Just some ideas:
For alternative power sources: Wave-energy generators (they have them in Denmark I think), sort of like floating power plants that generate electricity from waves.
New concept: Crime (?)
Various things such as instability in the kingdom, certain buildings, civics, resources (such as drugs like hemp (marihuana) and opium (see below)), war weariness, unhappiness, health problems, etc. should cause crime and give each city a crime rating. Crime can be fought by having units present in the city, building a courthouse, jail and police station, producing a city watch system (see new buildings). Crime increases city maintenance depending on the crime rating, but also damages production somewhat, and could reduce effectiveness of science and espionage output (?). Furthermore, high crime causes further unhappiness and makes cities able to revolt.
Certain new events could increase or decrease crime ratings somewhat, and criminal gangs or syndicates (like mafia) could arise and make crime organized. Organized crime should prove to be a real threat to stability for that region/city, really damage commerce, physically damage a unit stationed inside the city, and possibility of uprisings outside the city (units generated outside the city to attack).
New concept: Tourism (starts really early in the game, but kicks off after Flight)
Tourism is something that happens automatically, and every city has a tourism rating, showing how attractive that city is for tourists. High tourism generates gold and reduces maintenance. Tourism is based on the rating of the city (based on wonders, culture, stability, trade routes, happiness, health, crime, city size, demographics, civilization ratings, etc. Certain civics can make high ratings of tourism cause unhappiness (such as fascism and nationalism). These and police state also decrease tourism. It is possible to shut off tourism from the city entirely if the player so wishes. (should have own button in city screen).
These buildings etc. increase tourism ratings drastically:
- Wonders.
- Airport
- Harbour
- Commercial Port.
- Collective Transportation.
- Hotel
- Holy city.
- Museums
- National Park
- Safari
- Park (new)
- Travel Agencies (new)
- Tourist information centre. (new)
New game features (I know they aren't 100% realistic, but if I could choose... These two are eye candy for players and are sorely missed by me...)
- Palace Improvements are taken back.
- New option to see city overview, not only based on the map graphics. The city
overview reflects population, city improvements, palace and improvements (if any),
wonders, but also (important!) -the city's immediate and surrounding terrain
features...
- Supply trains -cities connected by trade routes can distribute food in between each
other. And up to 10% of the city's production can be sent to increase production in
other cities. The rates of such supply trains can be regulated in the city that sends,
but also in the receiving city. There is always some squandering of resources when
shipped like this, so a small penalty (maybe only 1 or 5% of the total amount) is
subtracted from the effective amount. The amount of such squandering depends on
stability and crime. A receiving city has a limit of the amount of resources it can
receive on any given turn (depending on the city's size) -maybe the city's size x5?
- Terrain improvements on terrain inside cultural borders but outside city limits: based
on the supply trains idea above, I thought it only rational that outlying farms and
villages/town still support their nearest city. So an outlying farm could produce
between 1 and 3 food for the city, while cottages/towns/etc. could produce 1 or
more in commerce for their parent city. Outlying workshops and lumbermills, etc
should produce a hammer or two for the city, and mills could produce any one or two
yields (production, commerce, or food). Plantations/forts give the normal resource as
usual. By means of this, gaining land through cultural achiements or war gains a new
focus, and is open for negotiations through diplomacy (see below).
New diplomacy options:
- Can negotiate to gain land squares from the other civ. Thus it is possible to switch
land area, which may benefit cities in respects to outlying farms etc (this is based
on the unrealistic feature presented above).
- To freeze national borders. For a set number of turns, or until further notice, the
national borders between two neighbouring civs can be agreed upon. I personally got
tired of the "liquid" borders in the game. Military conquest of land is still possible. And
if culture is high in a neighbouring city it can still flip. The rating of culture in a tile
will determine the relative value of the tile in negotiations. If it is 75% yours and 25% theirs, it will be "cheap" to trade for in diplomacy.
- Ability to request units ("please give me a worker for x gold", or just "Give me a
worker" - demand tribute)
- Ability to request aid against a unit that threatens the civ's land-only possible if you
are both up against the same civ or it is a barbarian unit.
- Stop bothering about "I want you to cancel your deals with Civ X" if the trade
relation is only open borders.
- Help to build a terrain improvement at a chosen location (?) or gain a resource.
New quests:
* Treasure hunting:
Gain treasure maps from various sources that can hint of a location of a treasure. If found, the treasure will give you gold, or maybe even help research rates. Workers or scouts are units capable of digging for treasure. The locaton of a treasure is never given specifically, but a number of squares can sometimes be highlighted to present possible locations for the treasure. Careful clues should be given on the quest so it is possible to guess the location of the treasure. You can only gain clues about treasures in land areas you have already discovered.
* Aid a civ:
Give x units of x to Civ x for x gold or other advantages such as relation boosts, gift of one free unit, land area, etc.
* Destroy the barbarian town/tribe of --- (name of barbarian city).
