How would you design Brazil?

Xandinho

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Self-explanatory title again. :p
This time, as this is a civ that I'm very familiar with, I'll explain the bonuses that I chose so that people can understand the context. I tried to represent as much as possible the aspects of Brazil.
Some traits of the country, like the multiculturalism and ethnic diversity I find quite difficult to represent in Civ, unless the game has some kind of cultural diversity mechanism someday.

Leader: Pedro II
Leader Ability: Magnanimous: Gold and faith necessary to recruit Great People is reduced by 30%. Recruiting Great People grants +1 extra era point.
It also grants a unique unit: Voluntário da Pátria.
Replaces Line Infantry. Available in Nationalism.
They have the same strength, sight and movement as the Line Infantry.
However, +5 strength against civilizations with which it has fewer cities than Brazil.
They receive a 50% discount to produce or buy by gold in the first 10 turns after Brazil is the target of a surprise declaration of war.

As a great sponsor of culture and science, Pedro II was considered a scholar. He gained respect and admiration from many of the brilliant people of his time, and he was a friend of many of them. During his reign, the Empire of Brazil distinguished itself from its neighbors due to its political and economic stability, parliamentary monarchy and freedom of speech. He was a strong supporter of the abolition of slavery.
And also during his reign, Brazil was victorious in three international conflicts, including the Paraguay War, the biggest international conflict in South America. About this conflict, Brazil didn't have enough army to fight back the Paraguayan offensive (in which it had a much larger army), Brazil had to appeal to the patriotic feeling of the people to enlist voluntarily, creating units called Voluntários da Pátria (Pedro II considered himself a Voluntários da Pátria). In the end, Brazil and its allies managed to be victorious, even at the cost of the lives of a large part of the Paraguayan population.
After the end of the Paraguayan War, the empire lived a period of golden age and was considered one of the most prominent nations in the Americas. Its international reputation as a modern and progressive nation has strengthened the country's flourishing immigration.

Unique ability: Celeiro do mundo
Farms on bonus resource, lumber mills on jungles, pastures and plantations grant +1 food and +1 production. International trade routes grant +2 gold for each of these improvements in the origin city. Building a farm on a bonus resource triggers a culture bomb, claiming surrounding tiles. .

Well, representing Brazil as a colonizer of jungles never made much sense. Most large urban centers are far from the Amazon region, which is the emptiest region in the country (comprises almost half of the territory of the nation with a population less than 10% of the total).
Brazil, in fact, is a huge farm, it is one of the largest producers and exporters of agricultural commodities in the world. Embrapa, a Brazilian state-owned company dedicated to agricultural research, has already stated that Brazilian agribusiness feeds 800 million people around the world through grains and beef. The high productivity of Brazilian agribusiness is due to the technological and scientific modernization of the sector through research carried out by Emprapa, placing the country in a prominent position in this regard. It seems that Humankind has not forgotten that, adding the Agronomy Lab as Brazilian quarter. :p
I didn't want to totally neglect the importance of the Amazon in Brazilian economic development. The bonus for lamber mills on jungles is a way of trying to represent the rubber boom, which was responsible for bringing great economic development to the north of the country for a period and which left an architectural legacy through imposing buildings in Manaus and Belem, especially the Teatro Amazonas.

Unique improvement: Sambódromo
Available in Opera and Ballet
Limit of one per city
Can only be built on flat land adjacent to an Entertainment Complex.
Cannot be built adjacent to another one.
+1 amenity (+1 extra amenity after Radio)
+2 appeal
+4 culture
+1 extra culture for every Great Work of Music in the city.
All culture generated is converted into tourism after flight.
Tiles with Sambódromos cannot be swapped.

Sambódromos are places where samba schools parade during carnival, and it's just a better name than Street Carnival. Sambódromo sounds more like a Brazilian thing. They could be a building, but I don't see what they could replace. The extra culture that comes from Great Works of Music is to represent how much Brazilian carnival is sonorous and expressive, with variations in sounds and dances in different states (Samba in Rio de Janeiro, Axé in Bahia and Frevo in Pernambuco).

