Tech Quotes review

[Blazenclaw]

In order to assist the overhaul of tech quotes, first it would be good to identify where there are quotes themselves that need updating, before going through and (re)recording those that need doing so.

Some examples of things to post/discuss here:

• Techs with missing quotes, ex: Oratory (Ancient tech that grants school of rhetoric, and autobuild crime - false accusation) is currently missing a quote. Perhaps: "I never could make a good impromptu speech without several hours to prepare it" -Mark Twain
• Techs with errors in the quotes, ex: Conduct has an amusing verbal misstep - "Capital *conduct* is as fundamentally wrong a cure for crime..." instead of "Capital *punishment* is as fundamentally wrong..."
• Techs with quotes that go on too long, ex: Theft, runs on nearly 30 seconds, three long sentences.
• Techs with audio quotes not matching the written quote, ex: Bark Working verbalizes as "The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone, the civilized man to idols of flesh and blood" and does not match the (imo worse) 'pedia entry for it, of "'Twas on the inner bark, stripped from the pine, our father penciled this epistle rare; Two blazing pine knots did his torches shine, two braided pallets formed his desk and chair."

In general, if there's something that's been bugging you about a quote, or if you come across something weird related to tech quotes in the game, please post here to help collect things that need fixing in this regard!

 

[Blazenclaw]

Help needed! Here's a large (incomplete!) list of quotes that might need changing to something else, sorted by era and priority of replacement. I'll keep this post updated as I find more replacements and/or problematic quotes, or people suggest their own.

General guidelines for quotes:

• ~2 full sentences or ~15sec spoken maximum; brevity is highly desirable
• Content of quote should match with tech name/content, and secondarily for matching era
• Should have attributable source

Spoiler Era: Prehistoric :

Spoiler Techs with questionable quote :

• Animal Riding : Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
  • Only tangentially relates to how to riding animals. Length is good though
• Animism : It is a well known fact that even among highly cultured peoples the belief in animism prevails generally. Even the scholar may kick the chair against which he accidentally stumbles, and derive great satisfaction from thus "getting even" with the perverse chair.
  • On the long side, though topic of anthropomorphizing a chair is good
• Atlatl making : As used by these Tarairiu (...) this spear thrower was a tapering piece of carved hard-wood (...) shaped with a semi-circular outer half with a deep groove to receive the end of the javelin.
  • Not very inspired
• Axe making : Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried "Aure entuluva!"
  • Tolkien is nice, but both on the longer side and also doesn't match axe making very well? Theme seems off
• Bark Working : The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone, the civilized man to idols of flesh and blood.
  • Relevancy??
• Binding : Having discovered this skill, I vow to make it work for the tribe. You can consider this promise binding...
• Bone Working : Why I work bone? To make bone work for me.
  • Both of the above are part of the TBD quotes to be phased out (eventually)
  • Sidenote on this one: I really like the TBD for adhesives, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but do it better stuck together"
• Carpentry : The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
  • Bit on the long side. Passable content, but could be better
• Chiefdom : If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
  • Definitely too long, but source is good
• Composite Tools : The Gáe Bulg had to be made ready for use on a stream and cast from the fork of the toes. It entered a man's body with a single wound, like a javelin, then opened into thirty barbs. Only by cutting away the flesh could it be taken from that man's body.
  • Length and content
• Flint Knapping : Weariness can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth finds the down pillow hard
  • A bit obtuse content, perhaps? I'm on the fence
• Obsidian Weapons : And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years.
  • Length, though content is good
• Slash and Burn : The slash and burn - take no prisoners - anything goes is so corrosive to our democracy and we've got to fight this because it turns people off politics in general and leaves that space to be occupied by special interests that determine how the goodies are to be passed out.
  • Definitely a good speech, but... not at all relevant besides the words, and too long to boot.
• Theft : The first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence.
  • Perfect content and theme matching, but too long. I'd recommend cutting the last sentence, which can be easily done while keeping Thunderbird's narration
• Trap Fishing : Time is but the stream I go fishing in. I drink at it, but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains.
  • Cool-sounding, but not really relevant. Usable for some cosmic or transcendent era tech perhaps, but not great for "figuring out how to get fish to swim into baskets".

