War Never Changes, development thread

[Ventessel]

Hello There,

This is a thread to promote the mod I am currently developing, working title: War Never Changes (the tagline from the Fallout series, which provides me with a great deal of visual and artistic inspiration).

The purpose of this mod is to recreate a post-apocalyptic world, strewn with the wreckage of bygone civilizations and lost technology. Early development will hinge on your ability to balance exploring hazardous ruins with defending your tribe from hostile savages and ferocious mutants.

Powerful weapons lie buried under the ashes, and remote vaults hold the secrets of the ancients, but many guardians still protect these sites. As you rebuild your civilization in the wasteland left behind by the wars of old, will you build new weapons? Raise up great armies and unleash the nuclear fires that once annihilated cities? Or will you choose to build and create, developing a new culture and leading mankind forward into a new era?

Gameplay Concepts:

Spoiler :

Several pre-existing concepts are integrated into this mod. First is the idea of population for units. Every unit you build will cost one pop point. This ties the quantity of your troops directly to your population, which I feel is both realistic and adds a further layer of strategic choice to warfare.

To compensate for this fact, I will add Food Resources to the game. Essentially a fusion of several other mods out there, Food Resources will be tradeable bonus resources which can feed your population, enhance existing buildings, and allow unique buildings to benefit your cities.

Many unique resources will be required to train the more powerful and advanced units in each era, and these resources will the primary source of tension between civilizations in the earlier eras when scavenged weapons may mean the difference between security and extinction

At this stage in development, the game will be intended for a pangea style map. This is in part because the AI can't seem to handle the idea of water, and also because the oceans are filled with giant, primordial creatures which grew unchecked in the centuries after the apocalypse. Until late game, they will be impossible to contend with in open ocean, and any navy will be strictly limited to the coasts should they wish to survive for any length of time.

I also want to incorporate the idea of "dungeon city states" which I believe someone was working on for another mod out there. These will be the vaults and ruins which yield the best rewards, should you be able to defeat the powerful robotic sentries still standing guard.

Most of the game's resources will be replaced with Fallout-style resources, particularly the food resources. Ammunition, armor, and scavenged metals will provide the bulk of your military strategic resources until alternate power sources are perfected, since the world was long ago drained of oil.

Technology

Spoiler :

Technologies are divided into Industrial, Economic, Military, Agricultural, Scientific, Religious, Cultural, and Seafaring categories. The latter three are secondary trees, with roughly half as many techs, and dependencies on primary technologies. Unprecedented flexibility in research will allow you to tailor your civilization's progress to the needs of your situation and strategic goals.

The early eras focus on rediscovering lost secrets, and will see a rapid progression into the early industrial era, with alternate resources discovered and new methods developed to fuel an industrial and agricultural revolution. Alternatively, you could focus on recovering and mastering the weapons hidden in the wastes, using them to conquer and enslave your enemies.

In later eras, your knowledge of technology expands to allow some original discoveries and a rough parity with twenty-first century science is reached. Robotics and computerization return to common use, and military applications begin to take shape. From there, truly fantastic research begins to take place...

Civilizations
For the first iteration of the mod, there will be six main civilizations and numerous minor civs, some friendly and some hostile. The main civilizations are as follows:

Canton
A farming community that slowly expands into a powerful regional exporter of its lucrative crops, Canton rises from humble beginnings to become a heavyweight in the international arena. Fueled by quick population growth and plentiful food production, Canton is able to field large armies and expand rapidly.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

Naturally, Canton receives large bonuses to food production, and can construct unique buildings that improve food resources and allow specialists to produce food. At the same time, Canton gets bonuses to relations with other human tribes and can easily recruit allies.

Protectorate of Man
A feudal order of pseudo-knights, the Protectorate is dedicated to genetic purity and the extermination of mutants. The most outwardly militant civilization in the game, they can produce and train some of the best infantry and armored units around. A highly mobile and offensive military force, led by the elite Vanguard, Protectorate forces excel at raiding and enveloping enemy forces.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

Protectorate buildings provide bonus experience to trained troops, and allow conscription of decent frontline infantry. They are able to build Vanguard units, which receive significant bonuses against non-humans and are among the deadliest troops in each era. With advanced technology, mechanized units and hover tanks will allow rapid invasions to take place.

Jaka Tribes
A strange species of furry bipeds, the Jaka emerge from the southern deserts with exotic luxury goods and well guarded caravans. Masters of negotiation, the Jaka turn a tidy profit on every journey. At home in the inhospitable environments of the nuclear deserts, Jaka settlements are naturally protected from aggressors, but when this fails they turn to their talented hunters and scouts to harry the enemy and bleed them out in the desert.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

The Jaka will produce all the gold they can think to use. While they may suffer technologically, and their smaller population will limit the military forces they can field, they will have no trouble financing others to fight in their place. Meanwhile, they can focus on developing their desert settlements into glorious metropolises using their massive profits to import food and grow their population.

Grey's Air Force Base
Starting from the fortified remains of an old Air Force base, with access to a talented pool of technicians and soldiers, Grey's Air Force Base quickly became a secure stronghold for scientific pursuits. Experts at defending against overwhelming odds, their settlements are havens for research and creative minds, isolated from the myriad dangers of the wastes beyond.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

Highly defensive, Grey's Air Force Base can construct unique defensive buildings and gains considerable scientific bonuses. Their borders grow more slowly than others, however, which causes them to rely on a more specialist oriented economy. They more than compensate for this with their advanced infrastructure and special improvements.

Advent Dawn Crew Compliment
The Advent Dawn was one of the most powerful starships in the ancient eras. A deepspace supercarrier which was disabled in orbit hundreds of years ago, she recently crashed. The descendants of her original crew lack much of the expertise and knowledge that their ancestors once possessed, but they have ready access to advanced weapons and are more than willing to use them. Limited only by their small numbers and perishable resources, the crew of the Advent Dawn are prepared to take this new world for their own.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

A unique civilization, the Advent Dawn can never found a second city. The crashed hulk of their supercarrier provides the basis for their capital, and they are able to restore and renovate large portions of it to support an ever increasing population, and construct a plethora of unique buildings. Their borders will grow quickly, and the wealth of technological artifacts within the sealed holds of their ship will make them the envy of the world.

Spider Lilth
Mysterious and reclusive, the spider lilth are a species of intelligent human-spider halfbreeds. They are most commonly encountered in the ruins of ancient cities, collecting technology. The Spider Lilth are exceptionally talented when it comes to restoring artifacts of the lost civilizations, and their remote enclaves deep in the forests which grew out of radioactive pools of waste are alien to the human tribes. While they suffer significant diplomatic penalties with the human races, the Spider Lilth are not naturally warlike, although when pushed to defend their precious enclaves, they will employ ancient weapons repurposed to terrifying effect.

Mechanics:

Spoiler :

The Spider Lilth are a builder civ at their core. They focus on exploring and inhabiting ancient ruins, a unique terrain with special resources. They produce good research and strong military units, but have trouble trading with the human races, often forcing them to resort to scavenging, or border skirmishes to secure needed territories.

 

[Ventessel]

Reserved

 

[Ventessel]

Reserved

 

[Ventessel]

At this moment, I have the bulk of the concept work done and am getting into the XML coding. What I need desperately are capable artists who share my love of Fallout and other post-apocalyptic genres who can create the kind of art assets we used to see for Civ III and Civ IV, sleek sci-fi units and gritty scavengers with laser rifles and shotguns.

I'll post a unit list shortly, beginning with Canton's troops, as they're the most conventional forces.

 

[Gimasag3]

Seems like some pretty cool stuff. Keep us updated.