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[Straczynski]

Originally posted by Exel
Sounds fine to me.

So it shall be that way.

Originally posted by Runamok Monkey
But I am wondering, will the Maginot Line be one of those terrible GWs that gives opposing units blitz capability against the builder?

Originally posted by Exel
I think there might be too many wonders in that list. Some of them feel artificial, like the Opera House, the Optical Fiber and the Maginot line to name a few. Is it really necessary to have a great wonder for almost every tech?

It is not, but I want it that way.

I mean, it will help balancing the game. Even if you're ahead on the tech race, you won't have time to build every single wonder, thus giving the other nations a chance.

Originally posted by Runamok Monkey
Straczynski, I think that it would be proper to allow either or both Wright flight and St. Louis (give different function to each); after all, early flight was dominated by Americans.

Right... So, I guess I'll replace the Hindenburg by the Spirit of St. Louis.

But I must admit it is curious to see the Hindenburg and Maginot Line included. If these, then why not Titanic and Laika, the Russian space pup, also?

On Laika... Well, not really Laika-Related, but anyway... I'm really considering replacing the Hubble Telescope by the Baikonur Cosmodrome as the wonder avaiable on Sattelittes... Any toughts on that?

Well, at least the Titanic: even though it didn't turn out to be a happy story, it was a marvel of engineering that would not be forgotten for at least half a century.

Once again, not really Titanic-Related... Anyone has the name for an early steam ship? Need a wonder avaiable on Steam Boats...

This comment BTW is in no way a criticism

Don't worry, I won't kill you for your words. :slay:

@Exel: Even though the game calls these improvements, "Great Wonders," we don't have to think of them as being Great Wonders in the proper sense--for the benefit of enjoying this mod, we should think of them as unique accomplishments. The more we have of these, the prouder we could feel about our Civ underlings.

Exactly what I was thinking!

 

[Runamok Monkey]

re early steam boats: two with high historical value:

1. Robert Fulton's CLERMONT became the first commercially successful steamboat, servicing the good people of New York.

OR
2. The MAURETANIA, a symbol of the rise of fast luxury liners.

BTW, I'm sorry to see that clipper ships do not have a place in your mod. Nobody likes clippers.

EDIT: Or you should build River Boat Gambling GW!!! And what a Great Wonder it is. YEE-HAW!!!

 

[Runamok Monkey]

Originally posted by Straczynski
Don't worry, I won't kill you for your words. :slay:

So I take it that this poor deflated smiley is not moi?

 

[Runamok Monkey]

Certainly, the Baikonur Cosmodrome has historical significance (oh, Laika!!!), but the Plesetsk Cosmodrome has more practical value. But, you already have Cape Canaveral. Hmm. I guess it depends on what you want your GW to do: Hubble and Baikonur Cosmodrome is a great symbol of scientific research; but the Plesetsk Cosmodrome could be seen as a good commercial resource.

 

[Straczynski]

Originally posted by Runamok Monkey
The MAURETANIA, a symbol of the rise of fast luxury liners.

It's in!

BTW, I'm sorry to see that clipper ships do not have a place in your mod. Nobody likes clippers.

What are you saying? They will be in my mod! Everybody loves clippers!

Originally posted by Runamok Monkey
Certainly, the Baikonur Cosmodrome has historical significance (oh, Laika!!!), but the Plesetsk Cosmodrome has more practical value.

Well, I must confess I've never heard about Plesetsk before your post... (visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesetsk_Cosmodrome if there's anyone ignorant like me. ). Thanks for the info!

But, you already have Cape Canaveral. Hmm. I guess it depends on what you want your GW to do: Hubble and Baikonur Cosmodrome is a great symbol of scientific research; but the Plesetsk Cosmodrome could be seen as a good commercial resource.

I guess I'll keep the Hubble... That is, unless I find a nice 3D-ish image of Baikonur...

 

[Runamok Monkey]

Originally posted by Straczynski
Well, I must confess I've never heard about Plesetsk before your post...

I must confess that I know little about either cosmodromes. I only know about the early history of Baikonur and the accident last year that killed almost a dozen workers; the plesetsk I know next to nothing about except that it has the record for number of launches and that it is on a favorable latitude.

Anyway, here is a beautiful 3D-ish pic of BC I found at Space.com.

EDIT: But what do you have against the Hubble?

 

[Straczynski]

What do you mean by favorable latitude? AFAIK, the nearer from the Equator the better... And Plesetsk is a little far from it...

Thanks for the Baikonur picture! I'll try to make the Pedia icons from it!

On the Hubble... Well, I haven't anything against it. I just wondered that there are too many American wonders on the list... Only wanted to spread them arround the world, you know...

 

[Dom Pedro II]

tem Brasil no mod?

 

[Runamok Monkey]

Originally posted by Straczynski
What do you mean by favorable latitude? AFAIK, the nearer from the Equator the better... And Plesetsk is a little far from it...

