Contact

[Duddha]

If civs just have contact with another civ I don't think they should be able to communicate when ever they want. Civs should have a unit in contact with another civ to talk with them. Building an embassy would make it possible to communicate at a momments notice. This adds realism to the game and would make it harder for techs and other info to fly around a continent instantly.

[zulu9812]

good idea - I can't imagine the ancient civilizations being as active diplomatically as they are in CivIII

[statusperfect]

This would also make expansionist scouts more useful.

[SomeOneElse]

except that the turns in the ancient age do last decades, so that can account for the time to send emissaries
but in my last game i had an interesting known-world war. everyone except for me on my continent joined sides into two factions and tried to duke it out, all before 500 AD. no one really gained or lost anything, and it did feel unrealistic.

[jsw363]

Yes, this seems a bit unrealistic. Also I think that once you come into contact with a civ, you should have some idea about where their capital is and the surrounding area. I dislike the fact that travelers report back to you about distant lands and wonders, but you have no idea where they are. It would be nice to have some vague notion about other civs locations.

What did you all think about the ability to "swap" contacts with other civs? Isn't that a bit unrealistic as well? I suppose that if you had an embassy set up with the Babylonians that your ambassador would come into contact with all the other ambassadors at some other point. Perhaps this wouldn't be true though if the Egyptians didn't have an embassy in Babylon though.

[dnassman]

Does seem unrealistic but still prefer the idea as it stand. Well at least you can't have any MMP or ROP without embassies established, I believe?