Greetings!

Recently finished my first full game of Civ 5 to the end, hurrah!

All within 7 turns I was able to win via Diplomatic Victory (2020) officially followed by Culture Victory (2022) unofficially and then 4 turns later I built the SS Engine (2026) but I can't lift it off for some reason.

Is it because I already won the game? The part is in my Capital which has successfully launched all the other parts.

The only other thing I can add in is at 2025 the ISS completed. Does this have anything to do with the ship being stopped?

Hi, all.

I'm working on a fictional setting and I want to run some basics of the economy - the monetary system, really - past the economically-minded posters here.

The system is supposed to help keep the poor poor, the rich rich, and the central government powerful.

Here's what I'm thinking:

The basic official monetary unit is a silver coin.

I want what I think is called a "bullion" system: The value of metal coins - or, often, ingots, or bars, or whatever - is directly related to the weight and metal content.

Metals other than silver are used for exchanges. The government doesn't attempt to control the relative values of metals.

However, the government restricts ownership of metal, and doesn't allow most people to keep metal money. (Or, indeed, many metal items at all.) Instead they're to use shell rings. The government, in theory at least, controls the manufacture and distribution of rings. The government is a major employer, btw.

Most people are paid in shell rings. By government fiat they're each worth a government-determined fraction of a silver coin. The exchange rate is generally pretty stable (say, 1/6), but could be changed at any time.

The government sets prices for a lot of things like food staples and basic housing. Necessities.

Those not allowed to keep metal money have to accept either shells or metal as payment. Those allowed to keep metal money can refuse to accept shells.

"Upper class"
Aristos, priests, higher-bureaucrats, military officers, and wealthy merchants would be allowed to possess and use metal money more or less without restriction.

"Middle class"
Soldiers in the ranks, many traveling merchants, shopkeepers catering to the middle or upper class, and skilled artisans might be paid in metal, but not much. When paid in shells their wages are pegged to silver. Theoretically they can accumulate significant amounts of metal, but few do. Basic necessities are easily affordable, but beyond that they don't have a lot of buying power. Still, they're much better off than those paid only in shells.

"Lower class"
Everybody else. Always paid in shells. Little buying power beyond the necessities. (Beer after work, low-stakes gambling, some ornamentation.) Savings, if any, would typically be a small bag of shells hidden somewhere.

Somebody like a general laborer found with silver coins would face immediate confiscation, if not further punishment.

Those not allowed to keep metal can accept it as payment, but have to turn the metal over to the government in return for shell rings at the accepted exchange rate. (I'm not sure how often: Perhaps immediately.) The exchange might not be at quite the official rate, to compensate the government for going to the trouble of taking the merchant's money.

I'm hoping that due to the government mandated prices, shell rings are significantly over-valued. Grain, for example, would be effectively subsidized by the government because a seller must accept X shells for a given measure when metal-money could buy considerably more. (I guess rising costs in the production of grain could also cause the shells to be over-valued. Also: The government is going to need to involve itself in supplying grain to the masses.)

I also hope that metal would be the preferred money. Criminals and others willing to risk the government's ire would want to be paid in metal rather than shells.

Shell rings are OK for buying cheap, commonly available things like a basic meal, simple clothing, beer, or paying rent in a tenement. However, beyond goods that are price-controlled, or naturally inexpensive, shells quickly become impractical.

Since this is for fiction I could simply operate by fiat and screw logical consistency. However, I'd greatly prefer it if, given the set-up I describe, the system would work as I hope it does.

Would it? If not, what could be changed to correct it?

Hi all, if you've read any of my recent posts, I've recently switched from playing Immortal to Deity (and even if you haven't read my posts, I still made the switch). I've played about 15-20 Deity games now, and have about 5 wins. I've won with Inca (my favorite Civ), Spain, France, and Poland (and I now understand why some call them OP).

Different civs, different VC, but one common theme. Every freakin time I hit Industrial, there isn't one single coal resource in my territory. With only 1-2 exceptions, my CS allies have no freakin coal. Yeah, in my Polish Domination Victory, my WHussars had claimed a few foreign coal cities, but they were puppets or razed, so that cost time. If you have zero coal in your own turf and none in CS turf, you waste time and resources getting that evil non-green energy resource, which significantly slows your progress towards ideologies (I state the obvious).

Same thing has been happening with oil. No matter my terrain, and only about 1/3 of my games have been Incan, I never get any oil.

20 games is not a terribly small sample size, so I'm now detecting a trend. I thought I had a good idea of what types of terrain would produce such resources, but apparently I'm mistaken.

Question: Is this random bad luck, or is there some trick to making sure you or your CS allies have these cute little tiles?

Alright, we have gotten enough information over the last couple weeks for us to be able to start formulating strategies for going wide or going tall. I like building (or conquering) big empires so let's start talking about possible wide strategies. First off, view the following video as an example of what not to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48VUAuTFgyk

Don't just spam cities people. ;)

Now an ounce of preparation is worth a pound or two of perspiration so let's first talk load-out options. On sponsors, the factions that stand out as being particularly favorable to going wide are:

* Polystralia: It's bonus is +1 possible trade route from every city that can establish a trade route. Thanks to Pete Murray we know that outposts turn into cities faster when they have a trade route connected to them. We also know that trade routes to stations provide everything from additional culture to free military units to free tech: obviously more trade routes with stations the better. And finally trade routes with other civs bring in cool energy. In other words Polystralia has a very powerful snowball-effect Unique Ability, it starts off weak but it gets more and more powerful the longer the game goes on. This makes them one of the top choices for going wide.

