Alright, we have a few Fort Commander UU's now. I'd like, if possible, to add one for most civilizations... Feel free to make suggestions. :p

Currently, we have:


Dwarven Commander - Khazad. Higher Strength than normal, and an extra tier of culture available. Meant to show the superiority of Khazad forts.
Jotnar Commander - Jotnar. Archer, rather than siege... More promotions available. At level 5, it can convert the Fort into an actual Staedding, making a city. The Commander becomes a Huscarl.
D'teshi Commander - Legion of D'tesh. Does not gain xp naturally, either passively or via combat. Instead, units can be sacrificed to grant him xp equal to their level. Rather than ranged attack, he has a death damage AoE, capable of killing.
Pioneer - Kuriotates. Not REALLY a Fort Commander UU, but is able to sacrifice itself to generate a fort and Fort Commander with Expanded Influence (first tier of culture). Kuriotate Commanders are also able to attain the second culture level, like Khazad.



I could add the Dwarven Commander to the Luchuirp, but I'd rather they have a golem-based commander.

I'm also thinking a Centaur Commander would be nice for the Kuriotates... Would have to make the Pioneer a Centaur, but that's fine. Or better yet, a Musteval, now that Sezereth is working on them. :lol:

Commanders needed:


Chislev
Cualli
Kuriotates
Lanun
Mercurians
Scion - See here
Sheaim


Proposed Commanders: Keep in mind, these are NOT final, and are subject to change.


Amurite - Tower Mage. Details here, credit MrUnderhill.
Archos - Spider. Should definitely have some mechanic to represent the spider-webs that surround the fort. Possibly a slow spell, or a PyPerTurn that automatically affects nearby, non-archos units (without cauing war). The Commander itself should be a spider. Spiders are the Fort Commanders of the animal kingdom.
Austrin - Falconer. Can summon a Falcon capable of scouting. For more info, gohere.
Balseraphs - Gypsy Camp. Gypsy Camp. Drain culture from nearby rival cities, upgradable to drain gold, food, production; add culture to friendly cities et cetera. Able to turn into an alternate form that can move, but doesn't project influence. The alternate form can claim forts becoming a normal commander, thereby allowing you to transfer your experienced commanders to where they are needed. Lower strength than normal commanders, possibly higher upkeep.

In order to turn the city damaging stuff off when mobile, one would need to use bAutoAquire and bMustMaintain with a prerequisite of the immobile form and a bought "seed" promotion.
Bannor - Uninspired, but some kind of commander. I'd make it able to lead 2 units and grant a training promotion to their charges. That way you can send raw recruits to remote outposts for some training and basic guard duty.
Calabim - I would see a Calabim fort as filled with traps and it would probably have a good amount of magic guarding it as well. The commander would probably have first strikes to represent the traps and fear because of the "rumors" of what the Calabim to do prisoners.
Clan of Embers - Goblin Fort. Will look like a barb Goblin Fort, and the Clan will be able to use the various 'Hire Goblinoid' spells here. Commander will be Scorpion Archer.
Doviello - A Doviello fort commander would not have his job for a very long time. The commander would constantly have to fight to keep his position at the fort. I think that Doviello units should be able to challenge a commander for his position and be able to become the commander keeping both their promotions and the commander's level and experience.
Dural - Battle Architect. Has various spells reflecting their statues. For more, go here.
Elohim - Able to claim unique features as well, provided they are unclaimed. Actually that's probably too powerful, but automatically give them nine tiles if placed next to a unique feature.
Grigori - Living units in the tile can cast Sidequest, which grants a promotion Questing for 5 to ten turns. Questing grants 2 experience each turn and an effect like Lost.
Hippus - Commander can cast Hire Mercenary at Currency.
Illians - Terraforms like a lesser version of the Temple of The Hand.
Infernals - Not needed. With no extra effort will spread Hell Terrain by the simple virtue of being infernal lands.
Kahdi - Elemental of some kind. Idea from here.
Ljosalfar - Creates Forest on the tile. Commander is Treant/Satyr/Fawn/Guardian Vine. Forts use art from the Kohan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12058) Elven Pack.
Luchuirp - Sculptor. Can 'build' various golems. Full details here.
Malakim - The Malakim fort would probably be the citadel of light and the commander would be able to cast some fire/sun magics.
Mazatl - Converts adjacent tiles to Jungle, damages units that come in range. Blowpipe UU. Idea from here.
Mechanos - Mobile Fort. Upgrade to the normal Commander, becomes the 'fort' itself. The improvement is destroyed, and the units stats are buffed... Will only be able to move on Railroads. Need to add the DLL work to accomplish this first.
Sidar - Fort Commander has access to a variant of the Severed Soul spell. Grants the Soul a promotion based on the type of fort he is on. Soul can summon the Commander, destroying the original fort, and creating a new one of the same level. Upgrade time would be reset, but that's a good balance factor.
Svartalfar - An illusory defender of some kind.



Contributors-
Listing you all here rather than by your ideas... The commander list has grown a bit faster than I expected. :lol:


MrUnderhill - Amurites
Vermicious - Ljosalfar, Sidar, Clan of Embers
Odalrick - Archos, Balseraph, Bannor, Elohim, Grigori, Hippus, Illians, Svartalfar. :eek:
Cyther - Calabim, Doviello, Malakim
Swinkscalibur - Austrin, Luchuirp
Korias - Dural
The_Glorious - Kahdi
Darksaber1 - Mazatl

Tower Mage
Unique Unit for Amurites
Arcane Unit instead of Siege.
3/3 :strength:, 1 :move: (Immobile)
Starts with Channeling I/II, Force II, Kylorin's Legacy, and Influence.
Authorized to obtain Commander I/II, Expanded Influence.
+1 Force affinity.
No natural bombard strength, but with Force II it has the same bombard strength as a normal Fort Commander (though with a slightly tighter damage limit).

Basically a normal Fort Commander with spell options. I actually have this one implemented in my modmod, and it works really nice. The fact that you can pick up tier II spells early is offset by the fact that Tower Mages are stationary and can't go around leading sieges and such. It does make barbarians comically easy to deal with at times, but let's face it, the Amurites need all the early game help they can get.

That sounds good... I'll add it to the list.

Elf: Have the claim fort spell create a forest on the tile. Perhaps the commander could be a guardian vine with a ranged attack (hail of thorns?)

Scion: Have the Fort Commander be a Blooming Creeper. Could sac to hit invaders with burrs, then respawn (with another unit present to reclaim).

Sidar: Allow the fort to move. Slips away into shadow, then reappears elsewhere. Would basically use air-drop for the commander, then a spell/ability to recreate the fort where he lands.

Clan of Embers: Have the Fort turn into a Goblin Fort(art-wise). Commander can be the functional equivalent of a scorpion clan archer. Allow the various "recruit a goblinoid" spells.

Elf: Have the claim fort spell create a forest on the tile. Perhaps the commander could be a guardian vine with a ranged attack (hail of thorns?)

