Civilization 5

[rysmiel]

I like the idea of designing the game so that it would max out on the best computers in five years time, but also having other settings for even the worst current computers. That way you can optimise your settings better, to get a good aesthetics vs. gameplay balance.

I think a lot of people think like you do; but not everyone can afford to upgrade computers every year or two I favour games maintaining maximum possible backward compatibility. Unlikely though it seems, if Civ 5 did sensible gameplay things but looked like Civ 1 and had system requirements like Civ 2, I'd be overjoyed.

 

[rysmiel]

And of course, Firaxis should keep newcomers and people who aren't seasoned elite players in mind.

I'm inclined to think that the best way Firaxis could do this would be providing a PC port of Civ Rev rather than lobotomising Civ 5.

I don't think the Noble difficulty in Civ IV really does provide such an even playing ground. True, the human player does not get any free ones, but the AI is a bit too clever and competent; the experiences of a lot of expert Civ players have been applied a somewhat too assiduously. So whether that means tweaking the Warlord levele or the Novkle level or doing something else, I think there should be a level without extras for the human player but with an AI which isn't quite so dauntingly smart.

This is a very good idea.

 

[Camikaze]

I think a lot of people think like you do; but not everyone can afford to upgrade computers every year or two I favour games maintaining maximum possible backward compatibility. Unlikely though it seems, if Civ 5 did sensible gameplay things but looked like Civ 1 and had system requirements like Civ 2, I'd be overjoyed.

I'm a sucker for graphics.

 

[malcor5]

terrain has been a big factor on civ's in the real world...
how about making more realistic terrain - like:
major rivers: units cannot cross without spl "engineer" capabilities
small ships would be able to travel on these
mtn valley: mtn pockets that you could build cities in creating natural fortifications

tie wonders to terrains: pyramids only built in desert city, ankor wat only built in jungle city, machu pichu only built in mtn city.

give explorers (which are lame units!) new ability to create "supply route". similar to ship blockades but in reverse... in order to cross a vast dessert, mtns, jungle or go deep into enemy territory you would need a string of explorer with "engineer" skills - creating something like forts. units that operated outside of the supply influence would take damage.

 

[BIG sven]

terrain has been a big factor on civ's in the real world...
how about making more realistic terrain - like:
major rivers: units cannot cross without spl "engineer" capabilities
small ships would be able to travel on these
mtn valley: mtn pockets that you could build cities in creating natural fortifications

tie wonders to terrains: pyramids only built in desert city, ankor wat only built in jungle city, machu pichu only built in mtn city.

give explorers (which are lame units!) new ability to create "supply route". similar to ship blockades but in reverse... in order to cross a vast dessert, mtns, jungle or go deep into enemy territory you would need a string of explorer with "engineer" skills - creating something like forts. units that operated outside of the supply influence would take damage.

Your ideas are nice but it would be unfare to you if you did not have a city in the desert and you are the furthest ahead.

 

[frekk]

One feature I'd really like to see ... that I've always, always really wanted to see in every edition of civ that's come out ... is some relation between the civ you pick, and the latitude/climate of your starting location.

I have always hated starting as the Vikings in an equatorial jungle, or as the Zulu at the edge of the treeline near the arctic. I think there ought to be an option, like no barbarians etc, to start in civ-specific climates.

In Civ 4, I have really really missed the throne room and city view. These ought to be brought back. Yeah, they are just graphics with no real effect on the game and therefore represent an unnecessary encumbrance on the engine, but the thing is, they don't have to be.

They could be graphical interfaces of some sort - rather than a civics screen, or advisor panels, you could go to your palace or throne room and do stuff, rather than boxes and text on the city manager you could have buildings you click on, etc. They gave you a sense of progress and accomplishment, they functioned as milestones that the game now lacks. I think the throne room and/or city view would be an excellent way to replace and make graphical some of the plain text-based screens found throughout the game, and additions to the city or palace or throne room could be used to represent new functions available as the game progresses. Off the top of my head, you could have a drill square or armoury in the city view that becomes available when you get the ability conscript militias.

