Unit Requests: Forces of Nature

[PCHighway]

Hello, as some of you know TETurkhan has assembled a team of modders and we are working on many scenarios. Currently I have been working on a new type of MOD that puts emphasis on exploration. We were thinking how great it would be to have animals and some other forces of nature added to the MOD, here are some of the things I was thinking of:

Siberian or Bengal tiger (1) .
Tigers that stalk the jungle areas around India and China. These beasts were part of what made the jungle such a dangerous terrain.



Crocodile (1)
A throwback of the dinosaurs, these beasts would add to the dangerous aspect of exploration in the earlier ages. Imagine an Egyptian worker stumbling by one of these monsters.



Snakes (2). King Cobra, Anaconda.
Cobra | King Cobra | King Cobra Unit Renovation

Polar Bear (1) | Kodiak Bear (1)
Bears are arguably the most powerful land going animal on earth. Renowned for their strength and speed, these omnivores came in constant conflict with human kind. Cultures from America to Scandinavia have had bears as an important part of their diverse cultures.



Great White Shark (1)
From the Mediterranean to California these predators would represent the shark's role in history. Living in a wide range of places, this unit would patrol the coasts, damaging ship on the seven seas before they fleet actually reaches its enemy, and perhaps finishing off the surviving ship in the aftermath of a battle.



Lion (1)
The king of beasts, these units would stalk through the sands of Africa. Known for their speed and strength, a pride of lions can be a fierce thing to encounter, making sure your workers don't venture far into the desert.



Elephant (1)
Hunted for their ivory tusks, these animals would be spotted around the ivory resource. Be wary of sending out your workers to harvest the ivory however, as these beasts can pack quite a punch.



Rhinoceros (1)
Another animal seen mainly in Africa. These beasts are strong and powerful juggernauts of the desert.



Wolves (pack: Mutil-figure unit)
Dire Wolves

Huge Hurricane (1)
A hurricane is a great storm at sea; few ships can weather such a storm. Ill fate would bring one such unit upon your transports. Such a storm could blockade your island from enemy attacks, as well as allied reinforcements.



Piranhas (Multi-figure unit)
These units stay in swampy regions and riverbeds. Not a wise commander will send his explorer over a marsh with these fish in them.



Gorilla (1)
Novelties of the deep jungle, they can turn ferocious when hunted and provoked. Ensuring the player walks cautiously through the jungle.
View a image here

Poisenous Insects (spider or scorpion) (1)
Small insects that tend to be more of a nuiscance than anything. Be wary of sending your mighty Impi warriors through a desert plagued by scorpions, or they arrive too weak to make a difference.



While some would argue that these units could only serve the purpose of eye-candy, I think they would add an entirely new aspect to the game. They would add an "in-depth" feeling to any custom map, making it come alive and seem like a more important factor in Civ3.

From a slighlty more selfish tone, because there is the possibility of putting TET 2.0 on a CD, it would be great if these units were not ripped from other games.

 

[Raw is War?]

Great Idea, and more animal units are diffinately needed!

 

[Mallek]

the king cobra has already been made, also a jaguar and a riderless war elephant.

and just a thing spiders and scorpions are arachnids not insects.

good idea though.

 

[TETurkhan]

Now to get some of the great unit designers to take on some of these!
PCHighway, maybe we should show some of the units that have been made already unless of course they are taken from other games.

 

[PCHighway]

Here are some similar previews of units made by members of the team.

This Mesosaur attack done by Aaglo the Great . It is similar to a crocodile but it is obviously in the water. I think a land based crocodile would be more fitting for the average gamer, though of course we wouldn't complain.


This is a cool looking squid done by utahjazz7 back when the beat was bumping! I suppose such an animal would be a deep sea 'novelty unit' to add a certain depth to naval exploration.

the king cobra has already been made, also a jaguar and a riderless war elephant.

I think I posted a link to the King Cobra you're talking about. As I mentioned however, we wouldn't want to use graphics taken from another game. Because of that the AoK units aren't exactly appealing, however cool they look .

and just a thing spiders and scorpions are arachnids not insects.

Heh, I suppose I was asking for that one.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Personally, I think you should leave the squid out. Aside from in the movies, they've never attacked a ship... in fact, there are very few people (if anyone) who has ever seen a giant squid alive. We know they exist mostly because we find what's left of them after the sperm whales get to them.

 

[gunburned]

That Hurricane is a great idea! Japan had survived countless attacks from mongols and other civilizations due to bad weather sinking there ships.
Good job

Why not put some extinct mamals like the giant elk or giant sloth?

 

[Dom Pedro II]

That Hurricane is a great idea! Japan had survived countless attacks from mongols and other civilizations due to bad weather sinking there ships.
Good job

Why not put some extinct mamals like the giant elk or giant sloth?

I personally think that hurricanes, typhoons, etc. is already well-represented by the "lost at sea" feature. I mean, the problem is that a Hurricane unit will be cruising for ships to destroy... real hurricanes don't do that, and it could potentially be a disaster for early exploration.

Not to mention the fact that people could actually send fleets to destroy the hurricane... how does one DESTROY a hurricane????

 

[TETurkhan]

Remember that these units are pre-placed. Meaning they will never be produced in the game. I personally like the idea of squids, hurricanes etc because they would add flavor to the game. As long as they do not alter strategy play too much - its all good. All about balance...

