Volcanos

[Mgoering]

In Civ III, a new tile has come on : volacnos. I really think it's a great idea , but there is something I don't like about it : pollution. In Civ, when a tile is polluted, it doesn't produce anything at all and can't be used. And that's right about volcanos.

However, this "pollution" is more about "burned tile". The volcano's lava burns everything on its way; but after a while, the place that once was burned is fully fertile and farmers plant on them. Civ IV should think volcanos this way.

The irruption goes on at a certain tile. This one burns and destroys everything 1 tile arround, as long as it is lower than the volcano. Let's say that those tiles are burning for 2 turns, with smoke coming out of the tile (like a rebellion). Then, on the 3rd turn, the tile stopps burning, but is totaly black. This blackness goes on to turn n°5. Then, the tile can be used again, under the condition that a worker builds irrigations on it (no roads possible before). Then, the caracteristics on the new founded tile would be shown (plains, desert, etc..).

And if a volcano is located near sea tiles, those "burn" only 1 turn. And at the end of the 5 turns, there could possibilities that a new tile emerges from the sea, like Island nowadays.

 

[rhialto]

I'd say all a volcano should do when it erupts is raze any improvements on surrounding tiles. You want burning fields of lava in a 100 mile radius for what is effectively 100 years in the ancient era? Not realistic.

 

[Risbinroch]

Yeah, I like the idea that Vulcanoes can make new land... Perhaps it should also be possible that islands pop up sometimes, allthough very rarely and not in every game you play.

 

[riadsala]

Agree.

I think the map should be a lot more dynamic. It would be a way to add a lot mor e"behind the scenes" complexity which would enhance gameplay without adding to micromanaging problems or whatever.

I've not come across volcano's in Civ, as I don't have the expansion, but from what I remember from school, they generate very fertile terrain (although not when it's raining great balls of fire of course...).

 

[kryszcztov]

I really enjoyed how rich volcanoes from that Civ2 scenario about Atlantis were. This scenario was on one of the expansion CDs, "Fantastic Worlds" IIRC. They would produce food, shields and commerce and you could improve it more. One was directly available for Atlantis. The only sad thing is that it would erupt completely randomly, crushing your whole civilization.

I dislike how volcanoes were implemented in C3C. I'd rather do without them than leaving them as is.

For Civ4, my wish for a volcano tile is : a quite rich tile that you can improve into a uber-tile. It would explode from time to time (randomly), but wouldn't spread pollution (anyway pollution as it stands now will be gone), and it wouldn't destroy the stuff around it. So you could safely settle next to a volcano, improve the surrounding tiles, and wander with your units. Only the volcano tile would get damaged into a lava tile or something, that would go back to a bare volcano tile after some turns. Volcanoes could be settled, but then the city would be destroyed upon an eruption. Pompeii wasn't next to a volcano, but ON a volcano.

I strongly disagree with the idea of creating new tiles in the sea, for both realistic and gameplay reasons. New islands are created in a matter of million of years, so the time scale doesn't fit. And it could lead to exploits : linking two islands, etc...

 

[Funky2882]

your only half right. Volcanoes Take millions of years to develope, yes, but that is all underwater. All it takes is one eruption and bingo there is a new, but small island.

 

[warpstorm]

Krakatoa, baby! Wipe out all nearby cities (a few hundred miles) with a 150 foot high wall of water. And trigger a bout of poor crops world wide for a few turns. Add islands and remove a few. Oh yeah, burn the nearby tiles, too boot.

(By the way, Son of Krakatoa is getting ready to burst in a few years, IRL)

 

[AdamNott]

I agree with the idea. is very realistic. Also, the volcanoes can form mountains.

 

[Mgoering]

AdamNott is right as well. A flat tile that has seen a lot of irruption, can be transformed into mounts. And mounts in the same situation can form mountains.

To respond to rhialto, I couldn't find out how long it takes for lava to cool and be fertile, but it certainly doesn't take more than a couple of centuries, maybe one. the number of turns is to give an example on how it work out. If they put in place, they'll certainly ask to scientifics and get an aproximative time. However, in Civ3, you can let pollution stay for ever if you don't care about it. Which easely can be the case if the tiles aren't interesting for the city.

 

[rhialto]

But pollution in civ3 is an all or nothing affair, and each tile represents an area 100 miles across. Any volcano capable of devastating an area 300 miles across such that nothing could grow anywhere in that area is probably going to have a significant effect on global warming too, not to mention the Earth's crust.

For any normal eruption, it should be sufficient simply to raze any neighbouring tiles.

 

[Funky2882]

where does it say that a tile represents 100 sq. miles. i'm curious cause i don't remember that fact in the intructions.

 

[rhialto]

ok, circumference of the earth is 25000 miles, give or take. A huge map is 250 tiles across, which makes each tile 100 miles across. This does of course assume a world map, but that is the default assumption anyway.

 

[Funky2882]

oo i c and i thought that the world was only 22,400 miles or are you just rounding? But then size doesn't matter because what city covers 100 sq.miles (i'm just assuming no city is that big)

 

[rhialto]

ok, that would make the tiles about 88 miles across. Bu my main point still stands; volcanoes that cause the amount of devastation in civ3 really also ought to cause significant damage to the crust and raise horrendous levels of dust into the air too for global effect.

(In teh same year Krakatoa erupted back in the 16h century, London reported some unusually vivid sunsets).

 

[warpstorm]

And the year after Tambora erupted was known as the Year without a Summer.

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

The Minoan Civiilization was essentially wiped out by a volcano ~1650 BC.

"Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice." - Will Durant

 

[rbis4rbb]

I thought volcanoes were cool. Until they burnt one of my SODS. Thank goodness for autosaves.

 

[Jake5555555]

Hopefully there will be more stuff like volcanoes in civ 4. Also, I think that they should make bad random affects more likely to hurt a civ that is winning, not that this is realistic, but it stops one civ from running away with the game by the end of the middle ages.