Civ 5: Civilizations/Leaders Wanted!

I like your concept #1. Have you considered having the Nau share movement points to embarked units (including Great Merchants) like what the Hakapeliita does for Great Generals?

Also I would have the Feitoria UI generate its extra gold only when built adjacent to seas and rivers. Perhaps more gold for each side of the tile bordered by river or sea.

OK, I offered Portugal based on raw merit. Here's another one with lots of merit, but it's a real underdog, with many people giving serious grief on grounds that always seems fairly spurious IMO. I know it's fashionable these days to try pump up obscure bush-beating tribes into full-blown civ's, replete with witch doctors and totem poles and head hunters and wigwams and medicine men. Affirmitive action aside though, there's a really prime Civilization that I feel has a place.

You know that Renaissance era that Civ has? This is the civ that birthed it. Familiar with great artists, scientists, engineers, and merchants like Michelangelo, Raphael, Gallileo, Enrico Fermi, Da Vinci, Marco Polo, and Christopher Columbus? This is the place they came from. How about wonders like the Leaning Tower and Sistine Chapel? They came from here.


ITALY
Leader: Giuseppe Garibaldi or Victor Emmanuel II
Capital: Roma

Concept #1
UA: Vitruvian Spirit. +15% increase to and during golden ages. Piety and Rationalism can be active simultaneously.
UB: Italian Opera House. Requires Acoustics, replaces opera house. Same cost and maintenance. +4, +2. Two GA slots.
UU: Alpini. Requires Dynamite, replaces artillery. Same base traits as artillery. Also ignores movement penalty for hills while in friendly territory. Starts with the Barrage I promotion.

Concept #2
UA: Heart of the Renaissance. During the renaissance era, every city with a population of 6+ receives +25% and . Piety and Rationalism can be active simultaneously.
UB: Basilica. Requires Theology, replaces garden. Increased cost and maintenance: 150 , 2 . Grants +25% generation of great people, but does not require city to be built on river. +2, +2.
UU: Bersaglieri. Requires Military Science, replaces cavalry. Same base traits as cavalry, but does not require horses. +1 visibility. Gains unique "sharpshooter" promotion, granting +25% when attacking an unwounded unit.

DESIGN COMMENTS
The emphasis is on the renaissance era (which the Italian people kickstarted), and the industrial (a.k.a. "great war") era where Italy would become a military power and achieve a degree of infamy. The UA tends to encourage a small/tall empire strategy. The uniques also encourage a focus on culture, happiness, and religion. That's all in sharp contrast to the design of the Roman civ's focus (ancient/classical, wide/short, early-rush domination), and demonstrates the marked difference between the two civilizations.

I also like the idea of a civ that aptly demonstrates how the qualities of piety and rationality can co-exist.

Regarding the units, the alpini are Italy's special mountain-range corps, while the bersaglieri are the highly-mobile elite skirmish corps, notable for their marksmanship as well as their use of bicycles and, later, motorcycles instead of horses.

Eagle Pursuit said:

I like your concept #1. Have you considered having the Nau share movement points to embarked units (including Great Merchants) like what the Hakapeliita does for Great Generals?

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That is a good idea. I was thinking about boosting its movement in general. I think concerns about stepping on England stayed my hand.

Also I would have the Feitoria UI generate its extra gold only when built adjacent to seas and rivers. Perhaps more gold for each side of the tile bordered by river or sea.

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I was considering something like that, but ultimately its tricky to place a GP improvement even without extra restrictions. Most folks will be inclined to place them along rivers whenever possible anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions. Good stuff.

Eagle Pursuit said:

I like your concept #1. Have you considered having the Nau share movement points to embarked units (including Great Merchants) like what the Hakapeliita does for Great Generals?

Also I would have the Feitoria UI generate its extra gold only when built adjacent to seas and rivers. Perhaps more gold for each side of the tile bordered by river or sea.

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Glad to see my old Nau idea being brought up again.

I would love a Feitoria UI. I had discussed many such ideas months ago, but nothing seemed to work. Your idea is simple and therefore great. Having the Feitoria require river tiles or coastal tiles (my old ideas required coastal or resource tiles) would make the UI far more useful.

I edited in Eagle Spirit's suggestion about the feitoria. It still provides more base gold than the customs house, but yields more with adjacent river or coast tiles.

Also, threw in links for both Portugal and Italy's uniques.

