Vandal Thorne
Warlord
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 164
Forward
I had some ideas for what I think would be vast improvements to the Civ V system. As you read through these keep in mind that they are only ideas. I would try to build a mod but several of the core game play features need to be changed in order to accommodate the ideas that follow. As I’m also about to launch into an information science PhD program at the University of Illinois, it seems unlikely that I’ll have sufficient time to dedicate to learning enough coding to make these ideas substance. The changes listed are pretty substantial and may be better suited towards the ultimate shape of a Civilization VI game.
Core Features
The ideas listed here revolve around alterations to four key components of Civ V gameplay:
Eras
One of the things I enjoy about Civ is the immersive experience of traveling through time across the eras. To improve this I propose deepening the Tech Tree to increase the amount of time that players spend in each era. Since it seems likely that this may make the game too long for some, I also propose that each Era be treated as a distinct mini-game, affording players the opportunity to start and stop their games within selected time boundaries or to customize their play experience by skipping over eras they don’t want to play through. For example on could play a three-era game that zips through history traversing from Ancient Era to Industrial Era to Information Era and skipping the in between eras; conversely, one could play a game focused solely on the early part of history by starting in the Ancient Era, progressing through the Classical Era, and ending with the Medieval Era. Likewise, someone wanting to focus on a twentieth century game could start in the Modern Era, progress through the Post-Modern (an additional WWII Era) and Atomic Eras and finish in the Information Era.
Note that I’m proposing adding an additional era. This would make the complete timeline look like:
Age of Antiquity: Ancient Classical Medieval
Age of Enlightenment: Renaissance Industrial Modern
Contemporary Age: Post-Modern Atomic Information
Again, the focus would be on allowing players to mix and match the eras that they want to play through, allowing them to tailor their Civ experience.
Warfare
Warfare in Civ is still a fairly one-dimensional conquest affair. It is slightly improved by being able to bully City-States with your military units. I propose deepening the warfare experience by making it easier to get away with acts of war. Rather than declare war the first time one of their units is captured or killed there is instead an ongoing state of pseudo-war during the eras that make up the age of Antiquity. Units do not respect cultural borders until the Industrial Era. Civilizations and City-States will only declare war when their capital or other major settlements (Town-sized or larger) are attacked or after other forms of aggression are repeated a sufficient number of times. The threshold for declaring war should vary from Civilization to Civilization. This makes everyone a little bit more like barbarians. Poaching civilian units, killing random military units, pillaging improvements all become “legal” game tactics, and as long as the activities aren’t repeated more than 5 to 10 times war is not declared. This should allow militaristic Civilizations to work their military to support their economy beyond the simple conquer and/or burn everything in sight.
I also propose altering the results of “conquering” a city. Under the current system when one conquers a city you have two choices, Annex the city or turn it into a puppet state (pseudo-annexation), or if it wasn’t a capital, you can Raze it. I propose expanding the available options beyond this to six. The three new options I’m proposing are Loot Settlement, Enslave Population, and Ransom Settlement. Rather than simply getting some payoff when you conquer a city you must choose to focus on specific results. To get , one must Loot Settlement. I also propose changes, summarized fully below, to the three existing conquest choices.
Settlement Conquest
Annex Settlement: You do not receive a reward of when you do this. Instead you must pay an amount of , , or and sacrifice a military unit that is at full health. Colonies (see Colonization section below) on the same landmass are much cheaper to annex than other kinds of settlements. Settlements belonging to other Civilizations that are on a different landmass than your capital are much more expensive to annex. The amount of generated is proportional to the expense. The type of Settlement (see Colonization section below) will also impact the cost and amount of generated.
Change Government: Rather than simply create a puppet government you can change the relationship with the conquered Settlement to Ally. Again, you must spend a small amount of , , or to accomplish this goal. You can also make a puppet state, what I prefer to call a Permanent Alliance, if you spend a great deal more , , or . Certain types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) are not affected by this ability.
Ransom Settlement: If you conquer a Settlement belonging to another Civilization then you can sell it back to them for , units, Artifacts, and/or Great Works. Certain types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) are not affected by this ability.
Enslave Population: Rather than assume control of the Settlement in some way you can enslave its population and take one or more civilian units as spoils of war. Up to half of the Settlement’s population may be enslaved in this way. Every 5 can be converted into a Worker, every 10 can be converted into a Colonist, or every 15 can be converted into a Great Person. Civilian units captured this way only cost 25% of the normal maintenance cost. Enslaved civilian units will cause .
Loot Settlement: Rather than do any of the aforementioned options above, you can choose to loot the Settlement, receiving 100 x the population of the Settlement in .
Raze Settlement: Finally, you can choose to raze the settlement to the ground. Settlements that are razed will eventually become Antiquity Sites. During the Ancient and Classical Eras any settlement, even Capitals, can be Razed. During the Medieval and Renaissance Eras, Cities (of any kind) cannot be Razed but Town and Outpost types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) can be Razed. During the Industrial and Modern Eras only Outpost type Settlements can be Razed, and beginning in the Post-Modern Era, Settlements can no longer be Razed at all.
This suggests some interesting new Resolutions for the World Congress, such as bans on Looting, Slavery, Annexing, and Ransoming.
