I figured that while we wait for the map to become manifest, we might as well plan out some of the other features of the modcomp. When I first came up with the idea, I wrote down a page or so of notes, which I am uploading here for discussion. The first thing is the unique units for civs. I'd like to have two unique units for each civ, which is quite possible for each civ with a little bit of research.

11 Definite Civs
Athens- a new Trireme with first strikes, the current phalanx replacing the spearman
Sparta- Spartan Hoplites replacing axemen, the current phalanx rep. spearman
Macedon- Companion cavalry, pike phalanx
Egypt- current War Chariots, ?
Hittites- Iron Chariot, ?
Babylon- Current Bowmen, Sumerian Vulture
Assyrians- Some sort of Horse Archer, battering ram
Persia- current Immortals, War Elephants
Carthage- current Numidians, War Elephants
Phoenicia- better galley with 3 cargo spaces, an upgraded scout
Rome- current Praetorian for later legions, some sort of earlier Legionary

4 Proposed Civs that I support and have given thought to
Gauls- current celtic Gallic raider, ?
Germanains- Some sort of sweet barbarian dude?, ?
Hebrews- The Maccabees, the Zealots
Lydia- ?, ? (I have no idea, but they definitely need to be present in the mod)

For the religions, I think all of Greece and Rome should share the same religion, as they had the same gods. This would be in contrast to a more generic polytheism (which I'm sure has a specific name), the kind where each city had a god, Sumerian style.
5 Religions
Polytheism-First to research, available to Mesopotamia and Egypt real early
Judaism- The Hebrews would spawn with monotheism, usually making them Jewish
Olympianism (Hellenism?)-
Zoroastrianism-
Christianity- either with a certain tech or a scripted event

The other idea I had was (if possible) to make a disposition modifier for "shared culture". Basically, Athens, Sparta, and Macedon would all get a +2 disposition modifier towards each other (which will keep them rather neutral with the overlapping borders). Phoenicia and Carthage would get a +2/3 modifier for being colonies. The Gauls and Germans could get one for each resisting Roman rule or something.

Actually it wasn't until much later since the forming of the first Hebrew kingdom that the Hebrews started to believe in a single god. According to my Bible teacher it was around the exile to Babylon, but I'm sure we can't rely just on that. Someone should conduct a more in-depth research first. But overall we could just have the Hebrews go for Monotheism first as in RFC, usually making them Jewish. (in RFC only if India would go for Monotheism first they could beat Jerusalem, nobody else can.)

Religions will probably be the easiest thing to do in Ant. We already have all the buildings we need for 6 different religions in different mods:
RoM
Extra
That Warlords mod with the Sumerian religions.

Religions:
-Sumerian
-Amon Ra
-Hellenism
-Zoroastrianism
-Judaism
-Christianity- So far, game is set to end in 50 BC. Christianity is now voided.

I have been researching a lot, so leave the Etruscans to me.

Finally finished finding the buildings for the religions proposed.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z311/SHARPCLAW117/RFCAReligions.jpg
Top image is from Gods of Old.
Bottom left and bottom right are from Extra.
Middle is from Rise of Mankind.

Some religions are already in the vanilla Civ4 "Greek World" mod.

Mesopotamian
Egyptian
Hellenism
Phoenician/Carthaginian
Judaism
Christianity
Zoroastrianism

That takes 7.

And Gauls should be called Celts.

Actually it wasn't until much later since the forming of the first Hebrew kingdom that the Hebrews started to believe in a single god. According to my Bible teacher it was around the exile to Babylon, but I'm sure we can't rely just on that. Someone should conduct a more in-depth research first.

I hear this all the time, and it's simply false. The Babylonian captivity started in 586. The book of Deuteronomy was written in the 7th century bc and states "Know this day, and take it to heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is none else." Genesis states that God alone created the world. Isaiah also explicitly states that God is the only god in existence, however there is debate over when that section of the book was written, so that might indeed have been written during the exile. Regardless of whether the Hebrews might have thought other gods existed, they still only worshiped one god, however.

Should Egypt have a religion just for itself?
And what exactly did they Phoenicians believe?

Should Egypt have a religion just for itself?
And what exactly did they Phoenicians believe?

And hebrews? A religion just for themselves?

Ever heard of Ba'al?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_religion

That has interesting possibilities together with judaism for the Levant.

I think those 7 make a good case. And anyway religions should receive different bonuses, could be interesting for the mod.

Good point with the 1 civ with a religion thing.

I knew Ba'al was worshiped by the Canaanites, but I've always associated that with the Philistines and not much else. I think those 7 would work then.

Yes, the bible was written mostly at the exile, and was still being written up to the birth for Jesus Christ.
I do know that the Hebrews believed that, say, Babylon or Sumer gods existed, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't until the exile that the Hebrews started to believe in a single god (they started to believe that all the gods they've worshiped were in-fact a single god.
So basically what I'm trying to say is have Judaism in the mod (if we are going to have the Hebrews) but change it's founding tech to some other religious tech.

