I would like to see too South-Africa in late came (could start from Zulu civilization). In late game Nigeria would be nice too. It has largest population and economy of Africa. It's trade and foreign policy has impact for other countries (including military interventions) that is why it could be civilization rather than independent. There have been empires in present day Nigeria almost three thousand years but how to make them in one civilization is quite tricky.
And about colonization of Africa. Most of it was done in late 19th century. Before that of course there where trading posts and forts. Most of transatlantic slave trade was done with African kingdoms. West Africa was especially tricky to conquest because mosquitoes (with malaria) kills horses. Invention of machine gun helped colonial powers to conquer West Africa.
I'm seeing a lot of discussion about x civ becoming y civ or respawning as y civ. I'm pretty sure that is a mechanic that only exists because of limits on civ slots that Leo is (or has) getting rid of. By the time any of these civs are added, there likely won't be civs respawning into totally different civs, just respawning as themselves.
So that said, Zulu -> South Africa makes no sense. South Africa started as a settler colony; it wouldn't be a thing if the Dutch and British had not colonized the region, so it should be conditional on colonies. I agree it would be a good addition though.
I'm seeing a lot of discussion about x civ becoming y civ or respawning as y civ. I'm pretty sure that is a mechanic that only exists because of limits on civ slots that Leo is (or has) getting rid of. By the time any of these civs are added, there likely won't be civs respawning into totally different civs, just respawning as themselves.
So that said, Zulu -> South Africa makes no sense. South Africa started as a settler colony; it wouldn't be a thing if the Dutch and British had not colonized the region, so it should be conditional on colonies. I agree it would be a good addition though.
While your first part is correct, I wouldn't be so quick on the second part.
South Africa is a multiracial democracy, and if we were to give it cultures like a civ 4 city, they'd be:
* Dutch, who would colonise it in the 1600s, representing obviously the Dutch
* English, who would conquer it in the 1700s, representing obviously the British
* Boers, who would either revolt/spawn in the 1800s, representing obviously the Boers, including the Voertrekkers, Boer Republics, and potentially even South Africa 1960-1994
* Zulus, who would either revolt/spawn in the 1800s, representing the Zulu, but potentially also the Xhosa and other Bantu peoples in the region
* Natives, who would spawn continuously until the 1900s, representing the Khoisan and other northern, even Bantu groups
This has precedent in the game already: both the "Austrians" and "Prussians" represent "Germany". There's also a slightly similar situation, which is that both the Islamic Byzantines and Turks-relegated-to-Anatolia can represent the "Sultanate of Rum". I think that Greece-relegated-to-Persia and Persia as a vassal of Greece both are the "Seleucid Empire". Anyway, my point is that late-game/"final stage" states can have more than one civ form them.
So having both or either the Zulus and Boers represent South Africa would be appropriate imo. Besides, it would be weird to add one and not the other.
TBH I'm not sure why so many people want to add the Zulus - they're neither big nor long-lived enough to merit their own civ, IMO. I'd much rather have Zimbabwe/Mutapa for a native African civ in the region.
TBH I'm not sure why so many people want to add the Zulus - they're neither big nor long-lived enough to merit their own civ, IMO. I'd much rather have Zimbabwe/Mutapa for a native African civ in the region.
Probably something like 90% familiarity. At the end of the day this is still a civ mod and the Zulus have been in the series from the beginning. There's also the side benefit of the Zulu Kingdom being recent enough that we have reasonably accurate records to go off of as opposed to older civilizations where there are so many more blanks to fill.
I mostly agree with you, I just think it would be weird to see South Africa spawn without colonization because then it would just be a continuation of the native civilizations, which could be represented by just having the other civilization continue. Kind of like how an uncolonized Aztec empire should not turn into Mexico, but rather continue or respawn as the Aztecs (this was discussed in another thread - can't remember which one).
TBH I'm not sure why so many people want to add the Zulus - they're neither big nor long-lived enough to merit their own civ, IMO. I'd much rather have Zimbabwe/Mutapa for a native African civ in the region.
