Amphitheatre and Colosseum

[Redaxe]

I think that these 2 buildings should really be merged together. With BNW adding in Great Works the Amphitheatre is not a very useful improvement and the Colosseum is generally a last resort option when other more readily available sources of happiness are used up.

But neither of these buildings are particularly useful on their own - but they require an enormous investment in hammers/building time that is frustrating and restrictive considering how quickly the early eras of Civ 5 pass by. So why not just merge them together and give the Amphitheatre +2 happiness and just make the Colosseum a World Wonder instead.
The Colosseum is just a big amphitheatre anyway correct? Also from a gameplay perspective the last 2 expansions have added so much content that it is basically impossible to even come close to building a civ that models the progress that the Roman Empire had achieved in 100 turns....
With BNW you are npw required to build trade caravans, writers guilds in addition to everything else that existed before so I really feel like some buildings could be merged because their functions overlap; essentially the Amphitheatre and Colosseum were built for entertainment; The Greeks as I understand it used Amphitheatres for drama whereas the Romans tended to use them more for gladiatorial events....
I don't see why one building can't cover all the general entertainment and cultural events for the classical era.

 

[9gkj548hkm20vk79dj689bnj4]

I don't see the need.

I normally don't but colosseums unless unhappiness demands it. Unhappiness tends to become a problem for me when I lose allied status with a city-state, and their luxury/happiness bonus drops off. They're good in a pinch.

But generating great writers is fairly easy, so I always build the ampitheater.

 

[Vandal Thorne]

There's actually a mod that does this one better. The Colosseum is converted into a wonder called the Flavian Amphitheatre. The building is replaced by the Arena (same function). Meanwhile the amphitheatre is replaced by the old theatre (which got replaced by the zoo) and has the important early addition of a writer slot (great for boosting your production of great writers). The old Amphitheatre is also rebuilt as a wonder -- the Temple of Dionysus. Fun stuff. Now if only mods actually supported hot seat play.

 

[daft]

The way I see it Colosseums could help generate a Great Person. This could be a Great Entertainer, or Great Sportsman? Champion? A sports team?
Colosseums could upgrade to Arenas and/or Stadiums.

Ps. Again, you mention the sentiment I share, with so much to build yet the years flying by so quickly in the Ancient and Classical era's I hardly get the chance to fully enjoy them before Medieval already creeps in.

 

[Redaxe]

Ps. Again, you mention the sentiment I share, with so much to build yet the years flying by so quickly in the Ancient and Classical era's I hardly get the chance to fully enjoy them before Medieval already creeps in.

Yeah and look I do like having lots of choices of buildings but when you don't really get around to building something until well into the following era it does suggest that something is out of balance; more is not necessarily better, I don't think having a gazillion buildings that can each be built in 2 turns is better either - it works best to have a modest amount of choices and when successive expansions add new content then the devs should be finding ways to consolidate some earlier choices...
And in this case I picked on these 2 buildings because they really are the same thing; The Civ 5 Amphitheatre as we see it was really a theatre/arena for Ancient Greek Drama where'as the Colosseum was a Roman gladiatorial arena.
Essentially though their roles were basically entertainment.

 

[reddishrecue]

Its difficult to say... what could be done though is increase the national wonders. For example, having zoos in all cities could bring a national wonder that makes more happiness and then the ampitheater could get a national wonder as well. The entertainment section could be improved this way without any sudden unnatural changes that worry.