Hi, I want to try making my first Civ V mod by grouping the 43 civs into 11 different culture groups where civilizations have access to other uniques (but at a higher cost) within their own culture group. I have it all planned out conceptually but havent tried creating a mod yet. The major question I have, before investing many, many hours into this is whether or not it is possible to implement all these ideas with a mod, or are some of these ideas impossible? I have no experience with Civ V modding, but I should have enough XML programming experience to figure out how it works if these ideas are theoretically possible to implement.
Unique Units
As an example, Id create a culture group called Classical Europe & Orthodox that includes Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Russia. Greece can produce Hoplites at the normal cost, but the other 3 civs produce them at +25% production cost. Units that require resources can be produced at the normal production cost but 2x resources. Thus:
Is it possible to implement this? For a Legion, for example, I envision this as 4 simple steps:
Unique Buildings
Civs can use each others buildings at +33% cost. For example, in my African culture group, Songhai, Zulu, Morocco can all build a Stele for +33% production, so a total of 53 production for them, but only 40 production for Ethiopia.
Questions: Should I allow Songhai, Zulu, Morocco to pick & choose whether to build a monument or stele (or both?) in each city or will that cause a problem with the National Epic wonder? Its not ideal to force civs to produce more expensive buildings, but Im leaning towards eradicating monuments for this culture group and forcing them to build steles. Same thing for Ikanda and Mud Pyramid Mosque.
Is this even possible? Can different civs pay different amounts for the same building?
Unique Abilities
All 43 civs will inherit watered down abilities from their culture group because I want to retain some uniqueness for each civ. My South Asia & Oceania group will contain Indonesia, Siam, India and Polynesia and Indonesia would pass on their unique luxuries, but only 1 per civ. Siam would get pepper, India gets clovers, and nutmeg for Polynesia. From Siam each civ would receive the UA for +20% City-State bonus rather than Siams +50%.
Question: Theoretically possible? I assume that sharing unique abilities is straightforward if its just copy and pasting the ability from the original civilization. In the Siam example, could a new trait with the +20% city state bonus be assigned to something called Father Governs Children Light and then given to Indonesia, India, Polynesia. Or maybe just append these abilities straight into each civs UA without creating the Father Governs Children Light?
(off topic: a cool thing about this group is that theyll be able to upgrade the War Elephant into a Naresuan Elephant!)
Unique Terrain Improvements
Id like to allow every civilization to build every improvement but at only 33% of the speed of the original civ. The culture group does it at 50% speed, of course the original civilization at 100%. My Central & South America group would all be able to build both Brazilwood and Terrace Farms at 50% speed, or 100% for Brazil and Inca. And they could all build Polder, Chateaus, etc. at one-third speed.
Im pretty sure this will be doable because other modders have already made universal terrain improvement mods. Id just need to adapt them for my mod.
Description
Ill need to add a long list of new abilities to each civs description. Hopefully theres a reasonable character limit so that I can fit it all in.
Game Balance
The North American group is the only one with three civilizations. The United States, Shoshone and Iroquois will gain some massive territory expansion abilities but are otherwise at a disadvantage. Ill enhance them with extra units and using the Longhouse +5 Production mod thats out there.
The East Asia group will be killer during the medieval era with Hwacha, Chu-Ko-Nu, Samurai and Keshiks. And these civilizations were already powerful to begin with. I wont allow culture sharing of their powerful Great Generals as a balancing consideration.
Overall, though, making all 43 civilization more powerful could throw off the pacing of the game. If civs are reaching the space race too early in the game then I might need to create some supplementary mods to slow down scientific research. Or add the future tech mods to produce a bigger tree. Or maybe other mods exist to address these types of issues?
Unique Units
As an example, Id create a culture group called Classical Europe & Orthodox that includes Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Russia. Greece can produce Hoplites at the normal cost, but the other 3 civs produce them at +25% production cost. Units that require resources can be produced at the normal production cost but 2x resources. Thus:
- Greece can produce Hoplites for 56 production and Legions with 2 Iron per unit.
