Natural Disasters

[binhthuy71]

The Seven wonders of the ancient world:
* The Great Pyramid of Giza
* The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
* The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
* The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
* The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
* The Colossus of Rhodes
* The Pharos of Alexandria

Only the Great Pyramid remains. The rest were destroyed by earthquakes and/or sacked and looted for their materials.

Historicity has never been Civ's long suit but random events have been both the bane and the glory of humanity. The Black Plague led to the final abolishment of the vestiges of the feudal system and the creation of the Middle Class.

As an amateur historian I would enjoy having random events incorporated in Civ but I can understand how those who feel that the game's the thing might feel otherwise. This is, after all, game titled Civilization - not History 101.

Disclaimer:
I sure wouldn't mind seeing a fleet of flying saucers armed with Kill o' Zap rays descend on Monty or Isabella sometimes - the same for giant ants (Them!) infesting Mansa Musa's empire.

 

[Stylesrj]

Oh darn! I forgot about the giant ants!

What's wrong with silly disasters? They could be in the game, but only that when you go the disasters option, they're naturally off, but you can switch them on. A simple on and off switch does not work.

I was thining of this: Under planet settings, you can then use "Disaster Options" and select which ones you want in and which ones you don't. Or you could press the no disasters button. Not this "Disasters on" and "Disasters off" crap.

In a Play NOW! game, the disasters would be the standard historical ones like Earthquakes, floods, plague all that crap and none of the silly ones. You want silly disasters, you set them yourself in a custom game

That's my idea of how disasters should go. That way there can be the silly ones and the real disasters.

 

[kristopherb]

We chould mod this in.

 

[Rusty Edge]

I could see floods, forest fires, volcanos and locusts. I could live with The Plague for that matter.

 

[weasel77066]

I kinda like the idea of a disease that spreads from city to ciity, (perhaps throuhg trade routes)
Kinda like in civ3 medieval scenario.

 

[Rancid Sushi]

What about a large meteorite hitting the Earth? It could wipe out all the civs, therefore ending the game with no winner.

 

[Rusty Edge]

What about a large meteorite hitting the Earth? It could wipe out all the civs, therefore ending the game with no winner.

Maybe that graphic should be attached to the retire button?

 

[Stylesrj]

Make it a one in a million chance, because a meteor wiping out the civilization in the 6050 years of cIV is unlikely, so reflect it in the game

 

[Breunor]

An interesting topic, especially because the original Civilization computer game was heavily influenced by the old wargame, Civilization (the most famous incarnation by Avalon Hill). This was a very successful multi-player wargame. It was later improved with a version called Advanced Civilization.

In the boardgame Civilization, calamities were not only in the game, they dominated it. It was pretty realistic from a big picture sense; in the ancient world, absolute conquest didn't happen that often, and calamities were often keys to the downfall of civilizations. (Sometime plagues devastated civilizations which were then subsequently conquered).

As the game progressed, the civilzations bought "tools' or 'civ Cards'. These tools blunted the impact of calamities, so as the civilization developed, it could mute their impact. The differences in Civ's were largely a function of which tools they purchased and geography. For instance, Egypt and Babylon would want to buy tools that reduced the impact of flooding.

You got most of your money from trade. The neat mechanic was that you got most of your calamities from trade also (most calamities are trade cards that you could 'trade' to another player.)

Some players never traded, so they got few calamites; but this strategy assures you will not win and not come in last. To win, you had to trade and take the chance of getting the calamity; the trade can make y ou rich enough to buy the tools.


Anyway, it does come down to control. There isn't any question that calamities had huge impacts on civilizations, the most important probably being plagues with famine in second. In the original Civilization Board Game, Civil War was a game breaker, which was muted somewhat in Advanced Civilization.

But should they be in the game?? That's a diifferent question. In favor of including them -- recovering and ealing with calamities can add a lot of strategy. Against __ it makes the game substantially more random.

My guess would be that putting them in would require an unbelievable amount of testing and control.


Best wishes,

Breunor