Getting along with a small civilization

[Karsinogeeni]

I tried to find if there were threads like this, but didn't find one.

In my opinion there should always be more than one way to do things. In Civilization this is done pretty nicely - cultural conquest, space race etc. However I feel that playing a small civilization such as Japanese sticking in their islands is not a valid solution. Corruption system is good balance towards making your civilization a "continent" like Soviet Union was, but there aren't factors which would give benefit to small civilizations. To make this more clear to everyone, corruption doesn't directly benefit small civs but hinders big ones.

In the beginning everyone is cranking out settlers and workers and expanding. I think there should be a reason not to. There should be a better reason to settle down in the beginning and claim your small piece of the world.

As we all know, having oil in our territory or being all high tech makes you rich and influential. I would like to see this kind of things in Civ4. In other words money, resources and infrastructure should have greater effect on game. This way it could also be an advantage to capture strategic points like resource centers (a jungle full of gems, a sandbowl mixed together with oil).

Just occured to me about that oil thing, why on earth can you build 10 gazillion tanks if you have one drop of oil within your borders? I think one resource should allow you to build one unit which requires it. That way having more than one would make sense and trading more than one would, too.

Ok, now I started rambling about resources, but the point was that playing small civilizations should have some advantages, so they would have a fighting chance. There should be a strategy trough which it would be possible to win with small civilizations. There should be at least some good reason not to spawn outside your mini-kingdom in the beginning.

 

[Gengis Khan]

Ok, so with iron I can build 1 swordman? With horses I get 1 chariot?

I'm not a fan.

 

[Karsinogeeni]

Ok, so with iron I can build 1 swordman? With horses I get 1 chariot?

In a turn. If you control 1 iron, you can crank out one swordman per turn. If you have two horses, you can crank out two chariots per turn. Resources would become more important, but not essential.

EDIT: This went off-topic already...

 

[Dell19]

I like the idea but its not necessarily that practical unless there was a lot more iron on the map. An expansion on the idea would be to say that with one source of iron you could have 5 swordsmen in production rather than just one.

 

[Denarr]

I don't see any realistic way to make it possible for a nation as small as Japan to control the world, or win the Civ game without taking over territory outside of its little island.
Did you have anything specific in mind? Other than having a nation literally covered with Coal, Iron, Diamonds, Oil, etc. I don't really see any logical way for them gain any sort of world dominating influence.

 

[t3h_m013]

But england did take over half of the world with modern technology. and it didn't use annexed teritory to help with further conquest as far as i know in particular (correct me if im wrong)

 

[Denarr]

My English history is a little vague...
To my recall, most of the territories taken over by Old England were fairly low tech, in comparison. They didn't have much control over the large, neighbor nations, such as France, Germany, etc., though there was that peroid of the Crusades...

It does serve as a good example of a large nation being spread around the world.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

OK, though I'm not a fan of the 'one resource, one unit' idea, I do believe that the larger your empire, and the more units you build and operate, the more chance that you have of the resource they are dependant on RUNNING OUT! So if you have lots and LOTS of tanks, then you should have a much higher chance of one of your oil resources just vanishing! This would work MUCH better than the current Random disappearance system, and will force players and the AI to be more sparing with unit construction!
On another note, I do feel that there should be ways for small civs to win the game, either via diplomacy or through more concenrated development (i.e. fewer but BIGGER cities)!
Anyway, just something to think about.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Given the success people are having with One City Challenge games, I'm not convinced minicivs are too weak.

 

[w11184]

hey i agree with you that there should be kinda system to entice people to stay at where theys tarted instead of just pumping out settlers to go all over right from the start. and that resource idea seems good, but maybe 3 per resource instead of 1?

 

[hauchdeslebens]

I think it is a good idea. Countries like Switzerland have managed to be economically successful, neutral (no wars) and there by attractive for diplomatic negotiations.
In the Civ series it is very hard to stay peaceful, because sooner or later the AI pays you a "visit". Or if you need resources that are not in your territory you will have to fight for them. There is almost no way you can trade for it. I liked the caravan system in Civ 1&2 quite well, because you could trade without having a road/sea connection. It was enough that the caravan made it...
Trading countries like the Netherlands have enjoyed quite some success, although never being a power it has always been able to float along.
China and Japan buy most of their resources and have managed to build their country around the fact that they have not been blessed with a lot of resources.
Specialized country option (Vatican)? Where a small "country" has a big influence on others...Being protected and funded by many while having political and religous influence.
Trade (and diplomacy for that matter) should have a stronger influence in the game as they can be mainstay of countries (as seen above). It would interesting if organisations like Hansa or OPEC could be established. Small wonder? Or families like Rothschild that have a cross-border influence? Any ideas how they could be added usefully to the game?

 

[Dell19]

OK, though I'm not a fan of the 'one resource, one unit' idea, I do believe that the larger your empire, and the more units you build and operate, the more chance that you have of the resource they are dependant on RUNNING OUT!

Remember though that larger empires have a greater chance of having more resources so it should balance out. Large empires may have more than one saource so they is already more chance that one of their sources may disappear.