Design/implementation New Tile imps

[The Big Mc]

I don’t know about the rest of you but I think the way actoscrap did tile imps borders on laziness.( I know I am lazy but come on )

Right what I am going at is this there a three farming tile imps yet there are five ages What I am proposing is that we re-model the number of tile imps and the way we can use them.

For example I think we need two more tile imps of each type. So we don’t have a gap between the agricultural revelation farm and the genetic one ( which if you look at we have modern farms of large amounts of machinery. The we have hydroponics farms, then we need one more .)

I would also like to sea a separation between shallow seas and deep seas for example a set of shallow sea imps and a set of deep sea imps

I don’t care if this goes historical as long as we get some ideas put up.

[Immortal Wombat]

I think there are enough as it is. But I think that a scroll bar on the Public Works menu would be handy to allow modders to add more than there currently are, should they so wish.

[Gen.Dragolen]

Big MC,

Let me kick in with these ideas:
10000 BC - gathering grains as we find them, simple irrigation, herding animals ?
6000 BC - animal domestication: horse, dogs, (cats?)
4000 BC - animal husbandry small farms with a few animals
2000 BC - grain farming in places like Egypt with single crop fields, animals bred for specific traits, complex irrigation projects, simple wooden plows
1 AD - crop rotation in use in Roman, African, Asian farms
1000 AD - introduction of the iron plow blade - allows farming in heavier soils like in Northern European plain - fields left fallow 1 year in 4
1700 AD - nitrogen fixing crop rotation - 4 crop rotation
1850 AD - Mendel's discovery of plant genetics - creating hybrids
1890 AD - Million acre industrial farms on NA Pairies
1950 AD - Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer
2000 AD - Zero-tillage and dry land farming, drought resistant hybrids - Genetically modified crops

So it looks like to me that we need one farm type for ancient times with simple field design, one for plowed fields with crop rotation colours, a industrial look with single crop fields(?) with silo's and barns, then modern farms with centre pivot irrigation (or rolling line), combines, then the hydroponics. It's a shame that most of the graphical details for each get lost at higher resolutions.

As for the sea, anything shallow ocean should be ship based, where as the deep water developements should look more futuristic like genetic age cities, or like the mining operations in the movie Outland. Guess I better do some sketchs to see what is workable for the level of detail.

The one thing that occurs to me is that the initial undersea mining would be using ROV type miners where as later, it would be an fully automated facility. And geothermal powerplants would definitely be the way to go for an undersea city. Best way I can think of to provide energy on a useful scale. But would that be a tile improvement or a city improvment ?

I'll have to see what I can cobble together.


D.

[Locutus]

It would be nice if modmakers could add more, but currently there are enough as it is. Add much more and PW will become just as much of a micromanagement hell as Civ2/3's settlers/workers.

[SMIFFGIG]

well at least i think we need a different image for each Tile Imp for each era. Which changes (like city styles do)

its kinda dumb building a mine in ancient times, and having that exact same design fully functional in post-modern times. Not only that but you can still build (if u had low PW for example) the ancient design even if your in the diamond era.

Year 2194
News flash
"A new copper mine powered by horses and cart has recently been built in Canterbury"

what im saying is, AT LEAST the image should change with each era

[Maquiladora]

I agree theres already enough to build along with dedicating PW to tile imps but there is a huge gap in some tile imps.

As a better spacing you could move Advanced Farms to Railroad tech or something.

[The Big Mc]

SMIFFGIG is right

I hate updating my farms , mines ,etc

It would be good to add a tile imp manager whose job it is to go around upgrading tile imps. this would satisfy a lot of people.

[george03]

I agree with The Big MC - there should be more tile improvements to fill in the gaps. In my opinion, to have a mine in 5000 BC is redicoulus. Of course there should be some production tile improvement, but then it probably shouldn't be called mine, or at least it should look differently. Also, if you think about it, it's kind of strange to have a mine placed on a mountain without an ore (good) - I mean logically it does not make a lot of sence. These are just some ideas I came up with reagrding this issue.

[Gilgamensch]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
SMIFFGIG is right

I hate updating my farms , mines ,etc

It would be good to add a tile imp manager whose job it is to go around upgrading tile imps. this would satisfy a lot of people.

Yep, upgrading is something I don't like at all, espacially late in the game, but as you can't trust those autofeatures.........

[Gilgamensch]

I also wouldn't mind having more/different TI's. We actually started more with 'mining' woods prior anything else. But we don't have any TI for this. (In other words mine for woods). Yes we have higher production with woods, but not 'enough', could be improved with a TI, me thinks.
For mines:
Again the romans had some quit efficient mines existing (same for the spanish [but 1600 years later]).
So maybe we shall have the mines a little bit more age-depended (including the graphics). More advanced in time and the basic model will become more efficient, just like 2 points per age, but starting with a lower value to offset it. (only as an )

[The Big Mc]

You need to see what they did

Including eroding hillsides with large dams of watter


Remember this thread is not only about adding to the existing types but new types to like canals to move ships over land squares.

[Maquiladora]

Canals would be great.

Forests should have mainly natural production and not commerce, and then have a Forest Mine that gives production and later in the game a Lumber Yard tile imp that gives lots of commerce. Perhaps after the Lumber Yard has been there for so many turns the forest and yard disappear leaving dead soil that needs to be terraformed.

Make Trading Posts and Outlet Malls only buildable on grass and plains.

[SMIFFGIG]

i think like civ2 irrigation should be a prerequisite to farms too (possibly depending on the terrain) e.g. You would HAVE to irragate on desert terrain before you could even think of farming (at least plant farming e.g. vegetables)

[Gilgamensch]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
Forests should have mainly natural production and not commerce, and then have a Forest Mine that gives production and later in the game a Lumber Yard tile imp that gives lots of commerce. Perhaps after the Lumber Yard has been there for so many turns the forest and yard disappear leaving dead soil that needs to be terraformed.

Make Trading Posts and Outlet Malls only buildable on grass and plains.

That was the way I was thinking about, but instead of turning dead, it shall change to plain, if all tiles around are plain, it shall change to desert , kind of showing the bad impact of erosion. Later in the game we could have a forest TI which would bring maybe not so much 'income' but would live the forest intact, this model would be representing 'modern' Lumber-yards, where they replant what has been cutted down. My suggestion would be, that this would be available with university (better studying of natures model )

[Maquiladora]

I think definately make forest productive early on, seeing as theyre not gonna be very commercial in the Ancient era.

I like the idea of simple irrigation, perhaps its necessary to irrigate outwards from fresh water to place farms that arent next to fresh water, but then you could be buggered for the whole game if you havent got a river. Or should i say buggered until you get dry land farms.