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I have too much time on my hands. Or have been deprived of my computer (and its time-wasting potential) for too long. And most of you will probably want to skip this. But in any case, I bring you...
Thought on the next version of Civilization
(Note: I obviously haven´t played (or seen) Civ 4, so some of these features may have been included. These are just some ramblings on things I like about Civ 3, things I really DON´T like about Civ 3, and some extras I would have added... in the form of some suggested additions.)
New Civilization: Polynesia.
Yeah, these guys never got very far in real life, but they DID create those statues (and, it has been clamed, an alphabet) on Easter Island; they DID build some surprisingly impressive kingdoms (Hawaii, and especially Tonga-- perhaps the most HILARIOUS story of the colonial era); and they travelled some truly incredible distances to do it.
Expansionist/Hard-working.
Special unit: Wa'a canoe (replacesscout coracle, but you start with one). Move 2, can traverse Sea squares, can carry one other unit.
Small Wonder: Great Monastery.
The community that St. Benedict founded at Monte Cassino c. 529 had (through the rule that he drew up) a huge impact on shaping, developing, and spreading Christianity in Western Europe. Slightly later, and at the other end of the former Roman world, monasteries would be central to Christianity in Ireland, and Columba´s abbey at Iona would become the spiritual center of what is now Scotland. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Orders centred around the monasteries of Cluny and Citeaux would play just as great a role, but on an international scale, providing Popes, serving as the spearheads of church reform, and popularizing the Crusades. (OK, not all of this influence was positive, but it was certainly important!) And royal abbeys--Westminter in England, St. Denis in France, St. Joan de las Abbadesses in Catalonia--would become centers of dynastic power and artistiv brilliance.
But the role of the great monastery as a cultural and religious force was not confined to western Europe. On thinks immediately of Mt Athos in Greece, whose monasteries were patronized by Byzantine emperors and played a key role in the culture and politics of the eleventh and twelfth centuries; of Xuanzang´s monatery in Chang´an in China, from whence Buddhism spread throughout the Middle Kingdom; and of the great lamaseries of Tibet. And I don´t know that much about Islam, but religious communities DID play a role--one thinks of the Almoravids in Spain and Morocco...Anyway.)
Prerequisite: Monotheism.
Makes one unhappy citizen in city happy; considerably reduces cost of Cathedrals (this effect expires with the development of Nationalism on your part).
Appearance of wonder varies, depending on civilzation. (So maybe something like Iona for the Celts, Monta Cassino for the Romans, Llasa for the Indians, etc. etc.)
Small Wonder: Grand Canal.
The major canals of the Industrial era - at Suez, in Panama, and on a smaller scale with the Kiel canal in Germany or the Erie Canal in the U.S. - were litarally the wonder of their periods, and had an enormous impact on the world's commerce and military strategy. But the concept of a "great canal" dates back much earlier: to the Grand Canal of early China.
Prerequisite: Steam Power ; OR (for Industrious civilizations) Construction.
1 culture per turn. Cost: 350. Also allows you to build ONE square of the Canal improvement (expensive!)
Palaces: You should get to build more than one secondary palace. Maybe once you had over 40 or so cities.
Added: Instead of starting with a Palace, you start with a King's Hall. Can also be built in other cities, IF your government is Despotism or Feudalism (although they're expensive).
Less effective in reducing corruption than a Palace. Does not generate culture; rather gains 1 culture ( under certain conditions )
The Palace now becomes Small Wonder.
Prerequisite: Masonry.
Required for you to change government (unless you're Religious, in which case it reduces anarchy to a single turn). Required for building Forbidden Palace. Substantially reduces corruption. 1 culture per turn, unless you're a Despotism or Theocracy (in which case it's two), or a Monarchy (three). Can become a tourist attraction.
Price: ( Expensive. However... )
New Unit: Crossbowmen. For most civilizations, exc. the English, the Japanese, the Iroquois, the Russians, the Persians, the Celts, the Mongols, the Vikings, the Incans, and the Byzantines, replaces Longbowmen. Stats exactly the same.
Except...
New Civilization Ability: English nationalism
The English, arguably, rose repeatedly to dominate their neighbors and the world not because they were smarter or more ruthless or more industrious, but simply because in some respects they developed a sense of national identity and of the nation-state several centuries before their rivals. This is reflected in the fact that they developed the concepts of conscription and of the levée en masse a good deal earlier.
The English can conscript as soon as they develop Invention to produce conscript Longbowmen. (Effect expires when they develop either Military Tradition or Magnetism.) When they develop Magnetism, cities with harbors can conscript to produce Men-o'-War. (Effect expires when they develop either Steel or Replaceable Parts.)
New Unit: Grain shipment
Prerequisite: Steam Power. 0/0/1.
Cost: Humungous.
A food convoy can pick up a load of Food from a given city, then travel to another city and, IF the two are linked by Railroad and/or Sea routes, expend itself to give the second city food. Donor city loses three food per turn; recipient city gains two food per turn.
Bring back Farmland...RRs everywhere are ugly.
And maybe a LITTLE more environmentally conscious?