The Nau idea is exactly what I suggested at the top of this page for an Indonesian UU

The idea of the Nau as a Privateer replace kind of bothers me because of the timeframe. The Nau is the Portuguese name for the Caravel, right? And the Nau were the first Caravels? So I propose that the Nau be a replacement for the Galleas, as an oceangoing ranged naval unit so that it precedes the caravels. This gives the Portuguese a head start on exploration, and embarked units would still have to wait for Astronomy to cross oceans to colonize.

There would also be military implications. The Nau would be like a mini Frigate, and combine nicely with the caravels as a roving coastal city killer fleet. More so than galleases and caravels because Nau would be able to better surround and bombard a city since they could enter deep waters.

And my apologies to Pouakai for the taking the embankment movement transfer idea. I thought I had seen it somewhere, but I couldn't recall where.

Pouakai said:

The Nau idea is exactly what I suggested at the top of this page for an Indonesian UU

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If you mean the one I posted, I actually just copied it from something I posted a long time ago. You can find it by searching for the word "nau" and/or "portugal" and limiting it to posts by me (that's how I dug it up). I cribbed it in some fashion for my version of Majapahit at some point as well.

Eagle Pursuit said:

The idea of the Nau as a Privateer replace kind of bothers me because of the timeframe. The Nau is the Portuguese name for the Caravel, right? And the Nau were the first Caravels? So I propose that the Nau be a replacement for the Galleas, as an oceangoing ranged naval unit so that it precedes the caravels. This gives the Portuguese a head start on exploration, and embarked units would still have to wait for Astronomy to cross oceans to colonize.

There would also be military implications. The Nau would be like a mini Frigate, and combine nicely with the caravels as a roving coastal city killer fleet. More so than galleases and caravels because Nau would be able to better surround and bombard a city since they could enter deep waters.

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The caravel is just the caravel. The Portuguese invented it, so they got to name it.

The nau is what Civ IV called a carrack. You can see the wikipedia page on that link above in the description that I lovingly took the time to make. It came later.

Also, here's some more info about the carrack, in wikipedia's page for the galleon:

The galleon was an ocean going ship type which evolved from the carrack in the second half of 16th century. A lowering of the forecastle and elongation of the hull gave galleons an unprecedented level of stability in the water, and reduced wind resistance at the front, leading to a faster, more maneuverable vessel. The galleon differed from the older types primarily by being longer, lower and narrower, with a square tuck stern instead of a round tuck, and by having a snout or head projecting forward from the bows below the level of the forecastle. In Portugal at least, carracks were usually very large ships for their time (often over 1000 tons), while galleons were mostly under 500 tons, although the Manila galleons were to reach up to 2000 tons. With the introduction of the galleon in Portuguese India Armadas during the first quarter of the 16th century[1][2], carracks gradually began to be less armed and became almost exclusively cargo ships (which is why the Portuguese Carracks were pushed to such large sizes), leaving any fighting to be done to the galleons. One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista (nicknamed Botafogo, 'spitfire'), a 1,000-ton galleon built in 1534, said to have carried 366 guns. Carracks also tended to be lightly armed and used for transporting cargo in all the fleets of other Western European states, while galleons were purpose-built warships, and were stronger, more heavily armed, and also cheaper to build (5 galleons could cost around the same as 3 carracks) and were therefore a much better investment for use as warships or transports. There are disputes about its origins and development but each Atlantic sea power built types suited to its needs, while constantly learning from their rivals. It was the captains of the Spanish navy Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Álvaro de Bazán who designed the definitive long and relatively narrow hulled galleon in the 1550s.[3][4]

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I see the argument for trying to slip in an ocean-faring vessel earlier than other civ's (your galleas replacement idea being sort of like the Korean turtle ship in reverse), and I considered as part of the UA giving Portugal a free caravel immediately after researching Astronomy, but relented. Partially because a convenient place for a ship to suddenly appear isn't a given, but mostly because I thought it better to incentivize the Portugal to roll up his sleeves and beeline to Astronomy.

Yet another option would be to give Portgual a beaker discount on Astronomy and Navigation. Basically, there's two ways you can go with stuff like this: you can grant freebies and shortcuts, or you can make the player work for it but sweeten the reward.

I've seen a bunch of Philippine civ ideas but I thought of one that emphasizes Philippine piracy (not the digital one). Philippine pirates were even feared by the Chinese (to be honest, the identity of there pirates is debatable). So, with that, here's the UA I thought of:

Can embark onto Water Tiles and land units gain the Amphibious promotion. Receive free Worker from pillaging cities before entering the Renaissance.

