I would like to propose creating an Inuit Civilization. The Inuit are a truly unique indigenous civilization in Canada and in the world. They have a long history spanning a millennium and the Inuit have never been conquered. Inuit territory has been ceded as Greenland was to Denmark in 1814 and their territory was obviously absorbed by Canada as well but the Inuit have enjoyed relative freedom for their entire existence due in large part to the remoteness and hostility of their location. Not only have they not been conquered, only having had their territory ceded. They are also among some of the most politically active indigenous groups in the world today having created the semi-autonomous territory of Nunavut in Canada which spans vast swaths of the Arctic. There are additional autonomous Inuit zones throughout the Canadian North.
Traders, hunters and explorers by nature the Inuit emerged from Western Alaska in 1000AD and quickly spread across the Arctic supplanting the local Dorset, Innu and Norse cultures. They came into conflict with the Chippewan, Dene and Cree to the south but have always maintained control over their domain.
There are many arguments against adding the Inuit. Why them and not the Iroquois or the Cree or the Navajo? Historically speaking, the Inuit do not have a unified polity (at least until the modern era), they are comprised of many distant groups speaking with similar languages and traditions but not controlled under a singular capital. I think the case for the Inuit is that they are so distinct in geography and culture from the surrounding peoples when you compare with the other indigenous civilizations. Other civilizations had so much over-lap with other small indigenous civilizations in very minute geographic spaces making inclusion of one difficult at the expense of all others.
The Inuit can exist in the game without interfering too much with the mechanics because they inhabit a space that is relatively untouched by the AI. There have never been many Inuit and they exist in very unproductive regions but I think this could be an interesting scenario with the Inuits UP, UU and UB geared towards UHVs that would be challenging. An Arctic scenario would be truly unique
I don't think it's necessary to add to DoC but perhaps it could be added to or made into a mod-mod. At present I'm not super keen on doing the code work as I am code-illiterate but I can do research and create maps (I'm already in the process of creating a map of indigenous placenames in Canada which would serve this project well).
Inuit civilization:
Starting date: 1100AD in Western Alaska
Leader: Unknown (Not sure if there are any historic or legendary Inuit leaders, worst-case scenario we could choose a modern Inuit leader or some kind of Inuit everyman)
UU: Dog sled (replaces settler) - can travel on sea ice, +2 movement on ice/tundra, can settle on ice terrain, +50% attack against melee units (A settler with combat ability as Inuit combat/melee units will be quite limited by resources, not sure if movement on sea ice is feasible but it seems appropriate) (values negotiable)
UB: Igloo (replaces granary) sea ice, ice and tundra yield +1 food (this represents the Inuit hunting tradition and would give a little food to settlements without inflating the population too much)
UP: Power of Inuksuk trade routes/resources require no roads, the Inuit navigated their trade and hunting routes using Inuksuk rock sculptures which helped mark their paths, on the ice and tundra they had no need for roads.
UHV 1: Settle Kivalliq (Hudson Bay), Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island) and Nunavik (Quebec) by 1300AD the historic time it took for the Inuit to reach its current extent
UHV 2: Acquire 3 fur, 2 deer and 3 whale resources by 1700AD (values negotiable)
UHV 3: Don't lose a settlement until 1800AD (when Greenland was ceded to Denmark)
Alternative UHV could be conquer a European settlement (like Greenland) which would be very challenging
I don't imagine UHV1 would be challenging especially with dog sleds capable of travelling on sea ice. UHV 2 could be made quite challenging with the right values. UHV 3 might require the AI to be a bit more interested in the Arctic.
Anyway, thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, interest welcome. Maybe this is a dumb idea, but I think it's cool.
EDIT: Perhaps to make UHV 1 more challenging there could be a geographic limit on dog sleds. So that they cannot enter terrain below a certain latitude (James Bay being the limit). That way they can't just send a dogsled around Hudson Bay to colonize Nunavik, they will have to build a boat (or as the Inuit call it Umiak) and sail from Greenland or Baffin Island. This is both practical and accurate as dog sleds aren't much use on sub-Arctic terrain.
