Design your own Civ VI civ

[IgorS]

4) The native tribe they pick fills a gameplay niche. Polynesia fit a nice seafaring, island-colonizing niche. Any individual one of the cultures would not.

The Maori is probably the best option if they want to de-blobify the Civ, and even then it doesn't fill a gameplay niche.

It fills a geography niche, which is important in its own. But other than that there is so much more to Polynesian civs than just seafaring and colonizing islands, especially when it comes to the Maori, who live on big islands.

 

[IgorS]

As for Australia I have other ideas for uniques for them:
Their unique unit should be the Light Horseman.

For a unique infrastructure, I suggest going for another thing Australia is famous for - the Outback. So the infrastructure could be the Station.

 

[Ikael]

I just hope it doesn't make him suicidal.

Well, another variation of your agenda could perhaps be less hard to befriend:

The old ways: Po'pay will strongly dislike civs that tries to convert their cities, but will like civs that produces a good deal of faith.

That agenda would present a very interesting dylemma for religious civs: Would you rather have an ally without your religion present in their cities, or would you rather make an enemy in exchange for a religious victory and more religious presence?

Yeah I have no idea if the numbers are good. I figured you were replacing Mountain-adjacent tiles, which are amazing Holy Sites and Campus sites, with "defensive Neighborhoods" that probably provide no yields at all...so that's why I did that.

Hmm, that's a good point. Forcing the player to make hard decisions for their mountain adyacent tiles sounds like good game design to me!.

Ah, that's not as abusable. I still think its odd to get a combat bonus against Civs in other wars, though.

My idea behind the UA was to give the Pueblo a stronger combat bonus in just wars. If such an ability would be kept merely for deffensive wars, it would become too passive, for your will need another player to trigger this UA for you.

With the cassus belli system, however, you will be allowed to play a more active role with this UA, and it would also be fitting with the Pueblo history, since at least 2 of the in game Cassus Belli reasons were related to the historical revolt (reconquer your own cities, preserve your religion). Also, one has to consider that said Pueblo revolt was not an inmediate defensive war, but rather the long term consequence of many years under an unfair cease-fire.

And now, for my favourite American Native civ ever: the Incans!

Inca

Leader: Pachacuti

I know he was the leader in 5, but the only other good option is Huayna Capac and I think Pachacuti has slightly more to go off of for an Agenda.

Leader Ability: Sapa Inca – When entering a new era, gain +2 culture per turn and +1 housing in the capital if you control more cities than at the end of the previous era.

Hmmmm, I am not entirely sold on that one. It seems like a mechanic prone to either snowballing or human exploits (deliberately delay your expansion in order to get the bonus).

Unique Ability: Way of the Andes

Districts and Wonders construct 20% faster if adjacent to a Mountain. Internal trade routes get +1 food for each trading post they pass through.

Sounds really, really good, as it forces you to choose what do you build in your mountain adyacent tiles very, very carefully. But in order to better tune it, you would also need to perhaps rebalance this one too:

Unique Improvement: Anden

Unlocks at Engineering tech. Must be constructed on a Hill adjacent to a Mountain. +2 food, and an additional +2 if adjacent to a resource with a Farm or Pasture. +0.5 housing per adjacent District.

Anden improvements would need to be really powerful in order to be able to compete against cheaper wonders / districts and their adyacency bonuses, me thinks. I think that perhaps a reformulation coupled with adyacency bonuses of their own (in order to match those of districts) could be in order:

Unique Improvement: Anden

Unlocks at Engineering tech. Must be constructed on a Hill adjacent to a Mountain. +2 food, and an additional +2 if adjacent to a resource with a Farm or Pasture. +1 housing per adjacent Mountain.

This way, you will need to choose which mountain adyacency bonuses do you want to save your mountains for: Science from scientific districts, faith from religious districts, or housing from Andens!

 

[Atlas627]

It fills a geography niche, which is important in its own. But other than that there is so much more to Polynesian civs than just seafaring and colonizing islands, especially when it comes to the Maori, who live on big islands.

Polynesia fills a geography nice, a cultural niche, and most importantly a very big gameplay niche. Nobody else makes sense for specifically trying to colonize islands, and an individual Polynesian civ wouldn't fit that bill.

