Feedback: Buildings and Wonders

[davidtylr]

I reckon tobacco should create a -1 health with the civic 'Social Welfare'

 

[KaneofEgypt]

Is there any way you can preserve the original image of a city before it is taken? That sounded odd, but what I mean is, if you are Rome, and you take an Egyptian city, can all of the buildings in that city keep the Egyptian appearance? Each building, be it housing for extra population or a theater that wasn't in said city originally could look Roman, but it bugs me when all of the sudden a Greek city becomes a city that looks British.

 

[Xyth]

I reckon tobacco should create a -1 health with the civic 'Social Welfare'

Only if Banks under the Free Market civic come with a 10% chance each turn of emptying your treasury and selling all your other buildings to rivals civs

On a more practical note, I cannot link civics to resources or vice-versa. The AI won't understand it.

Is there any way you can preserve the original image of a city before it is taken? That sounded odd, but what I mean is, if you are Rome, and you take an Egyptian city, can all of the buildings in that city keep the Egyptian appearance? Each building, be it housing for extra population or a theater that wasn't in said city originally could look Roman, but it bugs me when all of the sudden a Greek city becomes a city that looks British.

This bugs me too. Unfortunately I don't see any way to change it

 

[stoferb]

I don't have BTS so I can't download this mod, yet. But one thing that really bugs me in Vanilla and Warlords is that there is no telling when a rival builds a Wonder. I really liked that feature in civ2 and SMAC, then it really felt like a game. One had to decide wether one could beat the AI to finish the wonder or not. Ofcourse there you had the option to actually rush build wonders with caravans and suppliers. Kinda miss that too.

 

[KaneofEgypt]

Quick comment about the English Public House. It does not appear to give the commerce or culture boosts that you mentioned in the Civilopedia it does.

Edit: Whoops, just an oversight on MY part. Heh... heh...
I'm kind of tired.

 

[Howard Mahler]

It says Sewers give +25% to espionage.

I would be very curious to hear the explanation for this.

 

[Xyth]

I don't have BTS so I can't download this mod, yet. But one thing that really bugs me in Vanilla and Warlords is that there is no telling when a rival builds a Wonder. I really liked that feature in civ2 and SMAC, then it really felt like a game. One had to decide wether one could beat the AI to finish the wonder or not. Ofcourse there you had the option to actually rush build wonders with caravans and suppliers. Kinda miss that too.

In BTS that's handled by espionage, albeit in quite limited fashion. Rushing wonders quite an imbalanced mechanic at times, especially since the AI couldn't do it well or at all. The same problems would exist in HR if it was brought back, so best that it isn't.

It says Sewers give +25% to espionage.

I would be very curious to hear the explanation for this.

Sewers have long been notorious for harbouring and enabling criminal activity, smuggling, spying and such. I've never been particularly happy with that bonus, while Sewers should provide some espionage, an espionage modifier is a bit silly. It's changing in 0.9.5, details soon.

 

[Howard Mahler]

Sewers would seem to allow smuggling into and out of a city.
Sewers could make a city somewhat more vulnerable to being spied upon. I do not understand why the city should get a bonus for espionage on other civs.
Easier smuggling could mean a lowering of tax revenue (-1 commerce or -10% to trade routes.)

Look forward to seeing the change.

In BTS that's handled by espionage, albeit in quite limited fashion. Rushing wonders quite an imbalanced mechanic at times, especially since the AI couldn't do it well or at all. The same problems would exist in HR if it was brought back, so best that it isn't.



Sewers have long been notorious for harbouring and enabling criminal activity, smuggling, spying and such. I've never been particularly happy with that bonus, while Sewers should provide some espionage, an espionage modifier is a bit silly. It's changing in 0.9.5, details soon.

 

[Azoth]

Still digesting all of that, thanks for your hard work on it. Rather than comment on everything I think I'll see what changes I might want to make to it and produce a new draft. Will probably take me a few days though, busy weekend here.

Oh, the pleasure was all mine. I seem to have fallen right into the modders' trap: brainstorming new ideas for the game has become more interesting than actually playing the game.
I guess I'll hold off on those new ideas until I see your second draft.

I'm not sure we need this, at least not in the early game. Horses and Elephants have strategic value and since we're trying to cut down on health/happiness it seems counterproductive to add happiness to 2 resources that don't really need it. However, in the later game once Horses and Elephants lose their strategic value then having a building like this might sense. I'm sure we can easily find a different home for the +2 gold.

I see your point: there's no need for Elephants and Horses to provide happiness. I still think the Circus is a good candidate for a new building. It is distinct, universal, and well suited to the +2 gold bonus. It's also a prime candidate for unique buildings: as it is, Stadiums and Theatres are somewhat overrepresented among them. Unfortunately, the Circus a better fit for the late Ancient/early Classical Era than any other. I suppose the Circus might still require Elephants or Horses, even if the +1 happiness from Elephant/Horse bonus is replaced with something else.

