Where are the Natural Wonders?

[gunnergoz]

It would be great if some of the unique map elements (like impassable calderas and canyons, which look really cool) in BE have a hidden science or culture boost or other prize making them worth finding and exploiting.

In previous Civ games, these were known as Natural Wonders. I always loved finding and settling next to those.

So far I've seen no sign of such in the BE preview videos and screen shots. Are they going to be completely absent from this game? What do you think?

 

[Ryoga]

I personally hope there will be something like that. Alpha Centauri had something similar with the landmarks, which actually occupied several squares of the map each.

they give some sort of randomness to the gaming experience so you will not always end up competing with the same faction every single game at the end.

 

[awesome]

i agree, it seems strange that they'd leave them out, since that was one of the things that made civ5 different from previous games, but i guess that in the grand scheme of things, they're not as worried about little bonuses right now.

 

[gunnergoz]

Well, planetary exploration is supposed to be full of wonders so if they are absent in BE, the developers couldn't see the forest for the trees (or is it the stars for the galaxy?) A big list of natural wonders randomly chosen for each game (say 30-40 to choose from, with only 3 or 4 randomly selected to be in any one map) would add a lot to the atmosphere of BE.

 

[AriochIV]

It's an alien world... the whole thing is a natural wonder.

 

[ggmoyang]

It's an alien world... the whole thing is a natural wonder.

Will Franco-Iberica get 500 energy for every tile that they discovered first?

 

[Barathor]

It's an alien world... the whole thing is a natural wonder.

haha, beat me to it.

 

[OldEarthRelic]

Will Franco-Iberica get 500 energy for every tile that they discovered first?

LOL

Did you know you need at least 5 characters in a message? Strange.

 

[Steamwerks]

It's an alien world... the whole thing is a natural wonder.

Yet even within the context of a wondrous alien planet, some areas are going to be unique. In gameplay terms, it spices up exploration and has a proven track record from SMAC and Civ V, so I don't really see any compelling reason to leave them out. Maybe they're just differentiating for it's own sake.

 

[cooldude1128]

LOL

Did you know you need at least 5 characters in a message? Strange.

This is why this forum needs an "Agree" button, so you don't need to make a post if you want people to know you liked a particular post.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

This is why this forum needs an "Agree" button, so you don't need to make a post if you want people to know you liked a particular post.

This.

 

[Monthar]

Maybe there will be natural wonders and either they haven't been added yet or were purposely left out of the demo version all the first 100 turn videos show us. That way they can reveal them themselves just before launch, or leave it to use to discover them for ourselves after launch.

 

[AriochIV]

From a gameplay standpoint, the various Explorer expedition targets (Progenitor Ruins, Derelict Settlements, Crashed Satellites, Alien Skeletons) provide ample incentive to explore (above and beyond Resource Pods/Goody Huts), and I think adequately replace Natural Wonders.

From a lore standpoint, things like craters and canyons that might be wonders on Earth are just common terrain features on the new planet. The Natural Wonder bonuses never made a ton of sense (I never particularly understood why Krakatoa would make people happier or more productive), but now that Happiness and Faith are gone, the bonuses would have to get even sillier. Should staring at the Great Volcano of Zuul make your colony Healthier?

 

[Monthar]

An alien equivalent of Old Faithful could give health, because the water it spews has healing properties.

Krakatoa only gives 5 science, it doesn't give production or happiness. This makes perfect sense.

 

[gunnergoz]

I hope the code for the map scripts accommodates the BE equivalents of natural wonders because I can think of a dozen, some fanciful and some plausible, that would add to the story and ambiance. Trouble is, I don't code so can't make any mods myself...but I have a bunch of bright ideas!

 

[darkskies]

I think if they do this than a large pool of natural wonders is needed after all we are in space now not just stuck on one world. But in my games I seldom go out of the way to snag a natural wonder nor does the AI, in fact mostly the city states get them. Maybe they analyzed this and found most players don't bother with most natural wonders (well except on maps with poor resources) and decided to skip them?

 

[gunnergoz]

When I play Civ V I beeline for the natural wonders and try to found cities that can take advantage of them. But that's me, maybe I'm alone in liking them...but I somehow doubt it.

 

[The Dark Knight]

I personally would like some natural wonders, but i wouldn't mind if they didn't put any in , with all the different ruins (Progenitor Ruins, Derelict Settlements, Crashed Satellites, Alien Skeletons) there is enough reason to explore the world

 

[winddysphere]

From a gameplay standpoint, the various Explorer expedition targets (Progenitor Ruins, Derelict Settlements, Crashed Satellites, Alien Skeletons) provide ample incentive to explore (above and beyond Resource Pods/Goody Huts), and I think adequately replace Natural Wonders.

It might be better to have some more but not too much since I think most of them will be consume after you finish anything with it.

Should staring at the Great Volcano of Zuul make your colony Healthier?

How about this? Its lava does not destroy the ground, trees and aliens. It's instead restore both mineral in the ground and also provide restorative ash that cure wound and calm both aliens and human alike. It provides the owner to restore 5 hp to human and human controlled alien units and 10 hp to neutral aliens. Due to it's strange ashes no one can fight in that area. Exclude siege. Affect only 1 city near to this natural wonder the most and 1 tiles around it will not be able to improve anything and can't settle city over those tiles.

But yeah it's likely for CivBE to exclude natural wonder. Hope they include it however.

 

[Deggial]

... there is enough reason to explore the world

Enough reasons to expore - sure! But personally, I love unique map features: Tiles that seperate nice settling places fom awesome ones. Tiles that are worth a race to settle near them first or even may induce a war in order to control them if already taken.

I really love, if there are remarkable cities which stand out from the usual "bog standard town"!

I am aware the fact that joys like this are great for SP but might feel unfair/unbalanced in MP. But honestly, I feel that Civilization (in all it's iterations) should be a SP-game that is playable in MP as well and not vice versa.