Empire of the Sea (Vikings/Norse development thread)

veBear

veBear

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We all know that Kael made a great civ-add on already with the Celts downloadable here
I have the dream of doing the same about the Vikings, naming them Norse in this game. I searh for people who would like to help in the development in this civ. I hope having a good looking civ within 2 weeks, ready for download already then. Later on we could get people to translate to Spanish, German, French and Italian.

Here is the standing statistics:
Norseland (adjective: Norse)
1st Colour: Burgundy
2nd Colour: White
Symbol: Raven from the Raven Banner
UU1: Berserker - +2 strenght (Longswordsman)
UU2: Longboat - +1 movement, +33% strenght against other Triremes (Triremes)
Trait: Njord's Call - All units start with Amphibious promotion, can still move after crossing river and embarking/disembarking.
LH: Canute
City List:
Nidaros
Uppsala
Birka
Heidabyr (Haithabu)
Tunsberg
Bjørgvin
Ribe
Oslo
Kaupang
Jorvik
Skara
Hladir (seat of the jarl of Hladir, modern Lade in Trondheim)
Roskilde
Sigtuna
Ahus (medieval name of Aarhus)
Kalmar
Jelling
Lund
Visby
Kongshelle
Viborg
Stafangr
Vedrafjord
Jelling
Uddevalla
Hamar
Longphort (Dublin)
Stiklestad
Vinland
Miklagard


Currently all ideas are finished. I am now in the process of learning to mod it.
 
Here is my suggested button graphic. I have an XCF (gimp) file on my computer with a bit better quality than this JPG.
 
Yeah. This sounds really good. I'll be playing, but I need to start my Fairy Tale 2, so I can't be of much help in modding it though!
 
Sounds like a good idea.
I personally like the two UUs ideas.

Perhaps the Longboat, replaces the Trireme, has less movement points, but can enter the ocean tiles.

On a side note, one thing to remember is that you might have to renaime a few of the City-States (Stockholm & Oslo?) to something else, simply to avoid duplication of city names.
 
I think we shall begin with a Static image just as with Kael's Celtic civilization. However, as soon as Ekmek have figured out how to import Civ4 leaders into Civ5, he shall be animated. And I really hope cfkane won't mind :p

And we really have to find another replacement for the Oslo city state. Maybe Christiania, Copenhagen, Bergen (since it has another name in my city list), Stavanger, Göteborg (not included as it was founded in the 16th or 17th centure, far too late) or any other. Maybe even Helsinki (I bet Le Sage would like that)?

Since I am a european I will not have my game until friday, and that friday will probably go to mainly gaming. However, I shall take a look at the files on Sunday and Monday, as I have no school on Monday. I shall try to ask Kael for some hints about modding the personalities so we can get a Canute, and I see him as mainly a Military and Expansionist leader.

I think I would go for my second trait suggestion, though maybe renaming it. The turning penalty from attacking from sea or across river to a bonus is indeed quite nice I think.

That is all I have to say for now. Cheers!
 
veBear said:
Here is my suggested button graphic. I have an XCF (gimp) file on my computer with a bit better quality than this JPG.
Click to expand...
Wow, very nice! May I ask how you made it to exactly match the structure of the default civs' icons? There was a .PSD template around for Civ4: is there something similar for Civ5 somewhere already?
 
Nice ideas coming.

My suggestion for the Scandinavian trait is to have it linked to pillaging. Some possibilities:

- Increased yield for pillaging
- Units automatically heal while pillaging
- Improvements and cities take less time to pillage
- Pillaging doesn't cost units any movement points

Just throwing some stuff around.
 
Thank you for making this civ mod, I was kinda bummed out when I saw that Scandinavia wasn't added to the CiV base game.

Also I would suggest changing the name of Stavanger to Stafangr, since you're already planning to use Bjørgvin and Nidaros instead of Bergen and Trondheim;)
 
There seems to be a lot of focus on the Vikings' ability to plunder and wage war, but that was not their specialty areas really though. I think you should make the civ more bent on exploration and trade than the usual stereotype of plunder and piracy.

The Vikings civ might have some special unit or ability to reflect those warlike expeditions, but to bring the civ into real historical light and to also make it way more interesting than just the stereotypical stuff, there should also be functions to reflect the international trade and exploration the Vikings did (trading with Arabia, founding Russia, venturing into the Mediterranean and Central Asia and even founding colonies in America). The piracy and pillaging should come in second.

