What part of Civ3 needs the most improvement in a patch?

[Ninot]

Just a quick post on the combat system, and why it needs its fixing

look at it this way. (lets hope some of you have seen the video). A Palestinian with what looked to me like an AK-47 was shooting at an Israeli tank from... i dunno, looked like a wall made into debris...

He fires off a few rounds, and turns to take cover. Next thing ya see is debris flying, and he has dissapeared. The tank used its main gun to obliterate the guy.

Now, if thats a reprisentation of Tank Vs. Infantry, just think how WRONG it would be if the guy had a pointy stick. He wouldnt have been able to poke the tank twice before dissapearing into a red smear.

Realistically, a civilization defending itself with anything less than modern techniques and equipment almost never wins in battle, nevermind a war. The AI should be taught to always upgrade troops, and the combat system should be fixed so that if a unit is modern, and its opposing unit isn't, the modern unit should win 19 times out of 20, or more.

[Wittlich]

There is another serious problem that I have specified in the thread

:

Multiplayer Support.

[Capt Dizle]

i voted for...

The new penalties from pop rushing and drafting makes the AI self-destruct

I don't know how to fix this and I don't care as long as they come up with something and then TEST IT!!!!

Let them hold the patch till its right.

I am totally thrilled that almost all of the options had some votes. This shows that there are real issues and that people care about the game and seeing some improvement.

Great thread. Good to see it hasn't grown into a flame war. Excellant work Korn and all contributors.

jt

[Capt Dizle]

Oh, wait. I have to mention something. Unit movement is still a big problem and still a major cause of tedium. We need some improvement here.

Some of these have been mentioned many times. Unloading armies. All units of a type move, even fortified and sentries. Bad. Workers of different nationality have to be moved separately. Bad.

We need a command to wake all. Group bombard is absolutely needed in the worst way. I still don't see why you can't modify the army to allow the formation of a true stack for movement (and preserve individual combat).

I need to be able to designate a stack of units and move them as one. How hard can that be?

Surely Firaxis can understand that I don't want to have to move 22 cavalry one at a time. Unless this is fixed people are not going to continue to play the game. Period.

We need to be able to bind units together. Having a j command that will move all of a certain kind of unit is not going to cut it.

[korn469]

We need to be able to bind units together.

like a command group in starcraft (or most other RTS games) where you can bind a certain group of units to a key (in starcraft it is the 1-0 keys) and then simply hitting one of those keys brings up the selected units

[Roy H Smith]

Tech Tree

Grow that Tech Tree.

More Tech = More Options = More Fun

How hard can that be?

1. Advanced Agriculture (Irrigate those Hills)
2. Demolitions (Blow up Mountains!)

[notyoueither]

OK, I'll bite

I voted *There is another serious problem that I have specified in the thread*

Here's why.

It's the Aircraftcan'tsinkships/Shipscan'tshootback/Techprogressestooquicklybecauseitistoocheap/Editordoesntallowciv
placement/Imannoyedthattheprgramwontreallymakemycomputerdowi ndows/Wheresthecureforcancerirl/worldpeacewouldbegoodtoo/Cantyoumakethefinnsspeakareallanguage/Wheres
mylockthisthreadbuttonminghasonewhydonti/andlegionsshouldhavetheeffectsofnuclearweaponsbeca useisaidso/AndlastbutnotleastIcantmakethisdamnboardbreakwindo wsproperly
bug that really gets me.

Spell check that!

Salve

[The Thinker]

Originally posted by Immortal Khan
I voted for the last "other" option. It's mainly about the AI. It's just plain dumb.

Totally. The AI doesn't play smart, it plays dumb and cheats. That's why the new pop rushing rules are a problem, 'cause the AI cannot evaluate the new rules. That's why the editor is so narrow, 'cause the AI cannot keep up with any changes. That's why players seek a multiplayer version, 'cause they want foes who are hard to beat but are playing by the same rules. It's also why people might complain about how easy it is to win under one victory condition or another, 'cause if you are ahead by mid-game when late game arrives you can almost choose your victory.

