The future is WONDERful

[Earthling7]

I do apologise if this has been said before, but here we go...

Civ2 stops in 1969 with the Appollo Program. Then 20 years later we are on Alpha Centauri fuelled by superconducting fusion powered mega spaceship. hmmm...

CTP stretched to 3000AD.

I think something in between would be appropriate. 2300-2500 sounds like a good idea. Two of the wonders in SMAC and CTP, the Human Genome Project and the Theory of Everything are around the corner, and CTP's Hollywood to mention but one was brilliant.

As far as I can see, we are heading towards a demographic police state in real life. Let's simulate...

A good idea?

Greetings,
Earthling7

[tniem]

CivIII is supposed to be related to SMAC through the Sweep of Time Series and so it would not be practical for Civ III to go much past when SMAC starts. Maybe a few years because while the world maybe falling apart to the point that a voyage must be undertaken, it does not mean life on Earth (human life) has been completly wiped out. To go much past that would be impractical and would defeat the purpose of the Sweep of Time series.

[Charles the Third]

Guessing when we might actually travel to the stars is always changing. One hundred years ago they thought we'd already be doing it by now. Really, the actual date in the game doesn't matter too much. Simply pick something that works for that difficulty level and doesn't stretch credulity too much.

On a side note, some futurists note that the technology to reach other planets in our solar system already exists, it merely requires the will to go...

[HyperElite]

I agree that the timeline could be expanded, but I think 2500 or so is too much. As someone else said it's got to flow with AC.

My first idea would be to extend it to 2100.

[MidKnight Lament]

I could be very wrong here, but I've got a feeling that people are putting too much faith in the Sweep of Time thing to dictate how Civ3 will turn out. And definitely too much with Dinos.

- MKL

[Gord McLeod]

quote: Originally posted by MidKnight Lament on 04-11-2000 09:16 PM I could be very wrong here, but I've got a feeling that people are putting too much faith in the Sweep of Time thing to dictate how Civ3 will turn out. And definitely too much with Dinos.

I have to side with you here. I remember from a long time ago something about modifying SMAC a little bit to make it fit in with the trilogy so you can carry on from where you left off in Civ3... if they're going to do that, it doesn't strike me as much of a stretch that one of the changes they could potentially make is to shift the date SMAC begins on. It's not like it would make any difference. Heck, they could simply make it (Civ3 end Date) + 40. So if you finish the game in 1873 via colonization, you begin SMAC in 1913. Or less, maybe you built a really fast Unity and made it in 15 years. Maybe it wouldn't even *be* the Unity... maybe the carryover would import the name of your starship as well. We really can't make many assumptions this early in the game(s).

[Earthling7]

Amen to that. SOT is an interestinc concept, but it shouldn't dictate Civ3. The time line idea is a good one, although 40 years is a VERY short time.

I think Sid should "borrow" a couple of wonders and advances from CTP if he can. I also think the Human Genome Project and Theory of Everything should be in there. We are on the brink of these discoveries in the real world and they should be included. You can still include them in SMAC on the grounds that the datalinks got damaged in the crash and these advances were lost.

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Greetings,
Earthling7
ICQ: 929768

[Sirotnikov]

I also don't want to see the SOT idea making civ III cut back on it's wonders and time span.With well calculated predictions Civ III could easily go till 2050 or 2100 (assuming player won't discover space flight before the second millenium or something). Although it is very possible that eben the next 20 years will be a major turning point and we'll reach great and unpredicted advances, but hey, who knew.

Any way, civ 2 also had un realistic things: Cure of Cancer, SDI defence? Star wars project was never launched AFAIK (If I'm wrong I'll be happy to recieve angry corrections and threat notes).
We should have Cure of AIDS.

As far as Theory of Everything goes, I think it should be in the very end of Civ III. in 2100 or 2050 or something. I keep track of that, and I know that there are now about 5 theories that are considered possible to be theories of everything or at least major parts of it. The inventors of each theorie have predicted the way the skies should look now, and there is now a big telescope mapping about a third of the skies. The project of mapping will be finished around 2005 and then the results will be compared to predictions of each theory. Then the theory closest to the truth will be researched. Me and a my friend, being very much into astro-physics took a guess that probably none of the theories will be correct.

So we can include the theory of relativity and the theory of strings. But, everything, everything will be a very hard target to achive. Not to mention powers beyond known physics (yeah, that's right, all the stuff you see on the X files with ghosts and stuff).

Bottom line: Space ship launch and theory of everything is in the end of Civ's span of time.

P.S. > Sid should borrow the Internet wonder. Without it, civ III would have been less exciting. And we would have nothing to do in our spare time.