Scenario Preview - The Desert and the Mountain

I decided it was about time to give some details of this forthcoming scenario. It’s a pretty ambitious one – far more complex than my last – so it’s bound to benefit from some general input!

This scenario is set in North Africa between the years AD 1000 and AD 1500 – a time and place that doesn’t feature strongly in Civ to date! I hope this scenario will go some way to redressing the imbalance.

This was an interesting and important period of history. Great empires appeared, flourished and vanished again like flowers in the field. Powerful leaders struggled for control of land, of resources, of the people’s affections, and – most of all – for the all-important trade routes. Resources in Africa are sparse and scattered, and great civilisations have only ever arisen there by trading. Control the trade routes, and you can become rich and powerful. Lose them to your rivals, and you will wither. There are some great stories to tell from this period and I hope that this scenario will be as evocative of them as possible.

In this scenario, the player can take control of one of eight different civilisations – Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Makuria, Alwah, Ethiopia and the Falasha. There are a lot of new ideas and tweaks in this one that I don't think we have seen before, but the biggest twist is that different civilisations have different tech trees! In fact there are five distinct tech trees, each of which is wholly unique: that is, there are NO shared techs between the different trees (although there are a few duplicates). This means that that the Science Adviser screen will look different depending on which faction you are playing.

The factions are divided into the five tech trees like this:

West African – Ghana, Mali, Songhai (and non-playable Benin)
Central African – Kanem-Bornu (and non-playable Hausa)
Nubian – Makuria, Alwah
Ethiopian – Ethiopia
Falasha – Falasha

There is also a sixth tech grouping, but it contains only dummy techs, because all the civilisations in it are non-playable. They are –

Arabian – Almoravids, Hafsids, Ayyubids, Bejans, Adal, Yemen

To see how the “unique tech tree” is done and some of the issues it raises, have a look at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=102803 which also explains why this system necessitates setting the scenario in a single era only.

Having different tech trees for the different civilisations means that they also have different units, improvements, and wonders (although again there are a few duplicates). It also means that different civilisations have different routes to winning the game and different problems to overcome. It will be like having five scenarios in one!

General rule changes

In this scenario, desert terrain has a movement penalty of two. Only camel-mounted units can ignore this penalty.

Desert is strictly non-settleable. But mountains *can* be settled! Only Ethiopia and the Falasha can build viable cities on them, however.

Most civilisations must research an Agriculture tech before they can build Workers.

The West African civilisations

For Ghana, Mali and Songhai the game is all about trade. For these civilisations, it functions a little like the system used in the Age of Discovery conquest, but in reverse. The player must find resources in the region of the river Niger and the southern forests, link them to his cities, and build improvements. These will then sporadically generate Trade Items. These Trade Items must then be picked up by another unit and carried to the Trading Posts – of which there are three: one each in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Taking a Trade Item to a Trading Post gives a cash and VP bonus, because the Trading Posts are also VP locations.

The Trading Posts are all within the borders of AI-controlled civilisations. So what’s to stop the AI just plonking its own units in the VP locations and preventing the player delivering a Trade Item? Simple: the Trading Post is a unique kind of terrain, and the only unit that can enter it is the camel-mounted Wangara Trader, which only Ghana, Mali and Songhai can build. So the player must use this unit to carry Trade Items over the Sahara Desert to their destination.

Note that it is possible to build hidden-nationality camel-mounted bandits, which can be used to ambush the trade caravans in the desert. The solution? Research Desert Warfare and recruit camel-mounted warriors to see them off! Any unit can enter the desert, but in this scenario it has a movement penalty of two, which all camel units ignore. Thus, there is scope for an almost naval warfare sort of subgame in the Sahara.

Although they share a tech tree, Ghana, Mali and Songhai each have their own Unique Unit. Their different starting locations also provide their own challenges.