- Rome can produce Hoplite for 70 production and Legions with 1 Iron.
- Byzantium & Russia produce Hoplites for 70 and Legions for 2 Iron.
- Greece, Byzantium, Russia can still produce a regular Swordsman for 1 Iron, but Rome doesnt need that option. Similarly, everyone but Greece has the option of building a Spearman for 56, etc.
- All 4 civs can upgrade a Hoplite into a Legion. This particular culture group would also have the option to upgrade Companion Cavalry into Cossacks, but the other uniques are unaffected e.g. Dromon just upgrades into a Galleass.
Is it possible to implement this? For a Legion, for example, I envision this as 4 simple steps:
- Increase the base cost of a Legion to 2 Iron.
- Go into Glory of Rome and reduce the cost to 1 Iron.
- Allow Greece, Byzantium, Russia to build Legions.
- Allow Hoplites to upgrade to Legions.
Unique Buildings
Civs can use each others buildings at +33% cost. For example, in my African culture group, Songhai, Zulu, Morocco can all build a Stele for +33% production, so a total of 53 production for them, but only 40 production for Ethiopia.
Questions: Should I allow Songhai, Zulu, Morocco to pick & choose whether to build a monument or stele (or both?) in each city or will that cause a problem with the National Epic wonder? Its not ideal to force civs to produce more expensive buildings, but Im leaning towards eradicating monuments for this culture group and forcing them to build steles. Same thing for Ikanda and Mud Pyramid Mosque.
Is this even possible? Can different civs pay different amounts for the same building?
Unique Abilities
All 43 civs will inherit watered down abilities from their culture group because I want to retain some uniqueness for each civ. My South Asia & Oceania group will contain Indonesia, Siam, India and Polynesia and Indonesia would pass on their unique luxuries, but only 1 per civ. Siam would get pepper, India gets clovers, and nutmeg for Polynesia. From Siam each civ would receive the UA for +20% City-State bonus rather than Siams +50%.
Question: Theoretically possible? I assume that sharing unique abilities is straightforward if its just copy and pasting the ability from the original civilization. In the Siam example, could a new trait with the +20% city state bonus be assigned to something called Father Governs Children Light and then given to Indonesia, India, Polynesia. Or maybe just append these abilities straight into each civs UA without creating the Father Governs Children Light?
(off topic: a cool thing about this group is that theyll be able to upgrade the War Elephant into a Naresuan Elephant!)
Unique Terrain Improvements
Id like to allow every civilization to build every improvement but at only 33% of the speed of the original civ. The culture group does it at 50% speed, of course the original civilization at 100%. My Central & South America group would all be able to build both Brazilwood and Terrace Farms at 50% speed, or 100% for Brazil and Inca. And they could all build Polder, Chateaus, etc. at one-third speed.
Im pretty sure this will be doable because other modders have already made universal terrain improvement mods. Id just need to adapt them for my mod.
Description
Ill need to add a long list of new abilities to each civs description. Hopefully theres a reasonable character limit so that I can fit it all in.
Game Balance
The North American group is the only one with three civilizations. The United States, Shoshone and Iroquois will gain some massive territory expansion abilities but are otherwise at a disadvantage. Ill enhance them with extra units and using the Longhouse +5 Production mod thats out there.
The East Asia group will be killer during the medieval era with Hwacha, Chu-Ko-Nu, Samurai and Keshiks. And these civilizations were already powerful to begin with. I wont allow culture sharing of their powerful Great Generals as a balancing consideration.
Overall, though, making all 43 civilization more powerful could throw off the pacing of the game. If civs are reaching the space race too early in the game then I might need to create some supplementary mods to slow down scientific research. Or add the future tech mods to produce a bigger tree. Or maybe other mods exist to address these types of issues?
