dunkleosteus
Roman Pleb
A number of the eurekas and inspirations feel like they clash thematically with the techs and civics they represent. Here, I've compiled the techs and civics I think could be more fun or interesting with new inspirations or eurekas. I'm including the current/original inspiration as well as what I think it should be changed to. I'm also including a list of balance changes to certain techs or civics to get rid of things that may not make sense or to help encourage thematic roleplay and confrontation.
Techs:
Civics:
Balance Changes:
Bonuses: The following are passive effects granted by researching techs and civics. They represent fundamental improvements on the operation of your empire based on ideas rather than quantifiable buildings or government policies. The game already has a few of these, but these are some additional ones which I hope will help the game.
Improved Resource Benefits: In Civ 5, some resources provided passive benefits to your cities when you improved them. This brings some of those back.
Changes to Features and Improvements:
I tried to work within the rules established by the game. At the time of posting, Rise and Fall is unreleased, and there may be better systems to work with once we have that to play with. I'd like feedback or questions if anyone has them.
Techs:
Spoiler Techs :
Writing: (currently: meet another civilization), new: have an empire-wide population of 6. The justification for this change is that writing seems to have developed as civilizations increased in complexity and centralized their power. Contact with foreign entities did not create any impetus or need for writing, although written messages would later help in formal negotiations. Writing was developed as a management and archiving tool and later employed diplomatically.
Bronze Working: (currently: kill 3 barbarians), new: mine a resource. The current eureka seems to play up to the use of bronze weapons in war. I think this change broadens bronze working into a more general-purpose technology representing the transition from stone to metal tools.
Wheel: (currently: mine a resource), new: build a pasture. The invention of the wheel seems attributable simultaneously to either pottery or animal husbandry, with the potter's wheel and from animals drawing carts. Industrially, the ability for carts and livestock to be used to transport or move goods or materials is very important, so this eureka is designed to reflect that.
Celestial Navigation: (currently: improve 2 sea resources), new: build a galley. Celestial navigation was a very important development in sea-fairing technology, however it's also applicable on land. More information on that later. Rather than harvesting resources from the sea, it is having a true ship ready to sail that inspires your people to look to the stars for guidance. No longer are they fishing in the local waters of your city, now they leave familiar shores to explore the seas.
Horseback Riding: (currently: build a pasture), new: have 3 heavy cavalry units. Horseback riding was an incredible advancement for cavalry, but the earliest records of organized mounted cavalry come more than 2000 years after horses first began pulling carts and at least 1500 years after chariots were first employed. Chariots were deadly and effective, and it is after employing them yourself that you see the need to one-up the cavalry game.
Shipbuilding: (currently: build 2 galleys), new: build a harbor. As celestial navigation now uses building a single galley, building two had to be changed here. While I think building boats is certainly a reason to get better at shipbuilding, I think this new option might be equally as strong: having a dedicated port not only gives you somewhere to build ships, but a place to harbor them and a place for traders to arrive and depart. It is the dividing line between casual fishing and naval infrastructure, and so your people are inspired to dedicate themselves to boat building.
Mathematics: (currently: have 3 specialty districts), new: have a scientist specialist for 5 consecutive turns. Having 3 districts didn't make a huge amount of sense to me. I get that math is very useful in many different aspects of life, but the first mathematicians were dedicated philosophers and thinkers. By having a citizen specialized as a scientist in a campus, your people can apply themselves to the truly theoretical aspects of numbers. The stipulation of 5 turns is to ensure that a citizen isn't set as a specialist for a single turn and then immediately removed. Your city must be able to afford to dedicate a citizen to science.
Construction: (currently: build a watermill), new: build 9 buildings. Watermills are great, but their mechanism seems closer to machinery than to construction. This new requirement tries to communicate improvements in building practices as your people begin to build their cities.
Apprenticeship: (currently: build 3 mines), new: have 3 specialty districts. Apprenticeship here takes on the eureka that mathematics used to have. I think it fits apprenticeship better because apprentices are traditionally associated with a craft or trade, so having a variety of them gives your people a need to develop a formalized training system for new tradespeople.
Stirrups: (currently: have the Feudalism civic), new: have 5 light or heavy mounted cavalry units. I thought that feudalism was a bit of an arbitrary requirement for stirrups. Sure, that roughly lines up with when stirrups were developed historically, but there's no reason it had to happen in that order. This new eureka tries to tie in with how important stirrups are to cavalry, and specifically if you use a lot of mounted cavalry, you will be more likely to develop technology for them.
