Portugal: Lords of Exploration (v.1)

Portugal: Lords of Exploration (v.2)
by Joseph Miller (aka jaldaen)

-1- Description
-2- Potential Mod Conflicts
-3- Version History
-4- Credits
-5- Contact information

== Description ==

This mod adds Portugal as a playable civilization.

Leader: Manuel I, the Fortunate. King of Portugal and the Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India, etc.

Lords of Exploration (Unique Trait): Embarked units gain +2 movement and can defend. +1 Culture per turn from specailists in your Capital.

Explorador (Unique Unit): This Unit gains +1 movement and can build forts, trading posts, and all the luxury resource improvements, except for the quarry.

Feitoria (Unique Building): The Feitoria is the Portuguese unique building, replacing the Harbor. It increases it allows "water routes" (see rules) between cities, increases the city's defenses and naval unit production, and provides +1 Gold for each luxury resource worked by the city.

== Potential Mod Conflicts ==

This mod will conflict with other mods that add Portugal as a civilization.

If you notice any other conflicts, then please let me know.

== Version History ==

Version .2 Changes:
-Added unique player color and art resources for Portugal.
-Switched out the fast river movement in favor of granting +1 Great Merchant point per turn and free Great Merchant when you research Astronomy.
-I cut the Explorador's Foreign Lands bonus, but gave them +1 movement and allowed them to make trading posts and all the luxury resource improvements, except for the quarry.
-Switched Feitoria to become a replacement for the Harbor that provides a slight increase to defense and grants +1 gold for each luxury resource worked by the city.

Reasoning: I switched the river movement to GM points and a free GM because it was more fitting to the civilization's history. I considered dropping the embarked units bonuses, but it just didn't feel right for Portugal to not have some maritime advantage in regards to transporting units. The Explorador was changed because it made more sense to allow the unit to explore faster and it doesn't step on the French's toes. The change in the Feitoria was because I only found one example of an inland feitoria (along a river), while I found numerous examples of feitorias along the coast. In addition, I didn't like the feel of the mod because a player could effectively ignore the naval techs in favor of economic ones in the previous version.

Note: I switched to Darius for the leaderhead stuff because he looks more like a king than Washington and speaks in a foreign language and so its less distracting and more immersive when you meeting him as an AI player.

Version .1:
-Added Portugal as playable civilization.

Reasoning: The combination of these traits makes Portugal live up to its king's title as: Lord of Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce.
Since Portuguese nuas (carracks) were mainly used as transports and slower than caravels, I decided to make the unique unit the Portuguese explorador instead. In order to mimic the Portuguese use of naus, I gave Portugal the ability to have their embarked units defend and move faster than normal.
Since the embarked units ability doesn't come into play in some maps, I also gave the Portuguese faster movement along rivers, which fits their exploration theme.

The Portuguese feitoria is designed to mimic the fortified trading posts that the Portuguese set up throughout the world.

Note: This is an alpha stage mod and I'm not an artist so I used Washington's art for the leader stuff.

If someone is an artist and wants to help me to come up with unique art for Manuel, the exploradors, and the feitoria, then please let me know. I also wouldn't mind someone helping me put together some circular icons for Portugal to match those of the other civilizations. Also if someone knows how to edit the audio files to make a unique dialogue set for Manuel, I'd love
to have the extra help.

== Credits ==

Derek "Kael" Paxton for his Modder's Guide.
Thalassicus for their Modder's Starter Package.
Portuguese Empire (Map) by MarcosCeia (used under Creative Commons liscense).
Shiny Portuguese Cross Icons by Jeff Culbertson.

== Contact information ==

I can be contacted via PM on the civfanatics forum. My user name is: jaldaen.

Awsome, mind if I include this in Pillars?

Horem,

I don't mind if you include it... although you might want to wait a few days b/c I'm about to put out version .2 with some art and balance tweaks.

Hello Everyone,

I'm still hammering away at this mod and wanted to let you know of some of the discussions I've been having with players at the 2K forums.