This pretty much sums up my thoughts. I do agree that the high familiarity with the Zulu and their inclusion in the civ series makes them a good contender to add, but I think it would be odd for them to be the only southern African civ added. I think both gameplay and historicity would be enriched by having a couple civs, some independent city spawns, and unit spawns to represent the complex situation in southern Africa. Of course, Leo gets final say on what civs go in, and I'm sure the mod will continue to be fantastic either way.
Zulu is the only possible new African embryonic Civilisation outside of the Sahel/Ethiopia even worth considering of the name, Congo is already a huge stretch as it is, I mean they lacked even writing or the wheel. It's perfectly fine for some parts of the map to be empty for later settlers, I'd rather see more Near-Eastern Civilisations or a Balkan one.
The Boers might be interesting to play, but they'd have to have a conditional spawn for them to make sense, of course.
Can I weigh in with my opinion? I think the most needed are the east african civs The Swahili in particular I feel would add the most to the game, it was a major set of medieval trade powers and a seat of major muslim power, also Zimbabwe the major source of medieval gold besides Mali
Just wanna say that writing was only independently developed 3-6 times in human history, and the wheel probably only once or twice. So the fact that the Congolese got those ideas only after having contact with outside groups is by no means disqualifying.
In that case do you advocate for the removal of the Aztecs, Harappans, Polynesians, and Inca? All never developed or utilised the wheel or writing and in the case of the latter two spread the length of a continent and colonized an oceanic basin before Europe in general had even an inkling that the new world even existed.
The lack of one tech does not preclude the development of others. Each of the above civs created complex societies that in the case if the Aztec and Inca had architectural and city planning skills that in some ways were more advanced than the europeans that took them over. In the case of the Harappans they were building the first levies to manage the flow of the Indus and developed possibly the first system of standardised weights and measures. long before even the Indo-europeans had migrated to Europe, let alone developed into the ancestor cultures of Europe today.
With regards to adding new civs in Africa, here are a couple of thoughts for others to build off of (and map suggestions for new civs):
South Africa/Zulu:
As much as I'd love to include a fleshed out civ that shipped with the (DLC) game, the Zulu are not a good fit. Its was a nomadic culture with a short-lived historical relevancy that did not have significant permanent settlements. The Zulu in the context of DoC are better represented by unit spawns than anything else.
That said, Southern Africa is a desirable chunk of land in the new map and South Africa has certainly relevant as an African political player in the last 200 years. There has been discussion of implementing a mechanic that has a civ spawn as a vassal which could allow for an earlier Canada and a viable inclusion of Australia and in this case, South Africa. The issue with South Africa is that is not as likely to be a British settlement every game. Spawn conditions would have to depend on how a vassal spawn system is implemented.
Using a Boer/South Africa civ is conflicting to me because Boers are a minority group within South Africa and there is a lack of historical continuity between the two.
SpoilerNE Africa :
Gold = Consistently settled/spawning city sites
Yellow = Changed to semidesert to better reflect regional climate and transition
Highlighted tile changed to plains
Nubia/Funj/Sudan: I think Nubia is a fairly clear addition given its relevance and proximity to Egypt. I added gold to Sennar and Stone to Meroe given Nubia's trade with Egypt.
I'm not sure how the removal of the re-spawn system will work. Presumably in the cases of Italy and the new world civs it allows for needed civs that are distinctly different in language and art-style to their ancient counterparts. How many new civs will be added just to account for re-spawns that lack continuity? For example, is there any need to add a Mamluk Sultanate? The dynamic name system, VD and our leaderheads already account for changes to form the Egyptian people into the Mamluk Sultanate for a time which makes sense given its representative of an Egyptian region with Egyptian people.
I generally like the idea of having civs represent regional areas that are relevant throughout history and span the course of time.
