Native American Civ Poll

So, people are already speculating about what new civs we might get in a possible third expansion or DLC run, and since we got the Shoshone this time around, it stands to reason we might get another Native American civ. There's a poll in the BNW section, but considering we didn't know about the Shoshone then and it's no longer a BNW issue, I thought I would post a new poll. Please try to keep your choices to three or under.

Running total of other votes:

Chimu: 1
Purhepecha: 1
Olmec: 1
Tupi: 1
Arawak: 2
Zapotec: 1
Caral: 1

I think it's time to have a South America, the Tupi, the Mapuches or Arawak would be very good,
It would be a good option as the Olmec include advanced native tribe in Mexico

Haida for sure

I voted for Inuit because I think they'd offer the most interesting gameplay options. Though I didn't notice that I could vote for more than one before I submitted. I'd still like to see the Pueblo if they can work around the Popé issue (I like Luis Tupatu as an alternative leader, assuming similar issues don't surround him as well). Of course, I wasn't a fan of the Mountain-focus Firaxis was originally planning on giving them.

The Southeastern Mississippians might be another good cultural group to build from. A couple days ago I posted my musings on that idea, giving them "Cofitachequi of the Mississippians" as their leader, Apalachee Archers as their UU and Temple Mounds as their UB. I gave them Cahokia as their capital but I've since reconsidered that. If Cofitachequi is their leader, then Cofitachequi should be their capital as well. Cofitachequi the person was ruler of a large Mississippian chiefdom in what is now South Carolina, with at least two vassal chiefdoms loyal to her. So she was a prominent Mississippian leader, and we can always use a few extra female leaders. As an alternative, if you wanted to avoid the issue of a leader and capital having the same name, and perhaps narrow things down to a particular chiefdom there's also Tuscaloosa of Tuscaluza (Capital: Atahatchi). If Leader and Capital being the same isn't a problem, then there's also Coosa of Coosa (Capital: Coosa). The Chiefdoms of Tuscaluza and Coosa both have enough city names on their own to suffice. Cofitachequi would likely need to poach some from her vassals and neighbors to meet the quota if Cofitachequie of Cofitachequie (Capital: Cofitachequi) would be used.

Lastly, for the sake of diversity, I'd want either a Pacific Northwest nation (Haida, Tlingit, etc.) or another South American nation, especially the Mapuche. Technically, that's four or five suggestions (but only one vote), so I'll stop there.

Also, if I see that a few "other" options are popular enough and that some options that I gave definitely aren't, I can remake this poll in a week or two to better suite what people want.

I like the Shawnee because they're recognizable, what with Tecumseh as being the leader. The whole plains region may be done, but I think the Shawnee would be a good choice. I chose the Yanomami because they could have some interesting jungle benefits, and might come with an Amazon Rainforest natural wonder. Lastly, I like the Seminole because of their history of sheltering runaway slaves, their independent spirit, and the fact that we don't really have a swamp civ, because I don't really count the Dutch.

I think Haida are the tribe everyone knows very well without knowing they know about them as much as they do until reminded through Wiki or elsewhere

Here is google images of them and you'll see what I mean:

https://www.google.com/search?safe=...urce=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=J2DTUemMC8GQyAHYwYC4Dw

Yeah, I sort of see what you mean.

KreacherB749 said:

I like the Shawnee because they're recognizable, what with Tecumseh as being the leader. The whole plains region may be done, but I think the Shawnee would be a good choice.

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I wouldn't mind seeing the Shawnee, but as I've said before, Tecumseh wouldn't be a great leader for them. He was a charismatic leader who happened to be Shawnee himself, sure, but he had relatively little Shawnee support. I prefer Catecahassa (Black Hoof), who was regarded as the legitimate leader of the Shawnee at the time and who considered Tecumseh a usurper trying to stage a military coup. Of course, Tecumseh is more popular now among the Shawnee than he was then. The Eastern Shawnee include a panther on their seal because of him. And he's definitely more famous than the alternatives so I could see Firaxis doing it that way. But I'd still rather have him on the Great Generals list and leave the leader spot open to someone like Catecahassa.