I also think advisor categories and civics categories should be tied together somehow. I would like to have the advisors represented graphically in the throne room, ideally, and when you pick a new civic, you get a new advisor in that category. For instance, you might have Representation and that means your Domestic advisor is a guy in a suit and tie; when you switch to Police State he becomes a domestic intelligence agent in a trenchcoat, that sort of thing.

This sort of thing really shouldn't be a huge drain on graphics either. It's been done with DOS games, 10 or 15 years ago.

 

[Healz]

Actually Frekk I think there are maps already downloadable for Civ IV that have realistic starting locations for the civilizations. I just can't remember which ones they are but they are there under maps.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

In Civ 4, I have really really missed the throne room and city view. These ought to be brought back. Yeah, they are just graphics with no real effect on the game and therefore represent an unnecessary encumbrance on the engine, but the thing is, they don't have to be.

Amen to that. And I'd also like to see the High Council back, the way they were in Civ II, looking different and speaking differently depending on which historical stage you are at. ("All is well, sire. I'm off to oil my abacus!" "Would you let your soldiers sleep in latrines? Build barracks first, other improvements later!" "My talents go to waste, my lord! Let us contact other civilizations to exchange knowledge!" "I concur, your majesty." "Wise men say a good ruler gives his subjects some entertainment... king." "No! Hah! Build city walls!" All the way to: "Let's do lunch, sir.") Those were funny; similar utterances (I'd even like to see some of those I quoted return) could be great. (Back then, the High Council and the trips to the Throne Room could be turned off by those who didn't enjoy them, and of course that feature should be retained.)

However, during anarchy, your advisors should not scream incoherently; they should tell you how your subjects feel about the change under way and it's probable implications.

Incidentally, the change in attire and speech should mean that Elvis should look like a jester in a bearskin at first, and then like a classical jester wearing a tunic, and then like a medieveal clown, and then like a Victorian music hall artist, before he goes all glitzy.

I also wish they would abstain from that extremely irritating message splashed across the screen towards the end of the game: "15 turns left to the end of the game!" "14 turns left to the end of the game!" and so on. In the same vein, once the game has told you who won a game, and why, remove the message so those who want to play on for a bit longer don't have to see it all the time.

I seem to be the only one who takes an interest in this, but I really love most of the music in Civ IV, with the exception of the space age music. I'd like to hear most of it in Civ V too, though they could get rid of the banana boat song. Some shamanistic music would feel less anachronistic. There are also some songs from older incarnations of Civ that I'd enjoy to see return. There is, for example, the barbarian/Aztec theme; it could be used any time the barbarians capture a city, as it was in Civ I (and II?). Then there's that very lovely tune, "The World of Jules Verne", from one of the XP's of Civ II. And the catchy melody that always turned up for the first time in Civ III when you had reached the industrial age.

In Civ II, sometimes you (or one of the AI civs) made a scientific breakthrough and suddenly got a technology for free. Back then, it happened if someone gifted you a unit with superior technology you didn't possess. That's not a very good idea, but perhaps, in certain situations where various good points run together (they could vary but be a confluence of things such as a flourishing economy, heavy investment in science and many learned institutions, good relations with advanced countries, booming trade, extended warfare of a specialized kind) perhaps such a breakthrough could occur without upending the game.

If a civ is given units with superior technology it doesn't yet posees, it should be able to keep them unchanged but be unable to build any similar units themselves. Also, if someone gifts someone else, say, English Redcoats or French musketeers, the same thing would apply: they'd change their colours a bit but still visibly be English redcoats or French musketeers or ballista elephants and so on, witht heir particular strengths.

