Éa, Dawn of the Mortal Races (phase 1, pre-alpha code development and discussion)

I'm not a fluent Irish speaker myself but I've had it spoken at me plenty of times in school. I've heard Shee-ah when the old pronunciation was used. Shee-ya would appear to be correct based on how the word's written though and I imagine at one time it was correct. It is my understanding that the old spellings generally appear from before the removal of the Gaelic aristocracy at the start of the 17th century and reflect the pronunciation of the poets of the time. The new spellings came about around with Irish independence in first half of the 20th century and are supposed to reflect the modern pronunciation of the people who still spoke Irish natively.

It seems possible to me that 'Shee-ah' is a remembered pronunciation from the intermittent period and that Shee-yah (with its stronger y sound) is an older pronunciation. I think there's a degree of leniency though as Irish has some noticeable dialectal variation

You'll sometimes see old spellings matched with modern pronunciations (Sídhe - shee) probably because a lot of the revivalist literature comes from before, or tries to be contrary to reformed spelling.

As a side note 'th' in Scottish Gaelic should make a h sound if its orthography is similar to that of Irish (which it appears to be). To me 'sith' in Gaelic orthography reads like 'ship' without a p and a longer vowel sound but Scottish vowel sounds are probably different than Irish.

Good to have someone here who knows the language, even if not fluent. I made up a few of the Sídhe names in a vaguely Irish style -- you can tell me if it means "poop" or something I don't really want.

Ahh... So close yet so far...

I just completed a sort of rudimentary "combat GP AI". This is for GPs that have actions that might be combat relevant, such as a Priest with a Heal spell. One thing I don't have to do is code a "run for cover" AI. As everyone knows, killing AI Great Generals in the base game is just like shooting fish in a bucket with a shotgun. I've "fixed" this by making all GPs totally invisible in a way that they can never be attacked (there will be some special ways to get at them...later). Problem solved. So all of the major AI is in and working.

I've cut my "Alpha To Do" list down to just 12 items. These are mostly things like "2nd pass buildings to doc spec". Unfortunately these can be kind of tedious and my time is limited now. Mercenaries and Slaves are going in (for the time being) in a simplified way: you can buy military units or slaves (respectively) extra cheaply, and you can hire out or sell these units (a unit "action") at a price just below the buy cost. The "hidden civs systems" (for fairies and the pantheistic gods) will go in after alpha (I'll just add a placeholder bonus for balancing).

No promises. It's still 4 weeks away at best. I want to do a few hours of balancing myself when it all works (this is going to be very rough balancing...).

Pazyryk said:

Ahh... So close yet so far...

I just completed a sort of rudimentary "combat GP AI". This is for GPs that have actions that might be combat relevant, such as a Priest with a Heal spell. One thing I don't have to do is code a "run for cover" AI. As everyone knows, killing AI Great Generals in the base game is just like shooting fish in a bucket with a shotgun. I've "fixed" this by making all GPs totally invisible in a way that they can never be attacked (there will be some special ways to get at them...later). Problem solved. So all of the major AI is in and working.

I've cut my "Alpha To Do" list down to just 12 items. These are mostly things like "2nd pass buildings to doc spec". Unfortunately these can be kind of tedious and my time is limited now. Mercenaries and Slaves are going in (for the time being) in a simplified way: you can buy military units or slaves (respectively) extra cheaply, and you can hire out or sell these units (a unit "action") at a price just below the buy cost. The "hidden civs systems" (for fairies and the pantheistic gods) will go in after alpha (I'll just add a placeholder bonus for balancing).

No promises. It's still 4 weeks away at best. I want to do a few hours of balancing myself when it all works (this is going to be very rough balancing...).

Click to expand...

The moment you release this alpha, it will instantly be the most compelling CiV mod to date.

I'm afraid to admit how many hours I've spent with your PRE-release...

Pazyryk said:

OK, I'll try to keep my linguistic enthusiasm in check and go with #3 for Old Norse derived names, anglicizing the two letters that most folks don't know. You'll still see occasional weird letters like æ and œ (and the ŋ in Aŋra but that's a different language) but not too often.

Copy/paste is unfortunately already necessary for accents and umlauts in Windows with US keyboard, unless someone know a trick that I don't. (You would think that Windows would catch up to Mac on this some day. I remember typing these on my Mac back in the early 90s.) Don't worry, I don't get offended if anyone calls the mod Ea.

Click to expand...

