Golden age powers?

[ybbor]

how about each civ gets a special ability when they have thier golden age. like hte americans could have manifest destiny, where settelers cost half. and the romans could have the renisance, where all buildidings already rpoducing culture produce 1 more, etc..

 

[Marx]

Nice Idea, but there is a risk of overpowering some civilizations, because some abillities will be much more usefull than other abilities.

 

[judgement]

I like this idea.

Civs already have special attributes that are there for the whole game (Industrial, Commericial, etc). The makers managed to keep them reasonably balanced: there's pretty lively discussion about what the best traits are, no foregone conclusions. As long as they were careful to balance the traits, I say extra abilities that kick in during a Golden Age would be cool.

This idea could also be combined with the entire-game traits in some way, for example, civs could get an extra trait for the duration of their golden age, or each entire-game trait could have one of its advantages only occur during the golden age.

Trying to control when you golden age was triggered would, of course, get even more important if this idea was implemented.

 

[Evie]

Golden age is a ridiculous idea to begin with. Civilizations did not enter a golden age for building wonders : they built wonders during their golden age because the golden age was the one moment in history where they were at the top of their power.

Having a "golden age" popping up and giving you an increase in anything as a reward for wonders-building is stupid IMHO.

Same thing goes for Dark Age - the dark ages were the *conquest* of the old empires by smaller, more backward ones. They were not Europe as a whole stepping back and losing science ; they were the fall of Rome (and such) to less advanced tribe.

Neither need special "triggered" representation in the game.

 

[judgement]

Originally posted by Oda Nobunaga
Golden age is a ridiculous idea to begin with. Civilizations did not enter a golden age for building wonders : they built wonders during their golden age because the golden age was the one moment in history where they were at the top of their power.

Having a "golden age" popping up and giving you an increase in anything as a reward for wonders-building is stupid IMHO.

Yeah, but the Pyramids didn't magically create granaries in all Egyptian cities, either. I think the Golden Age is a fun addition to the game, so what if its not entirely realistic?

Same thing goes for Dark Age - the dark ages were the *conquest* of the old empires by smaller, more backward ones. They were not Europe as a whole stepping back and losing science ; they were the fall of Rome (and such) to less advanced tribe.

Neither need special "triggered" representation in the game.

The fall of a powerful empire to smaller, more backward ones is exceeding rare in Civ, much less common than in history. If small civs can get a sudden boost from a "triggered" golden age, it increases the likelihood that they can shake up the status quo. Granted, the mechanism isn't all that realistic, but the end result is more realism.

And the triggered Golden Age idea isn't completely unrealistic, either. It might be a stretch, but one could make the argument that various nations have had periods where a surge in partriotism and civic pride, brought about by some specific event or combination of events, has caused an upswing in productivity. The concept of a Golden Age is at least as realistic as things like "We Love the King" Day, in fact, its sort of a WLTKD for your entire empire.

 

[yoshi]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61118

Some of the ideas might be more appropriate to Civ4.

(I also posted an idea about this so you can see it there rather than me re-posting it here.)

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

I like it, but it might be hard coming up with one for every civ.

 

[Shyrramar]

I would personally like to see that UUs did NOT cause golden age. I never use some of the earlier UUs because I really don't want a despotic golden age with three cities! This of course causes trouble, as then the only way to get a golden age would be with wonders - so some nations might not get a golden age at all. Would this be such a bad thing? The golden age could be more of a reward than something that you will have sometime, but you have to carefully see when. It could also be connected with the overall happiness of your civ, your wealth etc etc.

It could, though, cause some different effects apart from just increased economy and production. Perhaps militaristic civs would get an attack and defend boost, commercial civs an economic boost, scientific a science boost and so on. Then if you were commercial/scientific, your golden age would be similar to the current one. If you were militaristic/agricultural, you would have stronger units and bigger growth, or some such. It's a fine idea - I would like to see the golden age-concept developed further in other aspects too.

 

[kulgan]

I voted for "yes" because a golden age should be a civ at its zenith. However that should exist for each civ type at a certain level of technology.

eg: the Babylonians came to power 1000BC (or close) so for 100years they should get increased ability to study, build and expand. China had a likewise golden age at almost the same time so why not give them a treat. England, America and other first world civs could arguably be experiencing a golden age now.

 

[rcoutme]

I think that this would be a good idea. As for GA's coming too early, the trigger for GA's should probably be different. Possibly, GA's should be optional early on, or the player should be able to switch governments free (which would make a whole lot of sense in a GA anyways!)

In addition, any GA should eliminate the tile penalty in Despotism. It's supposed to be a GOLDEN AGE , hello--golden age = things done well!

 

[Rammstein]

Doesn't the civ-specific abilities handle this already? If you experience a golden age, the things you do better than others are tweaked just a little bit more, right?

 

[Pirate]

I think having a special civ-, trait- or era-specific powers would help make up for the disadvantages of a very early (Zulu) or very late (America) GA due to UU victories.

 

[rcoutme]

This poll needs to still be looked at. Come on people, we need more votes.

 

[ybbor]

you could have at least used the smiley

 

[warpstorm]

In general, I like this idea. It would need to be carefully balanced though.

 

[sir_schwick]

A new idea by the Archbishop of Towels. You should be able to build a Small Wonder that would trigger the GA. For each Civ it would be a different SW. This way you could choose when you wanted to have your GA. Also, you coudln't use a SGL or MGL to rush build it.

As for unique GA powers, love it. Would take some play-test-balancing, but I love the idea.

 

[a4phantom]

Interesting idea but it would unbalance the game. Maybe you could pick a third civ trait or something that lasts for the 20 turns? Pick religious to cut out a period of anarchy and get some cathedrals built, pick industrious to get your infrastructure caught up (this would be especially valuable right when you get RR), pick militaristic for that big push.

Kulgan: America does get its GA in the modern age due to F-15s, and the Man'o'War gives England its GA at the proper time too . . . the Age of Sail, when the sun never set on the British Empire.

 

[ybbor]

Kulgan: America does get its GA in the modern age due to F-15s, and the Man'o'War gives England its GA at the proper time too . . . the Age of Sail, when the sun never set on the British Empire.

not if it's instead triggered by wonders

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

A new idea by the Archbishop of Towels. You should be able to build a Small Wonder that would trigger the GA. For each Civ it would be a different SW. This way you could choose when you wanted to have your GA. Also, you coudln't use a SGL or MGL to rush build it.

As for unique GA powers, love it. Would take some play-test-balancing, but I love the idea.

Make it so that you can only build this small wonder after you get a victory with your UU.

 

[sir_schwick]

Actually this is a really elegant solution. Now players with ultra-early UUs don't have to worry about triggering a GA too early. Of course a little balance is lost because they can trigger one way before someone with an INdustrial or MA UU(America). But that could be worked out as well, you can build the GA SW whenever your UU wins combat or you build the appropriate wonders.