We should add natural disasters to the game too!

[easy]

Such as earthquake, tornado, locusts, blizzard etc.
Earthquake, population decrease in effected cities. Many city
improvements will be destroyed. Units in effected area got
damaged and some of them even died.
Tornado, should be similar to earthquake, but the effect
should be less than earthquake.
Locusts, population decrease and food empty in effected cities.
Blizzard, increase moving cost in effected area.

[Wiglaf]

I don't think a tornado really had an impact on any civilization ever, and some of those things you listed would be a real disappointing way to lose a game. Also, would these be random? If so, I wouldn't like them at all - tactics should always be the deciding factor in a strategy game. SMAC's random events really got to me after a while, so I doubt these would be any better.

[Ming]

Civ one did have random "natural" events. I wondered why they weren't included in Civ II

[Wiglaf]

Ever had your size 25 science city smashed and destroyed by a random rock from space in SMAC? There ya go.

[General Ludd]

Actually, I once encountered a civil war in civ2(in all the years that I have played it, I've only seen this happen once, though) I was playing on the world map, and the zulus which where at the time the most powerful civ, had a civil war and half of their empire formed into a new civ (there where only 6 civs left at the time, which is probably an important factor) I forget which civ came out of it, though.

It was quite an interesting event, the zulus had dominated africa and most of europe, and now they where split in half and the two sides where fighting each other, though, like all AI wars, it quickly ended.

[easy]

Yes, good idea! Your earth is destroyed and all civils died!!!

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Ever had your size 25 science city smashed and destroyed by a random rock from space in SMAC? There ya go.

[Wiglaf]

Actually, I once encountered a civil war in civ2(in all the years that I have played it, I've only seen this happen once, though) I was playing on the world map, and the zulus which where at the time the most powerful civ, had a civil war and half of their empire formed into a new civ (there where only 6 civs left at the time, which is probably an important factor) I forget which civ came out of it, though.

It was quite an interesting event, the zulus had dominated africa and most of europe, and now they where split in half and the two sides where fighting each other, though, like all AI wars, it quickly ended.

That occurs when a large civ's capital is taken by an enemy force. It's a very good aspect of the game that isn't random - had it been, IMO, it would've put a dent in civ2's reputation as a fun, strategic game.

[General Ludd]

ah.. I probably hadn't seen it happen because I almost always have 7 civs in the game.

[Mergle]

Civil Wars

I remember civil wars as being one of the most unbalancing factors in single-player Civ2. You had to ensure that in your first strike you took the capital of your main opponent (easy to do late game with howitzers and spies to avoid ZOCs). They split into two warring factions and were never able to muster any form of response.

Incidentally, the split was always based on distance to capital - the "rebel" faction was formed from those cities furthest from the capital (which you just took). For an evenly-expanding civ, that meant a ring around the "loyal" faction.

Are civil wars in civ3? If so, not in this fashion, I hope.

[Tingkai]

The natural disasters were great in Civ 1. It's been a while since I played, but I think cities could be reduced by plague if there no aquaduct.

[Eagle one]

Disasters in the old Civilization

In the original Civilization, there were disasters and they were cool. I can remember of earthquakes, floods, plunder, fire... You needed some city improvements to prevent such disasters. For example barracks prevented plunder, aquaduct - fire, city walls - flood.

I really find them a good idea. But I agree that their impact shouldn't be overdo. Just like in the original Civilization. A earthquake destroyed one city improvement, a plunder steal some money and flood coast one city population.

(As I haven't played the original Civilization for a long time, some disasters could have been different.)

[rah]

Agreed as long as the damage wasn't horrendous.

It's always fun when something random can happen to throw off the best laid plans. (that's real life)

I too was surprised that they weren't in CIVII

RAH

[Slax]

Wiglaf - One of your "tactics" should be to be prepared for a natural disaster.

[General Ludd]

Personally, I really liked the events in SMAC, though I felt that there wasn't enough variety.

[mark13]

I remember there was a big debate a while ago in the SMAC forum on whether random events were a good thing. It would be good to think that they will be an option in much the same way as in SMAC, as opinion was so divided on the issue.

I guess what it all boils down to is what you want from the game. There's no harm in including it as an option, of course - though random events could get very irritating if imposed on everybody.