Machinery: (currently: own 3 archers), new: build 3 watermills. The archer eureka never made sense. It seems specifically designed to support the "archers upgrade into crossbowmen" thing, which is basically all you use machinery for. But machinery wasn't developed to make crossbows, machinery was developed to do work more efficiently. The mechanism of a crossbow was made possible by machinery, not the other way around. This eureka uses mechanized mills rather than archers.
Castles: (currently: have a government with 6 policy slots), new: have a city you own under siege. The previous eureka tried to tie castles in with having a feudal government, which I understand. This eureka instead attempts to make the development of castles come from necessity: being in a war in which one of your cities is besieged provides the inspiration your people need to develop stronger fortifications.
Cartography: (currently: build 2 harbors), new: discover 2 foreign continents. As we'll see later, the inspiration for foreign trade is changed, so discovering continents no longer triggers a eureka or inspiration. Here, the eureka for cartography comes from discovering foreign continents rather than having multiple harbors. I think this eureka will be more balanced on all map types whereas the current eureka seems under-powered on pangaea, which de-emphasizes navies.
Mass Production: (currently: build a lumber mill), new: build 2 workshops. The mass production of goods isn't something I know to be from the renaissance/medieval period as civ 6 claims. Regardless, I've moved the eureka to workshops from lumbermills, which was far too easy to get.
Gunpowder: (currently: build an armory), new: build a niter mine. Currently, niter gives the eureka for rifling. Originally, gunpowder revealed niter on the map, but when niter was moved to an earlier tech, the eureka for gunpowder should have been changed to building a niter mine.
Square Rigging: (currently: kill a unit with a musketman), new: own 6 medieval or renaissance naval units. Like horseback riding, the eureka for this tech requires you to have a strong military of the related type. Rather than killing a unit with a land melee unit, square rigging is triggered by having a strong navy.
Metal Casting: (currently: own 2 crossbowmen), new: have access to 4 iron. This was another eureka that was entirely built around the unit the tech unlocked rather than the tech itself. We're also assuming metal casting is referring to cast iron rather than metal casting in general, because bronzes were being cast long before iron working was ever developed to an industrial degree. Because of that, metal casting is now triggered by having a lot of iron. You can trade for the iron or if you're lucky, you'll have sources of it yourself.
Siege Tactics: (currently: own 2 bombards), new: destroy a city's defences with a bombard. Rather than simply owning siege weapons, this eureka requires you to use them. You have to reduce the city's fortifications to 0 health or armor (I don't remember the terminology for walls. Whichever prevents the city from bombarding you) with a bombard to trigger this eureka.
Industrialization: (currently: build 3 workshops), new: have 3 cities with 10 population. This eureka is designed to use growing national populations as the trigger for industrialization. In reality, advances in the efficiencies of farming and manufacturing practices all triggered the event, but it was the population reserves flooding into cities that carried the industrial age forward.
Steam Power: (currently: build 2 shipyards), new: Have at least 8 mines and access to coal. Coal will be moved to industrialization, so having access to it before steam power will be possible. Steam power was developed originally to pump water out of mines before later being applied to vehicles like trains and boats. The original eureka is another designed specifically for the unit unlocked by the tech and not for the tech itself.
Rifling: (currently: build a niter mine), new: kill 3 units with musketmen. As square rigging changed its eureka, killing units with musketmen not only makes sense for riflemen, but is available.
Electricity: (currently: build 3 privateers), new: build 3 factories. Another eureka designed for the unit rather than the tech itself. What does electricity or lightbulbs have to do with piracy?
Bronze Working: (currently: kill 3 barbarians), new: mine a resource. The current eureka seems to play up to the use of bronze weapons in war. I think this change broadens bronze working into a more general-purpose technology representing the transition from stone to metal tools.
Wheel: (currently: mine a resource), new: build a pasture. The invention of the wheel seems attributable simultaneously to either pottery or animal husbandry, with the potter's wheel and from animals drawing carts. Industrially, the ability for carts and livestock to be used to transport or move goods or materials is very important, so this eureka is designed to reflect that.
Celestial Navigation: (currently: improve 2 sea resources), new: build a galley. Celestial navigation was a very important development in sea-fairing technology, however it's also applicable on land. More information on that later. Rather than harvesting resources from the sea, it is having a true ship ready to sail that inspires your people to look to the stars for guidance. No longer are they fishing in the local waters of your city, now they leave familiar shores to explore the seas.
Horseback Riding: (currently: build a pasture), new: have 3 heavy cavalry units. Horseback riding was an incredible advancement for cavalry, but the earliest records of organized mounted cavalry come more than 2000 years after horses first began pulling carts and at least 1500 years after chariots were first employed. Chariots were deadly and effective, and it is after employing them yourself that you see the need to one-up the cavalry game.
