New Units

[Deathwalker]

I always believ that trade should of had a automatic unit that would transport recources and food. This way you and intercept it and steel it like in real life

[TriMiro]

Daniel Frappier you have to try MOO2. It is a lot more complicated than Civ and many people did not like this, but with some patience you get used to it and it is a very good game (the best of its kind I would say).

[Reinhard-Baer]

A nice idea. Many countries ship grain around the world mostly in third world countries. Without these aids the world would be less inhabited than it is now. And why would the AI have no clue how to do this? I mean we’re in a century where you can program more than a nintendo game. I think it must be able for a so called corporation to implement such a feature and teach the AI how to do it. An AI in these days should be able of a little bit more than just declaring war and moving a unit from A to B and in the end being conquered

[PLATO]

Internal trade is now determined by road networks with one source supplying all connected cities. The AI is able to determine which cities are connected and which are not. This is an easy way to handle this situation. Should Firaxis wish, they could develop an upgrade (not a patch) that would make internal trade a more interesting endeavor. For example, the creation of a Granary could enable a city to trade excess food for excess shield production. The creation of a markertplace could enable resource for shield trade.
Etc...

I believe that the food question is not one of new units, but rather one of new programming. Perhaps Wilhelm was right that this would be a different game, but I think that it actually be a more advanced version of the same game.

The only problem that I see is that the level of micromanagement can already be so great and this would only add to it.

[Cruddy]

Just my opinion, but I reckon Firaxis made the right decision in axing the Caravan and Freight units. Not being able to trade food to needy cities is a minor niggle, but you can always build lots of size 2 cities in Forest Tundra terrain to make use of the space - I use these cities just to make extra commerce and research(marketplaces, banks, libraries, etc) NEVER new units.

It comes down to this for me - cities are more individual under Civ3, rather than being the pretty standard items in Civ2. It takes a bit more thought to get the best out of your start position, and for me, it's just more challenging...

As to the "super producer cities in mountains" argument - there could be limits installed on moving food, but like I said, I think Firaxis made the right call here...