OpenCiv3 Discussion thread

[amjayee]

markusf:

All help is appreciated. Good to have you with us. You could also join our mailing list in sourceforge (that is for programming stuff only though) if you are interested. The design discussion takes place in the Alternate Civs forum.

[BrianC]

I have several suggestions for Civ call to power 2

First of all heres really cool concept, instead of having one leader all
throughout the game the game should make it so that there will be many
leaders all controlled by you of course. Leaders would live 100 years
and after they die you choose, elect (considering the type of gov. you
have)
a new leader. The first leader of the game is the founder of your
nation. The benefit of this would be that if you try to conquer the
world or really piss off your people then when he dies you can make it
up to other countries and your people by having a new leader to begin a
fresh start, and clear your name. This is more realistic.ex. People dont
hate germany any more because its evil leader Hitler is dead.

Also there would be many ways for your leader to die, there should be
an option to join in on one of your battles as the leader. And if you
loose that battle you die. Its happened in history. You could also die
by being over thrown by a revolution.
You would get to name all the leaders, or choose the default, you
could pick the gender as well.

(1)When you pick civilizations at the start of the game there should
be an option to name your own civ. And the flags of civs should no
longer be colors but actual flags of their countries. Ex.If you pick the
Americans all American units have a little american falg following them
around...and so on.
When you create your own civ. there should be a list of made up flags
to choose from.

(2)I Think there should be an automatic world map built in.

(3)For single player game there should be a time modual, which allows
you to pick how fast you want the time to progress. There could be a
minimum of say a year and a maximum of 50 years...any time in between
you could choose.(maximum of 50 years because this would mean every two
turns you would have to make a new leader)

4)Have an option in the options menu that dosent allow players to
advance beyond time periods. What im saying is that you cant get modern
technology in the 1400's you have to wait until the proper time in human
history when that technology becomes available. This wouldnt be the
proper way to play the game, default would be the normal way, in which
you can advance to any age no matter the time period. But i want that
option, this way the game would play more like human history.
If you ever consider that this would be the proper time periods of the
ages

NOMAD AGE(6000BC TO 2000BC)
ANCIENT AGE(2000BC TO 800AD)
MIDEVIL AGE(800AD TO 1400AD)
RENAISSANCE(1400AD TO 1850AD)
INDUSTRIAL(1850AD-1960AD)
TECHNOLOGICAL(1960AD-2100AD)
BIOLOGICAL(2100AD-2700AD)
MACHINE(2700AD-3600AD)
DIAMOND(3600AD-to the chosen end time period of the game)

5)COUNTRIES i am wondering why so many games leave out contries and
borders, in Call to power there is a no tresspassing demand yet no
visible country borders. I think there should be a claim land button
that all military units should have, where if your the first to find
some land you can claim the land. Cities would atumatically claim the
tile they are put on and several surrounding tiles. And there would be a
mini map which would show a map and all the countries.
You could buy land from other countries, you could take over already
claimed land(causing war with the lands owner)
This would make it fun to travel out into the ocean and load your
troops onto an island to claim it.

(6)Giving back conquered cities should be an option, this way if you
decide you dont want a city you can give it back to who you conquered it
from. Also returning conquered land.

(7)Naming wars, and cassulty lists. There should be a built in history
book in the game, which has a history of everything. Including all your
wars, and how many men you lost, how many you killed. You should be
able to name your wars.also a history of all your leaders, all your
famines and depressions.

(8)Better allied conditions. What made me mad in Call to power is when
you and your allies had a attack-this-person alliance your alli never
attacked him. A method of a military alliance should be established,
where when you enter into the alliance you can see all your allies troop
movements and can somehow give suggestions on where to attack your
enemy. Make the military alliances like the ones between the british and
americans in WW2
where if theres an alliance its a good alliance. And that theres an
option for you and your allies to make an agreement that they dont stop
the war until they kill the enemy,cripple him or die themselfs or
something like that.

(9)Help with famine, overpopulation, underpopulation
If your going through famine or lack of food, there should be an ask
for assistance button from other countries like africa does all the
time. There should be imports and exports of food, where if you cant
manage to get enough of your own food you can buy it from other
countries. Trade wont only consist of goods but resources as well.
Overpopulation- should be a factor, you should have the option of
encouraging immigration out of the country. You should be able to pass
laws like chinas one child policy.
and for underpopulation, you should have the option of immigrating
people from other countries into your country, but then there would be
concequences like hate crimes.

(10)Taxing and money, instead of using gold try to develop a more
realistic system of wealth, and currencies. Make it so you have to tax
your people, have to deal with problems of unemployment and providing
enough jobs.
Make it so you set the minimum wage, and the standard working hours.


Thats about all, and one last thing...devolop units like the gold digger
and food gatherer who actually scout out and can bring food and gold
back to you.

[markusf]

nice long post

What is the timeline for Open Civ? Anyone care to share the Project plan?

[amjayee]

markusf:

We don't have any project plan right now, since we are still in the design phase. We have though been designing the first simple prototype, that has an unofficial dead-line at the end of June.

It is hard to say when the game will be completely finished. Also we can't say when the first demo will be available, but possibly shortly after the prototype is ready. The prototype will not be public, as far as I know for now.

If you program and are interested, join the mailing list. It can be found from the mailing lists section of our sourceforge project site, which is found here. If you don't program, follow the forum and webpage, we will inform when we have more info about demos and such.
[This message has been edited by amjayee (edited May 22, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by amjayee (edited May 23, 2000).]

[S. Kroeze]

quote: Originally posted by Matthevv on 03-26-2000 10:27 AM Nationalism/culture I agree that differences of culture should be a factor throughout the game, even though nationalism should be an advance (?) that develops later. I would suggest that cultural similarity should be a factor affecting the likelihood of a city or region revolting. Protectorates/vassal states This is an important idea, weak Civs should always tend to gain the protection of a more powerful one, in exchange for taxes. There could be varying levels of autonomy, with at one end the Civ keeping its own troops, and just paying tax, and at the other the Civ being run by your own installed leader. The less freedom allowed, the greater the unhappiness with the arrangment (and hence the more likelihood of switching alleigance to another Civ) Ambitious generals I think this is an excellent idea. While I agree with jgv_fiera's idea that you always win the elections, that doesn't stop the generals taking over. This occurred just recently in Pakistan. And, of course, Pinochet did it in Chile. In the Roman empire it happened more than once, which is why the elite troops (Praetorian Guard) were kept in Rome to protect the emperor and to prevent the generals seizing power. King units This would be an interesting addition. Monarchies would be particularly affected by the king, I think. Could we also have the possibility of marrying our kings? This was an important way of cementing political relationships throughout most of history. Kings could be held as hostages, ransomed etc. If you want any help with programming or whatever I am willing to help. I used to be a programmer, I hope the old skill is still there ;-)

Great thread, many excellent ideas! Nowhere else have I met the idea of ambitious generals. Thank you, Matthevv!
It certainly deserves to be read again and shouldn't be forgotten!
There was a lot of creative thinking going on at the time.

Those were the days....
[This message has been edited by S. Kroeze (edited March 18, 2001).]