Ethnically Diverse Units in Rhye's

I'm curious about what the plans are to incorporate ethnically diverse units into Rhye's and Fall of Civilization (Warlords version is all that's important for me ). Several mods including Ket's Unaltered but Flavourful mod or Total Realism include dozens of ethnically unique units which add so much richness to the game. In some cases, it can be downright painful to play Rhye's, such as controlling Mali and having to use Caucasian units.

I was extremely happy that Rhye decided to include the Oriental Cities graphic for Egypt/Persia/Arabia/etc. which would have been another request of mine.

In all likelihood, this topic has already been discussed, with some reason for the lack of implementation, such as other priorities being citied. But in the unlikely event that conversation hasn't occurred, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring it up.

I think the main objection is the increased size of the download. I don't know how hard it would be to make it an add-on, but I presume not impossible ; just merging XML files mainly I'm guessing (little time consuming at worst).

Zetetic Apparat said:

I think the main objection is the increased size of the download. I don't know how hard it would be to make it an add-on, but I presume not impossible ; just merging XML files mainly I'm guessing (little time consuming at worst).

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If size is the only reason these haven't been introduced, I hope the decision is reconsidered, or that a "flavourful" version of the mod is launched (not part of Rhye's Expanded, just a version true to the original that adds more visual flavour).

I'd even consider doing (some or all of) the work myself for a personal version if someone could direct me to relevant guides (I have no modding experience).

They've been suggested before and I believe it hasn't been done for file size, loading time, and game speed. On one hand I like White Rabbit's mod for its own value and flavour, but on the other half the models are fictitious and it messes up the unit list. Independent states and barbarians will create the default units anyway, so in a way it would cause more 'realism' problems than it would solve.

That said, if it didn't affect loading time it would be a nice addition.

It was done for the Civ3 edition of the mod, so I doubt it will be rabidly avoided for the Civ4.

You're right, it was a very nice touch then, and I hope we see it again. And Rhye could always split it into two files for dl, so that you would only need to dl the artpack once, or something.

That's a very reasonable suggestion, though I'm not sure what the specifics are (it could be more complicated, but hopefully it isn't ).

You could pak the art files like in vanilla civ. I think falvored units would be an excellent addition. Putting my 2 favorite mods together would be awesome.

it currently has a very low priority. First many others things must be done, including the 2nd UU.

Thanks for the response.

For those of you that aren't aware of the amazing work already done in this area, there's White Rabbit's Ethnically Diverse Units (EDU) Mod. In fact, this is a huge graphical overhaul and has been included as a component in many other projects. Not only does it include dozens of extremely high quality ethnically diverse units, but there are also new castles, palaces and (soon) new city sets! Here's a link for anyone interested in the file and some screen shots: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=926

Also, there has been concern that incorporating ethnically diverse units into Rhye's and Fall of Civilization would dramatically increase the mod's size. That's actually untrue, as the White Rabbit's whole EDU Mod is only 12 MB! The Warlords version of Rhye's by itself is over 34 MB.

In the meantime, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that these two mods will eventually be combined.

I noticed last time that the Oriental City set was incorporated into this mod. Since that is the case, it may be useful to direct your attention to this new city set, which also looks amazing !

Welcome to Mesoamerica! http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197404

It's great that he's going to focus on citysets as well. Do you know if there are any plans to make an Indian set?

I haven't heard about that specifically, but with the Mediterranean and Far Eastern city art already included in the game and Mesoamerican/Middle Eastern sets created by other members of the community, there's only so much left to do.

In fact, there's even a Viking city set out there!

Phallus said:

It's great that he's going to focus on citysets as well. Do you know if there are any plans to make an Indian set?

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I reaaly want an indian city set. I asked Chamaedrys to possibly put it on his list of to do. We'll see how it plays out.