Some of them would like a more unique UA instead of a combo of England and Songhai's traits with river movement tossed in.

One option tossed around was to focus on culture, while letting the UU and UB focus on naval and expansionistic stuff.

Another option I've been mulling over would be to lower policy costs and decrease unhappiness from # of cities, but increase unhappiness for total population. This would mimic Portugal's tendency to keep their colonies (and cities) small, but have lots of them (look at the population numbers for Portugal's cities and most wouldn't be considered higher than a 5 in Civ). Of course this would be a pretty radical change and so I probably won't make it unless a number of people are interested in the change.

As for the feitoria, there has been some discussion about whether it should be a bank, market, castle, or harbor. I'm open to suggestions and reasons for all these. Currently the feitoria replaces the market, but I can see arguments for all four of these building types. Is there one you'd prefer?

Lastly, the Explorador UU isn't as unique as it could be (it's essentially a cross between a Roman legion and French Foreign Legionaire) so I'm open to suggestions about what you'd like to see here.

Note: Not all suggestions will be translatable into code, I've had a number of ideas for Portugal's trait, UU, and UB, but many have been shot down by coding that doesn't allow for the implimentation of my ideas. Maybe one day a better coder than me will hammer out some truly original traits, etc.

Anyways, I'm open to suggestions for everything in this mod and hope you'll help me make it the best it can be.

Best Wishes,
Joseph

Hi

I just came here to offer my support in everything you might need (I have a very tight schedule but I'll do my best) when it comes to historical research or something of that sort (I never tried modding so I'm sorry I can't help you in that area). I guess I might be helpful because I'm Portuguese and so I can, perhaps, look for sources in Portuguese (I guess that won't be needed as there are tons of informations about Manuel I in English) and give them to you in English.

I'm really looking forward to this mod and I wish you good luck

Cheers.

iRule,

I'm glad you're looking forward to the mod and feel free to pass things along to me, especially if you find a really good high quality picture of Manuel.

Looking through the Civ Traits and Buildings files I see the following options for playing with culture/expansion (except for culture/city since that mimics the French's ability):

Under Traits:
Free Unit: Could give a free unit of some type (caravel, GA, GS, GM, etc.) when Portugal researchs a certain tech.

Policy Cost Modifier: This can be used to decrease the social policy costs, which could be very useful. More useful than France's +2 culture per city, especially in the later game. Main problem is that it wouldn't scale with map size (since I haven't seen a way in the code to do that).

Under Buildings (these could be tied to the Portuguese Palace):
Happiness/City: This could be interesting as it encourages expansion.

Specialist Extra Culture: This one gives extra culture from each specialist working in a city. This could be an interesting civ trait, too.

Another idea I have for a unique trait that doesn't step on any civ's toes would be to give Portuguese naval units a free +1 to sight range. I could do this through free promotions for wooden and modern boats. I'll still have to try it out, but that might be one way to get across Portugal's maritime character without stepping on England or Songhai UA's toes.

Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Okay, I think I've settled on one part of the UA. +1 sight range for all military naval units. It is similiar to America's UA, but for naval units instead of land units. This ability I think does a good job of giving Portugal something uniquely maritime and exploration-focused, which is what I really wanted for this mod.

Now I just have to come up with a second half of the UA since I think the +1 sight for military naval units is nice, but only a piece of the puzzle.

Here's what I'm thinking for the explorador:

Here's another option for the explorador:

+10 cost + 20% Bonus to attack & defense in rough terrain (Drill I promotion continues with upgrades) + ability to build: camps, forts, mines, plantations, and trading posts.

Japan's Samuria gains Shock I, but no one gains Drill I so this could work, too.

Alternatively:

+10 cost + can move after attack (bonus continues with upgrades) + ability to build: camps, forts, mines, plantations, and trading posts.

Or

+10 cost + heals while moving (bonus continues with upgrades) + ability to build: camps, forts, mines, plantations, and trading posts.


I added the camps, mines, and plantations to the build options b/c reading through more articles it became clear that the explorers founded mines, plantations, etc.