Shipbuilding: (currently: build 2 galleys), new: build a harbor. As celestial navigation now uses building a single galley, building two had to be changed here. While I think building boats is certainly a reason to get better at shipbuilding, I think this new option might be equally as strong: having a dedicated port not only gives you somewhere to build ships, but a place to harbor them and a place for traders to arrive and depart. It is the dividing line between casual fishing and naval infrastructure, and so your people are inspired to dedicate themselves to boat building.
Mathematics: (currently: have 3 specialty districts), new: have a scientist specialist for 5 consecutive turns. Having 3 districts didn't make a huge amount of sense to me. I get that math is very useful in many different aspects of life, but the first mathematicians were dedicated philosophers and thinkers. By having a citizen specialized as a scientist in a campus, your people can apply themselves to the truly theoretical aspects of numbers. The stipulation of 5 turns is to ensure that a citizen isn't set as a specialist for a single turn and then immediately removed. Your city must be able to afford to dedicate a citizen to science.
Construction: (currently: build a watermill), new: build 9 buildings. Watermills are great, but their mechanism seems closer to machinery than to construction. This new requirement tries to communicate improvements in building practices as your people begin to build their cities.
Apprenticeship: (currently: build 3 mines), new: have 3 specialty districts. Apprenticeship here takes on the eureka that mathematics used to have. I think it fits apprenticeship better because apprentices are traditionally associated with a craft or trade, so having a variety of them gives your people a need to develop a formalized training system for new tradespeople.
Stirrups: (currently: have the Feudalism civic), new: have 5 light or heavy mounted cavalry units. I thought that feudalism was a bit of an arbitrary requirement for stirrups. Sure, that roughly lines up with when stirrups were developed historically, but there's no reason it had to happen in that order. This new eureka tries to tie in with how important stirrups are to cavalry, and specifically if you use a lot of mounted cavalry, you will be more likely to develop technology for them.
Machinery: (currently: own 3 archers), new: build 3 watermills. The archer eureka never made sense. It seems specifically designed to support the "archers upgrade into crossbowmen" thing, which is basically all you use machinery for. But machinery wasn't developed to make crossbows, machinery was developed to do work more efficiently. The mechanism of a crossbow was made possible by machinery, not the other way around. This eureka uses mechanized mills rather than archers.
Castles: (currently: have a government with 6 policy slots), new: have a city you own under siege. The previous eureka tried to tie castles in with having a feudal government, which I understand. This eureka instead attempts to make the development of castles come from necessity: being in a war in which one of your cities is besieged provides the inspiration your people need to develop stronger fortifications.
Cartography: (currently: build 2 harbors), new: discover 2 foreign continents. As we'll see later, the inspiration for foreign trade is changed, so discovering continents no longer triggers a eureka or inspiration. Here, the eureka for cartography comes from discovering foreign continents rather than having multiple harbors. I think this eureka will be more balanced on all map types whereas the current eureka seems under-powered on pangaea, which de-emphasizes navies.
Mass Production: (currently: build a lumber mill), new: build 2 workshops. The mass production of goods isn't something I know to be from the renaissance/medieval period as civ 6 claims. Regardless, I've moved the eureka to workshops from lumbermills, which was far too easy to get.
Gunpowder: (currently: build an armory), new: build a niter mine. Currently, niter gives the eureka for rifling. Originally, gunpowder revealed niter on the map, but when niter was moved to an earlier tech, the eureka for gunpowder should have been changed to building a niter mine.
Square Rigging: (currently: kill a unit with a musketman), new: own 6 medieval or renaissance naval units. Like horseback riding, the eureka for this tech requires you to have a strong military of the related type. Rather than killing a unit with a land melee unit, square rigging is triggered by having a strong navy.
Metal Casting: (currently: own 2 crossbowmen), new: have access to 4 iron. This was another eureka that was entirely built around the unit the tech unlocked rather than the tech itself. We're also assuming metal casting is referring to cast iron rather than metal casting in general, because bronzes were being cast long before iron working was ever developed to an industrial degree. Because of that, metal casting is now triggered by having a lot of iron. You can trade for the iron or if you're lucky, you'll have sources of it yourself.
Siege Tactics: (currently: own 2 bombards), new: destroy a city's defences with a bombard. Rather than simply owning siege weapons, this eureka requires you to use them. You have to reduce the city's fortifications to 0 health or armor (I don't remember the terminology for walls. Whichever prevents the city from bombarding you) with a bombard to trigger this eureka.
Industrialization: (currently: build 3 workshops), new: have 3 cities with 10 population. This eureka is designed to use growing national populations as the trigger for industrialization. In reality, advances in the efficiencies of farming and manufacturing practices all triggered the event, but it was the population reserves flooding into cities that carried the industrial age forward.
