Producing multiple things in cities

[WillJ]

In Civ4 I'd like to be able to build several (in fact, why not have no limit at all?) things at once in my cities.

This would be much more realistic. In the real world, each city is not assigned to construct one thing and devote all of its resources to it, and then be able to switch to a different project and carry over that production to it. That's just plain crazy! Rather, if you're building a stadium in City X and you have put 50 shields into it, if you want to switch to a rifleman (perhaps because of a new, imminent threat to that city), you can keep the stadium under construction (that is, have it sit there at 50 shields of the way through), and move on to the rifleman (the rifleman would start out with 0 shields; the production from the stadium would not carry over). Later, if you want (probably after you've finished the rifleman), you can move back to the stadium and put some more shields into it. In fact, you could even build both simultaneously (that is, dedicate shields to both projects on each turn), although of course in most situations that'd be pointless. Also, these "half-completed" things can be destroyed, taken, and sabotaged by enemy civs. The only thing seperating them from fully completed items is they don't cost maintainence, and of course they don't produce any of the effects (culture, etc.).

So, you guys like this idea? Hate it? Neutral? Confused?

 

[Ryth]

Like the idea, and your quote! Still - it should cost something: in a city if its a building it'd still take up land (rates) and it'd need some upkeep (weather), or a unit still needs feeding etc. Maybe half cost? Or just food?
Also, perhaps some things could be transferable - training someone to be a scout, then to be a military person has some things in common (also settlers/workers), so maybe those shields can 'cross over'.

 

[ShADoW^HawK]

This is a good idea, but maybe, what they could do is have it be that if you focus on too many projects at once, your civilians become more and more inefficient, and producing all of them together may take much longer than just producing some separately and some together. The way they have it now is good enough. These are one of the optional additions, and I would only LOVE it if they found a way to balance it all out, so that there were pros and cons.

 

[WillJ]

Like the idea, and your quote!

Thank you.

Still - it should cost something: in a city if its a building it'd still take up land (rates) and it'd need some upkeep (weather), or a unit still needs feeding etc. Maybe half cost? Or just food?

Good point. The thing is, though, that maintaining a building still under construction and whose construction has been stalled is much cheaper than maintaining a functional building. Thus, if the average improvement costs one gold maintainence like in Civ3, the maintainence for one of these half-completed projects would have to be like .2 or something. Thus, it'd be simpler if there were just no maintainence at all for these things. But you're right in principle.

Also, perhaps some things could be transferable - training someone to be a scout, then to be a military person has some things in common (also settlers/workers), so maybe those shields can 'cross over'.

Even better point. You're right, you should be able to cross over certain amounts of shields in certain cases.

This is a good idea, but maybe, what they could do is have it be that if you focus on too many projects at once, your civilians become more and more inefficient, and producing all of them together may take much longer than just producing some separately and some together.

Good idea, and perhaps the inefficiency could depend on your government (among other things). But that might be getting too complicated, especially when you consider that very rarely (if at all) would you actually want to build two or more things at the same time. My idea mostly applies to changing what goes on when you switch fully from one project to the next.

The way they have it now is good enough. These are one of the optional additions, and I would only LOVE it if they found a way to balance it all out, so that there were pros and cons.

Yep, I'm pretty satisfied with the way production is handled in Civ3. I just think this would be an improvement, at least if it were properly implemented (which, to get the fine details down, would probably require play-testing).

 

[hauchdeslebens]

Cities do produce different things at once so it would only be logical to include it. May be you can split the productions lines. The fact that you build a sewer system in the city does not effect your tank production. So may be you could a have a unit- and a city improvement production line.
Later in the game when you reach a certain level you might be able to have two production lines each.

 

[Turner]

I like this....but it needs to be balanced. ShADoW^HawK has a good starting point with the worker inefficency when too many projects are used. There has been many a time I wanted to pump out a worker when I was 200 shields into a wonder, and didn't because i didn't want to loose the shields.

I think also the city should be limited to contiguous projects by city size. Of course, you won't have a size 1 city working on seven projects at once. But to have that size one start working on a defender while also training a worker seems to make sense. And maybe a small penalty (loss to waste, perhaps) for doing more than one project, or more projects than the city can handle at a given population point. Think of people running around like decapitated chickens....

 

[t3h_m013]

maybe just split buildable things into catagoryies e.g. wonders city improvements military units non military units.

However its a bit pointless in that if you want a harbour and a market (for example) itd be much more effective to build the market and then start on the harbour as then you get the effects of the market for those extra turns

 

[WillJ]

However its a bit pointless in that if you want a harbour and a market (for example) itd be much more effective to build the market and then start on the harbour as then you get the effects of the market for those extra turns

Yep; like I said, this idea would mostly apply to switching production and keeping the shields for the old project and starting afresh with the new, not actually building two or more things at once.

I think also the city should be limited to contiguous projects by city size. Of course, you won't have a size 1 city working on seven projects at once. But to have that size one start working on a defender while also training a worker seems to make sense. And maybe a small penalty (loss to waste, perhaps) for doing more than one project, or more projects than the city can handle at a given population point. Think of people running around like decapitated chickens....

Yep.

Cities do produce different things at once so it would only be logical to include it. May be you can split the productions lines. The fact that you build a sewer system in the city does not effect your tank production. So may be you could a have a unit- and a city improvement production line.
Later in the game when you reach a certain level you might be able to have two production lines each.

Hmm, multiple production lines, I like it. It'd give people a reason to actually build multiple things simultaneously in their cities (just like in real life), unlike my idea, in which you'd still generally be building one thing at once (just in a slightly different way than in Civ3).

 

[vanchaser]

How about a simple solution to the improvement. Sid Meier's loves simple yet fun ideas.

Simply double the city output. Allow the "armed forces" to produce a plane/civilian/tank/whatever. At the same time, allow the "city engineers" to build a city improvement.

This would have the simple affect of speeding up early play, as your cities could spit out BOTH workers as well as work on a granery.

 

[loco-newf]

How about a slider? That way, you could split your production between two projects and decide how much of your production goes to which project. A good idea for your efficient, high production cities.

However, IMO, if I see another slider, I might just shoot myself. :suicide: