Idea: Dwarven upgrades?

[WiseMan999]

Just a few ideas that I can't get out of my head. Thought I'd post them here.

1) What if Dwarven races gain access to a special improvement called Dwarven Halls that automatically appear on peak tiles inside their cultural borders (or inside their BFCs) that provide production. They could provide production and get extra production from techs along the melee line, as well as possibly extra food/commerce from other techs (like Currency). Also they could possibly act similar to cottages, upgrading over time - although it may be too much micromanagement to provide for a city with both cottages and dwarven halls. At the end of the upgrade path i'm not sure of the method but it would be good for them to be able to 'open' the peak tile and allow normal movement on it.

Possible end tile output: 1/6/2 - close but not as good as Elven Ancient Forests (?)

I think this would be good with the Khazad at least, whose unique mechanic penalises them for expanding too much - they have less cities but each one (in Erebus mapscripts) would be production powerhouses. Might also help with Luchuirp whose Golem units are rather expensive in terms of hammers.

Combined with a mod to allow multiple builds per turn and a mountain heavy start this could be a monster though.

2) IMHO Golems being slow doesn't make much sense in the world of civ. Golems might be slower than a marching soldier, but they do not require rest, food or water and so can continue travelling long after other armies would have stopped. What about if the Pallens Engine also added +1 movement to Golems, they have perfect sight, why can't they move at night as well as the day? IMO this would make Golems much better units than they are now. Could be too powerful though.

Just throwing these ideas out there. Although I'm not sure if they'll work in the first place. Corrections are welcomed.

 

[Kiech]

I generally support this idea. It would be nice to have a mountain top improvement, although I always imagined some special fort that produced Griffins or science instead.

 

[WiseMan999]

Maybe have the Dwarven Halls for just dwarves and a Mountain watchtower for other civs? It could be built by captured griffons maybe, and provide 3 or 4 tiles of sight across the mountain at all times? Possibly have it upgrade itself like forts so long as it is in your culture, with higher levels providing increased sight and/or a research modifier for any city of the owning civ within a certain radius?

The only reason I suggested Dwarven Halls is that I find it... weird to be honest that mountains are as much an obstacle to them as they are to humans - who have not made an entire culture and civilization around mining. Not to mention the Dwarven kingdom is supposed (?) to be absolutely huge underground. It 'reached the limits of its expansion' - which suggests to me the entirety of Erebus. The Mountain Halls are not so much Dwarves digging in as out.

OTOH, if this was implemented - the Khazad would have absolutely godly production approaching lategame. At least on Erebus mapscript - where its not uncommon to have at least 4 peak tiles within city radii. Combined with the +90% production modifier they can get and the Heroic Epic . Probably too OP, maybe a lower value for hammers.

 

[Qgqqqqq]

I like, just a bit worried it'll mean they need to focus on mountains for their economy - elves can plant and water is everywhere for the lanun.
Id prefer a mountain they can move onto, and then have that be a improvement automatically generated by mountains but buildable (for a malus) on hills too.

 

[Calavente]

the idea would be fine if the "dwarven halls" were not created at city creation/capture.. but later : on "building" creation, or by using some specific spell in a city.
eg: scrifice a worker in city : spell "dwarven hall", takes 5 turns to cast, creates a dwarven hall+road in mountain closest to city if it has no feature, kills worker.

or
on forge creation : 1 dwarven hall on nearest mountain in culture (even if not in BFC, even if very far from city)
on engineerging workshop creation : 1 dwarven hall
on forge: 1 dwarven hall.

...Etc

for golems: nice ideas
EDIT: and I completly agree that golems cannot walk as fast as other units.
(or maybe golems could get something:
+1mvt if on roads.
or
roads = 1/4 mvt cost for golems, whether in territory, neutral or ennemy... it would take into account that golems are infatigable, do not rest, do not sleep, do not eat, and if hard terrain is hard for them, roads are easy... and even in ennemy lands they are not slowed, as they don't have the need to have find things to eat ...
or
golem get a racial 'commando'...

or a combination

 

[Kiech]

I like the idea of giving golems commando.

 

[WiseMan999]

I like your ideas Calavente, perhaps Golems get racial 'commando' and get bonus movement on roads compared to others? Not sure if the combination would be too powerful though - can players pillage roads in their own territory? Otherwise invasions might be hard to deal with. . I really like this idea.

As to the Dwarven Halls, I agree a building might be a better idea. Unlocked at Mining (?), called 'Connection to Underhome' - automatically spawns a Dwarven Hall + road on nearest unimproved mountain in culture. As this improves it comes with a possibility of spreading to other unimproved adjacent mountain tiles in your (/dwarven) culture - like Forests. Maybe you could tie in RoK like FoL with Ancient Forests?

 

[cooldude1128]

So, if a dwarven hall is essentially underground complexes, how do you visually represent that? It's not like they're massive cathedrals on top of the mountains. Do we have tunnel exits located on the top of peaks?

No wait, I like that idea.