As for Australia I have other ideas for uniques for them:
Their unique unit should be the Light Horseman.

For a unique infrastructure, I suggest going for another thing Australia is famous for - the Outback. So the infrastructure could be the Station.

I'll take a look, thanks! I like the idea of the Outback Station, and I think the Australian Light Horse could result in gameplay that I want for Australia. Mostly I was trying to find things that were distinctly Australian and fit into the gameplay niches I needed, but I'm not super pleased with the Colonial Convict (it could just be part of the UA) and the Cricket Ground comes suuuuper late which I am never a fan of.

Well, another variation of your agenda could perhaps be less hard to befriend:

The old ways: Po'pay will strongly dislike civs that tries to convert their cities, but will like civs that produces a good deal of faith.

That agenda would present a very interesting dylemma for religious civs: Would you rather have an ally without your religion present in their cities, or would you rather make an enemy in exchange for a religious victory and more religious presence?

I like that your version has more of a dichotomy and thus choice, but I also liked that Po'pay gave me an opportunity to make a leader who's opinions will obviously change over time no matter what you do. Forcing the player to adapt to that is fun sometimes too, just as long as most leaders are manipulable.

Hmm, that's a good point. Forcing the player to make hard decisions for their mountain adyacent tiles sounds like good game design to me!.

Not necessarily hard decisions as in "I can only do this tile for one, which do I pick?", though that should still happen. There are also hard decisions in "how do I organize my district tiles and my Cliff Dwelling tiles in a way that accomplishes most of my goals?" and then deciding which goals you have to give up on with each method.

My idea behind the UA was to give the Pueblo a stronger combat bonus in just wars. If such an ability would be kept merely for deffensive wars, it would become too passive, for your will need another player to trigger this UA for you.


With the cassus belli system, however, you will be allowed to play a more active role with this UA, and it would also be fitting with the Pueblo history, since at least 2 of the in game Cassus Belli reasons were related to the historical revolt (reconquer your own cities, preserve your religion). Also, one has to consider that said Pueblo revolt was not an inmediate defensive war, but rather the long term consequence of many years under an unfair cease-fire.

Sure, though if you know people can't declare war on you, you can actively take advantage of that. But I agree in general.

And now, for my favourite American Native civ ever: the Incans!



Hmmmm, I am not entirely sold on that one. It seems like a mechanic prone to either snowballing or human exploits (deliberately delay your expansion in order to get the bonus).

You mean deliberately delay your teching so you have time to expand? I don't view that as a bad thing, though the AI won't be as smart as it as the human. But that's true of anything except boring straightforward bonuses.

As for snowballing, it depends. If you're ahead enough to expand, you're ahead enough to tech. You still need to expand "faster" than you tech. So the ability might actually be harder to get if you're already doing super well.

Sounds really, really good, as it forces you to choose what do you build in your mountain adyacent tiles very, very carefully. But in order to better tune it, you would also need to perhaps rebalance this one too:



Anden improvements would need to be really powerful in order to be able to compete against cheaper wonders / districts and their adyacency bonuses, me thinks. I think that perhaps a reformulation coupled with adyacency bonuses of their own (in order to match those of districts) could be in order:

Unique Improvement: Anden

Unlocks at Engineering tech. Must be constructed on a Hill adjacent to a Mountain. +2 food, and an additional +2 if adjacent to a resource with a Farm or Pasture. +1 housing per adjacent Mountain.

This way, you will need to choose which mountain adyacency bonuses do you want to save your mountains for: Science from scientific districts, faith from religious districts, or housing from Andens!

The reason why I didn't want to do that is because you are then working with all the same types of puzzle pieces, you just need to decide which one is prettiest. When they all fit into the slot the same way, there's much less nuance.

So what I have here is that you'll want the absolute best spots for a Campus or Holy Site...most of the time. Sometimes, that spot is the best one for the Anden because it gets the adjacency with the resource! Which resources can I harvest (to get more District spots) while still getting the most out of my Andenes? Figuring out when and where you want the 20% production boost for non-mountain-adjacency-bonus districts and when/where you want the Andenes is the rest of the puzzle. How do I place these so they don't interfere with each other? When they do, which one do I want right now?