Spoiler Era: Ancient :

Spoiler Techs with new quote *needed* :

• Oratory : [No current quote!]
  • Suggestion : "I never could make a good impromptu speech without several hours to prepare it" -Mark Twain

Spoiler Techs with questionable quote :

• Cloud Patterns : So the whirlwind originates in the failure of an incipient hurricane to escape from its cloud: it is due to the resistance which generates the eddy, and it consists in the spiral which descends to the earth and drags with it the cloud which it cannot shake off. It moves things by its wind in the direction in which it is blowing in a straight line, and whirls round by its circular motion and forcibly snatches up whatever it meets.
  • Too long by far!
• Divination : How do you invent a religion?" Evie asked. Will looked over the top of his spectacles. "You say, 'God told me the following', and then wait for people to sign up."
  • Sounds a little too much like a 'Ba dum tsch, atheism yeah!' religious hate, which isn't really in the spirit of civ.
  • Maybe : "Divination is turning out to be much more trouble than I could have foreseen, never having studied the subject myself." - J.K. Rowling
• Mesopotamism : Where is the strength? It is Gilgamesh who will venture first into the Cedar Forest, and you can follow after, crying out: 'Go on, go forward, go on, embrace the danger!' You who have fought with lions and with wolves, you know what danger is. Where is your courage? If I should fall, my name will be secure. 'It was Gilgamesh who fought against Huwawa! It is Gilgamesh who will venture into the Forest and cut down the Cedar down and win the glory. My fame will be secure to all my sons.
  • Too long; some subset might be good, though it's hard to say exactly what
• Ngaiism : Some SFX which... I don't know what it is? It's not the original quote - probably - as I went and found the journal article of the original source (hey, going to college did give me something after all!), and the current quote ingame doesn't fully match the journal anyway. Instead, maybe:
  • Ngai cannot be seen by mortal eyes. He is a distant being and takes but little interest in individuals in their daily walks of life. Yet at the crises of their lives he is called upon. -Jomo Kenyatta, Kikuyu Religion, Ancestor-worship, and Sacrificial Practices (same source as original; slightly on the long side yes, but fitting)
• Sacrifice Cult : In hard core satanic groups they believe the best way to raise the energy are either the sexual act or by murdering something, either an animal or a person...an enormous amount of energy is released...with a human beingthere is even more energy released...if you want to raise the ultimate kind of power you sacrifice someone. The first is the baby as there is a huge amount of life energy, next is the virgin, and finally anybody.
  • Too long; first sentence sufficient by itself
• Sericulture : Trust me.
  • Seems a little obtuse, and doesn't make sense unless you've read a very specific book series that otherwise doesn't have any connection to silk. Nice and short though!
• Shinto : Banzai!!!
  • While 'funny', banzai is only related insomuch as it's also Japanese; some random quote from an anime would be equally relevant, which is to say, not at all.
• Zoroastrianism : Some SFX/vocalization which... I don't know if it matches the given quote? And the text is currently the same as Dualism's quote anyway

Spoiler Era: Classical :

Spoiler Techs with new quote *needed* :

• Waterproof Concrete : [No current quote!]
  • Suggestion: “There’s something so sad about broken concrete.” - Scarlett Thomas, The End of Mr. Y

Spoiler Techs with questionable quote :

• Ancient Ballistics : The Gamemaster: You're going to backstab him with a ballista? Nimble the Thief: Uh huh. The Gamemaster: With a fudging siege weapon? Nimble the Thief: Uh huh!"
  • Admittedly funny, but not quite relevant to ancient ballistics? Questionable.
• Ancient Machinery : An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.
  • Relevancy?
• Astrology : We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms. Only in superstition is there hope. If you want to become a friend of civilization, then become an enemy of the truth and a fanatic for harmless balderdash.
  • On upper end of length
• Canal Systems : "... tears flowing like canals..."
  • Questionable
• Horse Breeding : When god created the horse, he said to the magnificent creature: I have made thee as no other. All the treasures of the earth lie between thy eyes. Thy shalt carry my friends upon thy back. Thy saddle shall be the seat of prayers to me. And thou shalt fly without wings, and conquer without sword; oh horse.
  • Length
• Tech : Current quote :
  • reasoning

Spoiler Era: Galactic :

Spoiler Techs with new quote *needed* :

• Megastrong Alloys : [No current quote!]
  • Suggestions?

