Brainstorming Thread - One-Trick-Pony Techs

[Vokarya]

I'm still looking very hard at the 1- and 1.5-trick techs (there are only a few left). One of those 1.5-trick techs is Anatomy. The tricks it actually has are the Doctor's Office building (major trick) and the Medic II promotion (minor trick).

I do not intend to remove this tech. It is very good at being the tech to cover Renaissance Era developments in medicine. I am just wondering what we can do with this tech. I have already suggested and been voted down on the idea of dedicated medic units. Great Persons are also not an option here; we don't have Great Doctors, and I don't think it is worth including them without the appropriate infrastructure (Doctor specialists, Great Doctor points, etc.) and the only other appropriate option would be Great Scientist, but I can think of several other techs in the Renaissance Era that would have a better claim on the one GS that I am allocating to the Medieval/Renaissance Era.

What else is there that is an option?

 

[Randomness]

I'm still looking very hard at the 1- and 1.5-trick techs (there are only a few left). One of those 1.5-trick techs is Anatomy. The tricks it actually has are the Doctor's Office building (major trick) and the Medic II promotion (minor trick).

During this period, science was popularized and public lectures became a common entertainment. Disections were one of the most popular of these, so maybe a happiness or culture boost from some science buildings.

 

[Vokarya]

During this period, science was popularized and public lectures became a common entertainment. Disections were one of the most popular of these, so maybe a happiness or culture boost from some science buildings.

I try to stay away from those kinds of bonuses if possible; they sometimes feel too tacked-on for my taste and I think you could make a case for many other bonuses of the same type that aren't included. But you have given me an idea. What about this:

School of Medicine (National Wonder)

• Available at Anatomy
• Requires X Universities (base 4)
• +10% science
• +1 Great Person Point (Scientist)
• +25% faster construction of Doctor's Office, Hospital in all cities

and then a counterpart:
School of Law (National Wonder)

• Available at Jurisprudence
• Requires X Universities (base 4)
• +10% science
• +1 Great Person Point (Diplomat)
• +25% faster construction of Courthouse, District Courthouse in all cities
• Can't be built in same city as School of Medicine

I'd still like to move Supreme Court up to Constitution/Representative Democracy and/or get rid of the three super-Guild Master units (as opposed to the regular single-guild masters), but to do both would knock Jurisprudence all the way down to one-trick status. This will ameliorate that a bit if I do go through with it.

Yes, I know other graduate schools exist, but I don't think other types have enough direct impact to be included as separate buildings; rather, they are just swept up with University/Research Laboratory.

 

[45°38'N-13°47'E]

Sounds like a very good idea to me!

 

[gay_Aleks]

I try to stay away from those kinds of bonuses if possible; they sometimes feel too tacked-on for my taste and I think you could make a case for many other bonuses of the same type that aren't included. But you have given me an idea. What about this:

School of Medicine (National Wonder)

• Available at Anatomy
• Requires X Universities (base 4)
• +10% science
• +1 Great Person Point (Scientist)
• +25% faster construction of Doctor's Office, Hospital in all cities

and then a counterpart:
School of Law (National Wonder)

• Available at Jurisprudence
• Requires X Universities (base 4)
• +10% science
• +1 Great Person Point (Diplomat)
• +25% faster construction of Courthouse, District Courthouse in all cities
• Can't be built in same city as School of Medicine

I'd still like to move Supreme Court up to Constitution/Representative Democracy and/or get rid of the three super-Guild Master units (as opposed to the regular single-guild masters), but to do both would knock Jurisprudence all the way down to one-trick status. This will ameliorate that a bit if I do go through with it.

Yes, I know other graduate schools exist, but I don't think other types have enough direct impact to be included as separate buildings; rather, they are just swept up with University/Research Laboratory.

Why only 1 GP point? Put at least 2 per school.

It also gives me an idea to make faculties that would be available once you build Universities. Could be applied on further techs...

 

[Vokarya]

Why only 1 GP point? Put at least 2 per school.

National Wonders get 1 GPP; World Wonders get 2.

It also gives me an idea to make faculties that would be available once you build Universities. Could be applied on further techs...