Scion: Have the Fort Commander be a Blooming Creeper. Could sac to hit invaders with burrs, then respawn (with another unit present to reclaim).

Sidar: Allow the fort to move. Slips away into shadow, then reappears elsewhere. Would basically use air-drop for the commander, then a spell/ability to recreate the fort where he lands.

Clan of Embers: Have the Fort turn into a Goblin Fort(art-wise). Commander can be the functional equivalent of a scorpion clan archer. Allow the various "recruit a goblinoid" spells.

I'm assuming you mean for the Ljos? That could work... I think a Treant or Fawn/Satyr would be better than a Guardian Vine though. Could also change the art for this one... Use some of the Kohan art.

Not sure here... I don't think they'd use a creeper to guard a fort. Now, a commander who could SUMMON creepers would be different...

Hmm. As described, that would be EXTREMELY powerful, mostly because you could build forts somewhere safe, in your culture, and then airdrop them to surround an enemy city. Rather than airdrop, how about a Severed Soul type mechanic? You have to walk the Soul to where you want the fort... And I'd make this one visible, or at most INVISIBLE_ANIMAL. That way it can be intercepted. Will also have to figure out how to maintain the level of the fort... Maybe have the Commander grant the Soul a promotion, based on the level of the fort he is on? IIRC, Masters can grant their minions promotions no matter the range. Would also have to destroy the first promotion, but we should be able to get the master's coordinates pretty easily.

This one I like as is. :goodjob:


Edit: Added the Clan, Ljos, and changed Sidar ideas to the first post. Scion idea I'm not sure on.

Archos
Should definitely have some mechanic to represent the spider-webs that surround the fort. Possibly a slow spell, or a PyPerTurn that automatically affects nearby, non-archos units (without cauing war). The Commander itself should be a spider. Spiders are the Fort Commanders of the animal kingdom.

Balseraphs
Gypsy Camp. Drain culture from nearby rival cities, upgradable to drain gold, food, production; add culture to friendly cities et cetera. Able to turn into an alternate form that can move, but doesn't project influence. The alternate form can claim forts becoming a normal commander, thereby allowing you to transfer your experienced commanders to where they are needed. Lower strength than normal commanders, possibly higher upkeep.

In order to turn the city damaging stuff off when mobile, one would need to use bAutoAquire and bMustMaintain with a prerequisite of the immobile form and a bought "seed" promotion.

Bannor
Uninspired, but some kind of commander. I'd make it able to lead 2 units and grant a training promotion to their charges. That way you can send raw recruits to remote outposts for some training and basic guard duty.

Elohim
Able to claim unique features as well, provided they are unclaimed. Actually that's probably too powerful, but automatically give them nine tiles if placed next to a unique feature.

Grigori
Living units in the tile can cast Sidequest, which grants a promotion Questing for 5 to ten turns. Questing grants 2 experience each turn and an effect like Lost.

Hippus
Commander can cast Hire Mercenary at Currency.

Illians
Terraforms like a lesser version of the Temple of The Hand.

Infernal
With no extra effort will spread Hell Terrain by the simple virtue of being infernal lands. Just pointing it out.

Svartalfar
An illusory defender of some kind.

Scions of Patria
Some sort of affinity with haunted lands would be nice. From what I understand, a fort in haunted lands is likely to chew you up and spit out your gnawed bones all by itself.

By the way, are you able to claim a fort in rival territory if you aren't at war with them? And can you build forts in rival territory? If so a rather large exploit presents itself: build lots of forts in rival lands, claim them and starve a "friend" to death.

Calabim:
I would see a Calabim fort as filled with traps and it would probably have a good amount of magic guarding it as well. The commander would probably have first strikes to represent the traps and fear because of the "rumors" of what the Calabim to do prisoners.

Doviello:
A Doviello fort commander would not have his job for a very long time. The commander would constantly have to fight to keep his position at the fort. I think that Doviello units should be able to challenge a commander for his position and be able to become the commander keeping both their promotions and the commander's level and experience.

Malakim:
The Malakim fort would probably be the citadel of light and the commander would be able to cast some fire/sun magics.

Vis a vis Creepers, some sort of major "Haunted Tree" could fit the bill pretty well. ("Devouring Oak"? I dunno.) The whole fort could even be made out of Haunted Land "stuff." The fort might even *be* the Commander. Could be really nasty. IMO the Haunted Land/Creeper stuff has been taken as far as it should be, if not a little further. (Which is why I'm not really considering any HL-tied World Spells.) But maybe it'd be worth extending it for forts, since there's a nice synergy: Malleable defensive terrain + defensive structure.

Anyway... assuming the HL idea isn't used, I'd go with a mage-type. Because the Scion magical-aptitude has been de-emphasized too much, I think.

Using a Necromancer (Gravelord? Corpse Baron? Bone Knight? Praefectus Castrorum?), you could assume that bones and/or corpses are built into the fort and animated or enchanted. That'd justify most any special Fort Commander spell you'd want. Increased defense, damage (animate fort), wasting disease, spell resistance, a push effect, no ranged attacks into the fort (I don't know how you'd code that)

Or, going back to the HL, maybe a Scion Fort Commander can plant a HL in the fort tile, and give the Scion fort extra defense (Though the HL being there might cover that in itself.)

I'm torn between the 'Haunted Tree', and the Gravelord ideas. Opinions one way or the other?

Archos
Should definitely have some mechanic to represent the spider-webs that surround the fort. Possibly a slow spell, or a PyPerTurn that automatically affects nearby, non-archos units (without cauing war). The Commander itself should be a spider. Spiders are the Fort Commanders of the animal kingdom.

I like that. Just a slow effect when you come near an Archos fort? Easy to do via improvement, harder with unit/promotions... I'll probably have to clone the fort line for them. Not hard to do though, and won't show in the pedia as the only change will be a PythonAtRange function.


Balseraphs
Gypsy Camp. Drain culture from nearby rival cities, upgradable to drain gold, food, production; add culture to friendly cities et cetera. Able to turn into an alternate form that can move, but doesn't project influence. The alternate form can claim forts becoming a normal commander, thereby allowing you to transfer your experienced commanders to where they are needed. Lower strength than normal commanders, possibly higher upkeep.

In order to turn the city damaging stuff off when mobile, one would need to use bAutoAquire and bMustMaintain with a prerequisite of the immobile form and a bought "seed" promotion.

I like it. :goodjob:


Bannor
Uninspired, but some kind of commander. I'd make it able to lead 2 units and grant a training promotion to their charges. That way you can send raw recruits to remote outposts for some training and basic guard duty.

Basically what I was thinking... They don't really seem to go for finesse. :lol:


Elohim
Able to claim unique features as well, provided they are unclaimed. Actually that's probably too powerful, but automatically give them nine tiles if placed next to a unique feature.

I can do that. I don't think claiming a UF would be too powerful... Remember, they get the traits just from walking on it anyway, and claiming a UF would mean no defense from the fort, or upgradeable culture beyond the one tile... The Commander promotions rely on a certain level of fort. Would basically allow you to claim it, long enough to get a city/fort out there... And I can work the extra ring in too.


