my suggestions and that they help you think of your own good ideas.

 

[Seth3]

Religion:

What if, instead of seven arbitrary religions for every game (i.e. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc.), each Civilization had 7 religions that it would found depending upon which religion founding technology they were the first to research. Later game technologies would found later religions. There would be 7 religion "slots." The first Civilization to research a religion founding tech (such as Meditation or Polytheism), would found their respectively numbered religion. This would then fill the next available religion slot. After all seven religion founding techs were researched, and thus all 7 religion slots were filled, no more religions would be founded for that game.

This would keep things interesting with some interesting history

For Example:
America and Aztecs are both researching Meditation (the 1st religion founding tech). If America beats the Aztecs, then Puritanism (or Congregationalism) is founded. If the Aztecs win, then Sun Worship is founded. Let's say the Aztecs lose. America founds Puritanism. Then, let's say the Aztecs research Polytheism first. This is the first time they've founded a religion, but it is the designated as religion number #2 tech. Therefore, instead of Sun Worship, the Aztecs found their second spot religion (such as Early Aztec Polytheism).

 

[Seth3]

The Problem:

I thing we can all agree that the fact that the latest game Recon unit is a unit from the Renaissance Era, the Explorer. Picture this; you land your transport (modern era naval unit) on your enemy soil. A modern armor followed by two mechanized infantry, and perhaps a SAM Infantry come rolling out. Then, out comes your incredible, sophisticated, cutting-edge recon unit. What is it...a sword-wielding Explorer....

It's quite laughable actually; here you are, ready to destroy your enemy with high velocity armor-piercing shells, and your recon units are running around the map in red tights with a French breastplate and a rapier. AAAHHHHH!!! PLEASE COME OUT OF THE DARK AGE! THIS IS THE MODERN ERA!! SWORDS WENT OBSOLETE HUNDEREDS OF YEARS AGO!

The Solution:

First, allow the Explorer unit to upgrade into the Commando Unit. This unit would, obviously, come with Woodsman I and Guerilla I promotions. They would also receive the Commando promotion for free (that way you have units that actually use that promotion). This unit becomes available with the technology Assembly Line. It has 16 combat strength, but can only defend. (Obviously, it is a Recon Unit, and gets appropriate promotions).

Next, the Commando would upgrade into the Special Forces unit. This unit is available with Plastics. The Special Forces unit is a stealth unit, like the spy. It infiltrates enemy cities to conduct military missions. Some possible missions include:
-Stealing Plans (reveals all enemy unit locations)
-Plant Bomb (player selects a building from a list of military targets (i.e. no Hospitals or Temples, etc.) then has a percentage chance of destroying it.
-Other missions are also possible.

The Special Forces unit would then function much like a Spy. Also, revamp the espionage system:

The espionage system now awards experience points to spy/stealth units (like the Special Forces and Spy units) for successfully completing a mission.
Available promotions would include all the promotions available to Recon units, plus Skill I-V, which would function similar to Combat I-V for attack units. Skill I-V would add a cumulative +5% chance of success to completing missions.

Finally, with the stealth and flight technologies, another unit, the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) would be available. This air unit could only perform recon missions, but would have a range of two or more times that of any other air unit. In short, it could perform long range reconnaissance for the main body of the army, or observe enemy forces long before they reach your territory.

 

[o$yRu$]

