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if you recall your foriegn minister from civ2 (and ignore the banana fettish) you will recall a great screen full of information.
if you look at civ3's, you will notice a lack of basic information.
here are my ideas on how to fix the foriegn minister.
Forget the Web
People may like to look at the pretty leader portraits before dealing with other civs (and again staring at them), but it really serves no purpose. Using the small [D] button on the right side of the screen pops up a list of all the civs and their treaty status with you. i'd also like to see the attitude of the civ there.
Bring Back The Intelligence Screen
You should also be able to right-click on any of the civs in that list and bring up an "intelligence screen" ala civ2. you should be able to see all the techs the civ has, what they're researching, a list of their cities, everything civ2 had. of course you'd need an embassy for that, and the spy network could somehow enhanse that. You shouldn't have to go into diplomacy to find out what techs / how much $$ someone has. this will be KEY in MP, because warring civs may not talk to you, and you might want to keep tabs on them.
Find the Original Civ 2 Foriegn Advisor with a Bananna that says "KruX" on it
Hey, i needed a little humor somewhere in here, didn't i?
moving on to the Military Advisor.
Make it determine the Technological Strength of armies
this topic has been ranted about for months. the SIZE of the military doesnt matter if my opponent has 5 spearmen to every tank i have (unless the opponent is a cheating AI, of course). Every unit should have some sort of point value associated with it, for example, warriors are worth 1, and Panzers are worth 40, or something. hat way 1 panzer is equal to 40 warriors in terms of determing hwo powerful your military is. this could also be useful in AI decision making.
Bring back the casuality List
(from an older thread, posted by me)
IMHO, you could make it so it's groupd by location on a given turn.
example: the battle fought in 200 AD near Rome
click that and it lists all the units that fought an enemy unit near rome on that turn.
things it could include would be an icon of each unit (firaxis loves it's graphics), rankings (elite etc) any promotions given, the HP levels of both, and of course the victor.
now on to the Domestic Advisor, or rather, Domestic NAG
Sorting by the "Producing" Column
i'll never understand why Firaxis chose nto to allow this, but when you go into the domestic advisor screen you can sort by everything about a city except what it's producing. simply put, allow it.
SMAC-esque "Summary" Box
I'm not sure what it's official name was, but in SMAC there was a little box that had all the messages (civil disorder, etc) incase you missed them. i miss a lot fo messages in civ, and if i'm playing MP i'll probably be watching tv / doing other things when it's not my turn. i KNOW i'll miss more. this box is KEY.
i have no other problems with her
i'm sure someone else can find a few.
next, the Trade Advisor.
Foriegn Trades
i'm not sure wether this should go in the foriegn minister stuff or here, so i just put it here for no reason. You should be able to pick a civ and see all of their exports. I want to know if the Romans are selling my enemies oil. It would greatly effect world diplomacy. Yuo would need an embassy to view this, of course.
More Useful "Advice"
Let's fact it Firaxis, the "Advice" she spits out is utter bullplop. "We should Acquire More Resource Luxuries", thank you ms. obvious. Useful advice would be "There are silks near Leipzig, build a road network there", or, "The Romans might undersell the Egyptians for the Rubber you're buying". The latter would have to be determined by varying conditions of which i am unsure of. What makes the AI sell you goods for less? attitude? suitation in the game?
Use the Box Mentioned In the Domestic Nag Stuff
When the Romans acquire a source of Uranium within their borders, i want to know about it, and that box could be very helpful. Infact, as it stands now, you dont even know what goods a civ has unless you see their map, or have a surplus of a good they dont have. Also, the box could be used for rades of resources (ie, "The Romans Now Import Oil from the Greeks), combing this suggestion with the previous ones.
ah, the Cultural Advisor.
Assimilation Warning
every city should have 2 bars, the current one (culture build up) and a new one, "Risk of Revolting". It would have to be determined by a bunch of factors, namely according to the bordering civ. The total cultures of both civs would have to be compared, the cultures of bordering cities, the whole thing. You guys are the pros here, think up an algorithm.
Sorting
for some reason you cannot sort the list in the Cultural Advisor as in the Domestic Advisor. It would be nice if you could alphabetize the list, at least. It appears to just list the cities in the order of their founding, and with conquered civs, it gets confusing when you see London, Rome, Athens, Berlin... in no particular order.
Finally, the Science Advisor.
Make it LEARN, and build on that
i know this is a lot to ask, but i really have no problems with the current system. I'd rather you make the AI learn (my tactis and whatnot, to be a mroe efficient fighting machine), but the Science Advisor could employ similiar tactics. It could look at the current suitation from the other advisors, and base some advice that people could use. for example "we have a lot of size 12 cities, perhaps we should go for Sanitation", or "our people are unhappy, dive for Theology", or something to that effect.
i really have no problems as it stands now.
i hope you read this Firaxis, and take it as suggestions, not whining. This community is very supportive of your efforts, despite the whiners (myself included). We admire the way you listen to your customers.
good luck and thank you for reading.