I'm not really sure about going any further. Most schools don't have the "presence" that medicine and law schools do, and I'm trying to only introduce new buildings where they would shore up weaker techs.

 

[<Nexus>]

I like the schools and think that two is enough.
Could we have something different for School of Law other than +10% science? Like decreased national rebelliousness and/or something with magistrates?

 

[<Nexus>]

So here's an idea for some 'genetics' tech. As I see most trans-human biology techs could use one or more extra tricks.

Everyone remembers the Abomination model in Afterworld mod? That always reminded me to Resident Evil (though I never played the game). I have two ideas how we could introduce it to the mod to enrich a tech.

1) Spy action
Spy units would gain access to a new action: M-Virus Infestation.
If successful, the city's population is decreased by X (for example 1-6 random roll) and X Abominations are spawned near the city for the barbarian state to wrack havoc the land.

2) "Pirate" mutants
The second idea is easier and less interesting. Allow the training of Abominations (with some buildings). They would be like the Privateer to attack without declaring war.

In either case Abomination should be a bit weaker than the regular units of that time of the game. It's main purpose is to destroy improvements and workers without war declaration.

What do you think?

 

[Rezca]

Since I always hated the land-based "pirates" in C2C with a burning passion, I'm going to have to say 'Absolutely not' to the second one for sure - weaker or not, just a flat out adamant and unchanging No from me.
*Edit* well to be fair, said hated units were generally the "Warlord" chief (Which was always a pain to bring down, more so now with that Lead From Behind feature being on), and the stealth 'thieves'. Regardless, I just don't like the idea of a land-based "Barbarian" unit like that.

First one seems off somehow, not really sure on it.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Still, few things were more fun that wrecking up AI with an Warlord Colonel which was two generations ahead of anything they had.

 

[<Nexus>]

Well I don't have that sort of problem with "land pirates", (okay, I didn't play c2c much) but I don't think either that we need bandits. However there's a great difference between having bandits from the start of the game or have the same feature in the trans-human era regarding game play impact.

Anyway, I would prefer option 1.
Even if neither is favored enough it may inspire other ideas for the brainstorming

 

[Vokarya]

I would be very reluctant to introduce any new units at this point, especially in the Transhuman Era. I got rid of the ones I thought we could safely spare and we still have more land units in the Transhuman Era than any other. I think what the Transhuman Era really needs is more buildings. Civics wouldn't be bad either -- there are only 3 new civics in the entire Transhuman Era.

 

[Rezca]

I would be very reluctant to introduce any new units at this point, especially in the Transhuman Era. I got rid of the ones I thought we could safely spare and we still have more land units in the Transhuman Era than any other. I think what the Transhuman Era really needs is more buildings. Civics wouldn't be bad either -- there are only 3 new civics in the entire Transhuman Era.

Which reminds me... I'm nearing the mid-Modern era in my current game (!!) and just thought about the Cannon turrets building, the one that obsoletes at Artillery and does small damage-per-turn to adjacent enemies?

Would a building like that in the Transhuman be worth considering? C2C had a line of "trap/defense" buildings spanning the Prehistoric (Spike/Pit Traps) up to the Transhuman (Minefield/Gravity) that would serve this purpose, and while adding in said defensive buildings to the Ancient ~ Classic might be a bit much, would the Transhuman benefit from a building like that?

I can't recall if there's already one, I know of the Shielding and Railgun AA buildings but that's it. Ah, and the Automated Defenses (Not sure if that does %DoT to ground untis though) but that's civic-specific.

 

[Vokarya]

Which reminds me... I'm nearing the mid-Modern era in my current game (!!) and just thought about the Cannon turrets building, the one that obsoletes at Artillery and does small damage-per-turn to adjacent enemies?

Would a building like that in the Transhuman be worth considering? C2C had a line of "trap/defense" buildings spanning the Prehistoric (Spike/Pit Traps) up to the Transhuman (Minefield/Gravity) that would serve this purpose, and while adding in said defensive buildings to the Ancient ~ Classic might be a bit much, would the Transhuman benefit from a building like that?

I can't recall if there's already one, I know of the Shielding and Railgun AA buildings but that's it. Ah, and the Automated Defenses (Not sure if that does %DoT to ground untis though) but that's civic-specific.