Spoiler just placeholder text for later edits ignore me pls :

Spoiler Era: Classical :

Spoiler Techs with new quote *needed* :

• Tech : Current quote :
  • reasoning

Spoiler Techs with questionable quote :

• Tech : Current quote :
  • reasoning

 

[Thunderbrd]

What's the quote we have for theft now?

 

[Blazenclaw]

"The first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence."

The narration is nice, but it's 25 seconds and three full sentences, which makes for awkward pauses. Could be left as is, but whenever I unlock it, the quote just seems to go on and on without being that amazing. If it's going to be meh, may as well be shorter?

Edit: Edit: Ah, so that's one voice actor confirmed, oops, didn't mean any burn

 

[Thunderbrd]

"The first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence."

The narration is nice, but it's 25 seconds and three full sentences, which makes for awkward pauses. Could be left as is, but whenever I unlock it, the quote just seems to go on and on without being that amazing. If it's going to be meh, may as well be shorter?

I suppose I chose it because it was highly pertinent to the reasoning to include theft on the tree in the first place. My apologies if I could've done better voice acting on that...

That said, I can't be tooooo offended here - I don't ever personally play with sound on so I can't say I can relate to the experience of having it come up in play.

 

[Blazenclaw]

No worries, the voice acting itself is pretty good! If anything it's the three full. Sentence. Pauses inherent in the quote that make it sound weird. When you think of the base game, nearly all of them are essentially oneliners, which makes ones like these stand out. Not a big priority in the slightest - especially as the techs are likely to still be changed up - but definitely noticeable; I happened to be skimming through a lets play and came across a few comments on another tech quote, slash and burn, which has the dual issue of being both long, and of questionable relation to slash and burn in regards to vegetation.

 

[Thunderbrd]

No worries, the voice acting itself is pretty good! If anything it's the three full. Sentence. Pauses inherent in the quote that make it sound weird. When you think of the base game, nearly all of them are essentially oneliners, which makes ones like these stand out. Not a big priority in the slightest - especially as the techs are likely to still be changed up - but definitely noticeable; I happened to be skimming through a lets play and came across a few comments on another tech quote, slash and burn, which has the dual issue of being both long, and of questionable relation to slash and burn in regards to vegetation.

Yeah, I feel that pertinence goes a long ways. I searched for a long time with every quote I'm responsible for to make sure it seemed just right to express the tech, not just the 'first thing' that bore some relationship. That slash and burn quote is terrible.

 

[Raven Destroyer]

Grimmith did quite a few of the quotes back in the day,

I'd think the "Capital Conduct" is a wordplay on the tech, but yeah Maybe something that's an actual thing would be better, Theft indeed is quite long, there are probably better quotes for it that are more punchy

there are two Simpson quotes I'm a bit split on in the second era, but that might be just the difference it brings,

if only It'd be easier to just get a single voice in all Techs,

 

[Blazenclaw]

I am tempted to just start and record a bunch, to see how it goes; I'm a bit burned out on job searching atm, so I have some time to spend...

Regarding Simpson quotes (and others that're sourced from films/other media) I am slightly favorable toward them, so long as they're not everywhere; no more than like 1/10 or so, as they're often fairly good.

 

[Blazenclaw]

Whelp, whatever, here's a thing: reading a few tech quotes in different styles:
https://soundcloud.com/blazenclaw-795232794/sets/c2c-quotes/s-i4Ofu

I don't think I'm an amazing narrator or anything, but I feel like at least it might be better than the text-to-speech version. There's 4 quotes uploaded, each in three styles, plus the original for comparison (except for Animal Riding, which currently has no quote, not even text-to-speech).

