Design: Civilizations

Kael said:
I wouldnt want to add it just to explain the long lives of these leaders. I would add it if it made the game more fun, but at this point Im not convinced that it would be fun enough to justify the work.

I would love to see a sperate mod that did this so I could play around with it and see what worked and didnt work.

Rome: Total War had this and I found it as a nice feature. Their leader and heroes were unified under this system. There were 3 stats: city income, city happiness, and army command (not their exact names). City income and city happiness bonuses take effect when the hero sits in a city. Army command makes armies under the hero's control more powerful, and every battle won can net the hero another command point. Every year, a mature male heir a chance to marry a nameless wife, after which point they produce offspring at random intervals. Mature female heirs have a chance to marry a hero to bring fresh blood into the ranks. (This game is obviously male-centric for historical accuracy.) After a certain amount of years (I think it was 13?), children come of age and become mature heirs.

I agree though that it should be tested out first in standalone civ4, since it may not translate well into civ4.
 
Everyone of them also had its own personality (Greedy, Brave, Alcoholic.... There were many traits and also specialized retinue. But it wouldn't translate in civ well IMO
 
Well, when I write for leaders, I think more along the lines that they are going to figure in scenarios at some time or other, and ignore the obvious weirdness of them living forever (although explaining the boy-king Cardith Lorda was a bit tricky in any case...)

I mean, just look at vanilla Civ, the leaders there are not implied to be immortal, they are just placeholders for a government...
 
(I didn't see a design:leaders thread)
I'd like to propose a second Balseraph leader. I know each civ doesn't necesarily need two, particularly those based around one personality, but I liked the idea of this one.
Julia (not sold on the name)
Picture--little girl surronded by monsters
Traits-Summoner and Creative
or if this was in, Capricious

Story
Spoiler :

Not many Courtesan's children spend their lives in the palace of their sire. But not many are born from an Amurite spy and Perpentach himself. The day Juila's mother discovered her imminent arrival was the day she was discovered to be more than a pretty flirt who had caught the Clown Prince's eye. There were supposed to be magic wards around her to prevent pregnancy from interupting her mission. She doubted that she could keep Perpentach's favor in this state, and maternal instinct made her want to avoid putting the new life growing inside her in danger. She most certainly could not keep his favor, however, when he discovered her making her last report to her queen through an enchanted mirror. She atempted a return spell, but the entire palace was warded against it. Chained in the dungeon and promised a swift execution, the spy had one request: "Please, please, just spare my... our child."
Comtemptuous disdain was replaced by amused malice on Perpentach's face.
"Oh my my my, what to do?
Death is surely too good for you!
A child, though, is a means to my end--
where death would break, this pain can rend
your soul in two for my delight,
shall I make him a slave, or set him alight?
Mayhaps my offspring a tool I'll make.
Your precious queen? Her life he'll take!
Servants attend, this wench to give
tender care, for she must live--
Upon the birth of our dear child,
revenge can bloom, oh joy, how wild!"

Thus did the Balseraph ministers carefully observe the spy, until the birth of her daughter. They awaited Perpentach's orders. They never came, for their leader seemed to have forgotten the entire matter, and no one wanted to remind him of his embarrassing dalliance. They dare not let harm befall the daughter of their mad king--but similarly, they dare not appear too involved in the child of their master's enemy. Powerful conjurers were assigned to keep her safe from the day she was weened from her wet nurse, but they were instructed not to get attached to her. Thus her only companions from the time she could toddle away from her room were the wizard's summoned slaves, bound to protect her. She learned to talk from imps, danced with djinn, haunted the hallways alongside nightmares, and rode sand Lions before she saw a horse.
Yearly, her only playmates would vanish, to be replaced by new summons. In her eigth year, she begged of 'puppy' the imp, "Please don't leave me this time. I like you best!" It would later be debated whether it was due to actually befriending a servant of hell, some scheme of the mischievous beast, or her magical parentage, but the imp turned to her and smiled. "Milady Julia," he rasped, "I enjoyed our time together, but I must return to my masters... unless perhaps you could ask them?" And so the child, who's only friends were monsters from the mists, learned to summon them herself.
The next time her father was out, wandering out visiting festivals as he was wont to do for weeks or months at a time, his ministers met. They always did, to determine which of his insane orders they could subvert without his noticing and which they must carry out. This meeting however, was interupted by a Balor, flanked by a pair of pit beasts. "Giggles," the girl spoke to the beast, "tell them that I'll be in charge for awhile." The Balor roared.

 
Heh, "Giggles."

