Off-Map Civilisations

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Building a scenario in which one power is supposed to be influencing the game immensely yet where it cannot be on the map (Say, one or both of the superpowers in a regional cold war scenario) is usually a cumbersome affair. The solutions are usually half-hearted to say the least- usually it involves either using the macro language (in which case it's not a civ at all), or placing a single city with lots of NONE-supported units around it (which feels, well, stupid). What I suggest is that one can define off-map civilisations, setting parameters such as total production capacity, wealth, number of cities, distance and direction from current map, and all the usual diplomatic settings. If it's a civ the player cannot play as, it can stop there. The civ will act as a "distant home" for that civs units on screen, it can be dealt with diplomatically in all the usual ways (Say, paying a lot of money and giving techs and units to Israel, for example) except of course city exchange, but cannot be played as or defeated (the scenario goals would be set up so that this is not necessary).

Now, if we want Off-Map powers that the player can play as, we are faced with more difficult problems...

[UltraSonix]

That's a good idea - there should be things like this that are only present in scenarios, which once again means a good scenario editor is needed.

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards...

[Adm.Naismith]

Sounds interesting.
I suggest it would also work for Fantasy or Science Fiction mod, where you can see the whole globe map, still some outside power can be in game (another magic world in a fantasy mod, the Earth in a "Colonize Mars" Science fiction mod).

I can't see the point to play as a "not on map" player, if not as some kind of "RPG Master" into multiplayer game.

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant