The Official Civ4 Ideas Thread

[ljofa]

With apologies to the moderator but this is how I posted on www.gamesfaqs.com who suggested I put it here for someone at Firaxis who might actually get to read it:

I wrote to Firaxis asking this:

1. Unique Small Wonders

I like the idea of unique units and wonder why can’t each civ have a unique structure which brings a benefit to the civilisation. Some civs are outbalanced, notable the English, Americans, Russians as their unique units are pretty useless to most players and their civ-traits aren’t the best. The unique small wonders are like regular small wonders in that they can be destroyed if the city is captured and it is possible to rebuild them should they be destroyed. Each small wonder should be worth 3 culture points unless specified. I have thought of small wonders for many of the civs:

English – Houses of Parliament. Gives the 1 turn of anarchy in government switching that is granted to religious civs. Made available with Feudalism.
American – Mount Rushmore. Instantly bequeaths 1 great leader to the Americans but this is a one time benefit only. If Rushmore is destroyed, it can be rebuilt for the cultural value only. Made available with Construction.
German – Beer Hall/Oktoberfest. Makes 1 unhappy person content across the same continent. Made available with Banking
French – Eiffel Tower. Provides an extra 10 gold per turn. Made available with Steel
Russian – Winter Palace/Kremlin. Acts as another Forbidden Palace. Made available with Military Tradition
Aztec – Quetzecopel’s Altar. Gives 6 culture points per turn. Made available with Mysticism.
Iroquois – Pipe of Peace. Calculated cost of peace treaties is now halved. Made available with Monarchy.
Romans – The Leaning Tower. Provides extra 10 gold per turn. Made available with Construction
Egyptians – The Sphinx. Increases tax revenues of city by 50%. Made available with Masonry.
Chinese – Confucius’s Academy. Reduces corruption on same continent by 25%. Made available with Code of Laws
Japanese – Tea Ceremony. 4 unhappy citizens made content in city. Made available with Chivalry
Babylonians – Ishtar Gate. Increases defence of all walls on same continent by 10%. Made available with Masonry
Greeks – Socrates’ Forum. Provides 1 free advance upon completion. Made available with Philosophy.
Indians – Taj Mahal. Provides extra 10 gold per turn. Made available with Monarchy.
Mongols – Pyramid of Tamerlane. Increases attack factor of Keshik by 1. Made available with Chivalry
Celts – Druid Temple. Gives 6 culture points per turn. Made available with Mysticism.
Ottomans – Silk Route. Any traded luxury item (bought or sold) will generate +2 gold per term each. Made available with currency.
Scandinavians – Hall of Heroes. Acts in conjunction with the Heroic epic. If the Heroic Epic doesn’t exist, Hall of Heroes will provide the same benefit as the Heroic Epic. If/When it is built, the Hall of Heroes will reduce the chance of a great leader appearing to 1/8. Made available with Feudalism.
Zulu – Xhosa Migration. A worker used to build a colony isn’t lost. Made available with Iron Working.
Spanish – The Treasure Fleet. All ships that have transport capacity have that capacity increased by one. Made available by Navigation.
Arabs – Jihad. Increases the attack factor of the Ansar Warrior by 1. Made available with Chivalry.
Koreans – Silhak. Corruption reduced 25% throughout cities on same continent. Made available with Education.
Persians – Satrap Academy. Acts as second Forbidden Palace. Made available with Code of Laws.

Comments, suggestions, hatemail welcomed.

 

[kb2tvl]

Worker automated control improvement.

-Add additional controls to stress food or production and give city size for automated workers.

-Add half techs to give units plus 1 to offense or defense or both. This might be better techniques or this might come with certain techs like iron working gives the base unit but construction gives +1.

 

[ArbitraryGuy]

-A more indepth government system like in SMAC, where you get to define your politics, economy, and society with different options becoming available w/ different techs or events.

-Event scripting. (With that, lots more random events)

 

[Prismhead]

Well, I happen to think that Civ3 is pretty damn good and I really don’t want major changes……or too many major changes....but there are a number of small things I would like see…..

Luxuries and Resources: You can only use a resource in Civ if you city is connected by a road or harbor. Your whole Civ benefits if just one city is connect to a luxury item. This should be made consistent with how resources work.

Ability to trade military units is a good idea.

Stack bombers is a good idea

Naval Leader so you can stack ships is a good idea.

Canals are a good idea (limited length)

Need to do something about Frigates being able to sink Nuclear Subs. Or Knights being able to kill Armor units. MAYBE something like this….it might be possible for knights to DISABLE an armor unit (the tank gets damaged) and the crew gets out and becomes a rifle or infantry unit.

Being able to build a bridge over one or two ocean squares.

Marines can move one sea square (like they are really making an amphibious landing)

SEAL units…can move 2 or 3 sea squares…and ability to parachute drop…stealth landing ability.

Negotiations: This needs the most fixing. This is where the main focus of Civ4 should be. Need more “intelligence” and emotions in negotiations. I don’t think my advisor should be able to tell me if they are going to be insulted or whatever by my proposal. It should be a “surprise”. Then I have to deal with the consequences. If I do insult them, they may leave the table. They may declare war right there. I may have to make a much bigger offer to appease them. More detail options in negotiations (like the duration of a deal).

More detailed Spy missions.

That’s all for now….

 

[Ladis McDadis]

I'm on the path with expanded diplomacy, and in-depth goverment system.

Instead of running a Civ, you should be able to be your own Civ, and let the Civ develop by your choices and events in the game. You discover concepts, then build a "temple" or the "High Alter of Laddy", whatever you decide to call it.

Much more organic...

Civil war is a great idea. Nations should be able to develop after the start, the idea of expanding and contacting empires.

Little odds and ends ---

Number of kills per unit, per civ, like Civ2. Diplomacy screen shows all leaderheads

In-depth demographics, your culture, others you capture, economic breakdowns with Espionage or its equivolent ofr other civs to see what they are producing, what thier output is...

--- Laddy

 

[ArbitraryGuy]

-Design of own military units like in SMAC. (Of course, you'd have default units for ease)

-Minor powers & an EU2 style diplomacy options (vassals, royal marigies, advanced trade agreements, annexation, etc...)

 

[mitsho]

Ok, I haven't read through it all But:

I dislike the map system in Civ3. I would love to smash the tile-system (perhaps the round-system too) into the bin. But I don't think this is possible withouth killing the game therefore:
- (perhaps) unsymmetrical tiles.
but sure this:
- new procedure of creating a map:
(0. the unsymmetrical tiles are created)
1. the landmasses are specified.
2. a relief is laid over the map (each tile gets a 'personal' height (scale, from -4 (underwater) to 0 (sea level) to 12 (Himalaya))
2.5. the 3D engine makes the map don't look tile-ish (smooth the borders... )
3. create climata (can be not selected if wished: divides the map into these climata (each tile gets it): (polar), subpolar, intermediate (what's the english term?), subtropical, tropical)
4. fauna: every climata has own tile types, which are now distributed over the climata (eg: desert, oasis, savanna in subtropical)
5. ressources: are distributed over the map (some climata-specific)
6. values: each tile gets his foor/shield/commerce-numbers calculated by height, tile-type, climata, ressources, fresh-water acces, etc. AND is then randomly changed a bit (to keep the map unique!

There aren't many other things to complain about, perhaps a more realistic government stile (with feudalism for example giving the city control to the city-lords), more civs (Switzerland ), more diplomatic, more realistic fight system. 3D-graphic.

mfG mitsho

 

[cgannon64]

How about global warming creates receding water levels? I know water tiles can turn into land tiles in Civ3 but its a bug and not widespread. I say if global warming gets really out of hand they add a tile to some, most, or all shorelines.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

major and minor rivers

maybe you could bridge the minor ones upon learning construction and the major ones with a industrial tech like Suspension Bridges

 

[LordFrostbite]

Originally posted by ArbitraryGuy
-A more indepth government system like in SMAC, where you get to define your politics, economy, and society with different options becoming available w/ different techs or events.

-Event scripting. (With that, lots more random events)

For me and the others who dont know...whats SMAC and what was the government like. However by the sound of it...I do like the idea.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

finally found the thread i started a couple of months ago

lots of great ideas here

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62365

 

[casual_moose]

why not have multi figure units?

i like the other ideas posted too

 

[Portuguese]

Being a huge C3C fan I just hope there are some badly needed improvements (AI and so...), but let's see it.......

It comes in a DVD!

Not much better graphics. Just like Heroes of Migth & Magic 4!
(those moving things are so cool )

~40 CIVs. No need to get Leaders heads better (to save graphics)

Better and more logical AI (just meaning here that this should be a ex-libris of CIV4...), including in Negotiations.

More Great Leaders:
- Religious (special: allow insta-government change)
- Cultural (special: boost cultural production & increase chance of Cultural conversions)
All 4 ones should rush city improv and small wonders...

Very Powerfull editor (another ex-libris!)
Bigger map sizes available (it will run in Pentium 5/6...)

Other ways to fight corruption!

More techs, faster to research. (detail, detail...)

And last but not least: attention to detail!!! Specially in Civilopedia.

Oh and PLEAAAAAASE: a much lower random combat!
Make that randow numbers less random!!!