Overall I think this is a very good direction to take for these buildings. Just a few changes I'd want to make:

Theatre: +25% culture, +2 artist slots, +1 happiness from Hit Drama
Stadium: +1 happiness, +1 happiness per 20% culture rate​

The Theatre gets a culture modifier to compensate for the removal of some bonuses and to make it scale better throughout the game. Each building now has a well defined role.

I've decided to go with Hit Drama as the name of that resource and I think that this cannot be attached to anything but the Theatre. Dye I still want to connected to the Weaver but that may change when that building is finalized.

I agree: a resource named Hit Drama must be paired with the Theatre. However, I much prefer +3 culture over +25% culture. Percent culture bonuses are are already widely available: several civics, unique buildings, Great Temples, Broadcast Towers, and the Hit Resource Wonders offer either +25% or +50% culture. More to the point, these bonuses are only really useful when pursuing a Culture Victory; +25% culture is rather less important in the Ancient Era, when the only other cultural building available is the +1 culture Monument. I worry that if Theatres do not provide base culture or early bonus happiness, they will not be worth building until much later in the game. Theatres might be a decent candidate for the +2 gold bonus, though.

I've often wondered why Firaxis made such a discrepancy between inland and coastal trade. It might be worth doing some forum research first to see if there are any reasons that we might not be aware of. Trade route mechanics are notoriously obscure and complex.

Well, trade routes were a rather minor feature in vanilla Civilization. They were targeted for improvement in the expansions, hence the addition of the overseas trade route bonus, the Temple of Artemis, and Custom Houses. Unfortunately, as with espionage and corporations, the new trade route mechanics were somewhat sloppily managed, leading to balance issues. That's my take on the situation. In any case, I know that at least one mod, Fall from Heaven, has attached trade bonuses to buildings available in both inland and coastal cities. I say it's an option worth exploring. In the end, trade route mechanics only appear obscure and complex because there are two ways of coding bonuses: bonuses to base trade route commerce, linked to buildings and wonders; and bonuses to net trade route commerce, linked to civics and leader traits.

That's something I've thought of before but I'm not sure it's possible to code, at least for the Aqueduct. This is because the Aqueduct has to have a decent 'standard' bonus alongside the coded one that the AI doesn't understand directly. It might be possible to do for the Well though, I'll look into it.

I'm not sure I follow. By your reasoning, wouldn't the Well need a decent 'standard' bonus, too? As it is, the Aqueduct spreads irrigation to adjacent tiles, which is a bonus that freshwater cities do not need. Adding a freshwater health bonus would save those cities the trouble of building an Aqueduct entirely.

I don't think these changes are important enough to warrant shifting spaceship production back to the Medieval/Renaissance era. It just doesn't feel right.

Fair enough.

Is there any way you can preserve the original image of a city before it is taken? That sounded odd, but what I mean is, if you are Rome, and you take an Egyptian city, can all of the buildings in that city keep the Egyptian appearance? Each building, be it housing for extra population or a theater that wasn't in said city originally could look Roman, but it bugs me when all of the sudden a Greek city becomes a city that looks British.

As a small step in this direction, is it possible to allow unique buildings to be retained upon capture? If the Egyptians capture a Roman city, might they have a chance to keep the Forum?

Sewers have long been notorious for harbouring and enabling criminal activity, smuggling, spying and such. I've never been particularly happy with that bonus, while Sewers should provide some espionage, an espionage modifier is a bit silly. It's changing in 0.9.5, details soon.

I can tolerate an small espionage modifier for Sewers if it reduces the large espionage modifier for Jails. +4 EP and +50% EP is far too strong for a single building available in the early Classical Era; it trumps the economic output of every other building in the game, except the Intelligence Agency. Anyway, I look forward to your second draft, Xyth.

 

[Xyth]

Oh, the pleasure was all mine. I seem to have fallen right into the modders' trap: brainstorming new ideas for the game has become more interesting than actually playing the game.
I guess I'll hold off on those new ideas until I see your second draft.

Hehe, it's an easy trap to fall into. Much fun though.

I see your point: there's no need for Elephants and Horses to provide happiness.

I have a potential idea for these two resources.

I still think the Circus is a good candidate for a new building. It is distinct, universal, and well suited to the +2 gold bonus. It's also a prime candidate for unique buildings: as it is, Stadiums and Theatres are somewhat overrepresented among them. Unfortunately, the Circus a better fit for the late Ancient/early Classical Era than any other. I suppose the Circus might still require Elephants or Horses, even if the +1 happiness from Elephant/Horse bonus is replaced with something else.