I had some ideas for what I think would be vast improvements to the Civ V system. As you read through these keep in mind that they are only ideas. I would try to build a mod but several of the core game play features need to be changed in order to accommodate the ideas that follow. As I’m also about to launch into an information science PhD program at the University of Illinois, it seems unlikely that I’ll have sufficient time to dedicate to learning enough coding to make these ideas substance. The changes listed are pretty substantial and may be better suited towards the ultimate shape of a Civilization VI game.
Core Features
The ideas listed here revolve around alterations to four key components of Civ V gameplay:
- Eras,
- Warfare (more specifically the politics of warfare),
- Colonization (making new Settlements), and
- Minor Changes to:
- Cultural Border Growth,
- Great People, and
- Influence & Espionage.
Eras
One of the things I enjoy about Civ is the immersive experience of traveling through time across the eras. To improve this I propose deepening the Tech Tree to increase the amount of time that players spend in each era. Since it seems likely that this may make the game too long for some, I also propose that each Era be treated as a distinct mini-game, affording players the opportunity to start and stop their games within selected time boundaries or to customize their play experience by skipping over eras they don’t want to play through. For example on could play a three-era game that zips through history traversing from Ancient Era to Industrial Era to Information Era and skipping the in between eras; conversely, one could play a game focused solely on the early part of history by starting in the Ancient Era, progressing through the Classical Era, and ending with the Medieval Era. Likewise, someone wanting to focus on a twentieth century game could start in the Modern Era, progress through the Post-Modern (an additional WWII Era) and Atomic Eras and finish in the Information Era.
Note that I’m proposing adding an additional era. This would make the complete timeline look like:
Age of Antiquity: Ancient Classical Medieval
Age of Enlightenment: Renaissance Industrial Modern
Contemporary Age: Post-Modern Atomic Information
Again, the focus would be on allowing players to mix and match the eras that they want to play through, allowing them to tailor their Civ experience.
Warfare
Warfare in Civ is still a fairly one-dimensional conquest affair. It is slightly improved by being able to bully City-States with your military units. I propose deepening the warfare experience by making it easier to get away with acts of war. Rather than declare war the first time one of their units is captured or killed there is instead an ongoing state of pseudo-war during the eras that make up the age of Antiquity. Units do not respect cultural borders until the Industrial Era. Civilizations and City-States will only declare war when their capital or other major settlements (Town-sized or larger) are attacked or after other forms of aggression are repeated a sufficient number of times. The threshold for declaring war should vary from Civilization to Civilization. This makes everyone a little bit more like barbarians. Poaching civilian units, killing random military units, pillaging improvements all become “legal” game tactics, and as long as the activities aren’t repeated more than 5 to 10 times war is not declared. This should allow militaristic Civilizations to work their military to support their economy beyond the simple conquer and/or burn everything in sight.
I also propose altering the results of “conquering” a city. Under the current system when one conquers a city you have two choices, Annex the city or turn it into a puppet state (pseudo-annexation), or if it wasn’t a capital, you can Raze it. I propose expanding the available options beyond this to six. The three new options I’m proposing are Loot Settlement, Enslave Population, and Ransom Settlement. Rather than simply getting some payoff when you conquer a city you must choose to focus on specific results. To get , one must Loot Settlement. I also propose changes, summarized fully below, to the three existing conquest choices.
Settlement Conquest
Annex Settlement: You do not receive a reward of when you do this. Instead you must pay an amount of , , or and sacrifice a military unit that is at full health. Colonies (see Colonization section below) on the same landmass are much cheaper to annex than other kinds of settlements. Settlements belonging to other Civilizations that are on a different landmass than your capital are much more expensive to annex. The amount of generated is proportional to the expense. The type of Settlement (see Colonization section below) will also impact the cost and amount of generated.
Change Government: Rather than simply create a puppet government you can change the relationship with the conquered Settlement to Ally. Again, you must spend a small amount of , , or to accomplish this goal. You can also make a puppet state, what I prefer to call a Permanent Alliance, if you spend a great deal more , , or . Certain types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) are not affected by this ability.
Ransom Settlement: If you conquer a Settlement belonging to another Civilization then you can sell it back to them for , units, Artifacts, and/or Great Works. Certain types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) are not affected by this ability.
Enslave Population: Rather than assume control of the Settlement in some way you can enslave its population and take one or more civilian units as spoils of war. Up to half of the Settlement’s population may be enslaved in this way. Every 5 can be converted into a Worker, every 10 can be converted into a Colonist, or every 15 can be converted into a Great Person. Civilian units captured this way only cost 25% of the normal maintenance cost. Enslaved civilian units will cause .
Loot Settlement: Rather than do any of the aforementioned options above, you can choose to loot the Settlement, receiving 100 x the population of the Settlement in .
Raze Settlement: Finally, you can choose to raze the settlement to the ground. Settlements that are razed will eventually become Antiquity Sites. During the Ancient and Classical Eras any settlement, even Capitals, can be Razed. During the Medieval and Renaissance Eras, Cities (of any kind) cannot be Razed but Town and Outpost types of Settlements (see Colonization section below) can be Razed. During the Industrial and Modern Eras only Outpost type Settlements can be Razed, and beginning in the Post-Modern Era, Settlements can no longer be Razed at all.
This suggests some interesting new Resolutions for the World Congress, such as bans on Looting, Slavery, Annexing, and Ransoming.