Apparently Carthage coming out soon will be "Venice like" in favoring tall gameplay and work very differently from other civs. I love the idea of civs that work fundamentally differently, but balanced within the systems of Civ 7.
I thought of one for Edo Japan that draws thematically on Japan's closed country but especially it's unique economic system of taxation in rice and how the Daimyos being forced to spend time in Edo meant a cultural explosion there. Edo was one of the largest cities in the world, but the median size of Japanese settlements was very small.
I'll post my Edo, but feel free to come up with oddball civs. What makes Edo oddball is that if you choose to enact closed country, the religious system and to a lesser extent the treasure fleet system are completely turned off. Victory conditions are the same but work totally differently.
EDO JAPAN (EXPLORATION AGE)
Attributes:
Cultural, Militaristic
Abilities:
Sankin Kotai (Daimyos forced to live in Edo half the time) - All infantry units can be sent to the capital, where they can be removed from the game for 10 turns in exchange for +10 culture per turn.
Kokudaka (Rice Tax System) - Half of all production in towns is converted into food.
Fudai Daimyo (hereditary lords serving Tokugawa) - Army Commander (Daimyo) unit can be purchased with gold.
Associated wonder, 15% discount:
Dejima Island (only foreign port allowed in Japan at Nagasaki, with Dutch traders). Must be built on coastal tile next to land. Based on the amount of total culture generated, Dutch Treasure Fleets will automatically spawn and yield treasure if they make it to the wonder. At random, some treasure fleets will create a free gunpowder unit. Dutch Treasure Fleets spawn within 15 tiles of the wonder and can be pillaged.
Unique Buildings:
Dojima Rice Exchange (rice taxes were converted into gold here at Osaka) - Can only be built in one city. Converts all food being sent by settlements to that city into gold. Population growth now results from a meter that fills relative to national culture yields.
Shiro (castle) - Adds a second district that must be conquered in addition to the city center. Builds free walls around it and the city center. Must be built adjacent to the city center.
Ukiyo "The Floating World" (pleasure/entertainment district) - Converts 5% of national gold yields into culture. Maximum 5 per civilization. Takes up an entire tile and counts as a quarter. Can be built in towns only if the "Roadside Inn" specialization is selected.
Jinja (shrine) - Replaces temples. Produces +1 food +1 gold compared to a temple.
Civics:
Sankoku (closed country) - No foreign trade routes or distant land colonies allowed (existing colonies will be disbanded and units returned to home continent). Religious conversion of cities by foreign missionaries not permitted. -20% science. Grants free Dejima island if not yet built.
Sankoku II - +100% culture yield conversion rate to Dutch Treasure Fleet spawn (AKA, same culture produces twice as many treasure fleets)
Gokaido (great five roads for required travel to Edo) - Each settlement laying on the road between a city containing Dojima and a city containing a Ukiyo district gets +5 gold +3 food and +10 culture. Tradition Hanjin (road inns) - Unit maintenance +1 but happiness +1 per unit. Social Policy Shukuba (rest stops) - Settlements receiving Gokaido bonuses get +10 happiness.
After researching the above two:
Shinto - All settlements with a Jinja convert to the national religion, or will convert once a Jinja is built. Social Policy Matsuri - The cost of celebrations is 50% less, but they last half as long.
Shinto II - Each celebration yields one relic.
Unique Units:
Bushi (samurai) - +5 combat strength against units without any adjacent allies. Has a charge to convert a town's food yield into gold for four turns at a cost of one population every two turns, and cannot take actions other than defend, fortify or heal during this period (one at a time in each settlement).
Sohei (warrior monk) - Missionary unit with tier 2 infantry combat strength. Under Sankoku, religious spread adds +5 happiness per turn for 5 turns to any settlement with a Jinja. Cannot spread religion under Sankoku.
Daimyo (feudal lord) - Unique Army Commander Unit. Received in a fixed order, each with a unique charge one-use charge. Each has a partial experience tree with the corresponding level.
Examples include:
Notes:
I thought of one for Edo Japan that draws thematically on Japan's closed country but especially it's unique economic system of taxation in rice and how the Daimyos being forced to spend time in Edo meant a cultural explosion there. Edo was one of the largest cities in the world, but the median size of Japanese settlements was very small.
I'll post my Edo, but feel free to come up with oddball civs. What makes Edo oddball is that if you choose to enact closed country, the religious system and to a lesser extent the treasure fleet system are completely turned off. Victory conditions are the same but work totally differently.
EDO JAPAN (EXPLORATION AGE)
Attributes:
Cultural, Militaristic
Abilities:
Sankin Kotai (Daimyos forced to live in Edo half the time) - All infantry units can be sent to the capital, where they can be removed from the game for 10 turns in exchange for +10 culture per turn.
Kokudaka (Rice Tax System) - Half of all production in towns is converted into food.
Fudai Daimyo (hereditary lords serving Tokugawa) - Army Commander (Daimyo) unit can be purchased with gold.
