I'm playing a game in which Hiawatha is two components away from finishing the Alpha Centauri spaceship, and I've launched a major assault to prevent his victory. (Hiawatha dominates the other continent on the map; it took a while to prepare and organize the invasion.) I've just taken his capital, and I'm wondering if this destroys the spaceship components he has already built, putting him back to square one, or if his construction efforts will be otherwise hindered. (Beyond the hindrances posed by the loss of a highly developed city and the need to transition to warfare production, I mean.) If I were to declare a truce now, would he be able to return to production, build the remaining two components, send them to his new capital, and win the game?
I assume so, since the victory conditions screen continues to show his accumulation of the components, and because from a gameplay stance having the built components physically tied to the capital makes the victory condition resemble Domination a wee bit too much, in my opinion. (It would all come down to protecting the capital.) But from a realism perspective, it would make more sense to have the components be destroyed. The spaceship has to be stored somewhere, after all, and it would make sense for that location to be the capital, since the components must travel there. (Unless there is presumed to be some orbital spacedock facility? Utopia Planitia ftw?
I doubt that is the case, though.) Furthermore, the map graphic reflecting the spaceship's progress is located in the capital, which suggests that the spaceship is indeed physically tied to the capital in some way, similar to the Great Wonders' map graphics appearing in the city in which they are physically located.
I plan to continue the conquering of Iroquois territory regardless, so the question is a bit moot in any case, but I figured I'd ask. Thanks!
I assume so, since the victory conditions screen continues to show his accumulation of the components, and because from a gameplay stance having the built components physically tied to the capital makes the victory condition resemble Domination a wee bit too much, in my opinion. (It would all come down to protecting the capital.) But from a realism perspective, it would make more sense to have the components be destroyed. The spaceship has to be stored somewhere, after all, and it would make sense for that location to be the capital, since the components must travel there. (Unless there is presumed to be some orbital spacedock facility? Utopia Planitia ftw?
I doubt that is the case, though.) Furthermore, the map graphic reflecting the spaceship's progress is located in the capital, which suggests that the spaceship is indeed physically tied to the capital in some way, similar to the Great Wonders' map graphics appearing in the city in which they are physically located.I plan to continue the conquering of Iroquois territory regardless, so the question is a bit moot in any case, but I figured I'd ask. Thanks!
It's a gameplay design issue, not a realism issue, and the spaceyard concept is indeed the "cleanest" workaround. (Although seeing the second shuttle scaffolding pop up in the new capital reminds me of nothing so much as the movie version of Contact: "oho, just kidding! a second construction has been going on in secret in a totally different location!") But the workaround still leaves much to be desired, requiring a rather large imaginative leap to cross the gap between the technologies presented to us in the game and those which would be required to support orbital construction. Fortunately we have imaginations: just assume a few SMAC-style technologies being researched under the radar and we're golden. 
