Fossil
Bones
I couldn't find a thread, so I'm starting one here. My message to Firaxis (since this is rather long, and I probably won't be able to show up Friday):
The game I want
I've been playing a lot of Civ 3 the past few months. I've realized that it's not exactly the game I want. Here are my top ten issues:
1. Winning, especially at a higher level, requires that you behave like Hitler. Show no mercy. Kill millions. For no particular reason.
2. See number one.
3. The Civ economic model is weak, even compared to Sids much earlier work, Railroad Tycoon. There, for example, manufacture of steel required iron and coal as raw materials, plus a steel processing plant. RRT had a stock market woven nicely into game play. Civ lacks capital markets. Even in earlier eras, trade required investment.
4. The rise and spread of religion is distinctly different than the rise and spread of a particular civilization. The intersection of the two is a point of conflict. Religion imprints a civilization with its values (and defining those could be a nightmare for a commercially motivated game designer). Civilizations that have multiple religions may have unique conflicts. Officially adopting a religion is a big deal for a civilization. Even today, in certain parts of the world it defines a nations allies.
5. Civil wars have an enormous impact on the development and course of a civilization.
6. Centralized government control of a nation-state is a given in Civ 3. The world just doesnt work that way. Consolidating central control of the tribes or warlords or provinces of a civilization marks the beginning of an era. Incorporating different civs marks the beginning of other era that of an empire. The fall of an empire may, but may not, mark the end of a civilization. The failure of central control may result in competing Afghanistan-style warlords.
7. I believe that it is quite possible for humans to render the planet uninhabitable probably in dozens of different ways. Offhand, I would call this losing. In earlier times, poor agricultural practices turned fertile farmlands into wastelands. Famines are a fact of civilization.
8. Wars between civilizations have been motivated by religion, or other cultural enmities, trade disputes, geographic disputes, personal antagonisms, moral principles, or simply because one party feels that they can win a war. The populations reaction can vary from religious-fervor support all the way to burn-it-down protest. The population reaction can matter a lot or not at all.
9. Great Leaders are not always military, and they do not always build Wonders of the World. The effects of most of the great wonders are huge and rather silly, when you think about them. I like the smaller wonders that are incremental (i.e., the Pentagon) better. More of these would be nice, especially ones that have a positive economic impact. Also, some that are culturally linked would be good.
10. For post-industrial economies, a primary resource is an educated population. Japan, for all its problems, is the second largest economy in the world today. They are geographically small and isolated, and have little in the way of resources.
I realize that some of these items do not immediately suggest specific game features. The intention is to consider the development of civilizations, and what a computerized game/simulation might provide.
Thanks for taking the time to read (and possibly comment) on this.
The game I want
I've been playing a lot of Civ 3 the past few months. I've realized that it's not exactly the game I want. Here are my top ten issues:
1. Winning, especially at a higher level, requires that you behave like Hitler. Show no mercy. Kill millions. For no particular reason.
2. See number one.
3. The Civ economic model is weak, even compared to Sids much earlier work, Railroad Tycoon. There, for example, manufacture of steel required iron and coal as raw materials, plus a steel processing plant. RRT had a stock market woven nicely into game play. Civ lacks capital markets. Even in earlier eras, trade required investment.
4. The rise and spread of religion is distinctly different than the rise and spread of a particular civilization. The intersection of the two is a point of conflict. Religion imprints a civilization with its values (and defining those could be a nightmare for a commercially motivated game designer). Civilizations that have multiple religions may have unique conflicts. Officially adopting a religion is a big deal for a civilization. Even today, in certain parts of the world it defines a nations allies.
5. Civil wars have an enormous impact on the development and course of a civilization.
6. Centralized government control of a nation-state is a given in Civ 3. The world just doesnt work that way. Consolidating central control of the tribes or warlords or provinces of a civilization marks the beginning of an era. Incorporating different civs marks the beginning of other era that of an empire. The fall of an empire may, but may not, mark the end of a civilization. The failure of central control may result in competing Afghanistan-style warlords.
7. I believe that it is quite possible for humans to render the planet uninhabitable probably in dozens of different ways. Offhand, I would call this losing. In earlier times, poor agricultural practices turned fertile farmlands into wastelands. Famines are a fact of civilization.
8. Wars between civilizations have been motivated by religion, or other cultural enmities, trade disputes, geographic disputes, personal antagonisms, moral principles, or simply because one party feels that they can win a war. The populations reaction can vary from religious-fervor support all the way to burn-it-down protest. The population reaction can matter a lot or not at all.
9. Great Leaders are not always military, and they do not always build Wonders of the World. The effects of most of the great wonders are huge and rather silly, when you think about them. I like the smaller wonders that are incremental (i.e., the Pentagon) better. More of these would be nice, especially ones that have a positive economic impact. Also, some that are culturally linked would be good.
10. For post-industrial economies, a primary resource is an educated population. Japan, for all its problems, is the second largest economy in the world today. They are geographically small and isolated, and have little in the way of resources.
I realize that some of these items do not immediately suggest specific game features. The intention is to consider the development of civilizations, and what a computerized game/simulation might provide.
Thanks for taking the time to read (and possibly comment) on this.
