Ahriman
Tyrant
I don't think this is a good idea. Moving an entire combined force at high speed is incredibly powerful. It breaks multiple game mechanics: that infantry have 2 moves (and so ranged units are safe from infantry if they have rough terrain in front of them), that siege units can't move, set up and shoot in the same turn, etc,I'd like to find a civ for the theme of lightning warfare -- moving an entire combined arms force at high speed
We already had something like this in the Persian +1 movement during golden age, and it was very powerful indeed.
It also doesn't really make you play differently in terms of unit selection or playstyle, it's just a fairly generic good-at-war ability. The only thing it does is devalue mounted units, because you can get mobility on your infantry and ranged units.
Think of it this way: +1 movement on all units is like a free promotion on all units (and a free hard-to-get promotion at that). That is more powerful than UAs tend to be.
I'm not so keen on this, because of how little control the player has over whether you can get an alliance or not. But if we do do it, then it should be the main part of the UA, not some fairly trivial 10% bonus, and it should probably benefit just you, not both you and your ally.I do like the effect of improving alliances, one of the most radically unique effects in the game.
The problem with picking a civ that this fits for is that most of the historic alliance-brokering civs were otherwise fairly minor powers directly, that's why they always used alliances.
The Papal states, Venice, and Prussia were all fairly diplomatically oriented. But it is hard to think of any major powers where diplomatic acumen was the main part of their power.
We have to be careful that "high risk" doesn't mean "useless in the hands of the AI" though.I like the idea of a high risk, high reward type UA for Sweden
This sounds like a good compromise.However, I could reduce the maintenance of barbarian ships, since that is probably the main issue.
I'm not sure that the free Lilburna is really a good idea, it makes early game conquest of a coastal city very very easy - and Liburnas are a classical era unit so it feels weird.
I think part of the problem is that the maintenance costs feel too high relative to the production costs. Overall production is very high, it is very easy to produce lots and lots of buildings and units. Basically I'm finding maintenance costs outweigh production costs, which I find to be not fun.Military costs are high because conquest is an easier path to victory than peace
Much of this may be from the Liberty Specialist boost issue though; I don't think I can get a good feel for the overall economy balance until this is fixed.
Worth testing. Might be a bit strong though.What if all Japanese melee units start with Blitz
I'll play an Iroquois game at some point and see how they play. Does the Longhouse still lose the 10% production bonus that Smithy has? Returning that might be enough.
I think part of my problem with early-rush advantage is: captured cities in the early game just don't give you nearly as much benefit as a city you found yourself. Courthouses require significant tech and are expensive relative to early game production and cost you a lot of unhappiness in the meantime, and puppet cities just aren't that valuable.
What is it that you find useful or fun about the UA?I find Washington one of my favorite leaders to play. It's important to remember these things do depend on our playstyle.
Massive economic dominance of the last 100 years. Everything else is based on this. The US is one of the most dominant superpowers the world has ever seen (only possible exception being Imperial Britain). That's what is so frustrating to see about the current design of the US, is that it totally misses the most defining characteristic.What are some defining unique characteristics of the US?
Space travel, modern cultural dominance, continued immigration, all of these are just a function of the colossal economic success.
Some of the dominant features of the US are: the invention of mass production (think Model T production line), the expansion of banking and capture and dominance in international finance, the early adoption of liberal political institutions, the mass expansion of state education (particularly universities), the adoption of superhighways and suburbs and auto-oriented urban patterns, etc. etc.
I don't think the pioneer fort captures US-style immigration very well; what would do better would be a very powerful hospital UB or similar; something that encourages an industrial era population explosion would have far better American flavor than faster growth in the ancient and classical eras.