I suppose there could be a later occurring Funj Sultanate that replaces Nubia, but it makes more sense for me to have Nubia transition through various forms as it evolves using organic re-spawns. Suppose an Egyptian player conquers Nubia and then collapses after a Roman invasion, the cities flip to independent and have a chance to re-birth Nubia over time. Thoughts?
SpoilerEast Africa :
Dark green for added grassland
Removed peak north of Kigali - Couldn't find the peak on a map, this area is just highlands, no different than the tile 1s
Replaced two mountains sw of Lake Victoria with hills - given population and topographic considerations
Added Mt. Stanley, moved copper - A more significant peak and also a better historical obstacle
Moved salt north of Kigali - Presumably the Lake Katwe Salt Mines, this frees up Bunyoro/Kigali
Moved Tanzania gold to south of Lake Victoria - Represents Senkenke Gold Mine which is historically relevant and a huge producer for a time
Added savanna to highlighted tile - This area is full of savanna game reserves
Added coffee between Rwanda and Uganda - Relevant to historical trade and also a modern cash crops, the high altitude terrain is ideal for it.
Also could add banana to Rwanda if it needs more population but I think this should be fine.
Incense should be moved to free Mogadishu, given the other two nearby, perhaps we replace it with something else?
Rwanda/Bunyoro Kitara:
I think these two should be included as an independent cities. Bunyoro goes back to 940 AD while Rwanda was sometime in the 15th century. Both were relevant, expansionist states that lasted for several hundreds of years. Lake Victoria was both settled and politically developed in pre-colonial times hence the inclusion of Bunyoro (in Uganda) and Rwanda as cities at 940 and 1400. The hilly terrain will make them a tough conquest but they can also serve as targets for ambitious Swahili, Ethiopian or Sudanese players, perhaps even Congo.
SpoilerEastern Coast :
Added jungle to highlighted and 1s tiles - Prevents settlement of attractive river spots that were never particularly populated
Added Ivory next to Quelimane - Sofala and later Quelimane were both important trade ports to the Kilwa Sultanate, while most of the ivory was sourced from Zimbabwe, it should be obtainable by settling these spots
Swahili Peoples:
Spawning as the Kilwa Sultanate in the 10th century, I think a civ representing the Swahili peoples would be a great addition to providing more life in eastern Africa and trade in the Indian Ocean.
Another potential candidate would be the addition of Great Zimbabwe which could certainly bring more life to south central Africa and offer trade with the Swahili and Congolese. I worry that Zimbabwe would be less interesting from a player standpoint so perhaps independents are a better option.
Nubia/Funj/Sudan: I think Nubia is a fairly clear addition given its relevance and proximity to Egypt. I added gold to Sennar and Stone to Meroe given Nubia's trade with Egypt.
I'm not sure how the removal of the re-spawn system will work. Presumably in the cases of Italy and the new world civs it allows for needed civs that are distinctly different in language and art-style to their ancient counterparts. How many new civs will be added just to account for re-spawns that lack continuity? For example, is there any need to add a Mamluk Sultanate? The dynamic name system, VD and our leaderheads already account for changes to form the Egyptian people into the Mamluk Sultanate for a time which makes sense given its representative of an Egyptian region with Egyptian people.
I generally like the idea of having civs represent regional areas that are relevant throughout history and span the course of time.
I suppose there could be a later occurring Funj Sultanate that replaces Nubia, but it makes more sense for me to have Nubia transition through various forms as it evolves using organic re-spawns. Suppose an Egyptian player conquers Nubia and then collapses after a Roman invasion, the cities flip to independent and have a chance to re-birth Nubia over time. Thoughts?
