Planeshift's Dumb Mod

A big thanks to the Civilization community, especially on the civfanatics forums. Without them, this mod would not be possible.

Special thanks to the creators of Fall from Heaven for Civilization IV, and the subsequent "modmods", especially Fall Further and Rise from Erebus.
You made me lose many precious hours of my life, and inspired me to do the same to other people one day. Thanks for that

Another thank you to FramedArchitect, whoward69, Gazebo and Pazyryk from the civfanatics forums, and so many other that added to the overall knowledge of the modders.
Their continuous contributions allowed me to work on this project. Especially the DLL from whoward : let's be honest, without him, this wouldn't exist.

I was inspired by many projects, and I revamped codes from many mods. Here is the list of the "biggest" mods I used to copy code from (among other things) :
- Community Call To Power (CCTP), for the categorized techtree based on the original one by Firesforever
- Community Patch (and all "derived" mods), for too many things.
- Éa, for the basic database especially.
- Faerun, the "original" (as in one of the first) fantasy mod for Civ 5 that was updated for each expansion.

As of now, there are 8 new Civilizations, all fully playable (not all fully tested though, especially the Vennor). I compiled here some basic informations and some quick tips. Note that, for Unique (Units and buildings), I only added the difference with the base unit/building. For example, +1 Culture from the Catacombs mean it gives +2 Culture and +1 Faith (compared to the +1 Culture and Faith from the Cemetery).

Ambeldia
Leader – Elvianne (Female)

Trait – Magic Supremacy
+10 % Magic Proficiency for all your Arcane Units, and you train Arcane Units 15% faster. Whenever you finish researching a Technology that unlocks a new domain of Magic, all your current Arcane Units gain access to that domain.

Unique Unit – Arcane Student
Replaces the Adept. Slightly higher Magic Proficiency. Start with the Promotion « Arcane Study », which doubles the experience gained from spells.

Unique Unit – Wielder of Fire
Replaces the Swordsman. Less Strength, but do not require Iron and start with « Fire Hand », which gives it Magic Proficiency and the ability to use Fireball. This Promotion is lost upon upgrade.

Unique Unit – Battle Mage
Replaces the Arcanist. Higher Strength than normal. Can use the Spell « Empowerement », which grants the Spellcaster Strength based on its Magic Proficiency and gives it the ability to attack in Melee.

Unique Unit – Alchemist's Mortar
Replaces the Cannon. Available at Alchemy instead of Gunpowder. Range of 3 instead of 2, higher Ranged Strength.

Unique Building – Ambeldian College
Replaces the School of Philosophy. Slightly more Culture and Science, and Arcane Units trained in the City receive the Promotion « Arcane Study ».

Unique Building – Fantasmagorical Zoo
Replaces the Zoo. Slightly less Maintenance, and provides additional Tourism and Culture.

About Ambeldia :

A Civilization prone on magic warfare, Ambeldia has some incredible tools to get an edge in wars, mostly with Unique Arcane Units who simply crush every opponent with their spells. However, the sad truth is that Arcane Units are still weak in melee combat, so you still have to take care of them or your incredible wizard army will simply die to some well-aimed bullets in their heads.

Balchevia

Leader - Sofia (female)

Trait – Endless Study
After researching Education, whenever you research a new Technology, you gain your current Science output towards any new technology. If you're the first to discover the Technology, the bonus is doubled.

Unique Unit – Balchevian Crossbowman
Replaces the Crossbowman. Cheaper than the Crossbowman. Can attack twice a turn, but its attack are greatly reduced against Cities.

Unique Unit - Doshtenov
Replaces the Caravel. Way cheaper to build. Additional movement and sight range, but this is lost upon upgrading.

Unique Building – Balchevian University
Replaces the University. One additional Scientist slot, +5% Science.

Unique Building – Book Binder
Replaces the Printing Works. +10% Culture, +10% Science. Whenever you create a Great Work, the City produces its current output of Culture in Culture.

Unique Building - Balchevian Academy of Magic
Replaces the School of Wizardry. One Scientist slot. +15% Production towards Arcane Units.

