Tweet
Area 25: Technology Guide to the Middle Ages
The Area 25 Technology Guide to the Middle Ages, Version 1.0
By Minister of Science Will “Apocalypse” Moeller
This guide is currently incomplete, as there are only 10 techs currently described. I started writing it on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I thought my phone line would be out all weekend. I learned Sunday afternoon that my father was just trying to get me off the Internet. He had disconnected the phone line. This was very wrong of him because it would have hurt my publications grade if I did not discover what he had done. Anyway, this guide is currently mostly complete, at least for all the technology we are currently considering. There are many random comments I made throughout the guide, especially when I started talking about Gunpowder. I was incredibly bored. Enjoy.
One note, the order of the techs are not necessary the order in which I want to research them. I am just grouping them in the most organized manner I can think of.
Feudalism
Introduction: Feudalism is the genesis (how many of you saw that coming? I decided to just get the reference out of the way in the beginning) of the Area 25 legacy. It was both the first technology we researched in the Middle Ages as well as the first technology I choose for Apolytonia to research.
Units: Feudalism gives us the Pikeman and as the Civilopedia states “the pikeman is an excellent defender.” The Pikeman is great for both offensive and defensive purposes. It can escort Swordsmen and Archers and be a great garrison for our towns.
Wonders: Feudalism also allows for us to build Sun Tzu’s Art of War (great book, by the way). There is little chance we would be the first to build it so that did not factor in. The other bonuses Feudalism gives you makes this a minor issue.
Future: Feudalism is leads to both Chivalry and the military line of the Middle Ages (Gunpowder, Metallurgy, Military Tradition) through Invention. Furthermore, what good would the peaceful techs such as Education, Banking, and Democracy if we cannot defend the infrastructure we can build with it?
These reasons made Feudalism a great start for the Middle Ages.
Monotheism
Introduction: Monotheism is the next logical step after Feudalism. It can be vital for both warmongers and peaceniks.
City Improvements: First, it gives a Cathedral. This building has no immediate use but the cathedral is vital for large cities. The cathedral is able to make three unhappy people content. Cathedrals are cheap for us so they will be very sweet to have later in the game.
Future: Now for what is important about this technology…the other technologies it leads to. These are Chivalry with (Feudalism) and Theology. Chivalry is good for warmongers and people who follow the “defense is the best offense” doctrine. Theology is required for all but two nonmilitary techs (Engineering and Chemistry) and one semi military tech (Invention).
These reasons made Monotheism the only possible choice after Feudalism.
Chivalry
Introduction: Chivalry is a dead end technology that can prove vital for warmongers and people who follow the “defense is the best offense” doctrine. The reason for this is the four different military units it comes with. Though each civilization can only build one of these, this fact must be brought into consideration during trade.
Units: This first of these, and the one we can build is the Knight. The attack power of a longbowman with the defense of the pikeman we acquired from Feudalism along with the speed of our prize chariots. The Knight’s overall versatility is not replaced until the end of the Middle Ages with Cavalry from Military Tradition. The Knight can be useful for both defense if we decide to build and offense if we set out for another major war. We will have nothing to counter other knights until longbowmen. Pikemen can hold them for a while, but they won’t be a long-term fix. Offensively, we can use the knights for a quick war against any civilization we set our sites on.
Units (Continued): One very interesting fact about the Knight is that its counterparts the Rider, the Samurai, and the War Elephant, will all see most (if not all) of their action on a continent that is not our own. China, Japan, and India are all currently somewhere other than our own continent. I feel we could use this technology to our advantage if we want to screw around on that continent and pit them against each other.
Future: Keep in mind though, that is technology is a dead end. Having it will not lead to new technology unless you feel our knights can beat some other civilization into submission.
Engineering
Introduction: Engineering is a rather simple tech. It is necessary to obtain if we are to go along the path to Gunpowder and Military Tradition though.
Worker Actions: Engineering gives our workers two abilities. The first of these is Plant Forrest. I am not sure how valuable this would be as I am not a city planner. There are many other useful things a worker can do to help our civilization right now though. The other is that we can use roads to bridge rivers. This is a fine bonus, but really does not change too much.