Grigori
Living units in the tile can cast Sidequest, which grants a promotion Questing for 5 to ten turns. Questing grants 2 experience each turn and an effect like Lost.

:lol: I love it. Rather comedic, but in a good way.


Hippus
Commander can cast Hire Mercenary at Currency.

This works. Makes it slightly easier for them to get their UU.


Illians
Terraforms like a lesser version of the Temple of The Hand.

That would be nasty if used offensively... I like it. :goodjob:


Infernal
With no extra effort will spread Hell Terrain by the simple virtue of being infernal lands. Just pointing it out.

Good point. I don't think they really need one then, aside from an artstyle... but that's simple.


Svartalfar
An illusory defender of some kind.

Hmm. That would mean he'd be unable to kill on attack, but would heal to full if he sucessfully defends... Very defense oriented. Fits the flavour, though.


Scions of Patria
Some sort of affinity with haunted lands would be nice. From what I understand, a fort in haunted lands is likely to chew you up and spit out your gnawed bones all by itself.

By the way, are you able to claim a fort in rival territory if you aren't at war with them? And can you build forts in rival territory? If so a rather large exploit presents itself: build lots of forts in rival lands, claim them and starve a "friend" to death.

Answered the Scions above...

Had me worried here. You cannot claim a fort in rival territory if not at war, the python req checks for it.

Calabim:
I would see a Calabim fort as filled with traps and it would probably have a good amount of magic guarding it as well. The commander would probably have first strikes to represent the traps and fear because of the "rumors" of what the Calabim to do prisoners.

So, first strikes, fear, and maybe some magic? I can work with that. :lol:


Doviello:
A Doviello fort commander would not have his job for a very long time. The commander would constantly have to fight to keep his position at the fort. I think that Doviello units should be able to challenge a commander for his position and be able to become the commander keeping both their promotions and the commander's level and experience.

Hmm... Could incorporate that into the Duel setup. If the loser of the duel has the Influence promo, the victor becomes a Commander, gains all xp and promotions of the former commander?


Malakim:
The Malakim fort would probably be the citadel of light and the commander would be able to cast some fire/sun magics.

Basically what I'm thinking. I'm probably going to have to add fort clones anyway, along with spells for the relevent Commanders to convert their forts, so I think I'll make the Malakim line without a citadel... So Fort-Castle-Citadel of Light, rather than Fort-Castle-Citadel-Citadel of Light.

Vis a vis Creepers, some sort of major "Haunted Tree" could fit the bill pretty well. ("Devouring Oak"? I dunno.) The whole fort could even be made out of Haunted Land "stuff." The fort might even *be* the Commander.


Ummm...yes please. :goodjob:

The Gravelord idea is perfectly workable as well, but not terribly different from the Amurite tower.

That's the one I'm leaning towards too. :lol: Could have it spread HL around it...

Dural
Replacement: Battle Architect (Fort Commander UU)
:strength: 2, Ranged :strength: 4
As standard fort commander, but has access to the following Promotions:


Beacon of Inspiration Fort provides +1 Commerce on the tile. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Hope Fort provides +1 :) to the Nearest City. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Valor Fort provides +20% greater Heal Rate to units inside the fort. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Loyalty Fort Commander may cast Loyalty. Requires Level 5
Expert Fortifications Grants the Fort Commander +100% fortification bonus. Requires Level 3 and Masonry
Demolitions Expert Never Defends the Stack. If the Fort Commander is ever destroyed, the fort is automatically destroyed. Requires Level 3 and Masonry


Demolitions Expert and Expert Fortifications are mutually exclusive. The Three "Beacon" promotions are mutually exclusive to each other.

Cualli/Mazatl - Spreads jungle to tile. Guardian vine for commander.

Kahdi - Elemental commander of some kind.

Lanun - Give them large, slow ships that function as a water fort. If there to OP make them a national unit.

Luchuirp - Give them a fairly weak commander that is able to build golems to help with the defense. Also give them a unique upgrade line that helps them defend the fort. For example: more advanced golems, traps, and weapons.

Dural
Replacement: Battle Architect (Fort Commander UU)
:strength: 2, Ranged :strength: 4
As standard fort commander, but has access to the following Promotions:


Beacon of Inspiration Fort provides +1 Commerce on the tile. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Hope Fort provides +1 :) to the Nearest City. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Valor Fort provides +20% greater Heal Rate to units inside the fort. Requires Level 5
Beacon of Loyalty Fort Commander may cast Loyalty. Requires Level 5
Expert Fortifications Grants the Fort Commander +100% fortification bonus. Requires Level 3 and Masonry
Demolitions Expert Never Defends the Stack. If the Fort Commander is ever destroyed, the fort is automatically destroyed. Requires Level 3 and Masonry


Demolitions Expert and Expert Fortifications are mutually exclusive. The Three "Beacon" promotions are mutually exclusive to each other.

That fits the perfectly. :goodjob:

Cualli/Mazatl - Spreads jungle to tile. Guardian vine for commander.

Kahdi - Elemental commander of some kind.

Lanun - Give them large, slow ships that function as a water fort. If there to OP make them a national unit.

Luchuirp - Give them a fairly weak commander that is able to build golems to help with the defense. Also give them a unique upgrade line that helps them defend the fort. For example: more advanced golems, traps, and weapons.

I'd prefer separate ones for them... I doubt they'd approach a fort with the same philosophy. Guardian Vines doesn't really fit either, I think.

I can see that one. :goodjob:

Hmm... I could give them a Floating Citadel, like in Rise of Darkness, but I'd still want something for the land I think.

What do you mean, build golems? Summon them?

Luchuirp: Building off other ideas. Fort clones for the luchuirp: sculptor's studio -> golem workshop -> golem factory.
Commander UU: Sculptor - could "build" golems after gaining promotions that allow abilities.

Promotion: Apprentice Sculptor (no added requirements)
Abilities gained: Apprentice Mud Golem (10 turns) - Summons permanent mud golem. Apprentice Wood Golem (9 turns) - Summons permanent wood golem.

Promotion: Capable Sculptor (overwrites apprentice) requires golem workshop, level 3, Ironworking
Abilities gained: Capable Mud Golem (7 turns). Capable Wood Golem (6 turns). Capable Iron Golem (13 turns).

Promotion: Experienced Sculptor (overwrites capable) requires golem workshop, level 5, Mithril Weapons.
Abilities gained: Experienced Mud Golem (5 turns). Experienced Wood Golem (5 turns). Experienced Iron Golem (9 turns). Experienced Nullstone Golem (12 turns).

Promotion: Master Sculptor (overwrites experienced) requires golem factory, level 8, experienced sculptor
Abilities gained: Master Mud Golem (3 turns). Master Wood Golem (3 turns). Master Iron Golem (6 turns). Master Nullstone Golem (8 turns). Master Bone Golem (12 turns). Master Clockwork Golem (12 turns)

The so called fort defender should be weak. He can create his own defenders and should be defended or all the summoned units are destroyed as well this tempers the power.


