So one of the things I enjoy most about CIV is the ability to (in a way) re-write history. The downfall, in my opinion, is the similarity between games. Sure, there are a lot of variables but in the end one game as the Romans is not terribly unlike any other game as the Romans. This is really only a problem when re-using maps since geographic differences seem to have the biggest impact on differences between games, unfortunately I like using the real world map(s) more than anything else.
So I came up with a basic concept and began testing it about a week ago, the main goal being to add more variety to games played on the same map without over-complicating the game. Since it would be difficult to re-write history on a world other than our own I decided to stick with a pre-defined "scenario" start.
Now the complicated part. Thankfully most of this complexity is hidden from the player. There are two main gameplay changes that facilitate the added "layers" used for variety:
1. Culture -> Influence
Culture is no longer culture, it is influence. It's a bit more generic and offers what I feel is a better representation of what affects borders, since that is the most obvious affect of "culture" in Civ4. Influence is essentially a catch-all for everything a civilization has or does that could strengthen their own influence in the world. So much like the "palace" in default Civ4 creatures "culture" many buildings now bolster a cities influence. This means that your military power, economy, research and just about anything else you do affects your influence. While this may at first sound like it removes one aspect of the game it actually adds some depth. Since you are no longer effectively required to build specific culture generating buildings to expand or maintain your borders you can define your civilization better. For example you can chose to be strongly religious and use your relgious buildings to increase your influence or you can chose to be more aggressive and use your military buildings to increase your influence.
Initial testing with the AI has been very interesting. The civs that normally become cultural powerhouses still became influential opponents because they still chose to build a lot of improvements and wonders. However, established borders with all civs were significantly more stable and city flipping was limited to young cities with very few exceptions.
2. Religion -> Culture
Religion is no longer religion, it is now culture- of a sort anyway. Perhaps describing it as regional culture is best. The world is divided into 6 regions (the 7th "religion" going to the barbarians) with 3 civs per region. Regions are more enviromental than cultural so civs are divided into groups based on where they are in the world rather than historical beliefs or achievments. With a little tweaking the existing religion mechanics fit the bill perfectly. With each civ starting with their "culture" defined for their first city, settlers spreading that "culture" to every new city and no missionary type units the end result is pretty cool to see. A benefit of the religion mechanics is their ability to control the creation of specific units and city improvements. This means regional units and buildings can be used to give specific advantages & disadvantages to different civs.
This effect combined with the way unique units work has opened up a new layer of variety as well. So I can create a "Region 1 Warrior" unitclass with two units, the base warrior unit and a second "Slave Warrior" unit with civs not natively from that region using the "Slave Warrior." This makes it possible to do a lot of very cool "tricks." For example jungles may be impassable to units from "Region 1" so that player would need to capture a "Region 2" city and create less powerful slave units there or be forced to avoid the jungles. Or, for another example, in the early game it can be made more beneficial to raze a city and create a new one with your own region culture while late in the game the difference is less pronounced. In the end you will end up creating the best military units in your homeland (or at least home cultural region) and those units will be best suited to your natural enviroment. It's a nice complex system that's very easy to use as a player- you can simply chose from the available units at a city you don't have to worry about much unless you want to.
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So those are the core changes and effects I've seen in testing. It is actually turning into an interesting history simulation if I chose to impliment historical restrictions. In one game I severely crippled the technology of the Aztec, Incan & American civs compared to the civs in Europe. When the first European civs found the Americas the founded a few new cities from two different cultural regions. After a bit of a bloody war the American civ conquered the new colonies and ended up as an empire with three distinct cultural groups. At the same time in the "old world" most of the civs were less diverse having most of their cities from a single regional culture. There were, however, some interesting spots such as Persia which had a mix of cultures and India which was almost perfectly divided between two different regional cultures.