Future: Like I said earlier, Engineering is probably most useful for what it leads to. Once we have that technology we can research Invention, which is on the road to other military technology such as Gunpowder, Metallurgy, and Military Tradition. There isn’t much point in going after Engineering if we are not going to go for these techs right after.
Invention
Introduction: Invention is a very useful technology if we can afford what it offers.
Wonders: First there is Leonardo’s Workshop. This would be nice to own, but I don’t see us being able to build it first. Obsolete units half price would save us money in the long run, but again I don’t see us building it first.
Units: For the same cost as one Knight, you can have a Pikeman and the Longbowman. This team is equal in attack and defense but not in speed. You do need horses for knights, but I don’t see us losing that resource anytime soon. Anyway, the Longbowmen would be able to work as a counterstrike force against Knights. It does give us the chance to just skip Chivalry if we do not want to start any wars.
Future: Invention leads to the very useful Gunpowder. There is little point in going after Invention if we do not want to go after Gunpowder directly afterwards.
Gunpowder
Introduction: Gunpowder brings in a revolution to long-range combat. Luckily our civilization isn’t European so we will not be throwing away the nice aspect of this tech a few hundred years after discovering it.
Resource: There is one aspect of this technology that you must look at first before setting your sites on it. This is of course the resource Saltpeter. Without it this technology and the future technologies gained through Gunpowder is useless. Saltpeter is found in Hills, Mountains, and Desert. We do not have many of those. There is a very good chance that Saltpeter is not in our territory. If we go for this line of technology before some of the more peaceful techs, there is a chance we may not be able to purchase the Saltpeter needed to make this tech useful.
Units: Gunpowder gives two units, one for the frogs and one for everyone else. The frog unit really isn’t even that useful. An attack of three that the Musketeer has does not get you much during this time. Musketeers are really only offensive when they are in movies with Leonardo. If you haven’t noticed yet, I make really bad jokes. I don’t even know why I leave them in. It is probably because I don’t have a phone and have nothing better to do right now. It is 1:15 AM at this very moment and I am not tired. I really should have borrowed more DVDs this weekend. It is only Sunday morning and I have nothing new to watch and I am stuck *****ing about it in something I probably won’t be able to post for another couple of days. I honestly do not even believe most of you will read this far. You all will just post “nice” or something to increase your post counts. This might be finally read after Monotheism is obtained and there is talk of going for Eiri and some others want Dora so they are checking Gunpowder to see if there are any nice arguments to use. It would make me so ever content if you do get down this far. I should be doing work for my school’s newspaper this weekend, but since I don’t have access to the Internet that is rather hard. I will have to do that Tuesday. I have way too much work I would otherwise be doing. I really hope you people are able to benefit from this.
Units Continued: Back to the topic. We get the Musketmen from Gunpowder. It is a great defensive unit and can be a nice escort for Longbowmen or Knights and is useful for defending cities if we are peacefully building up our infrastructure. Musketmen are the best defenders at least until Cavalry come along and Calvary are best for attacking the attacker before they attack the city.
Future: The very next technology after Gunpowder (or Funpowder, a name I just thought up after mistyping and accidentally pressing the “F” key instead of the “G” key) is Chemistry. Chemistry gives you jack. It will lead to Metallurgy and Military Tradition, which are two sweet military techs. Gunpowder is a good enough technology in itself as long as we have access to Saltpeter.
Theology
Introduction: Theology, much like Engineering is a rather simple technology whose main feature is what it leads to in the future. It is Sunday morning now so I should not go onto any tangents while I am talking about this tech.
Wonders: The only immediate gain from Theology is the ability to build the Sistine Chapel. Immediate is not really a good word to use since it takes 600 shields to build this thing. Since it doubles the effects of cathedral, it would be really great to have. We will probably be building more Cathedrals than the average joe civilization so we would have more to gain from this than most. Its six culture per turn would also be very useful since we are lagging in that.
Future: Theology is on one end of a circle to get Democracy. It immediate allows you to research Printing Press and Education. The Printing Press is an immediate requirement for Democracy. Education allows Banking, which is the other immediate requirement for Democracy. Though Printing Press is not of immediate usefulness, Education and Banking are musts if we want to build up our civilization’s infrastructure.