* Pan-Asian Cooperative: 10% production to wonders is nice but the real attraction for going wide is the increased worker speed. This allows you to build up the infrastructure to support your cities faster and potentially allows you to make do with fewer workers, which frees up energy to support other things (like more tanks).

* Kavithan Protectorate: It takes 15-20 turns for an outpost to turn into a city depending on game speed setting. During this time those potential cities aren't producing anything and since enemy troops can smash them without declaring war on you they are vulnerable. KP's unique ability cuts down on the time they are vulnerable and not contributing to your empire.

These are the top three choices in my opinion for going wide. Franco-Iberia sounds nice but if the mechanics are like Civ V every city you found increases the cost it takes to buy virtues so building more than seven cities as FI might be a little counter-productive when it comes to getting the most out of its UA. The Slavic Federation, satellites are nice and Kozlov can keep them flying longer but there are virtues you can buy to get the same effect and the one free tech is situationial. Brasilia, 10% combat strength isn't that bad but it really isn't that good either and it doesn't help too much with going wide. ARC, I like what I have seen of the overhauled spy system (aka covert ops) but our objective is less conquest and disruption of other nations and more of rapid expansion and industrialization. People's African Union, 10% growth when healthy doesn't compare to increased worker speed or trade routes galore.

Now for colonists choice the two best for going wide are:

* Artists: +2 culture and +1 health in each city. You want that +1 health per city if your goal is expansion and the +2 culture per city helps alleviate the rising costs of the Virtues.

* Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every city. Health, see above and the increased energy output means A) you don't have to worry as much about going into the red with all the maintenance and unit costs; and B) you can rush buy stuff more and develop new cities quicker.

Scientists are nice to offset the increased science cost but they don't have that health bonus. Refugees, we want our city populations to grow at a manageable rate; they grow too fast we might have a problem. Engineers, same as scientists nice but no health bonus. That city health bonus is critical. Now spacecraft equipment options:

* Tectonic Scanner: No technology is needed to see Petroleum, Geothermal and Titanium resources. Self-explanatory, it helps you see valuable resources and allows you to scope out more valuable territory sooner than you normally would.

* Continental Surveyor: Reveal Coasts on Map. See this Let's Play to see the result of choosing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vufyym8_ySo

You get to see coastal tiles, coastal resources like kelp. On a achipelago map this is worth it's weight in gold but on other maps I would recommend the Tectonic Scanner. The other three star-ship choices aren't as much help going wide. One hundred energy? Nice but if you choose Aristocrats it is a moot point and it doesn't have the staying power the Continental Surveyor and Tectonic Scanner have. Lifeform Sensor, you are going to find those alien nests the old fashioned way sooner or later and how you deal with them depends on your affinity and other factors. Retrograde Thrusters, this has the potential to give you a better start, but again, it doesn't have the long-term bonus the CS and the TS have.

Now on cargo options, these are a little trickier to choose from as you going to need to build all of these sooner or later:

* Laboratory: gives you Pioneering which in turn allows you to construct trade depots, truck convoys and trade ships and, of course, colonists. Of course, you aren't building your colonist on turn one (you need at least two population) but not having to research this allows you to research something else first.

* Weapon Arsenal: Gives you a soldier unit to complement your Explorer; which allows you to explore faster, pop resource pods faster and help pacify the natives when they get uppity.

* Raw Materials: Free Clinic which gives +1 science and health, useful for getting the ball rolling.

* Machinery: Free worker to build farms, generators, plantations and chitin ranches right off the bat.

* Hydroponics: One free pop nice generic starting boost.

I am quite partial to Weapon Arsenal and the Lab but again you are going to have to build a soldier, worker, clinic and research Pioneering to start expanding so take whichever floats your boat.

OK, now we have landed on Planet we need to decide which virtues and techs we are going to grab first. On Virtues, just looking over the bonuses and it becomes clear that Prosperity is Liberty on steroids:

* Tier 1 choices include +15% worker speed bonus (stacks with PAC bonus to give you Super-Bulldozer), +30% faster development for Outposts (combine with KP and trade routes for Urban Miracle Grow) a free colonist and a free worker.

* Tier II has a kicker bonus of +1 health in every city and Virtue choices of +2 Population for newly founded Cities, +7 health empire wide and -25% Culture needed for border expansions.

* Tier III includes such choices as +1 Production from every Basic Resource; +1 Health from every type of Basic Resource that is improved;25% less negative health and +2 energy from any Population acting as a Specialist. I would obviously recommend buying every Tier I and II Prosperity Virtue and most of Tier 3 if going wide.

Secondary Virtue choices:

* Knowledge: I would recommend grabbing a few Virtues to offset the science penalty of spamming cities. At least Foresight, Social Mores and Laboratory Apprenticeship (+10% science when healthy, each city tile generates +0.25 culture per population, each city tile generates +0.25 science per population).

* Might: well you got to get the natives off your lawn after all but the Tier I Virtue Public Security gives you +0.25 Health for every military unit under your command is something you might want to seriously consider grabbing. Going wide equals having a large military out of necessity, in Civ V I typically have a ranged infantry unit garrisoned in every city; at least one, more often than not two, rapid reaction cavalry forces and a coastal defense fleet. With Public Security having 20 military units is +5 health; think about is all I am asking.