The Kanem-Bornu Empire

The key to success for the Kanem-Bornu is expansion and warfare. This civilisation is hampered in several ways. There are not an awful lot of improvements it can build, and hardly any Wonders. Moreover, it cannot research Agriculture until late in the game – which means *no* Workers until then! To offset this, Kanem-Bornu can, at an early stage, build Nomads, cheap settler-type units. Expansion is quick and simple, and a selection of cheap and powerful military units will allow the Kanem-Bornu to overrun their enemies. In the later game, however, the Nomad unit is replaced by the Founder unit, a much more expensive settler. Later techs allow new governments which are better suited to building and less suited to expanding or supporting large armies. The player must decide how quickly to change from the earlier, semi-nomadic form of society to the later, more settled form.

The Nubian kingdoms

Makuria and Alwah find themselves sandwiched between more powerful neighbours – the Kanem-Bornu to the west, Ethiopia to the east, and the Ayyubids to the north. They can build a number of useful improvements and Wonders and can build a strong culture, and they have some handy units that can muster a good defence against invaders, but they are less powerful than their neighbours. Their special route to success lies in diplomacy. In real life, Makuria and Alwah survived for centuries because of the “Baqt” or pact that Makuria signed with Egypt, whereby the two nations, one Christian and one Muslim, agreed to co-exist peacefully. In this scenario, the Baqt is a buildable wonder which allows a diplomatic victory. The player must survive long enough to build it and remain on sufficiently good terms with the other powers to seize victory!

Ethiopia

At the start of the game, Ethiopia is the most powerful playable kingdom. It is the most settled, with the most cities and the most powerful units that are immediately buildable. But it faces a crisis: it is in not one but two locked wars – one with the Falasha, who have powerful units within its own borders, and one with the powerful Adalian civilisation located in modern-day Somalia. Ethiopia faces an onslaught and it will take skill to survive.

Fortunately, this civilisation has some things in its favour. It can build viable cities in the mountains, thanks to a bonus resource there that only Ethiopia and the Falasha can “see” and exploit. These will be easy to defend. Moreover, this civilisation has a large number of culture-producing improvements and wonders to build. It can build up a very powerful cultural rating, which could be enough to win the game - *if* it can survive that long.

Moreover, this is the only playable civilisation that can trade overseas – for Yemen is friendly and has many useful goods. That means there will be war in the Red Sea, since the Arabian powers wish to control this waterway and its vital trade routes; fortunately, the Ethiopians have a number of naval units at their disposal to wage war in this theatre.

The Falasha

The Falasha potentially offer the greatest challenge. They are Ethiopian Jews, who spent much of the Middle Ages living semi-autonomously within Ethiopia, paying homage to the Christian emperor. They also spent much of their time rebelling against the empire. One such rebellion is said to have broken out in around AD 1000, led by the mysterious – and beautiful – Queen Yodit.

In this scenario, therefore, the Falasha begin with some very powerful units right in the middle of the Ethiopian heartlands – but they have NO cities and NO settlers. When this happens, a civilisation follows slightly different rules from usual. It will survive from turn to turn even with no population, but only as long as it doesn’t lose a unit. The moment a unit is lost, the game is over. But if the civilisation succeeds in capturing an enemy city, this becomes the new capital and it reverts to “standard” rules.

Therefore, the first task for the Falasha must be to capture an Ethiopian city – but to do so without any loss. If this initial attack succeeds, the Falasha must build up their strength and prepare for a tough guerrilla war – for the Ethiopians can be relied upon to hit back!

Pictures of the tech trees (as they currently are). At the moment, many techs do not yet have graphics assigned, so they are using the lightning bolt icon until they get a better one.

First, the West African tech tree.



The Kanem-Bornu tech tree.



The Nubian tech tree.



The Ethiopian tech tree.



The Falasha tech tree.

Some pictures from the game so far...

First, Ethiopia launches an attack on Adal.



An improvement for the Nubian kingdoms.



Malian traders set off on the long trek across the Sahara Desert!