Yeah it would be an interesting new building, though I'm not quite sure how to handle it art-wise. I'd probably have to use the Byzantine Hippodrome graphic and give them something different. At this stage I don't have it in my draft as I don't have a niche for it but it's definitely worth revisiting later.

I agree: a resource named Hit Drama must be paired with the Theatre. However, I much prefer +3 culture over +25% culture. ... Theatres might be a decent candidate for the +2 gold bonus, though.

That works.

In any case, I know that at least one mod, Fall from Heaven, has attached trade bonuses to buildings available in both inland and coastal cities. I say it's an option worth exploring.

Yep, I agree. I'm planning to add two +25% trade route yield bonuses and reducing the Customs House to 50% as you suggested.

I'm not sure I follow. By your reasoning, wouldn't the Well need a decent 'standard' bonus, too? As it is, the Aqueduct spreads irrigation to adjacent tiles, which is a bonus that freshwater cities do not need. Adding a freshwater health bonus would save those cities the trouble of building an Aqueduct entirely.

Yeah the Well has the same problem, not sure why I thought it wouldn't. If we could come up with a good standard bonus to add to the Aqueduct we could then remove the +2 health completely. This would still mean that all cities would be able to irrigate adjacent to the city after building it, regardless of whether they had a natural freshwater source or not. But only cities without a natural freshwater source would get additional health - from the reservoir placed on the city tile.

As a small step in this direction, is it possible to allow unique buildings to be retained upon capture? If the Egyptians capture a Roman city, might they have a chance to keep the Forum?

Someone made a wonder that makes that possible, in fact the Colosseum/Flavian Amphitheatre. It would be easy to include/adapt if we wanted to do this.

EDIT: Actually, I think this would be the perfect bonus for the Hagia Sophia (east meets west, blend of culture and architectural styles, used by different civs). It needs a new bonus since I stole it's original bonus for the Pyramids. Also, we could add the Colosseum Wonder and, assuming I can make the code work, make it give a chance to build the UU of another civ you're in contact with when constructing a unit.

I can tolerate an small espionage modifier for Sewers if it reduces the large espionage modifier for Jails. +4 EP and +50% EP is far too strong for a single building available in the early Classical Era; it trumps the economic output of every other building in the game, except the Intelligence Agency.

Definitely. I'm dropping the jail to just +25% espionage and adding a new building in the Medieval era that will have the other +25%. The Sewer will get the +4 espionage.

Anyway, I look forward to your second draft, Xyth.

Very nearly done, I just need a hour or so of uninterrupted modding time (tricky to get round here this last week) to finalize a few things.

 

[Xyth]

Ancient Era

Kiln: -1 health, +2 commerce, +5% production from Peat
Granary: +25% food stored, +1 health from Corn/Potato/Rice/Wheat
Smokehouse: +25% food stored, +1 health from Salt
Tannery: -1 health, +2 hammers, +1 happiness from Bison/Fur/Seal
Stable: +2 XP to Mounted Units, +5% production from Horse/Elephant
Theatre: +3 culture, +25% GPP, +2 Artist slots, +1 happiness from Hit Drama​

Classical Era

Bath: +1 culture, +1 health, heals units an extra +10% damage/turn, requires Aqueduct
Harbour: +50% trade route yield, +1 health from Crab/Fish/Shellfish/Whale
Market: +2 Merchant slots, +5% commerce from Gold/Silver/Amber/Gems/Jade
Tavern: +25% trade route yield, +1 happiness from Coffee/Tea/Tobacco/Wine
Jail: +25% espionage, -25% war weariness, +2 Spy slots
Stadium: +1 happiness, +1 happiness per 20% culture rate
Forge: +2 Engineer slots, +5% production from Copper/Iron, -1 health from Copper/Iron​

Medieval Era

Weaver: +25% culture, +1 happiness from Dye/Cotton/Flax/Silk
Grocer: +25% wealth, +2 Merchant slots, +1 health from Banana/Cocoa/Olive/Spice, -1 health from Tobacco
Civic Square: +2 culture, +25% GPP, +10% Great General emergence
Post Office: +25% espionage, +25% trade route yield​

Renaissance Era

Customs House: +1 trade route, +50% foreign trade route yield, requires Harbour
Sewer: +4 espionage, +2 health, +1 population
Distillery: -1 health, +1 happiness, +1 happiness from Sugar, -25% war weariness, requires Tavern​

Industrial Era

Supermarket: +2 food, +1 health from Cattle/Deer/Pig/Sheep, -1 health from Tobacco, requires Smokehouse/Grocer
Cinema: +25% culture, +2 Artist slots, +1 happiness, +1 happiness from Hit Movies
News Press: +1 free specialist, +1 happiness per 10% espionage rate, enemies suffer +10% war weariness in all cities​

Modern Era

Broadcast Tower: +25% culture, -25% war weariness, +1 happiness per 10% culture rate, +1 happiness from Hit Singles​