* Industry: Labor Logistics gives you +10% to building construction and Standardized Architecture pretty much gives you Rome's UA from Civ V (+25% Production towards Buildings which have already been built in the Capital). I would recommend grabbing those two to speed up your empire's development.

Now for techs to research first:

* If you didn't choose the Lab as your cargo option Pioneering should be one of the first techs you research.

* Ecology gives you the ultra-sonic fence, which is helpful for keeping the Siege Worms at bay so I recommend grabbing it quickly.

** It's leaf-tech Alien Biology gives you Harmony points (which can be a plus or minus depending on your affinity choice) but it also gives your workers the ability to clear Miasma and a Miasma Immunity which is tempting (since Miasma reduces the tile output in addition to damaging your units).

* Physics gives you access to the Ranger unit, your defensive infantry archer equivalent. You are going to want either this guy or an artillery unit stationed in each one of your cities so grab it.

* Computing which gives you your first artillery unit the Missile Rover (along with Gunboats and spies).

* Chemistry allows you to refine petrol and gives you access to the Lab and the Recycler (Eat Recycled Food).

* Planetary Survey allows your units to embark across oceans. Unless you are starting out on an island map and your starting island can only support one city you can put this off until later. You're still going to want to grab it eventually.

My recommended research queue is this: Ecology, Physics (or Pioneering if you didn't take the Lab, if so make Physics your third tech), Chemistry, Alien Biology, Computing, Planetary Survey.

Now granted all of this is subject to change come us actually playing the game but this is my opinion of how things stand right now in regards to starting out going wide. Thoughts?

Hello, new to the forum and the game even. Started playing Civilization V last weekend and have been playing it ever since.

Now, I don't know what on earth possessed me but I got inspired to write a story about Gandhi bringing about the nuclear holocaust.

Tagline:
All he wanted was peace. They refused. Now they're resting in pieces.

Chapter One: Culture and Diplomacy

A balding man wrapped in clean white robes paced around the room. He furrowed his brow and brought a skinny hand to his wrinkled forehead. Slowly, he lowered his hand and adjusted his glasses. His eyes sparked something fierce beneath the glass, a wrath he never felt before. Mahatma Gandhi clenched his fist and turned to his nearest aide.

"Get me Mr. Washington," he commanded in Hindi to his attendant.

There were no guards in his chambers, he did not believe in the need for violence and had trust that peace was always the right way. Diplomacy and culture were key, he thought. There is still a way.

"Mahatma Gandhi, it is always a pleasure doing business with you, my friend." That was president George Washington of the United States of America speaking over the telecomm. How he has still lived on into the year of 2050 AD no one really ever knew but no one questioned it. Stranger still was the fact that Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon was still alive and well. Also a wonderful source of Uranium.

"Yes, hello Mr. Washington," Gandhi began in Hindi as his translator relayed the dialog in English to the American. "It is funny you call me a friend after all you have done Mr Washington. I am Gandhi, so I am everyone's friend, yes. But are you really friend to me?"

Washington placed a hand to his heart and feigned a look of hurt. "Why, my old friend what has brought on this exchange? Have I not been good to you in our recent trade deals?"

Oil. Americans always wanted oil. More B-12 bombers to bombard the Ottoman Empire with perhaps. They were always hungering for more war and land. So were the Ottomans. It pained Gandhi to be providing such material but it was a necessity to grant his own people food. His economy has suffered from the recent embargo from his old trading partners. Now his only source of income was trading his last remaining resources to the Americans and Babylon.

"Your last resolution in the United Nations has brought ruin to my people," Gandhi spoke sorrowfully. "You and your allies have banded together to embargo the Ottomans and your other enemies. They were my friends and we helped each other blossom. Now we are all brought to ruin by your diplomacy. I ask of you to repeal the act, Mr. Washington. This war is bringing nothing but ruin not only to your enemies but the rest of the world as well. There are other ways to settle differences."

"I have seen your own proposal to the United Nations, Gandhi. As have the rest of the world leaders. You know our answer."

India had proposed peace. Washington, Caesar, and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire had brought flames across the land and unhappiness was on the rise. Half of the population of earth were in invisible chains - prisoners of war in their own city occupied by a foreign invader. Gandhi had been trying to settle things by other means by fostering his own culture. Within his city such great people as Mark Twain, Vincent van Gogh, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Johann Sebastian Bach, Beethoven, and Elvis Presley had all been born in India and attracted much tourism. Other world leaders began to come to Gandhi and tell him their own people had began to wear their jeans and listen to that classic Indian rock-and-roll that has been sweeping the nations. It was odd that none of their names sounded very Indian, but nonetheless they were the pride of India.
Such peaceful means of bringing nations together however had come to a halt as the bullies of the world -- namely the Americans, Romans, and Ottomans -- had stomped all over it turning the earth into their personal playground. Worse, the Americans had sought favor with the city-states and now held the majority in the United Nations along with their allies Germany and England. They had exercised this power to place limits on the other nations to keep anyone else from catching up with their own superiority.

Washington had used his favor in the United Congress to block all routes to peace as he still favored war and domination. Gandhi's proposition had failed and it was all due to Washington. Gandhi's brow furrowed just at the thought of his name. This wasn't like him. He shook uncontrollably as if trying to fight an inner urge. At last he stood up, pounding his curled fist onto the table as he glared Washington in the eyes.

