I feel two important turning points in history are under-represented in the game right now. After thinking about this for many months, I came up with an exciting way to represent these historical events with fun new ways to expand in the lategame. :)
One event is the end of the Roman civilization in the 1453 conquest of Constantinople, which cut European land trade links with Asia. This led many to begin seeking routes by sea and started an age of exploration. The "Colombian exchange" of people, supplies, diseases, and culture that followed was a turning point in human history, led to the colonial period, and the formation of European nation-states.
The second event was the eradication of diseases like smallpox. Smallpox caused the deaths of over 80% of infected children with horrific scarring of the body. It killed 300–500 million people in the the 20th century alone before finally eradicated in 1979, more than all the wars combined. Exterminating diseases like this, combined with other revolutions in medicine, dropped infant mortality from 20% to less than 1% in more-developed countries. For the first time in history, most families no longer have to go through the trauma of losing multiple children.
My thinking about these turning points joined with a concept we discussed a few weeks ago. Many people like myself enjoy expanding in the late game, but it's currently not very fun or effective. The key thing holding back expansion is happiness, particularly the 4:c5angry: national unrest per city.
Combining this with the turning points described above, I added ways to gradually increase the maximum size of our empire as the game progresses:
Like other happiness buildings, the last two buildings cost maintenance. This transitions the happiness cost per-city to gold as the game progresses, giving us a fun and effective way to fill in those little 2-fish island city spots scattered on the fringes of our empire, or spots we skipped in our inner borders. Alternatively, we can grow our population with the happiness, which will give food buildings like the Hospital and Medical Lab more value.
One event is the end of the Roman civilization in the 1453 conquest of Constantinople, which cut European land trade links with Asia. This led many to begin seeking routes by sea and started an age of exploration. The "Colombian exchange" of people, supplies, diseases, and culture that followed was a turning point in human history, led to the colonial period, and the formation of European nation-states.
The second event was the eradication of diseases like smallpox. Smallpox caused the deaths of over 80% of infected children with horrific scarring of the body. It killed 300–500 million people in the the 20th century alone before finally eradicated in 1979, more than all the wars combined. Exterminating diseases like this, combined with other revolutions in medicine, dropped infant mortality from 20% to less than 1% in more-developed countries. For the first time in history, most families no longer have to go through the trauma of losing multiple children.
My thinking about these turning points joined with a concept we discussed a few weeks ago. Many people like myself enjoy expanding in the late game, but it's currently not very fun or effective. The key thing holding back expansion is happiness, particularly the 4:c5angry: national unrest per city.
Combining this with the turning points described above, I added ways to gradually increase the maximum size of our empire as the game progresses:
- The first is the Liberty-tree policy which gives +1:c5happy: national happiness for connected cities (already present).
- The second is a new building on the Astronomy policy to represent the age of exploration and Colombian exchange. My tentative name for this is "Luxury Merchant," for another +1:c5happy: happiness.
- The final phase will occur with Refrigeration. A global effort to distribute Vaccines in each city eradicates scourges of humanity like smallpox, making each city +1:c5happy: happier.
Like other happiness buildings, the last two buildings cost maintenance. This transitions the happiness cost per-city to gold as the game progresses, giving us a fun and effective way to fill in those little 2-fish island city spots scattered on the fringes of our empire, or spots we skipped in our inner borders. Alternatively, we can grow our population with the happiness, which will give food buildings like the Hospital and Medical Lab more value.