pre-release info New Civ Game Guide: Siam

[Haig]

Off topic, but I want to tell that I studied massage in Bangkok at Wat Po school, amazing energetic city, made Helsinki look like a tiny town.

I saw a night moth as big as a fist which was pretty cool.

Last few civilizations have been amazing, Siam, Russia, France.

 

[queenpea]

What passes for "modern" in Siam? Remember this isn't our "Modern day" but the "modern" of the 1700s/1800s. Do we need to see electricity? Cars?

Thailand back in the 19th century wasn't that "modern" technologically wise.

I think I just want more “Siam” and less “Swamp”

 

[Willie5000]

Gonna be honest; I would have expected the associated wonder to be Wat Arun, not Wat Phra That Doi Suthep...

 

[Trengilly]

You know we are in the weeds when we are debating elephant speed vs. Usain Bolt speed.

Usain Bolt leads Jamaica as part of the upcoming Caribbean civilization expansion pack! Remember to build something you believe in!

 

[Zaarin]

Gonna be honest; I would have expected the associated wonder to be Wat Arun, not Wat Phra That Doi Suthep...

Andrew Johnson addressed that in this post.

 

[Krikkit1]

What passes for "modern" in Siam? Remember this isn't our "Modern day" but the "modern" of the 1700s/1800s. Do we need to see electricity? Cars?

Thailand back in the 19th century wasn't that "modern" technologically wise.

They need to add balloons

 

[Zaarin]

They need to add balloons

I think it's a shameful oversight that there are no balloons in the Maya art.

 

[Krikkit1]

I think it's a shameful oversight that there are no balloons in the Maya art.

How else would people know about the Maya-Spain-Russia pathway.

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

Pennywise has entered the chat.

They need to add balloons

 

[Bast]

I never want to see balloons again

 

[Gen.Washington]

Re: Itsaraphab.

Lonecat's right, there's the mandala system (the "galactic polity" in OW Wolter's definition) where a city and king exerts partial influence over another city, which might also be swayed by another neighbor. But what happened in the late 19th century is that Siam attempted to take all places that were of partial loyatly and incorporate them into a modern nation-state in the name of "freedom" (itsaraphab) from colonial powers. That's this mechanism.

Re: Doi Suthep.

Yes, Doi Suthep is from one of these border states - Lanna, a place (that Lonecat knows well!) that was potentially Siamese, potentially Burmese, or potentially independent. I thought this was an interesting nod to that, as to have a wonder from the very center of power (e.g. the Grand Palace) would feel strange if another civ built it. Here, it gravitates towards Siam, but is not limited to Siam. Doi Suthep is built earlier, but I'm thinking here of the expansion and construction of the road to it, especially under Khuba Siwichai.

I hope the Civilopedia dives this deep into all the civics, this is fascinating to read about.

 

[queenpea]

I never want to see balloons again

I hope we get a balloon unit. Modern scout?

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

The civilopedia was... an effort. It's big. Hopefully it satisfies your curiosity.

I also wanted to point out the intentional irony of "itsaraphab" here. "Freedom" is granted... to become part of Siam. Siam remained uncolonized, but the view from Lanna or Patani (the former a formerly independent vassal kingdom with its own language and culture, the latter a Malay sultanate) might see Siam as the one exerting power here. This is going to be the case on the margins of many states in this time period - marginal groups fighting the center (e.g. Bangkok) had to ask themselves if the enemies of their enemy were their friends... or a larger foe.

 

[Seek]

Pennywise has entered the chat.

The comments are referring to the plethora or hot air balloons in many of the civ’s background art

Usain Bolt leads Jamaica as part of the upcoming Caribbean civilization expansion pack! Remember to build something you believe in!

Unique ability: Can never be attacked by elephant units

 

[Bast]

I hope we get a balloon unit. Modern scout?

Haha

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Especially when the debate is over speed in miles or kiloneters per hour when the game measures speed in Years per Turn.

Other animals in the 'slower than a horse, faster than a human' category are:

Western North American Brown Bears (that's Grizzily and their cousins)
Asian Tigers
African Lions
American Bison

All of whom also fall into the category, along with Elephants, of 'animals you lose a race to only Once.'

You missed hippos. Hippos are ones you don't suspect are dangerous until its too late. Do not turn your back on a hippo.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Behold:

Some Bear Facts:

Bears in speed fall almost mid-way between horses and people: in the Kentucky Derby, the horse would finish in about 2 minutes, the man in 5 minutes, the bear in a little over 3 minutes.

Worse, the brown bear of eastern Europe and western North America (as shown above) has been observed running for hours faster than a man can. You cannot outrun him, and you cannot outlast him. All you can do is hope he isn't hungry when he spots you.

And, contrary to popular belief, a bear can run downhill almost as fast as on the flat - unlike a horse or man, both of whom can over-balance and tumble down a slope if they aren't careful. Bears run with mofre of their body weight closer to the ground than either the human or equid.

But the picture is inaccurate: in the middle of winter as shown, the bears would be hibernating rather than running anywhere, and waking up a hibernating bear is 1) very, very difficult, and 2) usually suicidal - see first two Bear Facts above.

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

Isn't that essentially how Vietnam's unique unit in Civ 6 worked? But it was even faster when in Vietnam territory.

Ha, I was just about to say that. The agile nimble Voi Chien made it back to Civ7. I guess when Vietnam is (maybe) added later, they will have to come up with something else, hopefully not another elephant.

 

[Gen.Washington]

The civilopedia was... an effort. It's big. Hopefully it satisfies your curiosity.

I have probably a dozen hours of reading the Civ 5 and Civ 6 civilopedias. Super stoked to hear this! I might spend the entire first couple hours reading instead of playing.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

I understand there may not be 100% relation, but having the Bang be a non-building unique quarter… might it double down as a Railway station (that is also a single-building urban district?)

Trainstation occupies an entire hex. This represents Large sized train stations in cities. and not small stations and passenger stops (which are built smaller, and back in the heyday. Siamese Railways had all such stops located by every village the railroad passes. many of these stations and stops however were abolished due to decreased uses after Automotive booms in the 80s.

Some stations did connect to Bangs as well.