How about the icebergs that can break off from the polar ice caps. The more global warming there is, the more bergs are formed. They have "hit points" and will lose hit points like a helicopter, but only if they move towards the equator.

Ships can run into the bergs, and have movies made about the incident later ( - Titanic). But also, in the modern era, you'll be able to use a sea transport to drag an iceberg to a town that has, say more than 5 desert squares, and you'll be able to instantly increase population or something (people are so happy to see the water that they'll want to, um, celebrate ).

EDIT: doh! I left out the most obvious benefit of dragging an iceberg to a desert town - you can instantly convert a few of the squares to plains or something.

Hehe, I know it's pretty pointless, but it'll be *cool*.

DOGSLEDS (a basic transport unit with a haulage capacity of one)

ALPINE TROOPS

NUCLEAR SUBMARINE (A new class of submarine which, beside this ability, would be stronger and faster than a normal sub)

ICEBREAKER (A large ship which, when stacked with other units, can take those units over the ice)

quote: Not too sure about the trading icebergs - "would you like ten billion billion ice cubes in exchange for my caravan full of gold?"

UltraSonix, you make me ROTFL

Seriously now, that list of iceberg use is a bit silly, IMHO. While I agreed on bad terrain able to damage units a bit, I think that on a CIV 3 scale (of time and distances) units are division or naval groups: not realistic they sink on breaking ice or by iceberg crash!

More important, because all the icebergs and polar caps suggestion find a useful place in game, travel on ice zone must have some pratical and realistic use.
If CIV 3 will not have a real spherical map, also flying over poles will be impossible, let alone a way to risk our units.

ice bergs as units ? as trade goods.... oh man ....

*Adds sawdust the the iceberg*

Just joking. However, icebergs are an interesting concept, it could add realism to the game and could become a key part of strategy...

No, no, no....

You have to freeze the people in the sawdust/iceberg.

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quote: Originally posted by Sir Shiva on 09-23-2000 05:52 AM Pointless, but it'd be pretty fun.. You could drag a ton of icebergs to somewhere around a coastal city and watch potential attacker go down...

Or you could tow some icebergs in front of an opposing city's harbor. Or even better, a Mine Unit. The Mine Unit has a movement of 0. It can be moved around by allied transports, though once activated it is harmful to both allied and enemy units. Units trying to move through the mine unit recieve damage, though they -are- able to move into the square occupied by the Mine, and past it. Mines unit never recieve damage, but their attack does decrease to reflect the fact that some mines already exploded.

An iceberg? This is Civ 3 we're talking about.

Things Civ deals with
Rise and fall of empires
Diplomacy
War
Trade
City construction
Wonder construction
Spread of technology
Running an empire

I don't see how icebergs fit in any of these categories, or any category that Civ has come to be. An iceberg is a thing...you can't DRAG an iceberg anywhere. It's not a unit. You can't trade with it. You can't move it...I can see it being a reason for losing a ship, but only as a message (Our ship has been lost due to hitting an iceberg)

I think it's neccesary to concentrate on what the game is, and not tiny details that have no consequence in the game. Honestly think about it. With all the micromanagement that exists - do your eally want to be worried about Icebergs? Buying, selling, building, moving, dodging???

Sorry

Notice the word in the title - "novel"? It's just a small thing that the designers could put into the game - I, for one, would think it's cool to drag a few icebergs around!

(Beside, I think the rise and fall of empires thing should not be bothered by Firaxis - but that's another matter for when the issue resurfaces...)