Associated wonder, 15% discount:
Dejima Island (only foreign port allowed in Japan at Nagasaki, with Dutch traders). Must be built on coastal tile next to land. Based on the amount of total culture generated, Dutch Treasure Fleets will automatically spawn and yield treasure if they make it to the wonder. At random, some treasure fleets will create a free gunpowder unit. Dutch Treasure Fleets spawn within 15 tiles of the wonder and can be pillaged.
Unique Buildings:
Dojima Rice Exchange (rice taxes were converted into gold here at Osaka) - Can only be built in one city. Converts all food being sent by settlements to that city into gold. Population growth now results from a meter that fills relative to national culture yields.
Shiro (castle) - Adds a second district that must be conquered in addition to the city center. Builds free walls around it and the city center. Must be built adjacent to the city center.
Ukiyo "The Floating World" (pleasure/entertainment district) - Converts 5% of national gold yields into culture. Maximum 5 per civilization. Takes up an entire tile and counts as a quarter. Can be built in towns only if the "Roadside Inn" specialization is selected.
Jinja (shrine) - Replaces temples. Produces +1 food +1 gold compared to a temple.
Civics:
Sankoku (closed country) - No foreign trade routes or distant land colonies allowed (existing colonies will be disbanded and units returned to home continent). Religious conversion of cities by foreign missionaries not permitted. -20% science. Grants free Dejima island if not yet built.
Sankoku II - +100% culture yield conversion rate to Dutch Treasure Fleet spawn (AKA, same culture produces twice as many treasure fleets)
Gokaido (great five roads for required travel to Edo) - Each settlement laying on the road between a city containing Dojima and a city containing a Ukiyo district gets +5 gold +3 food and +10 culture. Tradition Hanjin (road inns) - Unit maintenance +1 but happiness +1 per unit. Social Policy Shukuba (rest stops) - Settlements receiving Gokaido bonuses get +10 happiness.
After researching the above two:
Shinto - All settlements with a Jinja convert to the national religion, or will convert once a Jinja is built. Social Policy Matsuri - The cost of celebrations is 50% less, but they last half as long.
Shinto II - Each celebration yields one relic.
Unique Units:
Bushi (samurai) - +5 combat strength against units without any adjacent allies. Has a charge to convert a town's food yield into gold for four turns at a cost of one population every two turns, and cannot take actions other than defend, fortify or heal during this period (one at a time in each settlement).
Sohei (warrior monk) - Missionary unit with tier 2 infantry combat strength. Under Sankoku, religious spread adds +5 happiness per turn for 5 turns to any settlement with a Jinja. Cannot spread religion under Sankoku.
Daimyo (feudal lord) - Unique Army Commander Unit. Received in a fixed order, each with a unique charge one-use charge. Each has a partial experience tree with the corresponding level.
Examples include:
- Takeda Shingen - builds four farms in a settlement, and has cavalry bonus.
- Oda Nobunaga - builds a free Shiro in a settlement, and is packed with two gunpowder units.
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi - removes all unrest from every settlement, is a naval commander placed in the nearest improved water tile. Has bombardment bonus (invasion of Korea).
- Tokugawa Ieyasu - Two charges: receive a free View Military Commanders espionage action. After 5 experience gained converts to Shogun: can hold 8 units, can take two actions per turn, and with +2 movement. Converts to a normal Army Commander in the Modern Age.
Notes:
- You don't have to research Sankoku and the normal cultural and economic legacy paths will apply.
- Other civs can build Dejima Island, but its culture to treasure ship spawn rate is very weak and only a civ like Hawaii who is also doing other treasure fleet colonies can realistically win the economic legacy with Dejima Island. Researching Sankoku II is critical to boosting Dejima and only Edo can do that.
- Edo's alternative flow is food->gold->culture. Food is overproduced, and can only be turned to gold in one city so planning connections matters. For towns that don't connect directly to that city, you can use the Bushi unit to trade population for gold which is historically and thematically consistent with the starvation and repression in Edo Japan.
- Ukiyo can be built in special towns or cities and you want to select them to get as many connected settlements into your Gokaido network as possible.
- Edo wants you to overbuild settlements, with lots of smaller farming towns, and you are to mitigate unhappiness with missionaries and the Shukuba tradition.
- Matsuri will limit the benefits of golden ages, but should give you massive amounts of policy slots. With huge culture yields, you should be able to do lots of research and stack policies.
- Trade isn't possible and you can't play the religious game. Relics are won through happiness with Shinto II, another benefit of many celebrations. Science is also heavily nerfed. The massive civics advantage is meant to mitigate this.
- Gold yield should be very high, so purchasing armies also gives Edo a military advantage. Obviously the Shogun unit is insane, for being able to deploy 2 four unit armies from two tiles in one turn. I can't remember how it works, but with Edo Japan you should be able to purchase Daimyos with gold.
- You can play without Sankoku, get relics and treasure fleets, then convert over to Sankoku.
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