"You will pay for this, Mr Washinton," Mahatma Gandhi whispered in a quiet rage. "Oh, you will pay and know the debt has been settled when the skies rain fire."

He shut off the telecomm and slumped down onto a pillow remaining in silence. His attendant walked in, "President Gandhi?" he inquired.

Gandhi looked up. His eyes shone like fire through his glasses. His desire for peace had become so overwhelmingly high it overflowed into the negative. There would be no more peace, oh no, not for Mr. Washington.



Chapter Two: Domination

George Washington sat in the oval office eating his dinner quietly. His powdered white wig sat regally upon his head giving him an aura of dignity and authority. No one question the wig even in 2050 A.D. long after the wigs have gone after style. He was George "does whatever he wants because he's George Washington"

An FBI agent entered the room. He would not interrupt the president's dinner without urgency. At least, most had the common sense enough not to disturb him. "Mr. President, sir," the agent announced himself.

Washington looked up, an expression of disinterest on his face. "I am eating," he declared. It was his way of saying get to the point.

"A council of the alliances have gathered and require your attention, sir."

"Not a matter for the diplomats to handle?"

"No, sir. Queen Elizabeth herself is on the line."

"She's always on the line." Washington sighed as he put his fork down. Once again his dinner would have to be left cold. There was rarely leisure time for the president these days. "She had better not be thinking to declare war on us again. We have won the war for independence at least a hundred times now and always she yields for peace then strikes again."

"I wouldn't know, sir. I was only born this last century."

"Ah, right." Washington nodded. "Of the Atomic and Information era are you? Well son, you may not have been born in the best of times, but know you have been born in the best damn country in the world. With God as my witness."

"Yes, sir." It was one of Washington's routine speeches that got him elected as president for centuries now.

Washington strolled across the room and descended down a stairwell that led to an underground bunker full of communication equipment. His generals and advisers already waited around the table of the war room. Surrounding them were screens with various world leaders and their own advisers. Queen Elizabeth was the most prominent on the screen as Washington entered.

"What business is so important as to interrupt me from my dinner?" Washington asked, his voice hinting his annoyance with his being summoned. He knew how to put on a face in matters of diplomacy. But in this room he was a leader and he had no need for diplomatic farce.

Queen Elizabeth glared at the president. She was short tempered and Washington's annoyance did not escape her. Instead she already thought about declaring war on the man again for the slight. Her foreign adviser quickly calmed her down. Instead, she got to the reason for her call.

"I had news I thought would be of interest to you, President Washington." the Queen offered. "It may concern the others here as well."

"Yes?" Washington pressed.

"Our spies have uncovered top secret information from India. Gandhi plans to attack us. His first target is yourself - directly at the heart of America." She smirked. "Whatever did you do to earn his ire, might I inquire?"

Washington ignored her banter and simply laughed. "You called me for a joke?"

"Surely your own spies had uncovered this too, Mr. President?" asked Chancellor Bismark of Germany. "America has spies everywhere, surely they had discovered this even without the aid of England."

Washington looked toward the German leader. "Gandhi is a peaceful man. We have provoked him many times, as have every other nation in existence. Even the city-states test his waters. The man has no breaking point in his mantra for peace. We never have fear of him he will eventually succumb and offer his city to us as the rest. He won't harm a fly, and he won't harm us."

"If you say so, my friend." Bismark shrugged. He scratches his rocking mustache and sniffed. "Oh, and Mr. Washington? Withdraw your spies from my land. We've all had quite enough of your spying shenanigans."

Washington cleared his throat. "Yes, well we can talk of that another time."

Elizabeth cast her haughty look at the president. "And what of Gandhi?"

"He will not attack." Washington repeated.

Elizabeth pointed at Washington accusingly. "You dare accuse me of giving your false information!?"

"You do it all the time Elizabeth." Washington sighed. "We are not stupid enough to remove our military from our lands so you may claim them. It is an old tired strategy and clearly this old dog named England hasn't learned any new tricks. Good day. To all of you."

All of the monitors were powered off.

"Sir, Bismark is correct. Our spies have uncovered secret intelligence that India plans a strike against Washington. That is - both you and the city, sir. Our spies in Germany and England can confirm they had received the same intelligence."

"It must be an Ottoman trick," Washington shook his head stubbornly. "Mahatma Gandhi hasn't lifted a finger in all the centuries we have known him. If there is anything I have learned as your command in chief it is that people refuse to change. Only violent revolutions work. America would not be born today had we tried Gandhi's approach against England. After all this is America, the best da-"


Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A deafening siren blared throughout the white house and all of America, interrupting the president.

"Get down Mr. President!"

Panic erupted as the sirens were silenced by a ground shaking boom. Silence. No one heard the explosion - their ears were still ringing.

"Survey the damage now!" the military adviser shouted.

The science adviser shook in fear as he fiddled about. "Nothing," he whispered, "everything is out of commission. The blast took it all."

Static filled the radio waves and all screens were blank. Those inside the bunker remained put for several days although the long wait seemed almost a year. An all-clear never came. When they emerged from the bunker, death and destruction was abound. Radiation filled the air. Those who were tasked to see to the president's safety had long perished from the aftermath of the fallout if not the blast itself. America was just a year ago the nation closest to world domination both military and diplomatically. Now it laid in ruins, left in radioactive ashes beneath a mushroom cloud that lingered in the air like America's ghost leaving its corpse. America the beautiful no more.

Washington knew he had paid the debt.