Any thoughts? suggestions?

I am still weighing my options for the next version (0.2), but this is what I think I'm going to have (as of this moment):

UA*: +1 sight for naval units and embarked can defend (I'd love to make this a promotion that only Exploradors get, but that's not possible with the current XML code options).

UU: Explorador: Cost 130 (+10 over musketman, but gains Drill 1 (+20% attack/Defense in Rough Terrain) and can build luxury improvements & forts)

UB: Feitoria: Replaces market. Cost 120 (same as market); +1 per luxury resource; +2.5 defense (no wall on map, eventually I'll find someone to create a feitoria graphic). As I mentioned before, I could increase the cost by +10 and bump up the Defense bonus to +5.

*I may still do something unique and drop the embarked defense... it just depends on if I can figure out something that doesn't step on another civ's toes. One option would be to grant +3 Culture per specialist in the Capital. This might be overpowered... or underpowered depending on play style, but it is the most unique culture increasing benefit that I've come up with.

Another idea that's been tossed around over at the 2K forums was making the feitoria an improvement that's created by a Portuguese GM. This could be interesting, but might entail some fancy coding footwork. Still, it could be interesting since the Mongol Civ seems to have a Unique Great General, why not have unique GMs?

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, then feel free to let me know.

jaldaen said:

Here's another option for the explorador:

+10 cost + 20% Bonus to attack & defense in rough terrain (Drill I promotion continues with upgrades) + ability to build: camps, forts, mines, plantations, and trading posts.

Japan's Samuria gains Shock I, but no one gains Drill I so this could work, too.

Click to expand...

Is it really possible to give a military unit worker abilities? I seem to remember that wasn't feasible in earlier versions of Civilization, but I haven't gotten around to modding this version yet. Anyway, those bonuses seem to great. If the explorador is getting worker abilities, I don't think it should have the extra attack power - or at least be a lot more expensive.

Lubricus,

Yes, it is possible to give non-workers build commands now, which is why the Legions can build roads and forts. The legion costs +10 extra production (probably b/c of its worker abilities) and has +2 strength when compared to the regular Swordsman.

That's why I was planning to increase the cost by +10 for the explorador. However, none of the legion's abilities upgrade, while Drill I would upgrade with the unit... so perhaps I should increase the cost or change the base strength of the unit to be 18 (+2 compared with regular Musketeers) that way none of the abilties upgrade.

Here's an image of D. Manuel



I'll try to find a higher-resolution one. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be as easy as I thought it would be. Portuguese museums have a terrible habit of using thumbnails for everything...

Edit: And a higher-resolution drawing of him

iRule,

Awesome images! Those are exactly the type of stuff I need!

Thanks,
Joseph

Now I just need some good icon images for a portuguese explorer and the feitoria and everything will be ready for version #2 (all that will be left is getting the 3D leaderhead, unit, and building graphics.)

Happy dance time!

Can't you use the old icon from the feitoria of the Portuguese civ. in Civilization IV?

iRule,

A lot of mods are using Civ4 graphics, but I'd prefer to get confirmation from Faraxis that it's allowed. I sent an email to 2KGreg, but he might be a bit busy with the patch. Anyways, yes, it is possible to use the Civ 4 icons, I just haven't choosen to do so yet because I am hoping for a clear indication from Faraxis that it's okay to do so.

Out of curiosity, why not Pedro IV as the Portuguese leader? Since he was also Emperor of Brazil as Pedro I, he could be used for both civilizations. Or at least, he could easily be useful to both Portuguese and Brazilian players.

Lecen,

I chose Manuel I b/c he ruled over Portugal during the height of its power during the Renaissance and I felt he fit the "Lord of Exploration" theme. Pedro I would definitely be another great leader for Portugal or Brazil, but unfortunately we can only choose one leader for Civ V.

I would prefer this:



But I give my moral support to anyone who makes a Portuguese Civilization.

Besides, lords of exploration is a good idea. The Portuguese explorer is always trying to find new means of commerce since Portugal has few resources.