If they always interfere, then people will create hierarchies of "always do this in case A, always do this in case B" very quickly. By having them be different types of boosts with different conditions, we create an interlocking puzzle with various degrees of difference. Instead of case A (I like science), case B (I like faith), and case C (I want housing), you have case A (I can get science and food if I do it this way), case B (I can get faith and food if I do it this way), case C (I can get culture and more food if I do it this way), case D (I can get science and more food but less housing if I do it this way), case E (I can get more housing, some food, and a little bit of science), and so on.

 

[Atlas627]

I forgot to mention that I'm very grateful for the feedback @Ikael


Trying to come up with an Australian design was challenging, and I think I'll have to edit it. For now, I want to try something similar. This is Canada, mostly drawing inspiration from New France. Seriously, if there are going to be colonial nations, how many are going to be French?



Canada

Leader: Samuel de Champlain

Leader Ability: Native Cooperation – Barbarians cannot enter your borders. All units receive +3 strength and all international Trade Routes produce +2 gold for each City-state you are Sovereign of. Forming an Alliance grants both Civs an Envoy.

Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France, helped establish friendly relations with the locals. This would leave a lasting impression, generating many alliances and trade networks. Champlain claimed to have scared off his allies' enemies by firing his arquebus and hitting 2 chiefs with 1 shot, leaving another lasting impression. His alliances with the natives were critical to the defense of the colony against the far more populous English colonies, and these alliances also allowed the Coureurs to venture far into the wilderness for furs.

Befriending minor nations will be very important and easy for Champlain.

Agenda: Father of New France – Likes Civs with a large navy if they have many trade routes. Dislikes Civs that have a large navy but few trade routes.

Champlain was raised as a mariner, like his family. Due to inheriting a large estate, he was able to finance his own expeditions. The trade with France kept him wealthy, though attacks on his colony by the British and attacks on French shipping gradually wore down the value of his estate.

Alternate Leader: Lester B. Pearson

Leader Ability: Progressive Prime Minister - When reaching a new high in policy slots, receive 1 Eureka and 1 Inspiration from the next Era, at random. Alliances grant both Civs +15% Great People production (stacks additively).

Pearson implemented many reforms that are still progressive by today's standards: universal health care, federal pension plans, federal student loans, vacation time and work week standards, and a minimum wage. He also started the processes of equal rights for women and official bilingualism during his term. He was one of the founding members of the UN, forming the United Nations Emergency Force and "saving the world" during the Suez Crisis. This earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Making many alliances to form a peacekeeping network will make Canada produce many Great People. Advancing to a new tier of governments (or building a policy wonder) will boost your next era when your reforms take effect. Plan ahead to maximize the use of that knowledge.

Agenda: Father of Peacekeeping - Likes Civs who are at peace. Dislikes Civs who declare war.

Known as the Father of Peacekeeping, Pearson helped ensure the United Nations had an effective and well-known policy that keeps everyone at peace.

Unique Ability: River Dominion

Districts have additional Minor adjacency bonuses with River edges. Cities gain +1 "Trade Network" Amenity for each additional city founded on the same River. All units have the "Amphibious" and "Commando" promotions.

Canada was founded along the series of waterways that connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Multiple settlements would be established along each river for natives to come and trade their furs at. Canadians would travel up and down these rivers, and modern forces participated in cliff scalings during WWII.

Find long rivers and settle on them as much as you can. Build your city up and down the river for extra bonuses. You'll be able to defend them more easily with your Amphibious promotions, and assault cliffs.

Unique Unit: Coureur des Bois

Unlocks with the Exploration civic; can be upgraded to from Scouts and upgrades to Ranger. Has 40 strength, a range of 1, and 3 move. Has the "Fur Trade" promotion, which gives Gold for each tile revealed and grants an extra Envoy to City-states you discover.

The Coureur des Bois were freelance traders who would venture out into the uncharted wilderness on their own and find natives to trade with. They would return with furs, which were the only good worth anything in New France. Often, they would establish personal relations with the natives, even intermarrying.

Though you will want to explore the rivers early, Canada benefits from not exploring the crappy tundra wilderness by waiting until they can make Coureurs des Bois. New tiles and new City-states await! It may still be worthwhile to explore early, so don't get tricked into leaving good land unexplored! Snowballing may be better!


