Dumb questions

[Colm]

I play this game for a few months now, but still have these little questions that gradually annoy me. Questions that I can't seem to find an answer to.
So I guess I'd like to take care of them once and for all:

1) Do animals have the 'cross the rivers' penalty when they attack you?
2) Why do some wonders not have a movie?
3) Why are some techs not spoken by Spock and who is this other guy?
4) Why does writing come before the alphabet?
5) Why does sickness happen faster in a jungle?
6) Why does the Apollo program building come so early, like before railroad and electricity?
7) Why does the Monotheism pic has an Egypt pyramid? Egyptians were polytheistic...
8) Why do desert tiles next to a river give more food then a grass tile?

[Robert]

Some attempts to give you an answer

1) Do animals have the 'cross the rivers' penalty when they attack you?

yes

2) Why do some wonders not have a movie?

They're national wonders, every civ can build 1

3) Why are some techs not spoken by Spock and who is this other guy?

They're Beyond the Sword (expansion pack) techs, they came in later. They're spoken by Sid Meier.

4) Why does writing come before the alphabet?

Because people were able to write before they invented the Alphabet. (the Alphabet is a 3rd generation language, 1st generation = one symbol for every word, 2nd generation = one symbol for every word-part (lettergreep))

5) Why does sickness happen faster in a jungle?

Because there are animals in there that make you sick when they bite you

6) Why does the Apollo program building come so early, like before railroad and electricity?

That depends on the research-path you pick. You are able to ignore railroad and electricity for a long time, while they normally should be discovered before Rocketery. I never go to Rocketery before Electricity. (I focus to get the Internet first)

7) Why does the Monotheism pic has an Egypt pyramid? Egyptians were polytheistic...

There was one pharao who introduced some form of monotheism in Egypt. After he was gone the Egyptians returned to polytheism. Therefor the Egyptians are most oftenly seen as the 'inventors' of monotheism.

8) Why do desert tiles next to a river give more food then a grass tile?

Check the Nile

[Unimatrix11]

That Pharao would be Echnaton, who regarded the sun as the only god. Still the Pyramids of Gizeh have been built a good 1000 years before he was born. So, yeah, i would agree that the pic is not very wisely chosen. A sun-symbol (a circle with rays, possibly with hands in a giving gesture at the ray´s ends) would have been more appropraite probably... but thats nitpicking...

[Robert]

I wouldn't consider Echnaton a real monotheist, as introduced by Judaism, anyway.
Linking the origin of monotheism to Echnaton is mostly a cheap act from people who don't want to credit judaism too much.

[TriMiro]

Judaism was the first influential monotheistic religion (Zoroastrianism never became as popular). Now IIRC (and I might be wrong) wasn't Moses the first prophet of Judaism and Moses lead the Hebrew out of Egypt?

I never go for Rocketry before Electricity,but IMHO it should be a prerequisite. I don't see how one can build a space rocket without Electricity, a V2 rocket maybe, but not a space one.

A related question, why does the Apollo Program come before Sputnik?

[Unimatrix11]

Well, it is possible, but not proven, that Moses (who grew up in egypt) was inspired by Echnaton and his ideas. I am by no means an expert on this, but i do think, that the main difference is, that Judaism personified, anthromorphized God (you know, the man with the long white beard), while under Echnaton, the sun-god has no human (or even animal) body. Or more to the contrary actually - is not forbidden, to make any picture of God by the ten ´laws´ ?

If i interpretate it right, i think when it comes to goddish entities, i am well with Echnaton. Though earth does have an internal ´force-heat-engine´, all life on its surface (but not neccarily in deep sea, where it might have orignated) is totally dependent on the sun (e.g. the plot of ´Matrix´ is just absurd, if you think about it for just a second). Thus if i was to worship a single entity, it´d be the sun, probably.

BTW: I think religions have already been invented times and again, before some figurehead adopts it or re-invents it and makes it popular. Monotheism was probably invented first by some caveman 10.000 or more years ago. Thus a discussion on who invented what belief is mute - and so is giving anybody credits for it IMHO.