Education
Introduction: In theory this would be a Minister of Science’s favorite technology during the Middle Ages. I am a rather unbiased minister so I will not comment. It would be unfair for me to have run in three elections (two for Minister of Science) and in all of them state how unbiased I am and then starting pimping this technology in my guide.
City Improvements: The reason why Education would theoretically be my favorite technology is because of the University. The University increases science output in a city by 50%. It requires a Library though, which are in short supply in our civilization. One undocumented attribute to the university is that the UFC and the DIA would be able to indoctrinate the citizens of our civilization at an earlier age.
Future: Education leads to more immediate technology choices than any other tech in the Middle Ages. First, it leads to the dead end Music Theory. Music Theory isn’t that useful though, but there is an interesting story behind it that I will go into more later. The far more useful technologies we can research after Education are Banking and Astronomy. Both of these can be great for the economy.
Music Theory
Introduction: There is almost no chance we will research Music Theory. The reason I am talking about it right now is because I am bored again and I can think of some more unfunny anecdotes for Music Theory unlike with Banking and Astronomy.
Wonders: JS Bach’s Cathedral is a very nice wonder. We get two less unhappy citizens on the continent we will build in on. Since this would likely be the main continent, Uber Isle will be left high and dry. That really was not that correct analogy, but you get what I mean.
Future: Music Theory leads to no future technology as it is a dead end. The important aspect of Music Theory is the cathedral. You see, without Bach’s Cathedral, Sid Meier’s CPU Bach will never be made. This is an excellent game for the 3DO. In my personal opinion, CPU Bach is by far the best console game ever. At the time it was released, it also had the best sound of any game out there. As far as I know, I am the only person who visits Apolyton who isn’t from Firaxis or Big Huge Games that has actually played this masterpiece. It is a shame that 3DO emulation never got off the ground or else this game would have continued in popularity. If any of you have played this wonderful game, please tell me. I made a poll a while back and no one else seemed to have played it. Most people did not even know that it existed. There is a running joke among people that had heard of this game that the last game Sid Meier produces would be CPU Meier, which would allow everyone to produce their own Sid Meier-type games for as long as their hearts desire.
Astronomy
Introduction: Astronomy is one of the most versatile technologies in all of Civilization III. It has some heavy war, economic, and science bonuses depending on how it is used.
Wonders: This is why Astronomy is good for science. From Astronomy, you can build Copernicus’ Observatory. It would be a major help to me if this wonder were built. We might have enough industrial capability by the time we have this technology to construct it. It doubles the science output of where it is built. Along with Newton’s University, this is a very powerful wonder.
Units: This is why Astronomy is good for military and one of the reasons it is good for the economy. You can build a Caravel. With this unit, you can transport 3 other units. That means you can launch some pretty good invasions and end wars quickly. You can also use it to sneak behind enemy lines if you are attacked first in order to quickly end a war. The possibilities are endless. Caravels are also good for exploration. If we can find the other civilizations first, then we can sell various technologies and contacts for a great sum of money and become the richest civilization on the planet.
Abilities: Astronomy gives you a couple good abilities, both mainly good for the economy. The first is that Galleys can move across sea squares safely, making them as good as Caravels in one way. The other is that Harbors would now be connected by sea squares. This makes trade a lot easier.
Future: Astronomy leads to other technologies that are good in the naval sense. The first is Navigation which is only useful for more naval related items because it is a dead in technology. The other is Physics which is completely useless except that it leads to Theory of Gravity (good for Science) and Magnetism (more naval items). Physics is also the path out of the Middle Ages.
Navigation
Introduction: I might as well just get Navigation out of the way right now. It is 4:35 PM on Sunday. I have nothing to do for another 25 minutes until Drew Carey and the Simpsons come on FOX. Maybe there is some football show on, but I really doubt it. I am saying get it out of the way because Navigation is rather boring. I really like this technology when playing some types of games, but right now we are on the largest continent in the game so this technology really would not give us much. It is also a freaking dead end.
Wonders: I am very disappointed with Magellan’s Voyage. The increased movement rate of one is nice. That isn’t the problem I have with it. The problem I have with it is the name. I like Magellan’s Expedition far better. Maybe Firaxis has a thing against large SUVs. They are up north so they cannot really handle large vehicles like we in Texas can. This tech is far in the future and I really have no idea what our industrial situation will be when we acquire this technology. We will probably be able to build it if we want to. I do not see this wonder as being that useful though.