• "Emotive" is basically putting more emphasis and cadence into the text where appropriate; I'm not so fond of this after listening to it, but posting anyway
• "Natural" is essentially just me reading it; some emphasis where deserved, but more subdued
• "Restrained" is toning things down; a bit deeper voice, slower, slightly more enunciation. Personal favorite is somewhere between this and natural

None have the DING sfx, but that should be easy to add; I also tried a few different noise-cancellation techniques as well, so some of them do have a bit of residual noise, but I've figured out how to get rid of that.

If there is interest, I'm willing to go through and record quotes for the techs there are so far in whatever style works best, whether it be just for the robo-text ones, or all of the ones that aren't Leonard Nimoy amazingness (because they are amazing and should be treasured). I can also try a few different styles or changes to style if someone knows better, ex: greater enunciation or faster/slower speaking, what have you. If you think I'm a sucktastic narrator, that's fine too, please say as much; I've thick skin and that just means there's more time to focus on other things

Granted I'm sure a number of the quotes will change, but I can't imagine it'll be more than at absolute worst 1/3 of them in the short run, so still would make sense to record now.

@KaTiON_PT , I think you had some plans on the techs/quotes; anything else I should be aware of?

 

[Yudishtira]

For Skyroads, can I suggest "You can't take the sky from me", from the Firefly song "To The Black", composer Joss Whedon

 

[Blazenclaw]

For Skyroads, can I suggest "You can't take the sky from me", from the Firefly song "To The Black", composer Joss Whedon

Heh, that would fit I guess... but seems Skyroads already has "In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true." - Buddha (563 - 483 BC), which is also narrated fairly nicely and I don't think the To the Black quote would be an upgrade. I'll keep it in mind for if there's a different place it can be used, but I don't really want to be replacing tech quotes that are already good enough re: the general guidelines in post 2.

 

[Yudishtira]

Heh, that would fit I guess... but seems Skyroads already has "In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true." - Buddha (563 - 483 BC), which is also narrated fairly nicely and I don't think the To the Black quote would be an upgrade. I'll keep it in mind for if there's a different place it can be used, but I don't really want to be replacing tech quotes that are already good enough re: the general guidelines in post 2.

Ok, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I only suggested an alternative because of how much of a "stretch" the Buddha quote is. And sorry but I really hope decent soundbites are not going to be allowed to defend inferior quotes.

 

[Thunderbrd]

Ok, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I only suggested an alternative because of how much of a "stretch" the Buddha quote is. And sorry but I really hope decent soundbites are not going to be allowed to defend inferior quotes.

I think the Buddha quote is better in this case.

 

[Blazenclaw]

Ok, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I only suggested an alternative because of how much of a "stretch" the Buddha quote is. And sorry but I really hope decent soundbites are not going to be allowed to defend inferior quotes.

Oh they're both on the stretch side of things, I think. As it's basically a matter of personal opinion which is better, from two options that both fulfill the general guidelines for techs, I just don't see a real reason to change it.

Bottom line; it's the techs that're entirely missing quotes, are a bloody paragraph onto themselves, or otherwise utterly nonsensical when compared to the tech they come from, that really we need new ideas for, hah.

 

[Yudishtira]

Acoustic Weaponry: "In the case of sonic attack on your district... Do not waste time blocking your ears! Do not waste time seeking a soundproof shelter! Try to get as far away from the sonic source as possible." from "Sonic Attack", by Bob Calvert/Hawkwind

 

[Thunderbrd]

Acoustic Weaponry: "In the case of sonic attack on your district... Do not waste time blocking your ears! Do not waste time seeking a soundproof shelter! Try to get as far away from the sonic source as possible." from "Sonic Attack", by Bob Calvert/Hawkwind

What is it now?

 

[Yudishtira]

What is it now?

Frederick Douglass: "It is not light we need, but fire..." etc.

My suggestion is actually relevant. I don't think any current 'future' tech ones are.

 

[Thunderbrd]

Is that the whole quote?

 

[Yudishtira]

Is that the whole quote?

No, something about thunder and whirlwinds. I did say etc.