[Vote] (4-32) Proposal: Statue of Zeus buffs

[Legen]

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VP Congress: Session 4, Proposal 32

Spoiler Statue of Zeus stats :

Cost: 185
Culture: 1
Faith: 1
Policy requirement: 2

Free Barracks in the City in which it is built.
All Units gain +15% Combat Strength when attacking Cities.
-1 Unhappiness from / Distress in this City.

Proposal:

• Statue of Zeus now grants +25% CS when attacking cities, up from +15%.
• Statue of Zeus now grants a free worker upon completion.

Spoiler Statue of Zeus with the proposed changes :

Cost: 185
Culture: 1
Faith: 1
Policy requirement: 2

Free Barracks in the City in which it is built.
All Units gain +25% Combat Strength when attacking Cities.
A Worker appears near the City.
-1 Unhappiness from / Distress in this City.

Rationale:

Statue of Zeus has been often mentioned to be a weak wonder, arguably the worst Ancient Era wonder. Most of it has to do with the small unique effect, +15% CS when attacking cities, which is not a noticeable difference in the grand scheme of things. Other siege promotions provide at least a 25% increase (including the Siege line on siege units, which gives +10% unconditional RCS and an extra +15% RCS when attacking cities), with a few going up to an extra +50% or +125% CS vs cities. A boost to its effect can make it at least as valuable as a promotion on the lower end (akin to an extra level on siege units), and do so without being overly strong in the Ancient Era.

The other addition to Statue of Zeus, a free worker, gives it some grounding in case you are not in condition to assault cities. It also has a synergy with the current Bronze Working tech; this tech provides better chopping bonuses, which can be pushed further by an extra worker in this tech. This helps recouping some of the cost of building the wonder, should you pursue it, and solidify this tech's use of forests and jungles as a way to rush wonders throughout the Ancient and Classical eras.

Amendment: replaced the "Tile improvement construction speed increased by 25%" part with "now grants a free worker upon completion". Rationale adjusted accordingly.

 

[Legen]

As a disclaimer, I'm aware that the +25% worker improvement speed gets duplicated with the Terracotta Army. However, I'm not allowed to remove it from that wonder in this proposal due to the following rule:

A proposer may only make one proposal per game mechanic. No counterproposals by the same person for the same game mechanic will be permitted.

Since I already have another proposal modifying the Terracotta Army (the mechanic in question), I cannot add a change to it in this proposal without breaking the rules. This is an artifact that resulted from a veto in the last congress, despite that proposal not violating a rule at the time; with that proposal postponed to this congress, the most I can do is to add the said change to that other proposal and hope both pass, or hope that someone will make a counterproposal to this one that includes a "Terracotta Army loses its +25% worker speed effect".

 

[pineappledan]

Increasing the % vs cities is enough, I think.

There was also some discussion about reworking the city assault and drill line bonuses that, if implemented, would also help your BW spear rush crusade.

 

[Stalker0]

You could consider “the city receives a free worker” instead of the worker speed to keep it unique. Anything free at this point in the game is a big deal, especially for authority who wants the hammers to build up their forces.

I do like the concept the concept of adding a bit of “economy boosting” to the wonder

 

[Legen]

You could consider “the city receives a free worker” instead of the worker speed to keep it unique. Anything free at this point in the game is a big deal, especially for authority who wants the hammers to build up their forces.

I do like the concept the concept of adding a bit of “economy boosting” to the wonder

That would work indeed. I admittedly like the aesthetics of the wonder having two "25%" effects, but a free worker would fit with the limitations I'm having. I'll amend the proposal with your suggestion.

 

[Legen]

Amendment: replaced the "Tile improvement construction speed increased by 25%" part with "now grants a free worker upon completion". Rationale adjusted accordingly.

 

[alchx]

It's funny. In vanilla, a free worker (or 2) is given along with Pyramids (not sure about worker speed, but it seems +25% was). And this is more in historic line with the Pyramids.
In addition, it would be better for a game with one city - a settler in current variant of Pyramids is absolutely useless. And the Pyramids are a meaningless Wonder of the World ..

The player going after the Statue of Zeus must either capture the workers (we are aggressors, warlike people), or buy them through the collected tribute from CSs. Capturing workers with combat AI is an incredibly difficult task. And it's not very practical to capture workers because of the -50% (or 100%) work speed penalty for 50 turns. It remains only to buy through tribute.

Perhaps it's better to add +2 unit supply cap to the Statue of Zeus? And +1 gold as donations to the Zeus - God of War.

In the first 100 turns, +2 combat units can help a lot when with 5 cities you have a limit of 15 units and the cities have not yet reached 10 inhabitants for free and no maintenance battle unit. And +1 gold stabilizes the economy.

 

[Stalker0]

In addition, it would be better for a game with one city - a settler in current variant of Pyramids is absolutely useless. And the Pyramids are a meaningless Wonder of the World ..

I mean you don't build pyramids in a one city challenge, but I do lots of things differently in a OCC. The free settler at that point in the game is a very nice bonus.

 

[alchx]

I mean you don't build pyramids in a one city challenge, but I do lots of things differently in a OCC. The free settler at that point in the game is a very nice bonus.

Yes, the Pyramids are obviously extremely strong right now. They give a settler and at the same time do not slow down the growth of the city, as it would be with the usual production of a settler. They are too strong. The result is approximately +1 (+2) additional citizens in the capital. This citizen will easily increase the production power of the city by 10-20% in the early game. I do not remember if the capital loses 1 citizen when receiving a settler from the Pyramids.

Getting workers from Pyramids in vanilla is more balanced. It takes 5-7 turns to even dig a mine for +1 hammer. Or build a farm with +1 food. Or 4-5 turn to cut down the forest (which is fast, but in the late game it can punish for cutting down the forest).

 

[besset]

What about adding a free worker and 10% CS to all units? I'm wondering if that makes it too OP though. But it's nice to not only have a CS boost for when attacking cities

 

[alchx]

What about adding a free worker and 10% CS to all units? I'm wondering if that makes it too OP though. But it's nice to not only have a CS boost for when attacking cities

If the Zulus build a statue of Zeus with +10% CS, then you can start a new game immediately after receiving the message. Or when you find the Zulus.

 

[Legen]

I'll sponsor this.

 

[Recursive]

Proposal sponsored by Legen.

 

[saamohod]

The CS increase looks perfect but I disagree with the free worker. It's extra and doesn't connect thematically.