Unique District: Trading Fort

Unlocks at Currency; replaces the Commercial Hub. In addition to the normal abilities of the Commercial Hub, the Trading Fort has +2 Housing, has a Standard adjacency bonus for all resources in Tundra, and can defend itself like an Encampment.

The French established Trading Forts all along the rivers in Canada and Louisiana. These were both places to rest safely and trade with natives.

These Trading Forts can go on the outskirts of your Civilization, either defending or utilizing the terrible Tundra. Either way, it provides enough housing to not need to worry about too much infrastructure, and allows you to found cities in relatively crappy lands. The fact that this district will be free and cheaper to build means Canada will have plenty of Trade Routes.

Playstyle

Explore the good land to find nice places to settle, but save the bad land for later. Not only can you get great boosts with the Coureur des Bois, but you'll still want to map that land out because Canada can make great use of it. Later in the game, settle some extra cities in the Tundra to make some extra cash and have resources to trade with your friends.

Speaking of friends, both leaders have a benefit for forming Alliances. One gives you the ability to grab more City-states, while the other lets you get more Great People. While everyone else will want these benefits, you get all of them. Keep in mind that you are expected to honor these alliances though...

 

[Liufeng]

Well, I'd like to present a civs I thought about it, being a great admirer of it.

The Khmer Empire

Civilization ability : Angkorian sites
City Centre acts both as a City Centre and as a Holy Site.

Unique Unit : Ballista Elephant
Has a combat bonus against infantry units and cities of the same religion as the Khmer.

Unique Improvement : The Krol
Replaces the Pasture and Camp improvements. Provides +1 gold, +1 production and +1 culture.



Leader 1 : Jayavarman VII

Leader Ability : Smiling Statues
Gets faith and culture points each time a district is built. Gets Great Engineer points every turn.

Historical Agenda : Faces of the Bayon
Wants to spread its religion everywhere. Dislikes civs which don't have a religion.



Leader 2 : Suryavarman II

Leader Ability : Architectural Pragmatism
Can build the Baray District, which replaces the Aqueduct District. Gives a food and housing bonus to every adjacent farm. Gets a free Great Engineer at the start of the Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Eras.

Historical Agenda : Diplomatic Restoration
Likes Civilizations that possess World Wonders, only if they produce high faith.

And here is a second one !

Yemen

Civilization Ability : Homayni in Sana'a
Districts placed on hills and desert tiles provide +1 culture and +1 gold. When reaching the Industrial era, they provide an additional +1 tourism. Every unit has an extra movement in desert tiles.

Unique Unit : Zaidi Mountain Warrior
Has no movement penalty in hills. Combat bonus when fighting next to a mountain.

Unique Building : Mud Brick Skyscraper
Provides additional Housing to the city. +1 tourism when reaching the Industrial era.



Leader 1 : Arwa al-Sulayhi

Leader Ability : The Little Queen of Sheba
Mountains provide a huge +2 culture and +2 faith. Caravans are not stopped by mountains.

Historical Agenda : The Noble Lady
Hates civs that take cities from others civs.



Leader 2 : Imam Yahya

Leader Ability : Union of the Tribes
Double damage against cities formerly owned by Yemen (created or through conquest). Double damage against cities sharing a border with Yemen.

Historical Agenda : The Imam Sovereign
Hates civs that build cities near his own (6 tiles).

 

[Morningcalm]

Liufeng, love the images and the flavorful names you put into the civ designs. What is the Angkorian Sites UA based on historically though? I'm guessing Angkor Wat?

Yemen looks great, and Arwa al-Sulayhi a capable ruler indeed. I'm always excited to find other cool female rulers who were excellent in times when males were meant to lead.

Any Wikipedia links you could provide for the unique unit and such? In particular I would like to know what the Zaidi mountain warrior is based on.

 

[lp_04]

New Civ time! Let's go with Portugal this time.

Portugal

(...)

Very interesting idea. I do not use this thread usually, still I was developing an idea for Portugal when I discovered yours. It is really good wither in historical arguments and strategic view.