Comments

• These changes will mean that cities have 12 fewer sources of happiness than in 0.9.4, as well as the reduction in happiness when using the culture slider.
• Available health should be a lower too, though not by as much. Still working on this.
• No health/happiness buildings have more than 4 resources associated with them and there is a maximum of one such 'major' happiness building and one such 'major' health building in each era.
• There are also a few 'minor' happiness/health buildings connected to just one resource: the Smokehouse (Salt), Distillery (Sugar), Great Temple (Incense), Theatre (Hit Drama), Cinema (Hit Movies), Broadcast Tower (Hit Singles).
• No resource is associated with more than one health/happiness building.
• Peat will be a new resource in 0.9.5, found only in Wetlands
• The Stable becomes worthwhile to build for peacemongers and Horse and Elephants again have an important non-military purpose, just as they have in history. I'm not sure whether the Stable should still obsolete under this scheme.
• 5 resources that used to give happiness from buildings no longer do. These are Gold, Silver, Gems, Jade and Amber. These now give commerce from a redesigned Market.
• 5 strategic resources now give production with the Kiln, Stable and Forge. These are Horses, Elephants, Peat, Copper and Iron. This adds up to the +25% production that the Forge used to give.
• I've decided to not attach Stone or Marble to any buildings, I'm not sure they need it
• There won't be as much difference in trade route yield between coastal and inland cities anymore. 50% less from Custom House (which also moves to the Renaissance) and 50% more from the Tavern and Post Office. The latter two can be built in any city.
• I decided that the enemy war weariness from the News Press didn't need a direct counter. There's already 75% less war weariness available from buildings (Jail, Distillery, Broadcast Tower). Personally I think managing happiness should be a challenging part of modern warfare.
• I have some concepts for changes and additions in the Industrial and Modern eras but I've decided to put these aside temporarily in the interest of getting 0.9.5 finished. Unfortunately this means that Rubber and Gas will probably remain underutilized for a while longer.

 

[Azoth]

It's fine for Archipelagos but not so much for other map types where this change weakens it much more. Remember that the Great Lighthouse gives coastal trade routes. I agree that we need to reduce it to just 1 coastal trade route in every city for the sake of balance on Archipelagos but also that there needs to be some smaller bonus as well to compensate. Here's my suggestions, copied from that other thread:

• +50% commerce from trade routes in the city
• +1 regular trade route in the city
• +25% commerce in the city
• Free naval promotion allowing double speed movement over reefs​

None of these would make the wonder too strong on any maptype. And we should continue discussion of it here rather than there.

How about this?

The Great Lighthouse
+1 trade route/coastal city
+50% foreign trade route yield

A percent trade route bonus works well on all map types and is the best fit for the Great Lighthouse.
I suggest +50% foreign trade route yield so that it does not overlap with +100% trade route yield on the Temple of Artemis.

I don't want Stonehenge as the Druidic shrine. It's not Celtic or Druidic in origin and its easy to rename the Pool of Balance to something more appropriate. It's a fairly generic graphic, I just need to do some research.
Deciding on a bonus for the Nazca lines is tricky for sure but I'm sure we'll come up with something appropriate.

Would you consider:

Stonehenge
player receives a Great Prophet

Nazca Lines
free Monument per city

You should be able to code the new Stonehenge bonus via an event chain. The Great Prophet from Stonehenge is almost certain to found a religion; thus, the wonder would be particularly attractive to Progressive and Enterprising leaders, who might prefer a Great Scientist or Merchant for their first naturally born Great Person.

Someone made a wonder that makes that possible, in fact the Colosseum/Flavian Amphitheatre. It would be easy to include/adapt if we wanted to do this.

EDIT: Actually, I think this would be the perfect bonus for the Hagia Sophia (east meets west, blend of culture and architectural styles, used by different civs). It needs a new bonus since I stole it's original bonus for the Pyramids. Also, we could add the Colosseum Wonder and, assuming I can make the code work, make it give a chance to build the UU of another civ you're in contact with when constructing a unit.

I think you should take those ideas one step further:

The Colosseum
unlocks all Unique Units in this city

Receiving unique units at random could get frustrating. Now this would be a lot of fun. The Colosseum would act as a magnet for mercenaries: you could hire Greek Phalanxes, Egyptian War Chariots, and Roman Legions to supplement your standard forces. Ideally, your choice would be limited to the unique units of civilizations you have already met. If this proves difficult to code, the Colosseum could unlock all Unique Units. In that case, a -25% military unit production penalty would be appropriate; mercenaries are expensive to recruit, after all.

