Colonies

[alms66]

Originally posted by padillah
@alms66:
I'm with you except for the growing culture. As soon as it has groth it can be used to extend borders and that's not what this unit should be for.

Give it 1 point of culture just to establish itself and leave it at that. Everything else you said is fine by me.

Well, at 1 point per turn, it's not going to overtake anything culturally other than a few minor squares that can easily be taken back, it's just to keep it from being overtaken too easily by a foreign civ's culture. Besides, again at 1 point per turn, what's the big deal about that tiny bit of border extension that growth could achieve? What do you mean that's not what this unit should be for? Colonies are considered part of the mother civ, thus an extension of their border, so I don't see a problem with it at all, especially if it can easily be overshadowed with a mature city's culture, as is the case at 1 point per turn culture growth.

A few more notes:
I also think that colonies should act as though they had a harbor (that is they automatically link to water trade routes), since if implemented as I said, you can't build anything there forcing you to go out and build a city on a 1-tile island just to grab the resource there.

Colonies could cost maintenece as cities do, though much less. They could also be limited in number, to say no more than half the number of cities you have, so that you don't just build a few cities and a hundred colonies - they're not meant to be replacements for cities afterall.

[padillah]

Originally posted by alms66


Well, at 1 point per turn, it's not going to overtake anything culturally other than a few minor squares that can easily be taken back, it's just to keep it from being overtaken too easily by a foreign civ's culture. Besides, again at 1 point per turn, what's the big deal about that tiny bit of border extension that growth could achieve? What do you mean that's not what this unit should be for? Colonies are considered part of the mother civ, thus an extension of their border, so I don't see a problem with it at all, especially if it can easily be overshadowed with a mature city's culture, as is the case at 1 point per turn culture growth.

Ok, ok. I think I see where you are going with this.

They can act like a "culture center" that can support workers. This way you don't have to have a bunch of them and don't have to worry about building multiples to get each of the 9 beaver that is out of range.

They grow culturally but in the same way that Barbarians do: any other culture that infringes wins. This way you can't use them as blockades. If another Civ gets big enough to control that square, it wins.

However, if the Motherland reaches the colony then it's as if the culture was there from the settlement of the colony. (This gives the colony strength for having been there for years.)

A few more notes:
I also think that colonies should act as though they had a harbor (that is they automatically link to water trade routes), since if implemented as I said, you can't build anything there forcing you to go out and build a city on a 1-tile island just to grab the resource there.

Perfectly valid point. These would come in REAL handy on Archipelligo maps.

Colonies could cost maintenece as cities do, though much less. They could also be limited in number, to say no more than half the number of cities you have, so that you don't just build a few cities and a hundred colonies - they're not meant to be replacements for cities afterall.

This would be good to offset the distance (you can just run around the planet planting colonies hither and tither) and the culture growth.

I think it could act as if it had a courthouse (-50% maint).

How does anyone else feel about he "Building that supports workers" idea? I like it because it has the least impact on established game mechanics. But I'm not sure what makes me uncomfortable about it. Hmmm.

Tom P.

[alms66]

Well, now that you've got it, just remember this for future reference, padillah:
I may not be the most eloquent speaker in the world, and you may have to try a little harder to understand my meaning, but I'm always right.

[Adagio]

I never liked colonies in Civ III, I'm happy it's gone