PS: in 4 years i'll be out of college and lookign for a job. maybe then instead of telling you how to do your job, i'll be doing it myself
if you look at civ3's, you will notice a lack of basic information.
here are my ideas on how to fix the foriegn minister.
Forget the Web
People may like to look at the pretty leader portraits before dealing with other civs (and again staring at them), but it really serves no purpose. Using the small [D] button on the right side of the screen pops up a list of all the civs and their treaty status with you. i'd also like to see the attitude of the civ there.
Bring Back The Intelligence Screen
You should also be able to right-click on any of the civs in that list and bring up an "intelligence screen" ala civ2. you should be able to see all the techs the civ has, what they're researching, a list of their cities, everything civ2 had. of course you'd need an embassy for that, and the spy network could somehow enhanse that. You shouldn't have to go into diplomacy to find out what techs / how much $$ someone has. this will be KEY in MP, because warring civs may not talk to you, and you might want to keep tabs on them.
Find the Original Civ 2 Foriegn Advisor with a Bananna that says "KruX" on it
Hey, i needed a little humor somewhere in here, didn't i?
moving on to the Military Advisor.
Make it determine the Technological Strength of armies
this topic has been ranted about for months. the SIZE of the military doesnt matter if my opponent has 5 spearmen to every tank i have (unless the opponent is a cheating AI, of course). Every unit should have some sort of point value associated with it, for example, warriors are worth 1, and Panzers are worth 40, or something. hat way 1 panzer is equal to 40 warriors in terms of determing hwo powerful your military is. this could also be useful in AI decision making.
Bring back the casuality List
(from an older thread, posted by me)
IMHO, you could make it so it's groupd by location on a given turn.
example: the battle fought in 200 AD near Rome
click that and it lists all the units that fought an enemy unit near rome on that turn.
things it could include would be an icon of each unit (firaxis loves it's graphics), rankings (elite etc) any promotions given, the HP levels of both, and of course the victor.
now on to the Domestic Advisor, or rather, Domestic NAG
Sorting by the "Producing" Column
i'll never understand why Firaxis chose nto to allow this, but when you go into the domestic advisor screen you can sort by everything about a city except what it's producing. simply put, allow it.
SMAC-esque "Summary" Box
I'm not sure what it's official name was, but in SMAC there was a little box that had all the messages (civil disorder, etc) incase you missed them. i miss a lot fo messages in civ, and if i'm playing MP i'll probably be watching tv / doing other things when it's not my turn. i KNOW i'll miss more. this box is KEY.
i have no other problems with her
i'm sure someone else can find a few.next, the Trade Advisor.
Foriegn Trades
i'm not sure wether this should go in the foriegn minister stuff or here, so i just put it here for no reason. You should be able to pick a civ and see all of their exports. I want to know if the Romans are selling my enemies oil. It would greatly effect world diplomacy. Yuo would need an embassy to view this, of course.
More Useful "Advice"
Let's fact it Firaxis, the "Advice" she spits out is utter bullplop. "We should Acquire More Resource Luxuries", thank you ms. obvious. Useful advice would be "There are silks near Leipzig, build a road network there", or, "The Romans might undersell the Egyptians for the Rubber you're buying". The latter would have to be determined by varying conditions of which i am unsure of. What makes the AI sell you goods for less? attitude? suitation in the game?
Use the Box Mentioned In the Domestic Nag Stuff
When the Romans acquire a source of Uranium within their borders, i want to know about it, and that box could be very helpful. Infact, as it stands now, you dont even know what goods a civ has unless you see their map, or have a surplus of a good they dont have. Also, the box could be used for rades of resources (ie, "The Romans Now Import Oil from the Greeks), combing this suggestion with the previous ones.
ah, the Cultural Advisor.
Assimilation Warning
every city should have 2 bars, the current one (culture build up) and a new one, "Risk of Revolting". It would have to be determined by a bunch of factors, namely according to the bordering civ. The total cultures of both civs would have to be compared, the cultures of bordering cities, the whole thing. You guys are the pros here, think up an algorithm.
Sorting
for some reason you cannot sort the list in the Cultural Advisor as in the Domestic Advisor. It would be nice if you could alphabetize the list, at least. It appears to just list the cities in the order of their founding, and with conquered civs, it gets confusing when you see London, Rome, Athens, Berlin... in no particular order.
Finally, the Science Advisor.
Make it LEARN, and build on that
i know this is a lot to ask, but i really have no problems with the current system. I'd rather you make the AI learn (my tactis and whatnot, to be a mroe efficient fighting machine), but the Science Advisor could employ similiar tactics. It could look at the current suitation from the other advisors, and base some advice that people could use. for example "we have a lot of size 12 cities, perhaps we should go for Sanitation", or "our people are unhappy, dive for Theology", or something to that effect.
i really have no problems as it stands now.
i hope you read this Firaxis, and take it as suggestions, not whining. This community is very supportive of your efforts, despite the whiners (myself included). We admire the way you listen to your customers.
good luck and thank you for reading.
PS: in 4 years i'll be out of college and lookign for a job. maybe then instead of telling you how to do your job, i'll be doing it myself
).
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