Internet GW - a cultural gamebreaker?

[CerberusIV]

This thread is prompted by my last game where I was going for a domination victory and was presented with a cultural win.

To cut a long story short there were two continents, me and 4 AI's on one and 3 AI's on the other. I conquered all my continent and built the Internet GW. I had then just started to invade the other continent when the game ended.

Obviously I had about 50-60 cities compared to the AI's total of 30 something but half my cities had newly rushed temples and some libraries but no other culture generating improvements. The AI cities were all long established (>1000 years) and they had not been at war with each other.

Suddenly on building the Internet all my cities, even those without universities (the usual requirement for a research lab) had research labs generating two culture per turn. A newly captured city expanded its border before I had a chance to rush a temple in it! My culture total took off and game over!

I think research labs should generate some culture because of the use of modern technology in music, art and so on but this seems to be too strong. I am considering editing research labs down to one culture per turn.

Anyone else experienced this or have any thoughts?

[alva]

Hmm, didn't knew you got the culture for those labs when using the internet wonder.

Sounds like a bug to me.

Great for war though.

[FNBrown]

I think it can be overpowering.

I'm a hybrid builder/warmonger, which means my style of play usually amounts to some initial empire building, then an archer or swordsman rush to conquer a few neighbors, then another era of building, rinse, and repeat.

Because of this, I prefer to leave the cultural victory condition turned off anyway. I'd much rather conquer the world by force or possibly via spaceship victory. To me, the sudden (and often unexpected) cultural victory is kind of anti-climactic.

With this in mind, I have to agree with alva - the Internet wonder is very handy when you're on the warpath and want your newly conquered cities to be more productive in a hurry.

[brianshapiro]

shouldnt the internet be a minor wonder that all civs can build

[FNBrown]

Originally posted by brianshapiro
shouldnt the internet be a minor wonder that all civs can build

Well, that's an interesting point.

On the one hand, historically speaking, there was only one "Internet" ever built; the U.S. Government established it along with the military and several academic institutions. However, the benefits of the Internet are supplemented and enjoyed by nations all over the world these days.

I'm not sure how to balance the wonder in order to make it more realistic. I think the first Civ to build it should definately enjoy the biggest rewards - but maybe there could be a small wonder equivalent that other civs could build afterwards...

[Jahi]

its great for when your taking over other civ's via the military option.

[Unregistered]

Well, if it really bothers you, then I think you should just disable that victory type.

[Zurai]

It's not overpowering at all. By that point of the game, all my cities are producing 15-20 culture anyway, and an additional 2 points per turn that can never double don't make much difference.

[FNBrown]

Not at home, but in newly conquered territory, it can make a big difference. Maybe it's not a game-breaker or anything, but I sure like having it.

[WarpStorm]

Lets do some math. You need 100,000 culture points to win a cultural victory, plus you must have at least twice the culture points of any other civ. Let's assume you have 50 cities. This means that you would need 1000 turns to win from just the culture points coming from the Internet to win. Note that it won't help off your home continent at all.

[alva]

True Warp, but all the other modern GW give what, 4 or 5 extra culture points....

This one (in your example) gives you a 100 extra culture points per turn..

[WarpStorm]

Yes, it would. But unless you were within a few thousand points of victory it won't be enough on its own to put you over the top in any reasonable time. You pretty much need to be on the road to a cultural victory anyway.

BTW, I don't get that many free Research Labs out of it as I usually buy them in my productive cities right away. The fact that I don't need to pay upkeep is great though.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
BTW, I don't get that many free Research Labs out of it as I usually buy them in my productive cities right away. The fact that I don't need to pay upkeep is great though.

And you can sell the labs you have built for a few extra gold pennies.

[SuperSlinky]

I'm a chemist and I work in a research lab now and I have worked at a few others in the past. Believe me, they don't produce any culture at all--unless you consider traffic congestion, urban sprawl and yuppie arrogance to be culture generating. If anything, they should generate extra trade but zero (or negative) culture.

[Aro]

Originally posted by SuperSlinky
I'm a chemist and I work in a research lab now and I have worked at a few others in the past. Believe me, they don't produce any culture at all--unless you consider traffic congestion, urban sprawl and yuppie arrogance to be culture generating. If anything, they should generate extra trade but zero (or negative) culture.

You're definitively right...