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This idea is essential because though it is one idea it adds or fixes many things. For instance it fixes ICS because the main reason people were able to expand so easily in Civ 2 was that it didn't cost them anything to do so.

In the Energy Model that I posted to The List forum, the larger the Civ the more energy resources required to support it. That way ICS theoretically remains possible, but a player would have to have huge amounts of resources. Some features of the model:

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Energy barrels would be stored and controlled globally -- that is, not locally in any one city, but rather in a "STOCKPILE" that would represent the energy reserves of your entire civ. On the game map, there would now be COAL DEPOSITS, OIL FIELDS, and URANIUM DEPOSITS, distinct from any of the previous seeded resources. These new tiles would be capable of producing moderate (coal) to heavy (oil) to HUGE (uranium) amounts of barrels. Another idea might be to vary the amount a player is able to extract by the current level of technology they possess, in addition to the type of resource from which it was originally derived. These geological sites would be seeded proportionately around the map, but not so abundantly that the search for them and the ownership of them wouldn't be extremely competitive.

So, assuming a new Production/Energy relationship, leave the production side with its shields, for now. For the purposes of this model production stays the same. On the new energy side, I've already described where the energy barrels would come from. Now I'll try to suggest where they would go.

Barrels would go to, at your discretion, Trade, Unit Supply, and Transportation.

First, Trade. Very simple. You have two options -- either convert barrels to trade arrows that feed your trade stream (on which your science, tax and luxuries still depend), or trade barrels directly through diplomatic negotiations with another civ -- by the barrel. The latter would add a new layer to diplomacy, and the former a greatly simplified trade stream feature. I.e., where before trade arrows were counted and adjusted per individual tile, now you could create huge masses of trade arrows simply by adjusting a slider in your ENERGY STOCKPILE screen. Great, huh?

Secondly, unit supply. Pre-modern units would require what they have always required to build and maintain -- shields. But to build modern units would require not only shields, but barrels as well. Additionally, maintaining these units now would require ONLY barrels. "Maintaining," in the case of modern units, means supplied via a supply line. Thus, the strategic trade-off of a powerful modern army is its dependency on its supply of energy to make it run. I'll leave it for another model to decide which units need supply lines and which don't, and what the rules of supply lines might be. Suffice to say, your ENERGY STOCKPILE were empty, and your last tank across the world was dependent on 1 barrel per turn coming from your last oil field, losing possession of that field would cut off your tank's supply. On the next turn that tank would find itself reduced to the defensive equivalent of a phalanx. The turn after that its attack would be that of a militia. And it wouldn't move. Cool, huh?

Lastly, Transportation -- the building, using, and maintenance of a transportation infrastructure -- also consumes your energy barrels. This excludes pre-modern roads. Movement along these roads is a function of the unit and its own supply of energy, if needed. It DOES mean, however, that barrels would be needed to fund the upgrading of MODERN roads (increased trade and movement benefits), ALL rails, and travel by rail. As in pre-modern roads, unit travel by air and sea would be a function of those units' supply.

So, there is now a direct link between your railroad infrastructure and your available energy. How would railroads work? When traveling by rail, the unit(s) are assumed to be traveling by train. Their normal supply cost, if any, doesn't count while that unit is moving on a train (along a railroad). Instead, there is an energy cost for operating that train. And whether there are one, two or ten units on the train, the cost is the same. No longer can a player willy-nilly build railroads to their heart's content and cross their continent 10 times in a turn without an opportunity cost somewhere else. Of course they can if they want, IF they got the gas, and IF they choose to spend it that way. But the availabity of resources found on the game map, and the cost of processing them into barrels, SHOULD require a great deal of strategic skill to maneuver oneself into such a position that he could afford to waste valuable energy going sightseeing on his railroad. Too, railroads will have to be planned carefully and economically. Your ability to begin construction projects would be dependent completely on your energy stockpile. So, to be clear: when a tank is moving across grassy plains from Kansas City to Los Angeles, it is expending 1 barrel per its maximum movement, 3 squares, over that terrain. But when that tank moves onto a railroad, the train it is on consumes, say, 10 barrels per tile, but there remains no limit to its maximum movement, save the player's energy reserves (btw, numbers herein don't represent anything more than my own crude guesses at ratios). Needless to say, railroads would not function if there were not enough fuel in the stockpile.