Chapter Three: Science

Following the launch heard around the world, Gandhi had appeared on television reaching out to the world leaders that remained. His hands were folded behind his back as he marched up to the camera and hunched over and tilted his head. "Oh, hello there Mr. Washington." Gandhi said cheerfully. "I know you are out there somewhere because I did not see you in America when I came for a visit. What a shame, you know I was looking forward to seeing you. I hope you liked my peacekeeping gift and I have another for you should I find you. Let that be a warning to all who wish to ally themselves with America." Gandhi laughed. "Oh, yes. Let there be peace my friends. If you will not, then I will make it so."

With that said, the transmission ended.

Nuclear missiles had always been a weapon of deterrent. With Gandhi's nuclear launch, a new age of destruction began. This was one man who did not see nukes as a deterrent, but as a means to an end. No more did nations build up nuclear missiles in an arms race. Now the great nations raced to build bunkers and shelters for their survival like insects hiding beneath the earth to survive the fall out. Building a nuke was a death sentence. If Gandhi even suspected a nation had obtained nukes, he would destroy them with his own first. If he suspected a nation of harboring Washington, he destroyed them too. After all, to Gandhi, Washington was the antithesis of peace.

Gandhi gave them all a chance for peace and they did not take it. They refused his offer. Now he was giving them peace. The great nations now rest in pieces. Those that remained were fragmented and weak hiding underground. Except for one.

Babylon's great walls stood the test of time. Not once did Nebuchadnezzar II ever try to provoke Gandhi. He had even voted in Gandhi's favor when the United Nations had once convened on the matter of peace before the fallout. All the man seemed interested in was technological advancement. He kept to himself and kept out of the affairs of the great nations. He did however trade Gandhi his excess Uranium suggested he had no use for them. Originally the uranium was meant for nuclear power plants that India had desired. Somewhere along the lines these plants had become converted as a way to deter enemies from attacking the peaceful India. This was in the times when nuclear missiles were used as a scare tactic and deterrent.

Gandhi had no quarrel with Babylon and so he let them remain. Unfortunately for Gandhi, Nebuchadnezzar II's eagerness for friendship with India was only a ploy for survival.

In Babylon, a secret meeting of the United Nations sans India was held. Washington, Bismark, Elizabeth and even their enemies Suleiman I of Ottoman Empire, Augustus Caesar of Rome, and their various allies had attended. There were no longer quarrels over land when all of the earth was poisoned by radiation. Only India and Babylon remained sacred.

Suleiman I proposed a coup. "If India is all that remains then we should take it," he shrugged. "It is most, simple, yes? I do not see why this merits discussion."

Nebuchadnezzar strokes his long majestic beard and cast his wise gaze upon the Sultan. "All you ever think is to take without consequence, dear Sultan," he mused. "Is that not how you came upon this mess in the first place? An empire that seeks to grow without consequence of their action is doomed from the start."

The Sultan sneered and waved his hand to disregard his host. "I would take Babylon if I had an army!"

"I have no doubt," Nebuchadnezzar replied calmly. "But you would be a fool to think I would bend easily. Now silence unless you can remain civil."

Suleiman silenced although reluctantly. Caesar sat watching the exchange in his eternal boredom. He too only had eyes for war and was not satisfied without expanding his borders. He felt cramped within the confinements of Babylon. "I must say I am inclined to agree with the Sultan." Caesar shot him a look. "As much as it pains me to agree with an old fool like him."

Nebuchadnezzar remained quiet, still stroking his beard. "Mm, yes," was all he replied.

Washington stood up now and straightened his back as he denounced his former rivals, "Taking India would be death wish. By all means if you wish your people to become extinct, go ahead."

Suleiman scowled. "You dare to mock the Ottoman Empire?"

Caesar was more reserved, "We shall see."

"Let the man speak," Nebuchadnezzar mediated.

Washington nodded his thanks. "As I was saying," he began and cast a glance at his rivals daring them to interrupt George "does whatever he wants because he's George Washington" Washington again. "Already Gandhi has proven dominant over us - all of us. Not just the Ottomans. Not just the Romans. Americans, Englishmen, and fellow Germans too have fell to Indian might."

"Nuclear missiles is no test of might! If we fought with armies it would be a different story," Suleiman snorted.

Caesar tilted his head amused at Suleiman's thoughts, "My only gripe is that I did not launch first. That should be your one regret as well. We were beat by warfare, it just developed from our days of bows and arrows, old friend."

Suleiman piped down though he was still annoyed. "I perhaps that proves we are human. We did not slaughter his people as he did ours."

Caesar laughed. "I would suggest it to be politics rather than morality. Don't think yourself so highly now. After all, I am the emperor of Rome."

"And I am the Sultan!" Suleiman flared.

"Tempers, gentlemen." Washington shook his head. "All are mere titles. Empty now without our nations to rule. We also have no army which to claim India unless we were to borrow from Babylon." He gestured toward Nebuchadnezzar he remained quiet observing the others. "However, we have naught to give him either. We are unfortunately at the mercy of either India or Babylon."

"Mercy," Nebuchadnezzar let the word hang in the air as he repeated it. "I had agreed with Gandhi before the fallout. All of you were bringing ruin to our great earth. I was here before all of you and paved the way to civilization and this is how you repay my efforts? With destruction?"

The world leaders shrunk back and hid guilty looks as if they were scolded school children. They had not expected the sharp rebuke.

