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Railways unbalanced and wonders on the map (?)
When I play civ II, I usually build up a nice little empire and then, towards the end game, connect it to opponents using rail lines and then send forth swarms of howitzers to devour entire nations in a single turn.
By the 20th century, at deity level, entire continents are blanketed in rail lines. Every ground unit can move anywhere and everywhere in the space of a single turn, from one end of the continent to the other, without expending movement points, and then attack to boot, whether it is a mechanized infantry unit or a phalanx.
At the same time that primitive phalanx units can cross continents via rail (or 100 plus howitzers in a single turn), you cannot move a stealth bomber squadron from one side of the continent to the other in one turn (on a large maps and a large winding continent it can take 2 or 3 turns, which equals 2 or 3 years!) much less support the cavalry unit's attack. There is air relocation from airport to airport of ground units, but nothing like that for air units, which seems a little odd.
I find it unbalances the game to have railways so powerful. The AI coats the land with a solid web of them. You cannot even see the terrain with the zigzag and crisscross of railway lines, and there is no limit to the capacity these railways can carry.
I would suggest that railways have carrying capacities or some other kind of limit on their use. You need locomotives to move units via rail, and there are limited numbers of locomotives. At some point you're going to run out of railway cars, so moving 100 or 200 howitzers shouldn't be possible in one turn. If there was a carrying capacity, it would limit the number of units you could move until you invested in more locomotives. 10 locomotives, 10 units moved unlimited distance by rail. 20 locos, 20 units. And so on.
Not the most elegant solution I suppose, but perhaps some kind of refinement/modification could be done to rail lines to make them less powerful and free up some of the earth from their ubiquitous web of metal mesh.
On another topic, would anyone like to see the Pyramids or other large wonders on the map, either in the city square or placed adjacent to it? They are massive structures, and seeing them on the map would help give it character. The great wall of China, the Hanging Gardens, Hagia Sophia, Colossus, Statue of Liberty, even the UN buildings could be depicted on the map. I'd love to see some of these edifices as landmarks on the game map.
Pharaoh Phutnote
By the 20th century, at deity level, entire continents are blanketed in rail lines. Every ground unit can move anywhere and everywhere in the space of a single turn, from one end of the continent to the other, without expending movement points, and then attack to boot, whether it is a mechanized infantry unit or a phalanx.
At the same time that primitive phalanx units can cross continents via rail (or 100 plus howitzers in a single turn), you cannot move a stealth bomber squadron from one side of the continent to the other in one turn (on a large maps and a large winding continent it can take 2 or 3 turns, which equals 2 or 3 years!) much less support the cavalry unit's attack. There is air relocation from airport to airport of ground units, but nothing like that for air units, which seems a little odd.
I find it unbalances the game to have railways so powerful. The AI coats the land with a solid web of them. You cannot even see the terrain with the zigzag and crisscross of railway lines, and there is no limit to the capacity these railways can carry.
I would suggest that railways have carrying capacities or some other kind of limit on their use. You need locomotives to move units via rail, and there are limited numbers of locomotives. At some point you're going to run out of railway cars, so moving 100 or 200 howitzers shouldn't be possible in one turn. If there was a carrying capacity, it would limit the number of units you could move until you invested in more locomotives. 10 locomotives, 10 units moved unlimited distance by rail. 20 locos, 20 units. And so on.
Not the most elegant solution I suppose, but perhaps some kind of refinement/modification could be done to rail lines to make them less powerful and free up some of the earth from their ubiquitous web of metal mesh.
On another topic, would anyone like to see the Pyramids or other large wonders on the map, either in the city square or placed adjacent to it? They are massive structures, and seeing them on the map would help give it character. The great wall of China, the Hanging Gardens, Hagia Sophia, Colossus, Statue of Liberty, even the UN buildings could be depicted on the map. I'd love to see some of these edifices as landmarks on the game map.
Pharaoh Phutnote
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