Civs You'd Like to See
- Thread starter bioelectricclam
- Start date
Guerra
Warlord
You know,
Reading through this thread I see a lot of good potential ideas.
But to me, and I'm sure there are many who may disagree with me. Civilization is about Civilizations. "America" or "The United States of America" is not really a civilization by itself, as it's a country or nation built on many different civilizations. It's just way too young to be considered a civilization. A civilization to me is a nation with a distinct and unique language, culture, society and a LONG history. So I feel that the USA doesn't really fit in the category of Civilization, as it's just made up of former British, Spanish and French colonies.
Because if you include the US, there's just way too many countries that can be picked. For instance, The Holy Roman Empire, Byzantine, they aren't civilizations either. So I think they don't fit the game very well, but were just thrown in because players wanted to see them and they would be fun to play. It just seems sloppy. Since they included the Americans, you can throw in lots of countries that are non-civilizations, such as Austro-Hungary (Austrians are a Germanic people, and can essentially be lumped into the German category, while the Hungarians may have a strong argument for their own civilization), Australia, Canada, and all kinds of countries that aren't a civilization, but a mish mash of other civilizations.
But I digress, I think there are some fairly obvious civilizations that have been left out. I'd like to see these:
Scotland
Judea (It's just more appropriate than Israel in the Civilization context)
Poland
Berber (or Barbary, however, but distinctly pre-Arab in nature)
Vietnam
Armenia
Some kind of Pacific Islander civilization, perhaps?
There are lots of good civs that deserve to be added. I think the original game is rather Eurocentric, but the expansions have done a fairly good job in including some other Civilizations (I'd have put the Mayans in the original release, but that's just me. Better late than never).
I'd also like to see some more Mezo-American civilizations, more Asiatic civilizations (Something east of Iran, west of India would be nice. But I don't know if Afghanistan or Pakistan sound Civilization-ish enough, I'd prefer something more deeply rooted in history, not recent states. I'm sure someone might know the Ancient histories of this region better than I).
and you know, this is just me, but I'd like to be able to found unique religions. Like tech X or such would found some certain religion that you could name and such, but I guess that's for another thread!
Also, before I finish my long winded response. Keep in mind that lots of civilizations overlap. The Romans and Italians are essentially the same people, would be neat to have Etruscans added though, even though minor. Some leaders of certain Civs aren't even in the right place. Napoleon wasn't French, Alexander wasn't Greek. They were Corsican and Macedonian respectively. But they became famous for leading the French and Greeks.
Some Civilizations have the same language, similar history, and are essentially the same Civilization renamed. Most civilizations are not purely one civilization, but have some roots in one civilization or another.
Anyways, just my two cents!
Rant over.
Reading through this thread I see a lot of good potential ideas.
But to me, and I'm sure there are many who may disagree with me. Civilization is about Civilizations. "America" or "The United States of America" is not really a civilization by itself, as it's a country or nation built on many different civilizations. It's just way too young to be considered a civilization. A civilization to me is a nation with a distinct and unique language, culture, society and a LONG history. So I feel that the USA doesn't really fit in the category of Civilization, as it's just made up of former British, Spanish and French colonies.
Because if you include the US, there's just way too many countries that can be picked. For instance, The Holy Roman Empire, Byzantine, they aren't civilizations either. So I think they don't fit the game very well, but were just thrown in because players wanted to see them and they would be fun to play. It just seems sloppy. Since they included the Americans, you can throw in lots of countries that are non-civilizations, such as Austro-Hungary (Austrians are a Germanic people, and can essentially be lumped into the German category, while the Hungarians may have a strong argument for their own civilization), Australia, Canada, and all kinds of countries that aren't a civilization, but a mish mash of other civilizations.
But I digress, I think there are some fairly obvious civilizations that have been left out. I'd like to see these:
Scotland
Judea (It's just more appropriate than Israel in the Civilization context)
Poland
Berber (or Barbary, however, but distinctly pre-Arab in nature)
Vietnam
Armenia
Some kind of Pacific Islander civilization, perhaps?
There are lots of good civs that deserve to be added. I think the original game is rather Eurocentric, but the expansions have done a fairly good job in including some other Civilizations (I'd have put the Mayans in the original release, but that's just me. Better late than never).
I'd also like to see some more Mezo-American civilizations, more Asiatic civilizations (Something east of Iran, west of India would be nice. But I don't know if Afghanistan or Pakistan sound Civilization-ish enough, I'd prefer something more deeply rooted in history, not recent states. I'm sure someone might know the Ancient histories of this region better than I).
and you know, this is just me, but I'd like to be able to found unique religions. Like tech X or such would found some certain religion that you could name and such, but I guess that's for another thread!
Also, before I finish my long winded response. Keep in mind that lots of civilizations overlap. The Romans and Italians are essentially the same people, would be neat to have Etruscans added though, even though minor. Some leaders of certain Civs aren't even in the right place. Napoleon wasn't French, Alexander wasn't Greek. They were Corsican and Macedonian respectively. But they became famous for leading the French and Greeks.
Some Civilizations have the same language, similar history, and are essentially the same Civilization renamed. Most civilizations are not purely one civilization, but have some roots in one civilization or another.
Anyways, just my two cents!
Rant over.
Edgecrusher
King
Timurids!
actually, I believe for the most part that region was dominated by Scythia, Persian Dynastys, Mongolia, and Indian Dynasty's in addition to the Timurids.
for what its worth, the Timurids are 1 of 4-5 Civs I would add in, if I were going to make a small "non-themed" expansion. By that I mean, just a general group. I say this because one could group just about every civ mentioned in this thread into "groups" that are generally defined by the same restrictions. For example
A) Nation American/Pacific Islander: Iroquois, Sioux, Cherokee, Polynesia, etc...
To me these are all the "Tribes" that never built "great empires" and very little history is known about. Some I wouldnt have a problem with, but to me they would all be very similar.
B) Poland/Austria/Austria-Hungary/Scotland, i.e. European. With the exception of Poland, the others seem to be "represented", all-be-it, incorrectly, by an existing civ. HRE to me represents Austria, and I know that comment will cause a massive argument, but to me Austria's hayday, also existed as part of the HRE. (the Haspbergs). the A-H empire was just a continuation of that after an alliance between Austria/Hungary. Likewise, Scotland is represented by England.
C) Ancient Mesopitampia: Hittitte, Judea/Israel, Assyria, Thrace, etc...
again, I wouldn't mind any of them, the Hittitte's invented Chariotry, Assyrians developed the basis behind Siege Warfare, but again that argument can be given to any group "so and so invented _____"
D) SE Asia: Siam/Thiland, Vietnam, or what have you. This region has always been underrepresented in Civ, and I am happy that Khmer and Korea finally made it into Civ these last 2 editions. Again I wouldnt mind any of them.
I didn't want to get into a rant, but I did.
To me one can put an argument up there for any of the mentioned nations (in addition to the 34 represented in Civ4) The fact that one isn't in doesn't give any disrespect to that group, There has to be limits. I mean, the UU and UB don't seem to be that different to me, and without another Trait, the leader's would just duplicate traits. In the end, the game is Modable, so just add who you want.
Anyway, I know I mentioned them before but my "list" would be:
1) Timurids
2) Poland
3) Judea/Israel
4) Iroquois (Remove Native American Civ)
5) Sioux (Remove Native American Civ)