Apache are different to what we have. Maybe requiring little food for population and using something else for development. And as opposed to Mongols (expansionist/aggressive), Shoshone (expansionist/pacifist) and Songhai (aggressive), the Apache can play as more of expansionist/isolationist and avoid most things involving other civs unless attacked.

Surprised the very famous and influential Utes have zero votes. I wonder if that has anything to do with the somewhat geographic overlap with the Shoshone

Personally, what surprises me is that the Haida are doing as well as the Inuit. That's not a slam on the Haida, but more of a musing that the Inuit aren't doing as well as I thought they would, considering they have more votes on the general poll than the Cherokee.

I voted Shawnee, Mapuche and Inuit, although most of the good Inuit leaders are still alive.
Also, a female leader for the Shawnee could be Nonhelema, but I don't know if she's as good of a choice as Tecumseh. Then again, we do have both of the Marias.

phaethon16 said:

Personally, what surprises me is that the Haida are doing as well as the Inuit. That's not a slam on the Haida, but more of a musing that the Inuit aren't doing as well as I thought they would, considering they have more votes on the general poll than the Cherokee.

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The Haida have had more direct cultural influence on regions where there is a greater population of civ players. That could factor in

The lack of mesoamerican civs in the poll makes me hold my vote, they are after all native to the continent.

First, I dont get it why people keep bringing up Olmecs, yes they were the first mesoamerican culture, yes they did create the calendar, yes they built piramids. But also, we dont know what they spoke, we dont know their leaders, just leyends, we dont know the names of their cities, we just dont know enough about them to include them in civ without very questionable creative parching.

Other very remarkable mesoamerican civilizations that have enough acomplishments (and we know a lot from) to be included in civ: Zapotecs, Purepechans, Toltecs, Totonacs and Mixtecs. And if they were on the poll I'd vote Zapotecs, they had their own writing system, incredible architecture, defensive structures, were the best mesoamerican goldsmiths and were as old as the Mayans, only they didnt collapse even after several invasions by other peoples, they are even today culturaly resilliant as hell. Purepechans come in close second for almost the same reasons.

As for the poll options, I'd go with Mapuche and Haida. I think both of them present very interesting recognizable cultures, and could do for very cool mechanics and UU,UB and UA.

So yeah.. wish list: Zapotecs, Haida, Mapuche.

seancolorado said:

Surprised the very famous and influential Utes have zero votes. I wonder if that has anything to do with the somewhat geographic overlap with the Shoshone

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I will always love, and vote for, the Ute, wherever a Ute fan is needed, I'll be there.

also voted for the inuit, because they're also cool.

seancolorado said:

The Haida have had more direct cultural influence on regions where there is a greater population of civ players. That could factor in

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I think that NA (excluding Mesoamerica) civilizations could be split into seven parts.

North: Inuit
Northwest: Haida
Northeast: Iroquois

Southwest: Pueblo
Southeast: Cherokee

North-Central: Shoshone
South-Central: Mississippian

While it could be split into smaller subsections to accommodate more tribes/civilizations, we can't really assume Firaxis will give up on Eurocentrism that much!

I voted for Haida and Mississippians. The Haida would be extraordinarily difficult because I understand there are about 55 native speakers. It's possible there might be a professor or somebody who could do it, though.

Anyway, I previously made a sales pitch for the Haida and the Mississippians, so I'll include that link for those who are on the fence about whether to vote for them:

Link

Mississippians:


Haida:

I voted for a few, but honestly the truth is the older I grow the less I care. Every nation is interesting in it's own way, and/or can be represented in Civ in an interesting way. As long as there's some geographical and timeline balance (i.e. not everything from Europe or everything from 5 century B.C.) I am fine with it. I'd like to see Sioux and I didn't care about Shoshone at all. Does it mean the game is less interesting to me now that they added Shoshone? Of course not.

Question for the Haida fans: what would their play style look like, and who would be their leader and what would be their capital? Actually, if every person could tell me this for their favorite native civ, that would be great.