Aztec architecture

Its really disappointing to arrive in Tenochtitlan, only to feel like I am in any middle-eastern city I counquered 50 turns ago. I have fought several siege assaults against the Aztecs. I remember someone here said there was a unique Mesomerican culture, and I wondered why I was not seeing it. I think however I may have an idea as to what was causing the problem.

During one of my most recent sieges against them, I attacked Cholula, the middle city in Mexico. I was expecting the usual boring, out of place architecture. But I was stunned.

:jawdrop:

The entire city was composed of competely authentic looking Mesoamerican buildings. There were two massive pyramids, and all the buildings were decorated in an Aztec style. So I fought the battle and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next battle I fought was in Paris.* The Aztecs there had some Merc Arquebusiers, and I noticed they had built a High Temple. So I fought the battle myself, and had a look around the city. It was in the Northern European culture, and the Aztecs only just purchased the place from me. However, I noticed a big gap where the High Temple should have been. And this made me wonder. In my previous attacks on Aztec cities (in the New World) I had often sabotaged the High Temple building with my Assasins before the battle. The time I saw the proper Aztec buildings in Cholula, I had not done this. Even in Cholula though, no building was called the High Temple on the battlemap, as you normally see when you hover the mouse over Churches etc.

So could it be that the High Temple provides the architecture for entire Aztec cities, since it is normally the only building they can get. In the case of Paris however, the buildings already there meant the High Temple could not be placed.

* As to why the Aztecs has Paris (and Rheims), it was because I was trying to get Tenochtitlan (the last New World city they had left) to rebel. I had spies and assasins working on it, but the old 'Distance to Capital' penalty was needed to finish it off. So I gave Paris and Rheims to the Aztecs, knowing I had such large armies in the Old World I could take them back in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the Aztecs still had several full stacks in the New World and I hand't taken enough troops over to fight them all. Anyway, they made Paris their capital, Tenochtitlan rebelled, and I took Paris and Rheims back the next turn. Then I took York from the Rebels, and achieved 'Domination'.

The High Temple does seem to be a trigger for authentic looking Mesoamerican buildings. A few simple tests could be carried out here. Try sieging a city with a High Temple and check if it has authentic looking Mesoamerican buildings then reload and destroy the High Temple with Sabotage and check for the authentic looking Mesoamerican buildings then.

It is a known bug. I believe when the "world is round" event is triggered the
Aztec's AI starts working on the campaign map. If they upgrade a city past
what to a certain size then the building change from mesoamerican to middle
eastern.

I your game patched? I was sure that latest patch took care of this issue.

The Aztecs are frozen until they are discovered. This is altogether different from the "World is round" event. You can "discover" them by landing somewhere near their cities after sailing to the new world.

Unfortunately none of the patches take care of this issue. Also, after upgrading to large/huge stone walls the Aztecs loose ability to recruit any further units.

The New World was just a cheesy bit that they added on to keep some purpose for continuing the late end game. Obviously, it wasn't even half baked. Has anyone bothered to sail to the New World twice? It must be really fun to send out ships from Venice. All that wasted effort which could have been used to fix the obvious, odious bugs. CA should be nationalized so that none of these bugs would ever exist and the game would only cost tuppence.