Austrin: Fort Commander UU - Falconer.
Special Abilities: Falcon Spy Mission - like hawk and floating eye but with +2 range. Falcon Message Services (requires another civ city within 8 tiles) gives a 10 turn +1 relation boost. (10 turns to cast). Others are possible.


Lanun: on land, fort commander can gain an ability (requires level 5 and castle) to turn the castle tile to a coast tile with a floating castle on it. The growth counter is reset but the floating castle can grow to a floating citadel on a tile of water with the 9 surrounding tiles become coast as well.

Good ideas, but a few issues....

Luchuirp - Casters can only have one permanent summon at a time. I could probably have the commander grant a +1 duration promo to his golems, making them temp summons alive so long as he is... Fits the idea.

Austrin - I like the basic idea, but I'm not sure it's possible to allow extra range on a recon mission, assuming you mean distance the bird can fly to. If you mean distance he can SEE... I could allow the commander to 'summon' a hawk, with Sentry 1&2.

Lanun - I think this one is too exploity. It basically allows a dedicated player to turn his section of the continent into an island, where the AI can't touch him. Not sure I like that, personally.

How about for the Mazatle, it turns ajaisant tiles to jungle, and inficts a bit of damage to units that enter the jungle? The idea being the fort is actually the hub of a series of archer/blowpipe maned tree blinds, walkways and traps. Perhaips allow the "network" to spread at higher levels?

My thoughts on the Amurite one is just that having access to channeling one and two before KotE may be a bit too powerful, though I DO think the Amurites need a boost. Perhaps they should only get channeling two at KotE, instead of being able to access second level spells at the beginning of the game?

How about for the Mazatle, it turns ajaisant tiles to jungle, and inficts a bit of damage to units that enter the jungle? The idea being the fort is actually the hub of a series of archer/blowpipe maned tree blinds, walkways and traps. Perhaips allow the "network" to spread at higher levels?

I like it. Can't actually expand the affected area beyond a 1-tile range, but I COULD up the strength.

My thoughts on the Amurite one is just that having access to channeling one and two before KotE may be a bit too powerful, though I DO think the Amurites need a boost. Perhaps they should only get channeling two at KotE, instead of being able to access second level spells at the beginning of the game?

Sounds like a reasonable limit.

Luchuirp - Casters can only have one permanent summon at a time. I could probably have the commander grant a +1 duration promo to his golems, making them temp summons alive so long as he is... Fits the idea.


Actually, it's one permanent summon from each spell. So the commander would be able to build one of each kind of golem.

That sounds a bit overpowered to me. A master sculptor would be able to provide six free golems at a time, some of them of national unit strength. And with feedback experience from summons, level 8 wont be that far away.

One free golem at a time seems plenty good enough, especially since it's type can be changed quickly. (By disbanding the old golem and summoning a new one.) Build forts on useless tiles and have a horde of Mud Golems during peace, and a horde of free fighting golems during war.

It's fairly easy to limit to one golem at a time, just have the master grant a promotion to slaves that in turn grant the master a no casting promotion. Or even just have the Golem race promotion forbid masters from casting spells.

I do like this idea a lot better than having the commander be a golem. Fort Commanders seem like leader types, and with one exception, golems aren't leaders.


Hmm. That would mean he'd be unable to kill on attack, but would heal to full if he sucessfully defends... Very defense oriented. Fits the flavour, though.


To be fair, most Fort Commanders are unable to kill on attack.

Idea for the Bannor in the "aggressive, organised total war" spirit: forts are weaker, but can be built faster and, most importantly, in enemy lands (not rival lands). The weak forts have a commander with a weaker ranged attack, but with access to promotions that allow him to give bonuses to friendly units in the 8 tiles surrounding the fort.

Might make a fort next to one of your own cities *very* powerful though... Maybe normal, basic forts + commanders in owned/neutral lands, and a seperate type of "offensive" fort for enemy lands...

Sheaim- Fort commander that has a couple of "Evil" spells, but more importantly, when they build a fort the Armageddon counter goes up by one for each fort, because inside the basement of the fort, they're probably doing some heart stealing, baby eating experiment.

First the idea of summoning a "hawk" with sentry 1 and 2 sounds like a great way to implement the idea. Would the relations boost ability work too? I essentially tried to make it so the boost would be limited to +1 per fort and then the commander could not also be used to spy.

I like the tweaks to my idea for the Luchuirp. I'm not sure a one summon limit per fort commander would be completely fair. The way I invisioned the sculptor is as a very limited combat unit. Like a strength 1 defense 2, incapable of taking ranged damage promotions. The commander would need his golems to help protect the workshop and possibly create a few extra golems. The more powerful the commander the more defense is necessary as they become more of a target. Plus there should be a way to make sure the national unit limit can't be surpassed using python. I know there is such a limiting factor for liches (even though it isn't a summon). If that method of maintaining the summons for as long as the master lives works and no national limits can be broken I think it would be fair. Plus the building of each unit takes a significant number of turns (Proportional to the normal production value)

As a side note. I was thinking that as the sculptor advances in power the lower level golems could gain a few free promotions like combat 1 and such. In fact the sculptor could gain additional promotions that could allow free promotions to the summons as well.

Lanun - I think this one is too exploity. It basically allows a dedicated player to turn his section of the continent into an island, where the AI can't touch him. Not sure I like that, personally.

Not sure if This should be a Lanun specific idea or open to all civs but...

Can you make the top level of the fort allow ships to enter the square? Return to BtS type.

Maybe allow all civs but limit them to 1 deep, where as the Lanun can do 2 or 3 deep, i.e. longer canals.

The commander would need his golems to help protect the workshop and possibly create a few extra golems. The more powerful the commander the more defense is necessary as they become more of a target. Plus there should be a way to make sure the national unit limit can't be surpassed using python. I know there is such a limiting factor for liches (even though it isn't a summon). If that method of maintaining the summons for as long as the master lives works and no national limits can be broken I think it would be fair. Plus the building of each unit takes a significant number of turns (Proportional to the normal production value)


A city takes 20 tiles and an expensive settler to build, then you have to grow the population and build buildings and make improvements to be able to make golems. A fort takes one tile and a few worker turns.

Just imagine building one fort. That fort makes a mud golem that starts building new forts. Each new fort makes a new mud golem that starts building forts. It won't be long until the entire continent is covered with forts, each of which can build a wood golem in 9 turns. Even if you only set aside the area for one city, that's two free wood golems each turn, at a minimum. Every tile that happens to lie outside the working area of a city, that's a free golem. Why bother springing deserts when you can just cover them with forts?

Most forts wont need protection because they lie far inside your borders. Those few that are under threat of attack receive support from those that don't.

All right... Moved the Luchuirp discussion to the bottom so I can answer it all at once. :lol:

Idea for the Bannor in the "aggressive, organised total war" spirit: forts are weaker, but can be built faster and, most importantly, in enemy lands (not rival lands). The weak forts have a commander with a weaker ranged attack, but with access to promotions that allow him to give bonuses to friendly units in the 8 tiles surrounding the fort.

