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EDIT:
*OK, this has been posted in a more appropriate thread.*
END_EDIT
*Short* Wish list:
1. Order phase + Resolution Phase
A system à la board game Diplomacy, in which everyone issues orders simultaneously, which are then compared and resolved. This would allow for combined forces, and some interesting strategy twists: for example, someone who has achieved superiority in military doctrines could be allowed to change his orders during the resolution phase, thus simulating his superior maneuvrability and tactics. I'm thinking about Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Rommel, and the likes.
This would also makle MP much more enjoyable.
2. Give some use to naval power
Instead of useless and agonizingly slow ships who take centuries to circumnavigate the world, you build navies that are docked in. Each turn, you can assign them a mission, such as escorting merchant ships, conducting an amphibious invasion, blockading an enemy port, or exploring (the list is obviously not restrictive).
3. Social engineering!!!
What was a brilliant innovation in AC has been forgotten in Civ3. They could even create a "social simulation", in which, instead of having the leader choose for his people, your nation evolves with your decisions. If you're a warmonger, your people is going to like war; if you build universities, they'll tend to want a democracy; if you don't, they are more likely to support a fundamentalist state. If your country is rich, with banks and stock exchanges, citizens will support a free market economy; and so on.
Instead of being an absolute thing, happiness would be calculated by comparing your people's desires with your own politics.
4. Fix culture!
Culture is a brilliant idea, but it was flawed in its implementation. Instead of being an absolute number, it should be a yearly production that compares with other countries. The basis number would be 0; if you are above average, your value will be more than 0, while if you are under average your cultural worth will be negative.
This way, we can avoid successful nations in the ancient age dominating for the rest of the game.
I mean, hieroglyphs were nice in the third millenium BC, Greek was neat at the time of Plato, French was à la mode and refined in the 19th century; but it took at most 75 years for English to overcome French as the most widespread international language. No culture has ever achieved the kind of perpetual supremacy that is possible in Civ3.
Wonders and cathedrals should produce lots of culture when they are built, and their influence should gradually decrease with time, not increase.
With a system like this, we could also link social engineering and culture. At any given time, values and morales supported by the most influential culture would slowly affect the views of other nations. This cultural intoxication would increase with the discovery of cinema, radio, TV, and computers. Dictatorships could also impose a cultural embargo against any nation... From now on, though, I'm leaving the rest to the game designers. The possibilities are endless.
5. Trade!
Trade is another feature that was improved in AC but went backwards in Civ3. It should naturally increase with bordering nations with whom you are at peace. If you invest in a navy and build docks, it should also increase with other maritime nations. It should also benefit from railroad and road connections, and from some technologies: currency, trade, navigation, economics, the corporation, market globalization, etc.
Again, trade would come into play with culture: nations who trade together gradually share their culture and their values.
Custom fees, embargos, free trade agreements would be part of diplomacy.
6. Science
Civ3 introduced a great idea with scientific research: the more nations know about something, the easier it is to research it. This concept sould be further expanded. Research is conducted automatically, and again based on social engineering. Warmongering nations give priority to military techs, peaceful ones give priority to civil ones.
Free-thinking nations research faster.
The government could conduct research itself on some high-profile projects, such as a space program, nuclear weapons, dreadnoughts (like in WW1), stealth aircraft.
Countries who trade together also exchange techs.
7. Politics, diplomacy, spying and others
Spying needs a huge rehaul. The importance of the Secret Services to stage coups in minor nations or create evidence in order to get population support should not be underestimated. Uprisings should be frequent. Keeping your throne is a challenge!
Governments should be different in their inner functions. Dictatorships can use the ressources of the nation as they see fit, without care for the people (as long as the soldiers are well paid!), but at the expense of trade, free-thinking, and efficiency. Democracies produce more ressources, but they can't be directly allocated by the leader.
Democracy does NOT bring wealth; wealth brings the need for greater social justice, and thus, unions and human rights. As Ford understood, it is in everyone's interest that the workers can afford to buy what they produce.
I can also imagine a new kind of victory: the Perfect Government. Either a perfect, unbreakable Big Brother-esque dictatorship, in which everyone has to share the same morals, or a perfect, unbreakable cyber-democracy defended by Robocops that force everyone to share the same morals. Either could be similar to the "material perfection state" described by Marx.
Ok, I've told enough. Whaddya think of my ideas?