Thanks for the Baikonur picture! I'll try to make the Pedia icons from it!

re latitude: HAHAHA. I guess I forgot to mention the original purpose of the spaceport. I have remedied this by providing you with a little science report. Enjoy, space cowboy.

Sea Launch gives the following good reason for why they anchor at the equator: "Our equatorial launch site provides the most direct route to orbit, offering maximum lift capacity for increased payload mass or extended spacecraft life."

But for obvious geo-political reasons, the Plesetsk is situated in a very cold place up north. Plesetsk coordinates: 62.8° Northern latitude, 40.1° Eastern magnitude, northeast of Leningrad.

Built during the Cold War, it was originally a secret platform for launching ICBMs at the US. If war had been declared, the US and USSR would have exchanged fire over O Canada. So, for logistic reasons, I'm guessing, Plesetsk became the world's northermost spaceport (until Norway's Andoya at 69°). The Russians wanted a secure site that was as close to the US as they were willing to put it. In other words, I was being facetious when I wrote about it being situated on a favorable latitude.

But I went to one website that explains better the usefulness of having a military port that is nearly two-thirds the distance from the equator to the pole: "Plesetsk is located at 62.8 degrees latitude, enabling high inclination, polar, and highly elliptical orbits. A large number of military satellites have been launched from Plesetsk."

And here's what Space.com has to say about the diff between the two cosmodromes:
Baikonur’s launch infrastructure supported operations of Proton-type heavy launch vehicles and piloted Soyuz-type boosters. The military used Plesetsk, mainly to put reconnaissance, communication, navigation and early missile warning satellites into space.

But by 2010 (assuming Putin does not arrest the businessmen who have invested in the project), Plesetsk will become Russia's Cape Canaveral--a true multi-purpose spaceport.

EDIT: Remember that Baikonur is now owned by Kazakhstan.

 

[Straczynski]

Originally posted by Dom Pedro II
tem Brasil no mod?

Tem sim senhor!

Originally posted by Runamok Monkey
re latitude: HAHAHA. I guess I forgot to mention the original purpose of the spaceport. I have remedied this by providing you with a little science report. Enjoy, space cowboy.

Be sure I've enjoyed.

Remember that Baikonur is now owned by Kazakhstan.

As far as I know, even thought Baikonur is on Kazakh territory, it is administred by Russia (either by Interkosmos or by the military)... But I may be wrong. I probably am.

 

[Runamok Monkey]

Originally posted by Straczynski
As far as I know, even thought Baikonur is on Kazakh territory, it is administred by Russia (either by Interkosmos or by the military)... But I may be wrong. I probably am.

No, you're right. Russia runs it because the port is leased to them by the Kazakhs.

Russia prefers to have their own though, which means they have to refit the Plesetsk to allow for Soyuz/large payload.

 

[Straczynski]

New update on the trees: removed Cold Fusion and Electrogravitics (now Deep Space Travel is the only "futuristic" tech on the mod), added Trade Blocs and changed a few of the arrows, all in the Modern Era... What do you think of it?

 

[Exel]

I think you should keep Cold Fusion as a slightly futuristic energy tech permitting Fusion Power Plants. Its Great Wonder could be the ITER test reactor.

 

[Straczynski]

Nah... The only futuristic things will be the Deep Space Travel tech and the Orbital Drydocks small wonder which allows for the spaceship parts.

 

[Straczynski]

These last few weeks, I've been finishing the last few details on the unit lines, so, I'll try to post them every once in a while...

So here's the first unit lines, transport ships and warships!

 

[Straczynski]

Should I move the Trireme to the War Galley's spot? I guess I'll do so, but, what would replace the Trireme as the one right below the Coracle? Anyone knows of a nice small early warship?

And finally... Should I add rows to the coracle?

 

[hetairoi22]

Or, alternatively, you could keep the Trireme where it is, but give it another name, like Pentakonter or simply Galley (The current Galley could then be called, um ... I don't know, Troop Galley. A little lame, though... )? The lines look great so far, BTW You could make one additional line, maybe, with Aaglo's new Galleass and Heavy Galleass, as a sort of powerful ships, that can only sail safely along the coast and through sea tiles, or maybe ONLY along coast?

Keep up your good work!

 

[Straczynski]

Nah... I guess I'll just replace the War Galley with Aaglo's new Galeass. Should think of another name, as there's already a Galeass...

Yep, there's already another ship line, the Bombard Ships. Starts at Seafaring with the Siege Ship (Siege Quinquerreme), which will upgrade to the Siegecraft (Heavy Galeass), then to the Ship-of-the-Line at Mercantilism, Ironclad at Steam Boats, then Dreadnought, Battleship and, finally, to the Missile Frigate. What about it?

I'll try to upload the complete unit lines soon. Stay tuned!

 

[hetairoi22]

Sounds good. Except: Doesn't Aaglo's Galleass fire cannons? If so, isn't it a bit early for it to come around with Ship Building?

Lookin' forwards to your update, anyhow

 

[Straczynski]

Oh, yeah, that's right... So, I guess I'll have to look for another Siegecraft.