Civ5 American UU: Homesteaders

Alexfrog

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Mar 18, 2005
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It has always annoyed me that the American Civilization always gets stupid late game UUs that arent much use. (Especially the stealth fighter unit, wow).

If you look at american history, the most Civ relevant feature to me is that America expanded from the original colonies to spread across the entire continent, through the use of common citizens creating farms of new land and defending themselves with guns. This was a fairly ingenious method of taking the land away from its original inhabitants.

So I think the American unique unit should be a special settler, similar to how India has fast workers in Civ4. This homesteader unit would be named for the Homestead Act which in the 1800s, which gave settlers ownership of 160 acres of land, if they went and farmed it for a few years. It would be a special settler with a power that would be beneficial in claiming new territory, possibly from someone else, and/or defending the territory.

For example, things I could see this doing:

* The unit might be allowed to move through/settle in territory owned by another civilization!
* The unit could have a defense value sufficient to protect it against early animal and barbarian attacks, so that it doesnt require escort.
* The settler could provide a free basic defensive unit in the new city it creates, simulating how the settlers defended their new land themselves. (This could be based on tech, for example it would be a warrior early, then archer, longbow, musketman, etc as you progress).

I feel that a special settler unit comprising some combination of better settling power or defensive ability, would better represent the history of the american civilization, than some modern unit that doesnt arrive until the game is already over.
 
What about a settler that had a visibility range of 2? This would help defense-wise(The settler would be able to see any threats, including 2 :move: animals) in addition to showing more of the territory that will eventually be the BFC.
 
Well the SEAL is definitely nerfed at no better than a freakin' marine, what a joke.

Homesteader settlers may be a difficult programming challenge, but another option as an American UU could be the Minuteman, replaces the Rifleman, can be drafted out of a city without any draft anger (call to duty, and so forth).
 
What if the homesteader was an advanced settler, but not available until gunpowder?

Sort of like the Explorer is an advanced type of scout.
 
American Revolution vanilla mod has the Minuteman as a 13 strength gunpowder unit, and kinda meh compared to what they really were. I say make the strength = rifleman but just draft the bejeezus out of 'em without draft anger, but use the mod's graphic for the unit.
 
I made my Idea before.

A Str4 Unit called Colonizer. Makes a Colony city with 2 Population. 1 basic Building such as forge or harbor and 1 free improvement. Can be upgraded from Settler with gold.

America's UU should be Home Steaders. Str 4 Unit. 2 View of terrain. No attack. 1 Basic building, 1 free improvement and 1 obsolet defender when settled. (when you get fuedalism the free unit is archer. Gunpowder its Longbowmen. Rifling Muskets ect.)

What'a think? Also, it should be avaible with Constitution or maybe a tech after astronomy.
 
America's homesteaders were farmers, and they didn't build "cities", but rather, made wild land productive and effectively "culture spread" (in civ terms) through massive rural development. So the traits of such a unit really should be:

1) Replaces WORKER.
2) +100% farm improvement speed.
3) 14 defensive strength but cannot attack.
4) +2 culture for any city with 1 or more Homesteaders in its BFC (border-poppers).
5) Requires Rifling.
 
This is definitely a different approach to the American UU, and it's fairly unique. I don't know about the rest of the players here, but I rarely found cities after the BC times, so I think the first option presented, where you get a free defensive unit appropriate for your time, is the best of the settler options. That way, you wouldn't replace one UU that comes too late to make a difference with a second UU that would come too late to make a difference.

Not really related, but my idea for the Minutemen was a Grenadier replacement that received first strike chances and was cheaper to produce. That way, you could play an effective cat-and-mouse game with the Redcoats. :)
 
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