Suspension Bridge?

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Delta Force

Chieftain
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Jun 15, 2006
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I've been playing for a while and there's one new "improvement" that I'd like to see added sometime: The SUSPENSION BRIDGE. It would function as a road that connects nearby islands or continents. Once connected, the two land masses would be considered one "continent" (for 3G Dam purposes and other "on this continent" wonders). Units would be able to travel across the suspension bridge like any other road, and naval units would be able to pass under. It would only be available after certain tech(s) have been researched--probably Steel. It would have to be a somewhat expensive improvement for Workers to build. The suspension bridge should also have a maximum possible length, crossing no more than one or two water tiles.

So, there's my idea. What do you think? Anyone want to take a shot at modding it in? (My talents stop short of modding.)
 
This sounds like a civ idea which has its own forum. Anyways, it sounds too complicated. Play pangea if you want more access for your land units. The only good thing I can think up about this bridge, It would be a fun target to bomb with my air force.
 
Cool idea. Workers have to build it from both sides. (Workers on boats might be a bit much.)
 
Cool idea... except that each 'tile' is equivelent to at least 1,800 kilometers, or something ridiculous... do you have a bridge that is 1,800 kilometers long? ;)

Basically, even the largest maps have only 100-200 tiles in width. Using 200 tiles to get the 'smallest' tiles possible, knowing that the earth is more than 12,000 kilometers in diameter, that implies that the earth is more than 36,000 kilometers in diameter, meaning that the size of a tile is SIGNIFICANTLY more than 36,000 / 200 = 1,800 kilometers

Bridges are already done across rivers. I would, however, like to see you able to build suspension bridges across two adjacent land tiles that are NOT connected (IE. A small bit of coast seperates the two. Its not very often that happens, but occasionally it does)
 
I have to disagree with this idea..On the grounds of gameplay.
 
Elaborate please?

Whats wrong with the gameplay? You could use galleys/galleons to do the same thing (albiet very slightly slower)

[Edit]Re-reading the OP makes some serious concerns...

Linking continents? That is some serious bonus! I would be happy if that 'feature' was removed, as it makes certain wonders insanely strong[/Edit]
 
Channel Tunnel springs to mind. Shattering if a Spy infiltrates and destroys the improvement!

This should be in the 'Ideas & Suggestions' section though.
 
digitCruncher said:
Elaborate please?

Whats wrong with the gameplay? You could use galleys/galleons to do the same thing (albiet very slightly slower)
Click to expand...

Allowing it to function as a road would have severe impacts on maps like Big&Small, and Archipelago. The ability to jump from island to island is IMMENSE, As is being able to use this advantage to attack your opponent.

Keep in mind you can move unlimited units on roads. On transports, it's a finite amount per transport
 
I like this idea because playing water maps is fun, but it gets annoying having to pass units through ships all the time, far too much clicking for my liking... a bridge across would make things much easier. Steel sounds like a good tech to bring it in at, late enough to me, as the one tile gaps you get on water maps are just a pain as your civ goes over 3/4 land masses, and your transporting things everywhere, just gets tedious.

Advantages, your army can be much more mobile, your workers just more bareable to manage (also means you can automate them and they can get to all your cities)... Disadvantages, enemy can walk along it aswell when they're attacking you (maybe allow your own bombers to take them down once you get to that stage of the tech tree, as ofc it would sometimes be useful to do so).

A later tech (perhaps allow it at the same time as Public Transport comes in, whichever tech gives that), Cannel Tunnel (or whatever you might call it)... as it says on the tin, tunnels underwater to connect land masses. Rather than workers building them, how about work boats? Each tile costs so many work boats to make the tunnel on that square, and make it dependant on how far the tile is from the coast... eg... first tile on the land can be a worker built station (an improvement, means you have to use a tile at each end to build it), then through the sea, first tile out is 4 work boats, second out is 10, then the third out might be the second out from the other (so a gap of 4 between the land) so its 10 again, then the final is 4... means 28 workboats, which is gonna be 28 turns minimum of city production towards this tunnel... costly.... maybe do something about all the overflow hammers the work boats will produce otherwise you'll get 20 turns production back in the end anyway, perhaps the tech also removes overflow from work boat construction.

Result, a useful tunnel to both make things easier and make your army more mobile, but costs a lot of city production time and they're obvious targets for navel attacks (submarines only I think, what else could hit it?)... tunnels must go between your own lands (ie you culturally own the tiles at each end of it, and can't pass through enemy tiles), or permenant alliances could share a tunnel between them.

I don't think calculating the real-life distances is sensible... to start with, largest civ map is for 11 players... I think there are more than 11 countries in the world, aka this planet is smaller... and anyway it can't all be based on realism, gameplay is important.
 