Might make a fort next to one of your own cities *very* powerful though... Maybe normal, basic forts + commanders in owned/neutral lands, and a seperate type of "offensive" fort for enemy lands...

Hmm... I could always make the bonuses require that you be in enemy territory. Not hard to do.

That said, not sure about the idea... I'll have to think on it.

Sheaim- Fort commander that has a couple of "Evil" spells, but more importantly, when they build a fort the Armageddon counter goes up by one for each fort, because inside the basement of the fort, they're probably doing some heart stealing, baby eating experiment.

How about having their commanders increase the AC? This way, there's no python check when they build a fort, and more importantly, it works when they capture a fort as well... And can be fought by wiping out their commanders. ;)

First the idea of summoning a "hawk" with sentry 1 and 2 sounds like a great way to implement the idea. Would the relations boost ability work too? I essentially tried to make it so the boost would be limited to +1 per fort and then the commander could not also be used to spy.

The relations ability could work pretty well. There are promotion tags that affect diplomacy, and if I make it a summon of some kind, say 8 movement, ignores penalties, 1 turn duration so it can ONLY reach cities 8 tiles away, and give it a spell castable in friendly cities that grants it a promotion increasing relations by 1 to the city, granting it +1 duration, and a duration of 10 turns on the promotion, everything should work. :lol: The summon will have to grant a 'cannot cast' promo to the Commander as well.

Not sure if This should be a Lanun specific idea or open to all civs but...

Can you make the top level of the fort allow ships to enter the square? Return to BtS type.

Maybe allow all civs but limit them to 1 deep, where as the Lanun can do 2 or 3 deep, i.e. longer canals.

I can't really prevent them from building a chain of them, unless I prevent forts from being built next to each other, but yes, I'm planning on adding the bActAsCity tag to Citadels and their equivalents.

Actually, it's one permanent summon from each spell. So the commander would be able to build one of each kind of golem.

That sounds a bit overpowered to me. A master sculptor would be able to provide six free golems at a time, some of them of national unit strength. And with feedback experience from summons, level 8 wont be that far away.

One free golem at a time seems plenty good enough, especially since it's type can be changed quickly. (By disbanding the old golem and summoning a new one.) Build forts on useless tiles and have a horde of Mud Golems during peace, and a horde of free fighting golems during war.

It's fairly easy to limit to one golem at a time, just have the master grant a promotion to slaves that in turn grant the master a no casting promotion. Or even just have the Golem race promotion forbid masters from casting spells.

I do like this idea a lot better than having the commander be a golem. Fort Commanders seem like leader types, and with one exception, golems aren't leaders.

To be fair, most Fort Commanders are unable to kill on attack.

I like the tweaks to my idea for the Luchuirp. I'm not sure a one summon limit per fort commander would be completely fair. The way I invisioned the sculptor is as a very limited combat unit. Like a strength 1 defense 2, incapable of taking ranged damage promotions. The commander would need his golems to help protect the workshop and possibly create a few extra golems. The more powerful the commander the more defense is necessary as they become more of a target. Plus there should be a way to make sure the national unit limit can't be surpassed using python. I know there is such a limiting factor for liches (even though it isn't a summon). If that method of maintaining the summons for as long as the master lives works and no national limits can be broken I think it would be fair. Plus the building of each unit takes a significant number of turns (Proportional to the normal production value)

As a side note. I was thinking that as the sculptor advances in power the lower level golems could gain a few free promotions like combat 1 and such. In fact the sculptor could gain additional promotions that could allow free promotions to the summons as well.

A city takes 20 tiles and an expensive settler to build, then you have to grow the population and build buildings and make improvements to be able to make golems. A fort takes one tile and a few worker turns.

Just imagine building one fort. That fort makes a mud golem that starts building new forts. Each new fort makes a new mud golem that starts building forts. It won't be long until the entire continent is covered with forts, each of which can build a wood golem in 9 turns. Even if you only set aside the area for one city, that's two free wood golems each turn, at a minimum. Every tile that happens to lie outside the working area of a city, that's a free golem. Why bother springing deserts when you can just cover them with forts?

Most forts wont need protection because they lie far inside your borders. Those few that are under threat of attack receive support from those that don't.

First off... I thought it was flat out one permanent summon in FF. Not sure though, so I may be wrong. :lol:

No unit limits will be broken... Pretty easy to make a prereq that checks that before allowing the spell to be cast.

For the most part, I agree with Odalrick. There has to be some kind of limiting factor... For example, I don't think I'll allow them to build Mud Golems, mostly because that could make for exponential growth.

I'm not quite sure how to limit it though... One golem per commander, one of each golem per commander, or just a set number?

I went with an archery theme, actually inspired by one of my favorite M:tG cards. The unit is called the Sagittar, and uses the Ljo Longbowman graphics instead of the regular FC graphics (I have zero skill at doing artwork, so...). Instead of the Siegecombat promo, it has a similar promo that does basically the same thing but additionally allows it to promote to the Archery promos. I also decided to have it start with Woodsman I; was considering allowing it to promote to Woodsman II, but that seemed too much.

Ranged combat wise, it loses the ability to deal collateral damage, but has the potential to get a much higher ranged attack power against single units, thanks to the Archery promotions. I also gave it a 2-square range, which adds another layer of strategy to deciding where to place them, since you want to put them somewhere where their full range won't be blocked by high terrain.

"What's their strike range, you ask? Let's put it this way: sagittars aim their bows using maps."
—Otak, Tin Street shopkeep

Originally I was going to give them a unique replacement for the Commander I, II, III line of promotions that increased their range as they leveled up - starting them with normal 1-square range, bumping it to 2 at Commander I, and possibly even up to 3 at Commander III (in my version I enabled Commander III for everyone, instead of just the Kuriotates). However, I discovered that there is currently no way to increase ranged combat attack range through promotions, which struck me as a bit odd.


This is MaxAstro's Ljosalfar commander idea, from a different thread... Probably going to be using it. :lol:

I can't really prevent them from building a chain of them, unless I prevent forts from being built next to each other, but yes, I'm planning on adding the bActAsCity tag to Citadels and their equivalents.

Don't have to worry about chains, from what I remember of BtS forts, boats can only enter the fort if it is next to water.

I don't think that rule applies to cities though, so fort-city-fort would allow three land tiles to be channeled.

First off... I thought it was flat out one permanent summon in FF. Not sure though, so I may be wrong. :lol:


It's one per spell, I tested it just before posting.

