A couple thoughts on the game

[Willem]

First off, I don't see how just being a Gunpowder unit makes Walls and Castles obsolete. It's not like bullets can go through solid stone and kill the defenders behing them. And they'd be fairly well protected behind the parapets and windows firing back at the attackers. At the very least Walls should only lose some of their effectiveness since with their range, Rifleman etc. could fire over the walls and hope they actually hit someone. The only units who should be able to ignore them are Catapults etc, and units like Tanks, who can blow holes in them and get inside from there. I think at the very least, Walls/Castles should only lose 50% of their defense capabilty against Gunpowder units.

Secondly, I think the Pyramids are way over powered with their ability. It makes no sense that you can get government forms that have to evolve over time. Plus it gives whoever builds it a huge advantage in the game. I think a better use for them would be to reduce Catapults etc. effectiveness against a cities defenses by 25% if it has Walls, another 25% if it has a Castle. If a civ can master a masonry project of that scale, then obviously they'll be particularly adept at building very strong fortifications. And if Walls/Castles don't become totally obsolete as I mentioned, that would still make it a pretty powerful Wonder throughout the game.

[Enigma_Nova]

The pyramids are balanced by costing lots of hammers.
The assumption is that people had an anti-siege gunpowder weapon (Primitive cannon) when Gunpowder came along, but apparently you need Steel to make a cannon (Despite the uncountable number of cast iron cannons used in the middle ages).

[Willem]

Originally posted by Enigma_Nova
The pyramids are balanced by costing lots of hammers.
The assumption is that people had an anti-siege gunpowder weapon (Primitive cannon) when Gunpowder came along, but apparently you need Steel to make a cannon (Despite the uncountable number of cast iron cannons used in the middle ages).

Yeah, I just built the Pyramids for the first time and it wasn't what I expected. I thought you had access to all the civics, but it's just the ones for Government, so it's not as powerful as I thought.

As for the Gunpowder units, that doesn't explain how a Musketman/Grenadier/Rifleman can negate Walls/Castles. You can't tear down a wall with musket balls to get at the defenders behind it. They should still suffer some sort of penalty for attacking a city with fortifications. The game already has anti-siege weapons, ie Catapults/Cannon which serve the purpose of tearing down Walls. It would certainly make Walls more useful. As it stands, there's almost no point in building them.

[CerberusIV]

Catapults/cannon weren't the only way to get past walls in real history. Mining under the walls of fortified towns has a long history. However gunpowder, even the primitive early stuff, made explosive mines possible so that even well constructed walls could be destroyed.

[Destroyer]

I agree that wall should still protect against musket and riflemen (perhaps a decreased %).

But cannons and infantry should not be affected, as they should all be equiped with explosives.

[Willem]

Originally posted by CerberusIV
However gunpowder, even the primitive early stuff, made explosive mines possible so that even well constructed walls could be destroyed.

But the units still had to get those mines to the walls, which would be no easy feat with defenders firing at them from above. I suspect the success rate was pretty low and that it was considered a suicide mission. So having a 50% reduction in damage would be realistic IMO and make Walls much more useful in the game.

[Enigma_Nova]

What you'd do, is you'd dig a trench, and cover the trench with some sort of super dooper iron sheet so that arrows couldn't hit you.
Then you'd mine under the walls and everyone would be like OH SNAP and you'd be like "lol walls"

[Willem]

But if you have gunpowder, chances are your opponent does as well. So all they have to do is toss one of their own mines in the trench right behind the metal sheet. That would be alot easier to do than digging a trench. Then when it goes off, the men under there would be blown to bits.

Not to mention that it wouldn't be very difficult for some cavalry to make a quick sorty to the guys that were digging. They would exactly be in any position to defend themselves if they're crawling in some ditch with a shovel in their hands. A guy on a horse could probably move fast enough that none of the Rifleman could get a good bead on them, so their chances of making it back the through the gates would be fairly good.

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually in the west cannons pretty much predated personal firearms.

Maybe the cannon represents the realization that brass made better muzzleloading cannons than iron did.