Nebuchadnezzar stood from his chair and let his majestic beard fall across his chest. "That is why I pursued science!" he declared as he spread his arms wide. "Science if the path to victory," he reaffirmed.

"Science?" Bismark raised an eyebrow. "Some sort of blitzkrieg stealth tanks then?"

Queen Elizabeth drummed her hand on her own chair. "Oh, just get on with it. We don't have all day."

"There is no place for us on Earth anymore," whispered Nebuchadnezzar sorrowfully. "Let Gandhi have the earth. If anyone can let is grow again even among these ruins, it would be our old friend should he return to his senses. With peace achieved at last, perhaps he might."

"Have you gone mad?" Caesar was blunt.

"We are doomed after all," agreed Suleiman.

"Fools!" Nebuchadnezzar's voice boomed throughout the hall. "I have already built a spaceship fit to carry all of Babylon into space. Seeing your plight I had the foresight to build two more which should be enough to carry the remains of your own civilizations. Together, we can carry onward to space and establish new life."

Washington was moved, "Sir, I gracefully accept your humble offer on the behalf of America."

Caesar stared blankly seemingly fighting his need to feel superior to others. "Rome accepts," was all he could muster.

Suleiman nodded, "Ottoman Empire smiles upon you."

All of the other nations present too affirmed their approval and the resolution to journey into space was passed.

In the next year, all of the civilizations had gathered in Babylon once more and they set off to space. Nebuchadnezzar stood at the captain's deck and looked at the monitor displaying the earth behind them. Radioactive clouds infested the atmosphere and the once beautiful blue waters and lush green lands were seen n more. Earth would be left behind in the past. There was only the future to look forward to. He sighed and glanced at the other two spaceships as seen through the windows of his own. Was it a mistake to bring the others? Would they only bring destruction to the new world or can they achieve a peaceful civilization at last?

He shook his head. Only time would tell and with his own experience with time he already knew the answer. Perhaps he should have stayed on Earth.

As far as I'm aware there has been no mention of what kind of scoring system BE will have. I've been watching some diety games of Civ V, and was disappointed to discover the scoring system seemed as pointless as that of Civ IV. What is the point of learning to play the game and mastering high difficulty levels when there is no reward in the form of a sophisticated scoring system?

Please let there be a good scoring system with rankings not to historical figures, but to other players of the game. Obviously the higher the difficulty, the greater the score. Striving to beat one's own best score - striving to get into top 100 rankings - this could be incredibly fun and competitive with a genre of gaming that is a bit awkward to play competively compared to other genres.

First time ever trying this mod out and I'm having a blast so far.

I made a mistake by picking a large map with 17 civs + Barbarian civs active all on the old world. So its safe to assume that by classical era everyone was crowded :)

See I was under the impression that larger civs would start gobbling up smaller civs with relative ease. There has been tons of wars (loving the culture effects wars have, seeing awesome border disputes happening between different civs) but nobody has lost a city, so there are tons of one city civs all over the map. Which I kind of like for the medieval era but I would like to have another larger rival to equal my own empire.

As it stands in 1000 B.C it seems with my 11 cities (no easy feat taking these cities mind you :)), I could easily steam roll everyone despite playing on Immortal difficulty with Ruthless A.I on. Also, I made the mistake of turning off Revolutions mod which would have probably slowed my expansion.

Now on defense the A.I is doing extremely well at guarding it's cities. It prioritizes defensive buildings, sets up forts with proper garrisons, and sets up archers on hills/forests. I've even seen the A.I making forts around strategic resources and using culture to claim them, something I NEVER thought the A.I was smart enough to do :goodjob:! I'm actually pretty surprised at how well they can play defensively, maybe too good for the A.I to attack.

Now my question is this after investing much time into this current campaign, should I start a new campaign with less major civs so that they will have more rooms to grow and actually threaten me and their neighbors with military power?

Or maybe wait until later eras where hopefully the more aggressive civs will have an easier time expanding and taking cities?

Thanks bros.



Cliffs:
A.I is really good at defense, but performs somewhat poorly when attacking other civs and actually taking their cities.



Bonus question: Using Barbariacivs, will there still be a chance for minor civs to grow once I make contact with the new world?

Sorry to ask such a simple question (and I'm not even positive this is the place to ask, so sorry in advance) but I can't seem to find where the value that determines the length of "troops near borders" promises is. I've scoured GlobalDiplomacyAIDefines and found the values for every seemingly other promise but this one, and have had no luck anywhere else.

If anyone knows, thanks in advance!

Hi,

I have been wondering if there was a way to allow policies to give extra Culture from specialists ?

The table Policy_SpecialistExtraYields is broken: it does not work for Culture.

As far as I understood, the only way to make it work is through dll-modding.

Does anyone know if such a dll mod has been published? I think I saw a discussion about this matter some times ago, but I dont't manage to find it again.

I intend to insert a "Democracy" policy in the Ancienct Civ Scenario I have working on for a while. That would give +1 Culture for every Specialist in the Empire.

Thanks

PS: Same problem with Building_SpecialistYieldChanges. Does anyone know if a dll-mod has corrected it? I could go through by allowing the policy to give a free building that copes with the bonus.

So according to this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsZL8nSxIj8
(skip to 13:30)

...we won't be seeing any ocean tile settlements, or at least not for vanilla Civ BE, but it seems strongly suggested that they may make an appearance later on, possible in future expansion content.

