Idea for arms traders

[Rupe]

I think it would be interesting if they could add in something that would make it possible for your nation to export the weapons and arms that it makes. It would have a basis in the real world. Lots of countries and for that matter private companies in those countries exporting arms, like France, the UK, Russia and the US.

This would give us a tangible trade item that could be put to use. It would be an option if you have surplus military ware you don't need after a big war has been won and you need to draw down to save on upkeep. You could also make it a specialty of yours making say tanks for a civ that cant make them themselves either due to lack of materials or tech.

And the icing on the cake here is a pipe dream I know but wouldn't it be nice if every civ had its own unique units as far as how the look? then if your in a fight with say Egypt that didn't have access to oil or something needed to make fighter planes and all of the sudden you see a German fighter in the Egyptian color scheme you would know where the aid was coming from. That would add in some extra diplomacy for me.

Maybe something like this could even be modded nto civ 4. I don't know but seems like a nice evolution from gifting units to me for civ 5.

 

[Shurdus]

You can already trade iron or oil with an AI. This is not the same as trading produced goods since iron and oil are raw materials, but adding the trade of produced goods will not really do much except for making the game more diluted towards the economy. In a game where everybody is looking to win the game rather than just participating, it makes more sense for an AI to bash Egypt since it lacks fighters or tanks. Trading fighters or tanks to them seems silly from a gaming perspective, even if it is done in reality.

 

[Disgustipated]

interesting idea, but more of a modern concept. I'm not sure if there is much historical basis for trading arms. But I like the concept. Don't want to spend the cash to upgrade that tank to modern armour? Spend sell it to a nation with lesser tech.

Right now you can gift units, but of course you get nothing in return.

 

[Disgustipated]

could also work with vassals as well.

I'm not sure if it's something the ai can handle though. Probably very exploitable by the human. Would make fighting proxy wars very interesting.

 

[Ramesses]

You can already trade iron or oil with an AI. This is not the same as trading produced goods since iron and oil are raw materials, but adding the trade of produced goods will not really do much except for making the game more diluted towards the economy. In a game where everybody is looking to win the game rather than just participating, it makes more sense for an AI to bash Egypt since it lacks fighters or tanks. Trading fighters or tanks to them seems silly from a gaming perspective, even if it is done in reality.

Indeed. The threat of mutual destruction is not a factor for a significant portion of the game (unless you're playing a modern scenario), so such a feature would be pretty low on the developers' to-do list.

 

[trickofthehand]

This would not work with the current Civ Tech system. As I proposed close to a year ago however, once could receive the option of unlocking special unit types when researching new technologies. I'm not going to go into the details I went into back then (and I have no idea where the thread is) unless people are really interested but basically (and these are VERY basic examples)

You research a technology that allows a new unit to be built (tanks), then you have the option of researching a specialized version of that base unit that have different strengths over the base model.
Tank A bonus vs X
Tank B bonus vs Y
Tank C bonus vs Z

Note that there could just be ONE unit variant, or two or three.. whatever fits the final game.

Once you research the variant of your choice, the others are grayed out to you. The point of this system is allowing you to develop your OWN UUs, and adding flavor and customization to what's supposed to be YOUR retelling of history. Also, it gives civilizations that tech faster in a certain direction (tanks over bombers or vice versa) an edge in that field. While you may have the best tanks, an enemy may have the best bombers.

Finally, your unique tanks could then be exported and provided as a trade good to other civilizations. This deepens the game's economic and political arena.


That's it in a nutshell. Finally note that this could be achieved in all eras, for example Iron Working might unlock different versions of the swordsman. Instead of selling arms in ancient era, you're selling mercenaries. 100% historically accurate AND enriches gameplay, rare to find such a sweet deal.

 

[globalempire]

you dont need specialised equipment.

and dont say then why would you buy it. well you would buy it because you cant create troops fast enough yourself so buy tanks from hatshepsut and you use them to destroy sury. its as simple as that

 

[weekend_warrior]

I like this idea. A lot.

 

[trickofthehand]

you dont need specialised equipment.

and dont say then why would you buy it. well you would buy it because you cant create troops fast enough yourself so buy tanks from hatshepsut and you use them to destroy sury. its as simple as that

You don't NEED half the crap in Civ 4, yet it's there because it's fun or adds flavor. What's the purpose of UU or UB or Wonders or Great People? You don't NEED any of that. As a matter of fact why do we even have good graphics for Civ 5? We don't NEED them. Just give us a plain black and white background with hexes and have units demarcated as Xs and Ys.

X beats Y. Fun game.

/yawn @ globalempire

 

[StittsvilleJame]

If they just added the option to trade units for cash, I don't see how hard that would be to add, but then again, I have never designed this game before...Would it be that difficult to add in the game?

 

[trickofthehand]

I believe RoM has a mercenaries mod that pretty much does that. You can hire units or even sell your units to a global pool to act as mercenaries. Ofcourse the upkeep was ridicolous and with it being so easy to just build units it was never worth it. Perhaps with Civ5's much fewer units this is a system that could actually work though.

 

[nomooon]

This would not work with the current Civ Tech system. As I proposed close to a year ago however, once could receive the option of unlocking special unit types when researching new technologies. I'm not going to go into the details I went into back then (and I have no idea where the thread is) unless people are really interested but basically (and these are VERY basic examples)

You research a technology that allows a new unit to be built (tanks), then you have the option of researching a specialized version of that base unit that have different strengths over the base model.
Tank A bonus vs X
Tank B bonus vs Y
Tank C bonus vs Z

Note that there could just be ONE unit variant, or two or three.. whatever fits the final game.

Once you research the variant of your choice, the others are grayed out to you. The point of this system is allowing you to develop your OWN UUs, and adding flavor and customization to what's supposed to be YOUR retelling of history. Also, it gives civilizations that tech faster in a certain direction (tanks over bombers or vice versa) an edge in that field. While you may have the best tanks, an enemy may have the best bombers.

Finally, your unique tanks could then be exported and provided as a trade good to other civilizations. This deepens the game's economic and political arena.


That's it in a nutshell. Finally note that this could be achieved in all eras, for example Iron Working might unlock different versions of the swordsman. Instead of selling arms in ancient era, you're selling mercenaries. 100% historically accurate AND enriches gameplay, rare to find such a sweet deal.

that is a great idea!!

 

[plasmacannon]

If they just added the option to trade units for cash, I don't see how hard that would be to add, but then again, I have never designed this game before...Would it be that difficult to add in the game?

In a one player vs AIs, this would be fine.
In multi-player games, you would get people specializing in being the "money" player, who would just tech up, and buy things occasionally. Boring.
If you want this to be about battles, then you need to create an incentive to fight.
The Greed Quest comes to mind.
I was playing Spain to try out the Conquistadors, and I didn't have access to the Horse resourse. That random event came up, and I had to capture the horse resourse from my Byzantine neighbor to complete the quest.
That created a whole new level of excitement to the game. It would expire after 100 turns.
Of course, I usually play with No tech trading or Brokering, Aggressive AI, so, they usually don't exchange resourses either. Sometimes always war too.