Bias against the Americans?

[ScottyB]

I accidently posted this on the CIVREV forum, it was late last night so please forgive me. Perhaps someone could answer this question for me: Is there bias against the Americans in this game? I played 7 games this evening before giving up. I played Thomas' War 2.0 and had 4 of the intial starts were in tundra. I have noticed this bias in vanilla CIV4, Warlords and Beyond Warlords. Any help would be great! Thanks

Scott

 

[Quotey]

Cross posted from the CivRev forum:

There's no bias against Americans in this game, or ANY Civ game. And honestly, I've never heard of it, but I'd assume thre's no bias in Thomas' Wars 2.0 either.

 

[Jerrymander]

Uh, I would imagine that the Americans were just prey to the (evil) RNG.

 

[ScottyB]

Thanks for the replys. I guess it is just me. Again, thanks guys!

Scott

 

[eewallace]

In BTS, Roosevelt is definitely one of the mid- to top-rank leaders. The UU and UB are good, but don't come until late in the game. All in all, a pretty balanced civ. And as I recall, in vanilla (I think) Washington was one of the most powerful leaders!

 

[AmazonQueen]

I'd also class Lincoln as 1 of the best leaders. Charismatic and Philosophical are both good traits.

Does Thomas' War 2.0 alter any of the map scripts or anything like that? If anything odd is happening it may be because of the mod but in standard Civ I've had all sorts of starts with the Americans.

 

[Joker123]

Keeping with the historical background of each civ, it would be natural that the americans have the most late UU, UB.
Leaders are ok too, so could be worse.

 

[Astaldo711]

No, nothing against Americans. It's a random map each time you play.

 

[bestbrian]

I will add that in all my games (excepting the one's I played as them) the Amercians never amount to being much of a factor and usually spend the game vassaled if they survive at all.

 

[Kawalimus]

America's UB should be different. I don't like the idea of mall as a unique building. All it is a bunch of stores in a building nothing really special about a mall. And they have em in other countries too.

My idea for the American UB is a Ballpark. And I know Mayans have Ball Court already but they should change that. Cause American Ballparks are some of the nicest looking places you'll see. I mean you see places like Oriole Park at Camden Yards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CamdenYards_2005-05-08.jpg (and there are better pictures!) and other ballparks and you'll see this should be the UB for the Americans.

I say American Ballpark gives +1 happy, +2 culture, and +10% wealth.

 

[Genv [FP]]

Nah, The mall is better.

 

[Kawalimus]

But the mall is a lame idea for a unique building. Unless it's one of those specialty huge malls like the Mall of America in Minnesota or that one in Edmonton Canada you're not getting anything special. Any American's been to a mall and they're pieces of crap. Not what I want as my civilization's unique building.

Now the ballpark just makes sense. They're in many major cities and they function like colosseums. Even if it's not as good a building it comes earlier gives you a small culture and money bonus. The culture comes from the design and tradition and the money comes from people pay to see their team play ball. And from tourism attracts from the suburbs to come down to the city to watch the game.

 

[TheDS]

I think the Mall makes a good choice, myself. It's the original "put everything in one place" building, and I've been to a few really nice ones (San Diego, Chicago, and Houston come to mind). With how late they become available, they need some major bonuses, and +20% gold and 3 MORE happiness (from the 3 Wonder resources) does a reasonable job of feeding huge cities. It might even need to go a little further - most of my games are effectively over by then.

If you have a late-start game, though, it's probably the best civ to use, with Germany being second.

 

[SharpMango]

America's UB should be different. I don't like the idea of mall as a unique building. All it is a bunch of stores in a building nothing really special about a mall. And they have em in other countries too.

My idea for the American UB is a Ballpark. And I know Mayans have Ball Court already but they should change that. Cause American Ballparks are some of the nicest looking places you'll see. I mean you see places like Oriole Park at Camden Yards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CamdenYards_2005-05-08.jpg (and there are better pictures!) and other ballparks and you'll see this should be the UB for the Americans.

