My Implimentation of Special units.

[markusf]

This is how i would impliment special Units & buildings. Each city is allowed to only have 1 special unit in it. If he is attacked by another civ he is captured and gets transported to the nearest city of the attacking civ and that civ gets his bonus's

1. The first civ to have over 500 beakers a turn would get a "Newton" this newton would appear as a unit in the game and give all your cities a 20% science bonus. Once one civ has him no other civ can.

2. The first civ to have over 500 cash a turn would get a "Tax collector" this collector would appear as a unit in the game and give all your cities a 20% tax bonus. Once one civ has him no other civ can get it.

3. When you win a war and you might get a random general. This general comes with a special unit ie rommel might come with a panzer. As long as that general is in your posession you can make his special unit.

4. The more trade pacts you have with other civs etc gives you a chance every turn to get a diplomacy unit. ie some famous leader. this leader would give you 10% bonus on all trade routes to other civs. Or numerous other bonus's

5. 5 Star General could increase the defence rating of units in that army by 1.

6. You can also get units that allow you to build a cleaner nuclear plant, or more effective police station, or a more effective temple, chapel, bank etc.


You get 5 minor tech choices to make your civ distinct. In each category your only allowed to pick

one item

1.
increase attack strength of ground units by 1
increase attack strength of naval units by 1
increase attack strength of airforce units by 1

2.
increase defence of ground units by 1
increase defence of naval units by 1
increase defence of airforce units by 1

3.
increase the movement of ONE of your units types by 1. ie settlars move 2 squares, or tanks 4.

4.
increase total science, tax, luxery or production output by 10%,

5.
Allowed to see all other players F2,F1 F5 screens. Basically you get to choose if you want to see another players buildings(F5), what his army is like(F2 currenty), or what he is currently building(F1). This would be a special skill for a civ, and once you meet another civ you have to pick which one of these you want.

[This message has been edited by markusf (edited May 08, 2001).]

[Dienstag]

Neat ideas... It sounds like Firaxis is already thinking of neat things to do with military leaders. I don't like the Newton/taxman ideas as you've stated them. This isn't very realistic, and I personally don't think it would be very fun.
For example, assuming the Mongols were ahead in science and they get a Newton, how realistic is that? And to avoid getting totally left in the dust by Mongol technology, other Civs would have to scramble to steal Newton -- kinda like German rocket scientists after WWII but on a bigger and more personal scale. And if you have a Newton, why not a Pythagoras, Galileo, Tesla, Einstein, Bohr, Hawking,...and so on?

Also, with the picking a bonus from the five catagories, shouldn't you have to do something to earn that bonus? I'm all for unique Civ's, but i want it to reflect what your civ has done, and also be realistic.

[markusf]

quote: Originally posted by Dienstag on 05-08-2001 06:57 PM For example, assuming the Mongols were ahead in science and they get a Newton, how realistic is that? And to avoid getting totally left in the dust by Mongol technology, other Civs would have to scramble to steal Newton -- kinda like German rocket scientists after WWII but on a bigger and more personal scale. And if you have a Newton, why not a Pythagoras, Galileo, Tesla, Einstein, Bohr, Hawking,...and so on? Also, with the picking a bonus from the five catagories, shouldn't you have to do something to earn that bonus? I'm all for unique Civ's, but i want it to reflect what your civ has done, and also be realistic.

Make it as simple as possible and no simplier.....

Every country that has ever been ahead in science has produced the greatest minds and has always gotten new advances faster then any other civ. i think its very realistic. Also i suppose you could get leaders that would only influence techs in that part of the tech tree. For instance bohr gives 50% bonus to all nuclear and theory tech research. Also the whole point of a game is to provide conflict. Also i think it would be very hard to a civ to grab all the wonders and all the specialists. its either one or the other.....

[Dienstag]

Hi markusf,

My apologies if my tone sounds too critical or negative. I really respect peoples ideas, but I tend to try to point out what could be wrong with them.

Ok, if countries get specialists based on fields they're already ahead in, I suppose that makes sense. I think it is significant, though, that almost everything discovered by Bohr, Newton, and the rest, was pretty much immediately published and known throughout the Western world. So it's pretty hard confining basic scientific knowledge to just one nation. Now, if many civs get The Theory of Gravity as soon as "Newton" discovers it, what good is researching it? I suggest both that basic science ideas quickly spread to other civs, but also that making such a discovery should increase the discovering civ's score. That way you have motivation, and also realsim.
This could work with specific scientists too, making discoveries in that field easier, but I still think that's too complicated. If we use actual scientist names, then either they automatically appear in their respoective countries (which is unfair), or they appear as needed around the world (which I find highly disturbing: e.g. Newton of the Mongols).

Anyway, I care a lot about science and I'd like it done right. I don't know what historical basis there is for "Tax Collectors" but it seems dubious. It may be that a lot of these bonuses can be achieved with out units; and I think there will be plenty of conflict with out trying to kidnap my opponent's scientists.