I think the Balseraphs could use another leader, and if vanilla can have both Genghis and Kublai, then I think we could have Perpentach and Julia. Of course, I might be biased for it just because I like the backstory.
 
Nikis-Knight said:
(I didn't see a design:leaders thread)
I'd like to propose a second Balseraph leader. I know each civ doesn't necesarily need one, particularly those based around one personality, but I liked the idea of this one.
Julia (not sold on the name)
Picture--little girl surronded by monsters
Traits-Summoner and Creative
or if this was in, Capricious

Story
Spoiler :

Not many Couresan's children spend their lives in the palace of their sire. But not many are born from an Amurite spy and Perpentach himself. The day Juila's mother discovered her imminent arrival was the day she was discovered to be more than a pretty flirt who had caught the Clown Prince's eye. There were supposed to be magic wards around her to prevent pregnancy from interupting her mission. She doubted that she could keep Perpentach's favor in this state, and maternal instinct made her want to avoid putting the new life growing inside her in danger. She most certainly could not keep his favor, however, when he discovered her making her last report to her queen through an enchanted mirror. She atempted a return spell, but the entire palace was warded against it. Chained in the dungeon and promised a swift execution, the spy had one request: "Please, please, just spare my... our child."
Comtemptuous disdain was replaced by amused malice on Perpentach's face.
"Oh my my my, what to do?
Death is surely too good for you!
A child, though, is a means to my end--
where death would break, this pain can rend
your soul in two for my delight,
shall I make him a slave, or set him alight?
Mayhaps my offspring a tool I'll make.
Your precious queen? Her life he'll take!
Servants attend, this wench to give
tender care, for she must live--
Upon the birth of our dear child,
revenge can bloom, oh joy, how wild!"

Thus did the Balseraph ministers carefully observe the spy, until the birth of her daughter. They awaited Perpentach's orders. They never came, for their leader seemed to have forgotten the entire matter, and no one wanted to remind him of his embarrassing dalliance. They dare not let harm befall the daughter of their mad king--but similarly, they dare not appear too involved in the child of their master's enemy. Powerful conjurers were assigned to keep her safe from the day she was weened from her wet nurse, but they were instructed not to get attached to her. Thus her only companions from the time she could toddle away from her room were the wizard's summoned slaves, bound to protect her. She learned to talk from imps, danced with djinn, haunted the hallways alongside nightmares, and rode sand Lions before she saw a horse.
Yearly, her only playmates would vanish, to be replaced by new summons. In her eigth year, she begged of 'puppy' the imp, "Please don't leave me this time. I like you best!" It would later be debated whether it was due to actually befriending a servant of hell, some scheme of the mischievous beast, or her magical parentage, but the imp turned to her and smiled. "Milady Julia," he rasped, "I enjoyed our time together, but I must return to my masters... unless perhaps you could ask them?" And so the child, who's only friends were monsters from the mists, learned to summon them herself.
The next time her father was out, wandering out visiting festivals as he was wont to do for weeks or months at a time, his ministers met. They always did, to determine which of his insane orders they could subvert without his noticing and which they must carry out. This meeting however, was interupted by a Balor, flanked by a pair of pit beasts. "Giggles," the girl spoke to the beast, "tell them that I'll be in charge for awhile." The Balor roared.


Renamed to Keelyn and checked into 0.14 (without the trait suggestion). Check out the first post in this thread for details.
 
Maian said:
Rome: Total War had this and I found it as a nice feature. Their leader and heroes were unified under this system. There were 3 stats: city income, city happiness, and army command (not their exact names). City income and city happiness bonuses take effect when the hero sits in a city. Army command makes armies under the hero's control more powerful, and every battle won can net the hero another command point. Every year, a mature male heir a chance to marry a nameless wife, after which point they produce offspring at random intervals. Mature female heirs have a chance to marry a hero to bring fresh blood into the ranks. (This game is obviously male-centric for historical accuracy.) After a certain amount of years (I think it was 13?), children come of age and become mature heirs.

I agree though that it should be tested out first in standalone civ4, since it may not translate well into civ4.

While it might go a long way to establishing dynasties and the mortality of leaders, it presents problems. 1 - leaders, not the civs, have traits, would those change over time? this could ruin, hurt many stratgies. 2 - would the "maturing" age for all races be the same? what about life spans? In some mythoi, elves dont die naturally, and virtually could live the span of the game.