Units: This unit’s name is Explorer. I have to rethink my Firaxis/SUV theory. It could just be that they did not want to call this unit a conquistador. People associate that name with Europa Universalis and would also remind people that Spanish are not in Civilization 3. This upset many people. I personally do not care that much about it. I want the Texas Civilization in. Now onto the unit…the Explorer has two movement points and treats squares as roads. This makes it fast. I wonder if there will be that much unexplored territory that we actually care about when we finally have this technology. I doubt it, especially if we continue with map-whoring which I would be surprised if we do not.
Abilities: Navigation gives you a couple possibly good abilities, both mainly good for the economy. The first is that Caravels can move across sea squares safely, making them as good as the ships from Magnetism in one way. The other is that Harbors would now be connected by ocean squares. This makes trade a lot easier. What made this section a lot easier is that I copy and pasted the Ability section from Astronomy and just replaced a few words.
Future: This is a dead in tech science wise. It does open up some possibilities if terms of giving us a better chance at finding the lost civilizations though. This took only 15 minutes to write. I have 10 minutes left until I can watch Drew Carey. I am not really into that show but I do not have much else to do right now. I might as well talk about what I did in-between this morning and now. I just went to the gym. I just checked my word count and gym is the 3,000th word. I haven’t added all the formatting yet though. I have been checking the word count a lot while writing this. I bet I will go over 5,000 words, forcing me to post this guide over two posts. Anyway, I will talk about my weekend some more because I still have about seven more minutes. I went to the gym yesterday too. The one good thing about not having a phone line is that you are forced to go outside. I went to the gym yesterday too. I have spent over four hours there in the past couple days. I am really sore. I have to get in really good shape if I want to go to West Point, VMI, or Texas A&M though. Yesterday I filled in some college application stuff for West Point and VMI. Five minutes left. I am not sure what my major will be in college. Possibly Psychology. I am considering History or Political Science though. I went to Church today too. I still have to go since I have not told my parents I am Buddhist yet. In about ten days I am going to be a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Organization. It is the same group that put “God” in the pledge. It is rather funny and disturbing when you think about me joining that group. Anyway, I think that is enough for now.
By Minister of Science Will “Apocalypse” Moeller
This guide is currently incomplete, as there are only 10 techs currently described. I started writing it on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I thought my phone line would be out all weekend. I learned Sunday afternoon that my father was just trying to get me off the Internet. He had disconnected the phone line. This was very wrong of him because it would have hurt my publications grade if I did not discover what he had done. Anyway, this guide is currently mostly complete, at least for all the technology we are currently considering. There are many random comments I made throughout the guide, especially when I started talking about Gunpowder. I was incredibly bored. Enjoy.
One note, the order of the techs are not necessary the order in which I want to research them. I am just grouping them in the most organized manner I can think of.
Feudalism
Introduction: Feudalism is the genesis (how many of you saw that coming? I decided to just get the reference out of the way in the beginning) of the Area 25 legacy. It was both the first technology we researched in the Middle Ages as well as the first technology I choose for Apolytonia to research.
Units: Feudalism gives us the Pikeman and as the Civilopedia states “the pikeman is an excellent defender.” The Pikeman is great for both offensive and defensive purposes. It can escort Swordsmen and Archers and be a great garrison for our towns.
Wonders: Feudalism also allows for us to build Sun Tzu’s Art of War (great book, by the way). There is little chance we would be the first to build it so that did not factor in. The other bonuses Feudalism gives you makes this a minor issue.
Future: Feudalism is leads to both Chivalry and the military line of the Middle Ages (Gunpowder, Metallurgy, Military Tradition) through Invention. Furthermore, what good would the peaceful techs such as Education, Banking, and Democracy if we cannot defend the infrastructure we can build with it?
These reasons made Feudalism a great start for the Middle Ages.
Monotheism
Introduction: Monotheism is the next logical step after Feudalism. It can be vital for both warmongers and peaceniks.
City Improvements: First, it gives a Cathedral. This building has no immediate use but the cathedral is vital for large cities. The cathedral is able to make three unhappy people content. Cathedrals are cheap for us so they will be very sweet to have later in the game.
