Continuous or Idle Civilization

[Jippe]

I have this idea for alternative game mechanics that could make a civilization game more suitable for multiplayer. I have dubbed the idea "Continuous Civilization".

Instead of using turns for players to manage their civilization, all actions are placed on a timeline. Actions can be queued on this line and planned ahead. Instead of an action taking up a couple of turns it will take up a couple of units of time. Time could progress with a constant speed (making the game an "Idle" game) or time could always progress to the first moment some player's city or army has no orders left. This way all players can do their turns simultaniously without having to wait for eachother. In the attached image is a impression of how this would look.

I personally do not like idle games. The idea is to use timelines in civilization so that time could progress continuously for all players without the need for turns. This enables better multiplayer possibilities. Time could progress in many ways:
- "Idle": time progresses constantly with constant speed even without players logged on.
- "Towards first undesignated action": make time progress towards the next undesignated action and give that player 1 minute to decide what to do. This would allow for fast paced multiplayer games where nobody has to wait for anybody else (mostly).
- "Ticking": Another way to progress time is to let it progress 10 units (of time) every time all actions are designated for those 10 units and give all players 2 minutes to designate those 10 units of time. Any undesignated actions are then filled by AI. This would also result in fast paced multiplayer, forcing all players to make fast decisions all at the same time without waiting for eachother.

The only real problem that will arise when introducing this mechanic is the way that military units work.
The army movements in civ6 is currently a sort of micro management that cannot be planned a couple of turns ahead. My suggestion to solve this is to make armies behave more like trade routes or spies in Civ6. You can combine units into an army and the army can either defend a city or area, march towards an area or attack a city.
Armies would occupy and spread out over an area rather than stacking like in Civ 3 or 1upt like in Civ 6. When armies fight eachother and/or cities their effectiveness against eachother is determined by the types of units in the armies. For instance: Having melee units will act as a front-line against other melee units and protect your seige weapons and ranged units. Mounted units will attack melee units once and then continue through to ranged and seige units. Ranged units can attack any unit type of the opposing army.
Of course, combat is not resolved instantly. Units damage eachother over time, reinforcements may be added to a battl ground and units may retreat.

Every game mechanic has to either work well with continuous time or has to change.
The aim is not to change the game mechanics too much. It is often not clear if the changed mechanic works better than the old one. The aim is to make a civ game that is truly suitable to play online multiplayer through the use of timelines and changing as little of the mechanics as possible.
Here is a breakdown of all game mechanics that have to be considered. In summary: Except for military and other units, diplomacy has to change a little bit and the rest can stay as it is.

Spoiler Long breakdown :

