One settler

[Urban Ranger]

I agree that building settler units for expansion or colonization is a silly idea. People moved around out of their own accord even in the most despotic countries. Some reason that might drive population movement:

1. Disasters. For example, several years of drought would send people leaving a region.

2. Overpopulation.

3. War.

The computer program should direct these people to either move from settlement A to settlement B or form new settlements. These settlements should start out as villages, then grow into towns and finally cities.

This would cause a problem if the fix city radius is used. So maybe that too needs to be abolished.

[Biddles]

This is just another realism vs. gameplay question. I agree that it is absurd to build a settler unit, but I don't want the AI to create cities. Unless I see an idea that doesn't use AI to create cities, I would support the current system even if it is absurd. The ideas of 'forced relocation' and 'little pockets of population that you take over' sound interesting, and more realistsic, but the systems havent been fully thought out yet.


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- Biddles

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[Adm.Naismith]

Biddles, I think that S.Kroeze proposal is the most accurate, but it will really change the basement of Civ.

But if you accept the concept of a world with a "background" (sorry, I miss the proper word) of village, I suppose the "new settler" units must simply be a "seed" for town growth (by surrounding villages merging, or population immigration).

The "seed" concept can be

1) a nomadic tribe (a bunch of warrior and a chief) that by diplomacy or force fund a new city (but early populace must come from existing village).

2) a military unit that build some kind of fort (chose the historically appropriate term, please) that became an aggregation point of surrounding population (by force or by diplomacy, or simply because it exist and "barbarian attack" doesn't burn it in a few turns)

So we can simply take the Settler concept and dress it with a different name (not really different gameplay, because no dumb AI decisions are requested), but adding more realism by the way of different city early growth and by immigration concept.

Because you must put some development effort on your cities (to gain more immigration from village), it can also add some difficulty to ICS players.

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant