Krieger-FS
Warlord
Recently I've been thinking about the South American civs and how to improve them. Here I will focus Brazil, but soon I hope to share some ideas for Argentina and Colombia as well.
While I consider that in general the mod does a good job with the Brazil (particularly in gameplay terms), I see several issues regarding historical and uniqueness aspects that I try to discuss here. I tried to be concise, but I was not successful, so that's the reason of the spoiler tag in the bellow section:
UHVs
UB: I think that the Fazenda is a good choice for Brazil, because these estates were not only common in all Brazil but also were the organizational basis of Brazilian society until the 20th century. Being said that, the fazenda has its roots more in colonial times than in independent Brazil. Also, perhaps using the name Casa Grande (literally "Big House", which was the main landowner's residence) may be better, since fazenda is commonly used as the name of all large estates and rural properties and not a particular building. I would also slightly change the effect: an increased (additional to the current existent) commerce yield to plantations and possibly other improvements if the player runs Slavery of Colonialism civics. That way we have an elegant way of representing the importance of slavery in Brazilian history and encourages the player to behave historically, maintaining these civics in late game without relying in luck or invading Africa to obtain new slaves.
If you want a more modern UB, I think about two options: the Sambódromo (the special arena for carnival and large events that most large cities have; replaces the obsolete Arena but is available late in game. There is a possible art available in History Rewritten as the carnaval) or the churrascaria (a typical restaurant that serves Brazilian barbecue and food; I'm not sure about what building would replace or if we do have an adequate art).
UU: While I think that the madeireiro is gameplay-wise adequate as UU, I honestly think that it is quite poor representing something unique for Brazil. Although deforestation was a common issue during all Brazilian history and still is, only in the first decades of colonization the logging economy (of brazilwood) was important to Brazil.
Nonetheless, it may be somewhat difficult to choose an excellent UU replacement. I honestly don't see other good civilian UUs options. Military UU also presents some difficulties: Brazilian military forces were and are largely based in the Western military traditions, which are similar to many other civs in game. Civ 5 and 6 respectively chose the Pracinha (the nickname of Brazilian soldiers that fought WW2 in Italy) and the battleship class Minas Gerais as UU, but neither were truly unique Brazilian: the former were trained, equipped and fought under US command and model; the latter was British-built. Ironically, probably the most unique unit would be the bandeirante, a colonial unit that in game is a Portuguese UU.
Fortunately, Brazil was one of the few Latin American countries that was able to develop a national arms industry, which offers us some possible (very) late-game UUs. There are two options more easily available here in download database: the Tucano and the Astros II. The first, which has art here, is a light attack aircraft that could be a very cheap replacement for one of the later aircraft (Jet Fighter or Stealth Bomber) units with worse stats. The latter, that has art here, is a replacement for the Mobile Artillery that also can be cheaper, but without the malus in combat strength. Finally, a last option is the Infantaria de Selva, the renowned jungle specialized corps of the Brazilian Army that operate mainly in the Amazon; the only problem here is that I couldn't find a good art for it, but we can easily make one with a reskinned Marine or Paratrooper with bonus fighting in jungle/rainforest tiles.
One last suggestion for Brazil is to change some of the leaders civics preferences. Pedro II's favorites (Slavery and Catholicism) are ok (although could be Monarchy) representing 19th century Brazil, but Vargas favorite civics (Free Enterprise and Catholicism) seems weird to me. His policies, which resulted in major changes in Brazil's economy and society during 1930s-1950s, were quite the opposite of Free Enterprise: he favored economic nationalism, state-sponsored industrialization, and social welfare. I think that his favorite civic should be changed for this reason, probably to Nationhood or Central Planning.
Edit: corrected the name/link of the Tucano. Originally I quoted the more modern version (Super Tucano) of the aircraft, but considering the art available, service history and production it is better to use the older one.
While I consider that in general the mod does a good job with the Brazil (particularly in gameplay terms), I see several issues regarding historical and uniqueness aspects that I try to discuss here. I tried to be concise, but I was not successful, so that's the reason of the spoiler tag in the bellow section:
UHVs
Spoiler :
UB: I think that the Fazenda is a good choice for Brazil, because these estates were not only common in all Brazil but also were the organizational basis of Brazilian society until the 20th century. Being said that, the fazenda has its roots more in colonial times than in independent Brazil. Also, perhaps using the name Casa Grande (literally "Big House", which was the main landowner's residence) may be better, since fazenda is commonly used as the name of all large estates and rural properties and not a particular building. I would also slightly change the effect: an increased (additional to the current existent) commerce yield to plantations and possibly other improvements if the player runs Slavery of Colonialism civics. That way we have an elegant way of representing the importance of slavery in Brazilian history and encourages the player to behave historically, maintaining these civics in late game without relying in luck or invading Africa to obtain new slaves.
If you want a more modern UB, I think about two options: the Sambódromo (the special arena for carnival and large events that most large cities have; replaces the obsolete Arena but is available late in game. There is a possible art available in History Rewritten as the carnaval) or the churrascaria (a typical restaurant that serves Brazilian barbecue and food; I'm not sure about what building would replace or if we do have an adequate art).
UU: While I think that the madeireiro is gameplay-wise adequate as UU, I honestly think that it is quite poor representing something unique for Brazil. Although deforestation was a common issue during all Brazilian history and still is, only in the first decades of colonization the logging economy (of brazilwood) was important to Brazil.
Nonetheless, it may be somewhat difficult to choose an excellent UU replacement. I honestly don't see other good civilian UUs options. Military UU also presents some difficulties: Brazilian military forces were and are largely based in the Western military traditions, which are similar to many other civs in game. Civ 5 and 6 respectively chose the Pracinha (the nickname of Brazilian soldiers that fought WW2 in Italy) and the battleship class Minas Gerais as UU, but neither were truly unique Brazilian: the former were trained, equipped and fought under US command and model; the latter was British-built. Ironically, probably the most unique unit would be the bandeirante, a colonial unit that in game is a Portuguese UU.
Fortunately, Brazil was one of the few Latin American countries that was able to develop a national arms industry, which offers us some possible (very) late-game UUs. There are two options more easily available here in download database: the Tucano and the Astros II. The first, which has art here, is a light attack aircraft that could be a very cheap replacement for one of the later aircraft (Jet Fighter or Stealth Bomber) units with worse stats. The latter, that has art here, is a replacement for the Mobile Artillery that also can be cheaper, but without the malus in combat strength. Finally, a last option is the Infantaria de Selva, the renowned jungle specialized corps of the Brazilian Army that operate mainly in the Amazon; the only problem here is that I couldn't find a good art for it, but we can easily make one with a reskinned Marine or Paratrooper with bonus fighting in jungle/rainforest tiles.
One last suggestion for Brazil is to change some of the leaders civics preferences. Pedro II's favorites (Slavery and Catholicism) are ok (although could be Monarchy) representing 19th century Brazil, but Vargas favorite civics (Free Enterprise and Catholicism) seems weird to me. His policies, which resulted in major changes in Brazil's economy and society during 1930s-1950s, were quite the opposite of Free Enterprise: he favored economic nationalism, state-sponsored industrialization, and social welfare. I think that his favorite civic should be changed for this reason, probably to Nationhood or Central Planning.
Edit: corrected the name/link of the Tucano. Originally I quoted the more modern version (Super Tucano) of the aircraft, but considering the art available, service history and production it is better to use the older one.
Last edited:
and + 1 / + 2 
, (to represent wealth that tourism attracts during carnival and its cultural relevance)
