Civ 5 Design Challenge II - Mechanics

[Danmacsch]

Kerfuffle gets my vote as well then (though sad to see the Camel Catapult gone from the design?)..

 

[Kerfuffle]

Kerfuffle gets my vote as well then (though sad to see the Camel Catapult gone from the design?)..

Ah, this was more an alt leader design, the design with the camel catapult is still very much alive and kicking

 

[Cyphose]

With Danmasch's vote cast, the vote becomes 4 for Kerfuffle to second place's 3 for inthesomeday. Unless someone else has yet to vote that wants to, it appears Kerfuffle is the winner for this challenge.

I say we give it a day to be safe (after all, participation seems to be at an all-time high), but I recommend both of the prospective leaders (Kerfuffle and inthesomeday) begin considering which mechanic you would bestow upon us if you win.

 

[inthesomeday]

I already have an idea, but it definitely looks like Kerfuffle's won it; I'd be willing to concede now, if Kerfuffle would like to present a mechanic.

 

[Kerfuffle]

Maybe wait one more day to be safe as suggested (I also need to think of a mechanic, I had one in my head but I've promptly forgotten what it was )

 

[inthesomeday]

I think you've won it, what's the next mechanic? If you can't think of one, I could tell you the one I was thinking of, but I'd still like to participate in the next challenge and the area there may be a little gray.

 

[Kerfuffle]

Yep, I thought of a mechanic; a few by this time actually but the one I'd like to go for is:

Can sell buildings in a City for a bonus in another City of your choice (Bonus applies once per building)*

I'm restricting the bonus to apply once per building to avoid buying and reselling cheap buildings (especially ones of little value to certain cities); this restriction is applied locally per city (so if you sold a library in one city, you can purchase/build it again and sell it again to gain benefits in another city but not the same city. I have no problem lifting the restriction if it's deemed unpopular though

 

[inthesomeday]

The Weimar Republic
Berlin
Paul Von Hindenburg

UA: Goldene Zwanziger
If a peace treaty is active, the disbanding of units or sale of military buildings generates bursts of golden age points and great artist points in any one city of your choice where a great artist has already been born. During golden ages, +50% tourism in cities with gold-producing buildings.

UB: Bauhaus
Replaces university. Contains an art slot. Generates +3 great artist points, and, during golden ages, +50% tourism. Cities with a Bauhaus gain +5% culture for every ideological tenet adopted.

UU: Freikorps
Replaces Infantry. In cities where a Freikorps is garrisoned, global unhappiness is halved and +20% culture. Gain a burst of tourism in every city with a Freikorps garrisoned whenever a golden age dawns.

Weimar design focusing on the demilitarization and subsequent economic boom. Pre-depression and post-inflation (well... at least the first big inflation period).

 

[Mobfire]

Here's my entry;

The Vandals (Genseric)​

Looters of Rome - May permanently sell buildings in occupied cities (doesn't matter if puppeted or annexed) in exchange for large amounts of gold and production towards naval units in a costal city of your choice. Attacking cities with naval units generates double Great Admiral points during the Ancient and Classical eras.

UU: Hemiolia - Replaces Trireme. In addition to the Coastal Raiders I and II promotions, the Hemiolia also receives extra experience for pillaging fishing boats and plundering enemy trade routes. Has + 1 Movement.

UU: Silingi Raider - Unlike the Horseman it replaces, it does not have a combat penalty against cities. For every combat promotion it has, reduces the combat strength of nearby enemies by 7%, up to 35%. It also gains +1 movement while in the vicinity of great admirals.

The UA is based on, well, when the Vandals looted Rome, famously ripping precious bits and pieces off of multiple buildings for their treasury.

 

[Hoop Thrower]

Sea Peoples - Dan

UA: Mycenaean Collapse: Can sell buildings in cities being razed to generate points towards melee units and settlers in the capital. Occupied Coastal Cities generate their largest yield as gold in the Capital.
UU: Tjeker: Replaces Swordsman. Doesn't require Iron, however their production is reduced by 1 per each unit of Iron you have available. Has a combat bonus when stacked with a settler.
UU: Chaldean Ship: Replaces Trirreme. Starts with Coastal Raider 1. Can damage cities by pillaging its coastal improvements and sea trade routes.