Still, If you do not mind, I would like to propose some modifications:

Portugal

João II (Leader)

Lord of Guineas (Leader Ability) - Counterespionage activities performed by Portugal are more effective. May build Feitoria in foewign cities and city states.
(Feitoria - built by Portugal in city state's coast starting the renaissance era. Provides additional amenities to portuguese cities and additional gold on trade routes, as well as a 2 visibility range. The cost of each feitoria is progressively increased)

The Perfect Prince (Agenda) - Likes civs that do not expand to other continents. Dislike civilizations who are caught spying on him.


Seas Never Sailed Before (Special Ability) - When first meeting a civilization, both of them receive an eureka or inspiration boost. Sea and recon units have double visibility and may build the Padrão improvement in unclaimed coastal land tiles.

Nau (Unique unit) - Available at cartography. Fast unit which receives large amounts of gold by pillaging sea trade routes-

Padrão (Unique Improvement) - Available at Naval Tradition Civic. May only be built on coast. Has a 2 visibility tange , provides +2 faith and +2 culture, and reduces the cost for tile purchase by 25%. When a city is founded nearby a Padrão, it also acquires the available land adjacent to the improvement,.

Strategy - Portugal is all about expanding by sea and have an eye on all of your enemies' movements. Try to know as much as possible about the landscape (which is way easier), and quickly recieve the bonuses from meeting other civs. The Padrão improvement lets you control the coastal movements even outside of your borders, as well as set the foundations for new colonies, which will expand faster. The feitoria allows some income as well as some amenities to help the expansion and the nau wrestles the control of the sea trade.
Portugal excels at being a defensive empire (large borders, control of enemie's movements, counterespionage), being able to achieve any victory, specially from being 1 step ahead from your enemies.

City List:

Spoiler :

Lisbon (Capital)

10 cities:
Porto
Braga
Bragança
Viseu
Guarda
Coimbra
Leiria
Santarem
Évora
Silves

Final thoughts:
Perhpaps this idea is too complex and strategically unfitting. Still, it intends to change some thing in the idea of Atlas627, by placing the feitoria as part o joão's ability (instead of the economic policy slot) and letting the padrão "acquire" new land for Portugal, before settling. Also, i personally would like to see Portugal far away from a city state civ, and focused on land discovery and control, since civ vi is a game about controlling the terrain.

Finally, Portugal fits really well the theme of civ vi as it was revealed on past may(Age of Discovery theme). I would expect this civ to be released as part of a DLC, before any expansion pack.

 

[Atlas627]

Very interesting idea. I do not use this thread usually, still I was developing an idea for Portugal when I discovered yours. It is really good wither in historical arguments and strategic view.

Thanks! Now that we have more info on the game, I might be able to redo it actually.

Still, If you do not mind, I would like to propose some modifications:

I don't mind at all! Brainstorming together is fun. Are you Portuguese? You might be able to come up with better names for things than me, for sure.

Portugal

João II (Leader)

Lord of Guineas (Leader Ability) - Counterespionage activities performed by Portugal are more effective. May build Feitoria in foewign cities and city states.
(Feitoria - built by Portugal in city state's coast starting the renaissance era. Provides additional amenities to portuguese cities and additional gold on trade routes, as well as a 2 visibility range. The cost of each feitoria is progressively increased)

Does each Feitoria give gold to all trade routes, or only ones to that City-state? And is each Feitoria giving amenities to all cities? That's very powerful for not much investment. How do you increase the cost of building a Feitoria? All improvements construct instantly in Civ6.

The Perfect Prince (Agenda) - Likes civs that do not expand to other continents. Dislike civilizations who are caught spying on him.

Is the first half "likes Civs that do not settle on non-home continents"? As in, he wants them all to stay where they are? If so, I like that.

Disliking Civs that get caught spying on him is already something that happens normally in-game, but it might result in better gameplay than the diplomatic visibility thing I suggested.

Seas Never Sailed Before (Special Ability) - When first meeting a civilization, both of them receive an eureka or inspiration boost. Sea and recon units have double visibility and may build the Padrão improvement in unclaimed coastal land tiles.

Oh my, I think this might scale poorly. Bigger maps have more Civs but no more techs/civics. Depending on what the Padrao does, being able to build them so frequently might be frustrating if you play against Portugal.