 

[Jaguar]

I think an invisible "iceberg" unit could be good as a force of nature. If they're placed up in the north, it will stop players from sending ships from Asia over Alaska to the US East Coast in the ancient era. (That was often a problem in Test of Time)

 

[Dom Pedro II]

As I said, even if there are a finite number of these units, they still are going to seek and destroy player's ships. And that's assuming the AI doesn't just keep sending their fleets to plow into them...

Again, I think that the "lost at sea" feature covers bad weather and icebergs.

 

[Jaguar]

Lost at sea has no effect on Galleys which cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic by heading north of Canada. That's where icebergs would come in.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Again, it causes problems with the AI... and the icebergs should at least be immobile so they don't hunt down ships.

 

[Drift]

Master of Myrror can definitely use most if not all of these... For example, aaglo's Mesosaur is the Leviathan I've been looking for.

 

[PCHighway]

Thanks all, for the support .

Personally, I think you should leave the squid out. Aside from in the movies, they've never attacked a ship... in fact, there are very few people (if anyone) who has ever seen a giant squid alive. We know they exist mostly because we find what's left of them after the sperm whales get to them.

Well, there is (at least) one scenario TETurkhan & co. have been working on that would definitely need a giant squid in it. Normally I would agree with you for the regular game, but it all depends on just how the unit is implemented. When does realistic become too unrealistic? When does personifying the wildness and dangerous regions of the world become too unrealistic? Regular Civilization is a perfect example. Small inaccuracies are generally easy to get away with, or don't raise much of a fuss when discovered. That goes from made up Barbarians to inaccuracies in the Civilopedia. No one really notices that you can use an unlimited source of iron; even when it is located on an island separated by coast, simply because you have a harbor in two cities! When was the last time you settled a small island just for a resource (such as iron) and then the very next turn upgraded over 100 units .
I think that if unrealistic things are implemented well, they can seem realistic and add more depth to the game. The problem with this "forces of nature" idea is that all these things are visual. That seems to have more of an effect than something written in text.

I personally think that hurricanes, typhoons, etc. is already well-represented by the "lost at sea" feature. I mean, the problem is that a Hurricane unit will be cruising for ships to destroy... real hurricanes don't do that, and it could potentially be a disaster for early exploration.
Not to mention the fact that people could actually send fleets to destroy the hurricane... how does one DESTROY a hurricane????

Again, it depends on how someone chooses to represent it. For instance, you could make the unit immobile with a bombard range of 1 or 2. On top of that you could make it invisible so it would be impossible to avoid until the Industrial or Modern era, depending on your settings. Give it large amounts of attack and bombard, but a defense of zero. This would avoid awkward looking combat with the unit.
Don't forget about the boost ships have gotten in regards to speed since c3c. If you gave the Hurricane a movement of 1, unbelievable attack and bombard strength but no defense whatsoever, you would get something at least somewhat representative of a real storm. The unit would kill anything that came near it, but when it approached the coast (where it is in reach of ships) the Hurricane would easily die out; sooner or later a ship would approach it the closer it came to the coast.

As I said, even if there are a finite number of these units, they still are going to seek and destroy player's ships. And that's assuming the AI doesn't just keep sending their fleets to plow into them...

Again, I think that the "lost at sea" feature covers bad weather and icebergs.

Interesting point about the AI hunting down Hurricanes!
It's all to true, unfortunately. However, there are ways this could be limited, depending on how far someone wants to go to implement this unit in their scenario. For instance, you could make a certain terrain, let's say "ocean" un-passable by wheeled units. All the naval units would be wheeled up until a certain point. Then you could put rings of ocean on the map, and stick a wheeled Hurricane with bombard and movement inside the ring. This would mean that the Ocean area would become a hotspot for anyone who went near it, as they would likely get bombarded: edge of the storm, so to speak. I am fairly certain that the AI ignores barbarians on terrain it cannot reach.
Also, don't forget that since C3C naval barbarians only attack when you get in their vicinity "about 6-10 squares or so." So the Hurricane would have to be provoked first. On huge maps, this is quite important.

I think a Hurricane could be pretty cool. For instance, I'm sure Drift would use it as a conjured storm, build-able by a certain civ. Lots of possibilities for it.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

Well, it IS your mod. You all seem to have hashed out a lot of the important details.

 

[TETurkhan]

I wanted to bump this thread up. We really need these units made. If anyone else sees them as being important please provide ur support.

thanks...

 

[Drift]

I want to see these made as well. At least the the Mesosaur, but others would be useful as well.

 

[ocedius]

I like this ideas here too. I think we have a scorpion and spider unit is someeone's mod. The reason I say that is because I have 'em in my misc. flc library.

The squid we have could do with some form of makeover.

Also there is a tornado unit in the lib, look kinda like a dust devil, onyl bigger, and darker, and meaner

 

[TETurkhan]

Thanks people for bumping this thread. I think these units would do so much to liven up maps. Other than human barbarian units such "forces of nature" are not a factor in the game. I hope some unit designer will hear our request and come forward.

If any of you know of units that would fit our list please let us know by posting an image here as well as a link to it. PCHighway will update the first post accordingly.

thanks for your support!