Future: Now for what is important about this technology…the other technologies it leads to. These are Chivalry with (Feudalism) and Theology. Chivalry is good for warmongers and people who follow the “defense is the best offense” doctrine. Theology is required for all but two nonmilitary techs (Engineering and Chemistry) and one semi military tech (Invention).
These reasons made Monotheism the only possible choice after Feudalism.
Chivalry
Introduction: Chivalry is a dead end technology that can prove vital for warmongers and people who follow the “defense is the best offense” doctrine. The reason for this is the four different military units it comes with. Though each civilization can only build one of these, this fact must be brought into consideration during trade.
Units: This first of these, and the one we can build is the Knight. The attack power of a longbowman with the defense of the pikeman we acquired from Feudalism along with the speed of our prize chariots. The Knight’s overall versatility is not replaced until the end of the Middle Ages with Cavalry from Military Tradition. The Knight can be useful for both defense if we decide to build and offense if we set out for another major war. We will have nothing to counter other knights until longbowmen. Pikemen can hold them for a while, but they won’t be a long-term fix. Offensively, we can use the knights for a quick war against any civilization we set our sites on.
Units (Continued): One very interesting fact about the Knight is that its counterparts the Rider, the Samurai, and the War Elephant, will all see most (if not all) of their action on a continent that is not our own. China, Japan, and India are all currently somewhere other than our own continent. I feel we could use this technology to our advantage if we want to screw around on that continent and pit them against each other.
Future: Keep in mind though, that is technology is a dead end. Having it will not lead to new technology unless you feel our knights can beat some other civilization into submission.
Engineering
Introduction: Engineering is a rather simple tech. It is necessary to obtain if we are to go along the path to Gunpowder and Military Tradition though.
Worker Actions: Engineering gives our workers two abilities. The first of these is Plant Forrest. I am not sure how valuable this would be as I am not a city planner. There are many other useful things a worker can do to help our civilization right now though. The other is that we can use roads to bridge rivers. This is a fine bonus, but really does not change too much.
Future: Like I said earlier, Engineering is probably most useful for what it leads to. Once we have that technology we can research Invention, which is on the road to other military technology such as Gunpowder, Metallurgy, and Military Tradition. There isn’t much point in going after Engineering if we are not going to go for these techs right after.
Invention
Introduction: Invention is a very useful technology if we can afford what it offers.
Wonders: First there is Leonardo’s Workshop. This would be nice to own, but I don’t see us being able to build it first. Obsolete units half price would save us money in the long run, but again I don’t see us building it first.
Units: For the same cost as one Knight, you can have a Pikeman and the Longbowman. This team is equal in attack and defense but not in speed. You do need horses for knights, but I don’t see us losing that resource anytime soon. Anyway, the Longbowmen would be able to work as a counterstrike force against Knights. It does give us the chance to just skip Chivalry if we do not want to start any wars.
Future: Invention leads to the very useful Gunpowder. There is little point in going after Invention if we do not want to go after Gunpowder directly afterwards.
Gunpowder
Introduction: Gunpowder brings in a revolution to long-range combat. Luckily our civilization isn’t European so we will not be throwing away the nice aspect of this tech a few hundred years after discovering it.
Resource: There is one aspect of this technology that you must look at first before setting your sites on it. This is of course the resource Saltpeter. Without it this technology and the future technologies gained through Gunpowder is useless. Saltpeter is found in Hills, Mountains, and Desert. We do not have many of those. There is a very good chance that Saltpeter is not in our territory. If we go for this line of technology before some of the more peaceful techs, there is a chance we may not be able to purchase the Saltpeter needed to make this tech useful.
Units: Gunpowder gives two units, one for the frogs and one for everyone else. The frog unit really isn’t even that useful. An attack of three that the Musketeer has does not get you much during this time. Musketeers are really only offensive when they are in movies with Leonardo. If you haven’t noticed yet, I make really bad jokes. I don’t even know why I leave them in. It is probably because I don’t have a phone and have nothing better to do right now. It is 1:15 AM at this very moment and I am not tired. I really should have borrowed more DVDs this weekend. It is only Sunday morning and I have nothing new to watch and I am stuck *****ing about it in something I probably won’t be able to post for another couple of days. I honestly do not even believe most of you will read this far. You all will just post “nice” or something to increase your post counts. This might be finally read after Monotheism is obtained and there is talk of going for Eiri and some others want Dora so they are checking Gunpowder to see if there are any nice arguments to use. It would make me so ever content if you do get down this far. I should be doing work for my school’s newspaper this weekend, but since I don’t have access to the Internet that is rather hard. I will have to do that Tuesday. I have way too much work I would otherwise be doing. I really hope you people are able to benefit from this.
