Popheads (Priest Specialist)

[Erebras]

A few alterations to the default pophead specialists, including adding a new specialist (priest, clergyman).

 

[Erebras]

It's up to you what a religious specialist can do. In my CivSpecific scenario, the priest comes with Monotheism and has the dual-function of reducing corruption (by keeping the populace motivated) and increasing science (many of the founders of modern sciences were monks, theologians, and natural philosophers). Of course, the specialist isn't as good at reducing corruption as a Policeman (Nationalism) or adding to research as a Scientist.

 

[Erebras]

Since a priest line of specialists was added, I had to "borrow" from the other specialists, thereby causing me to create heads to fill in the gaps. I took the opportunity to tighten up some of the heads. The male Entertainer has a nicer-looking jester's cap. The female Priestess of the ancient era may look odd, but it was based upon the Hierophant tarot card, but I gave up adding the disc to her forehead. The Industrial-era female entertainer is based upon vaudeville clowns popular during the time. Since one of the Scientists (or is it Tax Collector?) transformed into a Priest, I made one a wizard by borrowing from the advisor head.

The changes I made are blocked in red in the preview in the first post.

 

[Ozymandias]

Thought for Medieval European scenarios: (1) separation of church & state didn't exist (2) abbeys et. al. were major, manorial landholders - and thereby trading hubs (3) the Church was the closest there was to a "trans-national" entity, maintaining bridges, roads, way-houses, hospices, etc. (4) as you point out, some of the few repositories of information (although most of the "knowledge" from a scientific POV would have been useless until the Renaissance (re)introduced Classical & Arabic knowledge.)

It might ( ) be overkill, but I think that would suggest:

• +1 Taxes
• (-) 1 point Corruption (guilt; ideological control; no monetary system)
• +1 "Construction" (gold)

- However, once Indulgences were sold, then I'd:

• +1 taxes
• (+1) Corruption
• 0 Construction

- And I might consider upgrading it's name to "Bishop" with the prerequisite Tech being the same as Cathedrals.


( ) ,

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[Erebras]

Yes, Ozymandias, you point out the rationale for the Clergyman being a corruption-reducer rather than a straight producer of beakers, gold, or shields, in that if you reduce the corruption of a settlement it will produce a bit more of taxes, or some other type of productivity. Since it's not as good as a Policeman, I made it a hybrid. I suppose other "hybrid specialists" could exist, given a proper rationale. Alpha Centauri had transcendants, for example. Within a Medieval European context, theologians of all three Abrahamic faiths would be the scientist-types. The last vestiges of paganism remained in England as cunning folk and Welsh bards, but I don't recall any Lithuanian shamans or Spanish brujas coming forth with insightful treatises on biology or astronomy during this time period.

Sure, the specialists in this post look like Catholic priests, but that's because the game itself is Americana-centric. I've not seen a Japanese or Indian version of the game, but I doubt the specialists are Asianized to account for the target market of these versions of Civ III.

 

[Erebras]

You make a valid point, Ozy, but in game terms, who would have a clergyman who increases corruption? That rationale would be used for every form of government on the planet. (It's also one of the reasons I eliminated Democracy in CivSpecific: no such corruption-free government could EVER exist). The point of the clergyman is that the church hierarchy by its modus operandi would put an otherwise indolent, self-serving population to work for a higher purpose and reinforce the idea that it is God's will to submit to those appointed over you and be as diligent as possible in such work. Similar parallels exist in other faiths, which is why I felt the need to include them as a universal specialist. It does work well. When I play CivSpecific, there is that moment when I'm thinking, "Do I go for the next era? But it would be nice to reduce corruption..."

I forgot to mention my ultimate point of this post. After Indulgences, the clergyman becomes obsolete, not so much because they no longer exist in the populace, but the pros and cons of the religious cancel each other out. Now I don't know if specialists go obsolete, but that would be the outcome of Indulgences.

 

[Civinator]

Unfortunately citizens cannot become obsolete. When you are able to build them, they stay in the game. May be some of you remember the sophisticated citizens in DyP, but the AI is still lost with dealing with the "obsolete" old citizens, so the new ones are much more profitable.

That´s why in my mod I try to simulate citizens partly with buildings. They can go obsolete and can be replaced (with the proper settings).