Unique Building - Balchevian Mindshop
Replaces the Factory. Grants +2 Science. Whenever you discover a new Technology from the Industry and Army category, you gain additional Production in this City equals to twice its current output in Production. Only works when training Units or constructing Buildings.

About the Balchevian :

Overpowered or not, I don't know, but their trait sure gives them an incredible edge in Research, making them as versatile as you wish them to be. However, they pay the price of not having any amazing unique units nor incredible buildings, compensating slightly for their trait.

Hacinkar

Leader - Akdabet (male)

Trait – Zealous Preachers
Whenever you add a new Belief to your Religion, free Missionaries appear in your Holy City (or a random City you own with this Religion as its Majority). The number of Missionaries depends on the type of Belief (Major or Minor) and the size of the Map.

Unique Improvement - Kocayla
Cannot be built adjacent to another Kocayla. +2 Faith. +1 Science with Scientific Theory. +1 Gold with Economics. Can also be improved by various unique Buildings.

Unique Unit – Faith Warden
Replaces the Priest. Slightly higher Strength than the Priest, and can Attack. Starts with the Promotion « Faithful Guardian », increasing its Strength and Faith Proficiency by 15% when in Friendly Lands.

Unique Unit - Purificator
Replaces the Fanatic. Whenever this Unit captures a City, if you have a Religion, it fully converts the City to your Religion. Can only occur once per Purificator.

Unique Building – Uluktas Canals
Replaces the Aqueduct. +1 Food on Kocayla. Whenever a new Citizen is born in this City, if you have a Religion, you gain +1% Food in Kept Food for every follower of your Religion in this City (maximum of 10%).

Unique Building – Underground Hearth
Replaces the Foundry. +1 Production on Kocayla. Whenever the City finishes constructing a building, if you have a Religion, you gain +1 Production kept in Overflow Production for every follower of your Religion in this City.

Unique Building – Chamber of Echoes
Replaces the Opera. +1 Culture on Kocayla. Whenever you adopt a new Policy, if you have a Religion, you gain +3 Culture for every follower of your Religion in this City.

About Hacinkar :

Probably one of my favorite civs I worked on so far, the Hacinkarate use the very unique Kocayla, and boost it through various buildings and technologies. However, to truly master the Hacinkar and benefit fully from their various strengths, you NEED a Religion, so you NEED to rush for it. But once you do so, you can reap the benefits quite easily, and expand your Religion way beyond your borders.

Korwatze

Leader - Vleid (male)

Trait – Glorious Tomorrows
Whenever you enter a new Era, you enter a short (5 turns) Golden Age. While in a Golden Age, your Great People spawn 20% faster.

Unique Improvement – Pillar of Light
Can only be built adjacent to a Luxury Resource, and cannot be built next to another Pillar of Light. Requires Construction. Grants +2 Golden Age points and +1 Culture. With Nationalism, gain +2 Golden Age points, +1 Culture and +1 Gold.

Unique Unit – Korwatzen Marksman
Replaces the Sharpshooter. Higher Range. Starts with the Promotion « Indirect Fire ».

Unique Unit – Dawn Rider
Replaces the Cavalry. Gains Golden Age points when it defeats a Unit. Additional vision range.

Unique Building – Dreams Seller
Replaces the Apothecary. +25% towards Great People, +1 Happiness.

Unique Building – Heroes' Memorial
Replaces the Stadium. The City produces three times its current output in Culture whenever you expend a Great Person.

Unique Building - Dramasphere
Replaces the Cinema. Provides additional Golden Age points per Citizen.

About Korwatze :

A Civilization meant to pump Golden Ages after Golden Ages. Basically, if all goes smoothly, you just ride from one Golden Age into the other. However, as great as it is to be in more Golden Ages than anyone else, you still need to win the game, and you got to capitalize on this unique strength to do so. Fortunately, the Korwatzen got enough tools to reach for any kind of victory, making them quite versatile in the end, but still lacking a decisive strength.

