Question about art works theming

[Abalister]

I have a question for how to effectively theme art pieces. It seems that no matter what I do, I can't seem to effectively find a way to theme together the art pieces. The AI asks for trade, 1 art for 1 art, does it mean that the art he wants to give me will theme up other art? Will my art piece that he wants help him theme as well?

Why can't I view my museums all grouped together in categories instead of being grouped by city name?

Is there a button somewhere I can push to automatically theme my art pieces together? When a spy steals one my art pieces, will the blank spot be replaced automatically? Why can't I steal relics with spies? I would love my temples with relics in them.

I also read that Sweden has an ability to theme art work together? How would that work?

Anyone can tell me how to effectively play the art work angle of the game?

Thanks.

[epicsimian]

It can be quite challenging to theme art since most artists give 3 of the same type of art and you would need that type of art from 3 different artists. The great people are random so it's entirely possible that early on you find an artist like donatello that gives you sculptures and no other great people for the rest of the game give sculptures.

A common example is religious art that I don't think you can even get past a certain era.

I will say that I spend the majority of the game with my art museum's unthemed but when you're able to theme 1 you're usually able to theme 3 or more all at once and it starts to cascade from there so at the end of the game you might have a lot of themed museums but it can be a struggle early on unless you get very lucky.

[cerberusiv]

I find it generally easy to theme archaeological museums and theming 5 out of 6 is perfectly possible just by a bit of educated guesswork on which sites to excavate. Art museums are much harder.

I generally play domination and ignore all the art great people until fairly late in the game when they are the only ones left. By that time I have usually conquered a good number of cities and gained control of several art galleries (I rarely build more than one myself, preferring to build archaeological museums instead). This leaves me picking up the later great artists in the form of great people and capturing works created by other civilisations using their earlier great artists.

It is really down to gaining a significant number of art museums (whether by conquest or building multiple theatre squares) and gaining control of as many great works as possible. Trading for great works is not beneficial as your stock stays the same number. Capture them when you take cities or extract them through peace treaties. As you acquire more you can begin to develop theming.

No, there is no way to get art themed automatically. If your art is being stolen go and get it back - and take everything else that AI has while you are at it (that is how you acquire relics).

[tempest.of.emptiness]

Originally posted by Abalister:

The AI asks for trade, 1 art for 1 art, does it mean that the art he wants to give me will theme up other art?

You should know the answer to this, because you know the artworks you have, the artwork you will be trading away, and the artwork you will be getting. If for some reason you don't know these things, you can scroll around in the trade window and look at this information directly, since all of these artworks are shown there.

Originally posted by Abalister:

Will my art piece that he wants help him theme as well?

You have no way of knowing where the AI is going to house its artworks, but you can look at the list of what artworks the AI has in the trade window and determine whether the trade will make it possible for the AI to theme a new museum.

Originally posted by Abalister:

Why can't I view my museums all grouped together in categories instead of being grouped by city name?

That would be a nice UI feature for Firaxis to add. It would make reslotting great works generally easier to have all of the work slots of a particular type together, which when you have a lot of great work slots would reduce the need to scroll around when reslotting art. As for why it isn't a feature, I can only guess that they just haven't thought of it yet.

Originally posted by Abalister:

Is there a button somewhere I can push to automatically theme my art pieces together?

No. I'm not sure theming museums is hard enough to justify this. Also, sometimes which city has a theming bonus is important, and if the process were automated then that aspect of the decision is probably not something the AI would be able to handle properly.

Originally posted by Abalister:

When a spy steals one my art pieces, will the blank spot be replaced automatically?

I'm not sure why you would think that it would be, or why you would want it to be. Also, where would the replacement come from? This is definitely a case where the player needs to be actively involved in the situation. If your art was automatically moved around after a theft, it would potentially hide the theft or information about it. Seeing the glaring gap where you would expect your art to be helps reinforce that there is a problem and which city was the target of the theft (which is important for counterespionage purposes).

Originally posted by Abalister:

Why can't I steal relics with spies? I would love my temples with relics in them.

This would be a two-edged sword, in that it would mean that your relics could be stolen. However, that doesn't mean it couldn't be a feature. I'm not sure why the devs decided not to permit this.

Originally posted by Abalister:

I also read that Sweden has an ability to theme art work together? How would that work?

"Kristina Unique Ability – Minerva of the North

Allows Kristina to construct the Queen’s Bibliotheque building in the Government Plaza, and buildings with at least three Great Work slots and Wonders with at least two Great Work slots are automatically themed when all of their slots are filled."

For her, it is fairly simple. You build a museum (three great work slots), you fill it with anything that it can hold (artifacts or artworks, depending on museum type), and it becomes themed without having to match up the artifacts or artworks.

Originally posted by Abalister:

Anyone can tell me how to effectively play the art work angle of the game?

This is fairly straightforward. You build theater districts in many or all of your cities, you build art museums, you get great artists, and you put their artworks in your museums. As you fill up museums you start to sort the artworks by type, to theme as many museums as possible - but don't stress if you can't theme them all. Be patient, as you won't be able to theme them right away (unless you are playing Kristina); as you accumulate artworks your opportunities for theming will generally increase.

Trading is usually unnecessary. If you want to trade one of your artworks for one of someone else's artworks then of course try to make sure that the trade is going to allow you to theme a new museum (because otherwise the trade is pointless). A better situation is buying artworks from another player (where you get an artwork but do not give one up, instead paying gold or resources or whatever), but this can be difficult to pull off - the AI probably won't want to take this deal unless it is desperate. Definitely do that if you can, but make sure you have room for the artwork before you buy it.

If another civ is competing with you for great artists, then consider attacking them to take that art for yourself. This is doubly beneficial because you get more tourism while also hurting an opponent who is probably producing a lot of culture.