Gyra Solune
King
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 942
So a while back, somebody I forget made a comment that the construction of the Neuschwanstein didn't literally make castles mysteriously spew out gold, but rather, that the castle itself is a symbol and the epitome of a cultural occurence in which people of the rapidly modernizing world looked back to medieval times and romanticized them, wishing for a simpler, more pristine time in a world becoming clogged up with factories and automobiles. So they looked at these old crumbling castles made solely to defend important cities and saw even the most bland and utilitarian of them as swooning symbols of a time long ago, and these outdated functional structures were viewed less as space-taking antiquities and more as the premier setting of medieval cultures, where kings laid the law and knights geared up for battle, and soon everyone and their mother were swarming to visit these abandoned structures, forever becoming a staple of the imagination. The Neuschwanstein itself didn't cause this, but rather, it was the construction of those who adored this image and sought to create a purely decorative castle with all the charm and beauty the older ones might have had but with modern construction, creating the archetypical symbol of the Romanesque Revival style of architecture.
And this made me think, couldn't this same line of reasoning be applied to most of the other wonders in the game? That, instead of the building itself causing all those powerful effects, the structure you see is simply an icon of much grander things, and all those production points are more put towards the sociological/philosophical/progressive lines of thought and culture than the actual little structure you see plopped next to your city. And if so, what are all these relationships? I thought of a few on a very basic level.
Statue of Liberty - Obviously, a big green statue given to America by the French didn't suddenly make all the scientists and financial executives widen their eyes and start building things in their spare time. Rather, it's a symbol of the productivity of America during the earlier parts of the 20th century, where there were a great amount of skilled workers and substantial growth and progress was possible through the application of people specialized in advanced fields towards implementing infrastructure throughout all this open land available to be modernized, and the capacity to manage it all effectively to be used for purposes necessary. Those production points aren't literally caused by your Specialists, but rather, are created by the opportunities those Specialists provide when their great knowledge in their fields is used to direct the progress of the workers and builders who can get things done with a whole other society of thinkers and writers and doctors and businessmen who work directly with them, rather than being a higher caste more affiliated with nobility than the vast majority of the citizenry.
Big Ben - The Big Ben is just a clock tower. It didn't make things cheaper in any way, it was mostly a large decorative thing placed to pretty up the Parliament building. But what it accomplishes is primarily related to where it is unlocked - at Industrialization. England was by and far the pioneer into creating an industrialized society, the abundance of mechanized labor turning the nation into the most powerful and wealthy in the world. Industrialization is often considered the cornerstone of a society's ability to progress rapidly and achieve greater and greater things, and the Big Ben is the icon of the country that first led the way in this process. By far the greatest reason it offers such great wealth is that it significantly cuts down the time it takes to create a repetitive amount of objects, like steel beams, tools, firearms, vehicles, engines, and so on and so on. Instead of having to go around to a ton of smiths and craftsmen who may construct things entirely differently from each other and have varying, unfitting skillsets that don't mesh well, one could construct vast things by going around to factories, all usually set with specific measurements in what they produce, and they will easily be able to churn out what you need. This saves lots of time, and of course, money. And as is usual throughout history, the first to control a powerful weapon or instrument or process is the one who will gain the most benefit. The purchasing cost reduction of a wonder at Industrialization represents those financial gains - if you need an arena or armory or flagships or steam trains, and you need them now, which would be cheaper - dozens of craftsmen who may produce parts that don't fit together right or are varying in quality, or a few factories that will all pump out as many of what you need that will all be alike and constructed rapidly and similarly?
Hanging Gardens - This wonder of the ancient world, if it even existed in the first place, was primarily meant as the private garden of a queen who missed her lush green homelands from her locale in the midst of a desert. For something like the Hanging Gardens to be possible to maintain, one needs extremely advanced systems of irrigation and plumbing. And when one can invent those things to grow a bunch of pretty plants to be sniffed and admired, it is very easy to look outside and see how those same things would vastly increase the span of your farmlands through the desert. That +6 Food isn't coming from the gardens themselves - those aren't for the peasants to touch or enter, but rather from the systems of irrigation and water management possible when you can make a tiered mountain of plants and then apply them to increasing one's yield of crops beyond the narrow boundaries of the nearby river.
Great Mosque of Djenne - The largest mud-brick structure in the world, while impressive, certainly didn't cause intense religious strength and reach of Islam. It was rather a result of that instead. Mohammed's teachings inspired the people of Arabia to spread the word of God to everyone in the world, and honestly, they came pretty damn close. Muslim teachings spread to a simply massive chunk of the world, springing to life in Mecca and reaching out to Spain and West Africa, thanks to the might of the Caliphate and the decay that had been occurring in Europe when Rome collapsed and left something of a power vacuum. Look at the areas Islam originated, then look at Djenne, sitting in a far-off, mysterious land behind the eternally insurmountable boundary of the Sahara. Even in this location far from Mecca, there exists a huge, grand structure erected in the same name as those in the birthplace of Mohammed. It is a testament to just how impressively the religion spread, and this is reflected in its effect - an effective +50% to the function of Missionaries is a HUGE boon to religious spread, allowing your holy infantry to indeed spread your word to everyone in the world.