Unique Unit: Pracinha
Replaces Infantry. Available in Replaceable parts.
They are weaker than normal infantry (72 strength instead of 75). However, they get +3 strength when fighting on a continent other than your own and +5 strength if you have a military ally in war against the same enemy you are attacking. They have the same sight and movement as infantry.
No oil required.

Pracinhas were soldiers from the Brazilian army sent to join the Allied forces in World War II. In general, Brazil's participation in the conflict was quite timid, although the country helped in the fighting and in the liberation of some cities in Italian Campaign, especially in north.

Brazil is, therefore, an agrarian cultural civ. Brazil will try to win the cultural victory with a smart and sensible leader, strong agriculture and cattle raising, expressive festivals and with peaceful diplomatic relations, but not all the time. :p
 
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What made you think of this novel choice of leader? :mischief: I like your design, and I'd probably even play it assuming Brazil doesn't have insta-ban music again. :p

Well, representing Brazil as a colonizer of jungles never made much sense. Most large urban centers are far from the Amazon region
Geography does not seem to be one of Firaxis's better subjects. The overwhelming majority of Russians (and Canadians) do not live in the Tundra, yet...Tundra bonuses. Brazil has absolutely savaged its jungles, yet Jungle bonuses. The Maya collapsed their own society through overexploitation of the Jungle, yet Chichen Itza gives Jungle bonuses... :crazyeye:
 
What made you think of this novel choice of leader?

To be honest, I'm not very interested in most Brazilian presidents, most of them don't have enough personality and they're not interesting. There's Getulio Vargas, he led Brazil during WWII and he definitely had a great personality, but his ideological orientation can make him controversial. I can see Juscelino Kubitschek happening, he was responsible for the construction of Brasilia and a remarkable development plan (50 years in 5), but maybe he's still too recent. I wouldn't mind having Pedro II often returning as Genghis Khan and Shaka. Someday in the future they will be able to add Juscelino Kubitschek.

Geography does not seem to be one of Firaxis's better subjects. The overwhelming majority of Russians (and Canadians) do not live in the Tundra, yet...Tundra bonuses. Brazil has absolutely savaged its jungles, yet Jungle bonuses. The Maya collapsed their own society through overexploitation of the Jungle, yet Chichen Itza gives Jungle bonuses... :crazyeye:

"What does everyone think when they hear about Russia and Canada?
Cold? So let's give them tundra bonuses.
What does everyone think when they hear about Brazil?
Jungle? so let's make them like colonizers of jungle." :p
 
Can't Brazil have any good 'Republic era' leaderships?. Can't anyone else apart of Peter II lead Brazil?
UU:
I'm not really fond of Republic-era units (Minas Gelais Dreadnoughts, and Prachinhas, both of which came to exists some decades AFTER Peter II was ousted). My proposals would be pre-Independence unit. Bandierante (Early modern explorer type unit that can build improvements).
Neither Prachinhas nor Minas Gerais are really 'good' though. While Minas Gerais Dreadnought reflects Brazillian willingness to defend its own interests and competing against Hispanic American rivals. (And the ship did have geopolitical effects to the point that it coaxed the US of A to consider alliance with Brazil so to help maintain control over Banana Republics), they reflected the grim truth about Modern Capitol Ships that it requires substantial science and industry investments not just to build one. even if one country purchsed ones from other industrial power. they too need industrialized facility to maintain and Brazil was much like Late Qing China-lack of sufficient maintenance facility and tech r&d to keep the ships up do date. Upgradings had to be done elsewhere.

Japan on the other hand did develop their industry and science capability even in the day of purchasing European warships. Eventually they became capable of building their own capitol ships and even upgraded existing ones that imported to meet with their respective standards.
 