It'd be an interesting twist for human and 'young' races, but for others, as it is makes more sense. Then theres the problem of the boy king. Maybe a tradition begins in which only boys may be kings? A high turnover rate? I dont know, but with the conceptualization of a fantastic realm, this has a hard time functioning properly - even if the coding were simple.
-Qes
 
The Jahbrohnai (Pronounced "Yah-Broh-Nhai")


"The Nomads"
Ancient and mystical humans that come from the Lands beyond the sun. They are nomads, who wander with seeming purposelessness, and will fight to maintain whatever lands they currently occupy. They are seen by many as a scourge on the lands, their herds do much to destroy the landscape, and because they're always on the move they are impossible to have stable diplomatic relationships with. Their warriors are top rate, however, and none dare cross them without purpose, and signifcant military forces.

The Jahbrohnai
Leader - Markus Yvensi (Aggressive, Organized, Defender, Raider)
Prefered civics - City State

Special Cities:
The Cities of the Jahbrohnai are immune to cultural take over.
On the founding of any city, an immediate 2-5 sheep are 'found' in the city radius. At any time a city may "migrate" that is to say, they build a building which dispands the city, and gives the player a number of settlers equal to the current population.

Buildings:
Every city of the Jahbrohnai has "Herdsmans Bazaar" which provides a modest amount of culture.
The Jahbrohnai do not make buildings like other civs, instead their unique buildings are very cheap and almost always temporary. Most of the buildings involve culture production and resource benifits.

Units: Jahbrohnai Settlers are allowed to move on impassible terrain (possibly deseret if that is made into a impassible terrrain) they are also allowed to move into enemy territory without declaring war, and they may also found a city in enemy territory (without declaring war).
Jahbrohnai calvary units are some of the best and very inexpensive. The Jahbrohnai have a special and unique Horse archer unit Called the "Khal" it can recieve defensive bonuses despite its being cavalry.

All the Jahbrohnai units are cheaper versions of the ones established as in the normal FFH2 game.

Special: The unhappiness generated by size of city increases exponentially, and the "Resettlement" building that dispands the city, can function as a "happyness building" for the AI, but one that is always built "last" (like a coluseum).

Any Comments, improvements, or suggestions or flavor anyone can add to this is very much encouraged.
-Qes
 
QES said:
Special Cities:
The Cities of the Jahbrohnai are immune to cultural take over.
On the founding of any city, an immediate 2-5 sheep are 'found' in the city radius. At any time a city may "migrate" that is to say, they build a building which dispands the city, and gives the player a number of settlers equal to the current population.
Any Comments, improvements, or suggestions or flavor anyone can add to this is very much encouraged.
-Qes
Since Settlers cannot join cities in Civ 4 (right?) I don't know if that'd quite work. after a couple iterations, you'd still be periodically disbanding cities (when unhappiness was too high) but you'd end up with 5-6 settlers you don't want.

How 'bout they build "buildings" that dictate what happens to the population when they disband? They always get one settler; a training yard causes one to be an axeman, a grainary one a worker or another settler, and so forth, prioritized of course.
Or else it is just, first citizen is a settler, second a worker, third an archer, fourth another settler, fourth a scout, or so.
Or, simply make it so settlers can join other cities.

It definately sounds interesting. I can just see the AI killing itself by disbanding all it's cities, though. :lol: To be safe, the capital should be immobile; palace provides extra happiness and prevents "resettlement"
 
Nikis-Knight said:
Since Settlers cannot join cities in Civ 4 (right?) I don't know if that'd quite work. after a couple iterations, you'd still be periodically disbanding cities (when unhappiness was too high) but you'd end up with 5-6 settlers you don't want.

How 'bout they build "buildings" that dictate what happens to the population when they disband? They always get one settler; a training yard causes one to be an axeman, a grainary one a worker or another settler, and so forth, prioritized of course.
Or else it is just, first citizen is a settler, second a worker, third an archer, fourth another settler, fourth a scout, or so.
Or, simply make it so settlers can join other cities.

It definately sounds interesting. I can just see the AI killing itself by disbanding all it's cities, though. :lol: To be safe, the capital should be immobile; palace provides extra happiness and prevents "resettlement"

