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Considering the "95" theses on civ3's success, is this game even a new product, beta or not? It seems like a really good patch to civ2, addressing AI, graphics (har har), and cultural borders.
I was expecting...well...I don't even know anymore.
Imagine this:
Graphics: 3d terrain. It looks a lot like the 2d terrain, except it has weather patterns, it can rotate and zoom, and it runs better (yes, better, please don't make me explain this).
Cities: Gone are the set 20-square grids. Now we get a sort of analog progression of city resource gathering. Factors such as location, local resources, and other things determine whether or not people move there, not just food. Suddenly you don't have an empire full of identically sized cities (6, 12, or dozens of ultra-metropolises).
Diplomacy: Suspicious AI's guard their techs fiercely, and won't give them up for anything, fearing to give their "enemies" an advantage. Magnanimous AI's (America ideal) hand out money and technology to civs after pounding them in war. Devious AI (the current model for all AI) exploits every weakness, from a three-square-mile hole in your territory to your great need for a particular resource during a war. Military Alliances allow you share units and funds for military use only. Mutual Protection Pacts make the AI think twice before attacking. Totalitarian warmongers (like myself) get ganged up on long before they start hurling nukes. Big Brother AI's protect the little guys out of compassion.
Culture: Cultural reversion takes place in the form of immigration and emigration. Example: America in the 20th century. We took in millions with our "promise" of freedom and opportunity. Perhaps economy and even military might may also play a role in immigration. Even if you don't receive immigrants in droves, your culture makes the rest of the world happier about you. If everyone likes you, it's even harder to make war on you.
Domestic Concerns: Perhaps your millions of civ-people actually care about how you govern. Right now, the only thing they do is culturally revert, force your governors to entertain them, or get weary of war. Perhaps you like getting millions of immigrants for your culture, but your populace hates it. Your military loyalty goes down, your production diminishes. Alternatively, you may appease your populace. You'll wince at the pain of denying immigrants, lowering taxes, and wasting production on entertainment, but your people will love you. If your country gets attacked, you can bet every last man and woman will take arms to defend her.
Production: Gone are the days of one-thing-at-a-time and building the pyramids instantaneously for a scant few thousand people. You can have as many projects as you like. Production requires resources and man-hours. Problems can occur. You can't take 50% of your ICBM and turn it into 100% of a library. However, you can put it on hold. You can pump additional money into the budget of each to make it faster. You can get better resources. You can find slave labor. Etc etc.
Resources: We're smart gamers. We like complicated stuff. Pushing workers around is tedious and hurts our geeky, intelligent brains. We want to spend our time mounting expeditions to find free gold. Perhaps you could send a spy to steal plans, then mount a special ops mission to capture an enemy's shipment of plutonium. Perhaps another civ would offer you some of their fine horse stock, which you could breed to improve your own stock (making horseman production or efficiency better). You could return the gift with a shipment of iron, which they have a great deal of time getting. Instead of simply *having* iron, you would have a stock of it that gets increased by mining, importing, and stealing, and it gets diminished by building stuff with it.
Warfare: Oh, how this needs help. Define rallying points for your troops. Assign interim generals to command individual fleets for you. When two marine units lose half their men, regroup them into one unit. Perhaps one of the enemy's units surrenders. You may take them prisoner or execute them. Your tanks are in an engagement with enemy armor, and suddenly attack helicopters enter the fray. You mobilize your intercept fighters, or maybe an elite squad of mobile infantry with stinger missiles. Combat shouldn't be one-on-one with instant conclusion, but rather engagements. This doesn't have to be too complicated.
The Evolution of Civilization: Does Rome really last from 4000 BC to 2050 AD, or does it fracture into two empires with different capitols. Does England's empire hold strong forever, or do a few colonies and some musketmen sentries turn into a full-fledged revolt? This would be difficult to implement, but not so much more so than anything else here. Imagine: you're at war with distant Germany. You have seven armored divisions scattered throughout their land, and a bunch of infantry holding the cities you've captured. You bombard them from afar with bombers, rockets, and artillery. Suddenly, a third of your nation presents you with an ultimatum: stop this senseless war or we secede from this country. An intriguing concept.
This is what I imagine for civ. This game isn't popular because of fancy graphics, it's popular for its gameplay. Civ2 was a substantial gameplay improvement over civ1. Civ3 is little more than a good patch, or perhaps an expansion pack, to civ2. Games are getting more complicated, and gamers are getting more demanding. We're smart. We're the geekiest of the gamers. We want complex, involved gaming.