This is MaxAstro's Ljosalfar commander idea, from a different thread... Probably going to be using it. :lol:


Ummmm...you can easily increase ranged combat range. :)

* Chislev
-Wandering Sage: Provides passive XP at a nice rate for all unitcombat types, to a limit of maybe 15 or so, or even allow limit to upgrade over time if commanders have a mechanic by which they can improve themselves.
* Cualli
-Swamp Lord: Terrain around fort gradually changes to be wetter: Anything->Plains->Grass->Marsh->Jungle/Marsh
* Kuriotates
-Dignitary: Double culture distance for fort, chance to spawn units of UU types for nearby Civs with whom you have open borders (under Kuriotate control)
* Lanun
-Surveyor: Extends sort of a reverse blockade type effect, making trade routes provide higher yields, but passing that bonus back to the Lanun as well.
* Mercurians
-Archon of Purity: Locks Plot Counter of all nearby tiles to be sub-10 (normal) always
* Sheaim
-Death Dealer: applies Wither to all hostile units who come near

These are the Fort Commander UUs I've been working on for my personal mod-mod (my Sagittar is already covered above).

Sheaim - Pyrelord. Basically the Fort Commander equivalent of a Pyre Zombie. Gets -1 strength, +1 fire combat compared to a normal fort commander, and is undead. Other then that, the only difference is that he is a ~very~ sore loser. When defeated, he not only does more explode damage than a regular Pyre Zombie, he also takes his fort with him - effectively preventing it from falling into enemy hands.

Bannor - Garrison Captain. Halfway between a Fort Commander and a Great Commander. Decently weaker ranged strength than a normal Fort Commander, and reduced bonuses against melee and mounted units. Also can't promote to the Drill line. However, can command up to 3 units, gives Guardsman to units under his command (mostly to protect himself), and can take most Great Commander promotions - I gave him access to any promotion that would be useful to a commander that can't move, except the increased limit, increased range, Recon, Adept, and Disciple lines. The siege line isn't really useful to him except for it's last promotion, so he has a "shortcut" - Commander1 was added as an OR prereq to Artillery Master.

Chislev - Windtalker. ~Really~ needs a better name, but I couldn't think of one off the top of my head. Looks like a Chislev Ranger. Has minorly reduced ranged strength, but starts with Spirit Guide and can carry up to two Rock Ravens for extra fort defense.

Archos - Nesting Spider. Thought of this while reading over this thread. Can't bombard (no ranged strength), but some poison strength, additional first strikes, and can cast Web. Has a chance of turning defeated units into Baby Spiders. Doesn't get the normal Commander line; instead, Commander I equivalent allows it to summon a non-permanent Baby Spider with Mobility I to attack nearby enemies. Possibly allow the Baby Spider to become permanent if it upgrades to a Giant Spider before its duration runs out. Commander II equivalent gives it the Venemun spider's ranged attack, and grants Strong to summoned Baby Spiders. Is NOT an animal unit, mostly because attempts to capture it would result in it being bumped off the fort square.

Don't have to worry about chains, from what I remember of BtS forts, boats can only enter the fort if it is next to water.

I don't think that rule applies to cities though, so fort-city-fort would allow three land tiles to be channeled.

It's one per spell, I tested it just before posting.

Good to know then. :goodjob:

Ummmm...you can easily increase ranged combat range. :)

I pointed out the tag in the other thread. ;)

* Chislev
-Wandering Sage: Provides passive XP at a nice rate for all unitcombat types, to a limit of maybe 15 or so, or even allow limit to upgrade over time if commanders have a mechanic by which they can improve themselves.
* Cualli
-Swamp Lord: Terrain around fort gradually changes to be wetter: Anything->Plains->Grass->Marsh->Jungle/Marsh
* Kuriotates
-Dignitary: Double culture distance for fort, chance to spawn units of UU types for nearby Civs with whom you have open borders (under Kuriotate control)
* Lanun
-Surveyor: Extends sort of a reverse blockade type effect, making trade routes provide higher yields, but passing that bonus back to the Lanun as well.
* Mercurians
-Archon of Purity: Locks Plot Counter of all nearby tiles to be sub-10 (normal) always
* Sheaim
-Death Dealer: applies Wither to all hostile units who come near

I could do some of these... Kuriotates and Lanun would need a lot of work though. :lol:

These are the Fort Commander UUs I've been working on for my personal mod-mod (my Sagittar is already covered above).

Sheaim - Pyrelord. Basically the Fort Commander equivalent of a Pyre Zombie. Gets -1 strength, +1 fire combat compared to a normal fort commander, and is undead. Other then that, the only difference is that he is a ~very~ sore loser. When defeated, he not only does more explode damage than a regular Pyre Zombie, he also takes his fort with him - effectively preventing it from falling into enemy hands.

Bannor - Garrison Captain. Halfway between a Fort Commander and a Great Commander. Decently weaker ranged strength than a normal Fort Commander, and reduced bonuses against melee and mounted units. Also can't promote to the Drill line. However, can command up to 3 units, gives Guardsman to units under his command (mostly to protect himself), and can take most Great Commander promotions - I gave him access to any promotion that would be useful to a commander that can't move, except the increased limit, increased range, Recon, Adept, and Disciple lines. The siege line isn't really useful to him except for it's last promotion, so he has a "shortcut" - Commander1 was added as an OR prereq to Artillery Master.

Chislev - Windtalker. ~Really~ needs a better name, but I couldn't think of one off the top of my head. Looks like a Chislev Ranger. Has minorly reduced ranged strength, but starts with Spirit Guide and can carry up to two Rock Ravens for extra fort defense.

Archos - Nesting Spider. Thought of this while reading over this thread. Can't bombard (no ranged strength), but some poison strength, additional first strikes, and can cast Web. Has a chance of turning defeated units into Baby Spiders. Doesn't get the normal Commander line; instead, Commander I equivalent allows it to summon a non-permanent Baby Spider with Mobility I to attack nearby enemies. Possibly allow the Baby Spider to become permanent if it upgrades to a Giant Spider before its duration runs out. Commander II equivalent gives it the Venemun spider's ranged attack, and grants Strong to summoned Baby Spiders. Is NOT an animal unit, mostly because attempts to capture it would result in it being bumped off the fort square.

I like these. :goodjob:

I don't know if you like the basic idea I posted for the Luchuirp. But I have lots of ideas to help balance the basic idea. If fort spam would make the concept to powerful then limit the luchuirp fort clones to being inside cultural borders and you can even use the oasis spacing limit concept to limit the spam. I was also thinking the sculptor unit could have fairly high upkeep. Or some sort of exponentially increasing upkeep to decrease spam. I don't know if its possible but maybe each summoned unit adds an additional bit of upkeep to the sculptor through an effect promo or something.

Obviously limiting the number of possible summons could help balance as well, but if possible I think it would be better to do it another way, for the feel of it.

Finally, I'm not opposed to excluding the mud golems from the list.

I really like the imprived forts and the fort commanders but the biggest problem I've been having with them is the extremely slow rate of experience gain. Without ALOT of combat they will never get the extra territory control. The commanders should gain exp faster (with possibly a lower free exp cap) or the extra territory promotion should be available at ~lvl3.

I agree with you. Meant to fix it in the patch, but it was one of the things that got held back...

I'm going to expand the D'teshi Commanders module with a few of the proposed ideas, and when I do that will include some free promotions for them.

The first will provide enough free xp to get to Expanded Influence in ~30 turns. The next will come in with a higher Limit, enough to get Legendary Influence for those that have it, but a slower rate... Possibly as low as .25xp a turn.