Nau (Unique unit) - Available at cartography. Fast unit which receives large amounts of gold by pillaging sea trade routes-

Sure, though I think this might make more sense on someone who was known for their privateers. It might be what England's UU does.

Padrão (Unique Improvement) - Available at Naval Tradition Civic. May only be built on coast. Has a 2 visibility tange , provides +2 faith and +2 culture, and reduces the cost for tile purchase by 25%. When a city is founded nearby a Padrão, it also acquires the available land adjacent to the improvement,.

When it provides faith and culture, are those to the nearest city or only if the tile is worked? Since you can build many of them, how does the "cost for tile purchase" scale?

Strategy - Portugal is all about expanding by sea and have an eye on all of your enemies' movements. Try to know as much as possible about the landscape (which is way easier), and quickly recieve the bonuses from meeting other civs. The Padrão improvement lets you control the coastal movements even outside of your borders, as well as set the foundations for new colonies, which will expand faster. The feitoria allows some income as well as some amenities to help the expansion and the nau wrestles the control of the sea trade.
Portugal excels at being a defensive empire (large borders, control of enemie's movements, counterespionage), being able to achieve any victory, specially from being 1 step ahead from your enemies.

I really like the idea of using the Padrao to claim land and found faster colonies. I think I'll rework mine to be more like yours. I should be more adventurous with it. I tried to avoid it at first because I felt the Feitoria was already adventurous (2 Unique Improvements in Civ6! We haven't seen that yet).

Final thoughts:
Perhpaps this idea is too complex and strategically unfitting. Still, it intends to change some thing in the idea of Atlas627, by placing the feitoria as part o joão's ability (instead of the economic policy slot) and letting the padrão "acquire" new land for Portugal, before settling. Also, i personally would like to see Portugal far away from a city state civ, and focused on land discovery and control, since civ vi is a game about controlling the terrain.

I don't know if its too complex or strategically fitting. That's what playtesting is for! I liked using the Economic policy slot for 2 reasons: 1) it fills out the set of extra policy slots, and 2) it promotes picking a more militant government (like Monarchy) while still being economically focused. I put the Feitoria as part of the Nau ability because I felt that it was cleaner. Your Builders don't have to run all over the place (ew, micromanagement) and there's no chance of the UI breaking (there's 1 slot for UIs in the UI, and I had originally designed the Padrao as another UI).

I also liked using City-states because the Portuguese made small trading bases with local states and used conflicts between local states to get trade agreements. When they couldn't be top dog, they would conquer the local trading site. This seemed appropriate to me, though I agree that settling colonies is a good theme too. I just felt that better fit Spain, England, or the Netherlands.

I think I might change my Padrao back to a UI instead of Lighthouse replacement. It makes slightly more sense, because Portugal should still have Lighthouses. Thanks for the inspiration

 

[Liufeng]

Liufeng, love the images and the flavorful names you put into the civ designs. What is the Angkorian Sites UA based on historically though? I'm guessing Angkor Wat?

Yemen looks great, and Arwa al-Sulayhi a capable ruler indeed. I'm always excited to find other cool female rulers who were excellent in times when males were meant to lead.

Any Wikipedia links you could provide for the unique unit and such? In particular I would like to know what the Zaidi mountain warrior is based on.

Well, about the Angkorian sites, it's because when you visit ancient Khmer ruins from the empire time, the first thing you see are its temples and religious low reliefs on the walls. Religion present everywhere in the ruins. Angkor Wat is an excellent example, but the same goes for Angkor Thom, Preah Kham or Roluos. So I thought "why not build directly a Holy Site as a City Centre ?". And thus came the idea of combining the city centre and a holy site district in the same place.

About Yemen, I really like that civ in the sense that generally, the "arab world" is pretty much covered by the Arab civ, not leaving much place for other muslim cultures, since Persia is always based on the Aechemenids, India is Hindu, and so on. Thus, Yemen could be one of the few to be introduced, with their awesome Queen Arwa, who is actually loved enough there, to the point that the university of Sana'a is named after her !
Yemen is known as the cultural side of Arabia. Thus, instead of focusing too much on religion, I thought it would be a far better idea to make a cultural focused civ instead of another muslim religion oriented civ.

