India is a land with a tumultuous past full of warfare and foreign occupation. In particular the Mughal empire invaded and ruled over India for many centuries and their imprint still marks India in its culture and landscape. The Taj Mahal is perhaps the most recognizable remnant of their rule but another, often over looked by westerners at least, would be the Red Fort in Delhi. Not to be confused with the Red Fort in Agra or the Amber Fort in Jaipur.

I didn’t know what to expect in the Red Fort. I hadn’t really heard of it aside from playing Civ V and in the game its bonus is kinda drab: +25% for all defensive buildings in all your cities. Sure if you are plagued with warfare the bonus is pretty good but if another player builds it I not really upset. Its a bonus I can do without, not really a big game changer. The game info didn’t really give me much to go on as far as what to expect of the actual fort. As soon as I passed through the gates I quickly realized the Red Fort is more than just an impressive military compound. Inside the massive red sandstone walls (which are beautiful in the setting sun) is nearly a full town. There are shops, roads, large parks and gardens, mosques, grand government halls, palaces, dormitory-esque housing, and of course military installations (we didn’t take pictures of these because its best not to attract attention from the man behind the .50 cal).

To limit the Wonder to just a defensive bonus seems like selling the place short. Having visited the Red Fort I would like the wonder in the game a bit more if it had a little something extra. Maybe it could count as a garden for the city it was built in. Or if you wanted to make it one of the really awesome wonders that players seek to build, since it is practically a city, maybe it could give a little bit of everything. I’m thinking like +2 Food, Gold, Production, Science, and Faith on top of the defensive bonus. That would be a wonder I would plan around building.