Who else here hates deserts?

[Glinka]

So now we have another split between gameplay and accuracy. Joy.

Bah. This was never intended to reflect accurate reality! It's a game. The "leaders" in it are nothing like their qualities, and the buildings we add are just little arbitrary markers of accomplishment. Wonders never caused achievements, they were the result of achievements.

That said, I have to wonder why some time-expensive improvement wasn't offered in the latter stages of the game to make these tiles productive. Even pre-Sumerian civilization was capable of irrigating desert regions, but I can undestand leaving that off the early building agenda.

 

[Mementh]

Yeah and Las Vegas has food shipped to it from elsewhere in the country, just like in Civ4.

how do you do that? make one city a food production city and ship extras to other cities?

 

[Flak]

I dare you to name a single city that is founded in a desert. I can't think of one, either they are on a floodplain, like Baghdad or next to a body of water - like Salt Lake City.

Las Vegas, where I lived for a coulpe of years. In fact there are dozens of cities in the U.S. that were founded in the desert. Some thrived and still exist today. Modern technology make living in these regions quite comfortable. I don't see why we couldn't have some way to improve things simularly in Civ IV.

 

[vbraun]

In fact there are dozens of cities in the U.S. that were founded in the desert. Some thrived and still exist today. Modern technology make living in these regions quite comfortable.

Like Pheonix! One of the fastest growing cities in the US. Though there is a river here.

 

[Eigenvector]

Come on guys, read my posts! Like I said earlier, the point is that creating a city in the desert is tough and unless there is a significant reason for people to live there, they won't do it. If there isn't a ready source of nourishment then that makes it even more difficult.

Upon reflection, like a posted said, there should be a solar farm power plant improvement - something that deserts are used for today.

 

[Mementh]

Come on guys, read my posts! Like I said earlier, the point is that creating a city in the desert is tough and unless there is a significant reason for people to live there, they won't do it. If there isn't a ready source of nourishment then that makes it even more difficult.

Upon reflection, like a posted said, there should be a solar farm power plant improvement - something that deserts are used for today.

well in civ4 can resources be shared/traded ?

 

[Thalassicus]

Yeah and Las Vegas has food shipped to it from elsewhere in the country, just like in Civ4.

You know, they could bring back the Supply Crawlers from SMAC.

 

[777]

What was point to rip off colonizations? I never used much of them at Civ3 but now in cIV I've found many places where colonization would be more reasonable to build than city.

 

[logical_psycho]

Yes, colonies would be a good addition to this game.... but the AI of computer players should also be able to figure out that building cities in the desert makes no sense. Lately all I see them do is building cities there and for some reason they can defend them very well!

 

[Xen]

deserts are BS in the game, ATM. I'd prefer large expanses of deserts, like the Sahara, or the South Western US, rather then desert tiles placed almost randomlly all over the map.

 

[Gargantutron]

For realism, it makes perfect sense to not being able to build any improvements in the desert unless a special resource is present. But gameplaywise i find it boring... I think you should be able to build something! Like a 1 food irrigation like in civ 3.
same with mountains btw. Not even a road? In the industrial/modern area you should be able to railroad mountains. Tunnels anyone?!

 

[MrUnderhill]

Just give me back the Agricultural trait, and I can live with deserts.

 

[Mementh]

For realism, it makes perfect sense to not being able to build any improvements in the desert unless a special resource is present. But gameplaywise i find it boring... I think you should be able to build something! Like a 1 food irrigation like in civ 3.
same with mountains btw. Not even a road? In the industrial/modern area you should be able to railroad mountains. Tunnels anyone?!

i agree mountains should be minable)

 

[Ranos]

I modded my games so Deserts produce 1 hammer and can have cottages and workshops built on them. I changed mountains to allow 3 hammers but apparently impassable terrain can't be worked even if it has a base production value.

The big problem with civ is that nobody can be happy. Desert are a vast wasteland of sand that aren't stable enough to have stuff built on them so they shouldn't allow anything. That was the opinion of the devs apparently. If I can build a city that produces 2 food and 1 hammer on a desert, why can't I build anything else?

There are multiple different types of terrain that can be called desert. Some are nothing but shifting sand almost completely devoid of life while others are filled with dozens of plant and animal species. Until they decide to make every type of terrain imaginable, it will have to be either/or, but not both.

 

[calyth]

However, in late game, some of the more important resources are found there. And with modern tech, they should allow to irrigate and at least be able to sustain something. It's kinda a pain to see Oil in the middle of the desert and you just can't get any production in that city, and if you don't put the city there, someone else would.

 

[Mementh]

However, in late game, some of the more important resources are found there. And with modern tech, they should allow to irrigate and at least be able to sustain something. It's kinda a pain to see Oil in the middle of the desert and you just can't get any production in that city, and if you don't put the city there, someone else would.

yeah..

what iw ould like to see is a future tech mod that allows terrorforming..

level 1 = desert to next
level 2 greator
level three greator.

this might help reduce global warming?

 

[KingCruz]

They're called peaks

So im sure they mean monstrous 10,000 footers, do you see any mining or railroads passing through Everest?

Unless there is... Tell me

what iw ould like to see is a future tech mod that allows terrorforming

Um... terrorforming?

 

[wcil]

If nothing else, deserts on the edge of nondesert squares should allow workshops....

 

[Ranos]

They're called peaks

So im sure they mean monstrous 10,000 footers, do you see any mining or railroads passing through Everest?

Unless there is... Tell me


Um... terrorforming?

"Monsterous 10,000 footers?" You are joking right? 10,000 is nothing. Everest is, IIRC, over 29,000. If there are peaks that are supposed to be the really tall, you need an oxygen mask to climb them, mountains then that is fine, but there needs to be the regular old mountains that exist all over the world that people have houses. What they have now is like saying to get from Denver to San Fransisco requires you to go south into Mexico and then back up because I-70 doesn't exist.

Thats the problem I stated earlier. Desert (Saharah) vs. Desert Scrub (Arizona). Mountain (The Rockies) vs. Peaks (The Himalayas). Unuseable vs. useable. It's a problem that won't be solved until they use 30 different terrain types in the game.

 

[BriantheBold]

First of all Las Vegas's water supply comes from an underground aquifer and I often see an oasis or two dotted throughout desert in my temperate games similar to the groups of palm trees one sees when flying over Las Vegas. Let's also not forget that the Fertile Crescent and Ur, the birth of civilization, irrigation, and farming between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is considered hardcore desert.
BTW Mr. Underhill I did not appreciate your Zombie Brain Eating link.