I think your arguments of a distinctly different language and artstyle apply even more for Ancient Egypt/Islamic Egypt than Italy and the new worlds civs. It isn't only the lack on continuity that justifies Islamic Egypt, Islamic Egypt and Ancient Egypt are also culturally quite different. (And I think culture is one of the most important aspects of what defines a civ)
Is there really a need for the Mamluk Sultanate and the mod cannot do without them? No. The current game shows us that the mod can do without them. But would there be any downside of having them? It would do all the thing a respawned Ancient Egypt does, but better. (Because of the dedicated UU, UB, UP, flagdecal etc) This argument could be used to represent every single minor state with their own civ having an UU, UB, UP etc, but unlike to those civs an Islamic Egyptian civ has IMO enough merit and options for an interesting game with UHV to be a fully playable civ on its own. So why not including them?
I agree with merjin that Islamic Egypt is an interesting civ to be fully playable and distinct enough from the ancient one, but I got thinking that we need to find a better name for it. Should a civ called Islamic Egypt represent the Copts or an eventual non-Muslim Egypt? What should be the distinct names for ancient and medieval-to-modern Egypt civilizations?
About Zulu/Boers/South Africa, I fully agree that the Zulu is not a good fit for Tab911's mentioned reasons. Also agree with the issues in the Boer/South Africa continuity (certainly the modern country is foremost the result of British colonization rather than Boer), but in this specific case I see more reasonable historical links and gameplay reasons to go in that line. Historically, while the Boers were and still are a minority group, they politically dominated South Africa for most time in its existence as independent polity and were quite relevant during the colonial period. Gameplaywise, adding this continuum Boers/South Africa would allow us to introduce the civ without needing a vassal spawn mechanic, since they can spawn independently considering the historical Boer Republics.
On a side note here, I agree that not having a settlement in South Africa in every game is an issue and think that we could improve by increasing the Dutch colonization efforts (i.e., settler value?) in the region. I don't know what you guys think, but is strange to me that in most of my games the Dutch seems more focused in colonizing Australia and New Zeland than South Africa.
I also got thinking about the inclusion of Zimbabwe civ. In many aspects, I tend to agree that they may be better represented as a independent city considering the lack of much information about them and that they would be a relatively short-lived civ (since their kingdom lasted from c. 1000-1450). A possible solution to increase the likeness of their addition is to use the civ to represent more broadly the Shona peoples, thus going also for the Mutapa and possibly the Rozvi. The former kingdom seems to be founded by a Zimbabwean prince and historically lasted much longer, until the mid-18th century. The latter, founded by mid-17th century and in practical terms successor of Mutapa, lasted even longer, being only conquered by the end of 19th century. By including these successor states, we also have much more information about them (since they were contemporaneous to Portuguese and later British colonial efforts), thus considerably helping us in things like pagan religion, city names, UUs, UBs and UHVs.
As I mentioned, I like the idea of long-spanning civilizations that rise and fall repeatedly in accordance with history, consider it my vote.
Having the greater Shona peoples as a civ is a great idea, I'll get to work on researching some relevant cities and rises/falls throughout time.
SpoilerCentral Africa :
Added Salt Flat south of Tibestsi Mountains - Lines up with satellite imaging
Added horse to Lake Chad - Needed for a Kanem-Bornu civ
Added savanna on green tiles, moved cow from Lake Chad - Abeche is a major cattle herding center largely grazing on savanna... also could be plains given satellite imaging considerations
Added Camel north of Abeche - Abeche was a vital historical trade city with the east, perhaps 1w to encourage settlement
Moved Libya Camel closer to Tripoli, Added another Camel to Zawilah - Zawilah was the capital of the Fezzan region and was a vital trade city for Kanem-Bornu, probably could use a second food source as well, dates are most appropriate but they cannot be in the middle of the desert
Kanem-Bornu/Chad:
A relevant, trading empire that fills a space often left untouched in DoC games, Kanem-Bornu would make a great addition to Africa.
How we define the ethnic "peoples" group is a bit unclear, refer to the linked wiki page.
The spawn date should occur around 700AD in Nijimi, unfortunately, the location of this city is unknown. I put the highlighted tile as a candidate as we know Nijimi was somewhere north of Lake Chad, however another idea just occurred to me. Bilma is a relevant Sahara trade city that could feasibly be placed 1s as it is south of the Tibetsi Mountains and is also less likely to crowd Zawilah. Perhaps we place Nijimi 1s of Bilma and then the name changes later in the game?