 

[DudewiththeFood]

Spain

Charles I

The Viceroyalty
All units have a 15% bonus against cities on landmasses other than your capital. Selling buildings in captured cities provides double gold and a bonus to all Great Person generation in a city of your choice.

Rodelero - (replaces Longswordsman)
Receive a +10% combat bonus for every adjacent Spanish unit of a different type. Those adjacent units receive a third of this bonus.

Merchant District - (replaces Harbor)
Allows trade routes with all Spanish coastal cities regardless of distance. Allows domestic trade routes to yield gold which is doubled if the city was not founded by Spain.

 

[Keniisu]

I'm really proud of this design! It's one of the few designs based around the Civilization itself, instead of the leader of the civilization. This is one of the few civilizations that I can say that I'd had a blast coming up with ideas for.

Singapore (Lee Hsien Loong)

UA: Exchange on the Coast -
All Cargo Ships can travel 20% more distance . Cities on the coast can sell buildings from a previous Era to provide a Production bonus to another city not on the Coast. (This bonus depends on the Era the building is from, however, the bonus from a certain building being sold cannot be applied to the same city twice.)

UB: Entrepôt -
Replaces the Seaport. City connections overseas provide both involved cities with +2 Food . When you have a trade route from the city where this is built going to a city possessing a Luxury Resource you don't have, gain a copy of the luxury resource that the Civilization/City-State owns but you don't.

UB: Merlion Statue -
Replaces the Garden. Unlike the Garden it replaces, this building provides +15% Great Person generation and +1 Culture for each active Trade Route from the city where this is built.

 

[Cyphose]

I know this is a bit unoriginal, but given the nature of my personal project, the base game Civilizations are on my mind a lot, and this mechanic feels at home with Poland:

Kingdom of Poland
Leader: Casimir III

(UA) Of Brick and Stone

May sell all instances of a type of building in every City to grant half their combined Production costs to a City of your choice. When the building is rebuilt in each City, generate Golden Age Points and Culture equal to a percentage of its Production cost, increased for each Era you have advanced beyond the Era of the building*. Each type of building can only be sold once.

Spoiler *: Tentative Era-scaled bonuses :

Portion of Production cost granted as Culture and Golden Age Points:

• 0 Era difference (same Era): 30%
• 1 Era difference: 60%
• 2 Era difference: 90%
• 3 Era difference: 120%
• 4+ Era difference: 150%

These are off the top of my head. I'd need to do some balance testing to actually provide proper, informed numbers, especially because I suspect that with these numbers, the UA will only become cost-effective later in the game.

(UU) Winged Hussar

Replaces the Lancer. +1 Movement and +3 Combat Strength compared to the Lancer. Starts with Shock I and the unique Framed Wings promotion (adjacent enemy units lose -10% Combat Strength). When attacking, if it inflicts more damage than it receives, the unit it attacked loses all of its Movement for the current and next turns.​

(UB) Barbican

Replaces the Castle. +2 Defense and +25 HP for the City compared to the Castle. +2 Culture and +2 Local Happiness in the City if it has never been conquered by a Civilization other than Poland.

Provided for free in Cities with Walls that were sold by Of Brick and Stone if Poland has researched Chivalry.​

There's some stuff I would like to add missing (most notably keeping the Ducal Stable, but I felt the Barbican fit better with the theme, and I can't say no to Polish Winged Hussars) but this is what I settled on. If I were to make this Civ and add 3/4UC compatibility, the Ducal Stable would definitely come back proper (albeit probably in a less boring form). I also played a bit fast and loose with the mechanic rules (i.e. it's sort of a super-sell ability that only Poland can use, rather than a bonus on selling particular buildings), but I hope it's still fits the criteria well enough. If not, I can rework it if necessary.

 

[Troller0001]

With all seriousness, before reading this design, I'm obviously not encouraging what IS is currently doing. What they are doing is wrong, inhumane and should stop as soon as possible. I'm sure that everybody here would understand that, though I still felt that I needed to point that out.

