extensions on COLONIES

[brianshapiro]

colonies should:

when next to sea be able to function as if they had a harbor, so there can be overseas colonies

have a city built in their place through a settler order

there are obviously other interesting things that might be suggested for colonies but would ruin the simplicity of the game . as for harbors on colonies i dont know how this would be done when normally harbors in cities require shields to build but it seems like it definitely should be there.

[Az]

What are colonies?

[Bleyn]

Colonies allow you to harvest resources that are outside the borders of any civilization.

All you have to do is have a worker build a road up to the square(and into?can't remember), then when in that square, one of the worker options is to build a colony. Happens instantly IIRC. You then get that resource.

Be warned, as soon as the colony falls within the borders of ANY civilization, it will disappear immediately and you will NOT get the worker back, even if its your own border that absorbed the resource/colony. Only do this if you are prepared to sacrific the pop. point. Could also be a good use for a captured enemy worker other than adding them to a city.

Also be sure to plant a defensive unit or two on the colony for protection, or it might get pillaged on you.


As for brian's ideas. I agree, harbors would seem nice. Not sure I would agree though. If I'm jumping overseas, I'd want to start with a settler or two. As for the other, I doubt it will happen. I think they made colonies the way they are for a reason. Probably found it a bit unbalancing if you could recover the worker in any fashion. As it is you do have to be willing to write them off.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by Azazel
What are colonies?

Are you kidding? Since when have you been playing civ3?
Anyway, a colony can be thought of as a pop 1 city, built with a worker to access a resource tile that is outside your borbers. A worker creates a colony in the same way a settler creates a city.
Colonies can be thought as a temporary measure used to insure the supply of resources until your empire's borders expand to surround them.

If I think a little more about it, it is no surprising that people do not know about colonies. I think I've never built one. Sometimes the AI builts one, usually after a city is destroyed, but how long does it last? A few turns, at most, until somebody builds a city there.
Colonies are (almost) completely useless.

Edited:
I'm sorry, I haven't seen it that somebody already answered the question. I started my post earlier but ...

[Galvatron]

Originally posted by brianshapiro
colonies should:

when next to sea be able to function as if they had a harbor, so there can be overseas colonies.

This is a very good idea because most of the colonies were located at the sea and concocted to the motherland as oversea colonies. It would not only be realistically but also very beneficial to gaming strategies and would enhance the whole complexity.

[Az]

Are you kidding?

yes. I think that over my gaming time , I've built it like 2 or 3 times. Why I hate colonies? because if they are ingulfed in another civ's cultural expansion, they dissapear. At least, that's what happened to my colonies. When I want to grab a resource ( that's what a colony does, right?! ) I either want to grab it under the nose of my expanding rival, and then , when he builds fully fledged cities, I've got jack, or I want to grab some overseas assets, And then I HAVE to build a city in order to build a port. In short, There is no operational niche for them in the game . At least, not for me.

[alva]

All you have to do is have a worker build a road up to the square(and into?can't remember),

upto is enough, when the colony is setup, you get a road aswell.

[Panag]

hi ,

a colony should disband when it came inside the limits of a city , ... not when inside cultural borders , ...

if the colony is in not a single city limit then it should stay (!)

have a nice day

[Duddha]

when next to sea be able to function as if they had a harbor, so there can be overseas colonies

I agree

[SMIFFGIG]

Along with most other good points about Civ3, there also now implementing Colonies into Call To Power 2. Which is very cool

[XarXo]

Colonies are perfect for terrains that can't have cities, but actually only Mountains have this. If FIRAXIS includes glaciar and (yes, as always I said) ANTARCTICA (full of resources) they are pretty useful.

Proposal:

Could be good that you can build some improvements in the colony, so, with walls it evolves in fortress (and delete the fortress option in workers menu), also you can build seaport, barracks, missile silos (you can transport missiles from a city, not build them in a colony) and airport. For build them you have to pay ALWAYS and have a worker inside, more workers = faster construction, this just because colonies DOESN'T have labor force and population (income input).

With a special function of a settler, you can transform a colony into a city. If barbarians capture a colony, they transform it in a barbarian encampment.

A colony is a 1 square terrain border, and doesn't disappear when the borders reach them. You can raze it whenever you want.

Finally, I propose a gold maintaince for every thing built in a terrain (colonies, roads, railroads). If you don't have enough money, they start to disappear.

[Kramsib]

Colonies have 2 main problems.

1º. Overseas colonies.

Sometimes you need resources from other continents, but corruption is to high to support cities there, so colonies are very useful, the problem is, you need a sea trade route, and this is only possible by building a city to connect those colonies with your capital (and of course a harbor).

So colonies should include a port (sea port / airport) ability. If they are conected to sea by road or you have the required knowledge to "fly"you should be enabled to receive those pretty resources. (The new PTW will bring us airfields so they perhaps could be used for this aim).

2º. And the most important. "Soberany over colonies "

You know it guys, you hate it, you are searching for resources, you find them, you create them and then, a f***** civilization extends their cultural borders or put a city absorbing your colony.

Some of you have thought about avoiding it by giving colonies a cultural border, but I think I have a better idea.

If absorbing a colony were considered a declaration of war, other civilizations would think twice about building their cities. Of course you need to be an important civ with enough army to defend them for you to be taken seriusly.

As Mr. Panag say...

Have a nice day.

[Rebel67]

on one of the world maps that i have tried there is a mountain tile in the pacific which has an iron resource on it. there is nothing you can do to get this iron, it just sits there taunting me, so i agree with colonies having ports however they are implimented just so i can get that bloody iron

[Kramsib]

Pig Iron, I think,