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Dear Sid & Firaxis,
I've played through Civ3 at Regent level a few times and think the game is overall an unbelievably great effort! However, I would really like you to consider a few things for game balancing reasons and ease of use in the interface:
1) There should be a way to locate Natural Resources (and luxuries) on the playing map. By 1830AD when you discover oil if there is none within your own national borders, pouring over the entire map to find where it is in other developed (Rail Roaded/Irrigated/Mined) countries is almost impossible. While I can figure out that, for example, the British have it (they have Tanks) I'd like to be able to know WHERE it is without analyzing each tile myself. Perhaps it could be a legitimate diplomat function that you pay a few coins for, or perhaps just add some hot-keys or something.
2)"R" for building roads is great. [shift]-"R" for RR's is sort of silly, don't you think? Why not keep it as "R" as in Civ1? Just do a RR when there is already a road and a road when there is nothing. Gets to be a bit too much hitting Shift/R. (Minor complaint)
3)The REPLAY at the end is GREAT to have back! Thank you! Do you think you could also denote
these events in the replay: Government Changes of each nation, the FIRST discovery of a tech (and by
whom), the FIRST building of a new unit type- where and by whom. I would send you chocolates for this addition! (MAJOR! heh heh)
4)As there is a harbor and airport symbol in cities, a barracks symbol would be very helpful too on the main map.
5)After Industrialisation, it seems a little too easy to have 20 workers all over adding to your terrain- they are just so fast and cheap- perhaps they should cost 1 production point per turn or more gold/turn at this point so that a player actually thinks about how many he has out there and if it's a wise idea to have them out there rather than just hanging around on pollution patrol.
6)the TRADE ADVISOR should also tell me in her chart who might be willing to IMPORT my stuff- not just who can export to me. I know the diplomat advisor sort of does this, but a chart would be a faster way to get the info to me.
7)Should Colonies really be destroyed by other civs when they come within their cultural sphere? It makes colonies that much less useful compared to just founding a city. I've given up using them at all. I think colonies should be commercial interests strong enough to resist anything but a military take over or bribe by another civ- at least then they would be somewhat useful.
8)The AI should get more Culture savvy in the early game- if it builds a city near mine it should understand that a TEMPLE is HIGH priority, otherwise (as has happened a LOT with me) the AI loses it's town rather quickly to me... (MAJOR)
9) FIX THE EDITOR F6 science advisor problem! I am really getting PISSED with this as I can't play mod games. Am I alone on this!?
10 )Anyone confrm this?: Coastal fortresses and Fighters on air-superiority are BROKEN!?!? I have yet to shoot down an enemy bomber and it appears quite a few people are experiencing this... anyone EVER succeed in attacking a passing ship or an enemy bomber?
11)Air-superiority didn't work for me when S was pressed, but it works for the computer player.
12)Recycling advance should also allow us to get by without a large Iron source or maybe a resource of our choice?
13)Leader production needs to be evaluated. It has taken 4 games to get a leader with extensive(more than 10-20 per game) elite vs civ wins. A poll I put up seems to indicate that this is not an unusual number. Armies shouldn't be that rare.
14)End game- civ in second place is content to finish second in all 6 games that I finished. IOW there was never an attempt to disrupt spaceship building, Diplo, or world conquer. Around the year 1995(if the big guy is "winning" by a certain percentage there should be a chance that) they should make a push to disrupt the big guy. IMHO
15)Also, Diplo victory seems to be a step back from SMAC(one of the few things I liked about that game). It should be re-visited. UN could have a bigger role in the game also as a peace broker/reperations decider, etc.. Yup, diplo victory is WAY too abrupt for my taste!
16)Leaders/Armies should be revisited AND should be an OPTION as to whether you even want them in the game or not! The low odds seem needed, but there should just be a better way to balance them in the game! If there isn't a good way to balance it- it's not a good feature to INCLUDE- that would be bad game design, no? Something Sid is not supposed to do.
Thanks to Craterus22 over at civfanatics for some of the above suggestions.
Thanks for ANY consideration you give this!
