Additional GP Actions Brainstorming

[Leoreth]

Continuing my policy of launching threads way before their subject can be implemented, I want to talk about my plans to include additional actions for GPs. I think every GP type except spies and statesmen should get another one at least. My current ideas:

Great Artist: +X happiness in all cities for a limited time OR resets all temporary unhappiness (drafting, slavery) in all cities
Great Merchant: upgrade all cottages worked by the city the action is performed in
Great Engineer: +X production for normal buildings in all cities
Great Scientist: can discover most expensive tech known by X other players with OB
Great General: restores attack capability and one movement to all units on the tile
Great Prophet: spread state religion in surrounding cities (and maybe remove non-state religions)

I'm least concerned about prophets because their role will likely be extended with the upcoming religion changes.

If you have other ideas, go ahead and suggest them.

 

[citis]

Great artist: +1 with radio, additional +1 with mass media
message: ... wrote a new soap opera...

Great engineer: X=+2 for all cities. (I fear it is too overpowered if more)

Great general: +2 movement, +1 strength in units of stack for one turn,

Great prophet: can found a new religion
message: ...founded (religion)

 

[ales_]

Have you seen this: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=494561?

except spies and statesmen

Why?

 

[Leoreth]

Have you seen this: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=494561?

Yes, although some of those are either overpowered or too situational.

Why?

Statesmen currently have more actions than everyone else, which in part is what prompted this thread. Spies are fine as is I would say.

 

[merijn_v1]

In HR, each GP has a certain building related to it only GP can build. (Like the great scientist can build an academy) I liked that quite a lot in a recent HR game.

 

[Leoreth]

Yeah, but there would be overlap with national wonders I think.

 

[agentxorange]

You could have it that GP's could boost a certain building in a city (engineers give an extra +10% production to forge, scientists give an extra +10% to libraries, artists give an extra +10% culture to theatres, etc) instead of giving them each a wonder to build.

I also thought prophets being able to spread state religion to a number of cities would be a good idea.

 

[Sgt. Bears]

Engineers could be to complete X% of the building your city is constructing in all cities. e.g. City is building a Forge, use great engineer, all cities have their forge +X% completed.

You could make National Wonders only be able to be built by great people.

 

[agentxorange]

Engineers could be to complete X% of the building your city is constructing in all cities. e.g. City is building a Forge, use great engineer, all cities have their forge +X% completed.

You could make National Wonders only be able to be built by great people.

I think it makes more sense to leave the building time speedups to the civics and have GPs have more unique abilities.

I also don't think we should National Wonders since some civs won't be going for specialists but may still want the wonders.

 

[LacsiraxAriscal]

I think they're all pretty great. Another great engineer one; possibly instabuild say 3-5 improvements? Would be useful early game (or for colonisation) when you're not building a wonder.

 

[andrewv42]

Great General - Establish military dictatorship
Instantly changes civics to autocracy + totalitarianism, without anarchy, and provides +20 stability for 5 turns.

Great Prophet - Mass conversion
Converts all cities in a target area to your state religion.

Great Merchant - Import resources
Generates a resource of your choice (the resource must already be owned by your civilization) on the tile where the GM is located.

Great Engineer - Creative destruction
Adds +1 hammer to all citizen specialists, as well as 5 turns of +2 unhappiness in all cities.

Great Artist - Popular culture
Changes 75% of the culture in target city to your civilization's culture. If the culture is already above the 75% threshold, the city defects to your side.

Great Statesman - Promote ideology
Adds +3 unhappiness for 20 turns to all civilizations who do not share your civilization's civics. Civilizations that are furious with you are immune to this effect.

Great Scientist - Technological revolution
Great scientists are now required in order to advance to the next era of tech. By using the 'technological revolution' action, players are immediately granted a technology of their choice from the next era.

Great Spy - Overthrow government
Replaces the government of target civilization, giving them a new set of civics. There is a 75% chance that the new government will be friendly towards your civilization.

 

[merijn_v1]

What about this:

All GP get the same ability, called "build basic infrastructure" or something like that. Each GP has some building related to it and which it will build in the city. (If you have the required techs ofcourse, and it's not in the city already) It will save some time building the buildings.

Cities without the buildings profit the most from it, as they get more buildings for free. So it isn't wise to use this ability in developed cities.

