Printing press = zoo = WTF!

[civ54lyfe]

Zoo is the most horribad building anyway. cost a trillion hammers and synergizes with nothing

 

[otaman1]

Well, ancient people had zoos. The oldest known zoo dates back to Ancient Egypt c. 3500 BC, which was 500 years before Menes (or Narmer) united Lower and Upper Egypt.

 

[Wodan]

Well, ancient people had zoos. The oldest known zoo dates back to Ancient Egypt c. 3500 BC, which was 500 years before Menes (or Narmer) united Lower and Upper Egypt.

Yeah but doing tickets on papyrus or sheepskin (no printing press) was too expensive, so they couldn't open them to the general public. Thus, no benefit. So, those ancient zoos were just affectations of the ruling class.

 

[Doktor Vic Tim]

In all seriousness, why didn't Theater just get 2 happiness instead of 3? Sounds like a much MUCH easier nerf to the happiness building rather than outright changing it for no reason. I mean, at least the East India Company building made sense.

 

[Durtag]

Yeah but doing tickets on papyrus or sheepskin (no printing press) was too expensive, so they couldn't open them to the general public. Thus, no benefit. So, those ancient zoos were just affectations of the ruling class.

I always thought it was because they needed a printing press to make the little guide maps of the zoo. Prior to that people were just aimlessly wandering around the zoo pissed off because they couldn't find the pandas

 

[Illinus]

Zoos should become available with Steam Power. Only way to transport those exotic animals from abroad.

 

[HerrDoktor]

Biology or Scientific Method would make more sense, but would put the tech too far behind. Maybe Astronomy, you should fetch those beautiful lions someway.

 

[Bad Wolf]

It is actually pretty weird. Same with Windmills and Economics. Or Internet without Computers. The Civ V tech tree has a lot of idiosyncratic oddities like that. I just kind of shrug and enjoy the game. I do feel they should maybe try to make the buildings make sense though? Like most of the time they do - pottery allowing granaries makes sense, etc.

 

[kb27787]

Zoo is the most horribad building anyway. cost a trillion hammers and synergizes with nothing

this. I wish they would buff it (even if it means putting it further in the tech tree; ecology or biology makes sense, but then you already have the stadium); they should give tourism or science as well (it's the information age and somehow people would come to see your Shakespearean plays in ancient amphitheaters, but somehow they don't want to see the zoo or the football game at the stadium?)

+2 base tourism and/or culture and +2 science from every deer, ivory and furs would be nice... (after all you learn from studying the animals...)
then they can make an aquarium building as well that studies whales, crabs, fish and pearls...

 

[SemperFi2382]

I always thought it was because they needed a printing press to make the little guide maps of the zoo. Prior to that people were just aimlessly wandering around the zoo pissed off because they couldn't find the pandas

Lol, reminds me of Zoo Tycoon.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Of course the obvious connections between the Printing Press and the Leaning Tower of Pisa don't need to be stated.

 

[reddishrecue]

The Romans used animals in the colleseum, its sort of like a zoo because people enjoyed seeing exotic animals. Rome was a city of a million people. Besides just the colleseum, I'm sure that they had places where people could pay to spend an afternoon seeing animals from the far reaches of the empire. And I would not be surprised if the Persians, Chinese or other ancient empires did the same thing.

After the fall of Rome, I do agree that animals were mostly for food and Labour (at least in Europe). The modern idea of a zoo probably didn't develop until the 1800's.

This kind of relates to why zoos replace the theater since the amphitheater was already in poetry and drama. The printing press allowed the printing of the newspaper which gave news of good news as well as many tragic events that happened in the primitive colony. Even nowadays in reality, animal attacks have occurred outside the zoo which sometimes appear in the news and informs us of these news. I've read about a bear attack somewhere in Florida last year which was in the news. There was also a lion that killed a lioness in a zoo somewhere in California all last year.