I say American Ballpark gives +1 happy, +2 culture, and +10% wealth.

malls as a concept definitely feel 'american' to me.
the 'malls' in other countries are emulations on the american model...
more than anything, the idea of a big mall (with mostly the same franchises) every few blocks is incredibly american...one doesnt see that in the EU..
one may see that outside the US in somewhere like Kuwait or Saudi...but they are heavily influenced by american culture.

 

[g.neuman]

I actually like the ballpark idea. While malls do have something undeniably American about them, they don't rise to the iconic level of our sports arenas. The old saying goes "Mom, baseball, and apple pie" not "Mom, the shopping mall, and apple pie". I'm not saying that the mall is a terrible unique building, just that something like the ballpark would be better and more culturally appropriate.

Good thinking, Kawalimus.

While we're on the subject, I think that America could use a better unique unit too. Once again, I don't think that the one we have is awful or anything. I just think there's room for improvement. I would suggest the following:

Frontiersman (Unique Unit for America, Replaces Explorer)
STR: 6 MOVE: 2 COST: 40 REQUIRES: Compass and Gunpowder
ABILITIES: Better results from tribal village, ignores terrain movement cost, starts with Guerilla I and Woodsman I.

The Frontiersman is stronger than an Explorer and is able to attack, but can't be built until the discovery of gunpowder. For the model, I think two guys wearing buckskins, coonskin caps, and carrying muskets (the "Davey Crockett" look) would be cool. I know that everyone and their brother has come up with a "better" UU for America, but the Frontiersman is one I've never seen before and I think it is more of an American cultural icon than the Navy SEAL.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Frontiersman (Unique Unit for America, Replaces Explorer)
STR: 6 MOVE: 2 COST: 40 REQUIRES: Compass and Gunpowder
ABILITIES: Better results from tribal village, ignores terrain movement cost, starts with Guerilla I and Woodsman I.

The Frontiersman is stronger than an Explorer and is able to attack, but can't be built until the discovery of gunpowder. For the model, I think two guys wearing buckskins, coonskin caps, and carrying muskets (the "Davey Crockett" look) would be cool. I know that everyone and their brother has come up with a "better" UU for America, but the Frontiersman is one I've never seen before and I think it is more of an American cultural icon than the Navy SEAL.

I like this one. To me, America - and Canada too (I'm Canadian), has been all about exploration and discovery. We wouldn't be anywhere without guys like Davy Crockett and Jacques Cartier running around mapping and discovering new lands. Our whole history is filled with these kinds of people.

The Frontiersman would be a great addition, though usually in my games the goody huts are long gone by gunpowder.

Maybe somebody will put it in a mod? Hint, hint...

 

[AmazonQueen]

I like this one. To me, America - and Canada too (I'm Canadian), has been all about exploration and discovery. We wouldn't be anywhere without guys like Davy Crockett and Jacques Cartier running around mapping and discovering new lands. Our whole history is filled with these kinds of people.

The Frontiersman would be a great addition, though usually in my games the goody huts are long gone by gunpowder.

Maybe somebody will put it in a mod? Hint, hint...

I agree its a good idea. It would still be a decent unit in late starts. I'd like to see either it or the Minuteman replace the Navy SEAL. Special Forces don't make good UUs IMO, its just not believable when a civ has dozens of them running around.

 

[g.neuman]

The Frontiersman would be a great addition, though usually in my games the goody huts are long gone by gunpowder.

Oh yeah, me too. But I thought that since the Frontiersman would replace the Explorer, it should have that ability. You never know, there could always be a goody hut that goes undiscovered until the late game. I'd sure as hell rather have gold or a worker pop out than a bunch of angry longbowmen.

 

[Wolfshanze]

I'll bet he'd look something like this if you were to do that...

 

[g.neuman]

Yeah, that's the look I'm thinking of (although I can't see if the hats actually have the racoon tail on them). Is that a Colonization unit, a senario unit, or one that you designed?