Öjevind Lång

Yesterday, I played Civilization II for the first time in years. I did not
finish the game, but I had lots of fun. Though my experience confirmed how
superior Civ IV is to earlier versions of Civ, there were some things in Civ
II that I very much should want to see return. They are as follows:

1. The Council. I want it back! One of the funniest items ever in any Civ
version.

2. Some of the music, especially the wonderful "The Worlds of Jules Verne"
and the tune that was around even in the very first Civ and which then
signified both barbarians and Aztecs. There is also a rather menacing tune
(in a muted way) which I believe belongs to the post-nuclear Holocaust
scenario. That one could be used for similar purposes again, and not only in
a scenario.

3. The complete absence of a mad rush to grab as much land as possible. I
realize that that was introduced in Civ III (and maintained in Civ IV at a
somewhat less frantic pace) because in Civ II, much land remained unoccupied
(and hence barbarian) until the end of the game. But that could be solved by
having minor civilizations; they could start to evolve over time, gradually
replacing barbarians. They should be impossible to assimilate, thought those
so inclined could subject them and turn them into colonies or
"protectorates" - at a considerable and permanent economical cost, and with
a finite risk of revolt. This would be kept apart from the vassal state
arrangement, which involves "real" civilizations. Of course, in order to
keep the balance of the game, the minor civs should not be able to evolve
into full civilizations that keep expanding. There might be a maximum of 3
cities for each of them, something like that. Think the Third World, minor
powers, Switzerland and other small neutral countries.

4. The wonder movies. With the exception of the one for the Great Wall, the
Wonder movies in Civ IV are not very good. In fact, I shouldn't at all mind
seeing the Civ II wonder movies for Leonardo's Workshop, the Eiffel Tower,
the Statue of Liberty or Universal Suffrage return.

5. Smuggling caravans into competitors' cities was great fun. Of course, the
trade system in Civ IV is much superior to the one in Civ II, but one could
introduce a smuggler unit which can be built after the discovery of Trade.
Then one could try to land it in a competitor's ciy directly from a seagoing
vessel. Naturally, the gains should not be as huge as from a Great Merchant;
perhaps they could be 200 gold before the discovery of Corporation, 400 gold
afterwards. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to let the smuggler unit
enter a competitors' city from a land tile, because then some gamers would
no doubt start to churn out great numbers of smugglers and walk them to an
enemy's city in a stack of military units. Anyway, smuggling by sea was
always the classical way of doing it, precisely because a coast is so hard
to patrol.

Öjevind