The Worker bonus works like Askia's triple gold bonus but you get a free worker instead of triple gold but the worker does not replace the gold from pillaging a city. I thought of worker as the bonus because in the Philippines (actually, it applies to South East Asia as a whole), there was not that much population (unlike now) and so people were fought over more than land and resources. Thus, slaves were valued and most pirate attacks were to get slaves.
I also thought of adding another ability that would represent Overseas Filipino Workers which actually take up a significant part of the nations income. I thought of gold bonus from trade routes to city-states upon discovering Telecommunications but the gold bonus might be insignificant by that point. Anyway, comments or suggestions?

I recently tossed out Portugal as "Most Deserving Civ", then Italy as "Biggest Underdog civ", now here's the civ that earns the title "Most Wanted for No Especially Good Reason".

It wasn't so much of a civilization as it was an organized horde with a strong leader. They had no infrastructure, no emphasis on art, architecture, agriculture, or any of that nonsense. They barely made a dent on the tech tree. Frankly, they didn't even perform that spectacularly against the Brits if you compare the kill ratios. But they were an army tens of thousands strong that could just choke the enemy to death with their fallen corpses. Let's not kid ourselves, everybody wants'em. Give it up for Shaka and the lads!

ZULULAND

Leader: Shaka
Capital: Bulawayo

CONCEPT #1
UA: Asibesabi Siyabafuna! (Zulu War Chant, "Bring them on!"). +15% production of melee land units until Metal Casting is researched.
UB: Ikhanda. Requires no research (can build immediately), replaces barracks. Cost: 40 (down from 75). Maintenance: 0 (down from 1). Otherwise, as barracks.
UU: Impi. Requires civil service, replaces pikeman, same cost. Strength 18 (up from 16). No bonus versus mounted units. When a unit is produced, it will receive a free promotion: Charge, Medic, or Mobility. Once a promotion is chosen it cannot be selected for another impi until after two more have been produced and assigned the remaining promotions.

HOW IT COMES TOGETHER
This build offers the player a tricky proposition: enjoy an advantage to horde-mongering as long as he can stay low-tech. Essentially, he'll enjoy a production bonus similar to that of a forge in every city until he researches the tech that unlocks forges and workshops. Barracks can be produced as easily as a monument, and without upkeep (which will be important once you have one of those expensive hordes to maintain). This has the side benefit of getting the Zulu into Heroic Epic easily. The powerhouse unique in this concept is the impi. When they arrive, the Zulu have a strong horde unit to dig in with for as long as the player can resist researching Metal Casting. With the Zulu enjoying a slew of gratis promotions from the ikhanda, Heroic Epic, and buffalo horns freebies, how long can this empire keep standing up to ever-improving rival civilizations?

Regarding the rotating promotions for the impi, these three promotions combine to simulate the impi's signature "buffalo horns" tactic. This tactic requires multiple units with three different roles:


1 = The enemy
2 = The "horns" units, which pincer the enemy with a flanking maneuver (via the Mobility promotion)
3 = The "chest" unit, which surges forward and delivers the coup de grace (via the Charge promotion)
4 = The "loins" unit, which acts as a reserve to replenish the chest (via the Medic promotion)

CONCEPT #2
UA: Mfecane. Barbarians cannot attack Zulu units or enter Zulu territory (but will defend if attacked). When within sight of a Zulu unit or city, barbarians become frenzied, receiving a +15% bonus when attacking units of other civilizations. These benefits last until barbarians produce a unit from the Renaissance era or later.
UB: Ikhanda. Requires Bronze Workng, replaces barracks. As barracks, plus one unit becomes maintenance-free.
UU: Impi. Requires Iron Working, replaces swordsman. Requires no iron. As swordsman, plus all units receive the March promotion.

EDIT: Lowered impi strength in concept #1 from 20 to 18. Eliminated strength bonus for concept #2's impi. Replaced concept #2's barracks ability (was production bonus when fewer units than ikhandas, now each ikhanda elminates a unit's maintenance cost).

+1 to Concept 1. Love it! Everything works together and the use of a free selectable promotion is a cool idea and another use of promotional strategy. Been experimenting with the idea.

-1 to Concept 2. Seems a little too complex, especially the UA. The Ikhanda idea requires you to either play wide or with a rabble of an army, the Impi is cool though.

chrissifniotis said:

+1 to Concept 1. Love it! Everything works together and the use of a free selectable promotion is a cool idea and another use of promotional strategy. Been experimenting with the idea.

