Railroads are just ****

[Mad Bomber]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
Solution!

I kind of skimmed the forums, but how about this:
EDIT: I mean, I kind of skimmed this thread, this thread.

Two kinds of RRs:
-Regular RRs: Take same no. of turns to build; just can only transport foot units. (Of course, they still give the food/production/commerce/whatever bonuses.)
-High-Maintanence RRs: Take 1.5, 2, or 3 times as many turns to build, but can carry anything regular CivIII RRs carry now. (Regular RRs are a prerequisite on that tile for High-Maintanence RRs.) Maybe the High-maintanence RRs can cost 1g/t too if necessary, to prevent people from just blanketing their nation with HMRRs after R-RRs. All these Rs are making me dizzy....

Now if you could just design the game engine to incorporate these changes, and change the AI algorithems to make use of the changes, then you might have something......

[Gen.Dragolen]

Bomber,

I was just looking through the editor to see if my idea was even possible: no good.

Unfortunately, Firaxis has put all these settings into the executable instead of making them scripted. Needless to say, I don't think we could even build train units and get the AI to use them properly, since they didn't compile the game with them.

All we can hope is that they take some of the suggestions here and incorporate them into the next version.

D.

[Mad Bomber]

Gen Dragolen:

Exactly, most of the RR functions are hardcoded into the game engine and cannot be changed by us mere mortals. The only possible quick change that the firaxians could implement is to allow movement rates by RR to be changed in the editor (which IMO would only be appropriate if the timescale was also changed) Anything else would require a change in the game engine and AI algorithems, which would take the firaxians some time to implement. And as we all know the Firaxians are busy at the moment trying to get MP to work properly.

[Explorer579]

Originally posted by Mad Bomber
Gen Dragolen:

.... The only possible quick change that the firaxians could implement is to allow movement rates by RR to be changed in the editor .....

You can change the rate of movement on roads but not that of railroads. Unless I miss something in the editor! Please advise.

[Mad Bomber]

explorer:

No, you did not miss a thing. I was stating that this is something that Firaxis could do, they have not allowed the RR movent rate to be changed in the editor so far.

[King of Rasslin]

Maybe they should just add a new type of road. It shouldn't be that difficult to have a trail-road-railroad path!

In my opinion, 3 moves on a road is too much in the ancient era, really. It should be 2, not 3. In the middle ages, roads could give 3 movement, as usual. Railroads would then follow. If you can't change RR movements in the editor, you could use the trail as a way to have 2 different custom road movements.

[Brizey]

Forest and Trees

Trees: Infinite RR movement.

Forest: Combat speed = development speed

The real problem in civ, as far as accuracy and playability, has always been that the units move either too slow or too fast relative to the development speed. This, coupled with city-discrete construction sends realism out the window and makes playabilty real tough.

For example, it can take hundreds of years to create a warrior unit in the early game. That is generations! Heck, the game turn is longer than the prehistoric average life-span! And if it really took 200 years to move a military unit from one city to another, it would be impossible for a despot to control the civilization.

Another example: in the modern game, the spaceship is the only thing that cities can cooperate to build. This is totally contrary to reality, in which the simplest items are manufactured from parts supplied from all over the world.

The jump from 1/3 movement roads to infinite RR is just another symptom of this overall 'disease'.

On the other hand, I have played games that tried to make production more realistic, and they suck. What makes civ such a great game is that the overall mathematical scheme is built up from basic building blocks that are single digit (read: human comprehendible) numbers. This is really the genius behind the civ franchise.

[Nakar Gabab]

Here's a thought: Give Expansionist (probably not) and Commercial (hey, why not?) civs some discounted buildings!

You know, a train station could ALSO improve commerce in the city by a little bit (say 10-25%?). After all, rail trade is nifty. Or perhaps it could double Wealth, making it actually maybe useful? Then discount it to Exp and/or Com civs. Everyone else gets the waystation transport benefits, of course, some folks just do it better.