Kanem-Bornu was succeeded by the Borunu Empire:
"Then, around 1460 Ali Gazi (1473-1507) defeated his rivals and began the consolidation of Bornu. He built a fortified capital at Ngazargamu, to the west of Lake Chad (in present-day Nigeria), the first permanent home a Sayfawa mai had enjoyed in a century. So successful was the Sayfawa rejuvenation that by the early 16th century Mai Idris Katakarmabe (1507-1529) was able to defeat the Bulala and retake Njimi, the former capital. The empire's leaders, however, remained at Ngazargamu because its lands were more productive agriculturally and better suited to the raising of cattle. Ali Gaji was the first ruler of the empire to assume the title of Caliph"
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanem–Bornu_Empire#Shift_of_the_Sayfuwa_court_from_Kanem_to_Bornu
Nijimi is still in play at this point, perhaps a camel can be added north of lake chad that is workable by either city Ngazargamu ought to be a bit stronger, perhaps stone spawns as well to the west?
Finally, I think N'Djamena ought to be covered with a marsh until 1800 where the French can settle Ft. Lamy. The area can still be Kanem core so that an unstable France will cede it to a country approximating modern Chad.
Thoughts?
Taking opportunity of Tab911 latest map suggestions, I’d like to make some about a possible Kanem-Bornu (KB) civ here. I feel that most of us don’t really know much about them and I’ve been reading to find some ideas to make them a viable addition. So I would love some feedback!
To begin with, I’d like to start with Tab911 map suggestions, which I fully support with the sole exception of the idea of turning Bilma and Njimi as distinct dynamic names for the same city. As remarked, we simply don’t really know where Njimi was located, except that was somewhere in North-Northeast side of Lake Chad, whereas Bilma is a city in an oasis within the Sahara. Also, I’d like to suggest that the tile 2S from Agadez/2W from Ngazargamu should have Kano (spawning as independent city called Dala around the same time as KB), which not only was the largest and most important Hausa city in the region, but also is the second largest city in Nigeria today.
Now, going more to the civ attributes, I want mention DoCR/1SDAN version of the KB civ, which I’ll take as a base to outline my suggestions. His version also bares much similarities with the Rise of Mankind – A New Dawn (RoM) one (it seems to me that much of the art assets were borrowed from it), but my focus will be in his because he already ported the KB to the Rise and Fall’s mechanics. For the sake of brief reference, here are DoCR outlines of the KB:
700 AD in Njimi
UP - The Power of Aquifiers: Core Cities also yield a Farm's base yields.
UU - Iron Helmet: Replaces Musketeer, +2 Experience per stronger civilization with pleased or better relations and the same state religion
UB - Zango: Replaces Lighthouse, 2 Statesmen, 1 Merchant slots, +25% GPP
UHV1 - King of Kanem: Conduct one Diplomatic Mission in Egypt and 3 Trade Missions in your state religion's Holy City by 1259
UHV2 - Mai of Chad: Sell 5 Slaves and buy 10 Strategic Resources by 1380
UHV3 - Lord of Bornu: Control the largest army of any nation with holdings in Africa and control Libya, Nigeria, and Cameroon by 1603
The first point to look is to establish exactly who the KB civ will represent. In a first look, it is obvious as representation of the Kanem-Bornu continuum (Kanembu and Kanuri peoples), but we could also gain a lot more information if we think in them also as a representation (even if only as possible dynamic names) of the many Central African Sahelian peoples that were also, at different times, part of KB empire, such as the Bagirmi, Kotoko and the Wadai sultanate. I’ve considered also including the Hausa within the KB “umbrella” (and that would help a lot in finding UBs and UUs given the information available about them), but honestly I find that they may be better represented as part of a possible Nigerian civ or only as indy Kano.