Alt codes are you friend for some of those. For example æ can be done with Alt + 145.

It might be only that one or it might be others; accented letters can be done easily and, in the long term, remembering three or four that you regulary use saves copying each one one whenever you need it.

Link to a site with a list of Alt codes

Yeah, I know about 3 of those Alt codes, which is about as much as I can hold in my head. And only for a week or so, it seems. I can still remember how to type É on a Mac and it's been 15 years since I used one (though I've forgotten how to do almost anything else on a Mac).

Sezneg said:

I'm afraid to admit how many hours I've spent with your PRE-release...

Click to expand...

Glad to know I'm going to have some testers here...

Pazyryk said:

Glad to know I'm going to have some testers here...

Click to expand...

Oh, I'm already trying to optimize reaching pantheism without disturbing the plots around my opening city.

Thematically this is just awesome. I'm actively preserving unimproved terrain and not expanding (growth will be rough with your food per population + no improvements), but if i just focus on rushing towards that policy tree.... it'll definitely be cool.

I like the early game tension. I want to set up my policy tree of choice between agrarian and pantheism, while also wanting to get my civilization's name; the early game is a lot more intense than normal civ, and that's without the heavy focus on warrior spam you find in FFH2 and its many mod-mods.

Basically you have an engaging/intense early-game without relying on crazy wild animal and barbarian spawn. Granted, you've mentioned wild animals and there are of course going to be barbarians... but you should know that you don't have to be heavy handed here, your early game is already extremely engaging. You're racing your opponent for one-off bonuses and placing your city for plot based bonuses that will set you up dozens of turns into the game.

Obviously, I have been stopping about the time I get my civ name and open the first policy branch... it's a lot of fun though!

Another dump from the Éa Doc (with alterations and redactions for phase 2).

A lot of this is rehash again, but I think it's presented in a better way that makes the class/subclass system more clear (I didn't want to throw that on top of everything else in phase 1). Oh, did I mention that GPs gain experience and levels? They do... even engineers, merchants and so forth (for building wonders, establishing trade routes, etc.). Wherever you see "Individual modifier" below, the number is now 6 + level (was just a fixed 10 before). This is the "mod" value that is referenced for wonders and so forth back on post #4. The value becomes fixed for a wonder or epic or whatever based on the builder/creator modifier at the time of completion. I'm also sneaking in two new subclasses (one thanks to the great admiral in G&K).

Begin Doc...

All great people belong to at least one class and sometimes two, and possibly a specific subclass as well. In general, the only way to belong to two classes is to be a particular subclass that is dual-class, such as Paladin (class Devout and Warrior) or Druid (class Devout and Thaumaturge). A very few special great people break this rule and are simply dual-class on their own (Theano, who appears in the first civilization to adopt Tradition, is both Sage and Artist). Classes and subclasses define the abilities of the great person and the particular benefits (yield or otherwise) that they provide as leader or city resident. Dual-class individuals split their benefits (one half from each class) as leader or resident but gain the full set of abilities outlined for both classes.

Classes
Engineers build the great majority of wonders in Éa and foundries (a tile improvement) and are useful in war for the construction of citadels and siege engines. Individual modifier is applied as a production percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Assignment of Smith specialists increases the likelihood of Engineer appearance.
Merchants establish trade routes with foreign cities and can enhance the resulting revenue through trade missions (foreign capitals) and trade houses (domestic cities with trade routes). Individual modifier is applied as a gold percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Assignment of Trader specialists increases the likelihood of Merchant appearance.
Sages write a variety of Tomes that enhance research (and sometimes other civilization abilities) in certain areas and can build the Great Library wonder. Individual modifier is applied as a research percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Assignment of Scribe specialists increases the likelihood of Sage appearance.
Artists craft Epics and other unique artifacts and can establish festivals (a tile improvement). Individual modifier is applied as a culture percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Assignment of Artisan specialists increases the likelihood of Artist appearance.
Warriors act as great generals in war and can perform specific abilities in combat, such as Raise Moral, Break Line and Challenge. Individual modifier is applied as an experience point boost to land units produced in all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Experience gained by any unit in combat increases the likelihood of Warrior appearance.
Devouts learn and cast divine spells and make prophecies that divine the future history of Éa (even its salvation or demise). Individual modifier is applied as a mana or divine favor (the latter only for followers of Azzandara) percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident. Assignment of Disciple specialists increases the likelihood of Devout appearance. Azzandara followers can increase the likelihood of Devout appearance further by accumulation of divine favor. (Note: all Devouts belong to a subclass below.)
Thaumaturges learn and cast arcane spells. (Note that this class is not yet developed for phase 2. It is here only to support a few subclasses below.) Individual modifier is applied as a mana percent boost to all cities as leader or a particular city as resident.