I think you are mistaking the actual time when the Bible started to be written to the time when Judaism appeared.

The latter is unknown but certainly far before the exile.

My suggestion is give Hebrews the tech linked to Judaism, so they found it when they spawn unless other civ does (making that unlikely, like Arabs with islamism in RFC). Of course they should not appear at the beginning of the game.

The Hebrews are not all Jewish. They had their very own culture and society before Judaism was founded. However, they are the main people who adopted Judaism, therefore the Torah was written in Hebrew.
They shouldn't be the only ones to found Judaism, or start with it. They should just have benefits leading up into it, like Hinduism for India in RFC.

Buddhism was also spreading through Central Asia and to the west around the 3rd century BCE. There are some fascinating Greek/Buddhist dialogues from the Diadochi era.

So if we include Buddhism and the others in Post #3, we'd have 7 religions. But tell me Arkaeyn, was Buddhism a major force, or just a few followers here and there?

It depends on how far east we go, and how late. The further for each, the more important Buddhism or Greco-Buddhism becomes, especially if we start including kingdoms like Bactria.

India will be hardly present in this game. I don't support buddhism addition at all, not when we can have the other 7 mentioned before, quite important in the area and matching cultural groups.

Doesn't either look like Bactrians will appear, though I suggested them because the map certainly allows it (there's plenty of area there). But no need for buddhism.

I think we should start with a pole for Buddhism:

For:
-Arkaeyn

Against:
-Jedi

Neutral/Undecided:
-Zach

I'm more neutral than for. I just brought it up to mention it as a possibility.

Kravixon, in regards to the start of the thread, I would say that I definitely believe that Akkad, Medea, and Sumer (in Uruk or various forms?) should be included in the mod. The later the mod goes, the more important Parthia becomes. I agree that Lydia should be included, could be convinced for the Hebrews, and I don't think that Gaul or Germania should be included.

Now that my proposition for the map includes a bigger India than I expected, I think it'd be better to include Buddhism instead of Christianity, if the game finishes by 100-150 AD, as there's very little point for the latter to be there.

There is no Christianity anymore. Unless convinced otherwise, wouldn't the best time to stop be 50BC? And India should be nothing more than the Indus Valley. Just room for no more than 3-4 cities:
-Harrapa
-Mehrgarh
-Mohenjo-Daro
-Possibly Lothal

I'm going to do a lot of research today on time and the best civs to choose. Tomorrow, I'll release a timetable we should follow to get this mod rolling.

Indeed Christianity was more of a cult until the 100's, you might say it became a true religion only by the early 300's.
If the mod would end any time sooner than 100 AD I suggest not including it (although a random event regarding Christians would be cool).

I prefer 100-150 AD instead of 50 BC. Just to try a good roman game. As I said, every other UHV should end before 50 BC. India is indeed just the Indus Valley.

We can decide between 50BC-150AD during play testing.

I think a lot of things depend whether the finish date is one or the other. It should be discussed before that.

Well, we should first stop at 50BC, then add if we think it should be extended.

So, recalling religions, with Christianism dropped (even if the mod finishes at 150 AD, it really wasn't a religion yet, though an event and a related wonder would be cool) that still leaves 6.

By order of appearance:

Mesopotamian
Egyptian
Phoenician/Carthaginian/Canaanite (its confrontation with Judaism should be present in Hebrew's UHV)
Judaism
Hellenism
Zoroastrianism

Which would be the other one? Buddhism or Hinduism for India?

Most of the files for all of them are already in other mods. I can begin to code it together one of these days.

...keep christianity...

mod finishing date 150? that final? i like 476, maybe even 600

It's not final. In my opinion the best way is to put a date like 150 AD (around the maximum extension of Roman empire). Beyond that the game would be a bit weird, as only two of all the civs where still alive in reality.

I've written them down as:

Mesopotamian Myths
Heliopolitan Myths
Olympian Myths (though I prefer Hellenism, as it refers to Greek culture as a whole)
Canaanite Myths
Judaism
Zoroatrism
Buddhism

I wouldn't use the term "myths." Those are the literary stories we still carry around as vague vestiges of those religions, when the religions themselves were a set of practices and beliefs.

Gods then.

Or just the religion without anything after.
Good call on Heliopolitan BTW. I never heard of it, but it sounds very generic.

While I really don't understand what you guys are looking for with religions I thought I should just post some ideas for thought.

Zoroastrianism was not the state religion of the area of Persia in 3000 BC. Neither Judaism or Zoroastrianism were founded by that time. Just curious was there any ideas to have the civs start based on the dates of the religions being founded?

If you are including India.......Buddhism or Jainism began around 500 BC. Hinduism was really different as well. After Asoka and Buddhism's decline in India is when the modern version of Hinduism really began. The Vedic religion practices were different from Hinduism. I am not sure when the term Hinduism even came around.

And again I am not the all knowing source of information. I am just curious if getting this much detail about them really matters to you guys or not. If not then sorry ahead of time.

This mod is dead. See Rhye's and Fall of the Greek World.