Adjusted UA's for BNW- No New UU's

America needs some tweak. I've always liked an idea that makes Roads give extra gold to Forts and Trade Posts on them, because of America's Oregon Trail with the string of forts and later the Interstate system that spans the country.

Germany: I'd like them to be able to assign a free Engineer specialist in any city with more than 5 citizens: It's not immediate on every civ but it provides a production boost and increases chances of a Great Engineer, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Dutch: Their sea trade routes need to produce bonus happiness for each luxury in a city they are trading with that's not in their empire already. It will make the Dutch very interested in getting trade routes to ports with variety of resources, replicating the Dutch East India Company. Also, Dutch trade ships should have some defense, enough they can sail clear of a barbarian attack.

India: Just lower the penalty for founding unhappiness and you have the effect, effortlessly grow REALLY tall cities. Instead of using your religion to supply happiness or buying happiness buildings use those things to further you on to victory.

Mongolia: Double yield from bullying city States. Twice as much gold or two captives, one who becomes a worker and one that increases the population in the nearest city.
 
I mostly made my suggestions on the basis of theme and diversity rather than game balance.
Perhaps the Aztecs would need something a little extra.

Aztec
Sacrificial Captives: Gain Faith whenever an enemy unit is killed & You may always purchase melee land units with faith.

Also I expected most people would recognize the America suggestion as a joke and criticism of current foreign policy rather than a genuine idea
 
I mostly made my suggestions on the basis of theme and diversity rather than game balance.
Perhaps the Aztecs would need something a little extra.

Aztec
Sacrificial Captives: Gain Faith whenever an enemy unit is killed & You may always purchase melee land units with faith.

Also I expected most people would recognize the America suggestion as a joke and criticism of current foreign policy rather than a genuine idea

It is a little hard to tell what with the other suggestions being inventive and interesting (especially the Arabian one) which of the many is purely satirical.
 
This has been stated before and I'll reiterate the flaw with this UA. It promotes bad play. Think about any rational play and imagine how often that second part of the UA will actually kick in. Are you ever going to rationally get a unit killed just to get some free culture? How often do units, especially Japanese units, get killed? If you are any position to win the game, the answer will be little to never. Even if you go out of your way to actually find some use of this UA, you'll find only a few opportunities that getting a unit killed will help you, namely faster Liberty finisher and Rationalism openers. If the UA will almost never kick in, why add it in anyway? Maybe, +1 :c5culture: for every unit below 50% health or something similar.

This does not promote bad play. It's merely an option to consider, or an insurance policy on the unit in the worst case scenario.

No, I wouldn't go out of my way to get my unit killed. But if it did get killed, I get culture. So that's nice. Plus, there's an incentive to sacrifice a unit in a last ditch charge, which suits the Japanese play style well.

There's also the new culture mechanic to consider: not only is the culture good for unlocking social policies, but it is also useful for protection against outside influence. Game-play wise, it's fine. At the very least it won't hurt.

In any case, the original effect of Bushido is still the star here; my addition merely complements it.

Japan is designed to wage war in this game. During war, units will die. Japan gets a culture boon if a unit dies. Why not?

Below is some additional text from one of my previous posts.

Spoiler :
Unique Ability
"Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning." -Yamamoto Tsunetomo

I believe my modification to Japan’s base Bushido UA introduces several facets to Japan, making Japan more nuanced and better reflective, historically and culturally, of its real-life counterpart. By simply adding in a Culture boost on the death of each military unit, I’ve roughly symbolized each of the following:

Seppuku - A unit's defeat could be seen as the leader's suicide, so as to maintain his honor. The resultant boost to culture is appropriate.

Shintoism – By no means the main aspect of Shintoism, Japan’s pre-Buddhist belief system does exhibit ancestor worship. Dead military units ought to carry some sort of cultural bonus.

Isolationism – Japan was remarkably resistant to outside influence, maintaining a policy of isolationism for much of its history. This period of isolationism ended around the 1850s when American Naval Officer, Commodore Matthew Perry, demanded that Japan open itself to Western trade. The bonus from dead military units can help represent the self-imposed cultural insulation that Japan adopted. With the way that culture defends against tourism in BNW, this would be highly appropriate.

Banzai Charges and Kamikazes – WWII saw a resurgence in Japanese nationalism, and a revitalization of Samurai with a healthy dose of Romanticism. Japanese soldiers, seamen, and pilots alike embraced the ideal of Bushido, including the willingness to die in combat. Death in combat by Japanese soldiers, and Kamikaze attacks by Japanese planes, would replicate both of these, and the player would choose to practice both because of the incentive that the Cultural bonus offers.

