The artist

[GePap]

Now that we have two new nifty specialist, the policeman and the civil engineer, I think-why not another one, the artist?

What is the point of the artist? Each artist, cost 1 gp like police, would give you one culture point a year. This way you don't need a temple to expand the borders, though you would still want it for the happiness boost. Culture creation doe NOT increase with time unlike with buildings-one artist, one culture point all the time.

This new specialist would come with free artistry.

[Arrian]

I like it

-Arrian

[Switch]

Seems like a good idea to me. Maybe in the ancient/medieval eras it could be a priest, and then it become an artist...or a priest could be more expensive, but also provide happiness.

Anyways, this might be a good thing to post in the Civ4 forum.

Happy posting

[Son of David]

Mad props for the idea and for the avatar, Nietzsche.

[The Slayer]

I like it too.

Perhaps is also a good idea to have era- - advance specific specialist?.

For example...

Philosopher -> Priest -> Artist .
Inventor -> Scientist
Tax Man -> Accountant .. (like DyP)
Labourer -> serf (sp?) -> Engineer

And so on.... making their abilities increase a little by ages.

[LzPrst]

what does the civil engineer actually do? I know he's supposed to increase production, but I see no sign of it when I create one...

[Solomwi]

Produces 2 spt, LzrPrst. It isn't reflected in the production/waste row (I wish it were, like gold/beakers/luxury spending are), but if you have enough of them to make a difference, it will be reflected in build time in the city view, and on map view. Try it in a one shield city to see the difference every time.

Edit: It doesn't affect unit builds, though, only improvements (wonders? never tried it).

[Plotinus]

Ah yes, I think I suggested this a while ago somewhere. Honest. I like the idea but I wonder if it might cause imbalancing - could it make a culture victory too easy, rather like in the Mesoamerica Conquest? Of course, they could just set the limits for such a victory that much higher.

[Son of David]

It would allow for a level of autonomous culture - independent of buildings etc. In fact, I think culture is the only major factor which cannot be represented without a building of some sort.

I.e., you can get military units by draft; you can create happiness without building anything; likewise for corruption and science; money; even production bonuses. So why not culture?

[Solomwi]

I like the overall idea. The one place I could see it being possibly overpowering is in newly conquered cities, especially late in the game. Switch five citizens to artists and pop the borders right out, giving protection from attack and freeing up more units to press the attack further.

War by art!

[Xorbon]

I like the 'artist' idea. To keep artists from making a cultural victory too easy, it could be implemented so that artists' culture points don't contribute towards a cultural victory.

The 'problem' Solomwi mentioned could be solved by not allowing foreign citizens to be changed into artists.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Xorbon
The 'problem' Solomwi mentioned could be solved by not allowing foreign citizens to be changed into artists.

Then how would the Americans be able to benefit from it?

(Pre-emptive disclaimer: Yes, I know about all the great American artists throughout our history. It was just a joke based on popular perception. )

[Son of David]

Originally posted by Xorbon
I like the 'artist' idea. To keep artists from making a cultural victory too easy, it could be implemented so that artists' culture points don't contribute towards a cultural victory.

The 'problem' Solomwi mentioned could be solved by not allowing foreign citizens to be changed into artists.

Agreed. Foreign artists would create works which advance the culture of their native civilization!

Wow, everything is fitting into place. Artists in the next patch, perhaps?

[jomateix]

Great idea! But this should be avaible before free artistry with the difference that before you need 2 artist to generate 1 culture point.

[GePap]

I don;t like the idea of not letting the culture produced count towards a culture victory-ways I think to make artist not very powerful

1. Size restrictions for artists (towns must be so big)
2. Make them cost more than 1 gold

Still you need 20,000 culture points in a single city to win a culture victory, that or 100,000 civ wide. At 1 point per one artist coming only near the end of the medeival period, I don't think they would make a cultural victory so easy.

Can this be moded in right now?