Replaceable Parts needs rubber?

[warmachine]

An alternative name for the technology Replaceable Parts could be Precision Engineering. It is easy to imagine how replaceable, highly specified and standardised parts would lead to bolt action rifles, machine guns and artillery. What I can't see is how rubber fits into this. Rubber is used in vehicles but not rifles.

You could say infantry uses trucks but that's modern infantry, not the WWI infantry depicted, and it's a separate branch of the technology tree to the internal combustion engine branch.

Can someone explain how rubber is a vital material for infantry?

[Capt Dizle]

Well, the boys have to go to town now and again and in some places they might bring back some nasty surprises

[Capt Dizle]

Or to put it more bluntly, how can you expect your infantry to be effective if they have to haul their balls around in wheelbarrows?

[Jaybe]

None of the resources are "accurate" depictions of their names. You need rubber for infantry because it is a resource you have to have to build infantry (period).

The whole point is that you can't build a unit just because you know how. You have to have the raw materials, and rubber is it for infantry in this game.

This is Civilization, a strategic level game that deals with general principles and abstractions. It does not go into all the intricate details.

(Sorry, but this is just a non-issue).

[Coracle]

Originally posted by Jaybe
. . . The whole point is that you can't build a unit just because you know how. You have to have the raw materials, and rubber is it for infantry in this game.

This is Civilization, a strategic level game that deals with general principles and abstractions. It does not go into all the intricate details.

(Sorry, but this is just a non-issue).

In otherwords, whatever Firaxis says, no matter how inaccurate, non-historical, or illogical, is OK with you. Well, it's not with me, and never has been. And I have NO problem with rubber being required for Infantry - if one realized the need for supply (by truck) and other forms of transport.

But "because Firaxis says so" is not good enough for me, not nearly good enough. If they came out and called this a Fantasy game, OK, but it porports to be a SIMULATION of history - not fantasy. I feel the same way with other weird Firaxis concepts, including unlimited MP's on RR's. flipping, etc.

[fittstim]

Since the name of the game is "Civilization" and not "Kill your Neighbor", I suggest that we think of the Infantry unit as using rubber bullets - a la UN Peace Keeping Forces and the might Israeli army.

Thus the "logical" need for rubber to build infantry...

[alva]

@ Coracle: it's a GAME, in other words a GAME.
Maybe I should make myself clear, It is NOT realty but a GAME.
It is made to have fun, not to learn about the history of mankind, not to simulate history, I.E. a GAME

btw, you are not into monopoly/risk,...etc either are you?

[Robert]

You need the rubber for the rubber bullets
oh, and of course for the shoes of the infantry

[Ethelred]

Replaceable parts yields Infantry.

WWI infantry at least for a start.

Rubber was needed to help the poor sods in the trenches when it rain.

Especially when it rained poison gas.

Rubber is also needed for the tooling. Most such tools use electric motors. Rubber was used for the insulation till synthetics were developed.

Of course the catch is that replaceable parts actually began a bit earlier and the tooling wasn't electrical at the beginning. Then again the parts weren't all that replaceable till there were good electrical tools.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by CyberShy
You need the rubber for the rubber bullets
oh, and of course for the shoes of the infantry

Not to forget the condoms they need at vacation.

[notyoueither]

No rubber for wheels on vehicles to run a transportation system? No rubber for boots? No rubber for seals on machinery?

Then nothing capable of fighting beyond the strength of ACW riflemen in bear feet!

[Optimizer]

If you want nothing more than a game, go play chess. It has got multiplayer since centuries ago. Civ is, and should be, more than a game.

I think that access to Rubber is a bit too decisive. The Pedia mentions the rubber shortage in the Central Powers in WW1, but they still had got premium weaponry throughout the war, didn't they?

As I've said before, giving city improvements the ability to produce one resource from another - for instance Rubber from Oil - would add to fun, realism and strategic depth if properly balanced.

[Deathwalker]

Rubber is to powerful a resource more units should us oil rather than rubber. Also your right the WW1 soilder definatley does not use rubber

[fittstim]

Originally posted by Deathwalker
Also your right the WW1 soilder definatley does not use rubber

Well, maybe you're indirectly correct (I'm pretty sure they used leather for the construction of mustard gas masks) but that's not the point.

It's been adequately pointed out that certain things an infantryman needs to function is or, at one time, was dependent on rubber.

Condoms, of course, didn't see widespread action until the late 50's/ early 60´s ...

[Zachriel]

Infantry is characterized by industrial-scale production. For instance, there were enough uniforms at the beginning of WWI to clothe every male in Europe. Industrial-scale production requires rubber for the machinery.