As you may have read in my blog posts, my game is a Civilization type of game. The goal is to have the most culture at the end of the game (as in Through the Ages).
One way of getting culture is to build world wonders. What I do not want are specific wonders but rather generic ones, linked to the 'Age' the game is in, which is determined by the level of technologies acquired. Once the (or one) wonder of Age I is built, you can build the one(s?) of Age II with more investment.
A game round plays simultaneously, i.e. all players play at the same time. So it might be that two players build at Age I wonders at the same time.
Now there may be different ways to reward the players:
a) There is a flat bonus of culture for the wonder
b) You will get culture for built wonders every round
c) There is a 'special power' for the one who built the latest wonder
d) c) plus one a) or b)
The special power would be to decide which kind of action (trade, research, production, aggression, ...) is rewarded with (more) culture next round or which is punished by less (or negative) culture. It will go over to the first player building a wonder of the next Age.
Since the game is simultaneous, I run into problems, if two or more players build a wonder in the same Age. I do not want the players second or third (as you might have read, there is a real time aspect, so in a round, there likely will be the 'fastest' player to build a wonder) to building a wonder of the respective Age to get nothing.
w) If the reward is only culture (once or per round) you could reward everyone the same or diminishing return for finishing later on.
x) If the reward (also) contains the special power, either the players agree via discussion on which action to reward or they take turns in deciding.
y) Or, more harsh, the first to build a wonder of the current Age has the power.
z) Players get votes according to completion order. The first player in a four player game gets four votes, the second three and so on. At a draw (1st and 4th vote together vs 2nd and 3rd, or 1st vs. 2nd and 4th) the first players vote counts. Or should it?
Maybe you have some other ideas concerning possible rewards for wonders and completion order. What is not negotiatable here is specific wonders (like the Pyramids, the Great Wall and so on).
Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!
Josh 'Dagar'
I thought more in the terms of 'Age I wonders'. There are other options to gain culture, e.g. by trading and by taking time for cultural things (e.g. 'bone carving' or 'copper jewellery' early on, 'art of poetry' or 'rock festival' a little later on) which give you a flat cultural bonus.
Not a bad idea with the most wonders, but I fear that the 'empowered' player (let's call him the cultural leader from now on...) then will always stay the same one. On the grand scheme I'd like to have players shift focus of their nations/cultures through time. Maybe a very productive nation turns to being the peak of technology, then devoting more effort to culture, then entering a military epoch and so on.
Perhaps newer wonders should count more in favour of the becoming cultural leader than older ones, like taking the sums of Ages of the built wonders. This way a once culturally invested player may lose that position to a more recently invested opponent.