Finally, I think there should be mercenaries. You would have to pay for them each turn; if you don't, they desert you. They should be more expensive than normal troops, but also very, very good soldiers. (Both mounted and foot.) A limited supply of them so if you don't hire them, the likelihood is that your rivals would snap them all up. (This means that at the outset, one should be in on the bidding for them; gradually but fairly swiftly, they'd all be employed except for temporary layoffs for various reasons, such as a civ not being able to afford them any longer or ceasing to exist.)

Monetary unions as an option between two or more civs long before the UN? Any member could cancel its membership after ten turns. A war between two members of a monetary union would not affect anyone except, of course, the two nations at war.

 

[(Alexandros)]

I heartily agree with Frekk and Ojevind Lang! There were several things (mostly in Civ II) that simply added flavour and made the game just a little more fun. They really should get those back in the game, it could do with a few unnecessary stuff!

 

[Terrance888]

You should able to go against an established resolution. For example, North Korea is working on nukes even though it isn't allowed by the UN.

 

[caitlinm]

I don't have any awesome ideas for Civ 5, except: Bring back the palace room and bring back the city view! With updated graphics, it would be sweet to be able to kind of go through the city with the camera. It might be a waste of space and memory, but the graphics don't have to be amazing.

I'd also like more wonders added and stupid wonders removed. The internet shouldn't be a wonder, it should be a technology. Rock n' roll has no business being a wonder. It really shows the myopic perspective of the gamers who have been around for the birth of rock n' roll and the internet. And a space elevator isn't real. Why not just make the first space shuttle a wonder? I think a new wonder could be the tallest building in the world in Dubai.

 

[rysmiel]

And a space elevator isn't real. Why not just make the first space shuttle a wonder? I think a new wonder could be the tallest building in the world in Dubai.

But the tallest building in the world changes with some regularity; why should the one that happens to be tallest now be a wonder, when it could easily be a different building within the lifespan of the game ?

 

[jsweeney]

And a space elevator isn't real.

actually, the space elevator is a highly accepted way of cheapening the cost of space travel. FYI, the whole space race to Alpha Centuri isn't real either. Neither is a bunch of the new units at the end of the game. Just go with it

 

[BIG sven]

If a new wonder is picked then it should be an outstanding piece of architecture or the first of its kind something like london bridge it was the first kind of those bridges and at that time was a brilliant bridge and it still works today but there are not alot of buildings like this so they could include alot of them.

 

[Naokaukodem]

But the tallest building in the world changes with some regularity; why should the one that happens to be tallest now be a wonder, when it could easily be a different building within the lifespan of the game ?

Not to contradict you in any way, but IIRC Civ2 had Hoover Dam and Civ4 the 3 Georges Dam.

 

[Colonial Asian]

I think that there should be a war worker unit so that you can build in enemy territory during wars, like a way to build roads to enemy cities, or forts near cities, or other special war improvements (Like Julius Caesar's walls around Alesia).

 

[Arakhor]

If they don't change anything for Civ V other than renaming the English civilisation as the British Empire, I'd be happy. England ceased to exist as an independent country in 1801! Alfred the Great was Saxon, William the Conqueror was Norman French and both Queen Victoria and Sir Winston Churchill were British. Elizabeth I is the only English ruler in the entire set!

 

[Camikaze]

I think that there should be a war worker unit so that you can build in enemy territory during wars, like a way to build roads to enemy cities, or forts near cities, or other special war improvements (Like Julius Caesar's walls around Alesia).

War Workers?, Shackel, 1/5/09

^This thread is about that idea. If you want to elucidate your thoughts there, feel free...

 

[kayser79]

Something I miss is the possibility to make an improvement plan, which automated workers would follow. The option to micromanage workers should still be there, but I think improvement plan would be of great help in controlling workers in the later stages of the game. I don't trust fully automated workers.

It should also be possible to make a city placement plan.

 

[Camikaze]

I think you can do this (although I've never tried) by holding done a particular key will clicking on numerous tasks for a worker to complete. I don't know what that key is.

I wish it was easier.