The Great Museum is a type of cultural building in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
This splendid structure is a celebration of national greatness and improves the happiness of all classes.
Some objects in the collection are the spoils of war, others are gifts from travellers, items collected on the whims of past rulers, and intriguing curios from around the world. The other purpose of the collection is a clear demonstration of national prowess in all fields, be that a piece of intricate machinery, a work of superlative craftsmanship, the largest cannon in the world, and so on. It is understandable if chauvinism creeps into the enterprise: it is an exercise in national status! Pride in the nation improves the happiness of everyone, regardless of class and the revenue collected from this building significantly improved town wealth.
Historically, private museums and displays had developed from the collections in "cabinets and curiosities", and some of these had ended up as government or royal property. The world-famous British Museum began in just this way, when Sir Hans Sloane's collection was left to George II so that it could be preserved for the nation. Now a wonderful collection of antiquities, the Museum was intended to be a universal collection ,and had natural history, geology, and science exhibits.
Effects[]
As fourth-tier cultural buildings, great museums may be built only in region capitals, either as an upgrade over third-tier grand opera houses or by converting another fourth-tier building already placed there (such as Courts of Appeals or Ordnance Boards). They cost 6000 gold and take 10 turns to build. Pays for themselves after 63 turns (including build time). Unlike their administrative and military line equivalents, great museums have no technology requirements, meaning that they are immediately available to help increase public order in regions.
As with all cultural buildings, great museums offer a bonus to happiness and to town wealth. The cultural building line compares most similarly to the administrative line of buildings: both provide near-identical bonuses to public order (happiness and repression are identical except in the cases of elections). However, administrative buildings provide a larger economic benefit in the short term by raising tax rates, while cultural buildings grant a larger economic benefit in the long term by increasing town wealth growth.
Great museums, and all other cultural buildings, are perhaps best placed in regions with low wealth: administrative buildings increase tax income by a percentage, so they do not increase the income of poor regions as much. Great museums, on the other hand, produce a fixed amount of town wealth growth, and so benefit all regions equally. They can make poor regions wealthy enough to be meaningfully taxable in the long term.
While the first three tiers of cultural buildings offer the same amount of public order as their administrative counterparts, great museums grant four happiness to its equivalent's (Court of Appeals) three repression, making it a superior choice for keeping particularly unhappy regions under control.
While most factions are limited to building great museums as their highest-tier cultural building, great museums in the capital regions of France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia or Russia may be upgraded to the Musée Napoléon, Wiener Theater, National Gallery, Humboldt Universität, or the Kremlin Armory respectively, which further increase happiness and town wealth growth of their factions.
The Peninsular Campaign[]
In The Peninsular Campaign, Great Museums require 3,000 gold and 9 turns to build.
As the various final-tier cultural buildings in the Europe campaign aren't available in The Peninsular Campaign, great museums are the highest-tier cultural building available.