Blueprints for expansion

[Il principe]

Hi,

something that always annoyed me in CivII and SMAC was the fact that when I was planning the expansion of my empire by placing new cities I couldn't make notes on the world map. When I returned to this planning after doing some other work I would have to start over with the counting of the squares to make sure the future cities wouldn't overlap.

A very simple solution is to add "a blueprint feature", which enables the player to plan cities and terain improvements like roads and mines. These would then be displayed in a greyish colour on the world map or alternatively in a separate blueprint screen (which of course should be summonable with a shortkey combination).

This feature could be expanded into an instruction list for the automated workers and settlers. Automated workers would simply transform the blueprints into (gaming) reality and settlers could be ordered to found a city on the nearest planned building site.

This feature would also add to the "unified feel" of your nation, since you are working on improving your empire on a national level instead of only improving the neighbourhoods of your cities.

[MrFun]

Where's the difficulty or inconvenience? I could quickly tell if a city would overlap or not when I plan to settle a new city.

[Ilkuul]

I think this is a great idea. I especially like the notion of being able to place future cities on a blueprint overlay, and then instruct your settler to go out and make this happen! (Though if settlers are being automated to found cities, you would also have to find a way to protect them from enemy attack...)

What I would also find very useful would be a city radius overlay whereby you could click on a planned central tile for a new city, and with one further click (or hotkey) produce a transparent overlay on the map outlining the area that would be within the new city's radius. (In Civ2 terms, a 21-tile outline centred on the tile you clicked.)

Maybe some people can 'see' this easily in their mind's eye, but I've always struggled to do so ever since Civ1...

[SerapisIV]

A worker queue? I like it. How do you deal with specials though? Have the settler move to it in its time and give a text box asking what you want without pulling out of the queue?

Oh yeah and a city-overlay cursor would be a huge addition to make play simpler and more intuitive, instead of having to count tiles around every city I'm getting ready to build.
[This message has been edited by SerapisIV (edited April 10, 2001).]

[N35t0r]

it WOULD be useful to provide settlers with a sort of plan to auto-improve cities, like: 3 hills with mines, on specials preferably and the rest irrigated grasslands...

[connorkimbro]

Damn, i hope firaxis reads these boards as much as they say they do. these are some good ideas (in this thread, and in some of the other threads i've looked at tonight.)

[Adm.Naismith]

quote: Originally posted by connorkimbro on 04-11-2001 01:06 AM These are some good ideas (in this thread, and in some of the other threads i've looked at tonight.)

Connorkimbro, an Emperor like you should already know this true fact from a long time now

[Il principe]

In respond to Mr Fun:

"Where's the difficulty or inconvenience? I could quickly tell if a city would overlap or not when I plan to settle a new city."

It's not a problem when you only want to place one new city, but when I have just scouted a large island or continent I always check how many cities that piece of land can accomodate and what the best way is to arrange them (concerning resources and strategic locations). When you're doing a jigsaw with let's say 8 cities and then you're forced to temporarily do something else it's quite annoying to have to start over again.

Furthermore the suggested blueprint feature could also serve as a reminder: that you were planning to colonise a certain region, because of some strategic reason. Sometimes I am not able to continue a game for quite some time and then I tend to forget my plan for world domination.

[SerapisIV]

Il principe, for your blueprint idea, an extension of the name-feature could be used. If the name-feature could be adapted for easier use. Its a feature that SMAC already had, (and was adjusted in patches, so its not a feature they put in and forgot about) and it allowed you to name a tile on the map. By making the naming less final (ie mountain naming), removeable and adding a colored filter of a city-size tile area to its cursor, you get pretty much the feature you want. Its not a very robust planning tool, but its basic and does the job. Even if CivIII doesn't include a blueprint-like feature, if Firaxis makes feature naming removeable, as in a post-note of text, you have a scaled down blueprint for your use.

[Adm.Naismith]

Principe, blueprint is a good concept.
If not implemented as a layer map, we can change it with little flags/banners you can set on main map squares (only visible to you), maybe with few different colours to assign different scope: city placement, square development, strategic point, etc.

Clicking on it you can write/read a short memo (kind of Post-it). Done!


O.T. Principe, your nickname looks Italian: aren't you Italian like me?

------------------
Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant

[Il principe]

SerapisIV and Adm.Naismith thank you for your suggestions. I think your solutions would probably work. Of course I prefer that Firaxis would put it in the game from the start, but unfortunately they do have a tendency to ignore these kind of suggestions from players.
I am afraid that Civ III will only have a couple of small changes compared to SMAC and Civ II. It seems that Firaxis is mostly focusing on diplomacy, stacking and improvement of unit graphics.
The kind of small features like a blueprint feature or "a player adjustable face generator" for the computer players and governors really add value to a game for me and probably a lot of other players. Ironically because it's not a lot of work to make these features they aren't seen as a valuable add-on.
Well let's just hope for the best.

Adm.Naismith actually I am not Italian. Machiavelli inspired me. I am from the Netherlands.

[Maccabee2]

quote: Originally posted by Ilkuul on 04-10-2001 03:06 PM What I would also find very useful would be a city radius overlay whereby you could click on a planned central tile for a new city, and with one further click (or hotkey) produce a transparent overlay on the map outlining the area that would be within the new city's radius. (In Civ2 terms, a 21-tile outline centred on the tile you clicked.) Maybe some people can 'see' this easily in their mind's eye, but I've always struggled to do so ever since Civ1...

Ilkuul, your'e not alone. I always find myself going a little wall-eyed trying to picture the city-tile shifting around the map. Bravo Zulu for your idea. Keep thinking outside the box!

[stonewall]

quote: Originally posted by Ilkuul on 04-10-2001 03:06 PM I think this is a great idea. I especially like the notion of being able to place future cities on a blueprint overlay, and then instruct your settler to go out and make this happen! (Though if settlers are being automated to found cities, you would also have to find a way to protect them from enemy attack...) What I would also find very useful would be a city radius overlay whereby you could click on a planned central tile for a new city, and with one further click (or hotkey) produce a transparent overlay on the map outlining the area that would be within the new city's radius. (In Civ2 terms, a 21-tile outline centred on the tile you clicked.) Maybe some people can 'see' this easily in their mind's eye, but I've always struggled to do so ever since Civ1...

I agree completely!

[Akron]

quote: Originally posted by SerapisIV on 04-10-2001 04:11 PM A worker queue? I like it. [This message has been edited by SerapisIV (edited April 10, 2001).]

BRILLIANT!!!

Having some sort of worker queue would cut down micromanagement tremendously, especially later in the game. You could just click on a worker, go into a queue mode, then click on the squares you want want to put a certain improvement on in order. If you forget what the worker is doing, then you could just click on the worker and the planned improvements would appear on the map in blue or some other color with a arrows showing the sequence. This could get confusing but it still would be a great tool. Maybe also have settlers automatically move to planned city sites when finished? How about being able to specify when you want to rush buy a certain improvement in a queue? Micromanagement takes away the fun in the game and if it can be reduced that will be a major plus.