The Hagia Sophia
all buildings retained upon city capture

Note that cultural and Unique buildings would still be destroyed. Only those buildings that can ordinarily be captured (namely, non-cultural buildings such as Granaries, Forges, Aqueducts, and Markets) would be retained. This would give the conquering civilization a chance to spread its own culture in the city: if foreign cultural buildings such as Libraries and Theatres were retained, they would produce no culture, just like foreign Academies and World Wonders. It would also bring the wonder up to par with its contemporaries:+1 hammer/priest from Angkor Wat, free Golden Age from the Taj Mahal, and -33% hurry cost from the Kremlin.

Unique Buildings could then be handled by Apostolic Palace and United Nations resolutions. I've always felt that the default resolution options were fairly limited.
We could introduce a new line of resolutions on the laws of war:

The Apostolic Palace/United Nations
"Laws of War" Resolution 1: Great People, Naval units, and Air units can be captured
"Laws of War" Resolution 2: cultural and Unique buildings may be retained upon city capture
"Laws of War" Resolution 3: cities cannot be razed

Is it possible to code something along these lines?


PS. I'll be sure to post my response to your proposed changes to buildings by next week.

 

[Xyth]

How about this?

The Great Lighthouse
+1 trade route/coastal city
+50% foreign trade route yield

That works and fits in well with the changes to the Custom House.

The Colosseum
unlocks all Unique Units in this city

Receiving unique units at random could get frustrating. Now this would be a lot of fun. The Colosseum would act as a magnet for mercenaries: you could hire Greek Phalanxes, Egyptian War Chariots, and Roman Legions to supplement your standard forces. Ideally, your choice would be limited to the unique units of civilizations you have already met. If this proves difficult to code, the Colosseum could unlock all Unique Units. In that case, a -25% military unit production penalty would be appropriate; mercenaries are expensive to recruit, after all.

I'm thinking of making it let you build UUs of any civs you've met (or have in your trade network), but limited to Melee, Archery and Mounted units. Possibly Gunpowder too, not sure. I haven't tried this yet but it should be possible.

The Hagia Sophia
all buildings retained upon city capture

While this would be possible to code it would be slow, ugly and inaccurate. Not worth it.

Unique Buildings could then be handled by Apostolic Palace and United Nations resolutions. I've always felt that the default resolution options were fairly limited.
We could introduce a new line of resolutions on the laws of war: ...

Is it possible to code something along these lines?

Not without the SDK unfortunately.

Speaking of the AP and UN though, there is one thing I can easily change that I thought would worth getting feedback on. Normally the weight your vote has is based on population, however, this can be changed to one vote per civ or one vote for every city a civ has. Each different type of vote can have a different setting.

 

[Howard Mahler]

I know Kiln is a starting building, but the redesign makes it too weak I believe to be worthwhile to build, unless one happens to have access to Peat.

Still don't understand why having Sewers in my city increases my ability to spy on other civs, as opposed to making me more vulnerable to being spied upon.

Still don't understand how Newspress would have a big effect on the war weariness of civs with which I am at war.

Newspress should mostly effect your civ, and to a lesser extent allied and neutral civs. Instead you have emphasized the at most negligible effect on the population of a country you are at war with. Only a very, very small percentage of the population of a large country would read foreign newspapers, particularly if there is a difference in language, and particularly if there is state of war between the two countries.

During WW I, would more newspapers in France lead to war weariness in Germany?
During WW I, would more newspapers in Germany lead to war weariness in France?

I am sorry to say that I think these powers of Sewers and Newspress are at odds with the real world.

 

[Simon_Jester]

The problem is that Newspapers become unbalanced on large maps if they eliminate your war weariness without any corresponding effect to boost it- you can build enough to make yourself immune to war weariness.

The idea that the Newspaper building also represents a center for the creation of propaganda, both offensive and defensive, strikes me as worthwhile even though it's kind of contrived.

 

[Skidizzle]

I have a suggestion for the Holy Office wonder.

Wouldn't an +1 national unhappiness penalty make more sense than an -2 health? Troubled subjects knowing their religious leaders are torturing and such.

Perhaps it would be best to shift the penalties to the actual use of the inquisitor, in addition to the above mentioned, much like there's a happiness penalty for several turns when you rush production under slavery. Say for both happiness and health?

Also I think that the religious civic altruism should nullify this wonder.

 

[Howard Mahler]

War weariness would be more appropriate for a Propaganda Bureau than for Newspress.
Perhaps a new National Wonder, Propaganda Bureau, +25% or +50% war weariness to enemies.
This would also avoid the current stacking issue with war weariness from Newspress.

