Wonder Idea

[OzzyKP]

I didn't see a spot for it, so I'll start a thread here.

Its something I suggested in the list of ideas for Civ3 way back in the day, though I think I may have added it a bit late, I dunno.

Anyways, have a wonder called the Trans-Continental Railroad (or Trans-Siberian Railroad if you prefer) and upon building it all roads within your borders automatically upgrade to railroad.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

sounds chill.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

less US centric
pentagon -> dept of defense

[Ijuin]

A better idea on the effects of the Transcontinental Railroad: All roads in your territory automatically upgrade to railroads AND all workers henceforth who build roads/railroads INSIDE your territory will construct them in only one turn regardless of your normal worker rate of speed.

Personally I dislike Wonders that give you an instant-acting benefit and then give nothing later on.

[OzzyKP]

the worker thing might be a bit too powerful though. Maybe just have it upped slightly, or just stick with the one-time thing. I dunno. I think it'd be a big benefit to having instant rails.

[lajzar]

Sounds cool. Perhaps you could make it so that building rails has a reduced cost, or, if you use the rail depot idea I had, make it so it grants a free rail depot structure in every city.

As others have said, massed road/rail everywhere looks ugly, and this would encourage teh problem if youre not careful.

[Theldion]

An idea for wonders could be "dark wonders". History is replete with things that shouldn't have happened.

Example:
"The Inquisition", if built in a monothiestic civ, would grant a 25% combat bonus vs. units from a polythiestic civ, and lower the diplomatic relations between the builder and the polythiestic civs.

Or:
"The Holocaust", if built in a socialist civ, finds the smallest minority in most (all?) of your cities, and turns them into special workers (laborers, researchers, farmers, what have yous, except they work twice as hard as regular special workers) and kills them off at a rate of 10% a turn. Democratic civs WILL declare war on you if you build this, though. (e.g., the socialist Zulu builds the Holocaust, they have small amounts of Aztec citizens in many of their cities, and over a period of 10 turns they're wiped out, but do twice the amount of work before dying out)

[Drachasor]

I think that a "Holocaust" wonder is a really, really bad idea, on many levels. PR nightmare, but also it isn't really historically accurate in many ways. One, the holocaust was kept hidden; two, even if it had been known, most Americans might well of wanted to stay out of the war anyhow (cursed American isolationism!)

And why the railing on the socialists? I think any country of decent people would want such killings stopped. It is hard to define such deceny and harder the willingness to combat such atrocities. As such, the wonder just wouldn't work.

Inquisitions work with all religions as well, just the most famous western example if the Spanish Inquisition. I this is probably a workable idea but it needs to be generalized a bit more (and the 25% bonus is a bit overpowered).

-Drachasor

[Japher]

They have the crusades, I don't think all our Moorish posters enjoy that!

[ixnay]

I would like to see more wonder-like things based on achievments in the game.

For example, how about rather than having a city build the Transcontinental Railroad, the game recognizes the furthest 2 cities you have apart on your largest continent, and by connecting those 2 cities by rail gives you a notice that you've completed the Transcontinental Railroad and you get a commerce/happiness boost for a period of time?

[Solomwi]

I've thought about the same thing with Magellan's Voyage, ixnay. Whether it would be the first civ to send a ship all the way across the map or the first to have a "belt" uncovered on its map is up for debate, but I like the general idea.

It makes the decision to go for a wonder a little more involved than just whether or not to dedicate a city to it.

Japher, they have the Knights Templar. The crusade was in Civ2. Not a huge distinction, but...

[Drachasor]

Originally posted by Solomwi
Japher, they have the Knights Templar. The crusade was in Civ2. Not a huge distinction, but...

Yeah, but does the wonder give you a bonus against Arab Civs? In fact, does it give you any combat bonus per se? In this sense it is totally divorced from the historical context, and this is an important sense.


Hmm, that idea ixnay had about event wonders is very nice though.

-Drachasor

[Japher]

I like Ixnay's idea. It reminds me of how building certain wonders, dependent on civ, can give you a leader, or how you need to have so many armies to build the pentagon, etc. I think more contingencies placed on building a wonder should be placed, and some these contingencies should be based on actions. Like you must win x number of battles and capture y number of towns before you qualify to build Art of War, you must have been the first to discover y number of new techs before building the great library, etc... Excellent idea ix'...

As for the Trans. RR, there should be a minimum tile distance set. What if my continent is only 5 tiles wide, and yours is 20?

[Vince278]

The original idea sounds cool but the effect is too powerful IMHO.

[Tassadar500]

Since I don't think that civ IV should be that radical of a change from Civ III, maybe only a few wonders should implement Ixnay's idea?