Overall, the idea of Bushido is strongly reinforced because the player is given an incentive to use his military units in a way that demands him to press the attack instead of retreat, better reflecting the nature of Japanese mentality in warfare.



Mongolia is fine. Keshiks are beastly. Do people really want to buff Mongolia that much? They have Keshiks and Khans for goodness sakes. You must see UA's as part of a civ, along with UU's and UB's, rather than just as a standalone.

Believe me, I see UA's as part of the larger whole. I don't think my suggestion was overpowered. The bonus against City-States is just stupid, however. Who needs a 30% bonus against a CS? My revised UA scales down the combat bonus, makes it effective only against cities, and has the additional condition of only coming into effect if the city in question shares a border with you. This helps the Mongols conquer more generally (not just against CSs) and promotes a contiguous empire (as they were historically).

Mongolia is strong, sure, but if they're not rocking the Keshik/Khan combo in the Medieval Era, they're pretty lackluster.
 
You also seem to have a few number mixed up. Cities become happiness neutral in comparison to other civs at 6 (Normal civ: 3+6=0, India: 6+3=9). When your cap is 12+, then it would have paid off for the initial hit to your 2nd city from your UA (Normal civ: 3+12=15 India: 6+6=12). Your 3rd city is paid for when the combined totals of your first two cities is 18 (Normal civ: 3+3+18=24 India: 6+6+9=21).

Now, with Tradition, the numbers are skewed drastically, with every two pop being neutralized, but even then you have to remember that you must first neutralize the initial happiness hit. You numbers are correct when counting in Monarchy, but you fail to negate the initial happiness hit when you founded your first city. You will need 6 population to pay off your first city, and 9 to pay off your third.

India would be fine if by the point wherein you reach the settling phase you have a pop 9 capital. The question is, do you have a pop 6/9 capital to pay off your UA? If not, you're playing with a happiness deficit in the period where happiness is most vital. There's also the matter of initial happiness. With India, you must get your first luxury resource up and running or else you stagnate at 3 population, unlike other civs that would normally stagnate at 6 or 6 population for India with Monarchy and 12 population for everyone else with Monarchy meaning even with Monarchy, you must improve a luxury tile.

I actually have to correct you on a couple of things.

First of all, unhappyness is rounded down in civ5.
This means if you have 1/2 :c5unhappy: then it gets rounded down to 0.

What this translates to for India is that they will have 2 :c5happy: surplus at Pop 4 in their capital on immortal/deity.

5 pop: 2 :c5happy:
6 pop: 1 :c5happy:
7 pop: 1 :c5happy:
8 pop: 0 :c5happy:
9 pop: 0 :c5happy:

That is base happyness without any luxuries/policies or natural wonders.
You can easily get monarchy around pop 5-6 depending on your start, and in most 4 city NC starts you will not pop a settler before 5-6 anyways.

Any new city you settle will cost you 5 :c5unhappy: (not 6), that means if you have at least one luxury next your capital (with monarchy), you will be at 3 :c5happy:.

Now for the math you did earlier.

For every other city to have equal :c5happy: as other civs, it needs to be 5 pop.

This means that in your example for a third city, you will require only 12 total pop from your first 2 cities for it to pay off. (for India 5+5+6 = 16, for XCiv 3 + 3 + 12 = 18).

The thing is however that with 4 city strats, you will choose premium locations for your cities, and assuredly get at least 1 luxury. What this means is that if you play a near normal 4 city NC opening, you will have no problems with happyness early on.
The fantastic thing is that as long as you manage your happyness properly, your capital will always be growing (since it is happyness neutral). Get 1-2 maritime CS and you are sitting very comfortably.
 
This does not promote bad play. It's merely an option to consider, or an insurance policy on the unit in the worst case scenario.

No, I wouldn't go out of my way to get my unit killed. But if it did get killed, I get culture. So that's nice. Plus, there's an incentive to sacrifice a unit in a last ditch charge, which suits the Japanese play style well.

There's also the new culture mechanic to consider: not only is the culture good for unlocking social policies, but it is also useful for protection against outside influence. Game-play wise, it's fine. At the very least it won't hurt.

In any case, the original effect of Bushido is still the star here; my addition merely complements it.