Mektair

Leader – Elkazir (male)

Trait – Aspect of Death
Your Religious Spellcasters Units have access to Necromancy spells. Gain Faith and Culture whenever you consume a Great Person.


Unique Unit – Death Caller
Replaces Monk. +50% Strength against Wounded Units.

Unique Unit – Flesh Golem
Replaces Golem. Heals at double rate, and heals whenever it kills a unit.

Unique Building – Catacombs
Replaces Cemetery. +1 Culture. +3 Production with Goety.

Unique Building – Mausoleum
Replaces Crypt. +1 Production, Religious Units are trained 20% faster.

Unique Building – Halls of the Dead
Replaces Necromancer's Tower. Arcane Units start with both Black Magic and Necromancy. Costs less (both in Production and Maintenance).

Unique Building – Flesh Sculptor
Replaces Museum. Improves Culture output, Happiness, and a slightly higher Tourism output.

About the Mektair :

The Mektair are mostly about Necromancy. They can go to war, but it's just easier for them to stay in their corner and focus on Religion and Magic. They get excellent bonus from those technologies, and can really pump up a lot of Skeletons from their Religious Spellcasters to defend themselves.

Objazii

Leader – Juhïn (female)

Trait – Patronage of the Arts
Merchants provide +2 Culture. Whenever you expend a Great Merchant, you gain points towards a new Great Artist in your Capital.


Unique Unit – Bounty Hunter
Replaces the Composite Bowman. Deals less damage against cities, but increased damaged against land units. Gains 75% of the Strength of defeated Units as Gold.

Unique Unit – Court Sorcerer
Replaces the Sorcerer. Has the Promotion «Enchanted Festivities», which improves the Culture, Tourism and Happiness of Cities the unit is Garrisoned in. Also has a high boost in City Defense.

Unique Building – Objazii Market
Replaces the Market. Provides more Gold from Trade Routes. Two merchants slots (instead of one).

Unique Building – Great Vault
Replaces the Bank. Same stats as the Bank, but with two additional slots for Great Works. When placed in the Great Vault, they don't provide Culture nor Tourism, but instead provide more Gold.

Unique Building – Cabaret
Replaces the Opera. +1 Culture per 4 Population. +15% Great Person Rate.

Unique Building – Objazii Hotel
Replaces the Hotel. One Merchant slot, generate straight Tourism and more Tourism from the Culture from Improvements and from the Great Works.

About the Objazii :

The goal is to get filthy rich and have way more culture than everyone else. With that, you can do whatever you want, even if you don't have the Military (just buy it) or the Techs. The Objazii are, of course, most suited for the Culture Victory, but they still have some room for some other options.

Shodumbre

Leader – Linmeya (female)

Trait - Soul of the Forest
+1 Food on Forests, +1 Production on Jungles. Non-Ranged Infantry Units get the promotion Woodsman.


Unique Improvement- Plant a Forest.
Replaces Farm. Plant a Forest on a valid tile.

Unique Unit – Druid.
Replaces Priest. Slightly higher strength, start with the spell Summon Treant.

Unique Unit – Ranger
Replaces Crossbowman. Can fire without being hindered by obstacles and moves twice as fast in Forest and Jungle tiles.

Unique Unit – Ent
Replaces Golem. Higher movement and combat strength in Forests and Jungles.

Unique Building – Paper Maker
Replaces Library. No maintenance, provide +2 Gold compared to the Library.

Unique Building – Carpenter's Shop
Replaces Brickworks. No base raw Production, but +1 Production on Forest Tiles.

About the Shodumbre :

The first Civilization I made for the mod! They're best suited for expansion, due to their lack of farms which greatly stop their ability to grow quickly. Expanding is key, and covering your empire with Forests tend to make you very hard to attack. With many productive cities thanks to the Carpenter's Shop, you tend to be able to suddenly flood the world with an army and get some quick and easy victories against unprepared opponents.

