Hi there,
First of all, kudos on all the hard work you've done with this mod. It's made the wonders a lot more interesting overall and you really feel like they influence your game. After a few playthroughs I felt there were some balance changes needed, which I've outlined below. I've made these changes locally already and will be playing a few games with them to see how they impact the game. However, I wanted to share here as a general "I think these might be a little too good" piece of feedback. I have left explanations and/or rationale behind each change below the noted change.
World Wonders
Bolshoi Theatre: Amenities (3 -> 2)
The primary purpose of this building is for culture victories, so while the entertainment bonus for a theatre makes sense, it's too powerful as a secondary bonus when considering it's regional.
Alhambra: Culture (4 -> 2)
The extra policy this grants is already incredibly powerful, as are the Great General points on kills, so the 4 passive culture is a bit much.
Forbidden City: Culture (3 -> 2)
The best part of this is the extra policy slot, and 3 regional culture in the hands of a smart player far outweighs the passive 6 the wonder previously provided--potentially resulting in 18 culture or more
Oracle: Culture (4 -> 2), Faith (4 -> 2), Removed Engineer/Musician points, Great Prophet points (1 -> 2)
The reduction in Faith cost for great person patronage of 50% is extremely valuable already, and the secondary great person points help that bonus as well. The era this is obtained in is also far too early to give Engineer/Musician points as it effectively guarantees one of each, and 4 Culture/Faith simply pushes this wonder over the top.
That said, I added a Great Prophet point so if the player by some chance doesn't have one already, this all but guarantees a religion by completing it.
Cristo Redentor: Relic slots (3 -> 1)
While I like the idea of adding a slot (so I kept one), the primary design of this wonder is to reward players that build Seaside Resorts, so it's already quite powerful if properly used.
Great Lighthouse: Production bonus (30% -> 25%)
This redesign is mostly perfect, but I felt the production bonus was a tad high, so I'm trying a slight reduction to it as the only change.
Mahabodi Temple: Production yield changes - Holy Site (2 -> 1), Temple (2 -> 3)
The Holy Site generating a passive 2 production is a little too much of an early boost for a new city and takes a little away from needing to build improvements. That said, I simply moved it to the Temple to reward the player for building out their Holy Site more. It also creates a nice 1 -> 2 -> 3 progression to give the feeling of buildings getting better (as they should).
Terracotta Army: Completely revamping
I haven't had a chance to code this yet, but I will be changing Terracotta Army to work similarly to Venetian Arsenal for land units, and only for the city it is built in.
Hagia Sophia: Science yield changes - Holy Site (2 -> 1), Temple (2 -> 3)
Similar rationale to Mahabodi Temple: creating a bit of a progression as you build out the Holy Site to make later buildings more valuable, and reducing the instant impact of simply having a Holy Site.
Hermitage: Great Work Culture (3 -> 2)
This was a bit too good at 3 per Great Work as the global bonus effectively added 10 Culture per turn to any city with an art museum, plus 10% of whatever the other Culture the city was already generating.
Eiffel Tower: Great Person Points (50 -> 25)
This wonder is already incredibly powerful, particularly when paired with Cristo Redentor -- which is usually doable for any player that can build at least one of them -- as it has a significant impact on tourism generated by national parks and seaside resorts. +50 to great people pushed it over the top, but I like the idea of having more of these wonders, so I simply scaled it back.
Broadway: Great Person Points (50% -> 20%)
The percentage bonus to great person points is an interesting idea -- particularly for such a famous modern wonder -- but at 50% it made for some fairly laughable scenarios where this wonder ended up adding 20 or more per turn to great person generation. This, of course, all but guarantees a player will get most of the remaining great people of that type, which in essence guarantees a culture victory.
I'm currently trying out a 20% bonus, and if all else fails, will be switching to a flat value with added benefits for great works of writing and music. I'm also considering removing the great artist bonus as it doesn't fit thematically with Broadway (primarily musicals / plays).
Ruhr Valley: River adjacency production for Mine/Quarry (1 -> 2)
With so many other wonders requiring river adjacency and the inability to fabricate hills / quarry resources, it makes for very rare cases where this bonus is actually in play for these two improvements. I buffed them to provide +2 production each and left lumber mills alone due to the fact that you can plant trees late-game.
Great Zimbabwe: Gold per domestic trading post (1 -> 0.5), per foreign trading post (1 -> 1.25)
The core concept of this change is to reward the player for building out a vast network of trading posts in foreign cities and then opting to run international trade routes over long distances rather than domestic trade routes that already provide significant yields of food and production. Domestic posts should be a small bonus for the route, not a driving force behind where the route starts/ends or a viable alternative to sending internationally.