One of the things I thought was neat about Alpha Centauri was being able to build cities in the ocean... something we haven't seen in a Sid Meier Civ game before or since, which is unfortunate as I really felt they gave ocean tiles an added importance beyond acting as just an obstacle for your land empire.

Seems like there's a lot of potential to make the ocean more interesting and foreboding in Beyond Earth given how weird and dangerous things already are on land. I'm just remembering seeing some of the gameplay footage that shows sea dragons being shot out of the water by city defenses like fish in a barrel and thinking to myself, "These things would probably be a lot scarier if they could actually reach some of my cities."

That said, is this a feature any of you would eventually like to see being implemented or does it not really matter?

Horses are fine- they help you build knights and horsemen etc. However, do you think their should be some recognition earlier for their contribution to farming or agriculture?

I have no real idea how it could work- possibly increase from farmed land when you discover horses as in dragging ploughs and harvesters.

At the moment their usage seems confined to warlike purposes and a one increase of a hammer, but I believe the increase food output would be useful.


Thoughts? I don't worry if I am howled down.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20...sr-to-find-out

Look at the google earth street image and then guess where it is by clicking on the world map in the lower right.

My best so far is 526.226 km.:( Not that I'm rasist or anything, but damn trees all look alike to me.

Edit: Make that 7.97 km! [pimp]

I like this capital the most (I had to add marble + stone to make it happen, Immortal, Archipelago, High Seas, Cold, Marathon, only had enough initial landmass for 8 cities so commenced wonderspamming):



I also took a very wierd tech path, I tried beeling CoL but I got beaten to confu (I oracled MC), so I abandoned the middle route to beeline Philo via drama since the GLH comfortably managed 8 cities and Harbors will help more for now than Courthouses.

Voluntarily spinned off from the Israel and minor questions thread. The point of it is to start a debate about what the UN actually has meant since its inception. I have copied all the previous exchanges here as well. For those who do not feel like reading through all the quoted pieces of text, my thesis is that the current international law since 1945 has encouraged irregular warfare as the UN in its turn encourage nations to not surrender to militarily stronger conquering states, to the detriment of the security of its populace and the world in general, as stronger states are more able to able to protect the populace in occupied territories but can no longer fulfill that obligation (of protection) as it has become de-facto illegal by essentially banning all changes of borders.

Also, I would like to add that modern states have an interest in international law and immutable borders because of centralisation. Without an entity like the UN to protect them, most modern states would have a single point of failure that can be exploited rather easily by militarily succesful nations and completely wipe away existing political structures - consider the German occupation of Europe or the Allied occupation of Germany for instance.

I'm playing a game as Venice at the moment, and I'm having trouble with Suleiman. Mostly he's a trustworthy as a snake.

I offered him a declaration of friendship, and the very next turn he declared war! Does the declaration of friendship have no value, or was he always set on invading?

As it panned out he never actually touched Venice (I still have some farms to repair) and he offered me 4 cities for a peace deal, but it kinda sucked that he trashed most of my trade routes.

This may seem a silly question, but what happens to buildings that use up strategic resources when those resources are lost... for example, factories take up a coal resource when built. I know if units lack a strategis resource they are less effective... what of buildings?

Thanks.

playlist

Liberty - Piety domination game

Poland ate France and Greece and quickly grew into mega-Poland (like it does in most my games) .. Went for him after dealing with Japan - Otomans back stabbed me off Poland's continent forcing me back into the carriers (had 3 cities foothold including his capital) .. Polynesia joined the fun and dropped 6-7 Xcoms around my capital ...

I find it much harder to achieve critical mass past turn 250 without honor finisher ... (probably killed in excess of 20k worth of gold units had I had honor finisher) ... A few settled prophets do not make up for that (couldn't capture any ) .. + Adding full piety tree in the mix delayed my autocracy policies ...Which forced me to do weird tech detours for a domination game (Sydney Opera/CN Tower) .. Final capital fell to SB + paratroopers ...

Had I been more careful and lost less units game would've finished earlier - but I find it impossible to maintain concentration for such high lengths of time ...Also wasted growth early chasing chimeras (Petra/Chichen Itza) build Mosque of Djenn (most benefit for that is that it generated a GE ) ...

files should be up in the next 3-4 days

The Age of Hobsbawm

‘Fractured Times,’ by Eric Hobsbawm

By JONATHAN FREEDLAND
SEPT. 5, 2014

A 1980 television film written by the British director Stephen Poliakoff depicted an interminable train journey through Europe, in which a young Englishman is trapped in a cramped compartment with a pompous Viennese matron, played by Peggy Ashcroft. The woman is rude and vain, but the film, “Caught on a Train,” refuses to despise her: Instead it recognizes that she is an elderly ambassador for a world that is about to pass away, the lost civilization of prewar Europe.

In ways both deliberate and not, “Fractured Times,” a posthumously published collection of essays on “culture and society in the 20th century” by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm, performs a similar elegiac function. Hobsbawm, who died in 2012, could not be more different from the Ashcroft character: A Marxist scholar with a restless, voracious curiosity, he makes a compelling companion. And yet in this volume he too, like her, is bidding farewell to a culture that has vanished over the course of his lifetime.

