Merchant ships for blockades and privateers

[Mewtarthio]

One major problem of CivIII is its de-emphasizing the navy. In order to blockade someone, you must place a solid line of ships directly in front of their harbor. Warships aren't much use besides escorting your transports. I propose we solve this through merchant vessels.

When you wish to form an overseas trade route, you need only use a very simple menu command that automatically sends the ship out. There would be little micromanagment as the ship would travel automatically; in fact, you would be completely unable to take command of the ship. The merchant will attempt to follow the most direct route between the two cities as possible, though it will end its turn on a friendly naval warship if it's not too far out of the way. Once the ship has safely gone to its destination, the trade route is created. New merchants are periodically sent out between the two. If a ship is destroyed, a new one will be sent out shortly thereafter. If enough ships are destroyed, the route is severed. All the player does is position his warships to create a safe route. This would also allow for control of the seas to become paramount: if you control enough water, you can blast any merchants out of the water and effectively cut off your opponent's trade.

This would also give the Privateer unit some value. The Privateer as it is right now is not much use: if you want your opponent's navy dead, chances are you're already at war, or will declare war soon enough that a few turns of peace don't justify the time spent on Privateers. The Privateer under this system will allow you to sabotage your opponent's trade routes. Also, after a successful mission, bringing the Privateer back to a friendly port will give you a small amount of plunder. If, however, a Privateer is seen stacked with your units or in your city, it will be marked as yours, and the witness will see it in your color. The only way to lose the mark is to evade detection (by the witnessing Civ) for a full turn. Futhermore, if a Privateer attacks, it will be marked to the victim and any witnesses as hostile. If a Privateer carries both a nationality marking and a hostile marking, it can be regarded as an act of war (although, if the defendee is weak, it may prefer to just let it slide). The hostile mark can be lost in the same way as the nationality mark.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

You'll get NO argument from me Mewtarthio. I often think people don't like the sound of 'visible trade routes' because they can't help but think of CtP. The thing is, though, that it was a great concept-but poorly executed. First of all, you need a MUCH better pathfinding mechanism, and a way to adjust the path of a trade route (for a cost !)
Second, trade-routes should be invisible to all EXCEPT for the parties who formed the trade and any unit within X squares of the route itself. One of the benefits of privateers and Subs-perhaps, is an inreased range for spotting trade routes.
Third-and most importantly-trade routes should not be 'automatically' breakable. Instead, it should depend on the 'strength' of the unit attacking it and the 'strength' of the trade route itself. Breaking a trade route would also be much easier than trying to pillage it. The player should also have the power to adjust the 'speed' and 'strength' of a trade route, above the base allowed for current tech level. Basically, boosting speed increasing the value of the trade route, but at the cost of its defensive strength, and boosting its strength makes the route slower.
Anyway, thats my feelings on the subject.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.