For the Unique units and buildings/improvements, I don't really have links but rather books I own at my home (in french). The ballista elephant is rather known, so you should have no problem finding it by just typing its name. The "Krol" is some kind pasture camp for different animals. For instance, the "Krol Romeas" seemed to be a place where you could raise éléphants, while "Krol Ko" is a temple where it seemed thare was an oxen pasture raised around it. The baray should pose no problem to find on the internet.
For the yemenites uniques, the mud brick skyscrapers are the signature of Shibam, in the centre of the country. Look up for the city and you'll find plenty of information. The Zaidi Mountain Warrior is rather tricky. Yemen has no precise "historical military unit". However, the zaidis constitute many tribes on the mountains of the country. And many times throughout Yemen's history, they helped Kings and Queens to fight off their enemies. Thus, I came up with the "Zaidi Mountain Warrior".

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Spoiler :

Since the rest of the Greek Civilization was revealed today, here's my proposal for Gorgo's Leader ability, if indeed there are multiple leaders per Civilization:

"With your shield or on it."
Greece receives the Suzerain bonus of any conquered City-state at any time which it is in possession of the captured city-center. Captured city-states give Greek units double bonuses to defense from terrain in a 1-tile radius around their city-centers.

I see this as an inverse to Pericles' decidedly diplomatic approach to City-states, representing Sparta's more martial reputation.

 

[Thorburne]

Spoiler :

Since the rest of the Greek Civilization was revealed today, here's my proposal for Gorgo's Leader ability, if indeed there are multiple leaders per Civilization:

"With your shield or on it."
Greece receives the Suzerain bonus of any conquered City-state at any time which it is in possession of the captured city-center. Captured city-states give Greek units double bonuses to defense from terrain in a 1-tile radius around their city-centers.

I see this as an inverse to Pericles' decidedly diplomatic approach to City-states, representing Sparta's more martial reputation.

That's actually pretty good and kudos for thinking outside of the box. I think that I would like to see that be true.

Sent from my LG-H345 using Tapatalk

 

[Ikael]

Ok, all the talk about the polynesian VS other pacific civs in the other tread has inspired me to design my very own polinesian civilization: The kingdom of Hawaii!

>>> Kingdom of Hawaii

Leader: King Kamehameha I

Leader UA: Māmalahoe ("Law of the splintered paddle")

Every friendly unit that ends their turn in your waters, coastal tiles or the ones of your allied CS, will recover HP and have +1 extra movement, including yours. Unlocks the Kona warrior

The Mamalahoa or "law of the splintered paddle" was the most popular law of the many edicts that King Kamehameha enacted, ensuring the rights of hospitality for sailors and inhabitants of the islands. This will allow Hawaii to become a pivotal ally of naval powers, and make the best out of the Hawaiian UA.

Leader UU: UU: Kona warrior.

Does not replace any unit, unlocks with the "naval tradition" civic. Starts with amphibious promotion. Recieves combat bonuses when fighting near 10 hexes of friendly city states. Regenerates HP when embarked

Warriors from the Kona island were the backbone of Kamehameha's army, and they helped him to unify the Hawaiian islands under one single goverment. Ideal for carrying out amphibious assaults on far away islands, they will be also useful when
fighting inland thanks to their nearby CS bonus.

Hawaiian UU: Lapita sailor

Replaces settler. Can traverse ocean tiles, has +1 sight and movement when embarked

The Lapita culture is the mother of virtually every polynesian culture, as they were the very first humans that ventured into the Pacific sea and they were also the first inhabitants of Hawaii. The Lapita sailor UU would allow Hawaii to start colonizing islands and far away lands from the very beggining of the game. However, since it is a non-combat unit, it will be extremely exposed to barbarian attacks, thus making early colonization a "high risk, high reward" type of gamble.

Hawaiian Unique improvement: Heiau

+1 faith per adyacent swallow water tile. Friendly units will recover +10 HP if they finish their turn next to a Heiau. A heiau cannot be built next to another Heiau. It will yield tourism equivalent to its faith output (2 faith = 1 tourism) upon the discovery of flight

The Heiau were the holy grounds of many indigenous Hawaii practices, and they will allow Hawaii to produce a big amount of faith output from the very early game, as well as serve as "healing posts" for their coastal units, further synergizing with
Kamehameha UA and representing their historical role as hospices as well.

