Apolyton CS: Civilization III: The List v1: City and Regional Interface (page 2)

CITY AND REGIONAL INTERFACE SUMMARY
-Summarized by Thread Master: Shining1-
ejg27@student.canterbury.ac.nz

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2. CITY MENU SCREEN TOP

2.1) TERRAFORMING -- Terraforming can be handled by citizens from inside the city menu as well as by settlers from the main map, or, when the appropriate technology is discovered, possibly from the regional menu. Each city gets a terraforming build queue, and a 'hurry' button to rush improvements for money (possibly even add an ability to use minerals for 'forming). A certain number of citizens are allocated jobs as Masons, Yeomen or Engineers (each of which builds faster than before), while the end of the technology tree should include the SMAC former unit (the only terraforming unit not composed of huge numbers of citizens). Terraforming outside a city is handled the normal way, using settlers, or by workers from the regional map, as mentioned above.

2.2) As such, the main map will need a 'work in progress' type icon to indicate the current square around each city that is being improved (only one square at a time can be done, unless settlers are used externally). An RTS type system, with a set of 'construction underway' icon to indication an incomplete building, is suggested (currently, there is no way in SMAC or Civilization II to stop terraforming, move away, and return to the job, knowing that X turns have been completed with Y turns left to go). This system makes terraforming simpler and much quicker, if required, allowing the basic links between cities to be established quickly.

2.3) One very interesting suggestion was that military units be allowed to do some basic terraforming as well (roads, fortresses, etc). This can be handled either as an ability of all units, or as a special ability, e.g. Engineering Legions (4-2-1, Engineer).

2.4) And a new terraforming improvement was suggested - the village. A village acts as an improvement to the current terraforming in a square, adding say 1/3 production to it. Basically, this is intended for players who want to cover the map with human habitation - having a large town surrounded by small ones, instead of the current setup where you get a bunch of cities with empty space between them. As such, villages need to reflect that civilizations unique architecture, and should possibly have a color flag on them.

2.5) SETTLERS -- These become more flexible, as well as being able to leave the city and terraform/found cities, they can also temporarily rejoin a city population as either workers or terraformers (done as a choice in the unit-options window each unit has when activated in the city). They can provide external benefits to a city, able to both terraform terrain outside the city square and access production squares similarly inaccessible, when within the city region (think combined terraformer/supply crawler behavior). This issue seems to cause some confusion, and it has been suggested that the interface for all terraforming units - whether inside or outside the city - be kept as similar as possible to avoid confusion. I agree. Finally, like other specialists, the hardy Settler citizens are never unhappy, making them a welcome addition to any city menu.

2.6) UNIT PRODUCTION -- A suggestion that many units, particularly offensive fighters, should require their own structure to be produced before they can be constructed was generally well received. A system that allowed any city to build that era's basic infantry (i.e. civilian militia type mobilization), but required more complex units, especially offensive forces, to have facilities in place is what is currently proposed. In addition, upgrades to these facilities make more workshop items available. Feedback for this is positive.

2.7) It was also suggested that structures inside a city be allowed to produce units concurrently, so you can have a barracks building a swordsman AND siege workshop building a catapult simultaneously in the same city. The worth of this system is a bit dubious, considering the lack of minerals in the early/mid game, but as a foil to production in late game 'Super Cities', in the regional suggestions above, it shows a lot of promise (a supercity limited to three military structures prevents other cities from becoming totally irrelevant, as their facilities may have to used from time to time). A similar idea was proposed for structures, but eventually abandoned. However, it was agreed that current production of a structure should be allowed to be mothballed, if the player wishes to change production temporarily.

2.8) Posters were divided over which permutation of these rules should apply to Wonders - there was a general feeling that they should require more attention (2/3 of production was suggested) than normal units or structures.

2.9) Envisioned construction window - much like Civilization II (bottom left) but with six slots - three buildings (top of window), three unit facilities (bottom of window) (reflecting the limited skills of a single city - as in real life).