*OK, this has been posted in a more appropriate thread.*
END_EDIT
*Short* Wish list:
1. Order phase + Resolution Phase
A system à la board game Diplomacy, in which everyone issues orders simultaneously, which are then compared and resolved. This would allow for combined forces, and some interesting strategy twists: for example, someone who has achieved superiority in military doctrines could be allowed to change his orders during the resolution phase, thus simulating his superior maneuvrability and tactics. I'm thinking about Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Rommel, and the likes.
This would also makle MP much more enjoyable.
2. Give some use to naval power
Instead of useless and agonizingly slow ships who take centuries to circumnavigate the world, you build navies that are docked in. Each turn, you can assign them a mission, such as escorting merchant ships, conducting an amphibious invasion, blockading an enemy port, or exploring (the list is obviously not restrictive).
3. Social engineering!!!
What was a brilliant innovation in AC has been forgotten in Civ3. They could even create a "social simulation", in which, instead of having the leader choose for his people, your nation evolves with your decisions. If you're a warmonger, your people is going to like war; if you build universities, they'll tend to want a democracy; if you don't, they are more likely to support a fundamentalist state. If your country is rich, with banks and stock exchanges, citizens will support a free market economy; and so on.
Instead of being an absolute thing, happiness would be calculated by comparing your people's desires with your own politics.
4. Fix culture!
Culture is a brilliant idea, but it was flawed in its implementation. Instead of being an absolute number, it should be a yearly production that compares with other countries. The basis number would be 0; if you are above average, your value will be more than 0, while if you are under average your cultural worth will be negative.
This way, we can avoid successful nations in the ancient age dominating for the rest of the game.
I mean, hieroglyphs were nice in the third millenium BC, Greek was neat at the time of Plato, French was à la mode and refined in the 19th century; but it took at most 75 years for English to overcome French as the most widespread international language. No culture has ever achieved the kind of perpetual supremacy that is possible in Civ3.
Wonders and cathedrals should produce lots of culture when they are built, and their influence should gradually decrease with time, not increase.
With a system like this, we could also link social engineering and culture. At any given time, values and morales supported by the most influential culture would slowly affect the views of other nations. This cultural intoxication would increase with the discovery of cinema, radio, TV, and computers. Dictatorships could also impose a cultural embargo against any nation... From now on, though, I'm leaving the rest to the game designers. The possibilities are endless.
5. Trade!
Trade is another feature that was improved in AC but went backwards in Civ3. It should naturally increase with bordering nations with whom you are at peace. If you invest in a navy and build docks, it should also increase with other maritime nations. It should also benefit from railroad and road connections, and from some technologies: currency, trade, navigation, economics, the corporation, market globalization, etc.
Again, trade would come into play with culture: nations who trade together gradually share their culture and their values.
Custom fees, embargos, free trade agreements would be part of diplomacy.
6. Science
Civ3 introduced a great idea with scientific research: the more nations know about something, the easier it is to research it. This concept sould be further expanded. Research is conducted automatically, and again based on social engineering. Warmongering nations give priority to military techs, peaceful ones give priority to civil ones.
Free-thinking nations research faster.
The government could conduct research itself on some high-profile projects, such as a space program, nuclear weapons, dreadnoughts (like in WW1), stealth aircraft.
Countries who trade together also exchange techs.
7. Politics, diplomacy, spying and others
Spying needs a huge rehaul. The importance of the Secret Services to stage coups in minor nations or create evidence in order to get population support should not be underestimated. Uprisings should be frequent. Keeping your throne is a challenge!
Governments should be different in their inner functions. Dictatorships can use the ressources of the nation as they see fit, without care for the people (as long as the soldiers are well paid!), but at the expense of trade, free-thinking, and efficiency. Democracies produce more ressources, but they can't be directly allocated by the leader.
Democracy does NOT bring wealth; wealth brings the need for greater social justice, and thus, unions and human rights. As Ford understood, it is in everyone's interest that the workers can afford to buy what they produce.
I can also imagine a new kind of victory: the Perfect Government. Either a perfect, unbreakable Big Brother-esque dictatorship, in which everyone has to share the same morals, or a perfect, unbreakable cyber-democracy defended by Robocops that force everyone to share the same morals. Either could be similar to the "material perfection state" described by Marx.
Ok, I've told enough. Whaddya think of my ideas?
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