eric_
Emperor
OK, this may have been done or the idea presented, but I think it would be interesting to have a scenario that starts in, say, 2050 where a lot of rivers have gone dry, a great deal of desert where huge cities exist, armies mobilized around certain resources and tiles (oases, oil, uranium, etc), rivers in the largest, most "polluted" cities have -1 health, etc. Unhappiness and unhealthiness are rampant, lots of random weather events, particularly hurricanes, droughts, and floods. Maybe you even start with some partisans around the largest cities that follow the rules of barbarians. Basically, just utter chaos.
Maybe there could be a new tech "sustainability." It would allow new buildings and improvements like solar plants and wind farms and enable you to upgrade current buildings and infrastructure to recycle rain water, install solar panels, etc. That could be done on a building-by-building basis or as one long-term project to be carried out in your most polluting cities (maybe introduce a new "pollution" modifier for each city based on improvements). There could also be a wonder, like the Manhattan Project or Apollo Program that might be called "Alternative Energy Initiative" or something that, when completed, significantly boosts happiness and reduces unhealthiness and pollution. It would be made available by "Sustainability" and completing it would lead to a solar plant in your top 5 most unhealthy cities (or maybe in all of them?).
Anyway, the goal would be to research Sustainability, upgrade cities to be "green," and slowly pull earth back from the brink of being unable to sustain human existence. You have to use your troops to prevent partisans from taking over oases in deserts where rivers used to be. Maybe they could even form barbarian cities within your border if you don't deal with them. You also have to deal with rival civs trying to get at your water and food resources (maybe there could be 'withered' looking corn and wheat tiles, livestock tiles that are 3/4 skeletons, etc), not to mention strategic resources. The idea is that as you implement more sustainable infrastructure, tiles start to become usable again (not sure if this would be possible), rivers start to flow again, random weather events happen increasingly less frequently, etc.
Thoughts?
Maybe there could be a new tech "sustainability." It would allow new buildings and improvements like solar plants and wind farms and enable you to upgrade current buildings and infrastructure to recycle rain water, install solar panels, etc. That could be done on a building-by-building basis or as one long-term project to be carried out in your most polluting cities (maybe introduce a new "pollution" modifier for each city based on improvements). There could also be a wonder, like the Manhattan Project or Apollo Program that might be called "Alternative Energy Initiative" or something that, when completed, significantly boosts happiness and reduces unhealthiness and pollution. It would be made available by "Sustainability" and completing it would lead to a solar plant in your top 5 most unhealthy cities (or maybe in all of them?).
Anyway, the goal would be to research Sustainability, upgrade cities to be "green," and slowly pull earth back from the brink of being unable to sustain human existence. You have to use your troops to prevent partisans from taking over oases in deserts where rivers used to be. Maybe they could even form barbarian cities within your border if you don't deal with them. You also have to deal with rival civs trying to get at your water and food resources (maybe there could be 'withered' looking corn and wheat tiles, livestock tiles that are 3/4 skeletons, etc), not to mention strategic resources. The idea is that as you implement more sustainable infrastructure, tiles start to become usable again (not sure if this would be possible), rivers start to flow again, random weather events happen increasingly less frequently, etc.
Thoughts?