List of buildings each GP build:

Spoiler :

Great Artist:
Theater
Amphitheater
Broadcast Tower

Great Engineer:
Forge
Factory
Industrial Park

Great Scientist:
Library
University
Observatory

Great Merchant:
Bank
Market
Grocer

Optional
Great Statesman:
Courthouse
Jail

Great General:
Barracks
Stable
Bunker
Bomb Shelter

Great Spy:
Jail
Security Bureau
Intelligence Agency

 

[LacsiraxAriscal]

Great scientists are now required in order to advance to the next era of tech.

Rendering 80% of civs in any given game unplayable.

 

[andrewv42]

Anything is possible with imagination.

 

[agentxorange]

What about this:

All GP get the same ability, called "build basic infrastructure" or something like that. Each GP has some building related to it and which it will build in the city. (If you have the required techs ofcourse, and it's not in the city already) It will save some time building the buildings.

Cities without the buildings profit the most from it, as they get more buildings for free. So it isn't wise to use this ability in developed cities.

List of buildings each GP build:

Spoiler :

Great Artist:
Theater
Amphitheater
Broadcast Tower

Great Engineer:
Forge
Factory
Industrial Park

Great Scientist:
Library
University
Observatory

Great Merchant:
Bank
Market
Grocer

Optional
Great Statesman:
Courthouse
Jail

Great General:
Barracks
Stable
Bunker
Bomb Shelter

Great Spy:
Jail
Security Bureau
Intelligence Agency

You're underestimating the usefulness of GP's. Why would I waste a great artist to build a theatre when I can give a city a huge amount of culture or get a tech or a golden age?

 

[calad]

Great Artist: nationalism:

Great Stateman: diplomacy

Both would have same ability: you can flip city on your core area to you and on historical area you can boost your influence on foreign city so it is likely to flip to you.

 

[Shadow Warlord]

Rendering 80% of civs in any given game unplayable.

We also have to consider how well the AI can use this too, if at all. Plus nobody wants to sit around hoarding Great Scientists to advance when they could be doing other useful things.

 

[Sinsyne]

A perhaps more ambitious idea: Great People could trigger quests. A General could trigger Warships or Elite Swords, an Artist could trigger Sports League, an Engineer Best Defense or Master Blacksmith(the third possible reward is obsolete then obviously), a Merchant Harbor Master etc.

I like quests, they make you actually work for your reward unlike other events. They always seemed underutilized to me, coming rarely and randomly. An ability to trigger them intentionally would make the mechanic more interactive and open some interesting possibilities.

 

[Shadow Warlord]

A perhaps more ambitious idea: Great People could trigger quests. A General could trigger Warships or Elite Swords, an Artist could trigger Sports League, an Engineer Best Defense or Master Blacksmith(the third possible reward is obsolete then obviously), a Merchant Harbor Master etc.

I like quests, they make you actually work for your reward unlike other events. They always seemed underutilized to me, coming rarely and randomly. An ability to trigger them intentionally would make the mechanic more interactive and open some interesting possibilities.

Interesting idea. More quests would be fun.

Also, perhaps each GP could have a special building only it can build? Right now we have:

Spy- Interpol
Statesman- admin center
General- military academy
Scientist- scientific academy
Prophet - the shrines

So that leaves Engineer, merchant, and artist with no unique buildings currently.

 

[Publicola]

A perhaps more ambitious idea: Great People could trigger quests. A General could trigger Warships or Elite Swords, an Artist could trigger Sports League, an Engineer Best Defense or Master Blacksmith(the third possible reward is obsolete then obviously), a Merchant Harbor Master etc.

I like quests, they make you actually work for your reward unlike other events. They always seemed underutilized to me, coming rarely and randomly. An ability to trigger them intentionally would make the mechanic more interactive and open some interesting possibilities.

I very strongly second this idea. I hadn't even considered tying the two together before, but now that I've seen the proposal made, I can't help but see them as linked. The one issue would be that Quest rewards tend to be a bit weaker than most Great Person actions, and you'd have to work at them to receive them as well. Perhaps this could be adjusted in one of two ways: create quests specific for each Great Person (apart from the usual ones from BtS), or enable Great People to trigger not just one quest but all quests in a specific category that are available at that time.