* Gain independence from Civ x -declare war on your master civ within x turns and fight until you can declare peace. If you lose more than x cities to outside enemies, or you can't declare peace as an independent nation within x turns, you fail the quest. If you win, reap big benefits...
New unit:
- Cruise ship -can spread influence like an entertainer. Attacking a cruise ship should
cause unhappiness with other civs. And it can generate a small amount of gold. It
should have a small button on the display which is called "honk the horn" -on which
the horn gives off a long, deep honk. Purely for entertainment purposes.
- Diplomat -can produce espionage. But can also establish an embassy with any given
civ. I miss this feature from civ 2... Without an ambassy, information and contact
with a civ is limited, and trade agreements are impossible.
New corporations:
- IKEA or Furniture Inc. (bonuses from varius tree sorts, such as Oak, pine, etc., but
also glassware)
- Burger World (seen in History in the Making), uses cow, pig, fish, sheep (I think),
and could use chicken if that resource is implemented.
- General Motors/Vehicle corporation, can build special units, gives special bonus to
vehicle units (tanks, airplanes, etc.) in the form of a promotion or XP (?), and gives
a commerce bonus to cities from these resources (+5%): Oil, natural gas, aluminium
- Hi-Tech corporation dealing with computers and hi-tech hardware. Gives bonus to
commerce from these resources: gold, copper, aluminium, gems
- Coal Inc. Gives a huge commerce bonus from each coal resource and for each city it
is inside which uses a coal plant /ironworks.
- Shipping -a coastal company that specializes in trade, gives bonus from trade routes.
- Luxury cruises -company that specializes in giving off great voyages at sea -cities
with departments can contruct cruise ship units. Gives income based on tourism.
New resources and new ideas for resources:
- Oak trees (builds more sturdy war machines/builds faster -reserved to northern
hemisphere)
- a few other tree resources that give bonuses to certain units/buildings and to the
IKEA/Furniture Corporation
- Walrus (provides ivory, but cannot build elephant riders) -this was a common
resource for ivory in Norway for example.
- Seals (i like that idea)
- Squids -another sea resource.
- Natural Gas -can build gas plants for electricity, vehicles that run on gas, Gasprom
wonder, ceratin buildings get extra bonuses from gas, such as the new restaurant
suggestion, but also hospitals gain +1 health bonus (?) etc.
- Hemp -already existing (give contruction bonus to sail ships/wooden ships as well as
happiness).
- Opium plants (a rare resource, high value) -gives +1 happiness, +2 unhealthiness
(because of the opiumates and heroin drug abuse). If crime is incorporated, add
crime rating as well.
Bonuses for having high rates of happiness, health:
This should make collecting many various resources valuable, even if they are
strictly not needed.
- High happiness: Bonuses to income from that city/lower maintenance, and lower
crime.
- High health: Bonus to population growth, presented as extra food bonus.
New buildings:
- Restaurant: +5% commerce/+1 gold with cow/pig/sheep/fish/olives (etc.), and +1
culture. Maybe give only 1% increase per resource and let it include all food
resources. +1 food and +10% commerce with gas
- City watch (available with Code of Laws) -fight crime (see above). Obsolete when
building a police station.
- Travel Agencies: Commerce bonus +5% with airport/commercial harbour, +1
happiness. Increases tourism.
- Tourist information: increases tourism.
- Cafe: +1 happiness, +5% commerce/+1 gold from coffee, tea.
- Pub/tavern: +1 happiness. +1 happiness/+1 gold per: alcohol, wine.
- Park: +1 happiness.
New terrain features:
- Light forest (like in Colonization) -yields 1 less hammer and less production when cut
down.
- Wide river (ships or wooden ships can sail there, and city can build like a normal
coastal city).
New terrain improvements.
- Forts that spread canals -makes for canals being really long, at least up to 3
consecutive squares.
- Alternatively, build canals instead of forts, takes less time.
- Coastal bridge -a bridge functioning as road/highway/railroad, etc., that can span at
least one coastal tile and over to another side. Possibly 1 movement penalty for
ships to cross?
-Alternatively, underwater tunnel... -No movement penalty for ships.
And PLEASE add a possibility to demolish buildings for a cost, and gain a few hammers (maybe 5% of the building's construction cost)
Please remove the Tourism and Vassalage from the research tree. And please add info and text on the research topics.
Btw, love the ideas for the longer Stone age setting... It would mean starting at maybe 10,000 bc or something. Remember that areas with mammoths should have the ability to train mammoth slayers (many 100% strength against mammoth), and it could serve as a source for mammoth meat and cloth. They didn't care about mammoth riders or ivory at that time, not in a sence of national happiness for the ivory at least... Mammoth should be a resource that can spawn a mammoth unit (barbarian). And maybe the mammoth unit cannot be worked into a camp by workers, but would require a unit of mammoth slayers/hunters?
So, what do you guys think?