Shipping needs to be added

johncmcleod · May 31, 2003, 18:54

Shipping is something that needs to be added is something to make trade more realistic. Maybe resources that you trade could be loaded up onto ships or something like that. The navy isn't nearly powerful as it should be in Civ3 mainly because in real life if you control the seas you control major trade routes. If you were at war, you could have a Battle of the Atlantic again-submarines all over the seas on the prowl for merchant ships.

What do you guys think?

WarpStorm · May 31, 2003, 19:45

You can blockade shipping now. It's just very hard to accomplish. I would hate to see a step back towards micromanaging trade.

dexters · May 31, 2003, 21:16

Yeah, I don't want to micromanage trade either.

Papa Chubby · May 31, 2003, 21:17

Ahhh warpstorm, micromanaging trade. That sure does bring back fond memories of managing all your caravans in Civ2. Where the Camel was always the burden of beast, they are of course much cooler than Ass's.

As for shipping, don't know, but it would be nice if it would be represented somehow. So the control of the oceans would be more beneficial, but in order to be able to recreate the battle for the Atlantic you would have to go away from the concept of city self-sufficiency.

dexters · May 31, 2003, 21:27

With the currentl build, the AI already has enough to deal with. Making it deal with say, managing transport units would open up a new field in exploits.

I prefer Firaxis deal with some of the ongoing issues with AI's defense of its territory.

marcuspeddle · June 2, 2003, 03:18

CTP2 has a great trade system. Once you establish trade with another civilisation a trade path appears on the map with an icon of the good going back and forth between the cities. To interfere with trade you have to put a unit on the trade route and click 'pirate' or something like that. A very good feature of the game with no micromanaging.

epics · June 2, 2003, 04:48

Anatolia: but in real life ships would avoid getting in contact with those pirates, in CTP2 it's impossible

Daz · June 2, 2003, 08:14

I prefer the good ol' camels. But then again, I am a sucker for micromanagement...

If you add the special recources to that concept.... could be fun....

dexters · June 2, 2003, 14:42

Camels suck.

CrONoS · June 2, 2003, 15:21

Camels Always Rulez!

0bsidi0n · June 2, 2003, 18:19

I hate to be a partypooper, but they looked like llamas to me, even though that doesn't make historical sense. After all, weren't they gray and black? Maybe I havn't seen enough camels...

GodKing · June 2, 2003, 18:24

Camels and LLamas are cousins. Both related.

I think something can be added to make it more realistic and another option to a good game, but I don't like the old camel method of Civ2, nor the trade route that was so easy to pirate in CtP2. GalCiv has a nice way where you actually have to find and capture the trade ship, but I don't think it would work well for Civ3.

monkspider · June 2, 2003, 23:17

I wish naval units could do something, as of now, they are just not very worthwhile.

TheStinger · June 3, 2003, 05:04

Blockading should be made easier

Daz · June 3, 2003, 08:16

Yep. The ship AND its adjacent tiles should be considered blocked for trade. Thus, less ships would be needed to block a port. More realistic IMHO too...

I Am Jeff · June 3, 2003, 17:14

They also need to add trading of other things besides natural resources. Examples could be any manufactured goods. It could be clothing, cars, computers, medicine, etc. The fact of the matter is nations do not only trade natural resources.

Then you could go all out on this and start thinking about adding tariffs to protect a nations industry and as a way to increase a nations income. The trade system in civ3 is poor as compared to the real world and could be greatly improved. You do not nessasarily need to fix it by adding caravans. I believe most trade in the world is NOT done by the government. Thus trade could happen automatically and the resulting tax would be income in your pocket. There are lots of cool things that could be added to improve here.

MattH · June 3, 2003, 20:18

I'm going to plagiarize my self here, this is my post to Spiffor's Naval Warfare Thread:

Trade between civs could be mapped out in trade lines. They would look like those lines that are the borders, contain both civs colors, and connect two cities over water. These lines would be visible to all. An enemy ship over the line would cut off trade (maybe it would have to be there for two turns?). There are two options that I'm thinking of: (1) the ship automatically cuts off trade- not a declaration of war or (2) the ship/civ must declare itself as hostile. A navy and naval combat would be necessary to preserve your interests- just like in RL .

Alas, I have arrived to late. Anatolia has beaten me to the punch.