Railroad nonsense

[jpowers]

Civilizations look really horrid when there are railroads on every square. I propose that the wheat/shield bonuses for railroads be removed, and a charge of 1 GP upkeep per turn per railroaded square built by one of your workers within your borders. This will encourage railroads to be used for city-to-city transport, not wall-to-wall carpet. Also, a resource connected by railroad to the capital should count as double.

 

[Midnight Rider]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're funny. I have a better idea. How about having a bonus on all product ADJACENT to the railroad (Take a page out of Imperialism II fellas!)

 

[Allemand]

Amen. We should also come up with a reasonable movement cost to use the railroads. "No movement cost" is ridiculous.

 

[jpowers]

How would this not result in the wall-to-wall carpeting problem? If every square has a railroad, every square is adjacent to a railroad.

 

[jpowers]

Also, tile improvements existing outside any border should deteriorate randomly over time.

 

[Allemand]

He means the railroad could support squares adjacent to the one it's on. That would definitely cut down on ugliness, but then what would your workers be doing when they run out of work?

 

[Allemand]

Why not have ALL improvements deteriorate over time? That would keep you busy, making repairs.

 

[jpowers]

I think pollution does this admirably as it stands. I was thinking more of realism. If a worker has not worked in 5 turns, it may be plausible that he automatically joins the nearest city.

 

[Allemand]

Would the city be responsible for unemployment benefits, or would the central government provide that?

 

[jpowers]

In a republic, the city, in a communism or democracy, the central government. Maybe the rule should be every idle worker (not worked in 5 turns) should create an unhappy citizen.

 

[jpowers]

Just curious, why is your username the French word for Germany?

 

[Allemand]

But the idle worker would be happy!

Just kidding, and back on topic, the railroad rules ruin the game. They haven't changed since the original civ game, and it's high time someone came up with a fresh approach.

 

[Allemand]

Actually, it's the French word for German, and it's a long story.

A long time ago, I visited the Germanic tribes, at a time when they were weak. I helped them become strong again, and when my task was complete I moved on.

I then came upon a French-speaking tribe, and seeing that they were even weaker then the Germans I helped them, too, and then moved on again. Since I had come to them from the Germanic tribes they called me Allemand, not knowing my true origin. The name was kind of catchy (for those days) so I kept it.

Anyhow, that's the short version.

 

[Bill_in_PDX]

I think a maintenance fee in gold per turn and some kind of movement charge (but still excellent movement on rails) is a good idea.

Though 1 gold per turn would be way too much in my opinion.

Bill
...in PDX

 

[Des203]

Thank god none of you designed the actual game. Man what a bunch of dumb ideas!

 

[Bill_in_PDX]

Originally posted by Des203
Thank god none of you designed the actual game. Man what a bunch of dumb ideas!

It's just this kind of insightful and detailed commentary that keeps me coming back to civ fanatics.

Clearly no counter point or proposal is needed when you possess the all knowing wisdom of the Des203....



Bill
...in PDX

 

[Trabpukcip]

Personnaly I like railroad the way they are. Everything works correcly for me and BTW it is not so stupid that they use 0 movement. In the real world, it never takes a holes year to travel from one side of a continent to the other when using the train. So why civ would have to be different? And in the real world there is railroad pretty much everywhere, so what the problem with the beautyful fractal carpet?

 

[Allemand]

Don't try to equate turns to years, it doesn't work that way, despite what the game shows.

I wouldn't mind seeing a charge of one gold for any unit that moved in a turn. So if they stay put, only costs one gold, but if they move then two gold that turn. Attacks could cost more.....

As for the railroad, under the current rules a unit can leave their barracks on the west coast of the continent, attack an enemy unit on the east coast, move to another area of the continent and make another attack, then return to its barracks on the west coast, all in one move. The enemy has no chance to counterattack. Not very realistic.

 

[TheDS]

How about this: take away the production bonus for railroad. This means they don't go all over the place. (This works well for roads, btw; I just give the tiles their 1 gold.)

Then, Road movement equals 2 squares and rail movement equals 4 squares. OR, road 3 and rails 6. I also am considering making the movement rate in enemy territory half (or 1/3), so rail movement would be 2 in enemy territory. You also would not be allowed to use road/rail movement if an enemy unit was next to it, regardless of whose territory you're in.

Finally, we reintroduce the Superhighway improvement, which gives the +1 food/shield bonus to farms/mines.

Thoughts?

Another idea, not really related: when a battle occurs, the underlying terrain of the defending unit has a chance of being pillaged (destroyed) during the combat. This will make you less likely to allow the enemy to fight in your turf; ROPs become more valuable.

 

[Grey Fox]

If you take away the Production bonus from RailRoads you need to lower almost every cost in the Industrial and Modern ages. To rebalance the game again.