"I would like to see Disasters (tornadoes, earthquakes) that randomly damage cities slightly. This could be done through AI moves. I hope it's not overdone like Sim City but would be a nice feature. Thanks for your time in reading this."

1) a random (or cheated by AI) way to add some trouble on a winning player, just to spice up the difficulties (SMAC appears to work so). Usually it triggers the "load last saved game" into angry players.

2) a better historical reproduction of trouble a Civ must survive, like any detailed geographical limit (e.g. movement limited by mountains, food production limited by terrain, etc.) It can be good, but it can be more difficult to code into program and adding some more difficult the players will find unnecessary (too high steps in learning curve).

3) an enhancement of model (2), where you put the enphasis on disaster effect inducted by player actions: desertification by bad use of ground, local or global climate change by industrialization or main change in terrain (canals diggings, dams building, too much concrete -roads&buildings-).

We already have some in Civ and SMAC: pollution by industries, population number, transports, nuclear fallout; global warming with seas raise and rain local change by ground modification (in SMAC only).

If you divide the disasters in "long term" and "short term", I will love any long term disaster that I must cope by strategic decisions, I can live with limited disaster I can contain and limit in effects by proper prevention (founding fire service, emergency team, proper hospital infrastructure etc.).

I'll simply reload a save every time a random disaster will really crush my balanced Civ
(no, I won't switch off them by start, I'll keep any minor effect on me and all the major on AI Civs ).

quote: Originally posted by Napoleon I on 05-22-2000 01:41 AM Nice idea but we would need to make sure that it is accurately represented. That is, I don't want to have a tsunami hit a city that is far inland, or have a plague affect an island city.

Tsunami good, plague bad. England and the plague, anyone?

quote: I think that plagues and diseases should be dependent on the amount of trade your city generates (more people coming and going) and on the facilities that it has (sewer system, hospital, etc.) Meanwhile earthquakes should occur among "fault lines" generated with the map at places where major tectonic plates collide.

Good thinking. Subtle changes to the chance of disease which may lower population or reduce production for a turn or two. Higher trade increases risk, sanitation lowers it...

quote: Otherwise I would love to see the idea implemented as one of the game options "Enable/Disable Natural Disasters" as long as it doesn't add too much programming overhead.

I see it in the game setup the same way Barbarians are handled. An option to have none, some, lots, or sodomy level.

Urban Ranger, if I'm trying to pile up cash (energy) in SMAC, then the game drain me more than two out of three of my money, I simply reload, upgrade some units (usually I wait until new units are far better than current, but in such case I hurry up things) and hurry production on cities.
Next turn the "disaster" will only get few energy points

Maybe disasters are computed in advance, but apart from "Ironman" mode I can usually avoid any silly effect with easy.

I'm not telling I cheat every time (what's the point? It's only a game!), I usually keep any event that remove improvements on terrain (farms, trees, solar panel) as fungus grow, and reasonable loss of units and citizen by plague or mindworms.

I simply refuse to accept really unrealistic effects (where are suddendly going all my money, down a black hole?) or AI cheating into aiming at my best cities just for sake of mask how poor AI is in developong its Civilization.

And do I mention when AI faction stole my units by probe WHEN I WAS on a level it mustn't be possible (like fundamentalism)?