To offset this choice, MODERN ROADS, or HIGHWAYS, could be introduced to the game. This would offer a medium alternative between pre-modern roads and rail, wherein there would be a "highway maintenence" cost added to a unit's normal movement supply cost. It would be FAR less than rail travel, but the distance traveled per turn, though greater than normal, would be limited. Certain technology upgrades would be linked to an increased ability to move, or a decreased barrel cost to move the same distance -- i.e., future train travel might cost much less after the discovery of Atomic Power (allowing for URANIUM MINES), and subsequently Fusion might allow for a sharp decreases in the cost of rail travel. A player presumably would have to have at least one Uranium mine feeding his energy stockpile to get this effect.

I believe this model will enhance other areas of the game as well. Already I can see how it would effectively eliminate the problem known as "I.C.S.", or "Infinite City Sleaze," that strategy of overwhelming opponents with innumerable small cities. Players who have over-expanded their empire in earlier centuries will find the energy demands of modern military units and transportation to be cost prohibitive over such great distances. Unless they have the barrels they will find, as the cost of infrastructure and defense rises, their borders will shrink rapidly as more balanced nations take them over. The wise player will thus never build beyond their projected ability to support the energy demands of their infrastructure. This solution has the virtue of imposing the new economics of the game world as a cure for I.C.S., rather than creating false penalties. I believe the ONLY reason players were able to get away with I.C.S. in the past is because ENERGY was not modeled in the game.

In summary, energy is in fact, as we know, the currency of not only war, but peace. All infrastructure depends on it. It is distinct from, though married to, production. I hope this leads to some useful discussions here, and with the Civ 3 design team.

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Put energy resources into the game, as distinct from production resources. Few things would have as much benefit to other features as a simple Energy model. Energy resources could be depicted as BARRELS, where production resources would remain SHIELDS.

Energy could be derived from coal, oil, uranium, wind, solar and water, depending on your current level of technology. The map would seed these Special Energy Resources according to their energy yield potential. E.g., the more profitable a single resource is, the less frequently it appears on the map. Perhaps Uranium, which might yield the most barrels per site, would be the hardest to find.

The use of Energy in the game would be in combination with production shields to create modern units. Some units, like battleships, could not be built without HUGE volumes of energy barrels, and low-yield resources like coal would not be enough. The balance of the game should dictate that building a unit like a battleship, and supporting it, perhaps via a supply line, probably requires that the player locate, secure and exploit oil. Uranium better yet.

Various areas of the game that would be effected:

Trade - for players who missed the exploration and resource grab;
Diplomacy - trading energy, commoditites, land negotiation, etc;
Transportation - require each road tile and highway tile to consume energy, rail tiles as well -- should no longer be free, but much cheaper;
Exploration - new feature: locating resource deposits;
Technology Tree - discovery needed before able to locate/use resource;
ICS - makes it cost more to have more, thereby helping to restrict unbridled expansion;
Combat - vis a vis unit supply;
Unit Supply - energy is the coin of the realm here, how it is disbursed via supply is up to the supply model;
Land Control - necessitates the need to control resources;
City Management - possibly, depending on city resource model and how energy is disbursed;
Game Interface - energy "barrels," or other icon, now tracked alongside production shields;
Map Tiles - new tiles for Special Resources;

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An energy resource model could and should be implemented in Civ 3, as distinct from the current production resource model in Civ 2. Where production resources would remain as SHIELDS, energy resources could be depicted as BARRELS.

Energy could be derived from animal power, wood, water, wind, coal, oil, uranium, and solar, depending on your current level of technology. The map would seed certain Special Energy Resources according to their energy yield potential. E.g., the more profitable the resource is to exploit, the less frequently it would appear on the map. Perhaps Uranium, which might yield the most barrels per site of all, would be the hardest to find.