Units Continued: Back to the topic. We get the Musketmen from Gunpowder. It is a great defensive unit and can be a nice escort for Longbowmen or Knights and is useful for defending cities if we are peacefully building up our infrastructure. Musketmen are the best defenders at least until Cavalry come along and Calvary are best for attacking the attacker before they attack the city.
Future: The very next technology after Gunpowder (or Funpowder, a name I just thought up after mistyping and accidentally pressing the “F” key instead of the “G” key) is Chemistry. Chemistry gives you jack. It will lead to Metallurgy and Military Tradition, which are two sweet military techs. Gunpowder is a good enough technology in itself as long as we have access to Saltpeter.
Theology
Introduction: Theology, much like Engineering is a rather simple technology whose main feature is what it leads to in the future. It is Sunday morning now so I should not go onto any tangents while I am talking about this tech.
Wonders: The only immediate gain from Theology is the ability to build the Sistine Chapel. Immediate is not really a good word to use since it takes 600 shields to build this thing. Since it doubles the effects of cathedral, it would be really great to have. We will probably be building more Cathedrals than the average joe civilization so we would have more to gain from this than most. Its six culture per turn would also be very useful since we are lagging in that.
Future: Theology is on one end of a circle to get Democracy. It immediate allows you to research Printing Press and Education. The Printing Press is an immediate requirement for Democracy. Education allows Banking, which is the other immediate requirement for Democracy. Though Printing Press is not of immediate usefulness, Education and Banking are musts if we want to build up our civilization’s infrastructure.
Education
Introduction: In theory this would be a Minister of Science’s favorite technology during the Middle Ages. I am a rather unbiased minister so I will not comment. It would be unfair for me to have run in three elections (two for Minister of Science) and in all of them state how unbiased I am and then starting pimping this technology in my guide.
City Improvements: The reason why Education would theoretically be my favorite technology is because of the University. The University increases science output in a city by 50%. It requires a Library though, which are in short supply in our civilization. One undocumented attribute to the university is that the UFC and the DIA would be able to indoctrinate the citizens of our civilization at an earlier age.
Future: Education leads to more immediate technology choices than any other tech in the Middle Ages. First, it leads to the dead end Music Theory. Music Theory isn’t that useful though, but there is an interesting story behind it that I will go into more later. The far more useful technologies we can research after Education are Banking and Astronomy. Both of these can be great for the economy.
Music Theory
Introduction: There is almost no chance we will research Music Theory. The reason I am talking about it right now is because I am bored again and I can think of some more unfunny anecdotes for Music Theory unlike with Banking and Astronomy.
Wonders: JS Bach’s Cathedral is a very nice wonder. We get two less unhappy citizens on the continent we will build in on. Since this would likely be the main continent, Uber Isle will be left high and dry. That really was not that correct analogy, but you get what I mean.
Future: Music Theory leads to no future technology as it is a dead end. The important aspect of Music Theory is the cathedral. You see, without Bach’s Cathedral, Sid Meier’s CPU Bach will never be made. This is an excellent game for the 3DO. In my personal opinion, CPU Bach is by far the best console game ever. At the time it was released, it also had the best sound of any game out there. As far as I know, I am the only person who visits Apolyton who isn’t from Firaxis or Big Huge Games that has actually played this masterpiece. It is a shame that 3DO emulation never got off the ground or else this game would have continued in popularity. If any of you have played this wonderful game, please tell me. I made a poll a while back and no one else seemed to have played it. Most people did not even know that it existed. There is a running joke among people that had heard of this game that the last game Sid Meier produces would be CPU Meier, which would allow everyone to produce their own Sid Meier-type games for as long as their hearts desire.
Astronomy
Introduction: Astronomy is one of the most versatile technologies in all of Civilization III. It has some heavy war, economic, and science bonuses depending on how it is used.