Vennor

Leader – Decius (male)

Trait – Peacekeepers

Gain a bonus in diplomatic relations to other Civilizations when you are at war with a Civilization with a higher Warmonger Threat than you, but you get a stronger diplomatic hit when yours is higher. Your Military Units gain 5% Strength per level of difference between your Warmonger Threat and the level of Warmonger Threat of other Civilizations (only the highest Threat is counted).


Unique Improvement – Bastion
Replaces the Citadel. Can be built outside of friendly territories, but not in land controlled by other players.

Unique Unit – Radiant Guard
Replaces the Spearman. Slightly higher Combat Strength, gain Golden Age points whenever it defeats Barbarian Units.

Unique Unit – Crusader
Replaces the Knight. Stronger outside Friendly Territories, and has a higher strength than the Knight.

Unique Building – Vennor Courthouse
Replaces Courthouse. Costs no Maintenance and has a slightly lower cost. Maintenance of Buildings reduced by 20% instead of 15%.

Unique Building – Vennor Castle
Replaces Castle. Slightly higher Defense. Provides a slight bonus to the Gold and Science generated by the City.

Unique Building – House of War
Replaces Military Academy. Costs less than the Military Academy. +30% Production towards all Military Units.

About the Vennor :

Clearly inspired by the Bannor from Fall from Heaven (they even have Decius as their leader...), the Vennor are, despite their trait, best suited for a Domination Victory. However, you should not rush it, and should just use your big advantage against other early warmongerers to stomp them. Then, as soon as all opposition is firmly stopped, you can just forget about your worries, spam some Houses of War, and declare War to everyone on your path to World Dom... Peace. I mean World Peace.

Two new main lines of units appeared: Religious Units and Arcane Units. Arcane Units use magic to cast their spells, and as such, use a new stat: Magic Proficiency. Religious Units use their own stats to cast their miracles: Faith Proficiency. Both are identical in the end, but Faith Proficiency is more variable and (as soon as I'll do the code) will depend much more on the Faith of your Empire. As such, a pious empire will benefit much more from his Religious spellcasters, while Arcane Units are more of a constant.

Moreover, Religious Units do not cast the same spells as Arcane Units (unless you get some Faith Powers). They can unlock new domains via some technologies (right now, none), but mostly through Faith and some Beliefs (a few are now available). On the other hand, Arcane Units unlock all of their domains via new technologies, but require experience earned through combat and repetitive casting to learn the spells.

Slightly less important, and barely related to Spellcasting but on the subject of Religious Units: a secondary line of Religious Units exist, and it's a «figthing» kind. Composed of the Monk/Fanatic/Mystic and the Avatar (a special case, given it's also the end of the Religious Spellcasters), those units are supposed to have their strength depend on the Faith of your empire. It's not coded, but eyh, at least, you know I intend to do so.

Arcane spellcasting relies on the idea of domains of magic, with subcategories, and an appropriate knowledge and mastery from the spellcaster. The basic line of arcane spellcasters is:

Novice > Adept > Magician > Sorcerer > Arcanist > Archmage

Novices can barely cast any spells.
Adepts have Magic 1, and can cast the first spell from domains they know.
Magicians have Magic 2, and can cast the first two spells from domains they know.
Etc.

The main domains are, as of now: Elementalism, White Magic, Black Magic. More are designed on the paper, but those are the basic ones.

In Elementalism, the sub-domains are Fire, Water, Earth and Air. As such, if an Adept has knowledge of Fire, he can cast Burn, the basic Fire spell, and Fireball, the level 2 Fire spell. If he becomes a Magician, he'll learn how to cast the level 3 spell.

Important note : Whenever you research Elementalism, all existing Arcane Units that you own receive the Elementalism Promotion. However, afterwards, only units trained in a City with a House of the Elementalists receive the Promotion for free.

Great Prophets are not used for improving your Religion anymore. As of now, they are only used to spread your Religion (they'll get new abilities tied to the new Religion later on). To unlock new Beliefs, you simply need to reach a threshold. However, you are free to found and improve your religion whenever you feel like it. Faith generation has been greatly increased in the mod, but so are the choices: do you further improve your religion, or do you use your faith to buy more places of worship and religious units?

With a Fundamental Belief, three Major Beliefs and six Minor Beliefs, your Religion can be fully customized and ready to be spread to the rest of the world.

Note that some Beliefs are Unique (meaning only one Religion can have it), some are Places of Worship (you can only have one of that kind), some empower your Religious Units (by giving them access to various spells ; you can also only have one of that kind). Most of the Minor Beliefs are not unique, most of the beliefs affect both followers and founders, etc. Religion is more versatile, and not only useful for the one who founds it.

Dev Blog #1

As of now, the mod is in technical alpha. This means a LOT OF THINGS ARE MISSING, INCOMPLETE OR BUGGY. This is of course normal, but I hope you'll keep that in mind when playing and testing the mod. This is also my first mod, so... yeah.

I'll use this first Dev Blog to talk about the mod. Mostly, the design.


I have two goals in mind when I'm doing this mod.

First and foremost, I want to keep the design as simple as the base game. This does not mean I want it to be «easy» or «dumbed down». This means I want it to be as accessible as possible for all the players. The core functionalities will NOT be changed: happiness will stay the same, military units will use 1UPT, etc. Although CivV was criticized a lot, and with reason, and many mods intended to rework those core designs, I do not intend to do so. I will build my mod upon the core functionalities of Civilization, and will only do slight changes to them (for example, Civilian Units can stack, but you can't have two Workers working on the same tile).

I have many reasons to want the design « simple». A simple design is, of course, easily accessible, but I mostly want it to be easy to understand. That does not mean, however, that I want it to be easy to master.

I'll point out two things that I have seen about changing a core functionality to try to address a design issue in Civilization V. Both mods I'll take as example are trying to change how happiness work, to better balance it in the game (we all know happiness is not very well done).

On one hand, there's the Community Balance Path. Although I enjoy playing it and think it's fantastic, its happiness system is extremely complex, and, despite all the tooltips and all the information, simply a pain for the player. It shuts down a lot of strategies that were possible in the base game, and it seems like trying to make the citizens happy is a never-ending battle. It sure works, however, and it makes sense, both in a game context and a somewhat realistic context. But it's pretty hard to master, feels a bit random at times, and is a bit hard to explain: «you get unhappiness from cities based on the current levels of various yields ratio per citizen in the city compared to the median levels of those ratios in the world, and the further down you are compared to the norm the more unhappiness you get, but you have things to alleviate it in some specific ways...»

On the other hand, I'll point out the now long-dead Civilization NiGHTS mod. Which had this very simple system: All citizens generate happiness. Cities generate a lot of unhappiness, and Military Units produce some Unhappiness.

Sure, the happiness system from the Community Balance Patch is probably the «best» one. It's working, it has a lot of variables that allow for precise control of what the player can do, and it makes «sense». But if I had to choose? I'd take the system from NiGHTS. It does not address all the issues, but it is very easy to understand, and it's still doing its job rather nicely.

That's not to say all design choices from NiGHTS are good, far from it. But it's a rather good example of what I mean by «simplicity in design».


The second thing, which is way more important than the first, is that I want the mod to be fun. I want to make a world where magic and science become one, and see what happens to it when we play a game in that. I want new Civilizations, all as unbalanced as in Fall from Heaven II and the subsequent modmods, and see what happens when several avatars battle it out with an army of mech powered by magic. I want people to engage in this world, which is mysterious and not really defined apart from some snippets here and there, and play just because it is fun. Yes, I want to rebalance Religion so we can fully customize it, I want people to have choices when it comes to research or social policies and not always take the same things again and again because the design is just poorly executed, I want the IA to be a real threat from time to time and not just something you can toy around, I want the diplomacy victory to feel significant and not just «lemme flood those city-states with gold 'til it's time to vote for me», I want the Tourism victory to feel a bit more active and not just «let's do the same thing again and again because that's the only thing that works».

But above all, I want it to be fun. If I have to correct some issues that I have with the base design along the way, then so be it. I'll do it. Or at least try, and fail spectaculary if nothing else.

Let's see where this goes.