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A Few (not so obvious) Questions
Okay, I've played a dozen or so games now, and I've read the manual. Not cover to cover, nor have I memorized every word, but I'm familiar with it. I don't wish to complain in this message (I've done that plenty elsewhere), but I've got some nagging questions:
1) How EXACTLY does pollution work? In a recent game, pollution had an adverse effect on the environment for the first time, changing a single tile from grassland to plains. Is this the normal effect of pollution? Chaning a single tile? And, what is the trigger for this? I mean, I know that pollution is created by cities that are producing alot, but it seemed that this effect happened very early after pollution began appearing on the map compared to all of my other games. Also, does pollution accrue? Let's call a pollution symbol in a city a toxin. Okay, if I've got 4 cities producing 5 toxins each, do I have a net of 20 toxins at the end of the turn? If so, does this carry over into subsequent turns? For example, after 5 turns, have I know accumulated 100 toxins, or is it still just 20 (assuming everything stays the same)? I guess what I'm asking is does the number of polluted tiles on the map determine an environmental change, or is it the number of toxins I produce each turn or produced throught the game?
2) Does improving a tile with a strategic resource alter the chances that the resource will disappear? If so, does it increase or decrease the chances? And does improving a tile with NO resource change the chances that one will suddenly spawn?
3) How do you get the AI to trade fairly? I've heard some suggestions that indicate if you've got a big army, the AI might be intimidated into dealing evenly. Well, if that's been true for some, it ain't been so for me. In my latest game (which permanently died, damnit) I had a HUGE army, mostly of Cavalry, and I could probably have taken a large chunk out of every opponent. The strongest AI's actualy traded better than the weak ones. WTF? And all I really wanted was some more luxuries to launch those beautiful "We love the X day"s.
4) If I've built the Hoover Dam, and then build another plant in a city that's benefiting from the Hoover Dam (not all of them will), does my Hydro Plant in that city stop functioning? I guess what I'm asking is can I fool the computer into giving me the benefits from both a Hydro Plant and a Coal Plant (for example) this way?
5) Non-gameplay question: can you add, subtract, or change the music in anyway? I noticed the mp3's all have titles that suggest the titles must stay the same. I figured that if I wanted I could take any old mp3 and change its name to a Civ3 mp3, and the game would play it just fine. But I want to add some music too. In my opinion, the CivIII music is very good, but there's just not enough of it. Espically that David Sanborn-esque new age thing. Anybody got any suggestions for similar style music?
6) Am I the only one who thinks Expansionist civs should have a few more Wonders that could trigger a golden age? How about making some of the Small Wonders, which don't provide much culture anyway, into Expansionist Wonders? Good, bad, ugly?
7) Is there some way to change the production list to indicate that you've already built a plant? For example, if I've got a Solar Plant in a city and I want to keep it but I've forgotten I've built it, all of the other plants still appear in the production list. What about adding an asterisk after all of the other plants to indicate that you've built a plant in that city and may want to rethink any new plant building plans?
If these topics have been discussed elsewhere, I apologize in advance.
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