Design Thread - For Discussion and Review

[Natan35]

Had this blob idea:

Celtic Ireland

UA: Divided but Bound
Meeting civilizations grants you points towards missionaries. +1% great people generation for every follower of your religion in the city, and +1% culture for each follower during golden ages.

UU: Hibreno Scottish Monk
The Hibreno Scottish monk differs from the missionary it replaces by not having the 'unwelcome evangelist' penalty outside enemy lands, and unlike the missionary, it will create a monastery in your city if it converted it to your religion. Monasteries founded this way will generate culture (+2 ).

UU: High King
Replaces great general. In addition to the great general's abilities, the High king also intimidates city states that follow your religion, and may also be used to initiate a golden age.

 

[inthesomeday]

Tall UA, but wide UU. You could change the missionary to provide some other free building-- a peace garden free from missionary conversion would go well with the civ's theme, and would be better for the tall play encouraged by the UA.

 

[Keniisu]

Had to sort-of finish this design quickly as I was working on it during class, but I'm satisfied with the end result. Feedback or critique is appreciated!

Belgium (Leopold II)
UA: Luxuries of The Congo -
For every different type of luxury resource you control gain +2 Gold on your outgoing trade routes. For every worker you control gain +1 Unhappiness and +1 Gold . When you have successfully conquered and annexed a city, gain a free worker near the city and a large sum of Gold depending on that city's defense.

UU: Force Publique (Replaces Rifleman) -
Has +5% more strength for every annexed city under your control. When inside of your own borders gain a defensive bonus of +15% .

UB: Congo Market (Replaces Congo) -
For each luxury resource under your control gain +1 Gold . Trade Routes produce 20% more Gold when trading with civilizations with less luxuries than you.

 

[GPuzzle]

Well, I'll be doing massive updates to my Rome:

The Republic of Rome​

Leader: Julius Caesar

UA: Vini, Vedi, Vici
Conquering Capitals starts a We Love The King Day in all Cities. Cities celebrating We Love The King Day generate +2 Happiness, and Units trained during We Love The King Day start with additional Experience.

UU: Ballista
Unlike the Catapult it replaces, the Ballista does not need to set up to fire and is slightly stronger.

UU: Praetor
So long as it is garrisoned in a City, the City is in a We Love The King Day, unlike the Great General it replaces.

The Empire of Rome​

Leader: Augustus Caesar

UA: The Glory of Rome
+10% Production towards Buildings already built in the Capital. Adopting Social Policies and conquering Cities boosts Production in all Cities.

UU: Legion
Much stronger than the Swordsman it replaces, the Legion may build Forts and Roads and starts with Great Generals II.

UB: Castrum
Barracks replacement. +1 Happiness. Generates Culture and additional Experience if there is an Unit garrisoned in this city, increasing for each level the Unit has.

So I'll let you guys rate it.

 

[Natan35]

What does the Praetor replace?
(Oh, and the Ballista is OP... Not because it has crazy bonuses, but in my opinion taking penalties from units with large bonuses makes them a bit too easy to use)

 

[GPuzzle]

Great General. Sorry, forgot to mention.

 

[Cyphose]

(Oh, and the Ballista is OP... Not because it has crazy bonuses, but in my opinion taking penalties from units with large bonuses makes them a bit too easy to use)

I don't personally think so, but I'm probably biased because I'm making pretty much the exact same change to it in my own mod

I think it avoids being OP because the base Catapult is kind of trash. Everything it does can typically be done better by a few Composite Bowman, who have the benefit of being more versatile otherwise as well. That's not to say the Catapult is useless, it just barely fits its own niche of conquering cities. GPuzzle's changes make it an actually useful in-game unit for taking cities, which fits very well with its UA, so I think it's fine (if a bit boring, but unfortunately that's just the reality of the Ballista--it's not a particularly inspired or unique historical unit when it comes to translating into gameplay).

 

[Keniisu]

Denmark (Sweyn II)
UA: The Last Viking King -
For every city with your religion as the majority, all units gain +5% Strength / Defense . (Max: 30%) For every coastal city you own gain a bonus +1 Faith and +1 Culture per turn, however this becomes +2 Faith and +2 Culture if the city has a Harbor.

UU: Vikingeskib -
Replaces Trireme. Can cross deep ocean immediately, however is -2 c5strength weaker than a normal Trireme. When this unit attacks an enemy's city it also spreads your religion .

UB: Kirke -
Replaces Temple. Provides units produced in this city with +10XP if your founded religion is dominant in this city. Religious pressure from trade routes is increased by 15%.