Subclasses
Each subclass is followed by the class(es) to which it belongs. Unless indicated otherwise, a subclass gains all abilities of the associated class (or classes) plus those listed here.
Alchemists [Sage] are sages that know the science of transmutation. They can convert a source of metal into any other kind of metal (requires 8 turns except for transmutation to mithril, which takes 25 turns). Alchemists appear in place of (non-subclass) Sages after a civilization learns Alchemy.
Sea Warriors [Warrior] are Warriors that specialize in sea and coastal warfare. They act as admirals at sea and generals on land. However, moving too far inland (>2 plots) causes loss of the combat bonus normally provided to nearby units (they retain other Warrior combat abilities). Additionally, the experience bonus they provide as leader or city resident is applied to naval units rather than land units. Combat experience gained by naval units and by boarding and amphibious attacks promotes the appearance of Sea Warriors in place of Warriors.
Priests [Devout] are the devout followers and proselytizers of Azzandara and can spread His religion (Azzandarayasna) to new cities. They gain the Heal spell for free (spells are normally learned in lieu of taking a promotion). They can take the Inquisitor promotion allowing them to remove other religions from their own cities or foreign cities that belong to Azzandarayasna civilizations. Both actions (Proselytize and Inquisition) take 8 turns; the latter causes 1 unhappiness per citizen converted away from another religion for 16 turns.
Paladins [Devout, Warrior] are the devout warriors of Azzandara and have the abilities of both the Devout and Warrior classes. They can spread Azzandarayasna religion but only if they take the Proselytizer promotion. Paladins appear in place of Warriors for civilizations that have Azzandarayasna as dominant religion.
Druids [Devout, Thaumaturge] are the Devouts that appear in civilizations that have opened the Pantheism policy branch. They can learn and cast both divine and arcane spells, and can perform a variety of rituals associated with The Weave of Éa religion (including rituals that chase away Theistic influence) and rituals that establish or spread particular Panthieistic cults. Performing one of the latter causes the Druid to become a member of that cult, gaining specific abilities (often a spell) but losing the ability to perform the rituals of other cults.
Fallen Priests [Devout, Thaumaturge] are Priests that have fallen and now follow Ahriman. They become a kind of Sorcerer (a mana eater) and can learn and cast both divine and arcane spells. Many divine spells have an altered form for the fallen, and the Heal spell (free for Priests) becomes a Hurt spell. They spread the Aŋra religion and can remove other religions with the Inquisitor promotion. Fallen Priests don’t call themselves "fallen": they continue to appear simply as Priests on the map.
Eidolons [Devout, Warrior] are fallen Paladins that continue to act as devout warriors, able to learn and cast divine spells (in an altered form) while acting as generals. With the Proselytizer promotion, they can spread Aŋra. Eidolons appear in place of Warriors for civilizations that have Aŋra as dominant religion.

Heldeofol are still on hold until we have some unit art. It just isn't worth the work to polish off the special mod functions for them if they look like Man. The whole point is to have a bunch of nasty looking fellows overrunning everything.

Has anyone seen any existing Civ5 units in other mods that could pass as an orc? Or ogre or troll or anything like that? If so, please post a link or a screen shot. Even without the playable race, I'd like to have some orcs or other Heldeofol types to act as barbs.

This isn't really a problem for the Aos Sídhe. They are supposed to be like Man in stature (they are not 5' skinny elves). I'll just use some of the existing ancient unit ethnic variations to make them distinct, or distinct enough for the time being.

Edit: As a bribe, I'll share the secrets of phase 3 and 4 with anyone who learns to convert units for Civ5 and makes >5 unit types for Éa.

Afraid I'm not much help for the Heldeofol art, but I wanted to stop in and say that you blew my mind with your concept of "dual-classed" GPs. Whoah. I love how you're taking the mechanics of the base game and twisting them into completely new and unexpected directions.

I'm holding out for the alpha, but am excited.

