From space?

[Mad Hab]

I just read the Great Wall will be seen from the Global View on the next expansion. Well, that's probably because of the common thinking that you can see it from the moon. But guess what? You can't! And from the distance you can spot it, you can also see other constructions, like the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

So I don't like this feature, mainly because it helps propagate a lie...

Cheers!

Mad Hab

 

[Tycoon101]

Oh, well. I personally like the idea of a wonder being seen from the sky, no matter how historically accurate that presumption is.

 

[mutax2003]

Global view doesn't have to be all the way to the moon. In fact, you can seen the whole earth well before you land on the moon. So your view can be just far enough out in the space that still allow you to see the Great Wall of China.

 

[MrCynical]

Global view doesn't have to be all the way to the moon. In fact, you can seen the whole earth well before you land on the moon. So your view can be just far enough out in the space that still allow you to see the Great Wall of China.

But as the OP said, at any distance where the great wall is visible, there are a number of other visible structures, such as the Pyramids and most international airports. The great wall is probably harder to see from space than these (the first Chinese astronaut couldn't spot it even from low Earth orbit).

 

[GoldEagle]

Actually, the great Wall is no wider than a U.S. highway, so why should we be able to see it? When I was at space camp a few years I asked an austronaut during a session, and he said that, on a clear day, you can actually see it, but not well.

 

[civn]

Holy beep beep, firaxis'd adopted communism, trying to save a few beep gold on remote cities. A while back, I'd attended nasa conference in pasadena ca, it's was beep hilarious when they made fun of the beep china stupidity great wall comment. The whole room fill with laughter. The great wall is, well, great? Don't get me wrong here. But seeing the beep wall from space (not moon)? That's just beep ridiculous. When china trail us to space (that's between 60miles[spaceship one] - 250[iss]), you can't beep see the whole earth without zoom or pan your beep head. Yet at that beep distance you can't see beep from china.

However, nasa's austronaut have reported seeing light from the 40billion candle power light from luxor hotel and casino in vegas.

 

[wiseguy101]

The original poster was correct when he said that when you are able to see the Great Wall of China from space, you can also see other large structures from space too. End of story.

 

[Commie #4522]

Armstrong saw it from space guys, what are you talking about?

 

[Mewtarthio]

You can sorta see it from space if you know where to look, but it's only a thin line. I'd recommend reading theSnopes article (from Snopes.com, a very popular mythbusting site).

However, I don't think the Firaxis spokesman was actually claiming to be able to see the real Great Wall from space. Due to the way the game works and the way the Wall is placed, you can see the Wall from global view. I doubt it was intentional, but given how many tiles it takes up it was inevitable (remember that the game is not "drawn to scale" so to speak). He was just making a joking reference to that popular urban myth.

 

[Codeman]

i personally don't care if the wall can be truelly seen from space or not. it has no effect on the lives we must live; pay bills, taxes, and die... the possible implications the game may make would only be important if someone chose to sub civ for an anctual education.

 

[Bushface]

Since the Great Wall keeps people out, it must needs be at least man-high. Since men in Civ4 are about a thousand feet tall, the Wall will be a monstrous construction and ought to be easily visible from space. Correct me if I am in error !

 

[The Great Apple]

I've never been able to find it on Google Earth without being told excatly where it is (I know about where it should be!)

 

[Masquerouge]

I think it's more of a wink than a serious feature.

 

[shmily_dana]

I'm having a flashback...I remeber this gal that thought the Great Wall was all you could see from space...I asked her if you could see the land masses, she thought about it for a while (way too long) and agreed that you could see the land and oceans. But no other signs of human construction. I can't remember if she agreed that rivers could be seen.

 

[Rince]

Hey, we have Al Gore's picture for the Internet tech so why not let us see the Great Wall from space?

Rince

 

[Commander Bello]

Where is the point in displaying it if you are entering global view?

The only effect will be that even more systems will be slowed down.

 

[Sohan]

Al Gore invented the internets. Yay! I always laugh when I get to that part of the tech race. Anywho, seeing the Great Wall from the global view is a neat visual trick. Sorta like the part about seeing the names of cities on the screen. Totally unrealistic. The names should be on a tiny sign on the outskirts of the city.

 

[dutchfire]

you can see it from space, you just need good eyes, or a telescope

 

[Red Stranger]

I don't see the problem here. You can see your cow from space in the current civ4

 

[Older than Dirt]

You can't see it very well, however, if it is a new moon, it is night, and there is a 10,000-foot cloud layer, unless you have medicinally enchance vision or the secret glasses which were availabe by mail from General Mills in 1955 (with 20 boxtops of Corn Flakes and 50 cents. These were hard to get because of the shortage caused by the CIA buying up most of them. The product was discontinued after 6 mos. because the glasses caused retinal scarring.). Of, course on a clear day one can see everything from the Mother Ship.