 

[Natan35]

Ken, in case you haven't known this, strength bonuses apply on both defence and attack. The UU is counter intuitive: it has lower strength but may benefit from attacking cities. And the UB.... A 15% increase in religious pressure from trade routes is barley effective (15% out of six are 0.9), ignoring the fact you are unlikely to have many trade partners being a warmonger (and why is this bonus needed at all if the UU spreads your religion by attacking cities???). The first part of the bonus is nice though...

 

[Skyshayde]

The Institute (Father)

UA: undecided name
-50% all great person generation except for great scientists and engineers, 100% generation of scientists. Can only settle one city.

UU: Synth
Replaces rifleman. -4 weaker damage, but has 3 unique promotions.
Stealth Boy - submarine style invisibility
Molecular Relay - paradrop, undecided range
Courser - Increases attack by 35, is locked behind an atomic era tech.

UB: Mass Fusion reactor
Replaces Nuclear Reactor. 25% production increase instead of 15%, does not require uranium.

I'm not quite happy with the bonuses, and I'm probably not experienced enough to balance it well. Any suggestions?

 

[Keniisu]

This design is in collaboration with KingCiv for a mod, so critique is appreciated!

Osroene Empire (Abgar V):
UA: Abgarus Dynasty -
Once another civilization has declared war upon you, gain two free units from any Civilization following your religion in their capital. Trade Routes produce 30% more Gold until you are no longer at War

UU: Mar -
Replaces the Great Prophet. Like the Great Prophet it replaces, it may be expended to make Holy Sites, however it may also be expended to make a random Great Work Slot or to enhance Influence with a City-State .

UB: Abraham's Pool -
Replaces the Shrine. Base yields +2 Faith and +1 Culture . However this building yields +1 more Faith for every 8 citizens following your religion.

 

[Mobfire]

Osroene Empire (Abgar V):
UA: Abgarus Dynasty -
Once another civilization has declared war upon you, gain two free units from any Civilization following your religion in their capital. Trade Routes produce 30% more Gold until you are no longer at War

UU: Mar -
Replaces the Great Prophet. Like the Great Prophet it replaces, it may be expended to make Holy Sites, however it may also be expended to make a random Great Work Slot or to enhance Influence with a City-State .

UB: Abraham's Pool -
Replaces the Shrine. Base yields +2 Faith and +1 Culture . However this building yields +1 more Faith for every 8 citizens following your religion.

I'm no expert at lua or balancing, so take my word with a grain of salt.

In terms of the Unique Ability, do you get the two units per civ every time another civ declares war on you or only the first time? It isn't quite clear. I think a better way to word it and to ensure balance would be

Every civ that follows your religion in their capital donates two units to you the first time a Civilization declares war on you (add: "while these conditions are met" to the end of that if it can occur multiple different times just not with the same civ).

Also, do you get the extra trade route money only during all war time or only in war that was instigated by another player? Either way, I think it's possible to exploit that and permanently get the bonus by conquering the other civ's army and most of their cities while letting them survive in a perpetual war. A fix for this would be

When another civ declares war on you, gain +30% gold from trade routes for 10 turns.

For the Mar, it might be better if the slot it produces is just of one kind instead of random. That way you won't get a slot for music in the ancient era, and coding might be easier. Choose whatever the Osceorene are most famous for, art maybe?

I also like the Abraham's Pool, I don't think it needs to be changed.

 

[Mobfire]

Here's a civ design that's been on my mind for a while.

Quebec - Samuel de Champlain
UA: Where The River Narrows - Gain +20 Influence with every city state that you discover first. Trade missions to city states give an increased amount of influence, and every city state ally increases the ranged combat strength of your cities by 5%. Scouting units move faster along rivers.

UB: Cabane à Sucre- Replaces Granary. While it does not provide +1 from wheat, banana, or deer tiles, it does provide +1 food for forest tiles. They also provide +1 gold and an instance of the unique luxury Maple Syrup.

UU: Frontenac- Replaces Cannon/Field Gun (if EE is installed). Has lower base combat strength, but has a +40% bonus against naval units and fortified units. In addition, gains extra combat strength while in a city, citadel, or fort.


Suggestions for improvements would be very much appreciated. I'm specifically wondering if anything should be done to improve the correlation between the uniques- do they contradict each other in terms of tall/wide strategy?

 

[Klisz]

Seems to me they all lean towards wide play - the UB will probably provide less food than a normal Granary in the long run (since forests are usually chopped down eventually - similarly to how the Longhouse is usually considered worse than a normal Workshop), but having lots of copies of the unique luxury would be nice for trading for other luxuries to help counter the extra unhappiness results from going wide. Meanwhile, UA's bonus to city bombardment, and the UU's increased strength when in a city, would help defend your many cities.

 

[Mobfire]

Seems to me they all lean towards wide play - the UB will probably provide less food than a normal Granary in the long run (since forests are usually chopped down eventually - similarly to how the Longhouse is usually considered worse than a normal Workshop), but having lots of copies of the unique luxury would be nice for trading for other luxuries to help counter the extra unhappiness results from going wide. Meanwhile, UA's bonus to city bombardment, and the UU's increased strength when in a city, would help defend your many cities.

