Unique techs/buildings/wonders

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I think it would be nice for civilizations to have unique techs, buildings and wonders. Having certain techs that they can't share with anyone else would lead to them being able to branch out and develop in different ways. Some advantages I've thought of are as follows:
1. It would get round the "how can we introduce a third world country" problem - make it so that they can never have certain key buildings/techs that make science rate speed up for example.
2. It would make civilizations even more unique and the choice a little harder - what if only the Eygptains could build the Pyramids, or seafaring civs were the only ones who could build the Lighthouse. What would you choose if only religious civs could build religious-type wonders and scientific civs were the only ones able to build the Great Library?
3. Corruption/waste management techs and improvements could vary between civs, making this another factor in your "which civ shall I play?" decision.

What do people think?

 

[Turner]

Interesting. . . it might work out.

I don't like the thought of not being able to have a certain wonder. But on the other hand, if I did want that wonder, I would have to decide which civ I wanted to play. Kinda like taking the attributes a step farther.

 

[fitchn]

I had thought about some of these things too... I would offer a slightly different approach, though:

- Great Wonders should NOT be restricted to certain civs. The entire basis behind the concept is that only one civ can build them; If you happen to be the only civ with a certain trait, there is no competition for building the wonder, whilst everyone else is competing for another.

- A couple of techs should be available to only civs of certain cultural groups. The techs CAN be traded to other civs; this will add an entire new element to diplomacy, as it will mean that you can only gain certain techs from other civs. Of course, these techs would have to be optional, so as not to hinder the progression from one era to the next, especially if there are no civs

in the game of a certain cultural group. These various techs would obviously have to pose some kind of advantage (units, wonders, etc.) to provide motivation to select a certain cultural group and/or trade with another to get them. Perhaps one extra optional tech in each era for each cultural group.

- Finally, each civ trait should have some unit, improvement, or even a small wonder (NOT a great wonder) that is unique to that trait.

None of these unique units, techs, buildings, etc. should be overpowering, but rather offer slight advantages in various aspects of the game. Implementing these two things would make each civ distinctly unique, while also introducing new gameplay elements (such as needing to trade for some techs; as well as making each civ distinctly unique, rather than just having different bonuses). Futhermore, by assigning unique elements based on cultural group and traits, each civ gets several new and unique enhancements, while only requiring 13 additions (8 traits + 5 cultural groups) instead of 31*n (where n is the number of additions to each civ). As a result, the game will be enhanced dramatically, with the least amount of work! Specific suggestions to follow...​

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Some really interesting ideas, fitchn.

Originally posted by fitchn
Great Wonders should NOT be restricted to certain civs. The entire basis behind the concept is that only one civ can build them; If you happen to be the only civ with a certain trait, there is no competition for building the wonder, whilst everyone else is competing for another.

I understand your point. It would not be right to have all Great Wonders like this, but what about one great wonder for each trait? Now that there's eight traits, each civ can build two trait-specific wonders and all the other great wonders, leaving only six they couldn't build.

A couple of techs should be available to only civs of certain cultural groups. The techs CAN be traded to other civs; this will add an entire new element to diplomacy, as it will mean that you can only gain certain techs from other civs.

Nice idea, but I find that the AI-controlled civs barter techs with each other quite a lot, hence they wouldn't be unique for long. I'd like to see an option where civs can be modded never to be able to have certain techs.

None of these unique units, techs, buildings, etc. should be overpowering, but rather offer slight advantages in various aspects of the game.

I agree that in the normal game, it shouldn't be, but that you can mod it to be as overpowering as you like. I think there's some good ideas here. If techs had been set up in the same way as units, ie, you can choose whether or not a civ can have them in the game, all this would be possible.

 

[Bane Star]

I've seen a few Mods that do this, I think Balancer Mod and DyP mods do...