Artificial Luxuries

[MeatWad]

And I'm joking too. Respond to one joke with annother, why do so few people get that?

@Yuri2356-We live in a very paranoid, suspicious age . That might have something to do with it. I had an idea you were joking, then my Secretary of Defense pointed out the WMD's* in your post.

*Words of Mirth Distinction

 

[NP300]

We already have artificial luxuries. They come from the luxury slider. The problem is that you can't trade them.

So what if we were allowed to have 10% luxuries, forego their benefits and sell them instead? The AI could price them according to how many happy faces they would produce.

I think this could be done with minimum modification to the game and would be very simple and straightforward.

Now, let's take it further... Why not also allow civs to trade their science beakers? A civ at 100% research that wants to research even faster could buy beakers from other civs who need cash.

It would open all sorts of strategies, along with the trading of units.

 

[Yuri2356]

We already have artificial luxuries. They come from the luxury slider. The problem is that you can't trade them.

So what if we were allowed to have 10% luxuries, forego their benefits and sell them instead? The AI could price them according to how many happy faces they would produce.

I think this could be done with minimum modification to the game and would be very simple and straightforward.

Now, let's take it further... Why not also allow civs to trade their science beakers? A civ at 100% research that wants to research even faster could buy beakers from other civs who need cash.

It would open all sorts of strategies, along with the trading of units.

But then you'd just set the sliders to use lux instead of tax, and generate more money, or go to 100 science and sell beakers to survive. I feel that the lux slider represents things the gov would controll: like tax breaks, national holidays, and welfare. Being able to build luxury items more accuratley represents the private sector of your economy.

Annother idea for modern Lux:
Broadcast Media (TV/Radio) Build small wonder (with Radio): "Broadcast station"
Produces 1 unit of luxury initialy, 2 or 3 (for trading) after, say "computers" or "satalites"
Effects are only felt in cities with power plants, or new improvement "Transmission Tower"

 

[Khan Quest]

Artificial luxuries would reduce the significance of controlling the land that has luxuries and the significance of many of the Wonders. This takes away key aspects of the game.

Now, I'm all for building and trading commodities like finished furniture, etc.

 

[Yuri2356]

NAtural luxuries would still have value, because as was mentioned earlier, your people would become accustomed to them. The artificial goods would become part of your people's status quo, sudden removal of them would cause caos. That opens whole new tactical opportunities in war. You could locate where your enemy produces their lux, and then bomb the bajesus out of it! You would throw cities into dissorder, grinding production to a hault and increasing chance of culture flips. Also, to keep them from being too overpowering, the happieness bonus recived from marketplaces would not effect your manufactured goods.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Simple solution, guys, is to make natural luxuries more beneficial than manufactured ones! Either they can make more people happy, or they increase the % happiness amongst the effected population! After all, if you had the choice between sugar and artificial sweetner-or silk versus Rayon for that matter-which would YOU choose? And which would make you happier?
Another solution is that artificial luxuries actually COST shields and or gold to produce, so you are ultimately better off having some access to natural luxuries!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Yuri2356]

Simple solution, guys, is to make natural luxuries more beneficial than manufactured ones! Either they can make more people happy, or they increase the % happiness amongst the effected population! After all, if you had the choice between sugar and artificial sweetner-or silk versus Rayon for that matter-which would YOU choose? And which would make you happier?
Another solution is that artificial luxuries actually COST shields and or gold to produce, so you are ultimately better off having some access to natural luxuries!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Er, Aussie, I've already covered all this. Once you have the proper techs, you would make a city either create a building that creates the lux. Something like a small wonder (only one per Civ) but can be rebuilt if it is destroyed by war.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Sorry Yuri !!! Sometimes I don't get enough time to read everyones posts!! Great idea though !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[K.F. Huszár]

Hey guys,
Very good ideas.
REMARKS: Artificial luxuries are not only electronic dolby stereo surrounds and computers...
In the middle ages, a masterpiece carpet was an artificial luxury one (e.g. the Bayeux carpet). So, a "carpet manufacture" would be nice facility.
OTHER REMARKS: natural resource sources must have a limited provision capacity. I am sure that one source of iron is NOT capable of providing enough steel for a railway network of a whole country! So, one source of a certain resource should provide enough material for 3 or 4 cities.
MORE REMARKS: some luxury resources should run out after a while. E.g. hunting down all the elephants for ivory leads to no ivory... Or: destroying silk-farms by enemy invaders leads to halting the silk manufactures. ETC.
LAST BUT SOME REMARKS: more more and more resources. Silver, wild animals, brown coal, mahagoni, copper, obsidian
LAST REMARKS: there are some strategic resources, that can be transformed to each other. Coal to oil. Oil to rubber. This ability must appear in civ4.

bye

 

[dh_epic]

I'm a huge fan of the "Age of Discovery" scenario in C3C, where you turn certain natural resources into "treasures". Not that different from "artificial luxuries" or what I prefer to call "refined luxuries".

I think that using that scenario as a starting point, and adapting it into something less tedious that you could use in a long-long game, that would be tremendous.

 

[Yuri2356]

Hey guys,
Very good ideas.
REMARKS: Artificial luxuries are not only electronic dolby stereo surrounds and computers...
In the middle ages, a masterpiece carpet was an artificial luxury one (e.g. the Bayeux carpet). So, a "carpet manufacture" would be nice facility.

Yes there would be older luxuries like Carpets, Tobacco, and possibly slaves . But older lux would could become obsolete over time if something better is invented. It's just that when I came up with this Idea, I was thinking about great Japaneese electronics are compared to the rest of the world. All while enjoying a good breakfast waffle....

 

[K.F. Huszár]

Yuri,
Now I see, that the artificial luxury idea was baked in the waffel.
Anyway, some luxuries should became obsolate, that's right.
Who cares about tons of cinnamon or pepper?

Slaves are a good luxury resource. It should be in a way, that you have to sacrifice slaves in facilities like: colosseums (rather, amphiteatrums), temples of blood cult, red light district. And then they would act as luxury resource for 5 turns.
Ideas?

 

[Yuri2356]

Sounds about like what I was thinking. I belive slaves could be aquired either though processing captured workers (no one cares because they're POWs) or by enslaving forign sitizens in your cities (Causes unhappyness, more so in representitive gov.) Each would create one unit of "slave" that could then be put to work in some way.