Ok, thanks. Historically, I think wide play fits Québec well, given New France's huge extent during the infancy of North America-

Spoiler :

I guess the Cabane à Sucre could give food from wheat too, to make sure that the UB doesn't disadvantage the civ.

In terms of the UA, I think I might change it to be something more like the following:

Gain +20 with every city state that you discover first. Scouting units move faster along rivers and can cross rivers without movement penalties. +2.5% ranged combat strength in cities for every city state that you pledge to protect, up to a maximum of +50%.

I think that eliminates most overlap with CL's Voyageurs, which I just realized had eerily similar benefits to the previous Québec UA. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Mobfire]

Continuing from the Civilization Request Thread...

Jamaica (Norman Manley)​

One Love - Great Musicians may perform concert tours while in Jamaican territory, generating a large 5 turn culture boost as well as the normal small tourism boost with every civilization. Each great work of music in the empire provides +2 Happiness and every plantation generates points towards Great Musicians in the city with the Musician's Guild.

UU: Black Shot - Unlike the Skirmisher (EE) it replaces, Black Shots gain a +45% combat bonus while stationed on tiles with plantations and a +33% combat bonus while stationed on tiles with farms. Generates points towards production of Great Musicians with every kill.

UB: Resort - Jamaica's unique replacement for the Hotel that generates a base + 2 gold. Has a slot for a great work of music, and if built in a coastal city that has a jungle tile within working distance, + 4 Tourism.

I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts on this one, in terms of balance and design. It obviously has a focus on Reggae but I tried avoiding having a Reggae Artist UU since Scapegrace's Jamaica design (which I like quite a bit) already has 'em.

 

[inthesomeday]

Fiji
Suva
Seru Epenisa Cakobau

UA: Na Gauna Ni Tevoro
Faith per turn increases based on how much food is stored in the city. Cities gain +3 culture per turn for every citizen that has been lost for any reason from the city. Cities in a WLTKD have +50% food instead of 25% before the Medieval Era.

UU: Drua
Replaces trireme, available at pottery. Can cross oceans immediately, and has double movement when starting its turn on an ocean tile. Upon being built, one citizen in the city dies.

UU: Bati
Replaces warrior. If you do not already have a pantheon, the first kill made by a Bati founds one. After this, every kill made by a Bati begins a WLTKD in every city with a pantheon. The first time a Bati steps on a coastal tile, receive a free settler in the capital.

I made this for the Oceania challenge based on my research, but I couldn't find a musket so instead here you go.

A civ with mostly early game bonuses, but hopefully pretty strong ones.

 

[Urdnot_Scott]

Ironmen​

High King of the Iron Islands​

Leader: Qhored the Cruel
UA: Kings of Salt and Rock
Upon defeating an enemy unit, attacking a city, or pillaging a sea tile, naval units automatically pillage all nearby land tiles and are upgraded to great admirals for the next turn. Capturing a coastal city repairs all workable improvements and damages all nearby enemy cities.

UU: Salt King (Replaces Great Admiral)
Unlike the Great Admiral it replaces, the Salt King may enter tiles adjacent to a river and fights at the strength of your strongest available naval unit. When garrisoned in a city, the Salt King grants that city the yields of all the tiles pillaged by your units and boosts the experience of trained naval units.

UU: Reaver (Replaces Swordsman)
The Reaver receives combat bonuses from Great Admirals as well as Great Generals, and damages nearby cities and units when embarking or disembarking.

King of the Iron Islands and the North​

Leader: Euron II
UA: I Am the Storm
Receive a burst of great admiral points in any city constructing a unit and instantly level up all naval units upon making an alliance with another civilisation. Gain additional production towards naval units for every 3 land units owned by your allies.

UU: Longship(Replaces Galley)
Longships are cheaper and weaker than the galleys they replace, but receive the promotion 'raiding party' which allow it to spawn a unit on an adjacent land tile at the cost of 50% of its health - this may only be done once per galley however. The first Longship produced also receives the promotion 'Silence' which grants it +2 :c5movement: movement points and a 25% combat bonus when at least 25 tiles from the Capital.

UU: Hornblower (Replaces Scout)
The Hornblower receives +1 :c5movement: movement points when embarked, unlike the Scout it replaces. Additionally, the Hornblower may be expended to flip the strongest unit (whether it belongs to an ally or an enemy) within a 2 tile radius, to your side.

 

[Natan35]

I don't know what its supposed to be\ represent... But nice design.

 

[inthesomeday]

I don't know what its supposed to be\ represent... But nice design.

GoT stuff