A couple Observations:

1. You have feature spread in the pre-alpha code. Currently it will actually grow forests on top of your improvements, which will then act as damaged improvements until the forests are cleared away. I was fiddling around actually playing to about turn 100 or so, and this was a LOT of added micro management. With the food system you have, where an improved cow tile could be worth ~10 food, having that drop to 2 without warning crashes the city very fast. If you leave this as is, I would suggest having the decrease in improvement yield a little less dramatic. I was losing multiple population by the time my worker could arrive and clean up the improvment!

2. I couldn't figure out how to build courthouses (didn't see it on the tech tree anywhere I could reach). This was a problem for the highly aggressive Ikkos civilization I had become.

I knew going in that really this was only stuff meant for the first 50 or so turns, but well I was curious.

@Sezneg,

The living terrain system is a bit nasty. Some explanation of the system:

1. Forests, Jungle and Marsh will only spread from a tile that was originally one of these. The newly spawned feature has zero "spreading strength" (unless something changes that later). So you only need to worry about plots next to an original map feature.
2. Each time you remove one of these features, their strength goes down by 1 point. The strength value is just the percent chance per turn that a removed feature will regenerate or an existing feature will spread.
3. I've already reduced this strength a bit from the build you have. It was a random number from 1 - 10 at map generation. Now it is 1 - 5. (yes, I thought it was a bit much too)
4. Forest can be removed by anyone (no tech requirement for Slash & Burn), so you can be proactive at least for this feature. Not so easy for jungle (need Iron W.) or marsh (need Irrigation).
5. Feature strength will be shown in the map mouse over (easy to do, just haven't gotten to it yet), so you will at least know the threat from a particular feature.

The main idea is that you should feel very threatened by any of these next to developed plots. That's different than base, but it is something you can plan around. Most civilizations of Man (non Pantheistic) have an antagonistic relationship to forests, jungles and wetlands (no environmentalists to worry about), and work hard to remove them (I have some AI for this too). Some forests are good away from your developed areas for timber.

City conquest is going to break something right now anyway (there's an unfinished function there). I do need to add some sort of courthouse building (I have a "courthouse" planned but with a different function). Any ideas for the name of a building that takes its place?

I'm happy that you all are trying it out. Just realize that you've gone way past where I have. Units, buildings, etc still need a lot of data entry just to get them to my doc specs (and then they will need balancing).

Pazyryk said:

@Sezneg,

The living terrain system is a bit nasty. Some explanation of the system:

1. Forests, Jungle and Marsh will only spread from a tile that was originally one of these. The newly spawned feature has zero "spreading strength" (unless something changes that later). So you only need to worry about plots next to an original map feature.
2. Each time you remove one of these features, their strength goes down by 1 point. The strength value is just the percent chance per turn that a removed feature will regenerate or an existing feature will spread.
3. I've already reduced this strength a bit from the build you have. It was a random number from 1 - 10 at map generation. Now it is 1 - 5. (yes, I thought it was a bit much too)
4. Forest can be removed by anyone (no tech requirement for Slash & Burn), so you can be proactive at least for this feature. Not so easy for jungle (need Iron W.) or marsh (need Irrigation).
5. Feature strength will be shown in the map mouse over (easy to do, just haven't gotten to it yet), so you will at least know the threat from a particular feature.

The main idea is that you should feel very threatened by any of these next to developed plots. That's different than base, but it is something you can plan around. Most civilizations of Man (non Pantheistic) have an antagonistic relationship to forests, jungles and wetlands (no environmentalists to worry about), and work hard to remove them (I have some AI for this too). Some forests are good away from your developed areas for timber.

City conquest is going to break something right now anyway (there's an unfinished function there). I do need to add some sort of courthouse building (I have a "courthouse" planned but with a different function). Any ideas for the name of a building that takes its place?

I'm happy that you all are trying it out. Just realize that you've gone way past where I have. Units, buildings, etc still need a lot of data entry just to get them to my doc specs (and then they will need balancing).

Click to expand...

I figured I was venturing WELL past the "completion" of the code (I definitely ran into that broken thing about city conquest!), but it's a lot of fun to play with.

The feeling of fighting back the dangerous/scary wilds are there. For those who haven't played around with the pre-alpha, your basic village won't grow PERIOD without a food source or several farms... and on the farms front you are going to have to invest in multiple techs and policies to really juice them up.

dedlurking

PROMOTIONS
Unfortunately, the game engine only allows 200 of these. I need 100 (and eventually another ~30) for GPs. To do this, I've streamlined the base promotion system a lot. But I think it is a better system even for the non-GP units. I did this by combining many redundant promotions (e.g., ranged and non-ranged bonuses are combined into one "Combat" line of promotions) and removing the "rough vs smooth" promotions (I'm bored with this). At the same time, I have to allow for the possibility of very high level units (both GP and non-GP), so there is not much room to spare.