Sambódromos are places where samba schools parade during carnival, and it's just a better name than Street Carnival. Sambódromo sounds more like a Brazilian thing. They could be a building, but I don't see what they could replace.
It could also replace the Entertainment Complex again. I mean I think that's basically what a Street Carnival is anyway.

If it replaces a building, and comes at Opera and Ballet, I think they could bring back a circus building for it to replace. I've been thinking of alternate buildings for districts and the zoo and circus could be mutually exclusive with one another in the EC. Zoos would give science bonuses, like they do now to rainforests and reefs, and circuses would give culture to camps and pastures.
 
Can't Brazil have any good 'Republic era' leaderships?. Can't anyone else apart of Peter II lead Brazil?
Given how ineffective the Republic was most of the time with corruption, incompetence, and general idiocy running rampant, it's not surprising there are so few good choices for Brazilian Republican Leaders. As for your second question, @Xandinho already listed two. I personally say that Pedro II's father, Pedro I, would make a good choice for a different Leader of Brazil.
 
Given how ineffective the Republic was most of the time with corruption, incompetence, and general idiocy running rampant, it's not surprising there are so few good choices for Brazilian Republican Leaders. As for your second question, @Xandinho already listed two. I personally say that Pedro II's father, Pedro I, would make a good choice for a different Leader of Brazil.
What about Maria I? :mischief:
She might not have been the best leader but she'd be interesting. I thought about her leading both Brazil and Portugal earlier as an alternative to Pedro Ii.
 
Can't Brazil have any good 'Republic era' leaderships?. Can't anyone else apart of Peter II lead Brazil?

They can go to Juscelino Kubitschek if they don't find him so recent. But most republic presidents are boring, or corrupt and incompetent figures as @Duke William of Normandy said, when not controversial.
Princess Isabel can be a leader, as she served as regent when Pedro II was away. She wouldn't be the game's first regent ruler.

It could also replace the Entertainment Complex again. I mean I think that's basically what a Street Carnival is anyway.

If it replaces a building, and comes at Opera and Ballet, I think they could bring back a circus building for it to replace. I've been thinking of alternate buildings for districts and the zoo and circus could be mutually exclusive with one another in the EC. Zoos would give science bonuses, like they do now to rainforests and reefs, and circuses would give culture to camps and pastures.

Sambódromos suffer from the same problem as Open-Air Museum, Golf Course and Ice Hockey Rink, which should be buildings but probably because of the absence of a basic building for them to replace, they have become improvements of one per city.
I think the best building for Sambódromo to replace would be something like a Music Venue, Concert Hall or even Nightclub, if the game had things like those ones. I don't think the Sambódromos are such big things as to be a whole district.
 
Sambódromos suffer from the same problem as Open-Air Museum, Golf Course and Ice Hockey Rink, which should be buildings but probably because of the absence of a basic building for them to replace, they have become improvements of one per city.
Well Ice Hockey Rink could have been a Stadium replacement. :p

I think the best building for Sambódromo to replace would be something like a Music Venue, Concert Hall or even Nightclub, if the game had things like those ones. I don't think the Sambódromos are such big things as to be a whole district.
Sounds like it would be a good Opera House replacement then, if they were to return, if it were to come at Opera and Ballet.
 
Geography does not seem to be one of Firaxis's better subjects. The overwhelming majority of Russians (and Canadians) do not live in the Tundra, yet...Tundra bonuses. Brazil has absolutely savaged its jungles, yet Jungle bonuses. The Maya collapsed their own society through overexploitation of the Jungle, yet Chichen Itza gives Jungle bonuses... :crazyeye:

I hope we can have at least give credit to a proper amazonian cultures with actually adapted ways of life with a city state from the Terra Preta tradition like Kuhikugu.
 
I hope we can have at least give credit to a proper amazonian cultures with actually adapted ways of life with a city state from the Terra Preta tradition like Kuhikugu.

I don't know if they would add something so obscure, but let's keep hoping.
 
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