-1 to Concept 2. Seems a little too complex, especially the UA. The Ikhanda idea requires you to either play wide or with a rabble of an army, the Impi is cool though.

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+1 and -1? Darn, that's a net zero.

Admittedly, concept #2 wasn't as fully-formed, as I was pretty content with #1. I was primarily just trying to come up with an alternative that went up the iron working branch, which is probably more up the Zulu's alley than going the horsey/mathy/philosophy route of Civl Service. I got other ideas I'll throw out at some point.

All good. I'm not sure if I put my own Zulu idea but I was playing with the idea of producing extra experience from Social Polices for the Ikanda.

In an ongoing thread regarding more Native American civs in One World, there was an arguement about the Haida. It seemed difficult to come up with a unique design that didn't tread upon the Danes, Songhai, or Ottomans.

Here is my proposal:

Haida

Leader: Koyah

UA: Spirit of the Sea - Chopping Forests generates three times as much production when working on naval units. Naval units may heal outside of friendly borders by ending a turn on a sea resource.

UB: Totem Pole, replaces lighthouse. As lighthouse, plus +2 culture; and +1 food on Whales tiles.

UU: Canoe Raiders, replaces Longswordsman. As longswordsman, plus defensive embarkment, Amphibious Promotion, and the ability to attack and prize ship enemy vessels

This setup reflects the Haida connection to the sea and its bounty. The Haida used war canoes made from huge cedar logs to raid rival villages up and down the coats. They were infamous for attacks on European-American vessels.

I changed my Afghanistan civ idea to reflect criticism of the UB

Eagle Pursuit said:

Afghanistan
Leader: Mir Wais Hotak
UA:
Graveyard of Empires - Units belonging to other civs have triple maintenance costs while in your borders; your units cost half while in your borders
UU: Mujahadeen - replaces Anti-Tank gun. is mounted and uses Horses with 4 movement. Has a bonus vs. Helicopters (also keeps the bonus vs. Tanks). appearance: horseback riders with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.
UB: Silk Road Station - replaces Bank, same as Bank and +1 gold on each luxury resource.

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Eagle Pursuit said:

In an ongoing thread regarding more Native American civs in One World, there was an arguement about the Haida. It seemed difficult to come up with a unique design that didn't tread upon the Danes, Songhai, or Ottomans.

Here is my proposal:

Haida

Leader: Koyah

UA: Spirit of the Sea - Chopping Forests generates three times as much production when working on naval units. Naval units may heal outside of friendly borders by ending a turn on a sea resource.

UB: Totem Pole, replaces lighthouse. As lighthouse, plus +2 culture; and +1 food on Whales tiles.

UU: Canoe Raiders, replaces Longswordsman. As longswordsman, plus defensive embarkment, Amphibious Promotion, and the ability to attack and prize ship enemy vessels

This setup reflects the Haida connection to the sea and its bounty. The Haida used war canoes made from huge cedar logs to raid rival villages up and down the coats. They were infamous for attacks on European-American vessels.

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I don't know anything about these guys, but the extra production from chopping is a pretty finite benefit, as is healing only when on a resource. Could use some beefing up.

Eagle Pursuit said:

I changed my Afghanistan civ idea to reflect criticism of the UB

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Only concern here is that halving maintenance costs in your own territory would lead folks to build giant armies that can't leave their own territory without bankrupting the civ. Likewise, tripling the maintenance cost of invading would likely be too unbalancing a drain on the attacker.

Regarding the Haida, the idea is to give them Triremes in exchange for the forest tiles. They are famous for their 50 ft long war canoes made out of whole red cedar trees, you see. So they can get a quick navy together for some coastal raiding. Maybe it's the marathon games I play, but chopping trees is shorter than building triremes.

The healing on sea resources tiles gives them some flexibility when outside of their home borders. They don't have to take the supply promotion in order to heal.

I'm envisioning their aggressive early military push to target coastal cities and be a combination of triremes and archers or catapults. The ability to regain some health without having to head back to friendly territory would help keep momentum up.

The later Canoe Raiders would be a step up from the triremes for coastal city attacks and they could be backed up by Galleases. They can also capture enemy ships, which is something they did.

Regarding Afghanistan. I'm not fixed on the actual coefficients of bonus and penalty. If they need to be fudged for balance, that's ok.

If the player finds it suddenly draining to move their entire army outside of their borders, they don't need to send the whole army, which is obviously unusually large if it is unsupportable at the regular maintenance rates.

