Can we name colonies?

[ajbera]

I haven't seen anything that indicates we can, but one can always hope. Does this sound interesting to anyone else? Naming the colony wouldn't change anything about it, just give it an identifying feature. The ability to name army/naval stacks would be nice as well. I also would support the naming of geographic locales (a la SMAC), but I think a past thread produced little interest. I like the thought of these features - it allows me to personalize my civilization, enhance the preset characteristics a bit.

I know it's too late if not already implemented (and I don't think it is), but it is a feature that could possibly be added with a future patch/update, or, dare I say, Civ 4.

Anyway, I'm wondering if people are interested in the ability to name certain things, especially colonies (I've seen no mention of colony naming among the threads, though I have seen discussion of naming armies and geography.) Is this a feature that would enhance gameplay, or am I being a fool?

[GaryGuanine]

I think you're not being a fool at all. They could just have an "insert sign" feature where you can put an arbitrary name on the map, then people could name colonies or geographical features or anything.

Gary

[The Andy-Man]

i would guess you would name a colony like a city.....

but although geographical naming etc is nice, it sems pointless.

[Provost Harrison]

Yeah, I think that is a good idea, like you can name cities, you should be able to name colonies and allow them to be easily distinguished.

Hey GaryGuanine, are you into nucleotides in a big way?

[PGM]

Re: Can we name colonies?

Originally posted by ajbera
Is this a feature that would enhance gameplay, or am I being a fool?

You're not being a fool, but I don't think you can name them. We've seen many screenshots and colonies appear without any name. Actually, I think only cities should have names. Colonies have a very limited life expectancy, besides more names would help to crowd the screen.

[Akron]

IMO, this is one of the little features that goes a long way. This mountain range, that colony, the sea to the west of that big grassland area... these all could have names to make it so much more personalized. I know a lot of people could care less about this sort of stuff, especially the strategy purists. But for many people, the civ experience, a feeling of accomplishment, that your actually in your own world, is vital. This was something that separated civ 2 from ctp. In civ 2, i felt a part of the game. I never got anything close to that feeling in ctp.

It is this sort of "fluff" (demographies, great travelers, etc.) that draw people in, especially newcomers.

[Christantine The Great]

I took great delight in naming all of the small landmarks around me in SMAC (small mountain=Mound Planet ). It really did personalize the land around you and gave you an extra incentive to mind probe that nearby Spartan city that encroached on Mind Worm Valley.

[GaryGuanine]

The whole idea about being able to put names down on the map: If you don't like it, if it clutters up your screen, simply don't do it. It's a really simple thing that allows people to play how they want. It would simulate the naming of colonies, you could name mountain ranges, battlefields, etc. Lots of discussion some months ago on this board was about drawing the player in to experience the game more through the replays, the palace, even the newspaper clippings with news. I think this is just another one of those things to help that.

Gary

[Blake]

You cant truly appreciate the value of naming terrain until you have a war over naming rights of a Landmark in a MP game.

That or raise someones named ocean into a mountain, and leave the original name as a tribute to your "l337 former skillz" .

[Bleyn]

Re: Re: Can we name colonies?

Originally posted by PGM

You're not being a fool, but I don't think you can name them. We've seen many screenshots and colonies appear without any name. Actually, I think only cities should have names. Colonies have a very limited life expectancy, besides more names would help to crowd the screen.

Actually, if you look at the screenshots, the only colony that actually appears in it uses the same sort of name box as a city. Don't bother looking at the resources mini-tutorial in that old developer update. It doesn't even use the same city naming style as all of the screenshots in the gallery.

The shot to look at is the bottom left one on the first page of the gallery. The only with the military advisor asking what to do about the revolting Egyptian city of Elephatine. On the right hand side of the screen is what appears to be a city, but it says Egyptian Colony, with the word Iron below it, and to the left a picture of Iron instead of the city size.

The items you are probably thinking of in all the rest of the screenshots are not colonies, they are resources, or maybe something else. They can't possibly be colonies because they are inside civ. borders, and there are way too many of them.

I think being able to name colonies would be a nice touch. They're already being given names, it would just be nice to name them something more robust and personal than "Egyptian Colony Iron". Maybe Iron Mine #3, Ivory Trading Station or The El Dorado. Something that lends some style to the game.

In the same way, I like the idea of being able to name armies. It would help to tell at a glance what the army was composed of. Besides, it would be cool to drive on Moscow with an army named "Third Shock Army" (a naming convention straight out of the Soviet Era military) or "Old Ironsides" aka the US First Armored Division.

[PGM]

Re: Re: Re: Can we name colonies?

Originally posted by Bleyn
The items you are probably thinking of in all the rest of the screenshots are not colonies, they are resources, or maybe something else.

No, I know what a colony looks like, thank you very much. But I was referring to old screenshots and I admit that a lot of things have changed since then and this could be one of them.

I think being able to name colonies would be a nice touch.

Right now I don't particularly like this idea, but hey, if it's in as an option, no problem at all. Maybe I'll even end up liking it once I see it.

[saracen31]

I think we should have all this kind of fluff available, as long as there's an option to turn it off.