Just as a matter of avoiding clutter, instead of adding new promotions you could just have the influence promotions themselves give the XP rate. That's what I've been doing with my fort commanders.

I tried to use the links that say "here" in the first post for the austrin and lurchuirp and both took me to the tower mage entry. It might be my browser, or it might be a typo on your end. Just thought I'd let you know.

Woops. I changed the post numbers, but not the IDs... Fixed.

Would it be possible to base the Sheaim commander's powers and promotions based on AC and not give them any XP at all?

For example:

AC 0 - 10 - Commander is str 3, no influence from the fort (not even in the same tile)
AC 10 - 20 Str +1, influence in fort tile
AC 20 - 30 Str +1
AC 30 - 40 Str +1
AC 40 - 50 Str +1, influence +1 radius

Etc...

The basic idea is that the Sheaim forts grow in strength as AC increases, and become more vulnerable as AC decreases.

I really like the imprived forts and the fort commanders but the biggest problem I've been having with them is the extremely slow rate of experience gain. Without ALOT of combat they will never get the extra territory control. The commanders should gain exp faster (with possibly a lower free exp cap) or the extra territory promotion should be available at ~lvl3.

Agreed. I ended up editing my local xml files so that influence promotions are available at level 2, 4 and 8.

Level 2 may seem low, but it actually means that the commander cant take the promotion until they hit level 3. And historically, forts were used as a means to influence and control the nearby lands, so IMO, it shouldn't be difficult to reach that first influence rank.

On a related note, I haven't noticed the AI choosing the expanded influence promotions for their fort commanders. Would be nice if they could recognize when a claimed fort is on their borders or in neutral/enemy territory, and give more weight to that promotion.

Oh, and thirdly, an auto-claim feature for newly built forts/dwarven mines would be a MUCH appreciated feature.

Been playing FF+ recently as the Mazatl and enjoying the experience, but find that Forts need a few changes.

1. Fort Commanders gain XP slower than they do in Orbis. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but one of the key advantages to building a fort was to grab Expanded Influence in order to set up trade routes to a key resource when building a city might prove inefficient. I'm 200+ turns in, and none of my forts have been able to expand influence yet! I recommend that Expanded Influence automatically occurs at Level 4 when the Fort Commander gains his stripes. This removes a promotion from the Promotions list and will also get around the problem of the AI not selecting Expanded Influence.

2. I can't use Forts / Castles / Citadels as airbases for my hawks. Given that forts tend to be located in chokepoints at the edge of my territory, being able to use them as a scouting location for my hawks is a very useful feature. (I haven't tried docking a ship in a fort, but suspect I'd get similar issues)

3. Artwork. Orbis uses separate artwork for the three levels of castle. This makes it easier to spot them at a glance. Also the artwork for Giant Staedding is the same (or very similar) to the citadel artwork, making it difficult to spot at a glance. Several times I went to claim a castle, just to find that I could not.

4. Castles / Citadels ought to give +1 Gold when Feudalism is founded.

Been playing FF+ recently as the Mazatl and enjoying the experience, but find that Forts need a few changes.

1. Fort Commanders gain XP slower than they do in Orbis. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but one of the key advantages to building a fort was to grab Expanded Influence in order to set up trade routes to a key resource when building a city might prove inefficient. I'm 200+ turns in, and none of my forts have been able to expand influence yet! I recommend that Expanded Influence automatically occurs at Level 4 when the Fort Commander gains his stripes. This removes a promotion from the Promotions list and will also get around the problem of the AI not selecting Expanded Influence.

2. I can't use Forts / Castles / Citadels as airbases for my hawks. Given that forts tend to be located in chokepoints at the edge of my territory, being able to use them as a scouting location for my hawks is a very useful feature. (I haven't tried docking a ship in a fort, but suspect I'd get similar issues)

3. Artwork. Orbis uses separate artwork for the three levels of castle. This makes it easier to spot them at a glance. Also the artwork for Giant Staedding is the same (or very similar) to the citadel artwork, making it difficult to spot at a glance. Several times I went to claim a castle, just to find that I could not.

4. Castles / Citadels ought to give +1 Gold when Feudalism is founded.


Yeah, keep meaning to give them xp/turn promotions but forget to do it. Once I get back to adding UUs for most civs, I'll fix that.
Can't in FfH either. Orbis added the ActAsCity tag to them... Had been removed in FfH because it made the AI spam them even more. I'm planning on adding it back to the last level at least.
All levels have different art in FF/FFPlus as well, just not the same art. :lol: Giant Staeddings do use Citadel art though.. Should change it to the Jotnar Staedding art.
That I'm planning on... Will be under ImprovementTweaks rather than Fort Commanders though.

For the Svartalfar, I thought what might be better than an illusory defender is a hidden commander and hidden fort (using the same mechanics that hide resources - you'd need a tech to locate these forts). Secret strongholds, hidden by illusion magics. This would be a real pain in the butt as these strongholds couldn't be claimed until the technology to reveal them was discovered, and even then, the commanders themselves would need to be spotted by something that can see hidden.

Alternately, I thought that just a hidden commander might be interesting for the Sidar or maybe the Calabim, one of the undead civs. Like a haunted fortress. You could see it but you'd be subject to unseen attacks in the area from the undead spirits inhabiting it and you wouldn't be able to claim it until you could bring in a spotter who can see hidden, and root out the "commander"/entities.

I dont know which race this would be good for... maybe all of them. I think it would be awesome to have a promotion to upgrade a fort/castle to be able to have a moat. this would cause attacking units to have the crossing river penalty... but defending units would not if they attacked. Maybe Lanun? if not everyone...

Couldn't REALLY do a moat, due to the way rivers are handled... What I could do, is gant a promotion giving 40% defense, or however much the malus for crossing a river is. Then give any promo removing the river penalty a combatmod vs the promo, equaling the defense boost....

I would think Lanun only, personally, but it seems a bit too convoluted to actually use ATM.

Right, been working on these quite a bit. Should have the rest done in a day or two. Some are from the first post, some are from MaxAstro's RLD modmod.

From RLD:

Ljos - Sagitar
Sheaim - Pyrelord
Archos - Fort Spider
Bannor - Garrison Commander
Chislev - Windtalker


From this thread:

Amurites - Tower Mage
Grigori - No UU, instead can cast 'Sidequest' when sharing a tile with a Fort Commander. Grants 'Questing', lasts ten turns, grants xp each turn but has an effect like Lost.
Illians - No UU. Commanders gain promo causing White Hand effect.
Austrin - Falconer. Has two unique 'spells', both summon a falcon. First summons a temporary bird with range of six, for exploration. Second requires Commander 1, summons two permanent birds with range two and 4 combat.


Already had one:

Kuriotates - Pioneer. Not a direct replacement, but the base Commander is from their civ and the Pioneer allows for an instant Expanded Influence unit.
Khazad - Clanhome Chieftain. Same thing as the Dwarven Commander, just changed the name to the RLD version.
The Legion of D'tesh - The D'teshi Commander
Jotnar - Homesteader. Can pay to transform the fort into a city.

