That funny doohickey

[redazncommieDXP]

So in the bottom right of the screen, there is a list of all the civilizations and their scores. There is also a series of icons. The rightmost of these icons is this goofy little thing that's sometimes a horizontal line and a dot, and sometimes a crescent and a dot. What is this thing?

Actually, any explanation of the symbols would be appreciated. I've figured out the religion part, but I don't even know if the star next to it means holy city or founder.

 

[Halk]

The doohickey is simply an indication of stability. It can be in three positions, it can have the wings up, which means good, the wings level meaning normal, and the wings down, meaning unstable.

If a competing civilization has their wings down (i.e. unstable) then potentially they could collapse, especially with a little help.

In my last game I risked it against Netherlands, I was playing as Mali and they had put a colony next to me which was going to cause problems. The idea was declare war, kill everything they had in Africa, and turtle up and hope they didn't send too many troops. But I had noticed they were unstable, and I had my fingers crossed that taking the colony might send them over the edge. It did. I took the colony, and 3 or 4 turns later, no more Holland.

 

[Úmarth]

The star means whoever has the holy city, which is usually the founder because that's who gets the holy city to start with.

 

[Panopticon]

Think of the stability icon as a ball on a plane. If it's in a hollow, it's not going to go anywhere. On the other hand, if it's on top of a hill, chances are it could fall off at any moment.

The other icons are about your diplomatic relations with other civs: whether you have a trade route with them, whether you have open borders with them, and later, whether you have a Defensive Pact.

 

[Úmarth]

Ohhhh, I get it now!

 

[redazncommieDXP]

Think of the stability icon as a ball on a plane. If it's in a hollow, it's not going to go anywhere. On the other hand, if it's on top of a hill, chances are it could fall off at any moment.

That was a brilliant analogy. Props, panopticon.

 

[musicfreak]

Think of the stability icon as a ball on a plane. If it's in a hollow, it's not going to go anywhere. On the other hand, if it's on top of a hill, chances are it could fall off at any moment.

Ah, that's a good way to think of it. I always just pictured a happy person and an unhappy person (raised arms vs lowered arms), but that doesn't really have anything to do with stability. Actually, if your nation was collapsing then the citizens would be rebelling with their arms in the air, wouldn't they?

 

[Rhye]

Think of the stability icon as a ball on a plane. If it's in a hollow, it's not going to go anywhere. On the other hand, if it's on top of a hill, chances are it could fall off at any moment.

aye, that's the correct legend