Wonders: This is why Astronomy is good for science. From Astronomy, you can build Copernicus’ Observatory. It would be a major help to me if this wonder were built. We might have enough industrial capability by the time we have this technology to construct it. It doubles the science output of where it is built. Along with Newton’s University, this is a very powerful wonder.
Units: This is why Astronomy is good for military and one of the reasons it is good for the economy. You can build a Caravel. With this unit, you can transport 3 other units. That means you can launch some pretty good invasions and end wars quickly. You can also use it to sneak behind enemy lines if you are attacked first in order to quickly end a war. The possibilities are endless. Caravels are also good for exploration. If we can find the other civilizations first, then we can sell various technologies and contacts for a great sum of money and become the richest civilization on the planet.
Abilities: Astronomy gives you a couple good abilities, both mainly good for the economy. The first is that Galleys can move across sea squares safely, making them as good as Caravels in one way. The other is that Harbors would now be connected by sea squares. This makes trade a lot easier.
Future: Astronomy leads to other technologies that are good in the naval sense. The first is Navigation which is only useful for more naval related items because it is a dead in technology. The other is Physics which is completely useless except that it leads to Theory of Gravity (good for Science) and Magnetism (more naval items). Physics is also the path out of the Middle Ages.
Navigation
Introduction: I might as well just get Navigation out of the way right now. It is 4:35 PM on Sunday. I have nothing to do for another 25 minutes until Drew Carey and the Simpsons come on FOX. Maybe there is some football show on, but I really doubt it. I am saying get it out of the way because Navigation is rather boring. I really like this technology when playing some types of games, but right now we are on the largest continent in the game so this technology really would not give us much. It is also a freaking dead end.
Wonders: I am very disappointed with Magellan’s Voyage. The increased movement rate of one is nice. That isn’t the problem I have with it. The problem I have with it is the name. I like Magellan’s Expedition far better. Maybe Firaxis has a thing against large SUVs. They are up north so they cannot really handle large vehicles like we in Texas can. This tech is far in the future and I really have no idea what our industrial situation will be when we acquire this technology. We will probably be able to build it if we want to. I do not see this wonder as being that useful though.
Units: This unit’s name is Explorer. I have to rethink my Firaxis/SUV theory. It could just be that they did not want to call this unit a conquistador. People associate that name with Europa Universalis and would also remind people that Spanish are not in Civilization 3. This upset many people. I personally do not care that much about it. I want the Texas Civilization in. Now onto the unit…the Explorer has two movement points and treats squares as roads. This makes it fast. I wonder if there will be that much unexplored territory that we actually care about when we finally have this technology. I doubt it, especially if we continue with map-whoring which I would be surprised if we do not.
Abilities: Navigation gives you a couple possibly good abilities, both mainly good for the economy. The first is that Caravels can move across sea squares safely, making them as good as the ships from Magnetism in one way. The other is that Harbors would now be connected by ocean squares. This makes trade a lot easier. What made this section a lot easier is that I copy and pasted the Ability section from Astronomy and just replaced a few words.
Future: This is a dead in tech science wise. It does open up some possibilities if terms of giving us a better chance at finding the lost civilizations though. This took only 15 minutes to write. I have 10 minutes left until I can watch Drew Carey. I am not really into that show but I do not have much else to do right now. I might as well talk about what I did in-between this morning and now. I just went to the gym. I just checked my word count and gym is the 3,000th word. I haven’t added all the formatting yet though. I have been checking the word count a lot while writing this. I bet I will go over 5,000 words, forcing me to post this guide over two posts. Anyway, I will talk about my weekend some more because I still have about seven more minutes. I went to the gym yesterday too. The one good thing about not having a phone line is that you are forced to go outside. I went to the gym yesterday too. I have spent over four hours there in the past couple days. I am really sore. I have to get in really good shape if I want to go to West Point, VMI, or Texas A&M though. Yesterday I filled in some college application stuff for West Point and VMI. Five minutes left. I am not sure what my major will be in college. Possibly Psychology. I am considering History or Political Science though. I went to Church today too. I still have to go since I have not told my parents I am Buddhist yet. In about ten days I am going to be a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Organization. It is the same group that put “God” in the pledge. It is rather funny and disturbing when you think about me joining that group. Anyway, I think that is enough for now.
)
Comment