 

[Azoth]

Here is what I liked about the second draft, Xyth:

• twelve fewer sources of happiness from buildings
• less difference between coastal and inland trade routes
• the new Post Office building
• the Weaver moved to the Medieval Era
• Stables serve some non-military function
• war wariness from News Presses is preserved

Here is what I would hope to see changed:

• five resource dependent commerce multipliers from a single building, the Market
• the new production multipliers, which leave the Forge at -3 health for +10% hammers
• the major-minor happiness model, which reduces building choice

With that in mind, I have prepared a third draft, which I will present over the next two posts. In general, I have restored the happiness from the five commerce multiplier resources and removed five happiness elsewhere. I have further restored the 25% production bonus to the Forge, and reduced the Factory with Power bonus from 50% to 25%. Accordingly, the production multiplier resources - Copper, Gas, Iron, Peat, and Rubber - are now attached to Renaissance, Industrial, and Modern buildings. I have also made some progress reducing health sources from buildings.

Details to follow.

 

[Azoth]

The Third Draft
Part I

Added or adjusted bonuses are in green.
Removed bonuses are in red.
I've listed all buildings, except for power plants, under one of ten subtypes.
In this first post, I consider Food, Science, Gold, Trade, and Production buildings.

Food
Granary: +25% food stored +1 health Corn/Rice/Wheat, +1 health with Agrarianism, +1 happiness with Redistribution
Smokehouse: +25% food stored, +1 health Deer/Bison
Lighthouse: +1 food on water tiles, coastal cities only
Supermarket: +2 food, +1 health Cattle/Pig/Sheep, -1 health Tobacco, requires Smokehouse (does not require Grocer)

• In the second draft, Granaries provided +4 health from resources and +2 health/+1 happiness from civics. Smokehouses simply provided +1 health from resources. The difference between these buildings should not be so large. Empires with abundant grain should build Granaries; empires with abundant game should build Smokehouses.
• Granaries will still be more effective than Smokehouses but Smokehouses will be the sole prerequisite for Supermarkets.
• The bonus to Granaries from Agrarianism was reduced to +1 in a general attempt to reduce the number of health sources. Agrarianism still offers +2 health over Slavery and +3 health over Industrialism.
• Total Food Bonus: +2 food, +50% food stored

Science
Kiln: -1 health, +2 beakers, +1 happy Amber/Jade
Library: +2 culture, +25% beakers, 2 scientist slots
Monastery: +2 culture, +10% beakers, unlocks missionary, obsolete with Scientific Method
School: +3 culture, +25% beakers, +25% GPP, requires Library
Observatory: +25% beakers, 1 scientist slot
Laboratory: -1 health, +25% beakers, 1 scientist slot, +50% spaceship production, +5% hammers with Copper, requires Observatory

• The Kiln becomes the minor science building. Its two happiness from resources matches the two happiness from resources of the minor production building, the Tannery.
• The Peat production multiplier, as with all production multipliers, was moved later in the game, to the Distillery. The Laboratory picks up the Copper production multiplier.
• The GPP bonus shifts from the Theatre to the School. Not only is it a better fit, it also compensates for the hammer difference between the School and the Observatory; the latter offers the same +25% beakers as the School at a cheaper price, with a specialist slot to boot.
• Total Science Bonus: +2 science, +100% beakers, 4 scientist slots, plus +10% beakers per Monastery at the cost of -2 health

Gold
Stadium: -1 health, +2 gold, +1 happy per 20% culture, +1 happy for Aggressive leaders (base +1 happy removed)
Market: +25% gold, 2 merchant slots, +1 happy Dye/Gems, +2 happy with Professionalism
Grocer: +25% gold, 2 merchant slots, +1 healthy Banana/Olive, -1 health Tobacco
Bank: +50% gold

• The Stadium becomes the minor gold building. Instead of base happiness or happiness from resources, it offers happiness per 20% culture. Entertainment for your citizens comes at a price.
• The Market is restored to +25% gold. It provides two happiness from resources, balancing out the two health from the Grocer. Its two resources are arguably the most expensive of goods: Gems, originally at the Forge; and Dyes, originally at the Weaver.
• Total Gold Bonus: +2 gold, +100% gold, 4 merchant slots

Trade
Stable: +1 trade route, +2XP Mounted Units, requires Horse or Elephant, obsolete at Aviation
Harbour: +50% trade route yield, +1 health Crab/Fish/Shellfish, coastal cities only
Tavern: +25% trade route yield, +1 happy Cocoa/Tobacco/Wine, +1 happy for Creative leaders
Post Office: +1 trade route, +25% trade route yield, +25% espionage
Customs House: +50% foreign trade route yield, +1 happy Spices, +1 health Salt, requires Harbour
Airport: -1 health, +1 trade route, +4XP Air Units, +4 Air Unit capacity, can airlift 1 unit/turn, +5% hammers with Gas

• This is my favourite change: Stables provide an extra trade route and require Horses or Elephants to build. They go obsolete at Aviation instead of Combustion, since Aviation unlocks Gunships to replace Cavalry and Airports to replace Stables.
• Airports pick up a small production bonus with Gas.
• Meanwhile, a second bonus trade route moves from Custom Houses to Post Offices. Custom Houses do not encourage trade, they tax it. Post Offices, on the other hand, do enhance trade and communication links. They were looking a little weak for a Medieval building anyway.
• Custom Houses pick up one health from Salt and one happiness from Spices to compensate. This is a stealth reduction in the availability of health and happiness resources, since Custom Houses can only be built in coastal cities.
• Total Trade Bonus: +3 trade routes, +50% trade route yield, an additional +100% trade route yield in coastal cities at the cost of -1 health. This includes +1 trade route from the Castle, which is listed as an Espionage building in Part II, and +1 trade route from either the Stable or the Airport.