I know, this is nothing more than a silly pipe dream. But it's fun to imagine.
I was expecting...well...I don't even know anymore.
Imagine this:
Graphics: 3d terrain. It looks a lot like the 2d terrain, except it has weather patterns, it can rotate and zoom, and it runs better (yes, better, please don't make me explain this).
Cities: Gone are the set 20-square grids. Now we get a sort of analog progression of city resource gathering. Factors such as location, local resources, and other things determine whether or not people move there, not just food. Suddenly you don't have an empire full of identically sized cities (6, 12, or dozens of ultra-metropolises).
Diplomacy: Suspicious AI's guard their techs fiercely, and won't give them up for anything, fearing to give their "enemies" an advantage. Magnanimous AI's (America ideal) hand out money and technology to civs after pounding them in war. Devious AI (the current model for all AI) exploits every weakness, from a three-square-mile hole in your territory to your great need for a particular resource during a war. Military Alliances allow you share units and funds for military use only. Mutual Protection Pacts make the AI think twice before attacking. Totalitarian warmongers (like myself) get ganged up on long before they start hurling nukes. Big Brother AI's protect the little guys out of compassion.
Culture: Cultural reversion takes place in the form of immigration and emigration. Example: America in the 20th century. We took in millions with our "promise" of freedom and opportunity. Perhaps economy and even military might may also play a role in immigration. Even if you don't receive immigrants in droves, your culture makes the rest of the world happier about you. If everyone likes you, it's even harder to make war on you.
Domestic Concerns: Perhaps your millions of civ-people actually care about how you govern. Right now, the only thing they do is culturally revert, force your governors to entertain them, or get weary of war. Perhaps you like getting millions of immigrants for your culture, but your populace hates it. Your military loyalty goes down, your production diminishes. Alternatively, you may appease your populace. You'll wince at the pain of denying immigrants, lowering taxes, and wasting production on entertainment, but your people will love you. If your country gets attacked, you can bet every last man and woman will take arms to defend her.
Production: Gone are the days of one-thing-at-a-time and building the pyramids instantaneously for a scant few thousand people. You can have as many projects as you like. Production requires resources and man-hours. Problems can occur. You can't take 50% of your ICBM and turn it into 100% of a library. However, you can put it on hold. You can pump additional money into the budget of each to make it faster. You can get better resources. You can find slave labor. Etc etc.
Resources: We're smart gamers. We like complicated stuff. Pushing workers around is tedious and hurts our geeky, intelligent brains. We want to spend our time mounting expeditions to find free gold. Perhaps you could send a spy to steal plans, then mount a special ops mission to capture an enemy's shipment of plutonium. Perhaps another civ would offer you some of their fine horse stock, which you could breed to improve your own stock (making horseman production or efficiency better). You could return the gift with a shipment of iron, which they have a great deal of time getting. Instead of simply *having* iron, you would have a stock of it that gets increased by mining, importing, and stealing, and it gets diminished by building stuff with it.
Warfare: Oh, how this needs help. Define rallying points for your troops. Assign interim generals to command individual fleets for you. When two marine units lose half their men, regroup them into one unit. Perhaps one of the enemy's units surrenders. You may take them prisoner or execute them. Your tanks are in an engagement with enemy armor, and suddenly attack helicopters enter the fray. You mobilize your intercept fighters, or maybe an elite squad of mobile infantry with stinger missiles. Combat shouldn't be one-on-one with instant conclusion, but rather engagements. This doesn't have to be too complicated.
The Evolution of Civilization: Does Rome really last from 4000 BC to 2050 AD, or does it fracture into two empires with different capitols. Does England's empire hold strong forever, or do a few colonies and some musketmen sentries turn into a full-fledged revolt? This would be difficult to implement, but not so much more so than anything else here. Imagine: you're at war with distant Germany. You have seven armored divisions scattered throughout their land, and a bunch of infantry holding the cities you've captured. You bombard them from afar with bombers, rockets, and artillery. Suddenly, a third of your nation presents you with an ultimatum: stop this senseless war or we secede from this country. An intriguing concept.
This is what I imagine for civ. This game isn't popular because of fancy graphics, it's popular for its gameplay. Civ2 was a substantial gameplay improvement over civ1. Civ3 is little more than a good patch, or perhaps an expansion pack, to civ2. Games are getting more complicated, and gamers are getting more demanding. We're smart. We're the geekiest of the gamers. We want complex, involved gaming.
I know, this is nothing more than a silly pipe dream. But it's fun to imagine.
Navyman has just reminded me of something....
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