I'm definitely changing the archery line to 1-plot ranged units with good defense strength, so they all work like G&K machine gunners. This makes them superb fort/citadel holders or holders of hills or forests. So they can take Fortify promotions like infantry.

I'm still playing around with the "Individual modifier" system. This is the "mod" value in post#3 (was a flat 10). Currently [8/26 edit] it is calculated as:
mod = (5 + level/3) + promotion bonues, rounded down


For simplicity, each level of a promotion just gives the same additional effect as the first level. A few promotions say "Need 1 to do", which means you need level 1 of the promotion to do the action at all (e.g., an Artist needs Barding 1 to make an Epic).

GP Selected Promotions (96 total)
Leadership 1 - 12 (All) +1 mod to leader, city resident, general or admiral effects. Mod value is % yield boost for most GPs as leader or resident (xp points for Warrior) or Moral % bonus to nearby units for general or admiral effects.
Wonder Building 1 - 6 (Engineer) +1 modifier for constructed Wonders
Military Engineering 1 - 6 (Engineer) +1 modifier for Citadels and Foundries; faster build of Forts and Siege Engines at 3 & 6
Trade 1 - 6 (Merchant) faster trade route at 3 & 6; +1 modifier for all other trade actions
Espionage 1 - 6 (Merchant) +1 modifier for spy actions (need 1 to do; yes, merchants are your primary spies and they have to go to the city to conduct espionage)
Scholarship 1 - 6 (Sage) +1 modifier for Tomes, Great Library & Academies
Barding 1 - 6 (Artist) +1 modifier for Epics (need 1 to do); faster Festival build at 3 & 6
Combat 1 - 12 (Warrior) +1 mod for combat actions [same promotion used for non-GP units]
Proselytism 1 - 6 (Theistic Devouts only; Priests get 1 for free) +1 mod for religious conversion (need Proselytism 1 to proselytize). See religious conversion here.
Ritualism 1 - 6 (Druid) +1 mod for all rituals (including cult founding/spreading rituals)
Devotion 1 - 6 (Devout) +1 mod for all divine spells
Thaumaturgy 1 - 6 (Thaumaturge) +1 mod for all arcane spells
Battle Magery 1 - 6 (Thaumaturge) +2 mod for combat arcane spells
Terraforming 1 - 6 (Devout or Thaumaturge) +2 mod for terraforming-type spells (arcane or divine)

GP Acquired (2 total)
Sorcerer (gained by any Devout or Thaumaturge that is fallen) Mana used for spells is consumed -- i.e., taken from the Sum of All Mana; this can destroy Éa eventually (a victory condition) though the sum is very large
Prophet (gained by Devout after making a prophecy) Adds +3 modifier to religious conversion (cumulative with Proselytism or Ritualism)

Non-GP Selected (41 total [Combat shared with Warrior GP so counted above])
Combat 1 - 12 (all combat units) +10% ranged and non-ranged strength
Formation 1 - 6 (infantry*) +20% against mounted
*includes light, medium and heavy infantry and immortals
Fortification 1 - 6 (infantry and archers) +20% defense; +10% ranged defense
Siege 1 - 6 (all non-mounted land and naval units) +20% against cities
Flanking 1 - 6 (all horse-mounted) +20% against non-mounted
Shock 1 - 6 (all elephant-mounted; requires same level Combat promotion) +33% attack
Naval 1 - 6 (all naval units) +20% against naval or embarked units
Visibility 1 - 2 (recon units) +1 visibility
Extended Range (siege and naval ranged; requires level 6 unit) +1 range
Blitz (horse-mounted; requires level 6 unit)
Indirect Fire (Cannons and Bombarde only; requires level 3 unit)
Free Terrain Movement (Rangers only; requires level 3 unit)

Others maintained from base (6 total)
Embarkation (as in base)
Move After Attack (all horse mounted)
Must Setup to Fire (all siege)
Cannot Enter Ocean (all pre-Astronomy naval units)

Others needed for mod mechanics (11 total)
Learn Spell (Devout, Thaumaturge) Always available as a selectable “promotion”. When you select it, you will get a “Pick Spell” popup where you can see all available spells that this person can learn. There will be a Cancel button to back up if you change your mind and want a promotion instead. The actual spells are not promotions although you are forgoing a promotion to learn one. (All of the spells that a GP knows appear in the “Build” UI panel, relabeled as “Spells”. The spell button is dimmed/disabled if the spell can’t be cast for some reason.)