[Unimatrix11]

Originally posted by TriMiro
Judaism was the first influential monotheistic religion (Zoroastrianism never became as popular). Now IIRC (and I might be wrong) wasn't Moses the first prophet of Judaism and Moses lead the Hebrew out of Egypt?

I never go for Rocketry before Electricity,but IMHO it should be a prerequisite. I don't see how one can build a space rocket without Electricity, a V2 rocket maybe, but not a space one.

A related question, why does the Apollo Program come before Sputnik?

Before anybody else does (and somebody will) i will point out that game-balance (or fun playing) trumps realism. From the realism point of view, i´d totally agree that electricity is a prerequisite for space-flight. But in the game, i enjoy the variety of possible research-paths.

But maybe one could have designed that way: Rocketry leads to both, satelites and manned-space-flight, for both of which electricity would also be a must and the later would allow for the apollo program, while rocketry alone would mostly be a weapon-thing.

[Tattila the Hun]

Well, Sputnik didn't do that much. When were the first commercial/military satellites launched, that actually did something usefull, like take pictures, or relay information from A to B?

[TriMiro]

Originally posted by Unimatrix11

But maybe one could have designed that way: Rocketry leads to both, satelites and manned-space-flight, for both of which electricity would also be a must and the later would allow for the apollo program, while rocketry alone would mostly be a weapon-thing.

Realistically speaking one must note that Rocketry and Space Flight are different technologies. The firs German rockets V-1 and V-2 and the lower ranged Russian ones (Katyusha) were advanced military weapons and were over a decade behind the first rocket capable of reaching orbit. Sputnik required another breakthrough (in Math more than in science) before it could make all the way to the top.

Realistically I would like to see the Apollo Program moved over to Satellites. I wonder if the game play would not be broken this way.

[Robert]

Originally posted by TriMiro
Judaism was the first influential monotheistic religion (Zoroastrianism never became as popular).

Zoroastrianism isn't monotheism, it's dualism (2 gods).
Echnatons monotheism wasn't monotheism in the modern way of speaking. He just only worshipped one god, but still reckognized the existence of others. Not to mention that his god was a part of the 'creation' and not an extra-universal being, like the monotheistic religions.

One could argue btw. if judaism and christianity are real monotheistic religions. Both acknowledge the exitence of multiple gods as well. The difference is that those 'multiple' gods are part of the creation while the one God of both Judaism and Christianity is not a part of the creation but the creator.

[Blaupanzer]

As to the jungle question, it's the bugs that lead to disease. Some scientist noted that the insects in one square mile of African jungle outweighed the entire mammalian population, including man, on the earth. Many, if not most, of those bugs pass on microbes that cause disease. This insect and arachnid infestation phenomenon is also true for flood plains and swamps, perhaps to a lesser degree.

[Felch]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
Some scientist noted that the insects in one square mile of African jungle outweighed the entire mammalian population, including man, on the earth.

I think this is a mix-up. I'm guessing that either the insects in one square mile outnumber mammals, or that insects throughout the world outweigh. Either way, jungles are full of vectors for disease.

[Blaupanzer]

No, was a major study by an American university (Michigan?) for the UN in the late eighties or early nineties that said "by weight, the insects in one square mile of African jungle (specifically tested in Guinea [however one would do that]) outweigh the Earth's entire mammalian population." Birds are not included in the mammalian population and arachnidae (spiders) may have been included in the insect weight. Triple canopy jungle with insects 1) underground, 2) below the visible detritus, 3) on the ground, 4) in the trees, and 5) in the air (whatever that means -- you'd think they would land sometime). At the time, I was amazed and sceptical simultaneously, so I did what we all do now and looked it up on the web using gopher. That is what the study said, the numbers of these crawly creatures are huge, but the weight was a surprise to them too. Especially given all the square miles there are of that terrain.

[Supr49er]

Man don't you bug me.
I got my own bugs too.
If you think you're gonna give your bugs to me
I'm gonna give 'em right back to you.

[Blaupanzer]

"I said I'd like some crabs! The kind you crack, you fool, not the kind that make you itch."