In these lectures and reviews, he argues that the high culture that was once the basic diet of the European bourgeoisie is shriveling fast — either unknown to new generations or else swamped by today’s deluge of permanent, round-the-clock electronic entertainment, “the great simultaneous circus show of sound, shape, image, color, celebrity and spectacle that constitutes the contemporary cultural experience.” Addressing the Salzburg Festival, he cites as an example “the crisis in classical music, whose fossilized repertoire and aging public” mean that a once vital form is now reduced to a handful of great works repeated as if on a loop, performed in lavish but subsidized opera houses to a rich but diminishing audience. With a knack for the telling fact, he reports that the core public for live classical music in New York is estimated “at no more than some 20,000 people.”

Again and again, he mourns those features of the European cultural landscape that have been erased. One chapter is devoted to the disappearance of Mitteleuropa, its once ethnically mixed, plural cities now rendered monochromatically “mononational”; another laments the destruction of the place Jews made for themselves within German culture. The grief of that observation is personal. For Hobsbawm — though born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1917 — grew up in Austria and Germany. He was a schoolboy witness in Berlin the day Hitler was sworn in as chancellor. And yet, departure from Germany was not solely a relief. It was also a loss. “Only those who have experienced the force, the grandeur and the beauty” of German culture, “which made the Bulgarian Jew Elias Canetti write in the middle of the Second World War that the ‘language of my intellect will remain German,’ can fully realize what its loss meant.”

Later he reflects fondly on the Hapsburg era, “the old monarchy of Franz Joseph, which treated all its nations with the same gentle skepticism. And that, as everyone knew, had gone for good.”

And yet this elegiac quality is sharpest between the lines. For it is Hobsbawm himself, and the manner of his writing, that remind the reader of what has passed, never to return. On display is a kind of intellect now so rare as to be endangered, if not extinct. He was not the last polyglot scholar, of course; there remain others who can read and lecture comfortably in several European languages. But how many refer casually to the work of “Otto Weininger, Karl Kraus, Möbius, Lombroso, Strindberg,” taking for granted the reader’s familiarity with Hermann Bahr, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the second Viennese avant-garde?

Few of today’s intellectuals would risk a sentence like this one: “The links between Jugend and culture, or more specifically between it and die Moderne, are too obvious to require comment.” They would fear being inaccessible, if not outrageously elitist. Yet it’s clear Hobsbawm believes there is a body of knowledge that is the common inheritance, the patrimony, of all educated citizens — and that should be assumed. It’s in this, as much as through any argument he spells out, that the author shows how much has changed — and reveals himself as an emissary from a vanished world.

None of this is to suggest that Hobsbawm is a stuffy presence on the page. On the contrary, his prose is regularly enlivened with choice facts — “The first American productions of Ibsen were in Yiddish” — and elegant metaphor: “Operatic production, like Shakespearean play production, consists of attempts to freshen up eminent graves by putting different sets of flowers on them.”

What’s more, his range of reference is dazzlingly wide. Even in his 90s, he was able to comment on heavy metal, rave culture, football, Disneyland, social media, the movie “Man on Wire” and the Occupy movement against the “1 percent.” He makes some playfully unlikely connections. Noting that the decade after 1965 saw a decline in vocations for the Roman Catholic priesthood, he adds, “Indeed, 1965 was the year in which the French fashion industry for the first time produced more trousers than skirts.”

Unexpectedly, perhaps, for a Marxist, he is, in Isaiah Berlin’s well-worn formulation, more of a fox than a hedgehog, a knower of many things rather than the advocate of a single big idea. Indeed, Hobsbawm’s Marxism is lightly worn and anything but dogmatic. True, he remains a theoretical materialist, regularly tying developments in culture to changing economic circumstances, but those looking for Communist polemic will need to look elsewhere. In an essay on manifestoes, he describes the “Workers of the World Unite” slogan as “well past its sell-by date.” Elsewhere he calls the Enlightenment, not Communism, “the most admirable of all human movements.”

Yet Hobsbawm remains controversial. After his death, London’s Daily Mail ran a piece under the heading “He hated Britain and excused Stalin’s genocide. But was . . . Eric Hobsbawm a traitor too?” Earlier, and more respectably, Tony Judt had written that his fellow left-leaning historian “refuses to stare evil in the face and call it by its name; he never engages the moral as well as the political heritage of Stalin and his works.” Plausibly, Judt wondered if Hobsbawm’s failure to denounce Stalinism was an act of loyalty to his “adolescent self,” the boy who had witnessed the ascent of Hitler and remembered the Communists as the Nazis’ most strident opponents. The Reds had stood against the brownshirts and so Hobsbawm would forever stand with them. There is nothing in this collection to suggest that Judt got that wrong.

The book has its flaws. If anything, it is too foxlike, ranging so widely that it ends up spread too thin: A chapter on religion is a global tour d’horizon that can’t help being superficial. Like many anthologies, it can feel disjointed rather than a coherent whole: Its title, “Fractured Times,” is unintentionally apposite. Some may dislike the curmudgeonly asides: He brands Tex-Mex food “a barbaric mutation” of Mexican cuisine.

But these are minor. To read this book is to travel through what Hobsbawm called the “short 20th century,” accompanied by one of its sharpest minds — waving much of that era goodbye.

FRACTURED TIMES

Culture and Society in the Twentieth Century

By Eric Hobsbawm

319 pp. The New Press. $27.95.

Jonathan Freedland is The Guardian’s executive editor for opinion.

(From http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/bo...=61820453&_r=0)

Seriously. Do you think it is possible, within your own timeframe, to live indefinitely? Cryonics, maybe, or regenerative medicine?

If you're going to say yes because you believe in an afterlife, don't. It isn't death in any meaningful fashion to outlive your body.