The use of Energy in the game would be in combination with production shields to create units. Some units, like battleships, could not be built without HUGE volumes of energy barrels, the kind of volume a lower-yield resource like coal couldn't begin to provide. The balance of the game should dictate that building a unit like a battleship, and supporting its movement (see below), would require that the player locate, secure and exploit a resource with no lower yield ratio than oil. It is suggested the production model be changed such that one energy barrel would now be needed per shield to build. This could be modified by certain improvements and wonders. Any ratios suggested here are of course subject to practical testing.

Various areas of the game that would be effected:

Trade and Trade Routes - first, trading energy or buying and selling it outright will help players who missed the exploration and resource grab; secondly, even those who succeed in controling resources should have to initiate trade routes (made instantly with a small fee) from their oil producing colony to their production heartland. It should therefore be possible to make a blockade against an enemy. This would finally give players a reason to have a navy - to protect their own energy trade routes while disrupting their enemy's.

Diplomacy - includes negotiating trades of energy barrels, resource rich land, the outright buying and selling of energy barrels as mentioned above.

Transportation - The game would require each road tile and highway tile to consume energy barrels, thereby adding a strategic cost to unchecked city expansion; rail tiles should be free to maintain, but movement on them would now cost a certain amount of energy (see "Unit Movement" below).

Exploration - a new game feature: locating resource deposits.

Technology Tree - discovery is needed before the player is able to locate/use a resource.

ICS - it will cost more to have more infrastructure, thereby helping to restrict unbridled expansion.

Unit Movement - a new movement model whereby modern units consume energy barrels to move; on undeveloped terrain moving one space would require one barrel of energy, so a tank moving three spaces across a field would require 3 energy barrels. This cost would be modified by, going highest cost to lowest, road, highway and rail -- for instance, a tank moving 11 spaces on a highway might require 3 energy barrels, where a railroads would require either much less or a fixed amount of barrels as a "fee", while a stealth fighter flying 11 spaces through the air would require 11 energy barrels.

Land Control - necessitates the need to explore, control and defend resources.

Game Interface - energy "barrels," or another icon, would now be tracked alongside production shields.

Map Tiles - new tiles for Special Resources.

Early Energy Sources

oxen ranch (grass and plains, animal power, greatest energy production)
lumber jack (forests, uses wood, high energy barrel production)
mills (river tiles, uses water, medium energy barrel production)
wind mill (hills, uses wind, medium energy barrel production)

Later Energy Sources

open pit uranium mine (uranium squares, greatest energy barrel production)
oil well (oil squares, high energy barrel production)
coal mine (coal squares, medium energy barrel production)
dam (river tiles, medium energy barrel production)
solar panels (desert tiles, low energy barrel production)
wind power plants (hills, low energy barrel production)

Pollution - energy barrels should be the sole determinant of pollution; energy barrels might produce pollution on a one-to-one per barrel basis, but increased technology would lower this amount.

Overall Impact

Energy barrels would now be needed for production - i.e., you can't process shields without using energy barrels. Thus, no matter how many shields per turn your city collects, if it doesn't have energy barrels it cannot apply those shields to production. Before factories it would take one energy barrel to use one shield. As factories are built the amount of shields utilized per energy barrel would go up.

It is suggested that at some point a new advancement would make it possible for shields to be turned into energy barrels - such as synthetic fuels produced by germany at the end of WWII. Perhaps it would take two shields to make one energy barrel.

A suggested New Wonder - "OPEC," would increase oil production by 1.5 times per square and leech 1/4 of energy barrels produced from oil squares belonging to other civs.

Where shields might well continue to be locally gathered by each city, energy barrels could be collected from developed resource tiles in colonies within or outside your civ's borders, sent via an unobstructed supply route (abstracted on the game map) to your civ, where the cost of national infrastructure is taken off the top and the remainder is disbursed to each city to be processed with shields for production.

Excess barrels would go into individual city reserves, located in each city, the capacity for which would be equal to 10 times that city's population (before modifiers, which might take it up to 15 energy barrels per citizen). Reserves would be used to fund movement of units from that city (if applicable), and then to make up for any shortfalls in future production.

Balance

High production resource sites should be rare, and it should take a great deal of energy barrels to support a large civ's needs. If one civ gets extraodinarily lucky and manages to gain a site that produces copious amounts of energy barrels (i.e., several uranium sites together), limiting the storage capacity in each city would check them from being able to build an insurmountable stockpile.