This idea is largely based on this thread http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=442049
I will explain every part of the idea and note a few questions yet to answer below.
Barbarian strongholds
Barbarian camps can evolve into strongholds. Strongholds are much the same as camps except that they give increased defense on the tile. So they're basicly a barb version of the fort. The main difference is that the one tile it occupies gains become a cultural border (like the CS colour). All barbarians inside or next to the camp also belong to this colour now. They will patrol the area and not stray too far from the stronghold. They are still barbarians however and will try to steal workers and settlers.
When the barbarians belonging to a stronghold bring back a worker two things can happen: a) a new barbarian unit spawns b) the culture grows into one of the adjacent tiles.
The culture growth also happens naturally albeit slowly. If all six adjacent tiles have been taken over (which should take very long without stolen workers) the stronghold becomes a CS with a population of 1.
What will define when a camp becomes a stronghold?
I think it should eiter be bringing home a stolen worker or just existing for a long enough time without being destroyed. However, in the first case barbarian strongholds won't come into existance in the new world. In the second case the new world will be filled with them and CS. Probably it is best to do both: stealing a worker and keeping it for 10 turns turns a camp into a stronghold. But there's also a very very small chance to become a stronghold without the worker (so small it should happen not more than a dozen times in a game).
Outposts
Outposts can be build by CS. They are build outside of their territory and function like forts. If the CS connects them to their capital with a road their culture grows into the outpost tile. Very slowly (1 culture per turn) the outpost will grow it's culture in adjacent tiles. If all 6 adjacent tiles are filled it will turn into a 1 population city. In this way the CS can very slowly gain new cities, they will have to protect their outpost since it's an improvement and can easily be razed.
What I'm going to suggest next is purely an idea and I'm not sure it's optimal or preferable. But perhaps when a CS reaches a certain amount of total population (all cities combined) or a certain amount of cities they turn into a Civilization. This would create a chain: barb camp -> barb stronghold -> CS -> CS with outposts -> civilization.
Forts
The last idea is largely taken from another thread. Basicly it allows civs to build forts outside of their territory. If they hook them up with a road to the tradenetwork the fort gains a cultural radius of 1 (giving you all adjacent tiles). You are allowed to build improvements there and gain the resources. Units may also heal, ships may go into the fort tile (if next to the ocean obviously) and you may upgrade units into this area. It doesn't expand further though.
All these things combined would make for a much more interesting and dynamic game. Not just for expanding, but also for warring (there will be barbarian strongholds, but also strategic forts and outposts placed by civs and CS). And for exploring (new world with large CS's, backwards civs (evolved from a CS and thus a techdelay) but also large empty areas with barb camps and strongholds.
I will explain every part of the idea and note a few questions yet to answer below.
Barbarian strongholds
Barbarian camps can evolve into strongholds. Strongholds are much the same as camps except that they give increased defense on the tile. So they're basicly a barb version of the fort. The main difference is that the one tile it occupies gains become a cultural border (like the CS colour). All barbarians inside or next to the camp also belong to this colour now. They will patrol the area and not stray too far from the stronghold. They are still barbarians however and will try to steal workers and settlers.
When the barbarians belonging to a stronghold bring back a worker two things can happen: a) a new barbarian unit spawns b) the culture grows into one of the adjacent tiles.
The culture growth also happens naturally albeit slowly. If all six adjacent tiles have been taken over (which should take very long without stolen workers) the stronghold becomes a CS with a population of 1.
What will define when a camp becomes a stronghold?
I think it should eiter be bringing home a stolen worker or just existing for a long enough time without being destroyed. However, in the first case barbarian strongholds won't come into existance in the new world. In the second case the new world will be filled with them and CS. Probably it is best to do both: stealing a worker and keeping it for 10 turns turns a camp into a stronghold. But there's also a very very small chance to become a stronghold without the worker (so small it should happen not more than a dozen times in a game).
Outposts
Outposts can be build by CS. They are build outside of their territory and function like forts. If the CS connects them to their capital with a road their culture grows into the outpost tile. Very slowly (1 culture per turn) the outpost will grow it's culture in adjacent tiles. If all 6 adjacent tiles are filled it will turn into a 1 population city. In this way the CS can very slowly gain new cities, they will have to protect their outpost since it's an improvement and can easily be razed.
What I'm going to suggest next is purely an idea and I'm not sure it's optimal or preferable. But perhaps when a CS reaches a certain amount of total population (all cities combined) or a certain amount of cities they turn into a Civilization. This would create a chain: barb camp -> barb stronghold -> CS -> CS with outposts -> civilization.
Forts
The last idea is largely taken from another thread. Basicly it allows civs to build forts outside of their territory. If they hook them up with a road to the tradenetwork the fort gains a cultural radius of 1 (giving you all adjacent tiles). You are allowed to build improvements there and gain the resources. Units may also heal, ships may go into the fort tile (if next to the ocean obviously) and you may upgrade units into this area. It doesn't expand further though.
All these things combined would make for a much more interesting and dynamic game. Not just for expanding, but also for warring (there will be barbarian strongholds, but also strategic forts and outposts placed by civs and CS). And for exploring (new world with large CS's, backwards civs (evolved from a CS and thus a techdelay) but also large empty areas with barb camps and strongholds.
