PBEM Mod: Statue of Zeus

[snoopy369]

Well, everyone knows about the unbalancing effect the Statue of Zeus has. If you get ivory in the initial stages of the game, you're either going to have a really good chance to win, or you're going to be slaughtered by your nearest neighbor, or by a team-up of everyone else in the game... ick.

So, what to do?

Problems: SoZ gives you a better attacking unit than anyone else - 3/2/2 - early in the game. It gives you them without taking away from your building of your civilization; and they have an extra HP on top of everything else.

Possible solutions:
* Decrease attack and/or defense of Ancient Cavalry.
* Eliminate extra HP of Ancient Cavalry (AC).
* Slow down the production of AC.
* Eliminate AC entirely and change the SoZ to do something else-
-> Create a barracks in every city, until Feudalism, or until Engineering
-> Affect happiness somehow
* Eliminate the Ivory requirement (?)
* Make SoZ a small wonder (??)

Also, consider that if we end up doing something to strengthen attackers in the ancient age - such as making horsemen 3/1/2 - this would automatically weaken the SoZ, since the AC would no longer be that strong comparitively.

[Rommel2D]

Since there are currently 9 great wonders in the ancient era, I'd have no problem making the SoZ a small wonder. I also think it should be curbed in power in one of two ways:

Reduce the power of AC- maybe to 2/2/2 or even just 2/1/2. The units are produced at no cost to the wonder's owner- it's absurd to have them also be the most powerful units available at this time.

Increase the resource requirements- at least horses and gems would fit the unit demands and historical context. Iron might be considered and gold if bonus resources work this way. Making the requirements a scavanger hunt list would offset the rewards with a bit of initial REX/trade/conquest investment.

From a historical viewpoint, if the real statue had had power that at all resembled the stock rules, the Greeks could have founded the Roman Empire centuries earlier...

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Rommel2D
From a historical viewpoint, if the real statue had had power that at all resembled the stock rules, the Greeks could have founded the Roman Empire centuries earlier...

Who says they didn't and the Romans just purged that bit of history into non-existence?

[Rommel2D]

I'd say the most distinguishing characteristic of the Roman Empire is the five centuries of 'world' dominance followed by five more centuries of gradual decline. Greeks exerted a great deal of influence over the ancient world, but I don't think 'empire' or governmental control as reflected in Civ is very representative of this. Alexander did conquer a vast empire, but it faded quickly after his premature death. The kind of power exerted by the SoZ (Mid-ancient to late-Middle Ages) doesn't reflect this at all. I'm sayin this kind of dominance would have lasted well past the establishment of the Roman Empire and be impossible to 'spin' out of history.

Historically speaking, the SoZ would be better represented if it simply gave the builder a one-time bonus of one or two Armies filled with Ancient Cavalry...

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Rommel2D
Since there are currently 9 great wonders in the ancient era, I'd have no problem making the SoZ a small wonder. I also think it should be curbed in power in one of two ways:

Reduce the power of AC- maybe to 2/2/2 or even just 2/1/2. The units are produced at no cost to the wonder's owner- it's absurd to have them also be the most powerful units available at this time.

Increase the resource requirements- at least horses and gems would fit the unit demands and historical context. Iron might be considered and gold if bonus resources work this way. Making the requirements a scavanger hunt list would offset the rewards with a bit of initial REX/trade/conquest investment.

From a historical viewpoint, if the real statue had had power that at all resembled the stock rules, the Greeks could have founded the Roman Empire centuries earlier...

The thing about your second requirement - horses - is that the one USEFUL function of the SoZ is to give a chance to a player who starts w/o horses or iron ... I'd suggest not requiring any strat. resources, but rather either a small wonder conversion or a statistical cut, as you say.

[snoopy369]

Though I do believe you can require bonus resources just like any other, so Gold would be ... interesting.