Spawn/starting tile: 700 CE in the same tile that Tab911 proposed as Njimi. Nonetheless, I’d like to point that Njimi wasn’t the first KB capital, becoming so only after Islamic conversion. Before that, the Kanembu lived mostly as nomads, though the earliest cartographers mentioned the existence of few small towns within the empire whose capital was Mānān (alternatively spelled Mātān). We also don’t know where Mānān was, but I think we can use the tile suggested by Tab911 and make it as a dynamic name with Njimi instead, switching when the civ/city becomes Muslim during the Middle Ages.
Color/Flag: Wikipedia has the supposed flag of Kanem and the later Bornu and I have to say that I really like the first one with the palm tree. Going in the same vibe, I see white as a good civ color, but of course this is pending other civs added to the game.
Core/Historical areas: the core would be the nearest tiles around Lake Chad; historical areas would include Hausaland and parts of Fezzan, roughly corresponding to the empire's maximum extent.
Leaders: Looking to KB history (and even in the wiki article about them), we can quickly come to two obvious candidates: Dunama Dabbalemi, who was the mai (king) that ruled over Kanem at its territorial peak in the Middle Ages, and Idris Alooma, the most successful mai after the shift to Bornu in the late 16th century. Other options include Muhammad al-Kanemi, arguably the last successful Bornu leader in the 19th century, replacing the centuries-old Sayfawa dynasty rule and is listed as leader in RoM; and one unorthodox option of Rabih az-Zubayr, who was a warlord of Sudanese origin that conquered Bornu and carved a short lived-empire in the region few years before French colonial conquest. For LHs, there is some good assets for Medieval Islamic African rulers in History Rewritten who could be used for any of the Sahelian/African-Islamic civs.
UP: I personally like DoCR UP (The Power of Aquifiers: Core Cities also yield a Farm's base yields) because it is something different from what you would expect from a civ so involved in the Trans-Saharian trade, giving more uniqueness and depth to the civ. If we find this UP somewhat weak in comparison with other civs, we can extend the bonus to any city founded in historical desert/semi-desert tiles.
UB: There is little information about KB buildings besides some generic remarks. Initially their cities were described as dwellings with huts made of reeds; urbanization was a later process that goes with the Islamization of KB. By the time of the court change to Bornu and later, we have much more detailed information: the new capital, Ngazargamu may had a population of up 200.000 people at some time, was surrounded by 7,6m walls and its main buildings were made of red bricks, with most of other buildings built with straw and adobe.
SpoilerDrawing of KB court at Ngazargamu?, c. 1700, and from Kukawa (the last Bornu capital) in 1851 :
Both DoCR and RoM chose the Zango as UB. The only information that I could find about is that the name refers to a city in Nigeria. Thus, I honestly think that we may have to find a better alternative. Here I have two suggestions that fit KB thematically well: the first is the Wasiliram, which was the special merchant/market neighborhoods in KB cities that could be a replacement to the Market. The second is the Zariba, a thorn-and-adobe-built stockade that also seems to name the fortfied military camps employed by mai Alooma to control of his territory; can replace the Barracks, Castle or Star Fort.
I didn't found more detailed descriptions or images of these buildings, so we can use any art asset that we find good enough. It's worthy to note that the first option is used in some Civ 5 and Civ 6 mods. The UB bonus can be chosen considering the UHVs, but I think is not out of sight offering a stateman slot, additional merchant slots/trade routes/yields for certain resources (like Camel, Salt, Ivory or Copper) for the first suggestion and specialist slots/free Desert Adaptation promotion/+% culture/removing desert culture spread penalties (if possible) for the second.
UU: The core element of KB military forces were, during all the empire existence, their cavalry corps, since the horse offered the mobility crucial to the Sahelian warfare centered in pillaging, skirmishes and capturing captives/slaves. Below, you can see examples of soldiers from the 19th century.
