Vokarya's Workshop: Wonders

Hi!

First I'd like to thank you for your great work, AND is relly fun to play.

A sugestion I have:

Mirrors of Archimedes
-coastal
-latitude dependant
-damages wooden ships in 2 square radius, damage is random: 0-100% to simulate its weather dependance
-doesn't obsolate, but becomes useless after there are no more wooden ships
-maybe it could be a national wonder?
-no GPP IMHO

I found something in my notes that I would like to post. I'd like to do some reshuffling of the technologies that corporations are attached to. Not all of them are getting moved, just these ones.

I think at least a couple of the "consumer" corporations should be put at Consumerism. I've never understood having Civilized Jewelers at Motion Pictures. Civil Engineering already has a lot of other stuff (I currently rate it as having 11 major tricks and 1 minor), so it can lose a couple of things without any fear of being demoted to one-trick-pony status, but I also think that Creative Constructions belongs there are Civil Engineering is the industrial equivalent of the Construction tech. Moving Cereal Mills keeps it away from the other agricultural corporations (Big McDowell's, Burgerworld, Mobby Meats). Moving East West Traders just feels better at Combustion being a tech of fast ocean travel, without having to go all the way to Screw Propeller. Moving Mapster just gives a second trick to Computer Networks (Computers keeps SETI and +1 from Silk Farm).

I also want to delete the Corporation tech requirement from all of the "store" buildings. It's actually redundant, as you need Corporation as part of the prerequisites for Steam Power, which is required for just about everything in the Industrial Era and beyond.

Another thing I would like to include is an enhancement to the Space Elevator. The Space Elevator is available at close to the end of the Modern Era, but most spaceship parts don't come up until the Transhuman, so it doesn't feel like the Space Elevator is a build-it-now Wonder, which I think Wonders really should be. I would like to give the Space Elevator some benefits to constructing buildings anywhere in your civilization, using the <GlobalBuildingClassProductionModifiers> tag.

Space Elevator would give +50% production of:

• Orbital Factory
• Orbital Hotel
• Zero G Sports Arena
• Military Satellites
• Communications Satellites

and if we include any other orbital buildings, those could be included as well.

Vokarya said:

Another thing I would like to include is an enhancement to the Space Elevator. The Space Elevator is available at close to the end of the Modern Era, but most spaceship parts don't come up until the Transhuman, so it doesn't feel like the Space Elevator is a build-it-now Wonder, which I think Wonders really should be. I would like to give the Space Elevator some benefits to constructing buildings anywhere in your civilization, using the <GlobalBuildingClassProductionModifiers> tag.

Space Elevator would give +50% production of:

• Orbital Factory
• Orbital Hotel
• Zero G Sports Arena
• Military Satellites
• Communications Satellites

and if we include any other orbital buildings, those could be included as well.

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I love it

Vokarya said:

Another thing I would like to include is an enhancement to the Space Elevator. The Space Elevator is available at close to the end of the Modern Era, but most spaceship parts don't come up until the Transhuman, so it doesn't feel like the Space Elevator is a build-it-now Wonder, which I think Wonders really should be. I would like to give the Space Elevator some benefits to constructing buildings anywhere in your civilization, using the <GlobalBuildingClassProductionModifiers> tag.

Space Elevator would give +50% production of:

• Orbital Factory
• Orbital Hotel
• Zero G Sports Arena
• Military Satellites
• Communications Satellites

and if we include any other orbital buildings, those could be included as well.

Click to expand...

Looks good to me; I remember there was a part of the dll in C2C about orbital buildings but I think it had some special purpose. I've left out that part of the code for the moment but I don't think it's an issue for our current use.

"Free building in every city" wonders

I feel a little strange about those wonders that give free buildings in every city.
I think they could have a number of those buildings as a requirement to be built.
Afterall all these wonder are a SUPER-version of the building they provide, but how do do you build a SUPER-building if you have none of its REGULAR-form.
For examlple I never-ever have built any monument or broadcast tover, but rushed for Stonehenge/Eiffel tover.



My second problem is with
Stonhenge and The Pyramids.
I think their bonuses don't realy fit to them. I think the followings could be done to them.

Stonehenge

• no Free monuments (move it to Pyramids. I never understood the conection )
• +1 free priest
• +1 for priest in every city (I think most people thing of Stonehenge as an astronomical thing; relates it to druids and consider them as some scientist-priest)
• no map centering (It's not a strategic bonus, but takes away the experience of exploration of the world )

The Pyramids

• Move the Free monumets here. The Pyramids are rather monuments than Graveyards.

Always made sense to me.

Stonehenge (appears to be) a collection of larger monuments, and the pyramids are just glorified tombs (Graves)

Rezca said:

Stonehenge (appears to be) a collection of larger monuments,

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Well, I see some difference between the big stone blocks of Stonhenge an the well carved monuments.

and the pyramids are just glorified tombs (Graves)

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glorified tomb = monument

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ said:

a structure or building that is built to honour a special person or event:
In the square in front of the hotel stands a monument to all the people killed in the war.

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Technically, graveyards are actually a much better option for a free building - free health and happiness (and even more health or happiness with incense) and 2 culture than the bare 1 culture of the monument.

Perhaps, since the Pyramids were a grand tomb, they should give an additional 1 (or more) culture to graveyards.

Sogroon said:

Well, I see some difference between the big stone blocks of Stonhenge an the well carved monuments.



glorified tomb = monument

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Monuments in every city still seems better with Stonehenge, and if the Pyramids really have to grant a free building it'd have to be the Graveyard. They were built to serve as graves after all.