The state of play

The scenario is currently approximately half-done. The tech trees have been completed for the first four groups; the Falasha have not been done yet. All of the units and most of the improvements and wonders have been done for the first four groups (but not the Falasha). Once all the tech trees are completed, and the final units and improvements added, the next task is to sort out governments and specialists. I’m planning on having quite a lot of different specialists in this scenario – different ones available to different civilisations. Thus, the Kanem-Bornu cannot build many improvements, but it would be interesting to give them several specialists to assign instead, to reflect their semi-nomadic status for much of the game. Then, finally, it will be time to start playing and testing it…

It's also worth pointing out that the map I'm currently using is a bit small. I deliberately wanted a small map for this scenario as I find it makes the game move more quickly and stay interesting - no vast empires to micro-manage. But I think I overdid it slightly with this one - it's *too* small! I shall probably use this map for the MP version and do a slightly bigger one for the final single-player version.

What is needed

I can do tech tree graphics for myself and also some improvements and wonders if need be, but I've no chance with anything else!

I’ve got most of the improvements and units I need. One unit that I really need is a simple one – a Boulder. The Falasha would fortify themselves in the mountains and, when the imperial troops arrived, hurl enormous boulders at them. It would be great to represent this in the game with a non-moveable, one-shot weapon (rather like a Cruise Missile). It would only need one animation – attack/death – and be highly cool!

I’m using Kinboat’s Egyptian Archer and Egyptian Spearman for the Nubians. These are very nice units but are rather too pale-skinned to really be Nubian. If anyone is able to do a colour conversion to tan them a bit that would be much appreciated too.

I'm going to need some pop heads. I'm using R8XFT's African pop heads which go very nicely. But I want to have a number of different specialists in the game, which will need pop head graphics too. I've not finalised how many I'd like (as I only just thought of this...) but it might be about half a dozen. It would also be nice to have some African Advisors...

I’ve been unable to do a good graphic for the fortress of Fasilides at Gondar (an impressive Ethiopian wonder). If anyone feels up to that task…

Other than that, ideas and suggestions are welcomed!

this can be interesting! i am fascinated by desert stories

good luck!

Plotinus said:

I’ve been unable to do a good graphic for the fortress of Fasilides at Gondar (an impressive Ethiopian wonder). If anyone feels up to that task…

Click to expand...

For the Pedia, the build queue, the wonder splash, or all three?

This looks and sounds awesome, if it is anywhere close to how good "rood and dragon" is it will be great!

GRM7584 said:

For the Pedia, the build queue, the wonder splash, or all three?

Click to expand...

The Pedia/build queue. I've got a splash but I can't seem to find a picture that can be turned into a Pedia picture. But this is what the place looks like...

I'll have a go at it; most of what I found on google was this, though, which I assume is a palace in the fortress or some such. I know nothing about Gondar.
I also don't know very much about African geography; does your map go far enough south to include Pounder's Kilimanjaro?
Edit: I've found MANY pictures of various structures inside the Royal Enclosure. Would you prefer just to have the Library and Chancellory from your image?
Edit: picture removed, for efficiency and the odd dial-up user that happens across the first page of this thread.

[GRM7584] Cool! Thank you very much. Gondar essentially has quite a complex of fortresses, castles and palaces (the picture I gave was actually a couple of the smaller ones, photographed from the battlements of a larger one). [EDIT] - I see you know that now! Really I don't mind which one or ones feature in the graphic. The splash I'm using is of the structure shown in your picture, so it might be nice to have different ones in the Pedia graphic. On the other hand, maybe you'd be able to use the same models to make a superior splash.

I did see Pounder's Kilimanjaro which looks great. But it isn't quite on my map, so I don't really have a need for it.

By the way, I'm also looking for a good Pedia graphic and splash for this thing. It's the Throne Hall of the medieval kings of Makuria, at Old Dongola. I'm using the graphic for the Sistene Chapel right now - which is actually surprisingly close - but it would be nice to do it properly...

