Why no chickens?

[mica8911]

Mod out Cows for Chickens? I guess to keep balance, you have to lose a resource to get one back. So which resource do you want to consider replaceable by chickens? From then on we can say that bacon "Tastes like chicken" =)

Well not cows, if there was only one resource in the game, it would have to be cows. Then again if there were only 2 resources i think the second should be chickens so idk.

 

[zyphyr]

Obviously climate plays a factor, but it would kinda be cool if a city with a certain resource (cow, pig, corn, wheat, et al) could create a "missionary" type of unit that could be used to spread a resource to another tile for a mild bonus. Give it a certain likelyhood of "taking", based on latitude, terrain type, and era of gameplay.

The quick, easy, but in no way realistic method would be to make a few changes to the XML to allow farms to have a chance to spontaneously generate food resources the way a resourceless mine can. You could also set the various other food improvements (camps, pastures, etc) to be buildable w/o the resources and have a similar chance to generate relevant resources.

That would allow for spreading, but would be even less realistic than the current system.

Plus, of course, the balance issues of more food just appearing throughout the game - more food tiles get worked than empty mines, so far more chances to pop food would occur in a game.

 

[naterator]

it would kinda be cool if a city with a certain resource (cow, pig, corn, wheat, et al) could create a "missionary" type of unit that could be used to spread a resource to another tile for a mild bonus. Give it a certain likelyhood of "taking", based on latitude, terrain type, and era of gameplay.

I would say that's what the farm improvement is. I mean, they have to be farming SOMETHING there, right? The resource tiles probably represent areas that particular crops or animals are found in abundance.

 

[Molybdeus]

One easy way to mod extra resources into the game without unbalancing things is to change the resource bonuses (health and happiness) into classes. Rename the "banana" bonus class to "fruit" and then add olives, oranges, etc. to the game as part of the fruit class. Then you just need to restrict where they are placed, restricting the various resources to latitudes and terrain types to exactly replace where the resource is normally placed. The game is functionally the same, but it adds a bit of flavor.

I did this once as a mod. I made bison, cow and yak resources as part of the "beef" class of resources. Unfortunately I had to reinstall windows and lost the mod. I could make a new one if people really want it, though.

 

[Hsinchu]

One easy way to mod extra resources into the game without unbalancing things is to change the resource bonuses (health and happiness) into classes. Rename the "banana" bonus class to "fruit" and then add olives, oranges, etc. to the game as part of the fruit class. Then you just need to restrict where they are placed, restricting the various resources to latitudes and terrain types to exactly replace where the resource is normally placed. The game is functionally the same, but it adds a bit of flavor.

I did this once as a mod. I made bison, cow and yak resources as part of the "beef" class of resources. Unfortunately I had to reinstall windows and lost the mod. I could make a new one if people really want it, though.

Great idea. They can be strewn randomly throughout the world, but not provide any different/additional benefits when improved. It would make it confusing on new players, but in Civ 5, they could make "enumerated resources" a toggle.

 

[AfterShafter]

One easy way to mod extra resources into the game without unbalancing things is to change the resource bonuses (health and happiness) into classes. Rename the "banana" bonus class to "fruit" and then add olives, oranges, etc. to the game as part of the fruit class. Then you just need to restrict where they are placed, restricting the various resources to latitudes and terrain types to exactly replace where the resource is normally placed. The game is functionally the same, but it adds a bit of flavor.

I did this once as a mod. I made bison, cow and yak resources as part of the "beef" class of resources. Unfortunately I had to reinstall windows and lost the mod. I could make a new one if people really want it, though.

Psh, makes no sense. A banana does not provide the same bonus to a pizza that an olive does.

 

[Hsinchu]

Psh, makes no sense. A banana does not provide the same bonus to a pizza that an olive does.

You have got to try an Elvis Pizza.

Pan Fried dough covered in melted peanut butter topped with fried slices of sweetened banana.

 

[binhthuy71]

Psh, makes no sense. A banana does not provide the same bonus to a pizza that an olive does.

By extension, producing pizzas with anchovies would incur +1.

 

[Badtz Maru]

Great idea. They can be strewn randomly throughout the world, but not provide any different/additional benefits when improved. It would make it confusing on new players, but in Civ 5, they could make "enumerated resources" a toggle.

For balance, they'd have to have them provide less health or change how health is calculated - if you have twice or three times as many kinds of resources, all producing the same kind of benefit, through trading you could get really high health - "I'll trade my cows and pigs for your yaks and chickens and double my health."