Globe Theater - Man who DOESN'T know Shakespeare, he's the first Great Writer when you think of Great Writers, and this was his pad. Nuff said.
So anyway, what are your suggestions as to the meanings of the effects wonders provide and why they do it? Feel free to be as elaborate or long-winded as possible ^^;
And this made me think, couldn't this same line of reasoning be applied to most of the other wonders in the game? That, instead of the building itself causing all those powerful effects, the structure you see is simply an icon of much grander things, and all those production points are more put towards the sociological/philosophical/progressive lines of thought and culture than the actual little structure you see plopped next to your city. And if so, what are all these relationships? I thought of a few on a very basic level.
Statue of Liberty - Obviously, a big green statue given to America by the French didn't suddenly make all the scientists and financial executives widen their eyes and start building things in their spare time. Rather, it's a symbol of the productivity of America during the earlier parts of the 20th century, where there were a great amount of skilled workers and substantial growth and progress was possible through the application of people specialized in advanced fields towards implementing infrastructure throughout all this open land available to be modernized, and the capacity to manage it all effectively to be used for purposes necessary. Those production points aren't literally caused by your Specialists, but rather, are created by the opportunities those Specialists provide when their great knowledge in their fields is used to direct the progress of the workers and builders who can get things done with a whole other society of thinkers and writers and doctors and businessmen who work directly with them, rather than being a higher caste more affiliated with nobility than the vast majority of the citizenry.
Big Ben - The Big Ben is just a clock tower. It didn't make things cheaper in any way, it was mostly a large decorative thing placed to pretty up the Parliament building. But what it accomplishes is primarily related to where it is unlocked - at Industrialization. England was by and far the pioneer into creating an industrialized society, the abundance of mechanized labor turning the nation into the most powerful and wealthy in the world. Industrialization is often considered the cornerstone of a society's ability to progress rapidly and achieve greater and greater things, and the Big Ben is the icon of the country that first led the way in this process. By far the greatest reason it offers such great wealth is that it significantly cuts down the time it takes to create a repetitive amount of objects, like steel beams, tools, firearms, vehicles, engines, and so on and so on. Instead of having to go around to a ton of smiths and craftsmen who may construct things entirely differently from each other and have varying, unfitting skillsets that don't mesh well, one could construct vast things by going around to factories, all usually set with specific measurements in what they produce, and they will easily be able to churn out what you need. This saves lots of time, and of course, money. And as is usual throughout history, the first to control a powerful weapon or instrument or process is the one who will gain the most benefit. The purchasing cost reduction of a wonder at Industrialization represents those financial gains - if you need an arena or armory or flagships or steam trains, and you need them now, which would be cheaper - dozens of craftsmen who may produce parts that don't fit together right or are varying in quality, or a few factories that will all pump out as many of what you need that will all be alike and constructed rapidly and similarly?
Hanging Gardens - This wonder of the ancient world, if it even existed in the first place, was primarily meant as the private garden of a queen who missed her lush green homelands from her locale in the midst of a desert. For something like the Hanging Gardens to be possible to maintain, one needs extremely advanced systems of irrigation and plumbing. And when one can invent those things to grow a bunch of pretty plants to be sniffed and admired, it is very easy to look outside and see how those same things would vastly increase the span of your farmlands through the desert. That +6 Food isn't coming from the gardens themselves - those aren't for the peasants to touch or enter, but rather from the systems of irrigation and water management possible when you can make a tiered mountain of plants and then apply them to increasing one's yield of crops beyond the narrow boundaries of the nearby river.
Great Mosque of Djenne - The largest mud-brick structure in the world, while impressive, certainly didn't cause intense religious strength and reach of Islam. It was rather a result of that instead. Mohammed's teachings inspired the people of Arabia to spread the word of God to everyone in the world, and honestly, they came pretty damn close. Muslim teachings spread to a simply massive chunk of the world, springing to life in Mecca and reaching out to Spain and West Africa, thanks to the might of the Caliphate and the decay that had been occurring in Europe when Rome collapsed and left something of a power vacuum. Look at the areas Islam originated, then look at Djenne, sitting in a far-off, mysterious land behind the eternally insurmountable boundary of the Sahara. Even in this location far from Mecca, there exists a huge, grand structure erected in the same name as those in the birthplace of Mohammed. It is a testament to just how impressively the religion spread, and this is reflected in its effect - an effective +50% to the function of Missionaries is a HUGE boon to religious spread, allowing your holy infantry to indeed spread your word to everyone in the world.
Globe Theater - Man who DOESN'T know Shakespeare, he's the first Great Writer when you think of Great Writers, and this was his pad. Nuff said.
So anyway, what are your suggestions as to the meanings of the effects wonders provide and why they do it? Feel free to be as elaborate or long-winded as possible ^^;