7 “hidden” Moral Promotions. Can give anywhere from -63% to +63% strength effect from general and other things (e.g., wonders, nearby enemy elephants). The promotions are hidden but the cumulative percent effect is shown in the unit panel: e.g., “+33% Moral” (blue) or “-20% Moral” (red) [eventually there will be a mouse-over breaking down different effects on moral].

AIBaitAndSwitch 1 - 3. Used for AI promotion control (never seen by the player).

Can great people gain exp just from turns spent at a city?

Pazyryk said:

I do need to add some sort of courthouse building (I have a "courthouse" planned but with a different function). Any ideas for the name of a building that takes its place?

Click to expand...

A courthouse doesn't make sense in preventing unhappiness from occupation; rather than judicial, it would be legislative. Something indicating that the city's interests are now being represented at the conqueror's governing body, to combat the cries of "no taxation without representation." Maybe "Council Chambers."

Or an advocate: "Office of the Ombudsman," or a local executive: "Mayor's Office" or "Governor's Office."

Alternatively, "Gallows".

Two ways of preventing unhappiness due to occupation are;

• Assimilation, where the population is reeducated in the benefits of being part of the empire. This could involve initially higher unhappiness but lower unhappiness in the long term.
• Embracing cultural diversity. This would involve respecting all of the cultures within the empire. Occupied territories would be a bit happier but as they'd cling to their own national identities, there's always the chance that they'll rebel or cause more problems down the line than if they'd been assimilated.

Any ideas for the name of a building that takes its place?

Click to expand...

.
Reeducation Camps, State Orphanages for assimilation? (I realise that these don't sound like they fit in a fantasy game.)
Museums, Ethnic Festivals, Councils of Tribes for embracing cultural diversity?

I'll incorporate some names and ideas above but I'm changing the system a bit. I don't like the way occupation vanishes instantly when you put out 500g for a building. I think occupation should actually have a role in gameplay. Also, I've already implemented a "city race system" (can be different than your civ race), so I want to make use of that. Here's what I came up with:

Any city that you own that is of a different race than your civiliation race (whether occupied or puppet) has +2 unhappiness. Heldeofol cities conquered by a Heldeofol civilization are automatically annexed without occupation once the initial revolt is over. Cities that differ in race from the conquering civilization can never end occupation. Cities of the same race as the conquering civilization (for races other than Heldeofol) can end occupation but only after 100 turns (see Forefathers' Statue).

Governor's Compound (requires Militarism policy and occupied city) Reduces unhappiness from occupation by 2.
Gallows (requires Slavery policy and occupied city) Reduces unhappiness from occupation by 2.
Courthouse (requires Philosophy) Increases happiness by 1 and reduces unhappiness from occupation by 1.
Tribal Council (requires Tradition policy and city of another race) Removes the 2 unhappiness from different race.
Forefathers' Statue (requires Tradition policy and city of same race; can build only in puppet or occupied city 100 turns after conquest [standard game speed]) Ends occupation; will auto-annex the city if a puppet builds it.

There are a lot of permutations to run through with this system. Some points:

• You can never end occupation in a city of another race.
• In most cases, conquered cities of other races should be razed to the ground to make room for your own race. This is a Medieval setting after all.
• Even a city of your own race is stuck as puppet or occupied for 100 turns. You can then bring it into your civilization completely with the Forefathers' Statue.
• You can reduce unhappiness of occupation with some combination of buildings (even theoretically to zero). For example, a civilization that has both Militarism and Slavery (not an unlikely combo) can bring occupation unhappiness down to -1 for same-race cities.
• Tradition allows for a more diverse empire with the Tribal Council if you keep cities as puppets (it's just a happiness building so the AI will build it eventually). Occupying cities of other races won't work out for the vast majority of civilizations, though it could be done with an unlikely combo of Tradition, Militarism and Slavery (not impossible).

@Sezneg
They will get some experience for being city resident, though not as much as actively doing stuff. Your leader also gets some extra experience (and this individual can be doing stuff at the same time).