Spoiler:
Being said that, both DoCR and RoM chose to represent Alooma’s army, which employed many innovations that allowed him to allegedly never lose a battle in his life; he reformed his native cavalry, employed Tuareg, Berber and camel corps, used Kotoko boatsman to quickly deploy his forces within Chad basin and, more notoriously, used the so-called iron-helmeted musketeers trained by Ottoman military advisers. I have to stress here that I like the idea of the Iron Helmet as UU and really love how unique is the special bonus designed by 1SDAN in his modmod (extra EXP per stronger civs with pleased or better relations and same religion), but I do see the unit art somewhat inaccurate and uninspiring. I couldn’t find an image or representation of the Iron Helmets anywhere online; also couldn't find any art that seemed much adequate for these troops here in the forums. Bellow in the spoilers tag is all the info that I could find about them and how I imagine they would look; hopefully someone can find some unit that bares some resemblance.
Spoiler:
The first thing to note is that these musketeer corps were referred as “Turkish”, however it was much more about their profession (gunpower specialists) than about the ethnicity or cultural background. The second thing is that most of them, if not all, were slave-soldiers grounded in the Islamic tradition (just like the Mamluks, Ghulams and Janissars), possibly recruited by the Ottoman Empire and sold/gifted to Alooma. Third, while they were said to come after the diplomatic exchanges between Alooma and the Ottomans in Libya, modern research suggest that these gunpower corps predates the event and it is much likely that large part of Alooma's musketeers were both Moroccan remnants from Saadi conquest of Songhai and mercenaries from North Africa. About their equipment, it seems obvious (given their name) that these corps had at least a better armor than most of KB infantry, composed mainly by light corps recruited among the native peoples under the empire (see the images above). Thus, we can argue that these troops would be a ethnically diverse force (possibly employing Europeans, Middle Easterners and Black Africans) with some kind of Turkish/Middle Eastern helmet such as the Turban helmet or the Çiçak helmet (that gave origin to the later European Lobster-tailed helmet from 17th century). Please note that I really don’t know how to mod so I don’t know how feasible is to make such unit, but the least that we could do is just find a arquebusier/musketeer art with some helmet so their name make more sense.
UHVs: Taking a more open approach here, tossing some ideas so we can discuss them and make more definitive suggestions. In many aspects, many of the KB characteristics and historical “achievements” were shared with other Islamic Sahelian kingdoms centered in the Trans-Saharan trade.
Spoiler:
Conduct X Diplomatic Missions in capitals located in Maghreb or Middle East regions and a X Trade Missions to your state's religion Holy City.
The KB were noted as one of the great Sudanic (i.e., sub-Saharan) kingdoms by the Arab cartographers and scholars, but also was one of the few (along Mali and Songhai) that were able to actively engage in diplomatic missions with its northern neighbors and perform large and pompous Hajj expeditions; they were noted also for patronizing religious institutions/hostels in Egypt and Mecca.
Gain XXXX gold with trade routes and selling resources/slaves by certain date.
As said above, the economic heart of KB was the Trans-Saharan trade. While Chad region don’t have gold mines (unlike the West African kingdoms), there was a series of oasis that made the route Kanem-Tripoli via Fezzan much safer than other Saharan crossings. The main products from KB were Ivory, Salt, Copper (its importance often was compared with the Gold for Mali, obtained from mines in Takedda) and, above all, Slaves. I will leave the discussion about how to represent more properly the slavery in Islamic societies for other time (and I do think we should revisit this topic, thinking in new mechanics for Islamic civs considering the possible addition of other civs like Swahili and Islamic Egypt).
Conquest/territorial-based UHVs.
KB had its territorial peak by 13th century, when arguably it was the largest African empire. Nonetheless, it seems that for most time KB didn’t have such large territory and I think that an UHV of such nature is much more adequate to more military-oriented civs (like Songhai), but is another option. Another possible UHV related to a new KB capital, so we can represent the shift from Kanem to Bornu by the end of 14th century.