The only buildings that have the "adjacent damage" ability are the Ballista Turret and Cannon Turret. I don't see too much of a problem with making more modern turrets (probably one at Repeating Weapons, as Artillery's already content-heavy, and a final one at Railgun), as that extends an existing line rather than making a new one, but I wouldn't want any additional trap-type buildings. Automated Defenses does not deal damage to adjacent units; that might not be a bad mechanic to add.

 

[Vokarya]

I'm trying now to cover the techs where I don't have a solid idea of what to do in order to get them to the 2-trick threshold. There are only 10 techs total left to fill out once I implement the changes for Anatomy, Thermodynamics, and Organic Cities.

One of the last 10 techs is Chemistry. This is such a fundamental tech that there is no way we're going to get rid of it, but basic science techs are sometimes hard to find something for. Chemistry's current tricks are the Laboratory building and the +1 production from Workshop improvements. So we need one more thing.

An alternative would be to find something else to give to Physics. If Physics had an additional trick, it could give up its Great Scientist to Chemistry without any problems. I certainly don't want to have both Chemistry and Physics have Great Scientists.

I do not think it would be a good idea to move Grenadier around. I like Grenadier at Absolutism because otherwise Absolutism's only tricks are both Wonders. Grenadier then needs a second tech from the Gunpowder line because it is possible to get to Absolutism without Gunpowder, so I chose Matchlock. Three tech requirements on one unit looks awful to me. There are four units that do it (Rider, Dreadnought, Modern Armor, Fusion Cruiser) and at least for the Rider and the Modern Armor, the third tech is from a previous era (Stirrup/Mechanized Warfare).

 

[<Nexus>]

I like Resca's Turret line idea.

You said that the trans-human era needs more buildings and civics, I have some ideas then:


Hive mind society civic
Through genetic engineering and cybernetic implants makes all your citizens part of a greater entity. Individual desires are suppressed for the good of the whole resulting in an ant like society.
-50% and
-20% and
+50% and
+20% military unit production
Workers build improvements 25% faster
+1 in other civs not running Hive mind ("We are happy to keep our freewill ")
Some diplomatic penalty with civs not running Hive mind ("You are ignoring human nature ")
No foreign connectedness
No corporations
No non state spread
Reduced local and national rebelliousness

Civic building: City mind
No in city




Global Defense Initiative military civic
An attempt to ensure world wide peace.
+2 in all cities
Enforces Defensive Pact with every other civ running GDI
Diplomacy bonus with every other civ running GDI
Increased war

Civic building: GDI Headquarters
Free GDI Guardian promotion (+50% city defense, -50% city attack)

Peace movement is also available for GDI



Cybernet project
Grants instantaneous virtual presence anywhere on the globe for the purpose of study, research or just recreation.
+10% and for all civs
+1 for all civ
+20% for builder (for running and maintaining the Cybernet)
+10% (for knowing and abusing Cybernet backstage entrances)

 

[<Nexus>]

Research Vortex would be a final building in the Laboratory line.
Besides regular Labrotory bonuses it would have a civ wide +2% thus the more Research Vortex you build, the greater the bonus is.


Food Replicators
Converts industrial output to food.
-10%
+10%
1


Biosphere dome
requires shielding (archology or something)
converts the city's and the surrounding 8 tiles 1 level better (tundra, dessert --> dirt --> grass)


This is really brainstorming in hope that Vokarya can make use of something. If not, still I'm not hurt

 

[Vokarya]

I don't think we need any new Laboratory buildings any more. The top of the line is the Quantum Lab, which is intentionally restricted (1 Q-Lab per 3 Research Labs).

 

[Randomness]

I think more transhuman civics, with appropriate civ names of course, is a great idea. It's one of the best ways to enhance the sci-fi atmosphere.

 

[Vokarya]

I think more transhuman civics, with appropriate civ names of course, is a great idea. It's one of the best ways to enhance the sci-fi atmosphere.

I agree. Hive Mind isn't bad, but needs a better name and maybe dial the changes down just a little. I'm working on the Virtual power civic for Mesh Networks. I don't really want to see new civic categories at this time, but I would like to see more choices within the current categories.