Unit Pack Preview: Ages of Oppression

This next unit pack I've been working on delves into the very heart of darkness... It exposes the brutality and inhumanity of our species. I have no personal use for this unit pack really, and it's unlikely you'll be able to incorporate it into the epic game... but for those making mods and scenarios, these may be just what you need.


Rome




Trans-Saharan Slave Trade




Mexico, 16th Century




African Slavery in the Americas, 1500-1889




Armenia, 1890-1915




Europe, 1940-1945




Asia, 1931-1945




Soviet Russia, 1918-1991



China, 1949-Present




Cambodia, 1975-1979

And you call my rabbit creepy...Looks great, though I think some Sub-Saharan units would fit in well, from the massacres in Rwanda. What are going to be some of the units?

I could have never guessed!

Each unit will be feature a slave and a slaver.

Some of the ones not represented here, however, are the Ancient Egyptians and the Hebrews. A Spartan and a helot, and a 4-era generic slave and master.

The African slaves will have 3 eras. The Soviets will have 2 eras. All of the rest will be only one.

As well as an unaccompanied Serf and an unaccompanied Aztec Slave. Why are these two unaccompanied? Because social status and tradition held them in their roles moreso than force of arms. So the guard is not going to be present.

Pretty cool idea, Dom Pedro. Why not? Even though in today's day and age slavery and forced labor are not well accepted, this gruesome institution had been around for at least most of recorded history. Without slaves, for instance, the Roman Empire wouldn't have been. Who else would have tilled the land and worked the fields and orchards or toiled in the workshops and manufacturies while all able bodied free men served in the legions - if not the slaves?

Exactly. Slavery has been very prominent throughout history... also, as you can see, this also includes institutions which are not really termed as slavery, but basically fall into the category of forced labor such as in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia, all of which will be represented here as well.

I'm sure they'll be very useful for mods and scenarios set during any of these times.

Hey, very good animations, my friend!

Great ideas come, um, large heads (potshot at DP's avatar)

Seriously though this is a great idea for an epic mod. Slavery has been around since the dawn of civilization. So far, we only have the C3C enslaved worker and the Amazon settler that even remotely depict this.

nice DP...i could find uses for most of them

I have to warn everybody though... some of the animations are... umm... graphic.

bloody? naked? or both?

Umm... I was deciding whether or not to add blood. I decided against it since I figured that would put it over the line from poignant to tasteless.

But since there are two characters, and two characters which are actually hostile to one another as opposed to any other two-character units in Civ, they are brutalizing each other. As such, you actually get to see it... whereas most units are killed by some unseen force.

Basically, when it comes to this, the units tend to follow two basic lines... in Death animations, the Slaver kills the Slave... or wounds them or does something to them and then runs like hell. In the Capture animations, the Slave usually does something to the Slaver... rising up of sorts.

While I discussed this issue with Kinboat, I figured I'd let you guys brainstorm here...

One of the main problems with units like these in mods and scenarios is such:

Let's take a Nazi slave unit for example in a WWII scenario.

Now, if we have this unit produced only as a "enslaved worker" unit, then only the Civ that lost this unit will be able to capture it and restore it to normal. Otherwise, if the Americans capture a Russian "enslaved" Nazi worker, it will become an American enslaved Nazi worker complete with Nazi guard... that makes no sense. And if you allow this unit to be create by means other than enslavement, then that doesn't even work for the Russians.

Two other possibilities Kinboat came up with is 1) is making them unable to be captured so that the worker unit is destroyed and the workers "go home" to add a little more depth to the story in our imaginations.

Or 2) is to create a tech that the "good guys" get that can allow them to upgrade the units for free to normal-looking workers.

Now, some of these units will have different varieties... for example:

The Asia, 1931-1945 set will include two units - One will be a Japanese soldier with an Asian slave, the other will be a Japanese soldier with an American/British POW. (Note: I'm not making an American AND a British POW... just one. The clothes will be tattered enough and it'll be small enough that it could be either. But if it's not satisfactory, then I wholly encourage you to CnP it to your liking)

The Trans-Saharan will have an Arab Slaver with an African Slave, and an Arab Slaver with a Slavic Slave

The Soviet Russia, 1918-1991 set will have an Industrial-era Soviet soldier with a worker and a Modern-era Soviet soldier with a worker. So whether under Stalin or Gorbachev, you'll be set.

The Slavery in the Americas set will have two Industrial era units which I'm keeping under my hat at this point, but suffice it to say, one will serve well as an early Industrial and the other as a late Industrial.

I can't wait!

Too much animation in the first post, though.

Well, it's just meant to tickle the senses and whet the appetite...

when you say Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, are you animating units before 1000Ce or afterwards. Most Arab and African civs allowed slavery as a method of paying off debts, these were very different from the European concept of slaves, since African slaves-masters had a more or less servent/master instead of slave/master relation. Certain religions, Islam comes to mind, even allowed owners to marry the slaves therby changing their status from slave to spouse.

ocedius said:

when you say Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, are you animating units before 1000Ce or afterwards. Most Arab and African civs allowed slavery as a method of paying off debts, these were very different from the European concept of slaves, since African slaves-masters had a more or less servent/master instead of slave/master relation. Certain religions, Islam comes to mind, even allowed owners to marry the slaves therby changing their status from slave to spouse.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's really intended as after 1000 CE. Because in the case of the Slavs and the Africans under Ottoman and other Muslim rule in the 1300s-1500s, they were truly slaves. This is intended to represent that rather than the much more informal system you described.

All worker animations, I hope, but will there be any combat animations?

Mr. Will said:

All worker animations, I hope, but will there be any combat animations?

Click to expand...

I've been debating about that... I might do that since the guards could be fighters... and actually, having the unit with attack/defense factors would negate the problem of capturing... because if they lose, they'd be dead!

if its mainlly supposed to represent the eras after 1000 CE< why include egypt and rome at all; after all, both fo the nations had some laws agiasnt it, and it was certinalyl a cultural no-no to treat your slaves badlly when they did not diserve it (the excpetion beign witht he Roman gladiatorial schools, but seeing as even free men woudl join these, obviouslly, that hell was worth it in the end)not to mention a long standing tradition in all med sea cultures to have munission; eg; letting slaves earn limited incomes to buy thier freedom, or letting slaves go for good work, or upon the death of th eowner, agian, as a reward for loyal work; compared to later ages, the life of a Roman, Greek, or egyptian slave was better then the condtions faced by most everyone in fth eold world, but particuraley the peasentry in europe...

that said, if you contineu to make the Romans, perhaps you could make a Samnite, or Hoplomachus heavy gladiator (to compliment the light gladiator created by utahjazz; both, beacuse of thier unique styles, have place sin fantasy mods IMO, so its not liek they are completlyl exclusive in thier use )