 

[naterator]

For balance, they'd have to have them provide less health or change how health is calculated - if you have twice or three times as many kinds of resources, all producing the same kind of benefit, through trading you could get really high health - "I'll trade my cows and pigs for your yaks and chickens and double my health."

That's where the resource classes Molybdeus was referring to come into play. +1 or 2 health for the beef class of resource, regardless of whether it's yak, cow, bison, whatever; with no additional benefits for having 2 or more different beefs. it adds local flavors without upsetting the balance.

 

[whitelaughter]

Ones I don't understand:

Incense Really? What am I missing about this one? I've known people to use incense occasionally, but definitely not to the level I've seen people use sugar or dyes.

That's because you've never seen a public cremation. Incense was essential to the classical world for funerals.
However, when Christianity spread, the incense industry collapsed as society shifted over to burial (triggering the instability in souther Arabia that allowed Islam to sprout and spread). Since burial is also the norm in Judaism, I guess that Incense should be a pre-religion tech.

My beef (no pun intended) is that crops and livestock are not spreadable. Horses were introduced to the western hemisphere and bred; now wild herds roam the west and can be rounded up and tamed. Corn was introduced to the eastern hemisphere, and is cultivated there today. Many other examples exist. And, after all, the central US isn't just a bunch of grass farms -- its corn, wheat, soy, and other important grains and produce.

This. However, fixing this would be easy: just have corporations that provide these resources.(With the corporations headquarters built as national wonders, so they can require the starting resource). I have a vapourware project similar to this, but given how much trouble i've had learnign even the basics of modding :/
It'd be really great for horses, as riding a horse is simpler than attaching a chariot - the problem is breeding horses to be large enough to ride. So only allow horse archers etc to be built if the horse corp is present.

 

[NihilZero]

And where the hell are the ginger, cardamom pods and cayene pepper? I want me some tikka masala!

 

[TheLazyHase]

It'd be really great for horses, as riding a horse is simpler than attaching a chariot - the problem is breeding horses to be large enough to ride. So only allow horse archers etc to be built if the horse corp is present.

False assumption.

Using a horse for war, especially without stirrup and all of other fancy things that I don't know the english name, is far, FAR, FAR harder than using a chariot.

Chariot are useless once you have war horse, stirrup, etc. Before that, chariot is really better, especially since if the horse go wild, you're a lot more safe.

 

[NKVD]

what i dont miss is saltpeter...oh when you didnt have any in civ 3 it was over!

 

[naterator]

what i dont miss is saltpeter...oh when you didnt have any in civ 3 it was over!

Worst resource EVER!

 

[Molybdeus]

Saltpeter was especially silly since you can easily make it from urine with no mining or naturally occurring source needed. Rubber made only slightly more sense as a requirement for units. For all the faults of Civ4, it handily beats Civ3 in the resources department.

 

[capnvonbaron]

what i dont miss is saltpeter...oh when you didnt have any in civ 3 it was over!

Oh no no-- I could do quite well without saltpeter in Civ3. Being rubber-less was far worse... assuming you didn't have to survive being iron-less. MI+knights+pikes vs. spears+horsemen+warriors? fuhgetaboutit.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

right on there, i'm certainly glad i live in the real world where chicken is plentiful rather than living in Civ sucking incense fumes.

mmmm I could so go for some Chicken Nuggets right now

You have got to try an Elvis Pizza.

Pan Fried dough covered in melted peanut butter topped with fried slices of sweetened banana.

This also sounds delicious!

 

[binhthuy71]

what i dont miss is saltpeter...oh when you didnt have any in civ 3 it was over!

Not having saltpeter was a pain but it wasn't a game breaker.because muskets (At Attack 2, Defense 4 were good on defense but weak on offense (Longbows had double their Attack but only 1/4 their Defense). If you could hang on until you had riflemen then you could still win. And if you didn't have rubber to build infantrymen you could still win by smothering their infantry with rifleman: the disparity between rifles and infantry didn't seem to be as great in III as it is in IV.

 

[whitelaughter]

Using a horse for war, especially without stirrup and all of other fancy things that I don't know the english name, is far, FAR, FAR harder than using a chariot.

Which is why the Crazy Horse rode a chariot into battle...hey, wait....

The stirrup is overrated. Contrary to previous accepted wisdom, stirrups didn't decide the battle of Adrianople - Fridigern's men didn't *have* stirrups.

Also, horsemen and chariots co-existed for about a millennia - with the horsemen being purely secondary, as they lacked the power to truly damage the enemy.