Truffles?

[elprofesor]

And...y'know...religion.

It doesn't really get more controversial than religion. People don't kill each other over their beliefs about drugs. At lest not on the same scale as religion causes otherwise rational people to commit murder.

Not exactly speaking about the same thing: opium is objectively bad for the consumer. Killing whales or elephants for some unneeded luxury resource is objectively wrong too. Being religious isn't objectively wrong.

 

[Raiki]

Not exactly speaking about the same thing: opium is objectively bad for the consumer. Killing whales or elephants for some unneeded luxury resource is objectively wrong too. Being religious isn't objectively wrong.

...

For the sake of obeying forum rules, I'll just say we'll have to agree to disagree on that point and leave it at that.


~R~

 

[SHaW1986]

or how about another plantation resource, honey.

 

[elprofesor]

...

For the sake of obeying forum rules, I'll just say we'll have to agree to disagree on that point and leave it at that.

I'm not even going to say what I would say when I can't say what I think about what they say when they won't say what they think about being religious.

But I believe that my previous sentence is meta enough that no forum rules can objectively distinguish this from humor. :insertsmileyhere:

or how about another plantation resource, honey.

Oh stop it you!

Now seriously, for the sake of staying on topic, I'd rather have truffles as a unique luxury for mercantile CSs, it better fits its more local significance. And I like honey, it's never been a luxury resource, has it?

 

[sumodaz]

Actually, coffe is popular in much of europe, aside from the British isalnds, especially in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, with the highest consumptions per capita in the world. Aside from Britain, India and the Far East (which I admit is a HUGE portion of the world population), coffee is the more popular drink.

Me being a Brit living in Sweden, I have to say you Swedes love your coffee!

Am I right in thinking Austria has a coffee house as a unique building? I never really associated Austria with coffee?

 

[Raiki]

I'm not even going to say what I would say when I can't say what I think about what they say when they won't say what they think about being religious.

But I believe that my previous sentence is meta enough that no forum rules can objectively distinguish this from humor.

I think I understood *just enough* of the levels of intensionality of that sentence to be mildly offended.

I do have to agree, though, that truffles seems like one of those resources better suited to CSes.

I do really like Honey. Do we have any current forest plantation resources?

 

[sukritact]

I do really like Honey. Do we have any current forest plantation resources?

I think silk and dyes? Honey still sounds good though.

There's a rather long list of possible luxury resources:

Tea, Coffee, Cacao, Honey, Feathers, Bird's Nests, Tobacco, Orchids, Hemp, Opium, Lapis lazuli, Caviar, Coral, Musk, Sharks, Ginseng, Linen, Amber, Fossils.

And bonus resources:

Rice, Papyrus, Bamboo (can be used for books or furniture and the shoots are edible), Pheasants/ Quails, Cheese (goats), Octopi, Legumes, Urchins, Clay, Olive Oil, Wasabi, Corn, Obsidian.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I don't know if you would consider it a luxury, but you could also get rubber from a plantation. Would an orchard be considered a plantation? You could do apples or cherries or peaches or any other tree fruits.

 

[Green Tico]

Opium and hemp are very interesting ideas, furthermore their use in human history is unrivaled. Opium and its derivatives are still used today for legitimate purposes. I see nothing wrong with including it, though of course you'd have to touch upon its darker side. If you include an intoxicant such as wine, I think its fair game to include medicinal plants such as opium or industrial plants such as hemp.

We could spend all day discussing the morality of many of the commodities in Civ5 (gems=blood diamonds, whaling, ivory, the economic degradation due to mining and extracting of oil, plantation life, etc).

I can get my head around some of the new commodities, especially citrus and salt. But I fail to comprehend their inclusion of truffles. I do think tea/coffee are worthy commodities, but I'd argue that opium and hemp are more worthy from a historic and functional perspective.

 

[bcaiko]

I have to say, those of you complaining about Crabs being a luxury resource have clearly never been to Maryland.

People don't kill each other over their beliefs about drugs.

Two words: Opium Wars.

 

[Louis XXIV]

or how about another plantation resource, honey.

I think it's very easy to think of plantation resources: Coffee, Tea, Citrus, Dyes, Incense, Silk, Spices, Sugar, Wine. The problem is we need a "camp" resource to replace Truffles. Otherwise, truffles work just fine for their purpose.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I think it's very easy to think of plantation resources: Coffee, Tea, Citrus, Dyes, Incense, Silk, Spices, Sugar, Wine. The problem is we need a "camp" resource to replace Truffles. Otherwise, truffles work just fine for their purpose.

Put silk in a camp.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Silkworms aren't hunted, though, they're raised. Plantation is far and away the most accurate choice for that.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Eh, I don't know that truffles are hunted, either.

Aren't they on farms these days?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

THey aren't cultivated. You still need to take a pig out in the woods, find them, and dig them up.

We have a mushroom in these parts called a morel. Every spring lots of people go walking through the woods to find them. You can't cultivate them at all. They are delicious.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Another luxury meeting the standards of marginality and controversy is Coltan. Vital for minerals used in computer production AND funds wars in the Congo

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Why not Lithium then, for modern batteries and Rare Earth Metals for high-efficiency electronics? Those are luxury resources for the modern age. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it REM's should be a modern/future era strategic resource, required for windmills and solar plants.

 

[Raiki]

Two words: Opium Wars.

I draw a very clear distinction between people killing each other for gain and profit, and people killing each other over ideology.

I made a point of saying that people don't generally kill each other over their beliefs on drugs, since we weren't talking about the drugs themselves but the controversy that including them might create.

I think silk and dyes?

While those can both appear in forests, you have to chop the forest down to connect them. With Honey, it seems like it would be silly to chop down the trees the bees were living in. Then again, that seems more a point in favor of making bees a camp resource than having a plantation in a non-chopped forest.


~R~

 

[Arkangelus]

I just have to say, I love the idea thats been mentioned several times of a camp for silk. Hunting silkworms does not sound the most taxing of pursuits!

 

[Raneman]

Since Hong Kong is confirmed as a city state, it's life as a colony got it's start due to the opium wars and it was ruled by the British for like 200 years.