National Wonders
In general these buildings are far too powerful. Most of them are better than world wonders, and every player can build them. The core problem with most of the buildings is the sheer amount of great person points they add over time. As great people are a finite resource, this is very problematic and results in recruiting great people well before their eras -- even with pacing mods enabled. This problem is exacerbated by a player starting in a great location and snowballing. If you want to keep the increased rates, I recommend adding new great people of each type. I'm happy to lend a hand with that if it's the route you prefer to go.
That said, I love national wonders as they help to specialize cities. I found myself spending a great deal of time figuring out which were going to be production cities, science, trade, culture, etc.--all because of this mod.
Here are the changes I've made:
Shrine of the Saint: Culture (2 -> 1), Great Prophet (3 -> 2), Shrine Gold (2 -> 1), Belief Gold (2 -> 3)
Reducing the culture for early game pacing purposes, and slightly reducing prophet points so it doesn't make it better than Oracle for that. Shifted 1 shrine gold to belief building to create a gradual progression of gold gains, which also rewards choosing a belief building.
Library of National History: Science (15% -> 10%)
Granting the same percentage bonus as National College feels weird so I reduced this to 10% to better reflect the era it's gained.
National College: Culture (3 -> 2), Great Scientist (2 -> 1)
Science buildings should generally remain focused on science, particularly earlier in the game when this can be built. Also reducing great scientist points to keep their generation in check.
National Academy: Science (4 -> 2), Great General (5 -> 3)
I'm on the fence about reducing the science bonus, but I'm going to give it a shot due to the other bonuses this building provides. A free promotion on all of your units is incredibly powerful. I also reduced GPP for pacing purposes.
Grand Bazaar: Gold for foreign trade routes (6 -> 4), Gold to luxury/bonus resources (2 -> 1), Great Merchant (2 -> 1)
I scaled the gold back because it's effectively an old Great Zimbabwe for every single player right now, and the GPP were icing on the cake.
Ironworks: Regional production (5 -> 3)
5 regional production is far too good for how early this can be built. I left the GPP alone though as +2 isn't too bad, and it also helps offset the removal from the Menagerie later in the game.
National Industrial Complex: Production bonus (30% -> 20%), GPP (4 -> 3)
30% production bonus for a city is a little too good, especially if placed in a specialized city. I'm currently trying out 20% to see how it feels. I also reduced the GPP to 3 as 4 is a little too much for the era this is unlocked.
Apostolic Palace: All GPP removed
This building's bonuses are already incredibly powerful without the GPP it granted, so I'm seeing how things go without it. Faith was left alone to encourage specializing a religious city.
National Treasury: Great Merchant (5 -> 3), One-time yield multiplier (5 -> 3)
I reduced the GPP for pacing purposes. The one-time yield change is primarily to scale that reward back a bit, as timing this right before Big Ben's completion can result in some pretty whacky snowballing of gold on-hand. Even with the reduction, players looking to influence their gameplay via gold will likely get 1500-2000 gold by the time they build this, which is not bad.
National Heritage Site: Culture (30% -> 20%)
At 30% this adds a lot of culture, even for a single city. Trying out 20% for a few playthroughs to see how it affects pacing.
Grand Temple: Religious Art Faith (4 -> 6)
Religious art is pretty rare, so this is not a significant buff--particularly with the absurd scaling on religious unit costs. Leaving other great works of art alone as that's a more catch-all bonus so it'll provide more general benefit.
National Research Institute: GPP (6 -> 4)
Even though this is relatively late in the game, those remaining engineers/scientists are likely going to directly impact the space race, so I'm trying to keep their generation in check a bit.
Grand Menagerie: Removed most GPP, Great Merchant (1 -> 3)
This generating most of those great person points didn't make a ton of sense thematically, but making it a way to get great merchants via Entertainment Complex is a nice bonus.
Guilds: Culture (3 -> 2), passive GPP removed
Bringing the culture down for better early and mid-game pacing, and removing the passive GPP as the per-district bonus is already incredibly powerful.
National Airport: Tourism era modifier (100% -> 50%), Tourism (25 -> 20)
This was a little too powerful if strategically placed in a city with a large number of wonders, and beyond that it also added an effective 50 tourism to the city when it mattered most just going by the building's tourism. I'm going to try these changes out to see how it feels.