Hammers
Tannery: -1 health, +2 hammers, +1 happy Fur/Seal
Forge: -1 health, +25% hammers, 1 engineer slot, +1 happy Gold/Silver, -1 health Copper/Iron
Levee: +1 hammer per riverside tile, riverside cities only
Factory: -1 health, +25% hammers, +25% hammers with Power, 2 engineer slots, -1 health Coal/Gas/Oil
Industrial Park: -2 health, +1 free engineer, 2 engineer slots, -1 health Coal/Gas/Oil, requires Factory
Miscellaneous Power Plants

• The Tannery was reduced to two happiness from resources to match its status as a minor building, like the Kiln.
• The Forge production and happiness bonuses were restored. Without them, the building's steep hammer cost and -3 health penalty cannot be justified.
• The Factory Power bonus was reduced by 25%, balanced against +5% production from each of five strategic resources: Copper, Gas, Iron, Peat, and Rubber. These resources bonuses are attached to the Laboratory, Airport, News Press, Distillery, and Public Transit, respectively.
• The Factory resource penalties were standardized at -1 health each for Coal, Gas, and Oil.
• Total Hammer Bonus: +2 hammers, +1 free engineer, +50% hammers, +25% hammers with power, an additional +25% hammers with five strategic resources, and 6 engineer slots, at the cost of -5 base health and an additional -8 health from resources.

 

[Azoth]

The Third Draft
Part II

Added or adjusted bonuses are in green.
Removed bonuses are in red.
I've listed all buildings, except for power plants, under one of ten subtypes.
In this second post, I consider Culture, Great People, Espionage, Military, and Health buildings.

Culture
Monument: +1 culture, obsolete with Mass Media
Theatre: +3 culture, 2 artist slots, +1 happy Hit Drama, +1 happy for Creative leaders
Temple: +1 culture, +1 happy, 1 priest slot
Weaver: +25% culture, +1 happy Cotton/Flax/Silk
Great Temple: +25% culture, +25% GPP, +2 priest slots, +1 happy Incense, +2 happy with state religion, requires Temple
Cinema: +3 culture, -25% War Wariness, +1 happy per 10% espionage, +1 happy Hit Movies (base +1 happy removed)
Broadcast Tower: +50% culture, 2 artist slots, +1 happy per 10% culture, +1 happy Hit Singles

• There is no reason for the Monument to become obsolete at the same time as Stonehenge. People have been building Monuments for a long time and continue to do so. You might argue that the Monument should never become obsolete. At the very least, it should remain relevant until at least Mass Media, at which point physical media finally takes a back seat to broadcast media.
• Culture Victories are a little too easy with up to 17 Great Temples available. Reducing their cultural output to +25% makes for better balance, especially since HR introduces many new culture buildings and culture civics. At the same time, adding +25% GPP gives Great Temples some value for players pursing other victory conditions.
• The Cinema is completely redesigned. Its base cultural output is now equal to the Theatre. Its 2 artist slots were swapped for -25% War Wariness from the Broadcast Tower so that the Eiffel Tower would not become too powerful. Meanwhile, its base happiness bonus was replaced with +1 happy per 10% espionage. As with the Stadium, entertainment for citizens comes at a cost.
• With these changes, the Temple is the only building that provides base happiness.
• Total Culture Bonus: +16 culture from base buildings, plus +2 culture per Monastery and +1 culture per Temple; along with +75% culture from base buildings, plus +25% culture per Great Temple, and 4 artist slots

Great People
Cemetery: +1 health, 1 free specialist, +1 priest slot, obsolete at Journalism
Bath: +1 culture, +25% GPP, +1 health Tea, +1 happy Coffee, heals units 10%/turn (+2 health removed)
Civic Square: +2 culture, +25% GPP, +10% Great General emergence
News Press: +1 culture, 1 free specialist, enemies suffer +10% war wariness, +5% hammers with Iron (+1 happiness per 10% espionage removed)