Definitely need to include:
1. More varied Religions, even user-defined religions [much like Henry VII]
2. More playable Civilizations [should ultimately be up to 96 or more, What about INDONESIANS, MAYANS, CARTHAGINIANS, KOREANS, BRAZILIANS, to name a few]
3. More playable Leaders with different abilities [all historical leaders from each civilization should be playable]
4. Many more technologies should be available, especially in ancient times
5. Exponentially larger maps - the Europe map should be a realistic depiction of the overall size of the map [AT LEAST]! [as in the Europe map should only be about 1/12 of the actual size of the map] This would allow for thousands of cities, with hundreds of different civilizations. Land area calculations need to be reevaluated, there is no way that having control of half the territory on the planet would only be about 200,000 Sq. Miles!
6. Allow for the planting of farms! WHAT exactly does creating a farm on grass do for food production?? All real farms actually produce SOME kind of resource [i.e. corn, wheat, sorghum, etc. etc.]
7. Many many many more resources are necessary to increase REALISM of game [we could all list hundreds of missing resources]. Ability to buy seeds from other civilizations to PLANT YOUR OWN... with varying results as directly influenced by climate variation [there was never corn in Europe before explorers came to the Americas]. Should have same ability with FARM ANIMALS [2 generations of pigs, for example & you can now have independence of that resource from other civs]
8. Technological advances need to be updated - at some point, all techs become available to any civilization, regardless of how many scientists have been allocated to research.
9. Military unit building should be independent of creating buildings in that city - once you have built "barracks" or "Training Center", you should be able to "Train" general populace to create military units at the same time as other buildings. This SHOULD NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THAT CITY's POPULATION!!! Soldiers from that city are STILL CITIZENS FROM THAT CITY!!! They are just no longer available to work on other aspects for that city. Population can now be split up into WORKING CITIZENS, MILITARY CITIZENS, etc. etc.
10. Towns, Cottages, etc. should be included in POPULATION STATS. PPL still live in these areas. Overall, population needs to be re-vamped. How many cities are necessary to obtain a real-world approximation?? 40 cities is still almost not enough to be considered near real-world levels of actual people. These places should also add to production, commerce, AND food.
11. More Great People:
a. Great Athletes - provide +1 Health, +2 Happy, +1 Commerce
b. Great Doctors - provide +3 Health, +1 Science
c. Great Citizens - [Paul Bunyan comes to mind lol] +10% production for all citizens, for example
12. More Wonders, more buildings, more units [especially Naval, Air, and Missile units]
13. Spiritual Leader should have ZERO effect on ANARCHY when switching Civics! ORGANIZED LEADER would be much more realistic - they are more organized [they keep better records], easier to re-establish the government.
14. Idea of Recon Units being able to "Plant Flags" for terrain is excellent - should be 9-squares immediately surrounding unit when it plants the flag. Ability to re-draw territorial borders through negotiation & war-time settlements IS A MUST.

This is all i have for now, let me know your thoughts..........

 

[AG713]

If I see only one thing added to Civilization 5, make it this!!!

There should be a way to scientifically advance after you research all the technologies. I hate how you get all the techs, then your budget goes to 70% tax, 30% luxuries, 0% science since there's no reason to keep advancing. Completely unrealistic. There should be a motivation to keep researching as there is in real life. Now I know they can't make units hundreds of years into the future, and I wouldn't want to see that anyway. But there is something you can do:

After you get all techs, I'd like you to be able to research improvements to your existing units or buildings. For example, after you get all the techs, instead of "future tech" maybe you see a list of things like this:
--research +5% shields for industrial plants (15 turns)
--research +1 attack for mechanized infantry (15 turns)
--research +1 happiness for all churches (15 turns)
--research +10 hp for battleships (20 turns)
--research +2% commerce in all cities (15 turns)
--research +1 movement for destroyers (25 turns)
--add +1 range on stealth bombers (25 turns)

This list is only a few techs, but the real list at that point would be very long. Then after you research it, you can research the same tech again, or you can research a different tech. You could focus on production in your factories, and keep researching +5% shields in your industrial plants over and over again. This would be great for nations with small land area, as it would help them make up for their size and productivity disadvantage. Or maybe you're on an island, so you focus on making your navy stronger and stronger to protect yourself, adding hit points, and attack, and movement to your ships one by one.

The techs would have to be expensive. They shouldn't be attainable in only 4-6 turns. It should take a while to earn them. I envision the balance so that by the time the least developed nation has gotten all the technologies, the most developed has maybe 5-7 of these future techs.

But something needs to be done. As it is right now, the civ with the largest land will eventually become the most powerful once everybody has all techs. But if you add a dimension like this, that won't necessarily be the case! The games would become even more diverse and exciting near the end! It would encourage longer games! Right now they're all the same. Eventually everybody is technologically equal which is not realistic at all! Let players choose specific future techs to further shape how they want their civs to be!!!


NOTE: I know, I know, most games don't reach the point where all techs are researched. But I like playing conquest games. Huge world, 16 civs, last one standing wins. Games take weeks! As it is now, it takes 4 days to get all the techs, then the 10-14 days of fighting where everybody has the same techs!!! BORING! Taking out this technologies bottleneck would make the games much more interesting and life like to me near the end, and give further motivation to research in the late stages.

 

[o$yRu$]

Border Trading should definitely be in Civ5. The idea of having ability for Spies to plant bombs/increase propaganda goes back to earlier versions, but should not have been kept out of Civ4.
I like the idea of being able to further customize the game beyond "Modern Technology" by instead of researching generic "future tech" [which does eventually make all civs even on the research front], giving each civilization the ability to research 10 or so different techs that give units new abilities/increase existing building's outputs, etc. Additionally, there needs to be 10-20 new technologies during the regular course of the game to help increase the times in order to get TO the future techs. I like the idea of having ship movement increased - transit times between continents have never been too realistic - when has it ever taken HUNDREDS of years to cross oceans?!?
Also, why do SAM Infantry or Marines become obsolete? These units are still used in Modern Warfare....
There also needs to be added more Air Units - getting limited to Stealth Bombers & Jet Fighters at the end is absurd - new air units are being created constantly.
What about the ability to airlift your units into friendly cities, or War Allies' cities?
How about the ability to "Militarize Borders"? Instead of lining up units along a border there should be a command function [much like the Fighter's ability to "intercept"] so that a unit can "Control Border" while still in the city. Goes beyond the usual "Sentry" ability which only works when enemy units are directly next to your unit. This would give you the ability to have "Open Borders" [which is really for trade purposes only, no countries really allow other countries' troops to roam their lands freely] but not allow Military units free access to your lands. Workers, settlers, scouts/explorers should still be allowed - they are not military units. This function would be similar to the "Patrol" order mentioned previously for Naval units.