Japan is designed to wage war in this game. During war, units will die. Japan gets a culture boon if a unit dies. Why not?

The main problem is that to get any tangible bonus from that new aspect, that aspect either has to give a relatively large amount of culture per unit killed or that you must be actively getting your units killed. Even if you suppose the worst case scenario: an uphill battle where units die left and right and that your only strategy to overcome your enemy is through judicious maneuvering, better tactics, and a copious number of new recruits to send to the meat grinder, I mean front, you still won't get as tangible a bonus as say, the Aztecs. The Aztecs work because the early bonus culture from killing units comes at the early game, where the culture values are still small for SP's. Because of this, you can gain a tangible advantage in culture, especially if you opt for the Honor opener. The addition to Japan's UA however will likely kick in somewhere in the mid-game, as in the early game you cannot really afford to lose any units unless absolutely necessary. At this point, it runs into the same problem as the Aztecs do in the mid to late game, that their UA peters out. Assuming a 1:1 unit strength to culture ratio, you will likely never get enough culture to get more than one SP unless you are in perpetual war. Even then, it will likely be always less than the gains from the Aztecs while also requiring you to lose production/gold in the process. A valid UA addition I suppose, but not necessarily worth adding for the unusually situational and constrained parameters behind it (if you were to play successfully, i.e. 'successful' wars that did not drag on against a technologically superior foe, there would be little to no distinguishable difference if that addition never existed to begin with). It comes a little late, and would require an unusual amount of attention (or lack thereof) to truly leverage, though as an addition it would make sense. We have America and its disjointed UA, after all.

I actually have to correct you on a couple of things.

First of all, unhappyness is rounded down in civ5.
This means if you have 1/2 :c5unhappy: then it gets rounded down to 0.

What this translates to for India is that they will have 2 :c5happy: surplus at Pop 4 in their capital on immortal/deity.

5 pop: 2 :c5happy:
6 pop: 1 :c5happy:
7 pop: 1 :c5happy:
8 pop: 0 :c5happy:
9 pop: 0 :c5happy:

That is base happyness without any luxuries.
You can easily get monarchy around pop 5-6 depending on your start, and in most 4 city NC starts you will not pop a settler before 5-6 anyways.

Any new city you settle will cost you 5 :c5unhappy: (not 6), that means if you have at least one luxury next your capital (with monarchy), you will be at 3 :c5happy:.

Now for the math you did earlier.

For every other city to have equal :c5happy: as other civs, it needs to be 5 pop.

This means that in your example for a third city, you will require only 12 total pop from your first 2 cities for it to pay off. (for India 5+5+6 = 16, for XCiv 3 + 3 + 12 = 18).

The thing is however that with 4 city strats, you will choose premium locations for your cities, and assuredly get at least 1 luxury. What this means is that if you play a near normal 4 city NC opening, you will have no problems with happyness early on.
The fantastic thing is that as long as you manage your happyness properly, your capital will always be growing (since it is happyness neutral). Get 1-2 maritime CS and you are sitting very comfortably.

Thanks for the correction. It seems bits of my India UA facts were either old or incomplete, sorry for that. The Monarchy happiness in particular threw all my numbers out of order. The numbers don't lie, the Indian UA gives a distinct, if delayed, bonus to happiness and settling. Apart from the Golden Age happiness (which is hardly worth anything in the first 50 turns) India, assuming normal play, would receive a tangible bonus in the early game. I still dislike the Indian UA for various reasons, but I can see that it does give useful bonuses.
 
Here's my attempt at new UAs for all civs that I can think of a rework for:

America-Manifest Destiny-Settlers do not slow down city growth. All land units have +1 sight. Tiles are 50% cheaper to purchase.

Arabia-Trade Caravans-Double Science from Trade Routes. Oil resources provide double quantity.

Aztec-Triple Alliance-Allied City-States provide units in wartime, double quantity if militaristic. Conquered cities only give half the amount of unhappiness.

Babylon-Hammurabi's Code-Recieve a Great Scientist upon the discovery of Writing. +2 Happiness in cities with double science to population.

Byzantine-Patriarchate of Constantinople-May add beliefs to a religion that has already been founded. Choose an additional belief when first selecting a religion.

That's about as far as I got. Oh well.
 