So, what I am advocating is more emphasis on exploration and economical issues than strong units or military special abilities. If you still want to keep the civ very warlike, you should at least reflect the world historical importance of the Viking trade and exploration. After all, these guys founded Russia, colonized America and traded with Central Asia when the other European countries were still emerging from the early Middle Ages and were quarreling and fighting over land areas the size of my home town!
 
I personally think its fine to focus on the stereotypes, too. HOwever, as you said, I think there shouldn't be an over-emphasis on these streotypes, but I feel a pillaging UA would be appropriate for the Scandinavians. However, as you said, an exploration UA could be possible too.
 
New UP idea:
All units increase movement by 1
This brings the Norse main strenght in their pillaging and raiding into focus, which was mainly mobility and the ability to surprise, while also keeping the exploartion part.
We could also remove one of the UUs and replace it with a Kaupang UB (it was both a city, and a name for Market). This would be more focus on the trade part.

Edit:
And I did not have a template making that button, but copied a picture with loads of buttons on from the Gallery and edited out a small button and did some artwork to get the button to have a Burgundy background and White raven.
 
My suggestion would be to have their UA give every unit they start with the amphibious promotion. That would encourage naval attacks, etc. I generally feel a Longboat worked better with the Civ4 naval model (it really is a transport), but if you build their armies around the naval component, it would complement it.

To represent pillaging, here's my Berzerker suggestion:

Berzerker (replaces Longswordsman), S: 18, M: 2 C: 150. +30% attacking cities, double gold from pillaging (if the latter is possible).

Longboat should be extra movement and probably a slightly increased bombard.

If you need Maritime City-States:

Malta
Genoa
Jakarta
Carthage*

* My guess is they're going to add this as an expansion Civ. It was too obvious a city-state to leave out otherwise.

EDIT: I like the idea of representing the Kievan Rus too, so something mercantile would be nice. I feel +1 trade route is too powerful, though (isn't that the Arabic UA?). Maybe a UB related to trade could be considered?
 
veBear said:
New UP idea:
All units increase movement by 1
This brings the Norse main strenght in their pillaging and raiding into focus, which was mainly mobility and the ability to surprise, while also keeping the exploartion part.
We could also remove one of the UUs and replace it with a Kaupang UB (it was both a city, and a name for Market). This would be more focus on the trade part.

Edit:
And I did not have a template making that button, but copied a picture with loads of buttons on from the Gallery and edited out a small button and did some artwork to get the button to have a Burgundy background and White raven.
Click to expand...

+1 move is a HUGE bonus though.

How about;

Can move after (dis)embarking
Increased gold from Pillaging
Embarkation allowed before Optics, but naval move of 1 tile
Production from Pillaging > either capital or nearest city gets a :hammers: boost.
XP from pillaging
 
I would suggest against allowing embarking before Optics. It's not like the Vikings were known seafarers before Roman times. Some of those pillaging bonuses are interesting, though.

And, yes, +1 move is too powerful. At a minimum, it completely kills Persia's UA, which gives you that only with a Golden Age.

My (consolidated) suggestion:

UA: Viking Raiders:
All units start with the amphibious promotion and can move after embarking and disembarking.
Double gold from pillaging improvements.

UU: Berzerker - Replaces Longswordsman, 20, 2, 150 +30% vs. cities.

Second UU: Longboat - Replaces Galley, + 1 movement, extra bombard (too lazy to look up unit stats at the moment).

Alternate, UB: Kaupang (not sure exactly, but trade route bonuses).

I'm in favor of the two UUs, even if it leaves the Kievan Rus out. It makes the Vikings a militaristic seafaring Civ (as opposed to England, which strikes me as more peaceful/commercial. The idea would be to attack from the Sea and either take cities or to pillage and retreat). Either way, it would work well to bring back the fear people had of them in real life.
 
One idea could be one of my original trait suggestions: Reverses effect from attacking from sea or over river (from penalty to bonus)
 
I think you should make the civ more bent on exploration and trade than the usual stereotype of plunder and piracy.
Click to expand...

What about a UU that can explore enemy territory without OB agreement. Or they are undetected/invisible to other civs when they do explore.

Another UU idea. Húscarls are the elite guard of King Cnut (and later King Harold II) were armed with two-handed axes which could split shields or metal helmets with ease. Kind of sounds like the berserker from Civ 4 but i'm not really sure.

On the same page they talk about the longship. Maybe that could be a second UU that could travel over ocean. WHich would expand on the idea about their exploration speciality.

UB idea - Runestone which replaces monument but no idea what to do with it.

Just some ideas after 5 minutes of reading.
 
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