Ruins

I've only played Vanilla Civ so I am not sure if this idea has been addressed but I have a little idea for ruins. I like how destroyed cities are now marked by little clumps of stone. It's nice but I think that more could be done.

One idea would obviously be harvesting the ruins to give a nearby city a hammer boost. The same way that harvesting forests grants a yield. The value of the yield would depend on the city size at the time of destruction. This was a city after all, not it doesn't immediately become worthless even if it was razed.

Another idea, the more nifty of the two, would be as a culture boost to a civ. If those ruins are in your cultural border you would recieve a culture boost which would grow as ages pass. Having the intact ruins of a bronze age city should have some value. If those ruins fall within the cultural boundary of a city then that city should get something as well. I think that the cities stats at the time of destruction should determine the value of the ruins.

I don't have the time to get into specifics, but I just wanted to throw the idea out there.

I like your idea of doing something with the ruins, tho' I would argue that any culture generated belongs to the founding civ. Maybe building on top of the ruins could eventually add to your own culture.

I like the harvest for hammer idea. Maybe some gold too (selling off the statues, freizes, etc.). Less hammers and more gold could be available as time goes on. Maybe defined by era transitions.

Maybe ruins could generate increasing commerce, not unlike towns, except rather than increasing by being worked, it would increase over time. The commerce should not be too much though. Ancient wonders like the Pyramids or Colossuss would be more interesting and revenue generating than buried walls and pottery sherds.

OR, maybe there could be a new tourism ressource, that would add gold,etc., and ruins could generate it.

i like the idea too. I'll add that tourism begins after the ruins appeared after a century and you get commerce depends the duration of the ruins:

1 century: 1 coin
4 centuries: 2 coins
1 millenium: 3 coins
over 2 millenium: 5 coins

if you build a tourist site on the ruins, you gain an additional of 1 coin and get +1 culture/turn in nearby city(s)

Infantry#14 said:

1 century: 1 coin
4 centuries: 2 coins
1 millenium: 3 coins
over 2 millenium: 5 coins

Click to expand...

I think that is too much commerce. Should ordinary ruins be at the same level of silver or other luxuries? Sure, tourism in Rome and Greece generates a lot of commerce, but those are ruins of wonders (Parthenon, THE colleseum, etc.). How many people actually visit the ruins of famed Troy?

Infantry#14 said:

1 century: 1 coin
4 centuries: 2 coins
1 millenium: 3 coins
over 2 millenium: 5 coins

if you build a tourist site on the ruins, you gain an additional of 1 coin and ...

Click to expand...

I like the tourist center gives +1 commerce.

Infantry#14 said:

...and get +1 culture/turn in nearby city(s)

Click to expand...

Shouldn't any culture be that of the original founder?

"Shouldn't any culture be that of the priginal founder?"

No. I like the idea, and since the occupying power has possesion, of course they deserve the rewards, whoever they are.
Who gets the benefits of the Pyramids today, or of Macchu Pichu, or of Jericho?
It's not a direct population or culture.

Culture in ruins sounds nice. I would have more justification for my barbaric practices.

I had the same idea. Ruins could become touristic attractions after centuries. But I like the idea of having the choice of a) destroying the ruins in order to get a massive production boost (depends if there were any productive buildings in the former city, like forges or reactors) or b) keeping the ruins and gain a cultural bonus.