- Builders are micro managed units in normal civ. I would suggest that builders are unnecessary. A tile could be automatically improved immediately if worked and the tech for its improvement is availlable. (If multiple improvements are possible then it can be worked in two ways). It is a possibility to automatically improve the tile if it is worked for some time.
- Diplomacy. When playing truly Idle as in that the game progresses without the player being active it would be impossible to keep the diplomacy as it is. Every agreement or announcement could be done with a one-sided decision however. Instead of getting "What do you think of an alliance" immediately when a player proposes this, you could offer an alliance and let the offer stand for some time. The other player can then accept or decline the alliance. Denouncing, declaring war do not require a response, so they are not a problem. Trading goods could be simplified by a "Trade Agreement", which allows you to purchase superflouus goods from the other player for a set amount of gold or it could be done with one sided offers that stand for some time.
- Religion. I think can be kept mostly. Religious units would also have to work like traders or spies. A missionary could be sent to a city. An apostle can be sent to a city for conversion or defend the city from certain religions. The player can indicate which religions it wants to defend against. A guru could team up with any religious unit for extra defense and healing. An inquisitor can be sent to a city to defend it or cleanse it.
- Scouting. Scouts could work like armies. You build a scout. As soon as it is built you can order it to move towards an area. If it finds barbarians or a hostile civilization its feet is that it can outrun it, especially over hills and forest.
- Level up military. Levelling a military unit is simply an action that requires the unit to stay where it is for a set amount of time after choosing its bonus. You can only level up
- Spending gold or faith. Gold and faith are obtained over time or in some cases instantly (trade). Spending gold or faith is also done instantly (for military upgrade, buying buildings/units, obtaining great people, buying land).
- Wonders. Building a wonder can work like building any building. The thing to keep in mind is: what happens when another player finishes a wonder you are building? I would suggest that every city and army has a default behavior which can be set. It could be "build economy or build units". Which basically lets an AI determine what to do if there are no orders for the city or unit. Another thing would be to allow you to queue your actions. This allows you to set in advance what to build when you cannot continue building your wonder.
- Effects of wonders. Of course every wonder's effect must still work in continous time. I will not break down all wonders for this. Maybe some have to change. The Pyramids for instance could be: Tile improvements are built twice as fast when working that tile.
- Settlers. Settlers can work like armies. You can build a settler. As soon as it is built you can order it to move towards an area with our without teaming up with another unit. It has the option to settle on a certain spot. Of course the new city will start witout a build queue. This would immediately make this the first object without orders. I think it would be a good idea to make building the city center takes some amount of time. That way the first order can be a bit later.
- Barbarians. Could just work like an aggressive neutral player with armies that spawn from barbarian camps.
- Air Units. I think Air units can work like they do now mostly. They have a base. Switching between bases takes some time (I would introduce: Depending on distance). They can be set to defend or attack.
- Healing armies. Medic units can heal armies just as in Civ6. It is a possibility to designate a 'healing base' for an army which could be a city or an encampment or fort. Damaged units will then retreat to this place and heal up there. Giving better combat results when fighting close to a friendly city.
- Seige. I think there is not much that needs to change. All military types stay as they are (Melee, Ranged, Mounted, Seige, Battering Ram, ...) Ranged will prioritize either cities or 'loose' units (units not in a city or encampment). The player chooses this as a setting. Seige units will prioritize city defenses or loose units as the player chooses. Melee units and Mounted units can be instructed to attack loose units or attack the city once its defenses are lower than an amount chosen by the player. It is basically the same decisions you face when playing civ6 with the exception maybe of pillaging.
- Pillaging. Personally i do not like this mechanic in civ 6 at all. I also do not know exactly how it should work with continous time. I also think it should raise war weariness. It should be a warcrime to pillage.
- Walls. No change needed. Units do a certain amount of damage per unit of time. Wall repair happens with a set amount per unit of time.
- City defense. No real change needed. City defenses can attack opponents with a certain amount of damage per unit of time. Maybe allow the player to prioritize what to attack by unit type.
- High production cities. Cities with a high production might create units/buildings very quickly. As long as you can properly queue them it should not be a problem.
- Borders. No change needed. Culture determines the normal growth of borders. Buying land can be done instantly with gold.
- Science. No change needed. Tech research is planned ahead just as it is now. Science point yield can also stay the same.
- Culture. No change needed. Same as tech.
- Amenities. No change needed.
- Growth. No change needed. If citizens working a tile also makes it build an improvement there, then it would maybe be better if the player is noted of a growth of population so that it can check if the right tiles are being improved. Also a player should be able to do this in advance by indicating with a '+' or a '-' per tile. A + indicating: I want to improve this tile first. A - indicating: 'I want to build a wonder or district here in the future, so do not improve this tile unless there is no other option'.
- Policies. No real change needed. Allow for the player to change policies a set amount of time after researching a civic. Of course, some policies might need a change (like bonusses to builders)
- Anarchy. No change needed. Anarchy will be for a set amount of time.
- Great People. No real changes needed? As soon as a great person is obtained it will be undesignated and its default action is to wait. So that the player can use the great person as soon as he is back in the game. Passing on a great person could still be possible aswell as buying one with faith or gold.

Is this idea clear and what do you think of it?

 

[Naokaukodem]

It damn looks like real time...