Been neglecting this project in favor of merging in the new improvement tags, which is related but doesn't get the UU's done. :lol:

The Calabim are done: Same art as a Vamp Lord, and gains some first strike/access to Drill 3&4. Meant to show that the castle is trapped. :lol: The bonuses are done via a promotion rather than unit.

The Dural 'Battle Architect' is coming along. Here is the origin of the idea. The Beacon promotions will come at level 5, and can be switched out for each other... But they are not free. Each time you switch it requires a level up.

Lanun. Highway robber. Fort commander have the ability to hide his nationality, and thus attack neutral/allied units.

Kahdi are not so elemental-oriented dudes, their sphere is mind. Mind control, Psionic abilities, and magic (metamagic) creatures, resembling mix of Oghma and Mammon powers.

Djinni is quite good choce imo, some type of them.
Fits to creature that dwell and rule Kahdi fortresses

Kuriotates: Shouldn't the Forts be combined with Settlements as they essentially perform the same roles? I proposed that instead of Pioneers creating forts, Settlements instead spawn with Fort Commanders on them. This will greatly aid in the survivability of Settlements and will not be overpowered (since Settlements does not anything anyway except claim resources).

Kuriotates: Shouldn't the Forts be combined with Settlements as they essentially perform the same roles? I proposed that instead of Pioneers creating forts, Settlements instead spawn with Fort Commanders on them. This will greatly aid in the survivability of Settlements and will not be overpowered (since Settlements does not anything anyway except claim resources).

Honestly, my intentions were to block settlements entirely in the beginning... But then you have to raze potentially useful cities.

How about this: Forts can become settlements (Yes, like the Jotnar, but I think it's worth duplicating here) after the Fort Commander is a high enough level. After he converts the settlement, he gains some culture promotions, generating culture in the settlement... It also starts with the borders the fort had. In addition, settlements gain a Fort Commander unit.

Sound good?

Honestly, my intentions were to block settlements entirely in the beginning... But then you have to raze potentially useful cities.

How about this: Forts can become settlements (Yes, like the Jotnar, but I think it's worth duplicating here) after the Fort Commander is a high enough level. After he converts the settlement, he gains some culture promotions, generating culture in the settlement... It also starts with the borders the fort had. In addition, settlements gain a Fort Commander unit.

Sound good?

That's a great idea actually.
What is the mechanic for upgrading from Fort to settlements though? Instead of Fort Comm level, how about Age-based? This gives an edge for Kuriotates vs Jotnar since the Jotnar can use their Fort-Settlements as cities while the Kuriotates gains Fort-Settlements faster BUT will not really benefit them as much anyway...

Also, I propose the Kurio Fort Comm can take promotions like Colonization I/II, etc. that provides auto-built buildings in their Forts/Settlements, e.g. Kurio Palace gains x gold/science/hammer per Kurio Colony building (available only after Fort Comm have prerequisite promotion), these can open up various synergies that can help Settlements become slightly less useless. Another building will be trading houses... as proposed in another thread somewhere we can create a trade route that transports excess food from the settlement to real cities. If we have this, another promotion can increase the size of the settlement to 2 :) to take advantage of amount of tiles worked, hence increasing amount of food that can be transported.

ok.. now a noob question ..
How do I claim a fort ?
I've seen the AI do it on a fort on turn 20.. I thus discovered the possibility.
I loaded back the game 2turns before, when my scout was on top of the fort.. and lo... no option to claim the fort.

How do I do this ?

The only requirements are that there cannot be another commander on the tile, and the tile must be either owned by yourself, unowned, or owned by a civ you're at war with.

are more fort commander UU's still in the works? I could take a stab at making the Luchuirp UU I suggested, but if you wanted to do it your own way or make suggestions for changes before I do, I thought I'd let you have your say.

They aren't ACTIVELY in the works, but eventually I'd like one for most civs, yes. Just couldn't take anymore of it at the time. :lol:

If you want to make a module, feel free. :goodjob: I'll link to your thread for it in the Download thread, and if I like it will merge it in. ;)

Grigori Fort Commander:

I like the idea of Side Quest, but I feel it could use something... a little more. I mean, the point of sidequests isn't just exp, but also a reward, right?

So maybe expand it: Minor Side Quests, and Major Side Quest.

Minor Side Quests would be more like the current one: small XP per turn (lower to 1?), but also a small reward of gold. Maybe like a Goody Hut, only halved/quartered. Small gain, but guaranteed return. Also, might also be able to send multiple units out at once.

Major Side Quest, however, would be a different affair. Perhaps effectively a dungeon exploration, good or bad, but you only find out what on that final turn. But the experience is greater (3,4 per turn?), and so are the rewards. But so are the dangers. And you can only do one Major Side Quest at a time. Or per fort: you'd have to build a new fort to do it again.

So... smaller minor side quests, but also a Major Side Quest with increased benefits?

What civs don't have one?

I may do a Svart one if there is an easy way of making an improvement invisible. Or, I may just make the commander invisible with Animals, so they are pretty easy to spot, but with some promos that make them harder to spot as they level up. They will be recon, and have some way of summoning animals.

If you check the first post, all the civs that have a unique commander or unique ability of some kind have their name in Italics. The Calabim are kind of in-between... Slightly stronger, but nothing really different about them. They just get a few first strikes and so on.

There's no way to really make an improvement invisible... But you could give it a PythonAtRange function that runs when units come too close that blinds them.

I had an idea for a Lanun comander, sort of. Let them have standard comanders for forts on land, but allow them to build forts on water. Give that fort a unique comander representing a more navaly oriented comander. Would need waterwalking, or else he would drown. Maybe allow him to capture defeted naval units. Maybe let the comander blockade enemy ports? Oh, and only Lanun would be able to claim those forts.

...
The Calabim are done: Same art as a Vamp Lord, and gains some first strike/access to Drill 3&4. Meant to show that the castle is trapped. :lol: The bonuses are done via a promotion rather than unit.



I think the calabim commander should get its own graphics, this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=4812) perhaps?

Anyway, the animal faction staff forts, too, and they definitly need another graphic. This (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2823) is the best I found, although I am ambivalent with this suggestion myself.

Actually, I think I'm just giving the Animals the same commander as the Archos. ;)

Anyway, the animal faction staff forts, too, and they definitly need another graphic. This (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2823) is the best I found, although I am ambivalent with this suggestion myself.

Actually, I think I'm just giving the Animals the same commander as the Archos. ;)

That's what I was thinking when I read his post too. Yeah for spiders.

I think the calabim commander should get its own graphics, this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=4812) perhaps?

You think Sauron would be a good Calabim fort commander? I like that idea. Great model.

sheiam- armegedon keep, perhaps it has some death magic, and every 4 or so units it kills it raises the armagedon count by 1
mercurian- choir of heaven, commander is a choir angel, grants buffs to nearby units and can cast some law spells