Sounds great, I will defiently try it out.

Now call me crazy but I think it is actually possible to have civ-specific tech trees in different eras. I was playing my own game, and suddenly discovered that one of my civ-specific techs did not have the "not needed for era advancement" flag checked. I tought the game was bugged to death, because all the other civ's would not be able to research into the next era.

Then something strange happened, one of the other civs were building a wonder that first becomes available in the third era (the bug was in the second). So I think that only the technologies that each player can research actually matters when era advancement happens.

I'm going to test it tonight.

[Yoda Power] That is interesting. It won't make a difference to my scenario because it's staying at one-era only even if more are possible - it's not easy planning 100+ techs from medieval Africa as it is! But I'll be intrigued to see if your theory works. What is it you're working on?

If you think of any others that need doing (which I'll be able to find reasonable pictures of) then say so. As it stands, I'll have the Library/Chancellory for the pedia icons, and the Palace again (Unless you desperately want a third building) in the build queue, since it will be the most recognizable. I'm a little confused by the dates I'm finding, though; they place Fasilides in the early 1600s, and you said your scenario runs til 1500. Is there a second Fasilides?
Also, which country would that Throne Hall be in today?

Yoda Power said:

Then something strange happened, one of the other civs were building a wonder that first becomes available in the third era (the bug was in the second). So I think that only the technologies that each player can research actually matters when era advancement happens.

I'm going to test it tonight.

Click to expand...

In my Colonize Mod, the Natives have their own tech tree, with no access to the Europeans and vice versa, as well as no common tech tree; era progression works just fine in it, as at least one tester has played a game through to the third era, and I've played through to the second era repeatedly.
Edit: I also just recalled that this is in Rhye's mod, as the 'religion' techs are required for era advance.

Yes, I've played about with the timescale a tad. There are Wonders from before AD 1000 (such as the Nubian cathedrals) and some from after AD 1500 (such as the fortress of Fasilides). But hey - Firaxis would have us believe Alexander the Great and Hannibal were contemporaries - so I think I'm allowed a little licence.

The Throne Hall is at Old Dongola, now in Sudan. I couldn't find any other pictures of it. But I can give you a description from the Pedia text:

The Throne Hall at Dongola was built during the classic age of Nubian architecture, the ninth to tenth centuries AD, and is an unusual masterpiece of the era, combining Arabian influences with a basically Byzantine design.

The Throne Hall was a long building with a great entranceway at the west end. Most of the ground floor was divided into a large number of narrow rooms with high ceilings, apparently used by the royal domestic staff. Their main purpose, however, was to lift the upper storey as high as possible. For in the western vestibule there was also a monumental staircase which led up to the second storey. Here there was a large throne room, with a high ceiling to allow plenty of light in, and terraces providing a magnificent view. The main room was surrounded by a corridor which was open to the north and south, and which connected to an apse to the east - presumably a sort of chapel.

The Throne Hall was modelled on the hall of the Byzantine emperors at Constantinople, in both design and function. It was evidently designed to impress visitors with the king's wealth and power, and to provide a stunning and graphic impression of the size and wealth of his great domains - only a fraction of which could be seen even from its luxurious terraces.

In the early fourteenth century, the Throne Hall was converted into a mosque.
It still stands near Old Dongola, although the rich interior decoration has long since crumbled.

Well just tested it, and it works. Looks like GRM7584 found out too.

Hopefully these are up to par with the rest of your scenario; and I hope they won't become too garbled when you put them in your Buildings-X.pcx files; if they do, tell me and I'll redo them with civ's palette.

And another lot for the Throne Hall; Unfortunately I had to rely on that image you found, as its the best of two in terms of appearance. However, I did find a much less grainy one from a much more awkward angle. I've included the latter as a poor wonder splash, although perhaps better than the Sistine Chapel, and the former I smoothed out as much as I could for Pediaicons and Building Queue graphics.

Looking good, Plotinus!