(Firaxis, please read) RIDICULOUSLY EASY-TO-IMPLEMENT suggestions

[Tassadar500]

Originally posted by Aro
I bet Firaxis will read this stuff, after all...

That would be rather funny.

[sophist]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
I have my doubts that there is anything like a "geography/history researcher." Firaxis isn't Blizzard or Bioware, and I'm sure they have a fairly tight budget. I think you over-estimate the amount of people that would be willing to research around 720 names, and they run the risk of people leaking the information. This isn't about the capital of Russia, it's about obscure cities that the average person wouldn't know about.

That assumes that there's one person who does all of the research. I can't think of a reason to do it that way. Besides, even if that was the case, there's no reason not to open it up to community discussion long in advance. It's the sort of thing that a platoon of Apolyton posters would get done in about 12 hours.

[Tassadar500]

I have no doubt we could, but the Devs would still have to approve it, since we aren't employees of Firaxis.

[sophist]

It's much less work to approve than to do.

[Tassadar500]

Originally posted by sophist
It's much less work to approve than to do.

Only slightly less work. They'd still need to re-check to see if the sources are reliable, and then to see if the Apolytoner's work is accurate based on the source. And since there would probably be multiple versions and arguments on the lists, how would Firaxis choose? The only way to do so would be to research the cities anyways.

[LordShiva]

Well, given that, at least for India, the names are just plain wrong (and obviously not researched), approving an Apolytoner's list after glancing at a map or doing a Google search wouldn't be problematic at all.

My point is, Civ 4 needs to be as polished as possible. The developers have to keep doing what they're good at - working on AI etc. But, like you said, Firaxis isn't Blizzard, and there are bound to be some areas, especially things like foreign cultures etc. in a game of global scope, that are unfamiliar to the developers. In such instances, a wider community (eg. Apolyton) can help, and I'm sure Firaxis would appreciate the "proof-reading" suggestions we offer (definitely more than "Hey, I think you need to rip this feature out and replace it with this").

Indian cities is something I know about, so I posted a better list. Others have probably noticed inaccuracies in other parts of the game (cities of other civs? leader names? civilopedia entries?), and should post them too. It can't do any harm.

[sophist]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear


Only slightly less work. They'd still need to re-check to see if the sources are reliable, and then to see if the Apolytoner's work is accurate based on the source. And since there would probably be multiple versions and arguments on the lists, how would Firaxis choose? The only way to do so would be to research the cities anyways.

Apolytoners plural. They wouldn't need to completely check the work because they could rely on the community to do that for them. If there's a hint that one is wrong, someone would point it out. I think you underestimate the reliability of the community in doing something like this. Yeah, maybe it wouldn't be perfect, but it'd be a substantial improvement. I don't see where the problem is. The choice is between something sucky and something good (but not perfect) at little cost.

[Aro]

Originally posted by sophist


Apolytoners plural. They wouldn't need to completely check the work because they could rely on the community to do that for them. If there's a hint that one is wrong, someone would point it out. I think you underestimate the reliability of the community in doing something like this. Yeah, maybe it wouldn't be perfect, but it'd be a substantial improvement. I don't see where the problem is. The choice is between something sucky and something good (but not perfect) at little cost.

Agreed

[MxM]

Yep, they could have posted the cites that they already have and ask for our opinion. I am sure we have a lot of collective knowledge here.

FIRAXIS, CAN YOU HEAR US?

[LordShiva]

And another thing - if the Iroquois are still in (forgive me for not keeping up with who's in and who's out), they need a decent city list too. Salamanca? St. Regis? Oil Springs? How did those get by?

[Sirian]

Originally posted by Aro
I bet Firaxis will read this stuff, after all...

Nah, probably not.

Hmm... "The Intern"...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by LordShiva
And another thing - if the Iroquois are still in (forgive me for not keeping up with who's in and who's out), they need a decent city list too. Salamanca? St. Regis? Oil Springs? How did those get by?

Presumably on the principle they didn't have 'cities' as such, and that North American Indian languages can be absolutely fiendish to learn, pronounce and write.

Ergo, modern place names have to do. Equally, the names for cities in India ae the older inaccurate British Empire ones- Bombay, Calcutta, and so on.

And would you really want to see Celtic cities or sites in the original ? Almost as bad in some cases as the American Indian languages.


And let's hope that the lists of great leaders or figures are more accurate than they were before- having an 'English' Wallace.

[Nikolai]

So true, molly.

[sophist]

Originally posted by molly bloom

Equally, the names for cities in India ae the older inaccurate British Empire ones- Bombay, Calcutta, and so on.

Inaccurate might a little strong. Those names are still in common usage.

Originally posted by molly bloom

And would you really want to see Celtic cities or sites in the original ? Almost as bad in some cases as the American Indian languages.

I think it would be pretty funny to have city names like Crwthnmbwlc.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by molly bloom

And let's hope that the lists of great leaders or figures are more accurate than they were before- having an 'English' Wallace.

For real... It's not like England doesn't have enough great leaders to choose from.