Winds and currents..?

[Loppan Torkel]

Agreed, a random hurricane destroying an invasion fleet might sound cool until it happened to you. Winds and currents affecting the speed of ships might sound cool but I think would ultimately feel restricting. Many decisions in Civ that would have really been random are made by you, Civilizations don't really choose where to found their cities. So I think the rationalisation Zhahz describes is fine for winds and currents.

Whether disasters should be included or not is another matter and not really comparable to what's suggested here. Having movements affected might restrict some choices, but could perhaps also make the decisions more interesting and open up new strategies. It should give the defending fleet some advantage to know the area, and as mentioned - the discovery of the steam engine could be more important than now. You could argue that having civ-traits or flavors also restrict choices - choosing the Mongols would steer you into warfare and the English into seafaring. Some people want to see all civs and settings equal and differences developed through the game, I want diversity and wouldn't mind a bonus in some direction and restriction in some other.

I think it would make the game more interesting, but I'm not sure if it would go with an AI. Perhaps it would be exploited very easy...

 

[loliologist]

I think that winds and/or currents are an excellent idea, since knowledge of these phenomena made the difference between a successful navy and a dead navy.

I also like that it will make steam powered boats more important, since there really was a huge advancement in society, especially in terms of trade (since overseas trade routes were far more dependable).

As much as I like the idea, I fear we'll never see it released from firaxis. It seems that their goal is to make Civ 5 less about micromanagement (from what we've seen there's going to likely be less, but larger, cities and less units) ... whereas I'd prefer more micro, like this example, in my civ since the "tedious" micro is the main reason I play.

 

[civ_king]

traveling up rivers would be cool too

 

[danthemanglitch]

i was thinking we get warnings regarding storm systems and we an plan accordingly to counter act it in addition i think a jet stream should only affect ships with sails and water currents should work by a percentage bases hence more dramatic for wooden and sails and getting less and less dramatic as your ships become more advanced

 

[duckstab]

I also like this idea. I think that since the game already has a notion of latitude it wouldn't be too hard to model prevailing wind and ocean currents. A sophisticated enough map script could also take this into account when generating terrain features. (I think the current Tectonics script already does this to some extent.) Of course, there's a risk that you'd end up with maps that were very realistic but not very playable.

And while I agree that prevailing winds would be more important for sail-based ships, even modern shipping takes advantage of ocean currents.

 

[bio_hazard]

I love the idea of winds and currents, especially if it affects trade and resources. It could favor triangular trade routes around an ocean basin rather than simple bi-directional exchanges of goods. This could make the city-states relevant too, if they could provide an important node for your trade network. Would be even cooler if being friends with them might make it harder for AI civs to take advantage of the favorable currents.

Also, maybe your culture would spread downwind more easily in an archipelago.

 

[civ_king]

1) good idea,

2) however culture/wind relation is overkill

 

[Woodreaux]

It's a killer idea. I thought wind velocity's effects in Pirates! was really cool. The exact same system would not make sense in a Civ game, but a more macro version would. Just as sailing against the wind would slow you down, attacking against the wind should also cause combat penalties. Moving and fighting with the wind at your back should provide bonuses.

They could also extend wind speeds to land tiles. Each tile could have a wind speed value, like , , and defense bonuses that could allow or deny windmill improvements and even give them better yields.

 

[DroopyTofu]

I think this is a great idea. I would like to point out, though, that not every tile should have a current or wind effecting it. SOme parts of the ocean should be neutral, as they are in real life.

As to the talk of having weather events, keep in mind that turns take from between 400ish years to 6 months. A lot of different weather can happen in just 6 months.

 

[zappara]

Storms could be a random events and they could damage ships, prevent them from moving for a turn or even sink ships. Over time these storms would disappear and random events could create more in new places so that the system would be dynamic. I made these kind of random events for my own modpack in Civ 4 so with Civ 5 it should be possible too.

Example pic from my mod:

Spoiler :

 

[Loppan Torkel]

If they're introducing fixed formations to reduce micromanagment with the one-unit/hex mechanic, it could get messed up if there's a lot of variabels affecting the movements of the units.

I thought wind velocity's effects in Pirates! was really cool. The exact same system would not make sense in a Civ game, but a more macro version would. Just as sailing against the wind would slow you down, attacking against the wind should also cause combat penalties. Moving and fighting with the wind at your back should provide bonuses.

I'd like to see large sea battles but the fleets should be manageable.. Otoh, it would be great to see and hear the fleets fighting against or going fast along the wind, like in Pirates!.. It also feels like it would be fun to explore the ocean to find the right winds, or to keep the control over those routes.

 

[wabatt]

Storms could be a random events and they could damage ships, prevent them from moving for a turn or even sink ships. Over time these storms would disappear and random events could create more in new places so that the system would be dynamic. I made these kind of random events for my own modpack in Civ 4 so with Civ 5 it should be possible too.

Sorry zappara that was the only part of the mod i didn't like storms shouldn't take place over the course of hundreds of years. Also there was just to many of them, 2 of my cities always had a storm brewing

 

[danthemanglitch]

well for typhoons i was thinking that until pre modern times when u get meteorology u can not predict or see where typhoons r going

 

[civ_king]

well for typhoons i was thinking that until pre modern times when u get meteorology u can not predict or see where typhoons r going

Speak English not |\|00|3 5P3a|<

 

[Rusty Edge]

I enjoyed the winds and the clouds( and their shadows which indicated them ) in Sid's Pirates!.

A Gulf Stream current could be indicated by by broad river graphics upon the ocean.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Actually, I'd like it if they did it the way EU3 did; which was just a little arrow floating above the ocean-tile pointing which way the wind would head.

Easy and simple to understand.

 

[danthemanglitch]

i was saying in times of sail boats you can only see typhoons if there out at sea near them but in modern times when you receive or discover meteorology you can predict the storms path to prep your cities or move your units out of harms way

 

[civ_king]

i was saying in times of sail boats you can only see typhoons if there out at sea near them but in modern times when you receive or discover meteorology you can predict the storms path to prep your cities or move your units out of harms way

*cough* Hurricane Katrina *cough*

 

[Rusty Edge]

*cough* Hurricane Katrina *cough*

Sadly, I watched Katrina crossing the Atlantic on The weather Channel with feelings of dread.
Why people who live below sea-level in the Gulf of Mexico don't keep an eye on hurricanes as if their life depended on it amazes me.

 

[The Cosmic Kid]

Sorry zappara that was the only part of the mod i didn't like storms shouldn't take place over the course of hundreds of years. Also there was just to many of them, 2 of my cities always had a storm brewing

Ditto. I was pleased to see that "A New Dawn" removed them.