America
UA: We the people

You can adopt an ideology upon the research of economy, you start with an additional tier 2 tennant when adopting an ideology

- More flavourful UA with a great flexibility and a focus in the mid - late game era

Germany
UA: Renanian capitalism

Land international trade routes generates production and science (dependant of their gold yield)

- A way to reflect both Germanys industrial and commercial prowess, while giving a boon to the poor land trade routes

Arabia
UA: Trade caravans

Land trade routes yields +25% more gold and exert +50% more religious preassure. You gain an additional trade route upon the completion of the piety SP tree

- Huge incentives for both adopting a religion and trading, not to mention that it provides a great synergy with saudi arabias UB

Holland
East India company

Sea trade routes have an increased 50% radious, trade routes with CS yields food

- A good way to represent the Dutch expertise at trading and to put them in a collision route against Portugal to :p

India
UA: Sacred rivers

Riverside cities yields 2 faith each, grows at +10% faster

- Not my own idea, but it is worth trying
 
Mongolia is strong, sure, but if they're not rocking the Keshik/Khan combo in the Medieval Era, they're pretty lackluster.

Mongolia isn't strong, it's the best domination civ in the game. The Keshik is the best UU by a long shot, with the only thing that is even somewhat competitive being the Camel archer. Throw in the Khans and the +1 movement that the UA grants them and you've basically already won.
 
I think with the new trade/caravan system in place, Songhai could be due for a rehaul.

UA: Treasures of Timbuktu
Gains extra :c5gold: from land trade routes and extra :c5science: from ITRs with cities that share the same religion.
 
Already posted this in another thread but Germany could receive a Hanseatic League UA that improves their ITRs with city states or a Holy Roman Empire UA that reduces the unhappiness from puppeting.

More ideas:

Russia: Ruska Pravda - Reduces the Social Policy cost modifier for amount of cities
(Ruska Pravda was the fairly advanced code of law in use during the Kievan Rus period)

America: Melting pot - Receives :c5culture: for each different civ they have a trade route with
 
Byzantium: Gain 1 extra belief when founding a religion. Can found a religion even if 5 have already been founded.

India: 3/4 the unhappiness from number of citizens (might be a little unbalanced, I am not sure).
 
I posted this American UA in another thread, just really wanted to share it and include a little more on topic discussion for why I would enjoy it.

American UA (Name Pending): If liberating a conquered city back to its original owner get bonus X, Y or Z (something balanced). Can also "liberate" cities that belong to other civs if they follow an ideology different from yours. Cities liberated in this other way become a new city state with enough influence towards you to be allied for 5 turns. Additional cities liberated in this way (from the same civilization) join the original city state, increasing your influence. Capital cities cannot be turned into city states.

There are a huge number of reasons I like this idea. First of all, gameplay. I can't imagine anything more exciting as a late game dynamic than America starting to steam roll towards a diplomatic, domination, cultural, or scientific victory because of their interest in taking part in world affairs (as opposed to turtling or just taking everything over). Even if going for domination you could liberate crap cities into a conglomerated city state that can help you in other ways. With civs like Austria and Venice and Mongolia that can take over city states through various means, this provides America the unique opportunity to create them by liberating them from opposing ideologies.

I won't get too much into history because it always turns into an off topic debate, but it can be argued that the US has used this strategy somewhat in West Germany, South Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan - perhaps even the Phillapines, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. It has also had its hand in the governmental affairs of many other countries, attempting, in game terms, to make them into city-state allies (as opposed to conquering them). It is in this vein that it would be cool to see American strategies develop using all 3 ideologies.

Fun Ideological Tenets to pair with this UA specifically:

Spoiler :
Autocracy:
United Front; Militaristic CS give units twice as often when at war with common foe.
Nationalism; Unit maintenance reduced by 33%.
Total War; +25% production for military units. New units get +15 XP.
Cult of Personality; +50% Tourism to civs fighting a common enemy. (Cool if you can pull it off diplomatically. Also do city states get ideologies?)
Gunboat Diplomacy; Gain 6 more influence (standard speed) than normal from CSs you could demand tribute from.

Freedom:
Covert Action; Chance of CS election rigging doubled.
Economic Union; +3 gold for each trade route with another civ with Freedom. (Again, do city states get ideologies?)
Arsenal of Democracy; +25% production when building military units. +20 influence from gifting units to CSs.
Treaty Organization; Gain 4 more influence per turn (standard speed) with CSs you have pledged to protect.

Order:
Patriotic War; +15% attack bonus in friendly territory.
Cultural Revolution; +34% Tourism to other Order civs. (City states?)