So why am I posting all of this anyway? Well, I thought it was pretty cool the way things were working out so I figured I'd share it. I'm also curious to hear other ideas from people who are also interested in really re-writing world history. Even just some basic ideas, like what to name the regional cultures, would be helpful. Well, that and I'm at work so I can't work on the mod and I'm bored
So I came up with a basic concept and began testing it about a week ago, the main goal being to add more variety to games played on the same map without over-complicating the game. Since it would be difficult to re-write history on a world other than our own I decided to stick with a pre-defined "scenario" start.
Now the complicated part. Thankfully most of this complexity is hidden from the player. There are two main gameplay changes that facilitate the added "layers" used for variety:
1. Culture -> Influence
Culture is no longer culture, it is influence. It's a bit more generic and offers what I feel is a better representation of what affects borders, since that is the most obvious affect of "culture" in Civ4. Influence is essentially a catch-all for everything a civilization has or does that could strengthen their own influence in the world. So much like the "palace" in default Civ4 creatures "culture" many buildings now bolster a cities influence. This means that your military power, economy, research and just about anything else you do affects your influence. While this may at first sound like it removes one aspect of the game it actually adds some depth. Since you are no longer effectively required to build specific culture generating buildings to expand or maintain your borders you can define your civilization better. For example you can chose to be strongly religious and use your relgious buildings to increase your influence or you can chose to be more aggressive and use your military buildings to increase your influence.
Initial testing with the AI has been very interesting. The civs that normally become cultural powerhouses still became influential opponents because they still chose to build a lot of improvements and wonders. However, established borders with all civs were significantly more stable and city flipping was limited to young cities with very few exceptions.
2. Religion -> Culture
Religion is no longer religion, it is now culture- of a sort anyway. Perhaps describing it as regional culture is best. The world is divided into 6 regions (the 7th "religion" going to the barbarians) with 3 civs per region. Regions are more enviromental than cultural so civs are divided into groups based on where they are in the world rather than historical beliefs or achievments. With a little tweaking the existing religion mechanics fit the bill perfectly. With each civ starting with their "culture" defined for their first city, settlers spreading that "culture" to every new city and no missionary type units the end result is pretty cool to see. A benefit of the religion mechanics is their ability to control the creation of specific units and city improvements. This means regional units and buildings can be used to give specific advantages & disadvantages to different civs.
This effect combined with the way unique units work has opened up a new layer of variety as well. So I can create a "Region 1 Warrior" unitclass with two units, the base warrior unit and a second "Slave Warrior" unit with civs not natively from that region using the "Slave Warrior." This makes it possible to do a lot of very cool "tricks." For example jungles may be impassable to units from "Region 1" so that player would need to capture a "Region 2" city and create less powerful slave units there or be forced to avoid the jungles. Or, for another example, in the early game it can be made more beneficial to raze a city and create a new one with your own region culture while late in the game the difference is less pronounced. In the end you will end up creating the best military units in your homeland (or at least home cultural region) and those units will be best suited to your natural enviroment. It's a nice complex system that's very easy to use as a player- you can simply chose from the available units at a city you don't have to worry about much unless you want to.
----
So those are the core changes and effects I've seen in testing. It is actually turning into an interesting history simulation if I chose to impliment historical restrictions. In one game I severely crippled the technology of the Aztec, Incan & American civs compared to the civs in Europe. When the first European civs found the Americas the founded a few new cities from two different cultural regions. After a bit of a bloody war the American civ conquered the new colonies and ended up as an empire with three distinct cultural groups. At the same time in the "old world" most of the civs were less diverse having most of their cities from a single regional culture. There were, however, some interesting spots such as Persia which had a mix of cultures and India which was almost perfectly divided between two different regional cultures.
So why am I posting all of this anyway? Well, I thought it was pretty cool the way things were working out so I figured I'd share it. I'm also curious to hear other ideas from people who are also interested in really re-writing world history. Even just some basic ideas, like what to name the regional cultures, would be helpful. Well, that and I'm at work so I can't work on the mod and I'm bored
No problem !