I also like the idea of playing around with a KING unit (which my version of the game doesn´t have, alas). There should be a reason you´d want to move him around and expose him to danger. Maybe he considerably reduces corruption, increases attack and defense of units on the same square, and prevents a city from defecting?
Thought on the next version of Civilization
(Note: I obviously haven´t played (or seen) Civ 4, so some of these features may have been included. These are just some ramblings on things I like about Civ 3, things I really DON´T like about Civ 3, and some extras I would have added... in the form of some suggested additions.)
New Civilization: Polynesia.
Yeah, these guys never got very far in real life, but they DID create those statues (and, it has been clamed, an alphabet) on Easter Island; they DID build some surprisingly impressive kingdoms (Hawaii, and especially Tonga-- perhaps the most HILARIOUS story of the colonial era); and they travelled some truly incredible distances to do it.
Expansionist/Hard-working.
Special unit: Wa'a canoe (replaces
Small Wonder: Great Monastery.
The community that St. Benedict founded at Monte Cassino c. 529 had (through the rule that he drew up) a huge impact on shaping, developing, and spreading Christianity in Western Europe. Slightly later, and at the other end of the former Roman world, monasteries would be central to Christianity in Ireland, and Columba´s abbey at Iona would become the spiritual center of what is now Scotland. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Orders centred around the monasteries of Cluny and Citeaux would play just as great a role, but on an international scale, providing Popes, serving as the spearheads of church reform, and popularizing the Crusades. (OK, not all of this influence was positive, but it was certainly important!) And royal abbeys--Westminter in England, St. Denis in France, St. Joan de las Abbadesses in Catalonia--would become centers of dynastic power and artistiv brilliance.
But the role of the great monastery as a cultural and religious force was not confined to western Europe. On thinks immediately of Mt Athos in Greece, whose monasteries were patronized by Byzantine emperors and played a key role in the culture and politics of the eleventh and twelfth centuries; of Xuanzang´s monatery in Chang´an in China, from whence Buddhism spread throughout the Middle Kingdom; and of the great lamaseries of Tibet. And I don´t know that much about Islam, but religious communities DID play a role--one thinks of the Almoravids in Spain and Morocco...Anyway.)
Prerequisite: Monotheism.
Makes one unhappy citizen in city happy; considerably reduces cost of Cathedrals (this effect expires with the development of Nationalism on your part).
Appearance of wonder varies, depending on civilzation. (So maybe something like Iona for the Celts, Monta Cassino for the Romans, Llasa for the Indians, etc. etc.)
Small Wonder: Grand Canal.
The major canals of the Industrial era - at Suez, in Panama, and on a smaller scale with the Kiel canal in Germany or the Erie Canal in the U.S. - were litarally the wonder of their periods, and had an enormous impact on the world's commerce and military strategy. But the concept of a "great canal" dates back much earlier: to the Grand Canal of early China.
Prerequisite: Steam Power ; OR (for Industrious civilizations) Construction.
1 culture per turn. Cost: 350. Also allows you to build ONE square of the Canal improvement (expensive!)
Palaces: You should get to build more than one secondary palace. Maybe once you had over 40 or so cities.
Added: Instead of starting with a Palace, you start with a King's Hall. Can also be built in other cities, IF your government is Despotism or Feudalism (although they're expensive).
Less effective in reducing corruption than a Palace. Does not generate culture; rather gains 1 culture ( under certain conditions )
The Palace now becomes Small Wonder.
Prerequisite: Masonry.
Required for you to change government (unless you're Religious, in which case it reduces anarchy to a single turn). Required for building Forbidden Palace. Substantially reduces corruption. 1 culture per turn, unless you're a Despotism or Theocracy (in which case it's two), or a Monarchy (three). Can become a tourist attraction.
Price: ( Expensive. However... )
New Unit: Crossbowmen. For most civilizations, exc. the English, the Japanese, the Iroquois, the Russians, the Persians, the Celts, the Mongols, the Vikings, the Incans, and the Byzantines, replaces Longbowmen. Stats exactly the same.
Except...
New Civilization Ability: English nationalism
The English, arguably, rose repeatedly to dominate their neighbors and the world not because they were smarter or more ruthless or more industrious, but simply because in some respects they developed a sense of national identity and of the nation-state several centuries before their rivals. This is reflected in the fact that they developed the concepts of conscription and of the levée en masse a good deal earlier.
The English can conscript as soon as they develop Invention to produce conscript Longbowmen. (Effect expires when they develop either Military Tradition or Magnetism.) When they develop Magnetism, cities with harbors can conscript to produce Men-o'-War. (Effect expires when they develop either Steel or Replaceable Parts.)
New Unit: Grain shipment
Prerequisite: Steam Power. 0/0/1.
Cost: Humungous.
A food convoy can pick up a load of Food from a given city, then travel to another city and, IF the two are linked by Railroad and/or Sea routes, expend itself to give the second city food. Donor city loses three food per turn; recipient city gains two food per turn.
Bring back Farmland...RRs everywhere are ugly.
And maybe a LITTLE more environmentally conscious?
I also like the idea of playing around with a KING unit (which my version of the game doesn´t have, alas). There should be a reason you´d want to move him around and expose him to danger. Maybe he considerably reduces corruption, increases attack and defense of units on the same square, and prevents a city from defecting?