I'd rather see tunnels through thick mountain ranges previously impassable than the suspension bridge joining continents. How many bridges are there in the world joining continents over water? Probably not a lot. I can't think of any, but I'm sure they exist. However, tunnels through mountains were used extensively by those viet-cong and civilizations have tunneled through mountains since the beginning. Example, ancient civs tunneled aqueducts through mountains.
 
digitCruncher said:
Cool idea... except that each 'tile' is equivelent to at least 1,800 kilometers, or something ridiculous... do you have a bridge that is 1,800 kilometers long? ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it takes 50 years for a warrior to walk that distance by foot.

Seriously though, the game isn't realistic in other aspects regardin distances. For example, a fishing boat can't enter a single river on the entire map. One tile of ocean tells you that there's a possibility put a ship there and that you can't place land units there, but that doesn't mean that it's meant to representate 1,800 kilometers.

I think bridges are a great idea, especially because it would at a lot of new tactics to the game. You could have the ability to blow up your bridge to make the enemy progress slower. You could send in spies who could split countries in two etc.

Of course, this would have been a lot easier if the old river system was implented (where the river covered the tiles). Foot units would swim over the river, siege and armored units would need a bridge.
 
digitCruncher said:
Cool idea... except that each 'tile' is equivelent to at least 1,800 kilometers, or something ridiculous... do you have a bridge that is 1,800 kilometers long? ;)
Click to expand...

BtS has canals that are two tiles long, so roughly what, 6x the length of the Erie Canal? And you couldn't fit a battleship in there! Gameplay!

How about a suspension bridge can only be built across a single coast tile? Maybe two? Enable with Assembly Line or Physics?
 
digitCruncher said:
Using 200 tiles to get the 'smallest' tiles possible, knowing that the earth is more than 12,000 kilometers in diameter, that implies that the earth is more than 36,000 kilometers in diameter, meaning that the size of a tile is SIGNIFICANTLY more than 36,000 / 200 = 1,800 kilometers
Click to expand...
36000 / 200 is only 180 km. Still a lot for a bridge, though...
 
Oops.. yip.

Anyway, if you know my posts, you know that I am a long time advocate of Gameplay > Realism.

That said, when I first saw this post, I thought the OP thought "Suspension Bridges would make Civ more realistic", and my post basically said "No it won't, its rather unrealistic!"

Nonetheless, gameplay is more important. Ultimatley, this would be OK for a mod, but having it span 2 tiles is a bit much (1 tile is plenty for getting those 'annoying to reach' places). It won't be a HUGE thing in any mod, and in a main game it would be hard to balance (it would have to be hard to build, come late in the game, and have major problems 'attacking' while on the bridge (IE. There would be penalties for attacking a bridge, and attacking FROM a bridge), but having a way to move your stack to another continent... that would be worth it, I think!
 
Thing to think is, once you get to the middle stages of the game, those 2 tile gaps are a complete pain... all you have to do is use ships to pass things over, but its a real pain to do so, and being able to set up a bridge would make things much easier.

Perhaps give a function to ships, ferry, means they pass units along the area they're told to ferry between... you just tell a unit to go to where you want it to go, and if it needs to get over the water, it takes the ferry... usual capacity rules apply, if there's no space the unit just waits on the beech until there is :P
 
EweezE said:
I'd rather see tunnels through thick mountain ranges previously impassable than the suspension bridge joining continents. How many bridges are there in the world joining continents over water? Probably not a lot. I can't think of any, but I'm sure they exist. However, tunnels through mountains were used extensively by those viet-cong and civilizations have tunneled through mountains since the beginning. Example, ancient civs tunneled aqueducts through mountains.
Click to expand...

Think again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_by_length

And here it is:
Danyang–Kunshan Bridge of Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway
Build by China, to be completed in 2013.
Length: 164 km!
 
miked1991 said:
Thing to think is, once you get to the middle stages of the game, those 2 tile gaps are a complete pain... all you have to do is use ships to pass things over, but its a real pain to do so, and being able to set up a bridge would make things much easier.

Perhaps give a function to ships, ferry, means they pass units along the area they're told to ferry between... you just tell a unit to go to where you want it to go, and if it needs to get over the water, it takes the ferry... usual capacity rules apply, if there's no space the unit just waits on the beech until there is :P
Click to expand...

How about a "ferry" improvement. You build it on both shores and it would be an automated transport. To use it, the "go-to" pathfinder would see it as a bridge, your units would wait in line at the shore and automaticly move to the other side at a rate of 1-2 per turn.
 
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