Islamic State (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi)

UA: IS ideology***: Gain 25% combat strength against units which follow another religion* than your majority religion. Gain 25% combat strength when the nearest city (includes city states; excludes your cities) is following another religion than your majority religion. Units also receive double the experience when fighting these unitswith this extra combat strength. Upon killing (or capturing) a civilian, gain experience.**

Spoiler :

*Units now follow a religion with this civ active. The religion is based on the majority religion of the city in which it was trained. Unit religion may be changed by garrisoning a unit in a city with another majority religion than the unit religion, converting the unit but applying a bit of pressure to the city as well for 5 turns
The extra combat strength for a different religion is now less complex
**This only applies to civilians from other civilizations, including civilians captured by barbarians which are not originally yours
***The reason why I called it this way rather than any actual ideology name is because the IS ideology does not have any (official) name and is stated to be based around 3-5 different ideologies. Also some people may also follow one of these ideologies/have ideas that correspond to (parts of) these ideologies, even though they also think that what IS is doing is wrong; ideologies can namely be interpreted in many different ways..

UI: Underground Cave System: May only be constructed in hills. Acts as a road and city connection. Provides 10% combat strength to any unit stationed on top. If a unit of another civilization that you are at war with enters a tile with an Underground Cave System, it is automatically pillaged. (The underground caves are a reason why terrorist organisations are so difficult to defeat. If any resistance force finds one of those cave systems, they are usually already destroyed so that these forces can't utilize them)

UU: Suicide Terrorist (replaces the riflemen): Never obsoletes. Has a lower combat strength than the riflemen which it replaces (30 compared to 34). Upon dying, it instantly kills its killer, as well as dealing 10% of the damage dealt to its killer to all surrounding units. Upon dying, deals some damage to all units around itself, which is doubled towards any unit stationed on its 'death-tile'. Additionally, all adjacent non-IS units are feared (decreased combat strength) for several turns, based upon the damage dealt. Furthermore, all improvements in a one-tile radius are instantly pillaged upon death. (I might remove this last thing since I don't want to overload this unit). (instantly killing sounds way to OP, since this unit never obsoletes, which is why I removed the feature)
When garrisoned within a puppeted city, it allows you to destroy wonders. Destroying a wonder grants gold based on wonder-completion era (more gold is earned the higher the difference between current and wonder-completion era). Additionally, fear and anger (in the form of permanent unhappiness, also based upon wonder construction-era) is caused within a rival city of choice, of which the puppeted city originally belonged. If this civilization does not have any other cities, a permanent +1 global happiness is granted to IS instead, as well as double the normal destruction-gold. Destroyed wonders may not be rebuilt in other cities, even upon recapture of the 'wonder-ruins' within the recaptured city.
(IS is well known for their suicide terrorists which cause fear and/or anger in many foreign countries. They are also known for their destruction of ancient buildings belonging to other (ancient) civilizations which did not follow the beliefs of IS)

So to answer the design question:
Islamic State may destroy wonders (they also grant gold, so it counts as selling right? also, wonders are also a type of building) for extra gold and a 'bonus' in a rival city of choice (the 'bonus' is a bonus for IS, not for the rival civ; it's still a 'city of choice' though).

EDIT: Special thanks to Mobfire and Klisz, for giving some advice

 

[Mobfire]

-snip-

Gain 25% combat strength against units which follow another religion* than your majority religion.
*Units now follow a religion with this civ active. The religion is based on the majority religion of the city in which it was trained. Unit religion may be changed by garrisoning a unit in a city with another majority religion than the unit religion, converting the unit but applying a bit of pressure to the city as well for 5 turns

-snip-

So to answer the design question:
Islamic State may destroy wonders (they also grant gold, so it counts as selling right? also, wonders are also a type of building) for extra gold and a 'bonus' in a rival city of choice (the 'bonus' is a bonus for IS, not for the rival civ; it's still a 'city of choice' though).

Troller, wouldn't it be much simpler just to give all units a combat bonus against civilizations that have a different majority religion than you? That way you wouldn't have to include such a complex and sort of convoluted mechanic.

