Changing cultural groups

[MaisseArsouye]

We all agree that we need more cultural groups. Actually, there should be 3 or 4 cultural groups by continent instead of the poor five groups we have now.

But what about civ changing of cultural groups ?

Let's take an example. Let's imagine we have the following cultural groups : Mediterranean, Celtic, Germanic.

France would begin as celtic, then mediterranean due to roman influence
Germany would be germanic all along.
Netherlands would begin as celtic and become germanic in middle age.

Each civ would have its default path through eras.

But you could also have some much cultural influence on a neighbouring civ, that it could change to your cultural group ! Imagine Europe with a strong greek civ and a little english civ. If english citizens are fascinated by greek culture, they could turn to mediterranean/greek cultural group.

 

[dh_epic]

Maybe arranging it as a hierarchy would work. Like Far East, Near East, Europe, "New World", African. And at the next level, say Europe, breaks down into Mediterranean, Germanic, Celtic, Slavic. That way you could have differing levels of similarity -- we are all from the "New World", but only us two know what it's like to be "South American". This could influence conflicts (but not hardwire them).

An alternative would be making culture groups dynamic and actually tying them to, you know, culture. That culture actually goes across borders, especially to neighbours. Thus, German culture ends up in France's borders, and vice versa, making the two feel more similar. This could influence conflicts, again, if Germany sees an attack on France as an attack on a similar culture and gets defensive. This model would need a bit more description though.

 

[douche_bag]

it shouldnt be "new world" it should be mesoamerican,and yeah i like this idea but would they change to a different group every era or just every other era?

 

[MaisseArsouye]

I think they could change for two reasons :
- because in real history that civ changed from cultural group ( France : celtic -> roman )
- because they are influenced by a neighbour with a very strong culture

The first change could only happen between eras. The second one could happen at nay time !

I like the idea of hierarchy and similarity It could be easier, as an example, to convert Portugal to french culture than to arabic culture.

And a changing culture could be signal for the player. Something like "HEY ! your citizens really like german culture and you're gonna loose cities"

 

[Jon Shafer]

France is Germanic, not Celtic. Unless you're talking about the Bretons, which I don't think you are.

 

[MaisseArsouye]

France is Germanic, not Celtic. Unless you're talking about the Bretons, which I don't think you are.

France germanic ???

Gauls were celtic tribes. Then Romans came and gauls became gallo-romans. When germanic tribes came, they were few compared to gallo-roman population, so that France ( and Wallonia ) still speak a romance language, coming from latin and related to spanish, italian, portuguese,... Nowaday french are mostly the offsprings of the gallo-romans with some very little germanic and english influence, but you may not tell a french is germanic.

Cultural differences between Germans and Frenchs are obvious, as well as similarities between Frenchs and Italians.

Bretons are still celtic for some other reasons. In France, only people in Alsace and in french Flanders ( Dunkerque ) have strong germanic influence.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

As long as they dont have any impact other than palace style, city style and popheads, adding more culture groups is pointless. Some discussions will arise (gauls were celts as franks were germanic, france was also part of the roman empire and has a romanic language, I dont think there will be an agreement which satisfies all hobby-historicans). I vote for one culture group a civ belongs to, and maybe one culture group specific UU (or one per age). Diplomatic relations could also depend to the culture group to a certain degree.

 

[Stid]

dh epic said it all for me and btw i think you need to have another look at europes history mate.your knowledge is all over the place right now

 

[dh_epic]

I think the most valuable thing about a culture group is those diplomatic relations things that people are talking about. A few meta tags. "Germany(European,Anglo-Saxxon), Rome(European,Mediterranean), Sioux(Mesoamerican,North American), Aztec(Mesoamerican, South American)" The more similarity, the more likely they'll get along, or unite in the face of someone terribly different.

Of course, this depends on an AI that can be cooperative and have consistent allies. (I've spoken at length about having 80% of the nations be there for realism, consistency, and strategy... while 20% of the nations are there for competition, shaking the world up, and having a real threat. The former AI would be the France that allies with Germany in the face of a Turkish threat. If France were controlled by the latter AI or a player, it would be the nation that leaves Germany to the vultures and picks up the pieces afterwards.)