natural wonders a bust?

[Mr_Wonka]

I was really excited for them before the games release, now I find them to be a big disappointment. Honestly, the bonus you get by settling near them aren't anything exciting. sure, they help, but not rewarding in any way.

also, why the heck couldn't they make natural wonders on land take up more than 1 tile? How the freakken hell does old faithful even take up 1 tile. lol stupid

imo, they could of had a yellowstone natural wonder that uses like 3 tiles.

grand mesa's art looks beyond stupid. I don't see grand canyon ever. not sure if its in the game. great barrier get multiple tiles which is cool, but I've yet to settle a city near it.

overall, I'm truly disappointed with them. I really liked civ revolutions concept of having the ancient wonders. It made another small dimension to the game and was always fun to find them.


If I was on the staff to make this game, it would of been better no doubt.

[Brawndo]

None of these natural wonders have made a big impact on world history, I don't see why they should be more important in the game than they already are. IMO a natural wonder is inside your territory, you should get a gold bonus (tourism) and that's about it. They add some flavor to the game too

[qyll]

I think you're setting your expectations a bit too high for natural wonders. Natural wonders are good to have, but it's not like having irrigated corn + grassland gems in Civ IV. They're meant to add some spice to the game if nothing else, and their tile yields are at least pretty good.

[Mr_Wonka]

they don't enhance the mood of the game one bit. i always loved finding landmarks in alpha centauri. this game lacks soul, even with graphics upgrade. I just thought the natural wonders would add some eye candy to the map.

[Abremms]

of all the things that could be complained about, I did not expect to see Natural wonders get thier own thread :P

considering that most natural wonders irl and basicaly just oddly formed bits of rock, I really wouldn't epect them to have a huge impact. a tourism commerce bonus would be nice, but i think working the tile gives a decent boost over a normal tile.

maybe a "Tourist Trap" improvement that you can use on natural wonder tiles that boosts gold output? or a natural park system wonder/project that increases happiness for each natural wonder worked.

I dunno, just thinking with my typers. I'm pretty happy with how natural wonders were added in, they are a great reason to explore.

[Jharii]

They're some nice added flavor, not a complete civilizational focus.

Kind of like how they are in real life.

[civzombie]

I thought I read in a preview that you got an extra bonus for settling near a natural landmark, in addition to the bonus you get for finding them. Perhaps something was taken out before release, because I don't see any benefit for settling near them.

[UWHabs]

Giving +1 happy for finding them, and +1 happy for having them inside your territory would make sense, to go along with the few coins you get from the tile.

[TheMeInTeam]

They're not so bad, especially if you use heavy scouting to find them early for based strategies.

[rileyjt]

I think it would be cool if there was some additional bonus for having them inside your borders (something like the FFH natural wonders was kind of cool). As it stands now, they are really only worthwhile to discover for the happiness bonus.

However, this is hardly anywhere near the top of my critical issues list for CiV

[Set]

you get 1 happy from finding them

[Becephalus]

Originally Posted by Mr_Wonka

they don't enhance the mood of the game one bit. i always loved finding landmarks in alpha centauri. this game lacks soul, even with graphics upgrade. I just thought the natural wonders would add some eye candy to the map.

What does this even mean? I see no reason to prefer their implementation in SMAC over this. It is a fun little thing nothing more and nothing less. Saying the game has no soul is meaningless.

You don't like the game that is fine, but saying vague things like "it has no soul" adds nothing to the discussion.

[beestar]

From a game mechanics point of view, they're there to encourage scouting and exploration. I wish they did more for settling next to them, though: 2H3C doesn't seem that hot.

[Jharii]

I would prefer if this thread was titled:

Natural busts a wonder.

[sleepingbear]

One thing that might make them more interesting is if you develop them you can enhance or change the bonus.

Say if you build a Nation Park improvement they generate additional happiness as well as additional gold for each other civ you have an open borders with (to show increased toursim).

For the great barrier reef you can develop it with a working boat, gaining a large food bonus but losing the happiness bonus.

On a land based wonder you could build a mine, again giving a large production bonus, but losing the happiness.

For Gibraltar. if you build a GG fort on it it exerts a ZOC over all ocean hexes within 2 spaces.

These might spice them up a bit.

[Sonereal]

Originally Posted by sleepingbear

One thing that might make them more interesting is if you develop them you can enhance or change the bonus.

Say if you build a Nation Park improvement they generate additional happiness as well as additional gold for each other civ you have an open borders with (to show increased toursim).

For the great barrier reef you can develop it with a working boat, gaining a large food bonus but losing the happiness bonus.

On a land based wonder you could build a mine, again giving a large production bonus, but losing the happiness.

For Gibraltar. if you build a GG fort on it it exerts a ZOC over all ocean hexes within 2 spaces.

These might spice them up a bit.

Why?

That's a lot of extra work put into a feature that wasn't even a selling point. There are far more important things to work on (diplomacy) then this.

Although, there should probably be a bonus for plopping down Academies and Landmarks down on these things.

[zonk]

Originally Posted by Sonereal

Why?

That's a lot of extra work put into a feature that wasn't even a selling point. There are far more important things to work on (diplomacy) then this.

Although, there should probably be a bonus for plopping down Academies and Landmarks down on these things.

Well, I think it was a feature to a lot of peaceful players.

Not everyone plays Civilization for the wargame experience, so providing us something to do -- like perhaps special natural wonder buildings or some sort of new tile improvement to leverage them -- would go a long way to the peaceful builders who feel like they've been left behind.

[sleepingbear]

Originally Posted by Sonereal

Why?

That's a lot of extra work put into a feature that wasn't even a selling point. There are far more important things to work on (diplomacy) then this.

Although, there should probably be a bonus for plopping down Academies and Landmarks down on these things.

Why? because this thread is about natural wonders not diplomacy. If you want to rightfully complain about the poor diplomacy AI then post to a diplo AI thread. The idea behind my suggestions was to add a little flavor and also to allow players to choose actions that have consequences. Since all the AI's also get the happiness bonus for the wonders, if the owner of the wonder destroys, develops or preserves a wonder it should have effects on gameplay. It seems that something along these lines would be modable. Maybe one of the modders will pick this up and do something with it.

[Kiwi Tyrant]

The natural wonder's are alright, but I have to laugh when you discover an active volcano, Krakatoa (correct spelling in Indonesian: Krakatau), just off your coast and your people are happy!? Forgive me my dopey underling's if I quietly move my palace to the other side of the continent; an explosive eruption equivalent to 13,000 nukes's and the resulting tsunami might really put a dampener on my busy day......

[Licinia Eudoxia]

Really, it would be a really, really basic mod I think to add some more features or traits to the tiles (like improving them, or giving additional effects). I haven't looked at how they're handled in the game files, but it seems like a very straightforward mod.