Suggestion for New Naval Unit: Ice Breaker

backler

Chieftain
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
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3
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Oregon
Since so much of many maps consists of northern and southern ice, would an Ice Breaker that would leave behind a "path" thru the ice be appropriate?

Could use variation of the code as used for roads. Be even cooler if it had semi-random freeze over built in, so they would have to be redone.

Just an idea.

B.H. Ackler
 
Ice breaker is a nice idea but it would require a truly round map, where the poles would be very strategic, to have a real role in the game. Then there could be two types of ice tiles, breakable and unbreakable (could be white and blue) with passages through the poles, hidden oil, etc...

Edit: I never play maps with low temperature (the simple idea makes me shiver a bit) but maybe there is ice enough to make them pretty useful even on a cylindric map.
 
Welcome to the forums, backler. :wavey:

Can you still break ice with nukes?

Also, could you give some details about specifics you would propose for this ice breaker unit?
 
Yes, there would have to be two (2) types of ice. But then again some of the icebergs could just be shifted to adjacent spaces to clear a path.

The same logic, both program & graphic, used with Roads could be applied to ice.

Ice Breaker could appear parallel with the arrival of the Ironclad and Destroyer, have slightly less movement when in artic waters, any spaces occupied by the Ice Breaker would stay ice free, so you could "anchor" it on a oil field. Maybe Ice Breaker should be an up-grade to those two units.

I don't believe that the shape of the map seriously impacts the need or use of this proposal. I find not being able to take the "northwest" or "southwest" passage for strategic positioning to be unfortunate. Waiting for atomic weapons to break ice does seem like using a hand gun to kill flies.

B. Ackler
 
Can you still break ice with nukes?

Please enlighten me, since I haven't played any civs except civ1 and civ5.

Are you joking or was it really possible to break ice with nukes in some previous civ game? It sounds like quite a good and funny idea. It should make the ice navigable for only like 10 turns thouhg, imo.

Actually now that I think about it - it would be nice to have some "terraforming" abilities in the game in general, like the ability to level a mountain or even to change land tile to a ocean one - to be able to create isthmuses/canals. The leveling of mountain e.g. should take _very_ long to complete (or should cost a lot of gold), but if it was possible it could be quite a bit of fun not only for the "builders" imo.
 
IIRC, ice was broken with nukes in Civ4 at least. The only other way of getting around ice was with submarines, which could go under it.

On that note, would it be better for an icebreaker unit to merely be a unit that can go on ice tiles, rather than a unit that breaks up ice tiles?
 
On that note, would it be better for an icebreaker unit to merely be a unit that can go on ice tiles, rather than a unit that breaks up ice tiles?

Probably. The North Pole still has plenty of ice (last I checked), after all.

IMO it would be better as a Promotion (I'm still using Civ4 concepts, sorry) or something along that line.
 
Promotions are still in Civ5. So that would be quite a good way to implement this idea (although presumably it would have to be limited to later game naval units).
 
@Renergy
Civ2 had terraforming as did Alpha Centauri. It also had an upgrade of the worker to the engineer which could change terrain faster. It added an interesting angle to the game, although the repeated grow a forest, harvest a forest for hammers was somewhat overpowered. The polar ice (top & bottom edge of screen) would allow 1 square per turn movement (except for scout-equivalent) so it allowed early exploration of any other continents that touched the icecap.
 
I've thought the same thing. I built a city the other day on the southern tip of continent. It was a good spot, advised and everything. Later on after getting biology there is oil. On the other side of ice. I cannot get to it. Yes an icebreaker/ terraformer/ anything to get rid of the damned ice floe.
 
I would like it as a promotion as well.

Also that promotion should be given to worker boats automatically, late in the game.
 
Random thoughts here.

I'd rather have it was civilian unit that gave a little science when working in the arctic.

You would station it in an icecap and it could transport other naval units through the ice.
 
I've also been thinking about the need for this mod - I've had a little experience with modding (not much, granted. But perhaps enough that I could find my way around), and I've decided I'm going to attempt and make an Icebreaker mod.

Here's what I'm thinking:

The mod would add a promotion to ships called "Icebreaker". This would allow a ship to move through an ice tile. It would not destroy or move the ice tile in any way (because having to deal with terra-forming maps is more than I'm willing to look into - plus, being someone who tends to prefer vanilla play, that feels like it's changing the game too much). Instead, moving through the ice would function similar to crossing a river for land units - the naval unit would have to end it's turn in the ice tile. This would allow for the ship to move through as much ice as it wanted (but would take some time).

Perhaps some ships would start out with this promotion. Also, a conceivable progression might be "Icebreaker II" and such allowing movement through more ice in a turn (for example, moving through one tile might only take out 2 or 3 movement as opposed to 5 or 6).

What do you guys think? I'm going to attempt this. Any ideas/comments are of course welcome.
 
IIRC, ice was broken with nukes in Civ4 at least. The only other way of getting around ice was with submarines, which could go under it.

On that note, would it be better for an icebreaker unit to merely be a unit that can go on ice tiles, rather than a unit that breaks up ice tiles?

Um, the point of an icebreaker is to break up the ice (go fig) in order to allow other ships to get through.

But yea. Too many random map orientations (even huge maps) where land touches up with the polar ice, such that a sea route in that direction is impossible. Ice is destructible. Just need special ways to break it (even if temporary).
 
+1 for the icebreaker idea

Since the Great Admiral can't go across land, they're useless if they spawn in an icelocked city.

And you can't say "don't settle a coastal city in an icelocked area". With the fog of war, you can't always tell that you're icelocked.
 
I would love a icebreaker, i've had too many maps where land masses block off completely the voyage through the central sure, there was spots where canals would be handy but not allowed to build them. And i've had nations who used ice blockage to harass me, and I would like it to be able to smash the ice to bring my navy to bear on their offending cities.

Most common guilt of this is pangaea map, sometimes they have really alot of ice, and that pretty much shut off any sea routes and only way to get at nations is to travel the fleet the long way xD Short of sending submarines and sink only their worker boats and war ships.

If its worrisome, then could make the icebreaker break only the ices in its national borders, not neutral territory?
 
What if icebergs could float down to a certain latitude, at which time they would melt within 50-100 years? That would make for a very detailed Civ 6! Just a thought.;)
 
Thanks to all who have commented and hopefully somebody will either MOD or incorporate/rev.

I do like the idea of Ice Breaker as a promotion to Destroyer, makes for less unit clutter.

Regarding passage thru Ice, could we not use the same programming logic that we use for roads, once the ice breaker passes thru a hex, the "ice road" appears. How long it stays in place is a secondary question, maybe three (3) turns then it has to be renewed.

Anyway, thanks to all and would love to hear or see any additional suggestions.
 
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