What in the world is that sun on the info screen?

[ElConejo]

Forgive me if this has been addressed before or elsewhere, but I have meant to ask this question ever since I first saw it while playing Civ3. What is that little Sun at the upper right hand corner of the info screen? At first I thought it may be the golden age, but its certainly not that... so I have no idea.. what is it?

[vmxa1]

IIRC it is a depiction of the amount of pollution in the world. The brighter it is the worse the pollution.

[Harovan]

It's a sign for increasing global warming. But the concept of global warming is not too well implemented, as all it causes is more pollution (as vmxa1 said), there are no disasters triggered. CtP2 goes a bit farther with global warming, if you ignore it, disasters strike you and some of your coastal cities can drown - as we see in the near past, not an unrealistic scenario.

[ElConejo]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
It's a sign for increasing global warming. But the concept of global warming is not too well implemented, as all it causes is more pollution (as vmxa1 said), there are no disasters triggered. CtP2 goes a bit farther with global warming, if you ignore it, disasters strike you and some of your coastal cities can drown - as we see in the near past, not an unrealistic scenario.

They did the same thing in SMAC IIRC.. is there any word of Global Warming being in civ4?

[ElConejo]

Heres the latest pic of the "GW Sun" for you viewing pleasure. This rapid acceleration is undoubtably due to my heavy ruthless nuking of the last two civs (that happen to be isolated on two islands ). But I just thought it would be cool to see. :b

[vmxa1]

We have seen it before and it is not pleasant. GW coming to a tile near you soon.

[ElConejo]

Originally posted by vmxa1
We have seen it before and it is not pleasant. GW coming to a tile near you soon.

[MattPilot]

I believe effects ingame (CIv3) include grassland tiles turning into plains. I've also experienced forests disappearing, but thats about it.

[vmxa1]

Tundra can turn into plains as well.

[Laertes]

I have had jungles turn into grassland A lot of worker-turns saved!

[Daddy-O]

Thanks for bringing this up ElConejo!

from Sir Ralph:

It's a sign for increasing global warming. But the concept of global warming is not too well implemented, as all it causes is more pollution (as vmxa1 said), there are no disasters triggered. CtP2 goes a bit farther with global warming, if you ignore it, disasters strike you and some of your coastal cities can drown - as we see in the near past, not an unrealistic scenario.

Sir Ralph,
I hope that you are not implying that the demise of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast is due to global warming; but rather saying that flooded cities are realistic.

[ElConejo]

Technically I dont know the specifics, however the reason why those coastal storms were able to sweep the coast was due to the destruction of the wetlands that would have otherwise provided a 'natural barrier' against said disasters.. however if anyone has any other knowledge on the subject I would be greatly interested in hearing of it

[Daddy-O]

Well true in a way. Yes. If the wetlands (FKA swamps) were not developed then people and cities would not be there and nobody would have noticed the mess. But you could same about cities built under volcanos, or on fault lines. It is only in recent years that man has started to claim responsibility for what used to be known as acts of God.

[Mogling]

Originally posted by Daddy-O
Well true in a way. Yes. If the wetlands (FKA swamps) were not developed then people and cities would not be there and nobody would have noticed the mess. But you could same about cities built under volcanos, or on fault lines. It is only in recent years that man has started to claim responsibility for what used to be known as acts of God.

I think a city built under a volcano would be a neat idea...

[Daddy-O]

It is such a neat idea that some people hold conferences about it.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/2003/03_07_10.html