Hawaiian UA: Ho'oponopono

Every city state that has at least one a sea trade route coming from your empire will gain one extra envoy. You can expend faith in order to build workers in your cities.

The tradition of Ho'oponopono is widely spread among polinesian cultures, and relies upon the resolution of conflicts and illnesses by confession and forgiveness. This translates in-game in a powerful tool for befriending city states (extra envoys) as well as help you to expand your empire by the virtue of synergizing with other traits: make your settlers cross the seas, then buy workers with faih in your newfounded cities, and finally repelish the expent faith by building Heiaus along the coast. All these traits will allow Hawaii to become a wide, diplomatic civ, with a seabound empire!

 

[IgorS]

Hawaiian UU: Lapita sailor

Replaces settler. Can traverse ocean tiles, has +1 sight and movement when embarked

The Lapita culture is the mother of virtually every polynesian culture, as they were the very first humans that ventured into the Pacific sea and they were also the first inhabitants of Hawaii. The Lapita sailor UU would allow Hawaii to start colonizing islands and far away lands from the very beggining of the game. However, since it is a non-combat unit, it will be extremely exposed to barbarian attacks, thus making early colonization a "high risk, high reward" type of gamble.

A UU that replaces a settler?! No thanks. This is a bad idea, just like the Fast Worker from Civ IV. A UU should replace a combat unit, otherwise it is not fun.

 

[Ikael]

A UU that replaces a settler?! No thanks. This is a bad idea, just like the Fast Worker from Civ IV. A UU should replace a combat unit, otherwise it is not fun.

Why? I mean, the fast worker was boring because while powerful, it had nothing to do with Indian history nor it changed gameplay substantially. The lapita sailor however, allows Hawaii to start overseas colonization even earlier than Norway and in my humble opinion, it does make a lot of historical sense. Also, there's always the Kona warrior for combat UUs

 

[IgorS]

Why? I mean, the fast worker was boring because while powerful, it had nothing to do with Indian history nor it changed gameplay substantially. The lapita sailor however, allows Hawaii to start overseas colonization even earlier than Norway and in my humble opinion, it does make a lot of historical sense. Also, there's always the Kona warrior for combat UUs

I don't know. If I design a civ, and I want to give bonuses to its settlers or workers/builders, I prefer doing it as a unique civ/leader ability.
Sorry, I just dislike non-combat UUs.

 

[Atlas627]

I don't know. If I design a civ, and I want to give bonuses to its settlers or workers/builders, I prefer doing it as a unique civ/leader ability.
Sorry, I just dislike non-combat UUs.

I agree that you should put Unique Units that exist all game (settlers, builders) as part of UAs...if the UA isn't already overloaded.

I see no other reason why a non-combat UU is inherently bad.

 

[IgorS]

I see no other reason why a non-combat UU is inherently bad.

Not bad, just... not so fun.

 

[Amrunril]

I don't know. If I design a civ, and I want to give bonuses to its settlers or workers/builders, I prefer doing it as a unique civ/leader ability.
Sorry, I just dislike non-combat UUs.

I don't see any reason for categorical opposition to non-combat UUs. The Kahn is a great unique unit in Civ V, and the Pathfinder is one of my favorites (technically scouts are combat units, but it's pretty rare to actually build them for combat). Now unique settlers and workers/builders are a bit harder to do well, as they are by default generic units with simple but fundamentally important jobs, but that's a reason to be cautious about including unique settlers and builders, not a reason to preclude the possibility entirely. And the choice to make such a bonus a UU or a UA is largely an aesthetic one. The only reason it matters gameplay-wise is that allowing for both possibilities leaves additional flexibility as to what other unique types to give a civ, which in my mind can only be a good thing.

As for the specifics of the Lapita Sailor, the most important thing I notice about it is that using it will result in a lot of cities that won't be able to support each other economically or militarilly in the early game. This might provide an interesting dynamic, but it could also be frustrating if you don't realize what you're getting yourself into, so I'd definitely think of this a a mechanic for an "advanced" civ.

 

[Atlas627]

Not bad, just... not so fun.

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

"This is bad design because it isn't fun" isn't helpful advice. At least explain why!