Additionally, some changes will need to be made to prevent early contact at the Bering Strait if dog sleds will be able to traverse sea ice. Also, I'd guess some resources would need to be added, whale, fur, deer but obviously not so many or so easily accessible as to make UHV2 easy or to overpower the Inuit. Historically, the Inuit's strength comes from isolation and ingenuity not resource wealth or population.
Traders, hunters and explorers by nature the Inuit emerged from Western Alaska in 1000AD and quickly spread across the Arctic supplanting the local Dorset, Innu and Norse cultures. They came into conflict with the Chippewan, Dene and Cree to the south but have always maintained control over their domain.
There are many arguments against adding the Inuit. Why them and not the Iroquois or the Cree or the Navajo? Historically speaking, the Inuit do not have a unified polity (at least until the modern era), they are comprised of many distant groups speaking with similar languages and traditions but not controlled under a singular capital. I think the case for the Inuit is that they are so distinct in geography and culture from the surrounding peoples when you compare with the other indigenous civilizations. Other civilizations had so much over-lap with other small indigenous civilizations in very minute geographic spaces making inclusion of one difficult at the expense of all others.
The Inuit can exist in the game without interfering too much with the mechanics because they inhabit a space that is relatively untouched by the AI. There have never been many Inuit and they exist in very unproductive regions but I think this could be an interesting scenario with the Inuits UP, UU and UB geared towards UHVs that would be challenging. An Arctic scenario would be truly unique
I don't think it's necessary to add to DoC but perhaps it could be added to or made into a mod-mod. At present I'm not super keen on doing the code work as I am code-illiterate but I can do research and create maps (I'm already in the process of creating a map of indigenous placenames in Canada which would serve this project well).
Inuit civilization:
Starting date: 1100AD in Western Alaska
Leader: Unknown (Not sure if there are any historic or legendary Inuit leaders, worst-case scenario we could choose a modern Inuit leader or some kind of Inuit everyman)
UU: Dog sled (replaces settler) - can travel on sea ice, +2 movement on ice/tundra, can settle on ice terrain, +50% attack against melee units (A settler with combat ability as Inuit combat/melee units will be quite limited by resources, not sure if movement on sea ice is feasible but it seems appropriate) (values negotiable)
UB: Igloo (replaces granary) sea ice, ice and tundra yield +1 food (this represents the Inuit hunting tradition and would give a little food to settlements without inflating the population too much)
UP: Power of Inuksuk trade routes/resources require no roads, the Inuit navigated their trade and hunting routes using Inuksuk rock sculptures which helped mark their paths, on the ice and tundra they had no need for roads.
UHV 1: Settle Kivalliq (Hudson Bay), Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island) and Nunavik (Quebec) by 1300AD the historic time it took for the Inuit to reach its current extent
UHV 2: Acquire 3 fur, 2 deer and 3 whale resources by 1700AD (values negotiable)
UHV 3: Don't lose a settlement until 1800AD (when Greenland was ceded to Denmark)
Alternative UHV could be conquer a European settlement (like Greenland) which would be very challenging
I don't imagine UHV1 would be challenging especially with dog sleds capable of travelling on sea ice. UHV 2 could be made quite challenging with the right values. UHV 3 might require the AI to be a bit more interested in the Arctic.
Anyway, thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, interest welcome. Maybe this is a dumb idea, but I think it's cool.
EDIT: Perhaps to make UHV 1 more challenging there could be a geographic limit on dog sleds. So that they cannot enter terrain below a certain latitude (James Bay being the limit). That way they can't just send a dogsled around Hudson Bay to colonize Nunavik, they will have to build a boat (or as the Inuit call it Umiak) and sail from Greenland or Baffin Island. This is both practical and accurate as dog sleds aren't much use on sub-Arctic terrain.
Additionally, some changes will need to be made to prevent early contact at the Bering Strait if dog sleds will be able to traverse sea ice. Also, I'd guess some resources would need to be added, whale, fur, deer but obviously not so many or so easily accessible as to make UHV2 easy or to overpower the Inuit. Historically, the Inuit's strength comes from isolation and ingenuity not resource wealth or population.
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