These two wonders hardly need any changing or adjusting in my opinion. They've worked just fine as they are for this long, why change them now?


As for the map centering being a bad thing...? Sorry, but I simply don't see how that's a negative effect
Don't like it, don't build it.

Tolni said:

Technically, graveyards are actually a much better option for a free building - free health and happiness (and even more health or happiness with incense) and 2 culture than the bare 1 culture of the monument.

Perhaps, since the Pyramids were a grand tomb, they should give an additional 1 (or more) culture to graveyards.

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Yeah for how long the Pyramids take to build compared to Stonehenge, I think that giving them mere Monuments would reduce their value by quite a bit.

I see no reason to change Pyramids or Stonehenge. Right now they're staying like that unless Vokarya has something to say about it.

45°38'N-13°47'E;13028887 said:

Looks good to me; I remember there was a part of the dll in C2C about orbital buildings but I think it had some special purpose. I've left out that part of the code for the moment but I don't think it's an issue for our current use.

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I remember that. Orbital buildings had an effect based on how many other orbital buildings you had. I think we're better off leaving that out and keeping orbital buildings the way they are now.

45°38'N-13°47'E;13029957 said:

I see no reason to change Pyramids or Stonehenge. Right now they're staying like that unless Vokarya has something to say about it.

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What I want to do is drastically reduce the hammer cost of Pyramids. They are colossally overpriced right now. The benchmarks for Free X in every city are between 4 (Stonehenge) and 7 (Eiffel Tower) times the cost of the building. Pyramids currently costs 13 times as much as the free Graveyards it is providing. Bolshoi and World News Network could probably use some cost cutting as well.

I think Stonehenge is fine doing what it is.

Vokarya said:

What I want to do is drastically reduce the hammer cost of Pyramids. They are colossally overpriced right now.

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How about not reducing its price (afterall the Pyramids are HUUUUUGE) rather give it some more bonus, like A Free Golden Age?
We don't have that combo yet: free building + golden age

Sogroon said:

How about not reducing its price (afterall the Pyramids are HUUUUUGE) rather give it some more bonus, like A Free Golden Age?
We don't have that combo yet: free building + golden age

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Early Golden Ages give you a free chance to switch civics without Anarchy. I think there is a deliberate reason that the first Golden Age in regular BTS is located at Taj Mahal, which is at the end of the Renaissance Era. You can spend a Great Person, but then you lose the permanent benefits of a GP. I don't really want to mix things up by adding another early Golden Age.

Now, in RAND, we do have a Golden Age with Pyramid of the Magician, but that relies on you having Naghualism. In my experience, it's really hard to found Naghualism; AI's seem to be very good at racing to Calendar and the Ancient/early Classical Eras are weighted in the AI's favor. (It seems to fade around the end of the Classical.)

I still would like some other bonus, but I don't think a Golden Age is the right route, and I'd still like to combine it with reducing the total hammer cost.

Lately I've actually been having a lot of good luck getting to Naghualism, but it's Kemetism and Islam the AI always beat me to (Not that I've ever gone for Islam, unless I've missed EVERY other religion)
Past four or five games on Noble (Quick) there's always at least one AI that is the first to Education before I can even see it as a researchable tech


Back on topic, I can't really think of anything for the Pyramids other than reducing its cost slightly. BTS it'd grant all Government civivs, but that's not really a practical option in AND is it? ^^

Vokarya said:

Early Golden Ages give you a free chance to switch civics without Anarchy. I think there is a deliberate reason that the first Golden Age in regular BTS is located at Taj Mahal, which is at the end of the Renaissance Era. You can spend a Great Person, but then you lose the permanent benefits of a GP. I don't really want to mix things up by adding another early Golden Age.

Now, in RAND, we do have a Golden Age with Pyramid of the Magician, but that relies on you having Naghualism. In my experience, it's really hard to found Naghualism; AI's seem to be very good at racing to Calendar and the Ancient/early Classical Eras are weighted in the AI's favor. (It seems to fade around the end of the Classical.)

I still would like some other bonus, but I don't think a Golden Age is the right route, and I'd still like to combine it with reducing the total hammer cost.

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I see your point.
As a next option I would think of "Reduced Anarchy Length" + "Longer Golden Age", but there are already 2 other early buildings granting the second

Still brainstorming...

Yesterday before I fell asleep an idea came to my mind (a vision? )

Building the Pyramids could couse all of your cities celebrate "We love the Pharao" for 1 or more (or a random) turns. It is less then a Goldenage and something we don't have yet.

BlindKitty said:

When I read about a new Great - Spy themed wonder, I thought of another one we could incorporate: Biuro Szyfrów (eng. Cipher Bureau). It's a place where Polish mathematicians and cryptographers broke the Enigma codes in 1930s. It has nice Wikipedia article in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biuro_Szyfrów and in my opinion, it could be a good early Modern Era wonder. I was thinking about linking it somehow to one of the one-trick-ponies we have, but Telegraph is probably too early, and others are too late... I'm not exactly sure what it should do, beside giving you an increased chance of generating a great spy, but I think due to its ties to Enigma machine, it could fire an event when you are at war with another player that gives you a bunch of espionage points with that player, representing various new upgrades to Enigma and them being overcome.

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I'm thinking of actually making Enigma the Wonder. I just have no idea what the effect should be. What I like is that Enigma would be a good second trick for Submarine Warfare tech.

Vokarya said:

I'm thinking of actually making Enigma the Wonder. I just have no idea what the effect should be. What I like is that Enigma would be a good second trick for Submarine Warfare tech.

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I have one
+1(or more) /turn for each enemy city.
...or is it too hard to code?