Tech Quotes

[SupremacyKing2]

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws."

- Douglas Adams

Now don't get me wrong you won't find a bigger HHGG fan than me, but if you can tell me what that has to do with "Lasers" then I'm all ears.

Lasers travel at the speed of light.

 

[Cerilis]

I actually like the Monty Python quote

What is it and where?

 

[Rolaran]

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws."

- Douglas Adams

Now don't get me wrong you won't find a bigger HHGG fan than me, but if you can tell me what that has to do with "Lasers" then I'm all ears.

IIRC that one was on the CN Tower (if we're talking Civ V), which made sense for a communications and broadcasting hub (being a way of sending messages, including bad news, very quickly indeed).

On topic, I agree that funny ones are well suited to later in the game, when contemporary jokes can be found. Ancient and Classical Era seems like it should have a tad more gravitas?

Having said that, the quote for Mining in Civ V (...But NOT its mineral rights!) was one of the first in the game, and one of the hammiest. So it's not like there's a hard-and-fast rule being broken.

So, yeah. I'd even say that the Garrison Keillor quote works for me if they just use the first sentence ("It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire."). It's anachronistic, but in a way that fits the Civ series' spearman-versus-tank, Bronze-Age Americans style. And the first sentence stands up as a complete quip on its own, it doesn't need a belabored explanation. (Having heard some of Garrison Keillor's comedy, over-explaining a joke until it's no longer funny is actually something he does a lot.)

 

[moysturfurmer]

Furthermore, it seems there are a few quotes per each tech and civic. Sometimes the recordings don't match up with the text, and I swear I've hear Sean Bean say different quotes for the same techs across a few early let's plays.

Yeah and each tech/civic in the Civilopedia has multiple (2-3) quotes running down the right of the page. All with a play button.

Point being, they got funny quotes and they got serious ones.

 

[anandus]

What is it and where?

http://i.imgur.com/dfRdDPu.jpg?1

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

http://i.imgur.com/dfRdDPu.jpg?1

Oh, that's perfect. I love it.

 

[Magil]

I completely disagree. Bring on the comedy quotes. They'll probably only pop up roughly a third of the time for a given tech anyway. I love it when Civ has fun with itself--used to be a lot of this in the older Civ games, though I particularly remember IV. (Oh, and II's advisor council. Those guys were a riot.)

 

[rastak]

Back to SMAC

I don"the know but I've been told
Diedre's got a network node
Loves to press the on/off switch
Dig that crazy Gaian witch

 

[Calyxx]

The quote for Petra in Civ V was from Raiders of the Lost Ark - it worked fine. But the example in the OP is fairly terrible, and I hope doesn't make it into the game.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Back to SMAC

I don"the know but I've been told
Diedre's got a network node
Loves to press the on/off switch
Dig that crazy Gaian witch

It wasn't tech quote, it was at Network Node building song. A Spartan march.

Nothing beats SMAC in immersion.

 

[Thormodr]

I really like the fact that there are multiple quotes per tech/civic. 'Twas a good idea.

 

[Morningcalm]

Multiple quotes is nice, but I agree that some of the quotes we've seen so far are mostly comedians trying to make some annoying analogy that diminishes the glory of the technology/civic they speak of.

Air conditioning and the Roman Empire? What a mockery.

At least developers for Civ IV realized that for quotes you needed a wry sense of humor for some quotes and dignity for all other quotes, rather than a bad sense of humor.

 

[gfeier]

I'm obviously out of step here. I liked the Garrison Keillor quote. I don't think Civ quite rises to the level of a religion, so I'm OK with a bit of humor on the part of the devs.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I'm obviously out of step here. I liked the Garrison Keillor quote. I don't think Civ quite rises to the level of a religion, so I'm OK with a bit of humor on the part of the devs.

I liked it too; but I'm used to (and appreciate) his tone and sense of humor, which might not have come through clearly enough in just this quote if you don't already "know" him.

Which of course might have made it a bad selection too.

 

[Thormodr]

Multiple quotes is nice, but I agree that some of the quotes we've seen so far are mostly comedians trying to make some annoying analogy that diminishes the glory of the technology/civic they speak of.

Air conditioning and the Roman Empire? What a mockery.

At least developers for Civ IV realized that for quotes you needed a wry sense of humor for some quotes and dignity for all other quotes, rather than a bad sense of humor.

Meh. The Civ series has never taken itself that seriously.

 

[bouncymischa]

Meh. The Civ series has never taken itself that seriously.

The fanbase, on the other hand...

 

[Zaarin]

I'm fine with some comedic quotes, as long as they're balanced with a good portion of serious quotes. Nothing's more awesome than Leonard Nimoy reading the Benediction of Moses from Civ4. ^_^

 

[jekke]

I think jokes in quotes is a very poor idea. I do not know about you guys, but for me listening to the same joke 20 times is not fun at all, it gets annoying. And with 3 quotes per tech, it only takes 60 games (on average) to reach this milestone, whereas I also believe most jokes stop being funny much earlier. Now, maybe it is good for people who play 2-3 times and quit, but I am certainly going to start more than 60 Civ games.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I think jokes in quotes is a very poor idea. I do not know about you guys, but for me listening to the same joke 20 times is not fun at all, it gets annoying. And with 3 quotes per tech, it only takes 60 games (on average) to reach this milestone, whereas I also believe most jokes stop being funny much earlier. Now, maybe it is good for people who play 2-3 times and quit, but I am certainly going to start more than 60 Civ games.

I know what you're saying but there have been jokes in every iteration of civ and I don't think it's hurt anything.

I'm pretty sure that the contemplative serious quotes stop being contemplative and serious after a few times as well.

 

[Magil]

I think jokes in quotes is a very poor idea. I do not know about you guys, but for me listening to the same joke 20 times is not fun at all, it gets annoying. And with 3 quotes per tech, it only takes 60 games (on average) to reach this milestone, whereas I also believe most jokes stop being funny much earlier. Now, maybe it is good for people who play 2-3 times and quit, but I am certainly going to start more than 60 Civ games.

I think listening to any quote 20 times is going to get a bit stale. I don't see why jokes would be more or less subject to this.