ideology unhappiness is impossible and horrible

Well, let me ask this: at one point is it "your fault" for not generating enough? What should be standard issue? Building museums in every city? Building all the guilds ASAP? Fast-tracking archaeology and building archaologists pronto?

How much of a strategy that you aren't trying to do are you required to do just to defend yoruself?

I had a game where I had religious idols as a pantheon belief, choral music as a folllower belief, liberty, and alliances with two cultur CS's. And yet, I wound up with dissidents after picking an ideology. I thought I was doing great culturally, at about 180 per turn. And it still wasn't enough.

So, what was my fault? Using my GW's for treatises instead of making books? Not having a museum in every city? Not building a musican's guild before year XXXX? If what I was doing was wrong, then there must be very little room in the game for not doing culture. And I cans ee someone having a beef with that.


Military's a good example, actually. You need some military units, but how little you need is based on how much risk you're willing to assume. Maybe you'll stockpile gold to build on the fly. Masybe you'll build walls and such. Maybe you'll bribe your neighbors into leaving you alone or making defensive pacts or declaring war on each other. Maybe you'll deter aggerssors with lots of CS alliances. You have to devise solutions, or just assume a heavier risk.

But there is no element of risk here. You just get hammered, with happiness. Finis. And as far as I can tell, the amount of culture you'd have to be generating is quite high. Not only that, but as more civ's tip towards the dominant ideology, the unhappiness ramps up for anyone trying to hold their ground.

I love this post, and the one you posted after it, because they very accurately represent the problem some people have with the Ideology mechanic. Winning the culture game means you can't half ass it. It's all in or nothing, and a lot of people don't like playing that way. They want to feel well rounded and know they can conquer enemy empires while at the same time teching up for the possible spaceship victory if they feel so inclined.

However, I think that Culture victory pretty much means you're using your whole infrastructure to accomplish your goals (mainly if you have a runaway culture/tech foreign civ as I have in my last two playthrus) and you are using your military as a defensive force. When I tried a culture victory, I got to the petra technology, completed it, and felt pretty good about myself, sure that I was headed for cultural superiority. However, I was swarmed by catapults, swordsmen, and panther warriors and wiped out not too long after. I blame myself, of course, but it was a good learning experience.
 
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