Irrigation changing to Farmland from Civ2- bring it back!

[greekguy]

i think they should bring back farmland from civ 2. in civ 2 once you researched refrigiration (i think), you could make your irrigation farmland, by sort of re-irrigating it. i think this was a good idea that should be brought back. first of all it is more realistic since farmland is more commonly used in modern times instead of irrigation. also it can give an extra food, instead of gaining extra food from building railroads. i think it adds a little more realism to the game and can better justify the extra food you gain in the industrial ages. tell me what you think.

 

[Nooble]

I agree!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lief Ericson]

I fully agree. This would help to simulate the "Green Revolution" of the the 20th century, and the huge advances in agriculture.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

A better approach, IMHO, would be to have the ability to improve your farmlands about once per age-with the appropriate tech basis-so that they produce more food per square. This could help to simulate the many agricultural advances which have occured over the past 3000-5000 years. What it might also do, though, is to further uncouple success from empire size, as a sufficiently advanced nation, with a decent economy and appropriate land, could support a very large population on a smaller amount of land AND possibly even have enough excess to trade with less productive nations-thus giving potential economic leverage to smaller nations.
Of course, the flip side is that, the more food you make a tile produce, the more chance of said tile becoming 'polluted' and/or 'degraded'-the perils of intensive agriculture.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Heat Miser]

I like your idea A_L

 

[Dida]

upgradable tile improvement will solve this problem.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Ummm, thats what I meant Dida ! Every time you get certain techs, you can upgrade your tile improvements-a la CtP I and II!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Dida]

yeah, farm -> advanced farm -hydro farm
or mine -> advanced mine -> mega mine
or road -> highway -> MegLev

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Well, except for the names-I always thought they were kind of LAME, and that better ones could be thought of-perhaps ones which accurately describe the technological methods being used to produce the upgrade!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Heffalump]

For the most part I'm NOT in favor of anything that adds a lot of micromanagement. What's the fun in moving a lot of workers around and re-irrigating everything?

 

[rhialto]

Well, in a workerless tile improvement model, that won't be an issue now will it?

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Thats a VERY GOOD point, Rhialto . That said, even in an environment with workers, I think that something like upgrading tile improvements should really be done by a simple push of a couple of buttons. Such as clicking on a single farm, which brings up a pop-up box-saying how much the upgrade costs, per farm, how many farms you currently have and how much money is in your treasury. You then enter, in the box, how many farms you WANT to upgrade that turn. Next turn, whola, its DONE!!!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[sengfossil]

I support that idea. Modern time farmland should generate enough food that some parts of the surrounding land can be afforested, and forest should be necessary in modern age to avoid pollution and get contend people.

I think that opens a lot of opportunities that endgame maps (landscapes)don't look so booring.

 

[Kobra]

I agree. But it would be boring to move hundreds of workers to upgrade irriguations to farmland. So what about a simcity-way to create roads or farms ? Instead of using workers, we could use Infrastructure Points like in CTP I & II and put a 10-tiles road or a 5*6-tiles farms in one or two click ? Or perhaps you prefere moving workers ?

 

[Dida]

Moving workers is stupid. I definitely do not want to see them in civ4.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Well, that is one thing that you and I can agree on Dida. I think 'workers' could still exist within the games framework, but not in the manner that they currently exist in Civ3. Trust me that, between workers and pollution, my current Late-Industrial game is proving to be a MM headache of Herculaen proportions-in what is otherwise an incredibly enjoyable game. I just think there is a BETTER way!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[rhialto]

That's why I want to see workers abolished for all normal tile improvements. I do want to see lots of non-combatant/non-conventional units, but only for those units that can interact in a meaningful way (ie not just as targets) with other civs. I'd keep workers only as required units to initiate construction of special tile improvements such as forts, airbases, radar posts, rail depots, and possibly terraforming projects. The exciting stuff that your military can make use of basically.

 

[Dida]

I can live with a abstract 'pool' of workers. Or, instead of the pool, when we place down a tile improvement, it will automatically be worked on by one of your citizens, meaning the tile will not be generating gold/food/shield while it's under construction, and the citizen that used to work on that tile will be assigned to work on the construction.
Either way though, I definitedly do not want to handle workers they way they are handled currently in civ3. Moving them around is a major headache, even in group, they are an annoyance. And I do not want to see them on my map. I only want to see military or other significant units.

 

[Albow]

It seems arguments here are looking for a system similar to Call to Power - where you have public work points, you spend on building farms etc and this improves tiles. Although this system is way way better than moving a horde of workers (esp later in game) I would like to propose a new model!

The 'player not worry about it' model. How about, you set a slider in your city (or if you think that is too much MM, for your contry) which dictates how much of your industry (shields) goes toward improving the surrounding squares. This would mean tiles will slowly improve over time (with nice pretty graphics to represent this, ie farms, little roads, windmills etc). If however you want something specific, then the player pays gold (or pop points for certain govts) to build a major highway/railroad forts and terraforming. But basic mines farms etc are automatic. No need to worry about it!

This will also tie into having tech improvements allow for more advanced 'tile' improvement. Meaning as tech progresses, each tile gets more bonus stuff!

 

[Dida]

This is nice, but it will not allow the amount of control the player would have over what to build and what not to build. Although I ruled against micromanagement, I think most player do want management in the game, just not 'micromanagement'