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A newer more greedier Civ...
Let me just start by saying that despite the blastfomous things I might say here, I love Civilization and what I say is for its own good.
Civilization is without a doubt a military game. Despite all the attempts to throw in trade, spies, technologies, and happiness, it is still a war game. But even as a war game it lacks something. Why do people have wars? Civilization would have believe that the point of war is to take cities to build more units to take more cities... even the trade, and non-military improvements, and technologies are just ways to aid war-making.
But the fact is that civilizations make war for power! They make war for resources! And that translates to one thing... money! Afterall, money makes the world go round.
Anyway, I'd like to see those tile resources in the game actually affect what commodities a city produces. And I think those commodities should have an effect on the game too. Civilizations without certain commodities should have to import them... like iron, oil, and others. A civilization who controls a commodity... could control the world. Without wood, ships cannot be built. Without steel, tanks cannot be constructed. Without horses, Cavalry are impossible.
This would open a new kind of warfare unlike anything we've seen in a civ game. An Economic Warfare. We can make blockades to force our enemies into submission. We can lay siege to their cities and drain them of their supplies, or we can hold commodities for ransom and bring them to their knees. The largest civ will not always win. If an army isolates a region, the region will shrivel and die.
It would also allow entirely new functions to roads, railroads, and rivers. We can build canals in order to connect two cities so that they may trade. Railroads will be more valuable than roads not just because they let units move faster, but because they can then allow more goods to be transported per turn.
It would create new city improvements and new tile improvements. For example, Rubber. Rubber is a rare tile improvement, but eventually its possible to build Rubber Plantation tiles elsewhere. You export the Rubber to a city with a Factory, where the rubber becomes Tires, and that is used either for military units or is exported to a city with a Car Plant where it is combined with Steel in the production of Cars. Cars are a luxury commodity that affect a city's taxes and allow it to grow beyond a certain size.
This would also apply to Cotton which could be turned into Clothes with a Textile Mill. Iron into Steel at a Steel Mill. And other tile improvements for Potatoes, Rice, and Corn could be to allow a city to be fed well enough to grow beyond a certain size.
Now before all of you anti-micromanagement people have a chance to jump down my throat, I'd like to say that I agree with you in many ways. All of this business about trading may seem rather complicated, but its not like you'd have to have construct a trade unit for everything. A simple sub-screen in the city screen can allow for the importation or exportation of goods to cities that supply or demand it as long as they have a road, railroad, body of water, river, or canal connecting them with the particular city. Every turn the computer automatically subtracts or adds to an inventory and subtracts or adds to your funds. A city that supplies a commodity receives 20 units or something of that commodity per turn, and can export that much (obviously not more since there wouldn't be anymore.) See, rather painless isn't it?
Another point for the anti-micromanagment people. Let's get rid of production of units... come on 1,000 years for a Chariot?! Let's allow units to be bought. Certainly justifies all that money raked in from trading, and some require certain commodities. A little deduction from the city inventory and your funds, and you've got a brand new unit the next turn. This could also create cities that produce specific units depending on what commodities are available to them.
Also units should be able to be clumped into armies that then move as a whole.
Now here's part 2 of Economic Warfare... the supply lines for units. Lets not go making THAT too complicated. If a unit does not have a direct line of sight with a friendly city then its not supplied and is running on 50% effeciency. Because come on. Let's face it, supplies make and break armies. Armies that aren't properly supplied die. And certain units may require specific supplies like Oil, so whatever city they have a direct line of sight with should have that particular commodity.
So thus the goal of this type of game is this. Take the best territories first. Fight your wars for the best resources or you may find yourself being owned by someone smaller than you.
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