Also the patronage tree would pair very nicely with the ability to create city states, especially because you can create very powerful city states that are contributing science to you and gifting you great people.

The only things I'm not sure about are what bonus you should get for liberating a city back to its owner, whether that bonus should also apply when "liberating" a city from an opposing ideology (creating a CS), and what type of city state should be created (random?). Also it might be too scary if Austria or Venice wrested control of a potential behemoth you've created, though the happiness hit would likely bury them.

But with a civ like Venice in the game, I just think it's time for an American UA that is more interesting and ideologically relevant than +1 sight and cheaper tiles. Most people can agree on that.
 
America: Manifest Destiny

All land military units have +1 sight range. 50% discount when purchasing tiles.

+1 :c5food: from sources of Bananas, Cattle, Deer, Fish, Sheep, and Wheat and +1:c5production: from sources of Stone.


Simply makes the bonus resources more valuable for them, making them attractive to purchase for a quick and solid city foundation.

Ideally we would have an immigration system and America's UA would involve it.
 
Ideally we would have an immigration system and America's UA would involve it.

As in cheap labor from neighbors?

Jokes aside, I actually proposed them to get the "Melting pot" culture bonus by having international trade routes with as many different civs as they can, to simulate their culture being shaped by the cultural and ethnical diversity of immigrating people. I may be a bit too fond of suggesting cultural bonuses to civs but that one would actually suit America well.
 
Ideally we would have an immigration system and America's UA would involve it.

This would be a nice alternative to city flipping - when civs start getting discontented, then beyond the happiness drop, cities also start losing apples, which are given to nearby cities that are pressuring them. That way, exerting pressure is rewarded even if the cities don't flip.

But rather than build this into America's UA, I would like to see the immigration apples doubled via the Statue of Liberty wonder.

Not that this system would accurately portray the "cheap labor from neighbors" side of things, but apples are helpful.
 
I'd personally let it pull citizens away based on relative tourism and empire :c5happy:.

Or perhaps something more like this mod.
 
Personally, I think that I like the following UA for America:

Manifest Destiny
All units can gain the Settle City ability through a Unique Promotion.

Or, perhaps:

Manifest Destiny
Your Civilian Units gain the 'Expand Borders' ability.

Expand Borders - 7 turns base speed, claims the tile for you if currently unclaimed and adjacent to a claimed tile of yours.
 
America: Manifest Destiny

All land military units have +1 sight range. 50% discount when purchasing tiles.

+1 :c5food: from sources of Bananas, Cattle, Deer, Fish, Sheep, and Wheat and +1:c5production: from sources of Stone.


Simply makes the bonus resources more valuable for them, making them attractive to purchase for a quick and solid city foundation.

Ideally we would have an immigration system and America's UA would involve it.

Again, this is another set of bonuses without real aim, and feels like three add-ons to better UA's. The problem with America is not power, their UA is fine as it is as it provides useful bonuses, the problem is it has no aim and lacks tangibility. There is also the problem with giving +:c5food: in any UA. As far as I can tell, no UA directly provides extra :c5food: and for good reason, any UA with that does not require you to sacrifice something for it would be unduly powerful. Food=Population=Science, and in the game, science is everything.

Personally, I think that I like the following UA for America:

Manifest Destiny
All units can gain the Settle City ability through a Unique Promotion.

Or, perhaps:

Manifest Destiny
Your Civilian Units gain the 'Expand Borders' ability.

Expand Borders - 7 turns base speed, claims the tile for you if currently unclaimed and adjacent to a claimed tile of yours.

The former would kill any chance of America to defend itself in case of surprise invasion, as if every unit can Settle a City, every unit has the potential to be a Settler, and as such to balance it, every unit has to be treated to a Settler. Imagine Settler Warrior with four times the cost. That is what I imagine it will be like. Scout Settler, Worker Settler. You begin the game with an extra Warrior Settler. It's giant mess of problems.

Useful, and ideally helpful, though in practice would be near useless. This idea, implemented, can be hilariously overpowered, what with you being capable of using the UA to completely cordon off a foe from the outside world. Depending on how far you can do this, I can just use a Settler to come as close as possible to an enemy city, ideally their capital, and just go to town with the border expansion, effectively strangling them with their land. And this exploit just worsens with the growing number of Workers you have at your disposal. Even limited to just the three squares a city can work, this exploit still remains, with you just bumrushing the closest enemy capital (ideally a coastal one) with two to three Settlers and closing them off as fast as you can.
 
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