And I don't really understand why this is. Seems to me the AI could micromanage far beyond what I do and have a real advantage.

So my vote would be for a smarter honest AI followed by a good editor.

Rik

[GePap]

Diplomacy

Better diplomatic options would greatly increase the possible straategies for players.

We need long term, defensive alliences ala every other TBS game to return. We need a 'stop war against' button, a way to frame someone else (to stir trouble) and better diplomatic A.I. (not asking for it to be better in all areas, just diplo). A major imporvement in Diplo would mean a massive improvement in the game.

[Pius Popprasch]

Many of your problems can be solved by modding. Just insert the parameters of your choice!
I voted for the Communism but in fact I would like improved bombard units, improved beyond the possibilities of the editor.
The game needs many fixes.

[Martinus Magnificus]

My improvements would include:
- a more realistic corruption system, so it actually makes sense to capture enemy cities (IMO corruption should mostly affect tax income, and to a much lesser extend shield production)
- a more realistic AI city sprawl (I really HATE to see the AI settle that last unoccupied tundra square in my borders)
- a more realistic combat system where spearmen can't beat tanks, period
- a more realistic tech progress
- a diplomacy screen where the advisor tells you instantly what deal would be acceptable (for example "I believe 100 gold for silk would be acceptable, sire")
- more diplomacy options, like "give unit X to civ Y" and "demand that civ X makes peace with civ Y" and border negotiating
- a real UN, that gives diplomatic options like peacekeeping missions
- more realistic culture flipping (I really HATE this system of deposing cities, where your stack of 10+ units vanishes in thin air)
- more usefull bombard, naval and air units
- more satisfying victory screens ("you've achieved a domination victory" is just way to lame)
- a smarter AI that doesn't build wonders during wartime, doesn't refuse to negotiate peace when suffering terrible losses, doesn't send settlers to every free square, doesn't give away crucial techs for free, doesn't... and so on

But I realize it's probably not going to happen in the next patch (nor in any patch actually), so I'll just wait for MoO3 or RoN instead...

[Grumbold]

Massively overhaul the editor so that players can make their own scenario rules, find out which ones actually do balance out best after extended gameplay testing then make those the standard settings.

[=DrJambo=]

AI self-destructing is a must to fix, i'm sick of seeing a plethora of 1 pop AI cities once the AI enters a war under Communism.

Only way to fix this at present, is to put the pop-rushing penalties down to 3-4 turns for each.

One way they could fix this in future patches, is to make the pop-rushing penalties under despotism much more severe than they are under Communism, thus eliminating the despot-rush, but not crippling the AI under Communism.

[Carver]

Originally posted by Ninot

look at it this way. (lets hope some of you have seen the video). A Palestinian with what looked to me like an AK-47 was shooting at an Israeli tank from... i dunno, looked like a wall made into debris...

He fires off a few rounds, and turns to take cover. Next thing ya see is debris flying, and he has dissapeared. The tank used its main gun to obliterate the guy.

I've seen the video of the oppresive occupation. But what if that dude had a portable anti-tank missle (the kind the Palestinians were trying to import into Gaza a few weeks back) like a Stagger or a TOW... the outcome may have been different. Or look at the bombs the Palestinians plant in the road to destroy those Isreali Merkava tanks, they work. So a dude, or a bunch of dudes, always has a chance. The spearmen still deserve their shot at a tank.

[lockstep]

I voted for armies, with tech trading coming in second.

BTW, both the costs and the disposability of armies can be corrected by using the editor. What can't be corrected is the fact that the moment you load units onto an army, you not only gain something (the pooling of hitpoints, which makes armies very useful for defense), but also lose quite a lot (the ability to attack at least once per unit). Adding the blitz ability to armies in v1.17f somewhat alleviated this problem, but an army of knights is still pointless.