Robert Mokler
Chieftain
That's true, but it would at least take Hamburg out of the running for legendary status - as there were precious few buildings of any sort left standing after the RAF was through with it...
Now maybe if we would combine some German engineering, Greco-Roman culture, Russian Rex-ing etc. (take all things best from all European nations) and combine it all together forming some sort of an unified European Empire we could get somewhere ... near China
Their only real advantage is a huge population, but unlike Civ in the real world post industrialism you can't whip them into hammers.
Mao's and Stalin's policies I think are closest to civ4-like whipping. I imagine the whips(for infra) as projects with high death rate explaining the lost pop and whipping troops as very harsh military training.
Germany and the Soviet Union certainly whipped for hammers. During parts of WW2, forced labour accounted for a quarter of the German workforce, and a significant part of the output. It played a significant part in the SU's rapid industrialisation.
Both whipped excessively and inefficiencly... apparently the German player misunderstood the culture mechanics and the Russian one the happiness mechanics.
Actually the game mechanics are just a poor reflection of forced labor. Forced labor works great...in agriculture. Once you reach industry, or even artisan crafting, it really doesn't work effectively. Every society throughout history has learned that, most of them the hard way.
Worked okay pre-industrial, but once machinery gets involved you really can't afford to have forced labor. One machine, or even a horse, does the work of too many slaves, and is too valuable to let a slave run it...or get near it for that matter.How about Mining, lumbering, and building railroads?
There's a flaw in that argument: Slave labour doesn't have to be unqualified.
You are american, right? ...
Also, didn't Rome got invaded by the Barbarians? I think that would have been a really hard hit for the culture there I only remember like all great buildings being totally demolished and think I remember something of Barbarians having actually be the end of the roman culture.
British Empire @ 25% of the world's land area and 20% of its population. I don't think any other empire has even gotten close to that land area share, but of course that point is past.
I'd have to agree that Italy may be closest to the cultural vc, if it has not qualified already. Paris and Rome might be neck-and-neck, but Italian cities pull ahead as a group.
Even if you are insistent on looking at culture through civ's framework, considering that France has three world wonders in two different cities. Italy doesn't have any!
They had been on something of a loosing streak since Napolean's defeat at Waterloo. Lost Franco-Prussian war decisively. Was getting a draw in WW I (with assistance of British) until US joined war. Capitulated to Germany in WW II until US (w/British (& some Canadian)) help got France to the limits to break free and then gave them back their cities. Lost Indochina war (then got US to loose it too.) So France got rep as militarily ineffective.
Poland's WW II performance (cavalry vs tanks) made its WW II performance something of a joke.
Other countries listed were simply too small to withstand the Nazi juggernaut
If the world wonder list is arbitrary and should be discounted then so too should culture system that civ has, as it can change version to version and clearly isn't a great representation of culture. After all literary, artistic, musical, culinary and fashion contributions are not really implemented, yet would be what you think of as culture.