 

[Seth3]

Out of curiosity, how many people find the Slavery Civic worth even the one turn of anarchy? Honestly, are you really going to sacrifice six population points (especially this early in the game) just to finish a granary that would be finished in eight turns? Nothing is that pressing. (I believe there is also an unhappiness penalty associated with the use of such production hurrying). They only time this ability would be remotely useful would be if an enemy unit was fast closing upon an undefended city with excess population that you did not want to lose AND if you don't have Nationhood (for whatever reason). Then, and only then, might you say, hmm...either make that defender NOW, or turn over the city. But this situation is so unlikely and specific, that I do not even bother with the (now Medium upkeep in Beyond the Sword Expansion) upkeep or anarchy; it's simply not worth it. This is kind of sad, because it means that the civic option is not doing what it was ultimately intended to do; provide the player with an alternate interesting option for gameplay.

The Solution
In order to fix this problem, and make slavery a viable, yet balanced, option, the programmers should do the following:
1. Slavery's upkeep should be Medium (or perhaps even High)
2. Instead of costing population, the slavery civic would allow a "hurry production_slavery" switch to be turned on or off by the player.
3. When this switch was off, the city would function normally.
4. When the swith was on, however, all excess food would be transferred into production (similar to the way Settlers and Workers are built). This would reflect the population "cost" without making Slavery worthless.
5. Perhaps having slavery "on" in a city for long periods of time would assess cumluative unhappiness penalties.

In this way, players would have another interesting choice with slavery; do I sacrifice growth and happiness in an all out dash for production? This is also how many Civilizations historically created wonders. Players using slavery to race to complete wonders (like the Pyramids), would give a very historic flavor to the game.

More Suggestions Always Welcome

 

[bestbrian]

Slavery works fine. In the early game the only resource you have TOO much of is population. They just keep breeding like rabbits and there's nothing for them to do so they get all sick and unhappy

Then comes the Magic Whip! POOF!!! All those "downer" people are gone and everyone else is healthier. And, you got something useful out of it, instead of just letting these Toxic Crybabies grind your civ to a screeching halt. The Whip is pretty much the only way to manage population in excess of the health and happiness caps in the early game. And it works great in building culture in recently "acquired" cities.

 

[redmosquito]

1-Open Borders agreements: I only want to do some commodity trade but for doing that I have to allow their people settling in my country. If I trade for a long time and declare war on my trade partner those stupid people revolt. THere should be a different type of open borders agreement that allows transfer of labor in addition to transfer of goods. (or capital maybe)

2- The negative diplomacy penalties dont go away. This is the worst game feature ever in a civilization game. It kills the reality component

3- poison water supply? cause unhappiness? are you kidding me? sabotage farms? they are useless and incredibly unrealistic

4- the financial benefits of having oil should be very very huge

5- It is not so hard to implement a better advise system. THe AI improved significantly in bts, why not improve sid's tips

6- In order to understand some game rules (like details of war weariness. or civilization characteristics) I have to spend hours in civfanatics forums (not that I do not like it ) every single game feature should be in civpedia

7- I have no idea how they can do this but it would be great if there was more volatility in terms of power, culture, etc. throughout the game. If you can exploit advantages in early game you win, if you cant you lose. I would like to have a second chance to catch up

8- how can I win a battle without an airforce in late-modern era. It should be almost impossible

9- THere should be something like EU in the game. (maybe like apostolic palace) the participants can have a boost to research and health but this joint entity cannot declare war unless it is attacked.

10-Your spies should be able to give you the information that you are about to be attacked by the AI.

yes I am a bit crazy about realism level of the game

 

[Grey Fox]

The Whip is pretty much the only way to manage population in excess of the health and happiness caps in the early game.

Eh, ever heard of the Avoid Growth Governor button? And Emphasize Production button?

But true, pop-rushing has its benefits.

 

[Skallagrimson]

I'd like to see a "grow to the happiness limit" button.

MMing isn't always that fun when you've REXed a continent early.