 

[Portuguese]

Originally posted by ljofa
With apologies to the moderator but this is how I posted on www.gamesfaqs.com who suggested I put it here for someone at Firaxis who might actually get to read it:

I wrote to Firaxis asking this:

1. Unique Small Wonders

I like the idea of unique units and wonder why can’t each civ have a unique structure which brings a benefit to the civilisation. Some civs are outbalanced, notable the English, Americans, Russians as their unique units are pretty useless to most players and their civ-traits aren’t the best. The unique small wonders are like regular small wonders in that they can be destroyed if the city is captured and it is possible to rebuild them should they be destroyed. Each small wonder should be worth 3 culture points unless specified. I have thought of small wonders for many of the civs:

English – Houses of Parliament. Gives the 1 turn of anarchy in government switching that is granted to religious civs. Made available with Feudalism.
American – Mount Rushmore. Instantly bequeaths 1 great leader to the Americans but this is a one time benefit only. If Rushmore is destroyed, it can be rebuilt for the cultural value only. Made available with Construction.
(...)

Comments, suggestions, hatemail welcomed.

It's Cool
Port (you forgot us!...)could have Henry Navigation School, just like in AoD scenario. It could give +1 movement to ships, or up-to-date boat every 10 turns...

 

[JazzToucan]

Keep the graphics simple. Clear, crisp, and easier on computer hardware. 3D polygons or whatever are not necessary.

More Civs.

Change some Leaderheads:

Bring back Napoleon and send Joan of Arc packing. The reality is that most of the influential people in terms of empiring building back in the day were men -- that's not a knock on women, that's just reality.

For America, you may not agree with his politics, but having FDR makes more sense to me than Lincoln -- the man almost had a small empire of his own with a 12+ year presidency (he also has a great image to caricature -- and leave the cigarette with holder there, we know smoking is bad, a computer game doesn't need to teach us).

More Scenarios: Conquests was great. Love to see a WWII in Europe with locked alliances between Germany/Italy/Vichy France(?) and US/England/Free France, etc.

Wonders: Don't overdo them. I think there are enough already. They're Wonders -- they are suppose to be rare. Moreover, a lot of things like the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Brandenburg Gate, etc. don't really have the "feel" of being Wonders. I think we've already hit saturation in terms of marginal Wonders.

 

[Craterus22]

----
1
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Civil Wars should make a comeback. This would counter the poor expansion minded (go to locations that make no sense -inevitably will return in a new version) AI. This could be a HUGE balancing force in the game.

If a civ is too big (either player or AI) and the civ is allowed to fall to a certain extreme level of unhappiness, there should be a penalty in excess of loss of production. Civil war would solve this. It could also shake up the middle game in a way that would make it more fun.

Civil wars should vary in size... not just a split down the middle - perhaps a combination of culture and war could redefine the new borders. The newly created civ would have to have an alternative known form of govt. This would be helpful for early game CW's because the off shoot would be weakened by Anarchy.

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2
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United Nations refinement...

This could be expanded to all eras in terms of a Wonder feature for existing Wonders.

Early age UN Wonders
* Have votes based on one vote for one civ.
- Respect culture boundaries - Yes/No
- Total Number of units allowed - number picked by wonder owning civ... voted yes or no... violaters can't trade with compliant civs.

Later age UN Wonders
Expand options to include among others (two part votes):
* Have votes based on population and number of civs
- Restrict individual units (Nukes, tanks, BB's, whatever): Wonder owner chooses unit... vote by pop yes/no. Wonder owner chooses number of units to restrict build... chooses 4 options for vote (example a=0 b=3 c=7 d=14)... vote based on one civ one vote. Violaters could get peace keeping troops placed in country.

- Restrict types of govt's... violaters could get peace keeping troops and reduction in commerce.

I am sure there are other options that could be added - these are just of the top of my head.


---
3
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One amphibious unit per era. This will prevent the sea wall defense that players can use on smaller continents/islands.



And a special request!

Please have all the developers PLAY one game each before release. Most of the most glaring errors were noticed by players in thier first game. This is also why many gave so much grief in the early days of release (and now with Conquests)- it was more about, "They missed THAT?!?"

 

[saintly_saint]

Change the russian leader, God I wanna smack her face,(don't you just hate that little smiling russian scum?)

 

[saintly_saint]

sorry i didnt mean for that to come out rascist, i just dislike that elephant.

 

[Turner]

I wouldn't mind seeing a pop-up for battles. Nothing fancy, but about maybe a third of the time I can't see one unit or another's HP bar. It would be nice to see that during the fight. Maybe something like Dungeon siege, where you can pan and scan the camera.

I like the naming areas idea. that would be cool. In civ2 I wished for national borders, and we got that via culture. But this could still be improved upon, say if a unit was occupying an unowned tile, and it could influence several tiles around it.

Of course, I may be regurgitating stuff already said. I haven't been keeping up with this thread.

 

[Philips beard]

Originally posted by Mobilize
The ability to trade units with other civs. Like giving aid or asking for aid against opposing forces with friendly people's mercenaries. This was in Civ2 and for some reason not in Civ3.

Also more civs.. way more.

Really agrees in this one, but the opnent country of the one you support should be angry at you, since its a great trigger for war that you support their oponents with arms...