• The Bath may seem like an odd choice for a Great People building but the choice is defensible: only the most enlightened civilizations at the height of their splendor included bath houses among their many public works. As the original Great People building in HR, the Bath loses too much flavour if it is recast as a simple culture and health building. So +25% GPP goes in and the health bonus comes out.
• The Bath is also good fit for health and happiness bonuses from the more "refined" beverages: Tea and Coffee. Wine and Cocoa are left to the Tavern.
• Finally, 1 free specialist was an excellent choice for the News Press, so I've carried it over from the Second Draft. This is a strong bonus, so it allows +1 happy per 10% espionage to be shuffled over to the Cinema. The Cinema is probably the better choice for that bonus anyway, as a more efficient outlet for propaganda.
• The News Press picks up a minor Iron production bonus and +1 culture as compensation.
• The News Press also conveniently permits the Cemetery (and its +1 health) to go obsolete. Two free specialists per city is probably too much; for one thing, it further shifts the balance towards civics that offer per specialist bonuses. I've suggested Journalism, but any nearby technology would be an appropriate end point for Cemeteries.
• Total GPP Bonus: +1 free specialist from the Cemetery or News Press, +75% GPP from standard buildings, plus +25% GPP per Great Temple.

Espionage
Courthouse: +2 espionage, -50% maintenance costs, 1 spy slot, +1 happy for Judicial leaders
Jail: +4 espionage, -25% war wariness, +1 happy for Judicial leaders (+25% espionage and 2 spy slots removed)
Castle: +50% city defense, -25% damage from bombardment, +1 culture +25% espionage, +1 trade route, +1 happy for Protective leaders, requires Walls
Sewer: +2 health, +1 population, 1 spy slot
Intelligence Agency: +50% espionage, 2 spy slots (+8 espionage removed)
Security Bureau: +8 espionage, +50% defense against espionage, thwarts rival spies (2 spy slots removed)

• Espionage levels are seriously inflated in BtS and HR. The Sewer and Castle each provide +25% espionage. The Jail and Intelligence Agency each provide +50% espionage. The proposed Post Office would add another +25% espionage. The Courthouse and Jail also offer +2 and +4 base espionage, while the Intelligence Agency and Security Bureau contribute +8 espionage each. I suggest these numbers be toned down. Three buildings should provide base espionage: the Courthouse (+2), the Jail (+4), and the Security Bureau (+8). Three separate buildings should provide espionage multipliers: the Castle (+25%), the Post Office (+25%), and the Intelligence Agency (+50%). All other bonuses are removed.
• The number of spy specialists is also excessive. The Courthouse enables 1 and the Jail, Intelligence Agency, and Security Bureau each enable 2, for a grand total of 7 spy specialists, more than other type. I suggest you reduce their number to 4: 1 for the Courthouse, 1 for the Sewer, and 2 for the Intelligence Agency. 1 spy specialist is a particularly good bonus for the Sewer. You can choose to keep an eye on the underworld, or not.
• With all these changes, the hammer cost of some espionage buildings should probably be reduced.
• You can make a case for swapping +4 espionage on the Jail for +25% espionage on the Post Office.
• Total Espionage Bonus: +10 base espionage, +100% espionage, and 4 spy specialists including the Post Office

Military
Barracks: +4XP military units, +1 happy for Aggressive leaders
Walls: +50% city defense, -25% damage from bombardment, +1 happy for Protective leaders
Distillery: -1 health, -25% war wariness, +1 happy Potato/Sugar, +5% hammers with Peat (base +1 happy removed)
Drydock: -1 health, +50% Naval Unit production, +1 health Whale
Bunker: -50% damage from Air units
Bomb Shelter: -50% damage from nukes

• The Distillery picks up +5% production from Peat and +1 happiness from Potato in exchange for +1 base happiness. Peat was, in fact, an important fuel source for early commercial distillation plants.
• The Whale health bonus is moved from the Harbour to the Drydock. I do not think that Harbours should monopolize the health bonuses from seafood resources; they are already a very attractive building thanks to their +50% trade route bonus. In any case, commercial whaling only began in the Age of Sail.
• Total War Wariness Bonus: -75% from base buildings at the cost of -1 health, -100% with National Monument

Health
Aqueduct: 1 engineer slot, freshwater health bonus (+2 base health and spread irrigation to adjacent tiles removed)
Well: +2 health, spreads irrigation to adjacent tiles [moved to the Medieval Era]
Hospital: +3 health, heals units +10% per turn
Public Transit: +1 health, +1 health Oil, +5% hammers with Rubber
Recycling Centre: no health penalty from buildings

• Most health buildings are listed under other subcategories.
• Of those that remain, the Aqueduct was given 1 engineer slot to pair with an irregular freshwater only health bonus.
• At the same time, the Well was moved to the Medieval Era, and retains its +2 base health to pair with an irregular irrigation bonus.
• Public Transportation was shortened to Public Transit and given a small production bonus.
• Total Health Bonus: +7 base health, plus +1 health from the Cemetery until it becomes obsolete