07-12-2004 10:21									#1
	Pollution and climatic changes. Inflate your Upload Space

It appears that most players do not like present model of polution, and most likely it will be completely reworked in civ4. I agree that this orange-colored deposit does not work very well.

I would recognize several types of pollution, which all of them this orange-smth presently simulates:

- water (river) polution
- air polution
- optionally trash pollution (more in the cities than on tiles)
- ionizing radiation (after nuclear weapon was used)

Workers would clean non of these.

Water pollution - rivers might have an additional factor at each square (tile) the flow through - their pollution. Cities and especially those with "bad" factories or lacking sewer treatment would pollute a lot. Polluted rivers would decrease health of people. Remedy - wastewater treatment plants, or half-remedy for a city near polluted river - water treatment plant - just cleans the water before its usage. Small seas and finally oceans would be polluted too by polluted rivers. Workers would not clean this type of pollution, cause nature does it in oceans (or maybe some future tech?) if pollution inflow is stopped. To deal with water pollution special city improvement would have to be built, better factories, etc.

Air pollution. In simcity, each tile has its air polution level. Something like that might be good here too. And add to it winds, as it is SMAC/X and we would have countries which might even make unhealthy population in other countries only because of wind directions. How to deal with it? Better factories. Other things? I have to think of it.

Garbage - it's rather optional idea, maybe it would be better to resign from this feature.

Radiation pollution. Definitelly different kind of pollution. Tiles might be contaminated by it after nuclear warhead was used, nuclear plant mulfanctioned. This would be long time pollution. Workers would not clean it either. I think of something like a city improvement called "radiated terrain reclamation facility" It would deal with some tiles, if civilization would be played for next 100 years for example, this would be somehow quite beneficial. This type of pollution is probably the most harmful, causing cancer, mutations. Resigning from it in Civ4 would take away from the game a lot IMHO.

Climatic changes. Presently it is pollution changing grasslands into plains and plains into deserts. And there are other factors causing such changes. Forests removed in Africa enlarge Sahara Desert. I would even "steal" some ideas from SMAC - drill to aquifier - somewhere late in technology. Rise lower terrain. Some variation of it - in Netherlands there are depressions artificially made by people. Changing mountain into a hole? You may see something like this in Salt Lake City, where Kennecot Plant digging copper did exactly that. CTP had underwater tunnels - good idea, we have France and England connected already. Digging a Panama channel? Yes, please. Now Aztec peaople establish in 3500 BC a small city in Latin America and they already have that...

	07-12-2004 19:32									#2
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I think that pollution should be replaced by a City Health System (link).

	09-12-2004 11:48									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

I would prefer to have both :
- City Health system (an excellent idea!)
- Pollution by human activities.

I think that pollution is a very important element of every industrial civilization on Earth. Removing it will take away a very interesting aspect of the game. I think that presently implemented system is what people do not like, and not the very pollution.
Also, going strait from industry to health:

industry ----------> human health

takes away this:

code:

industry -> pollution 	--> human health
			\-> environment (flora and fauna)

	09-12-2004 13:26									#4
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I'm actually encouraged by Soren's post. When they had previously said they were going to get rid of pollution and corruption I assumed that was part of the "simplification" of the game to make it appeal more to the younger crowd. I'm glade to see that it will be replaced by another system which will still add some depth to the game.