I've played through Civ3 at Regent level a few times and think the game is overall an unbelievably great effort! However, I would really like you to consider a few things for game balancing reasons and ease of use in the interface:
1) There should be a way to locate Natural Resources (and luxuries) on the playing map. By 1830AD when you discover oil if there is none within your own national borders, pouring over the entire map to find where it is in other developed (Rail Roaded/Irrigated/Mined) countries is almost impossible. While I can figure out that, for example, the British have it (they have Tanks) I'd like to be able to know WHERE it is without analyzing each tile myself. Perhaps it could be a legitimate diplomat function that you pay a few coins for, or perhaps just add some hot-keys or something.
2)"R" for building roads is great. [shift]-"R" for RR's is sort of silly, don't you think? Why not keep it as "R" as in Civ1? Just do a RR when there is already a road and a road when there is nothing. Gets to be a bit too much hitting Shift/R. (Minor complaint)
3)The REPLAY at the end is GREAT to have back! Thank you! Do you think you could also denote
these events in the replay: Government Changes of each nation, the FIRST discovery of a tech (and by
whom), the FIRST building of a new unit type- where and by whom. I would send you chocolates for this addition! (MAJOR! heh heh)
4)As there is a harbor and airport symbol in cities, a barracks symbol would be very helpful too on the main map.
5)After Industrialisation, it seems a little too easy to have 20 workers all over adding to your terrain- they are just so fast and cheap- perhaps they should cost 1 production point per turn or more gold/turn at this point so that a player actually thinks about how many he has out there and if it's a wise idea to have them out there rather than just hanging around on pollution patrol.
6)the TRADE ADVISOR should also tell me in her chart who might be willing to IMPORT my stuff- not just who can export to me. I know the diplomat advisor sort of does this, but a chart would be a faster way to get the info to me.
7)Should Colonies really be destroyed by other civs when they come within their cultural sphere? It makes colonies that much less useful compared to just founding a city. I've given up using them at all. I think colonies should be commercial interests strong enough to resist anything but a military take over or bribe by another civ- at least then they would be somewhat useful.
8)The AI should get more Culture savvy in the early game- if it builds a city near mine it should understand that a TEMPLE is HIGH priority, otherwise (as has happened a LOT with me) the AI loses it's town rather quickly to me... (MAJOR)
9) FIX THE EDITOR F6 science advisor problem! I am really getting PISSED with this as I can't play mod games. Am I alone on this!?
10 )Anyone confrm this?: Coastal fortresses and Fighters on air-superiority are BROKEN!?!? I have yet to shoot down an enemy bomber and it appears quite a few people are experiencing this... anyone EVER succeed in attacking a passing ship or an enemy bomber?
11)Air-superiority didn't work for me when S was pressed, but it works for the computer player.
12)Recycling advance should also allow us to get by without a large Iron source or maybe a resource of our choice?
13)Leader production needs to be evaluated. It has taken 4 games to get a leader with extensive(more than 10-20 per game) elite vs civ wins. A poll I put up seems to indicate that this is not an unusual number. Armies shouldn't be that rare.
14)End game- civ in second place is content to finish second in all 6 games that I finished. IOW there was never an attempt to disrupt spaceship building, Diplo, or world conquer. Around the year 1995(if the big guy is "winning" by a certain percentage there should be a chance that) they should make a push to disrupt the big guy. IMHO
15)Also, Diplo victory seems to be a step back from SMAC(one of the few things I liked about that game). It should be re-visited. UN could have a bigger role in the game also as a peace broker/reperations decider, etc.. Yup, diplo victory is WAY too abrupt for my taste!
16)Leaders/Armies should be revisited AND should be an OPTION as to whether you even want them in the game or not! The low odds seem needed, but there should just be a better way to balance them in the game! If there isn't a good way to balance it- it's not a good feature to INCLUDE- that would be bad game design, no? Something Sid is not supposed to do.
Thanks to Craterus22 over at civfanatics for some of the above suggestions.
Thanks for ANY consideration you give this!
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