The Let's Play Archive

Civilization V

by ModeWondershot

Part 8: Maravilhas Portuguesas

Having codified Sebastião's Laws into a vellum scroll bound with a wrapping of sanctified elephant leather, the archivist carefully placed the scroll atop its pedestal in the central hall of the Universidade de Lisboa. The building itself was not yet complete and only a few philosophers and spiritual men had been brought forward to begin crafting a more authoritative body of documents, but the National College was indeed going to be finished in short order. One important step in this process involved the formalization of the Universidade's administration to bring it in line with that of the clergy, and this process of unification would form the basis of any future collegiate development in the likes of Luanda.

However, great minds in the Lisboan city centre found themselves in a conundrum. They had heard rumours that their neighbours in the Vancouverian lands were digging through the earth for minerals and stones useful in their own building projects, and considered the possibility that those techniques would be useful in the city going forward. However, another group felt that there was an equally great value in directing their attentions towards formalizing a system of weights and measures, as well as theoretical principles governing the use of basic numbers, in order to better make sense of their surroundings.

The debates concerning the relative merits of these proposals echoed through the empty halls of the Universidade for days, until finally both groups began approaching something of a realistic compromise and began the work of formulating a plan for going forward.

That is, until Dona Maria found them.

Freshly returned from Luanda, and absolutely livid, the Queen demanded to know what had happened to her friend and confidant Sebastião in her absence. When the philosophers present informed her that he had died in his grand effort to save souls of his countrymen, Dona Maria fell quite still. Through gritted teeth, she demanded to know exactly how the men and women in the Universidade intended to honour his memory, and instructed them to focus all their attention and creativity on ways that they might be able to properly memorialize the great man, as well as devote greater focus to the study of his laws and the principles behind them...

Our Warrior will move somewhat erratically going forward, as there is little for him to do other than cover Fog of War areas with line of sight in order to check for Barbarian units inland.

The Trireme, however, will continue the process of circumnavigation, as therein lies the possibility that we can spot something further away than it did originally.

(The notification in the corner that I did not highlight indicates that Confucianism has been founded. Could mean Korea given there is a high-Science Civ here, but it might not be for reasons Glidergun and Gyra_Solune mentioned of which I was not originally aware.)

At this point, we become keenly aware that we are not the only Civ to pick Piety, and we were lucky to pick up the first Reformation bonus when we did.

The Trireme, sailors refreshed from a brief stop close to home, begin the task of scouring the north, but stop close to Riga in order to see if there is anything they might have missed.

The Warriors, meanwhile, carefully inspect the dig site Vancouver has created for itself, with instructions to bring back any useful findings to the Universidade. The strange new design of the Vancouverian bows is also cause for concern

The world continues to turn, and great men like Sebastião do God's work throughout the world.

Yet the sailors know just how small the world really is.

Still, it is easy for people in Lisboa to imagine that somehow, their great plans and projects are being conceived elsewhere.

The world can seem like such a lonely place, though, and with even Vancouver slipping away, there is little that...

The Trireme's captain is shaken awake by one of his subordinates, who excitedly directs him to point his spyglass towards the northern coast. He repeats the word he was shouting across the deck moments ago much more calmly:


It was said that a philosopher in Lisboa heard the word carried along an ocean wind, and so set about constructing a small shrine to remain in isolation and ponder the mysteries of the future.

He would not live to see his project complete, but would rather instruct his students to carry it on in his stead.

Other students of the faith, meanwhile, decided to bring their endeavours to a much more public eye. They spent their lives expressing their joyous devotion in the streets, and created great towers of ivory as symbols of their desire to take to the skies like the hunting hawks they saw through the glass of their telescopes.

These joys, however, were lost on their fellows in Vancouver, who seemed more determined to find happiness somewhere underground, and as they lost sight of the world above them, so too did their gifts of friendship slowly stop arriving.

(The other Notification says that someone else built the Terracotta Army Wonder, which doubles your existing army size.)

The people of Luanda, pleased with their completed waterwheel, then decided to look into formalizing a Worker corps similar to the one Lisboa had sent to assist them, so that they might more efficiently set about the creation of public works.

Riga, meanwhile, had shown signs of dissatisfaction with their own lives, and sought spiritual guidance from their counterparts in Portugal. Dona Maria was happy with the news, but disappointed that no one in her employ seemed capable enough to both explain Sebastião's Laws adequately and translate it to the Rigan's peculiar language.

Nevertheless, Riga remained a profitable trading partner, even more so than Vancouver, and cotton, ivory, spices and horses continued to journey between cities.

It was then that a number of plans for new buildings to honour Sebastião's memory arrived at Dona Maria's ivory throne. She simply smiled at the architect and said that they seemed adequate before sending him on his way.