Also, the penalty to attackers is not designed to bankrupt the enemy, rather it is to convince them to send 1/3rd as many units as they would be inclined to send in order to avoid bankruptcy, leading to a greater likelihood of success for the Afghans on defense. If the enemy finds it necessary to send a huge force against the Afghans, they had best be quick about it or Afghanistan will ruin them.

Eagle Pursuit said:

Regarding the Haida, the idea is to give them Triremes in exchange for the forest tiles. They are famous for their 50 ft long war canoes made out of whole red cedar trees, you see. So they can get a quick navy together for some coastal raiding. Maybe it's the marathon games I play, but chopping trees is shorter than building triremes.

The healing on sea resources tiles gives them some flexibility when outside of their home borders. They don't have to take the supply promotion in order to heal.

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I'd say just give them their naval units the Supply promotion, and perhaps a production discount on building ships.

steveg700 said:

It wasn't so much of a civilization as it was an organized horde with a strong leader. They had no infrastructure, no emphasis on art, architecture, agriculture, or any of that nonsense. They barely made a dent on the tech tree. Frankly, they didn't even perform that spectacularly against the Brits if you compare the kill ratios. But they were an army tens of thousands strong that could just choke the enemy to death with their fallen corpses. Let's not kid ourselves, everybody wants'em. Give it up for Shaka and the lads!

ZULULAND

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Some great ideas steveq


I've been looking at Civ ideas of CiV for over two years now and I think Zulu has been one of the hardest Civs to build up a decent concept. Here's some ideas I gathered quickly from the forums.


UU: Impi. Production 60. Replaces Spearman. Bonus for Flanking, 1 extra move through Zone of Control areas.
UU: Impi. Requires Iron. Production 55, not 50. Replaces Spearman. Movement 3, not 2. Strength 7. +25% strength for against units with 2 movement.
UU: Impi. Production 60. Replaces Pikeman. Movement 3, not 2. Strength 15. +25% Strength for against Units with 2 Movement. Is not affected by Zone of Control
UU: Impi. Replaces pikeman, same cost. Strength 20. When a unit is produced, it will receive a free promotion: Charge, Medic, or Mobility. Once chosen, one of these promotions cannot be selected for another impi until after two more have been produced and assigned the remaining two promotions.
UU: Impi; replaces pikeman, ignores terrain cost, charge promotion, no bonus against mounted unit, 14 cs (instead 16), 75 production (instead 90), can be built until Modern Age
UU: Impi. Requires Iron Working, replaces swordsman. Strength 16 (up from 14). Requires no iron to build. All units receive the March promotion.
UU: Impi. Replaces Pikemen. Movement 3 instead of 2. 50% bonus against mounted instead of Pikeman's 100%.
UU: Impi: No terrain penalty, in addition, they can receive a special promotion called "Sangoma". This gives a small amount of faith every time the warriors enter battle.
UU: Impi; replaces lancer, 100 production cost, 4 movement, 100% bonus vs. mounted, 25 combat strength

UB: Ikhanda. Replaces Barracks. Production 90, not 80. Maintenance 1. Reduces city maintenance costs by 15%.
UB: Ikhanda, Replaces Barracks. Production 80. Maintenance 1. Reduces city maintenance costs by 15%.
UB: Ikhanda. Cost: 40 (down from 75). Maintenance: 0 (down from 1). Otherwise, as barracks.
UB: Ikhanda As barracks, and eliminates the maintenance cost for one unit.
UB: Ikhanda. Requires Bronze Workng, replaces barracks. As barracks, plus receive +15% production towards producing melee units whenever Zululand has fewer melee units than ikhandas.
UB: Ikhanda: Lowers unhappiness in a city by 1 and gives off 10% culture.
UB: Ikhanda; replaces barracks, +20% production while constructing military unit not requiring resources

UI: Kraal (Can be built on same resorces as Pasture, provides +1 additional Food and Production.
UI: Kraal. 1 extra food and hammer, replaces pasture, 10 percent fighting bonus in adjacent tiles.
UI: Kraal. Replaces the pasture improvement. 1 extra food from pastures.