I think that perhaps the capital COULD be permanent, but instead of a "capital" perhaps it'd be a "homeland?" The idea is that they're very independant. And i like the idea of multiple settlers, because then you have to expand. The idea is that they're similar to a virus. Since they can go into enemy territory and BUILD a city, it'd be ideal for them to keep moving. Especially since neighbors cant view their boarders as sacrisanct. Maybe have the AI prioritize building wherever and whenever they can, instead of in "ideal" locations. The main purpose of getting lots of settlers, is that they're settlers know NO boundries. Political or otherwise. And with culture boons, they'll quickly cover a map. All the military bonuses are in order that when (not really if) another civ goes to war with them, they'll be able to support their cities one to the other. I do like the idea of military units being produced automatically also. And the buildings deciding what that is. Mayhap, HALF of the population turns into settlers...the rest turn into military units to guard those settlers. A size 8 city (about the size i think it would be apt to "resettle" would turn into 4 settlers, and 4 military (based on buildings inside) units. if its a boarder city, that means 3 potential settlers going into enemy territory and forging new cities. - Quite the diplomatic quagmire and militarily still very strong. Plus, for the Jahbrohnai - LOSING cities wouldnt be a big deal. Very opposite of how normal CIV IV is played. Each city being worth its population in RL gold.
-Qes

EDIT:
Maybe even remove the "settler" from being able to be built by the Jahbrohnai? The only way to expand is to "resettle"? Maybe give them 2 settlers in the beginning to compensate. These people should NEVER be production power-houses. They're abilites lie in their numbers, and their mobility. And the fact that their cities arnt a big loss if they lose them. Sort of an "amorphus" culture and civ.
Their settlers perhaps are "invisable" to normal units as well. So they can go into enemy territory, without a lot of fear...it should be keeping those cities, not establishing them, that is difficult.
Also maybe the "resettlement" should provide a small boon in research and funds, since losing a city often means losing a source of income........OR thats just one of the downsides of being mobile/nomadic.
 
Nikis-Knight said:
nah, they'd not need invisible settlers if they got 4-8/city every couple dozen turns (esp with the sheep).

But invisible settlers sounds good for Svatalfar or sidar.

Ok mabye not invisable, but they should be able to settle foriegn lands, and do so without neccesitating attack. (It shouldnt start a war.....but maybe it'd piss of the nation enough to provoke a war through diplomacy (or surprize attack)).

-Qes
 
Here goes some suggestions:

- Settlers should only be build in the Capital. Starting with two settlers is a too big bonus, or the second settler could be eaten by a evil spider.
- The settlers created by the migration command would start with the Clan I-V promotion. If a 5 pop city migrate it would generate a Settler with the Clan V promotion, and when it found a new city it would start as a pop 5 city. If a pop 8 city migrate it would create a Clan V Settler and a Clan 3 Settler.
-Most building and wonders are lost when the city migrate. For example, the Training Yard could migrate, because this would make possible some interisting military uses of this migration mechanic.
-Each Settler created by the migration command takes with them one herd animal resouce with them. If the city 8 in the example above had two sheeps and a cow in its radius, each settler created would take one of the resources, and only one animal resource would stay in the old city site. When the new is found the resources are placed in the adequate terrain, if adequate terrain is not found the resource is lost.
-The migration command must be fast, it should take only a few turns to the Migration Settlers be created, something like one turn pus another turn for each 5 levels of the old city. A 9 pop city would take 3 turns to created their settlers.
-These migration settlers should be able to join other cities. Join your own cities would be part of a defensive strategy, for example, and join a alien city would be a diplomatic movement, as the city would suffer a big hit if this city declared war on the nomads.
-Found a city in the territory of other civilization should cause a small diplomatic hit in the relations of the two countries.
 
bebematos said:
Here goes some suggestions:

- Settlers should only be build in the Capital. Starting with two settlers is a too big bonus, or the second settler could be eaten by a evil spider.
- The settlers created by the migration command would start with the Clan I-V promotion. If a 5 pop city migrate it would generate a Settler with the Clan V promotion, and when it found a new city it would start as a pop 5 city. If a pop 8 city migrate it would create a Clan V Settler and a Clan 3 Settler.
-Most building and wonders are lost when the city migrate. For example, the Training Yard could migrate, because this would make possible some interisting military uses of this migration mechanic.
-Each Settler created by the migration command takes with them one herd animal resouce with them. If the city 8 in the example above had two sheeps and a cow in its radius, each settler created would take one of the resources, and only one animal resource would stay in the old city site. When the new is found the resources are placed in the adequate terrain, if adequate terrain is not found the resource is lost.
-The migration command must be fast, it should take only a few turns to the Migration Settlers be created, something like one turn pus another turn for each 5 levels of the old city. A 9 pop city would take 3 turns to created their settlers.
-These migration settlers should be able to join other cities. Join your own cities would be part of a defensive strategy, for example, and join a alien city would be a diplomatic movement, as the city would suffer a big hit if this city declared war on the nomads.
-Found a city in the territory of other civilization should cause a small diplomatic hit in the relations of the two countries.

