Yep, my thoughts exactly guys! In a number of threads, I have suggested the following things to make the game a HELL of a lot more interesting:
1) Units have a range outside of 'friendly' territory (be it a city or a national border). The further a unit is from home, the more 'degraded' its performance becomes (morale, AS/DS and Firepower), and the more likely it is to start losing HP. Such units are prone to die, disband or be destroyed by hostile 'natives' (minor civs).
2) A non-exploratory units optimal range is HALF normal if entering 'virgin' territory (i.e., an area which is still blacked out), and ALL units have half normal range in ENEMY territory (i.e. inside an enemy border).
3) From the outset of the game, all resources can POTENTIALLY be discovered on ANY explored portion of the map. The chance of a resource being visible, however, would depend on factors such as how far away you are from being able to USE the resource in question, how much money you invest in 'prospecting', and the proximity of cities and/or the presence of terrain improvements on the resource in question. The chance of discovering a resource will also play a role in how LARGE the resource is.
4) You do NOT see the movement of ENEMY (i.e. non-allied) units UNLESS it would realistically be visible to you. The distance between their units and yours, the 'visibility' stat of your unit, the 'profile' stat of their unit, the terrain occupied by both units AND whether your units are in an outpost or fort (an unoccupied outpost has a chance of detecting enemy movement, or boosts the 'visibility' of any unit occupying it) will determine whether or not you can see enemy movement. Under this system sneak attacks and ambushes would be possible, as a unit (or units) could 'hide' in an appropriate terrain type.
5) At the outset of the game, you begin in the CENTRE of the MAP (from your perspective), as you discover more of the map, and as your map-making and exploration technology improves, your position on the map adjusts to become closer to its 'REAL-WORLD' position! By the Late Industrial age (at the latest), the map should appear as it REALLY is.
6) Degrees of Harsh terrain. For instance, tundra should come in 3 varieties, with each having a successively worse movement and range penalty. Same with jungles, mountains, deserts and even oceans. Improving technology would help to allow units to successively ignore each degree of penalty in turn, leaving only the harshest form of terrain with a movement penalty by the modern age! This will allow much more of the map to remain undiscovered, for a much greater period of time, and would make scouts and explorers even MORE important in opening up new territories!!
These changes would have the effect of making the game much less cut and dried. For instance, the early game would actually have to focus as much on scouts as it does on settlers-thus reducing rexing and Infinite City Sleaze. Having large territories would also no longer be a guarantee of having sufficient resources. Instead it would now rely on strong culture (national borders make resources more likely to be discovered), good infrastructure (mines, farms and roads) and investment in the search for resources. In addition, you would have to be much more alert regarding your borders, as small expeditionary forces could sneak across your borders without you knowing, or lay in hiding ready to attack the first unit that passes their way!
Also, at the beginning of the game, you would have NO CLUE about where you are in relation to the rest of the world! Are you near the equator? Close to the poles? Close to the ocean? Are any other continents nearby, or are you on an island?
See how much more INTERESTING the process becomes
!
Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.