UA: African Terror. Every Zulu unit in enemy territory causes -.75 happiness in their (the enemy's) country. Zulus were one of the most terrifying military forces in all of Africa, and no one wanted to cross them, especially not Shaka Zulu. Some people call him "The Black Napoleon" because of his brilliant (but fiercely brutal) tactical innovations.
UA: Horns of the Bull. All Military buildings produce Culture, during war Zulu get bonus happiness.
UA: Horns of the Buffalo. Melee units get 20% combat strenght against technologically advanced units.
UA: Mfecane - Every Zulu unit in enemy territory produces 0.5 unhappiness in the enemy empire
UA: Mfecane. Barbarians cannot attack Zulu units or enter Zulu territory (but will defend if attacked). When within sight of a Zulu unit or city, barbarians become frenzied, receiving a +15% strength bonus when attacking units of other civilizations. These benefits last until barbarians produce a unit from the Renaissance era or later.
UA: Mfecane. After researching bronze working, gain the following benefits: barbarians cannot attack Zulu units or enter Zulu territory (but will defend if attacked). When within sight of a Zulu unit or city, barbarians become frenzied, receiving a +20% strength bonus. These benefits lasts until barbarians produce a unit from the Renaissance era (or later).
UA: Asibesabi Siyabafuna! (Zulu War Chant, "Bring it on!"). +15% production of melee units until Metal Casting is researched.
UA: Asibesabi Siyabafuna!+15% production of melee land units when there are fewer Zulu units than cities.
UA: Heroism; when unit dies during attacking, the opponent takes extra damage (not sure about numbers, it may result in both units killed) + 1 unit per city has no maintainence cost
UA: Scattering: After defeating a civilization, a large group of barbarians flock to the nearest cities to reclaim some land.
UA: Age-grade regimental system; units receive +5 experience when meeting a unit with higher level (meeting = 1 (2?) squares nearby), units with level 5+ have no maintainence costs


My new proposal:

Zulu Kingdom (1816–1897)

Leader: Shaka Zulu (1787 - 1828)
Capital: Ulundi
Starting Bias: Plains
Music Theme: Isicathamiya with some traditional music.

UU: Impi (image). Replaces Musketman. Cost: 110/260 (instead of 150/300). Combat: 20 (instead of 24. Movement: 3 (instead of 2). Can pillage enemy improvements at no additional cost. Starts with March* promotion.

UI: Ikhanda. Replaces Fort. Prerequisite Techs: Engineering. +1 Food and +1 Production to the tile and unlike regular Fort it gives access to a resource in the tile. Ikhanda also provides +1 Line of Sight for units stationed in it and they do not cost maintenance. Like regular Fort it improves a hex's defensive bonus by 50% for units stationed in that hex.

UA: Asibesabi Siyabafuna!: Enemy units receive -10% Combat Strength when adjacent to any Zulu combat unit. During war generated happiness is doubled.


As Zulu is a Renaissance Era rather than Ancient/Classical Era Civ, I'd go with Impi a Musketman replacement but slightly weaker and Ikhanda as unique improvement replacing Fort. As Ikhanda includes large cattle kraal (isibaya esikulu) it adds +1Food and +1Production to the tile and unlike regular Fort it gives access to a resource in the tile. Ikhanda also provides +1 Line of Sight and units stationed in it do not cost maintenance. Like regular Fort it gives improves a hex's defensive bonus by 50% for units stationed in that hex.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impi#Mobility.2C_training_and_insignia

Shaka discarded sandals to enable his warriors to run faster. Initially the move was unpopular, but those who objected were simply killed, a practice that quickly concentrated the minds of remaining personnel. Zulu tradition indicates that Shaka hardened the feet of his troops by having them stamp thorny tree and bush branches flat. Shaka drilled his troops frequently, implementing forced marches covering more than fifty miles a day.[4] He also drilled the troops to carry out encirclement tactics (see below). Such mobility gave the Zulu a significant impact in their local region and beyond.)

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What do you think about the given bonuses?

If I played your Impi idea above, I would declare war on the most distant civ and rake in the golden ages from my double happiness with no worries. Or just declare war on a CS. The UA seems easily abused. Giving all Zulu units the Terror promotion (its the same thing right?) is a good idea.

Interesting idea for the Impi. I like it being pushed up the tech tree from its usual spots. We tend to forget UBs don't have to match the unit they are replacing.

The fortress replacement has been seen before but it does go well with a UA that doubles your happiness during war. Should the Zulu be a turtle civ? Probably not. I feel the above ideas are good, but they don't instill an aggressive enough feel.

Has anyone suggested a UA that grants the promotion Mobility to all melee units (not mounted or civilian)? Would be simple and yet powerful. Mobility would be useful for scouting as well as warfare. The ultimate anti-great wall force. Your impi idea wouldn't need three movement in its description and would just be one of many units with the mobility promotion. Just some thoughts.