I refer to some techs as "1.5-trick techs" because they combine a major trick (building, unit, improvement, civ-wide bonus) with a minor trick (promotion, luxury resource, any major trick that also requires a tech from a later era). These techs are very solid conceptually, with many of them coming from regular BTS, so I'm not about to cut any of them. I just wish we could do something else with them.
Here are the techs that currently meet the 1.5 standard.
The things I have been considering are:
"Hard-wired" free units. There are four cases where being the first to research a particular Ancient Era tech gets you a free something. Archery gives you an Archer, Trade gives you a Trader, Sailing gives you a Galley, and Naturopathy gives you a Healer's Hut. These are turned off if No Events is turned on. I was thinking of moving these from the Events realm to the <FirstFreeUnitClass> XML tag (which is how Great People from techs are generated). Naturally, this wouldn't work for the Healer's Hut, and I don't know how well it would work for the Galley, but I think it would work for the other two. This would help Archery.
Moving the Bath House from Canals to Sanitation. Canals is pretty strong content-wise without the Bath House; it would still have the Aqueduct, the Irrigation Canals, Pont du Gard, and have Farms spreading Irrigation.
For Organic Cities, I am thinking about either a final super-Settler (probably giving you size 6 cities with even more buildings than a Pioneer) or a sort of "building farm" that would be a further upgrade of the Industrial Park and offer +50% or more building production. I have no idea what to call it.
I still like the idea of Mercenaries as a military civic available at Horseback Riding. The reason for using HBR is that you don't necessarily need money (the Currency tech) to pay mercenaries as long as you give them something of value, and some of the earliest mercenaries came from barbarian tribes outside of "civilized" areas who had mastered Horseback Riding. This would combine high upkeep (not seen in military civics until Volunteer Army) with +2 XP for military units and reduced war weariness.
Those are just a few ideas that I've been thinking of to help some of these understaffed techs.
Here are the techs that currently meet the 1.5 standard.
- Agriculture: Farm improvement (major), Cotton resource (minor as a luxury)
- Archery: Archer unit (major), Cover promotions (minor)
- Horseback Riding: Horseman unit (major), Royal Tournament wonder (minor, because the Tournament requires Heraldry, which is Medieval Era)
- Sanitation: Sewer System building (major), Apothecaries Guild corporation (minor, because it requires Guilds from the Medieval Era)
- Anatomy: Doctor's Office building (major), Medic II promotion (minor)
- Chemistry: Laboratory building (major), +1 hammer from Workshops (minor)
- Micromechanics: NLOS Cannon unit (major), Automatic Repairs MK I promotion (minor)
- Plastic Electronics: Hypermarket building (major), +1 commerce from Silk Farm (minor)
- Personal Robots: +1 in all cities (major), +1 hammer from Cottage, Hamlet, Village, Town (minor)
- Smart Drugs: Research Hospital national wonder (major), +2 gold from Pharmacy (minor)
- DNA Computing: Plague Bringer unit (major), +1 commerce from Submerged Town (minor)
- Organic Cities: +2 in all cities (major), +1 food from Cottage, Hamlet, Village, Town (minor)
The things I have been considering are:
"Hard-wired" free units. There are four cases where being the first to research a particular Ancient Era tech gets you a free something. Archery gives you an Archer, Trade gives you a Trader, Sailing gives you a Galley, and Naturopathy gives you a Healer's Hut. These are turned off if No Events is turned on. I was thinking of moving these from the Events realm to the <FirstFreeUnitClass> XML tag (which is how Great People from techs are generated). Naturally, this wouldn't work for the Healer's Hut, and I don't know how well it would work for the Galley, but I think it would work for the other two. This would help Archery.
Moving the Bath House from Canals to Sanitation. Canals is pretty strong content-wise without the Bath House; it would still have the Aqueduct, the Irrigation Canals, Pont du Gard, and have Farms spreading Irrigation.
For Organic Cities, I am thinking about either a final super-Settler (probably giving you size 6 cities with even more buildings than a Pioneer) or a sort of "building farm" that would be a further upgrade of the Industrial Park and offer +50% or more building production. I have no idea what to call it.
I still like the idea of Mercenaries as a military civic available at Horseback Riding. The reason for using HBR is that you don't necessarily need money (the Currency tech) to pay mercenaries as long as you give them something of value, and some of the earliest mercenaries came from barbarian tribes outside of "civilized" areas who had mastered Horseback Riding. This would combine high upkeep (not seen in military civics until Volunteer Army) with +2 XP for military units and reduced war weariness.
Those are just a few ideas that I've been thinking of to help some of these understaffed techs.