2.10) CURRENT MILITARY IMPROVEMENTS:

2.10a) CIVILIAN MILITIA: produces clubs and bronze spears, swords, and armor. This 'structure' is always present in a new city, and allows the most basic of weapons (of any age) to be constructed. For instance, hoplite for ancient civilizations, riflemen for renaissance towns, partisans or fundamentalists for modern life (or the related unit component pieces, anyway).

2.10b) ANCIENT BARRACKS: Produces more complicated infantry units (iron weapons and bows, when technology allows), as well as mounted units. + Stables (provides horses) + Archery range (makes bows) + Blacksmith (steel weapons)

2.10c) SIEGE WORKSHOP: Produces ancient mechanical devices, catapults, balista, siege engines. + forge (iron components for ballista, etc) + gantry (constructs siege engines)

2.10d) HARBOR: Not military per se, but can support add-ons that allow military units. + Construction yard (builds triremes)

2.10e) DEEP HARBOR:
+ Construction yard (builds galleys/frigates)
+ Forge (builds ironclad vessels)
+ Coastal defense (+50% to land/sea engagements)

2.11) INFRASTRUCTURE RATING -- A suggestion that a system of 'levels' for city development in various areas, e.g. industry and religion. A city with a higher level in one area is more effective at that task, and infrastructure is built to increase the city's level. This would work very well with social engineering, if the settings were the same. For instance (using modified SMAC settings):

2.11a) Factory (+5 industry), Library (+5 research), Hospital (+2 growth)

2.11b) Social settings would then have to increase city production, instead of decreasing the production required for completion of a task. (No bad thing - this would avoid the blatant industry cheat in SMAC.

2.12) SPECIALISTS

· Serf - unhappy worker, suffers -1/3 production (see below)
· Worker - works in city radius square
· Farmer* - improves food output by 1 in square
· Trader* - improves arrows output by 1 in square
· Miner* - improves shields output by 1 in square.
· Mason - beginning terraforming unit (later Yeoman, engineer, terraformer).
· Settler - special unit, can work or terraform, but cannot be a specialist. Can move from town to town. Must be constructed first, as per Civilization II rules. Never becomes unhappy.
· Scientist - + science
· Tax collector - + tax (limit 1 per 5 citizens)
· Entertainer**- produces luxuries (make normal citizen happy).
· Priest** - makes unhappy citizen happy (limit 1 per 5 citizens)
· Governor -available only in regional centers, or cities outside of a region. Improves efficiency for region or city (by +3, assuming a 0-10 scale for each social engineering value). Only one allowed, and only at capital/regional centers and cities outside of a regional radius (represents the regional bureaucracy - a significant investment in human resources in any culture to date).

2.12a) * Farmers and traders appear automatically when in the right square, and require certain technologies to be discovered first. They can also be manually selected. However, they limit mineral output to a maximum of 2. A Miner gets +1 minerals, but destroys ALL food output in their square (they should also appear much later in the game).

2.12b) ** Entertainers and priests both improve city happiness, but in different ways. Entertainers affect both normal and unhappy citizens, in the normal Civilization II way. Priests affect ONLY unhappy citizens, making them normal. Thus, priests are usually first required, but are limited, both by the number allowed and in that they do not generate happy citizens.

2.12c) Happy citizens make better specialists, adding +1 to tax, science, or efficiency. This does not improve priests and Entertainers, however.

2.12d) Unhappy citizens are less productive, slowing terraforming and work output by 1/3. They cannot become specialists (including farmers, etc), and may revolt if present in great enough numbers. They represent the discontent part of the population, the landless peasants etc.

2.13) OTHER SUGGESTIONS --

2.13a) Food Management: Trachyr has suggested that food be divided up into various types (meat, produce, dairy, etc). I feel this creates too much unnecessary micromanagement, especially at the end game. However, if done on a regional or global scale, this could be an interesting addition to the game (the vegetarian empire?).

2.13b) Smaller city radius: There was also a suggestion of reducing the city radius size to 1 square instead of 2 (cutting available land from 21 squares to 9, but allowing more cities to be built. While increasing individual management problems, with the regional approach this may be overcome, and result in more realistic empires. It also leads to more use of specialists, since excess population cannot be used as workers (though more obvious benefits from using happy citizens as specialists *might* overcome this somewhat in other models).

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