Alfred Nobel

Ability
You gain +2 strength and produce +2 science

If Nobel is replaced, do not get 1 civil action back. Instead, put this card by the culture track. From then on, any civilization scores 4 culture at the end of a turn in which it developed at least 2 technologies.

Nobel in History
Alfred Nobel was a technical genius of the 19th century. A skilled chemist by the age of 16, Nobel dedicated his whole life to the research and perfection of his beloved explosives. By the time of his death, he held 355 patents.

When his brother Ludwig died, journalists have mistaken him for Alfred and published his obituary instead. After reading it, he thought about his legacy full of destruction, and he secretly changed his last will. With his fortune, he decided to establish a prize, that would honour people contributing to the development of science, medicine, literature and peace - the Nobel Prize.

Fun fact: apart from being a brilliant scientist, engineer and businessman, Nobel was fluent in 5 languages and also wrote poems.

Designer's Note
I was adding Alfred Nobel with the Nobel prize effect in mind - an effect that affects everyone, not just the player who played Nobel. But we also needed something that would tempt the players to take him. Originally, his ability (besides some strength, you can’t ignore military aspects of explosives) was a discount for the mines building and upgrading - you know, dynamite helps a lot. The problem was - it requires some card text, and we need all the card space to describe the Nobel Prize effect. When James Watt joined the Age II rooster, it was decided. He took care of mining techs discounts, and Nobel got those straightforward stat boosts that do not need text.

But it was not easy to balance this guy. During the playtesting, he was not overpowered, but it felt so. He was very popular, as he just doesn’t need any setup and works for everyone, helping in two crucial fields. This resulted in the fact he was taken very often and too many games had Nobel Prize.

The last two changes were: You do not get civil action back when replacing Nobel. It may look like a little detail, but it is not unusual that you really miss that action, especially if trying to get your first Nobel Prize right on the turn when you replace Nobel. And also: Nobel’s ability triggers only when he is replaced. When he dies of assassination, Iconoclasm or just at the end of Age III, nothing happens. It gives both the Nobel player and the other players some chance to affect that and also causes the Nobel Prize effect to be less often in the games. Thematically, you may just imagine it as “whether Nobel had time to think about his legacy or not”.