Construction of XX certain buildings by 1600 CE.
The UHV would be designed to represent the achievements of Alooma rule, who introduced many administrative and religious reforms, engage actively in diplomatic affairs (he signed what seems to be the first written treaty or ceasefire in Central Africa history) besides the military reforms noted above. He is said to have built many mosques, Islamic educational centers, roads, and even a hostel in Mecca for his subjects make their pilgrimage.
Later UHVs (18-19th centuries)
Another possible addition would be a late-game UHV, given that one of the most impressive aspect from KB is that it lasted so long (from c. 700 to 1893-1900). While it is somewhat clear that the empire went to stagnation and decline after Alooma, there are some few remarks and characteristics afterwards that can help us to name and design UHVs: from 18th century onwards, there was an increasingly powerful state council named Nokena, composed both from nobles and eunuchs; we can also note al-Kanemi rule in early 19th century that revigorated the kingdom, changed its capital to Kukawa, adopted the title shehu (similar to Arabic shaykh) instead of mai and ensured its survival upon Sokoto jihad; finally, we can remember the mentioned Rabih az-Zubayr, who was also entitled shehu of Bornu after his conquest (1893-1894) and then engaged in hostilities with European powers in the region, particularly the French (who finally defeated and killed him in 1900, ensuring the colonial conquest).
Pagan religion: I found little about the pre-Islamic KB religion. Most of the sources point to animism or the so-called African Traditional Religion. The lack of information is related to the fact that the KB quickly converted most of their population (unlike the Mandé peoples, where the conversion of the common population took much more time than the ruling elite). CK3 uses the Hausa animism as pagan religion for KB (Bori), but I’ve found some other options to go with. When the first (and pagan) KB dynasty, called Duguwa by Arabs cartographers, was replaced by the Muslim Sayfawas, the new rulers imposed their religion among the populace and seems to have expelled all the people who refused to do it, including the pagan (and nomad) ruling class known as Zaghawa. They marched to the east, organized themselves in new societies and retained much of their pagan traditions for much longer, being slowly converted to Islam between 13th and 17th century. Among these rites, the Karama is well known, a ritual sacrifice of animals (usually cattle or goats). Thus, one idea is to call KB pagan religion as Karama, having a URV that involves controlling certain number of pasture/camp resources. Another possible useful information comes with the history that mai Dabbalemi (the one which expanded KB to its maximum extent) destroyed the mune, a mysterious object that symbolized the divine power of the kings in pre-Islamic Kanem; his decision proved quite polemic and seems to have provoked social and political turmoil for some time; some authors consider that this account may be related to the expel of the pagan Zaghawas from KB lands.
Great People names: I have to say that I didn’t really focused in finding much info about possible GP names for KB (in fact, I even don’t looked properly at how DoCR and RoM treated the issue), even though there are some obvious candidates like Alooma’s chronicler and Iman Ibn Furtu. Nonetheless, as you all may note, there is not many information about earlier “great peoples” besides some mai names, which nonetheless can be arguably used for some GP. By the time I’m writing this post I still couldn’t read Girgam (the royal chronicle of KB) or the work of the German explorer Heinrich Barth, who travelled to Central Africa, took a copy of the Girgam and also leaved a detailed description about his stay there in mid-19th century.
One option that hasn't been discussed is to do what the RTS game Rise of Nations did and have one civ for the Bantu peoples. The Zulu, Shona, Eswatini, and Sumuka people all speak Bantu languages and could be represented. Cities could be Great Zimbabwe, Khami, Ulundi, Kilwa Kisiwani, Gokomere, etc.
Just a thought. I know other Civs from Civ4 that represent larger groups of people from similar culture (Celts, Native American civ) were not included in DoC. But the Greek and Mayan people are represented in game as one unified civ even though they were a collection of city states that often had different goals and fought with each other. Heck, the Greek civ also includes the kingdom of Makedonia, even though the Greeks didn't see Macedonians as belonging to Greek culture.
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