Too stereotypical? Arabia gets double Oil resources and Brazil has the carnival as UA. Maybe it's stereotypical, but it portrays the civilization just fine and is not even offensive. Turkmenistan has its economy based around two things: Gas and Cotton. This is not an stereotype, it's a fact.
I'd just like to clarify my position here as the main opponent of a UA which grants Natural Gas to Turkmen cities. I never said anything about it being stereotypical because I don't think that's a problem - like you point out, civ is based around stereotypes - not all Ethiopians are valiant martyrs and not all Englishmen are excellent seafarers.
My point is this: All other civ UAs, aside from Arabia's little side-note, (Which, for the record, I oppose completely) are focused on achievements and intrinsic proficiencies of certain peoples and civilisations. Its about the things they do best. England did have some great seafarers over the years and Ethiopia sacrificed a lot to fight off the colonial powers; the only African nation to do so. These are things to be proud of that someone actually
did. However, with a UA like
'Receive free copies of the unique resource 'Natural Gas' whenever you settle near desert'
you're implying that the greatest accomplishment of the Turkmen people is their ability to luckily place their nation on top of the fourth largest gas reserves in the world. Noone chose where Turkmenistan would be, and so happening to control a butt load of Gas isn't a Turkmen achievement or a unique facet of their national consciousness. A UA focused on getting bonuses from an already existing natural gas resource would be fine, in my opinion, because it represents what they've done with that resource, but a UA which just grants the resource is, in my opinion, insulting and just plain weird. Its so much better represented in a decision.
Furthermore, the Capital focus advocated by Scape and I doesn't literally mean that Turkmenbasi focused solely on Ashgabat but its symbolic of Turkmenbasi's own egotism, megalomania and the way the entire Turkmen state bent around his whims. I think a civ based around providing the maximum possible bonuses to the location of this guys Palace makes sense here. I mean the guy banned yogurt and renamed all the months after him, family members and his book.
Either way I'm happy to try present a compromise here, hows this?
UA: Father of the Turkmen
Whenever a Strategic resource is connected anywhere in the Empire, trigger a
'We Love the King Day' in the
Capital. During We Love the King Day, all
Great Works and Wonders yield +2
happiness and +2
production.
Combine that with this decision:
Decision: Conduct a Geological Survey.
Desctiption: Some of our scientists are insisting that the great Deserts which dominate this nations landscapes could be teeming with untapped wealth just beneath the surface. Let us commission some of these scientists to scour these vast wastes to enrich our coffers!
Costs: 1 Magistrates, 150
gold*current era, 50
science*current era
Requirements: May only be enacted once per era, must be working at least 3 desert tiles and have researched Archaeology.
Rewards: Natural Gas resources have a chance to appear on desert tiles in the empire. Very small chance that the unique Natural Wonder 'Gate to Hell' appears near the
capital. For every improved oil, natural gas or coal resource in the empire, receive 50
gold
And you've a civ focussed on deserts, fossil fuels and keeping the population happy with a lot of monuments and propaganda in the capital. Perfect for a megalomaniac cult of personality built around the sale of natural gas.