Mithelemir
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1
Now that Civ 5 (with the release of Brave New World) has its diplomatic aspect sort-of all fixed up, I’d like to suggest a tech tree fix. While I find all the technologies up to the industrial era quite intriguing, the end-game tech tree seems wilted and abandoned. Here are some of my gripes (and, subsequently, ideas):
1) The first of the Ides of March comes with the Hospital, which mysteriously produces food – lots of it!? What food? Where? How? For those unaware of this, hospital food is not actually manufactured in hospitals (just fyi). Perhaps making this tech increase the growth rate directly would be more appropriate instead...
2) Secondly, it seems that farming advancements end with the invention of fertilizer, sometime in the middle-ages (in my case). How come my workers never improve my farms or mines to modern standards? Are you saying that I am mining gold in the 21st century with the same set of chisels and tooth picks which I was using in 2000BC? What happened to modern mining techniques? Hydroponic farms? Automated farms? Modern techniques of food preservation and distribution?
3) Penicillin does nothing onto itself, even though in real life antibiotics are probably the single greatest cause of population boom of the 20th century. Mysteriously, instead, penicillin in Civ 5 is the direct source for production of – yes, you guessed it – marines (military units evidently grown in vats).
4) Many even basic present technologies (such as INTERNET, modern rail, stealth fighters, orbital laboratories, computers, TV…
just never seem to have been invented. The technological tree peters out on nukes and missile cruisers…before making a mysterious leap to a Giant Killer Robot!? In the meantime, why can't I see enemy units using my satellite network? How about, after I invent the satellites (which currently unveil the map fog), letting me produce actual satellites and then letting me place them on area of the map which I want monitored closely for enemy activities...you know, I build a sat, then pick a spot on the map and...waka-waka-blamo...the area in, say, a five hex radius is now under my surveillance!
5) What about pioneering but imminent future technologies…How about MAGLEVS? After all, there already is one functioning in China, connecting the Shanghai airport to the city center. How about virtual computer games as happiness boost? How about fisheries for increased food production? How about troop and personnel transports so that my workers don't take 15 years to travel to their job destinations. Etc., etc. The game claims to take us to 2050, but in reality peters out at something akin to the end of the 20th century (more like 19th century, if you consider that “rail” never gets improved. The tech tree then slaps a Giant Killer Robot on top of what I can only call a technological void and claims that the year 2050 hath come. To me, the mysterious out-of-nowhere introduction of the super & duper GKR stands as further testament to the abandoned tech tree construction, not to its completion.
6) Future techs I, II, III, etc. currently add points to my game victory score – the one thing I genuinely don’t give a tinker's cuss about! How about, if with each future tech improvement, I could allocate some kind of bonus to either my economy or a military unit to make it look like I am actually progressing technologically?
In closing, the modern era techs need a serious face lift and the future techs, frankly, are yet to be introduced.
--Mith
P.S. In my recent campaign, I started on the shores of an inland sea. This meant that every Great Admiral which I spawned was doomed to life in a non-consequential private pond, circling the tiny, happy waters of his domain like a severe patient at a mental institution. This needs a fix (or I want a unit called the psychiatrist introduced). Suggestion: make the GA travel in the same manner as a great general (only with his special abilities inactive on land), but instead of turning into a mysterious GA boat upon embarking on happy waters, have a spot for him allocated on an actual naval unit of choice. After all, it makes sense my GA should be based on a biggest, baddest floating missile cruising killer robot ever built, not on some strange non-combat boat of dubious speed and unknown make (plastic paddles not included). Also, my GAs like to smoke big cigars after battles, so please make sure the ships have ashtrays.
1) The first of the Ides of March comes with the Hospital, which mysteriously produces food – lots of it!? What food? Where? How? For those unaware of this, hospital food is not actually manufactured in hospitals (just fyi). Perhaps making this tech increase the growth rate directly would be more appropriate instead...
2) Secondly, it seems that farming advancements end with the invention of fertilizer, sometime in the middle-ages (in my case). How come my workers never improve my farms or mines to modern standards? Are you saying that I am mining gold in the 21st century with the same set of chisels and tooth picks which I was using in 2000BC? What happened to modern mining techniques? Hydroponic farms? Automated farms? Modern techniques of food preservation and distribution?
3) Penicillin does nothing onto itself, even though in real life antibiotics are probably the single greatest cause of population boom of the 20th century. Mysteriously, instead, penicillin in Civ 5 is the direct source for production of – yes, you guessed it – marines (military units evidently grown in vats).
4) Many even basic present technologies (such as INTERNET, modern rail, stealth fighters, orbital laboratories, computers, TV…
just never seem to have been invented. The technological tree peters out on nukes and missile cruisers…before making a mysterious leap to a Giant Killer Robot!? In the meantime, why can't I see enemy units using my satellite network? How about, after I invent the satellites (which currently unveil the map fog), letting me produce actual satellites and then letting me place them on area of the map which I want monitored closely for enemy activities...you know, I build a sat, then pick a spot on the map and...waka-waka-blamo...the area in, say, a five hex radius is now under my surveillance!5) What about pioneering but imminent future technologies…How about MAGLEVS? After all, there already is one functioning in China, connecting the Shanghai airport to the city center. How about virtual computer games as happiness boost? How about fisheries for increased food production? How about troop and personnel transports so that my workers don't take 15 years to travel to their job destinations. Etc., etc. The game claims to take us to 2050, but in reality peters out at something akin to the end of the 20th century (more like 19th century, if you consider that “rail” never gets improved. The tech tree then slaps a Giant Killer Robot on top of what I can only call a technological void and claims that the year 2050 hath come. To me, the mysterious out-of-nowhere introduction of the super & duper GKR stands as further testament to the abandoned tech tree construction, not to its completion.
6) Future techs I, II, III, etc. currently add points to my game victory score – the one thing I genuinely don’t give a tinker's cuss about! How about, if with each future tech improvement, I could allocate some kind of bonus to either my economy or a military unit to make it look like I am actually progressing technologically?
In closing, the modern era techs need a serious face lift and the future techs, frankly, are yet to be introduced.
--Mith
P.S. In my recent campaign, I started on the shores of an inland sea. This meant that every Great Admiral which I spawned was doomed to life in a non-consequential private pond, circling the tiny, happy waters of his domain like a severe patient at a mental institution. This needs a fix (or I want a unit called the psychiatrist introduced). Suggestion: make the GA travel in the same manner as a great general (only with his special abilities inactive on land), but instead of turning into a mysterious GA boat upon embarking on happy waters, have a spot for him allocated on an actual naval unit of choice. After all, it makes sense my GA should be based on a biggest, baddest floating missile cruising killer robot ever built, not on some strange non-combat boat of dubious speed and unknown make (plastic paddles not included). Also, my GAs like to smoke big cigars after battles, so please make sure the ships have ashtrays.
