Winds and currents..?

[Loppan Torkel]

Wouldn't this be a pretty simple and good idea to incorporate to make the exploration early on just a bit less free?! - All (sea/ocean)hexes could have a direction, which would affect movements through the sailing period...

Good or bad?

 

[Emperor_Jackal]

I can only imagine being one movement point away from relieving a city via troops in galleons and being "blown" off course and as a result losing that city.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I'm not suggesting gusts of wind should be able to blow ships away, just streams and winds like the gulf stream that are more or less static throughout history. They would make the exploration easier in one direction, not affect in some other, and hinder travel in the opposite direction. This could make the exploration a bit more interesting imo.. would it be worth it to fight against the wind/current to reach a possible new continent on the other side, or explore the easier parts that perhaps already are explored by those opponents close to you?

 

[tonikas]

This is a pretty good idea, but the currents and winds should only affect ships with sails. Also, there could be random events where a current changes it's direction (maybe this is going a bit to far).

 

[Solid]

Also, there could be random events where a current changes it's direction (maybe this is going a bit to far).

Oh no its El Nino...

 

[Ramesses]

I like the idea of making ocean tiles give movement bonuses in a specific direction. As someone said above, this should only apply to pre-Industrial ships so that wooden ships aren't completely outmatched.

 

[Joecoolyo]

I also believe this could be a very neat idea.

 

[Dbob]

I think that currents and wind pattern affecting sail ships and not steam/industrial age ships also plays into one of the reasons that these new ships were far superior to their predecessors.

 

[Simage]

why not take it a step further and model climate, simple temperature model based on longitude/terrain type/planetary tilt/cloud cover. winds based on temperature variation, rain based on evaporation/temperature and then tie it back to terrain type being based on temp and rainfall. would allow for the local climate changes we've seen from deforestation and large dams. the model is way to simple to call it realistic, but it might add an interesting element to game play, is it really worth cutting down all the forests?? for the immediate production bonus?

 

[Kissamies]

Some sort of climate system, relatively simple, was on my wishlist. The winds would tie in with that beautifully.

 

[Gedemo]

Remember the Troy war when Athenians were waiting for wind to launch their troups

 

[GoodSarmatian]

If it's not too complicated I'm all for it.
I think the best way to implement it would be as some kind of randomly generated road on the ocean that connects continents and islands. It would allow early ships to explore and colonize islands and speed up more modern ships a bit.
They shouldn't be too common though and not connect continents that are too far away.

 

[seasnake]

This would be great if done well. Natural trade winds and routes, and fighting for control of those routes, would be a great dynamic. I'd also like more natural disasters, like hurricanes and earthquakes, and typhoons, because they altered the course of history. An animated hurricane wiping out an invading fleet would be so sweet (unless it was your fleet, of course).

 

[bonafide11]

Wouldn't it give some civilizations a significant advantage though? If one civ can get from point A to point B in 3 turns, and it took another civ 5 turns to get from point B to point A, it could be a decisive factor in military or in colonization of surrounding lands.

 

[Dbob]

Wouldn't it give some civilizations a significant advantage though? If one civ can get from point A to point B in 3 turns, and it took another civ 5 turns to get from point B to point A, it could be a decisive factor in military or in colonization of surrounding lands.

Isnt that just like any other "lucky" start? Just another hurdle to overcome.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Wouldn't it give some civilizations a significant advantage though? If one civ can get from point A to point B in 3 turns, and it took another civ 5 turns to get from point B to point A, it could be a decisive factor in military or in colonization of surrounding lands.

Well, that would just give you a delicious casus belli now, wouldn't it?

 

[The Cosmic Kid]

This would be great if done well. Natural trade winds and routes, and fighting for control of those routes, would be a great dynamic. I'd also like more natural disasters, like hurricanes and earthquakes, and typhoons, because they altered the course of history. An animated hurricane wiping out an invading fleet would be so sweet (unless it was your fleet, of course).

Static wind and current patterns seem like a neat idea, being a hat trick of simple, elegant, and strategically interesting. But random disasters would be frustrating more often than fun, however historically accurate they may be. I'm annoyed enough as it is in Civ4 when tornadoes destroy one of my towns.

 

[Tarmac]

Hmmmm.. what about the Japanese "divine wind" that saved them from the Mongol invasion fleet?

 

[The Cosmic Kid]

Hmmmm.. what about the Japanese "divine wind" that saved them from the Mongol invasion fleet?

I assumed this was what seasnake was alluding to. It's certainly what I was alluding to, anyway.

 

[chongli]

Yes and with enough sorcery books you could cast the spell "wind mastery" which would speed up all of your ships and slow down the ships of your enemies!