The architect was said to have been overjoyed at this response, and that joy seemed palpable in the streets, as people became aware that a new era of wonder and possibility lay bare before them.

The Warriors, returned from Vancouver, gave the Universidade instructions on the methods that the Vancouverites used to extract stones from the earth. The teachers present smiled, as they understood not only the simplicity of the techniques, but began already developing ideas on how to improve upon them.

Portugal's star was rising, slowly but surely.

More secrets to unlock, as the Trireme had reported that the angry-looking people on the far side of the ocean appeared to be wielding staves fastened with some sort of sharpened, shining earthenware.

The Workers continued diligently about their tasks, securing food for future generations of hunters.

The thinkers and philosophers took to the earth with a calm ferocity, learning more secrets within their lifetimes than Vancouverites did in generations. Lisboa was once known as a city that trained proud hunters of elephants, but now it gained reknown for the ferocity with which its men hunted ideas.

Luanda, though lacking a Universidade, was no less determined to express their joyous devotion, even if their understanding of Sebastião's Laws was...incomplete to say the least.

However, there remain other, faraway lands where distant people must be drawing their own conclusions about the nature of their lives and the lives of others. If they do not recognize the importance of their place in the world, then how are they to learn, or experience the joy that the hunt brings?

The Worker corps of Luanda, having learned from the best, set about creating their own hunting fields, though they are also careful to collect taxes from the animals as their Queen taught them.

All the while, other people go about their lives, seeking greatness and knowledge on their own terms, though what they have yet to accomplish is a mystery...

Yet, the Portuguese are becoming ever more understanding of mysteries.

It seems that nothing eludes them anymore, and they are just getting started.

Determined to seize on as many opportunities as possible, Dona Maria contracts a group of Luandan traders and merchants to construct an exact replica of the waterwheel in Luanda in Lisboa, and with the wealth offered, they complete the task all but immediately.

However, she remains determined to properly immortalize her fallen friend, and sets her mid towards determining how best her people can do so.

The future belongs to Portugal. All that is needed is an inkling of where to go next.

It will be your decision where we go next.

With a little bit happening at a time throughout this update, followed by a lot happening all at once, here is the deal: We have a lot of Wonder options before us, and you have all made it clear that you want me to go after as many of them as I can in this early game (I'm not called ModeWondershot for no reason, but this isn't necessarily the reason I had in mind). However, we will almost certainly not get one or two of these, as while we are first to the Medieval Era, someone else is close behind and everyone else seems to be closing in relatively quickly.

Our options for next World Wonder construction are as follows:

(Note that the Great Mosque of Djenne is a little disingenuous about its yields. Since it provides a free Mosque, its total yields are more accurately +1 Happiness, +3 Culture, +6 Faith, +1 Great Engineer Point, as well as the Missionary bonus. Also, the Hagia Sophia will give a "Free" Temple, but unless I am mistaken, this will only eliminate maintenance costs on our existing Temple in Lisboa, meaning +2 Gold saved.

I just noticed I missed the Parthenon in the above list. I really don't think we are going to get the Parthenon, so I really can't recommend picking it.)

Second, because the Oracle and our next Culture milestone fired on the same turn, we can pick TWO new Social Policies!

Also, because we have advanced an Era, two more Social Policy trees are available in Commerce and Exploration. Here is a little about them:

Commerce improves Gold yield in the Capital by 25% and lets us build Big Ben as a Wonder. The policies therein are mostly focused on money, but oddly enough it is more about alternate uses for money and money-generating buildings than necessarily accruing more money. Among other things, it makes gold-generating buildings generate Science as well, decreases the cost of Roads and causes Luxury resources we have to give an extra +2 Happiness. It is a strange tree, but a potentially good investment for future wealth-building.

Exploration immediately gives +1 Movement and Sight range to boats (and yes, this stacks with Great Lighthouse) and allows the building of the Louvre museum as a Wonder. This is a very mixed-bag tree with benefits to Production on coasts, Happiness from lighthouses, ports and harbours, Bonus gold and culture yields, and a minor focus on naval warfare.

I really, really want to get Exploration. I feel as though I am not playing Portugal correctly if I don't go into Exploration at some point.

However, there is also the matter of our Piety tree. We can use the next two policies to finish the tree, which gives us a free Great Prophet, a Culture yield to Holy Sites which Great Prophets can create, and all the additional benefits of getting Theocracy (Gold from Temples and Holy Sites) and Mandate of Heaven (-20% cost to things bought with Faith).

Thus, I can recommend two options going forward:

Finish Piety or Choose another Tree to enter by which I mean choose Exploration.

Once again, I will follow the thread's lead if any particular alternatives are recommended, and I'll try not to go off on any more tangents like the one that started this update. If you were dissatisfied with the results, then blame Dona Maria please let me know!

Voting will close on Saturday night!

Até Sabado!