Also, you should include that second part as part of their UA, given that it is the focus of this design challenge. Maybe trim a bit of the original UA to make room for it. I feel like it would make much more design sense if it was tied to the UA instead of the UU.

 

[Klisz]

Troller, wouldn't it be much simpler just to give all units a combat bonus against civilizations that have a different majority religion than you?

That wouldn't be codeable without altering the DLL (not that that matters too much in a design challenge, I guess).

 

[Troller0001]

Troller, wouldn't it be much simpler just to give all units a combat bonus against civilizations that have a different majority religion than you? That way you wouldn't have to include such a complex and sort of convoluted mechanic.

I thought that this would've been a bit more unique, so that's why I designed it this way. Also, throughout history, many civilizations have had different majority religions in different parts of their empire (hello Northern-Netherlands with the Protestantism and Southern-Netherlands with your Roman-Catholicism), which is also I minor reason why I thought this was a bit more fitting. But then again, it is indeed quite complex and sort of convoluted... I will probably change it up a bit, thanks!

Also, you should include that second part as part of their UA, given that it is the focus of this design challenge. Maybe trim a bit of the original UA to make room for it. I feel like it would make much more design sense if it was tied to the UA instead of the UU.

Most people already linked the mechanic to a UA, so I felt like I wanted something a bit different (though I do in fact want to change the UU a bit). Also, I didn't want the civ to be able to destroy wonders from the start of the game, mainly since IS is currently destroying many ancient world wonders, rather than world wonders from our/their time. Furthermore, destroying a wonder from the same era (E.g. destroying the great library in the Ancient Era when it was constructed in that era as) well wouldn't provide many bonuses, meaning that it would be pretty useless to sacrifice such a strong building for a small bonus. (Yeah, the design lacks the exact stats, and obviously you can't read my mind... ) So I thought that this was more fitting. Anyway, thanks for the advise

That wouldn't be codeable without altering the DLL (not that that matters too much in a design challenge, I guess).

Yea I figured that out already by other posts that tried to do a similar thing. But yeah, this is just a design challenge, so that's why I thought it didn't matter too much.

Anyway, I appreciate all the advise that both of you have given me

EDIT: Edited the design post. Changes are in blue

 

[Natan35]

House of Tudor (Henry VIII)

UA: Mon Druit
May cancel DoFs, war commitments, and peace agreements(with no trade) after 50% of the treaty duration has passed. Selling a religious buildings in a city for the first time starts a WLtKD, and grants you a sum of gold whenever a WLtKD starts anywhere in your empire (doubled for conquered cities).

UU: Great ship
Both stronger (18 , 18 ) and quicker (4 ) than the Galleas it replaces, the Great ship also requires greater maintenance (2 ). Increases WLtKD length if stations in cities during peace, and increases their strength if garrisoned in them during war.

UU: Billman
Replaces Pikeman. Weaker then the pikeman(15 ), but starts with an additional foreign lands bonus (+20% :c5strength). Gains +3 strength after steel, and upgrades to musketman while keeping its unique properties.

 

[inthesomeday]

I'll go for Hoop's Sea Peoples, although it was very close with Keniisu's in second and Mobfire a bit behind in third. I love the Chaldean Ship, damaging cities with pillaging is interesting.

 

[Mobfire]

Didn't realize we were starting to vote, but it's been 3 days so might as well. All the posts are on this page, but I'll do a roundup anyways just for a refresher.

• The Wiemar Republic by inthesomeday
• The Vandals by Mobfire
• The Sea Peoples by Hoop_Thrower
• Charles I's Spain by DudewiththeFood
• Singapore by Keniisu
• The Kingdom of Poland by Cyphose
• The Islamic State by Troller0001
• The House of Tudor by Natan35

My vote goes to Cyphose's Poland, which I think really fits the civ and has a sweet UA. inthesomeday's Weimar Republic was also fantastic, since the demilitarization theme fits the challenge perfectly. Lastly, I thought Troller's IS was an awesome civ, and Troller did a good job with his modifications.