I like some of these ideas, but some of them thwart the general concept.

I'll reiterate. The idea is that they expand, and expand and keep expanding. Their nomads. Their power comes from numbers, and their general immunity to boarders. I see them as having very cheap units and very cheap buildings. If one were to actually BUILD wonders with these people, those would most likely be the only cities to never get resettled.

Otherwise, with the exception of the capital/homeland, most every city would be expected to be temporary. Now, the benefits of this are that when you do "move on" you do so quickly and en masse. If you've a size 7 city, either (as we were discussing) youd get 7 settlers, or 3-4 settlers and a mix of military units. (Or my new idea, ill discuss shortly). These new settler's plant themselves WHEREVER they want, and completely disregard national boarders. This is a great way for them to get resources they want and need. It would also make other nations VERY mad at them quite often. (Poor oppressed gypsies.) But, unlike our gypsies, these people would fight back. Instead of being powerhouses of production, the things they make would simply be very cheap. From the buildings, to the units. I see them as being heavily based on cavalry (nomadic peopels usually are), and virtually no permanent defenses. Also, because of the way "resettlement" would work, they're cities would never need to "stop" growing. A settler normally also uses food to grow. A "resettlement" would only be using (in my thinking) hammers, and normal production.

Upsides: The people have cheap units and buildings to make, making every city fairly useful. Their mobility means they cannot be contained. They're amorphous nature makes it less important to hold and maintain cities.

Downsides: Other than trade (in which i think they should get bonuses) they dont have regular sources of income, as big cities and OLD cities are often (through towns) the method best used to research and gain monies. These will not be a Rich people. They also will not be able to produce many, if any wonders or national wonders. This is becuase these would "disapear" if the city resettled.

On the Mechanic itself: I'm not sure how to code in the "resettlement" building, but i can say this. It should only be able to be built by cities FOUNDED by the Jahbrohnai. Cities captured or taken from others should be normal and not able to be "resettled." This could create some interesting situations, since i dont see the Jahbrohnai having very many of the same building types, and if things get destroyed in teh capturing of a city, they may have a hard time appeasing people without a lot of the "happiness" and "healthy" makers. They would still get access to religious buildings. But they'd constantly need to be "rebuilt".

Religion would also be wierd. Simply because, a relgion that spreads to a city, would not (not sure how it would be coded) travel with the settlers to their new destination. Perhaps, if a relgion is a in a city, when the city "resettles" they get 1 free diciple for each reiligion in that city. That would make the most sense.

The best way to make this work, would be to simply allow the resettlement to be strictly connected to the "Settlers" and the buildings built within the city would produce (upon resettlement) the other units. So, if i had a size 6 city with an archery range, a training yard, and a hunting lodge, upon its "resettlement" I (depending on how we can get this to balance) would get 3-6 settlers, and military units. They way i envision it , - because of how increadibly costly it is to normally lose a city in this game- they'd get 6 settlers, AND 1 unit for each type of building they gave up. 6 settlers, and 1 hunter, 1 archer, and 1 axeman. Considering 6 more cities will spring up, and only half of them can be "defended" immediately, this isnt a huge balance problem. This however does not account for any units already built, and possibly that were protecting that city.

A solid army of another civ could cause the Jahbrohnai a lot of problems, if they have 6 size 1-2 cities invading the territory of someone who has military and doesnt like that, all 6 could be taken out in short order. This is why I'm a believer in the Jahbrohnai's units being a LOT cheaper, but not ANY weaker.

There is the problem of the "snow ball" effect. 1 city makes 2-4, those cities make 8-16, etc. But i think that "maintenance" solves a lot of these problems. It will get prohibitively expensive for the Jahbrohnai. I do think they should have to pay expenses, but i think they should be IMMUNE to "strike" conditions. If their at 0% and losing money, they simply go into defecit spending. Because they're not teching up they WILL eventually be dealt with.

So.......Poor, tough, mystical nomads. Do you think this civ is good enough to get in?
-Qes
 
I really like these nomads but I see a problem, if they routinely get batches of settlers I imagine most players will rebuild a disbanded city and send the others off, not very nomadic.

I have two possible solutions:

Fistly you could cut down the power of cities for them, each population increase could have a chance of spawning a free military unit rather than actual population.

Secondly they could have a trait for their leaders, "nomadic" that means that the land around their cities slowly turns to deserts forcing them to keep moving.

Finally you mention captured cities, I sereously doubt nomads would EVER try to hold a city, instead they would either pillage or rase it.
how exactly are they going to keep a city loyal through the ages if they wonder off in a few years.
 
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