As for how the zoo relates to happiness, wealthier citizens liked seeing these kinds of animal attacks so they made zoos to keep exotic animals with the risk of attack and wonder what could happen next.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

This kind of relates to why zoos replace the theater since the amphitheater was already in poetry and drama. The printing press allowed the printing of the newspaper which gave news of good news as well as many tragic events that happened in the primitive colony. Even nowadays in reality, animal attacks have occurred outside the zoo which sometimes appear in the news and informs us of these news. I've read about a bear attack somewhere in Florida last year which was in the news. There was also a lion that killed a lioness in a zoo somewhere in California all last year.

As for how the zoo relates to happiness, wealthier citizens liked seeing these kinds of animal attacks so they made zoos to keep exotic animals with the risk of attack and wonder what could happen next.

Thinking of that "Newspaper Office (needs much better name)" could have been a reasonable replacement if we wanted something that would go with Printing press (conceptually and time period wise) and could be connected to happiness/propaganda.

 

[chazzycat]

zoo is a fine happiness building, but it's place in the tech tree is weird. according to wikipedia, zoos (other than royal manageries) weren't really a thing until the 19th century, wayyyyy after printing press.

and it's even more bizarre that printing press doesn't help with science at all. You would think making books widely available would have SOME kind of effect on literacy.

 

[seanflokstra7]

That's the same as plantations coming with calendar:

Alex: I've discovered how to count time and stuff
Gandhi: Well, you better go improve those dyes then
Alex: Lol wut

 

[megabearsfan]

In a mod that I'm working on, I moved Zoos to Metallurgy. This game Metallurgy a non-military flavor and was contextually justified (IMO) by the argument that Metallurgy allows you to build the metal bars to cage the animals.

this. I wish they would buff it (even if it means putting it further in the tech tree; ecology or biology makes sense, but then you already have the stadium); they should give tourism or science as well (it's the information age and somehow people would come to see your Shakespearean plays in ancient amphitheaters, but somehow they don't want to see the zoo or the football game at the stadium?)

+2 base tourism and/or culture and +2 science from every deer, ivory and furs would be nice... (after all you learn from studying the animals...)
then they can make an aquarium building as well that studies whales, crabs, fish and pearls...

Well, I think the reason for stadiums not having tourism (besides the arbitrary gameplay design decision that it is part of the "happiness" building line, and buildings in Civ V are not allowed to be multi-purpose for some reason) is that stadiums are more for domestic entertainment. It doesn't generate tourism because people from outside your country (or even outside your city) rarely travel to see sporting events. While there might be a few international spectators in a modern day football or basketball stadium, most of the attendees are local to one of the cities from which the competing team originates.

Similarly with Zoos, they are more for domestic entertainment. While there are some big zoos that do get international attention and visitation, most zoos are city or state zoos that primarily get visitors from the local region. If you want a zoo to generate science and/or tourism, that would probably be more appropriate for a "National Zoo" national wonder.

That's the same as plantations coming with calendar:

Alex: I've discovered how to count time and stuff
Gandhi: Well, you better go improve those dyes then
Alex: Lol wut

Plantation and Calendar makes sense. Creating a calendar allows you to measure the seasons and know when to plant and harvest your crops.

 

[rexman07]

As entertaining as all these fanciful discussions about needing to print tickets to the zoo are, just to be clear, I believe the real reason the Zoo is unlocked by Printing Press is:
1) Printing Press's position on the tech tree is about the right place for the second local city happiness building to be.
2) In pre-BNW Civ 5, the second local city happiness building was called the Theater.
3) BNW introduced the Great Works system. The game designers modified the culture buildings (Amphitheater, Opera House, and Museum) to house Great Works of Writing/Music/Art.
4) The game designers thought that there was potential for confusion about whether a building called Theater could house a Great Work of Writing (or maybe Music).
5) So they came up with another era-appropriate building that could plausibly relate to happiness.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

That's the same as plantations coming with calendar:

Alex: I've discovered how to count time and stuff
Gandhi: Well, you better go improve those dyes then
Alex: Lol wut

That actually makes sense

Alex: I've discovered how to Predict The Seasons
Gandhi: well you know when to plant those dye plants best then.

argh.. need to read all posts

 

[Talcove]

Plantation and Calendar makes sense. Creating a calendar allows you to measure the seasons and know when to plant and harvest your crops.

Yet you don't need calendars to make farms.

 

[seanflokstra7]

Yet you don't need calendars to make farms.

True!