Steam Power: (currently: build 2 shipyards), new: Have at least 8 mines and access to coal. Coal will be moved to industrialization, so having access to it before steam power will be possible. Steam power was developed originally to pump water out of mines before later being applied to vehicles like trains and boats. The original eureka is another designed specifically for the unit unlocked by the tech and not for the tech itself.
Rifling: (currently: build a niter mine), new: kill 3 units with musketmen. As square rigging changed its eureka, killing units with musketmen not only makes sense for riflemen, but is available.
Electricity: (currently: build 3 privateers), new: build 3 factories. Another eureka designed for the unit rather than the tech itself. What does electricity or lightbulbs have to do with piracy?
Civics:
Spoiler Civics :
Foreign Trade: (currently: discover a second continent), new: meet a new civ or city state. Rather than intercontinental trade, foreign trade is now the practice of opening your market to other civilizations, be they civilization or city state. Contact with foreign entities and their goods inspires your people to seek out that wealth.
Military Tradition: (currently: clear a barbarian encampment), new: defeat 3 barbarians. Constant conflict with barbarians hardens your warriors into a formal military.
Early Empire: (currently: have 6 population), new: declare a war. From the civilopedia entry for this civic, "The natural pattern of nations is that one state, for whatever reason, becomes more powerful than its neighbors economically and/or militarily and conquers them … creating an “empire.” The more it conquers, the stronger it gets, and so it conquers more and more of its neighbors." rather than by size, it is aggressive expansion that inspires your people to transition from tribe to empire.
Political Philosophy: (currently: meet three city states), new: meet someone with a different government. The first player or civ to get political philosophy can't get a boost towards it. Once a civ changes its government though, all other civs it has contact with will get a boost to political philosophy. This boost will be easier to handle when a player starts by themselves on an island (which has happened to me a number of times). -Thanks, Equilin
Civil Service: (currently: grow a city to 10 population), new: have a total of at least 6 districts. Civil service seems to want to tie into the idea of specialization and government infrastructure. This inspiration tries to emulate that by tying it to the total number of districts you have. There are no requirements for variety of districts, only number of them.
Guilds: (currently: build 2 markets), new: have 4 different types of specialist in your empire. Guilds are about more than just money. There are mason guilds, merchant guilds, scientific societies, etc. Rather than tying guilds specifically to money, this inspiration for guilds relies on a diversity of specialists in your empire.
Exploration: (currently: build 2 caravels), new: settle on a foreign continent. The inspiration to explore beyond your local neighborhood doesn't require specific classes of ship, only the will and opportunity to do so. By settling on a foreign continent, you establish yourself internationally, ready to explore the wonders of the world before you.
Colonialism: (currently: research the astronomy tech), new: have 2 suzerainships on a foreign continent. I have no idea what the association with astronomy was for, apart from astronomy unlocking the ability to cross oceans in civilization 5 and colonies being primarily overseas. Instead, it is having a strong political influence that makes you a colonial power, by exerting your authority on foreign entities.
Civil Engineering: (currently: build 7 specialty districts), new: have the Industrialization technology. Civil engineering is now associated with the growth of cities rather than a variety of districts. This helps put it in place with urbanization which expands on and strengthens this idea.
Military Tradition: (currently: clear a barbarian encampment), new: defeat 3 barbarians. Constant conflict with barbarians hardens your warriors into a formal military.
Early Empire: (currently: have 6 population), new: declare a war. From the civilopedia entry for this civic, "The natural pattern of nations is that one state, for whatever reason, becomes more powerful than its neighbors economically and/or militarily and conquers them … creating an “empire.” The more it conquers, the stronger it gets, and so it conquers more and more of its neighbors." rather than by size, it is aggressive expansion that inspires your people to transition from tribe to empire.
Political Philosophy: (currently: meet three city states), new: meet someone with a different government. The first player or civ to get political philosophy can't get a boost towards it. Once a civ changes its government though, all other civs it has contact with will get a boost to political philosophy. This boost will be easier to handle when a player starts by themselves on an island (which has happened to me a number of times). -Thanks, Equilin
Civil Service: (currently: grow a city to 10 population), new: have a total of at least 6 districts. Civil service seems to want to tie into the idea of specialization and government infrastructure. This inspiration tries to emulate that by tying it to the total number of districts you have. There are no requirements for variety of districts, only number of them.
Guilds: (currently: build 2 markets), new: have 4 different types of specialist in your empire. Guilds are about more than just money. There are mason guilds, merchant guilds, scientific societies, etc. Rather than tying guilds specifically to money, this inspiration for guilds relies on a diversity of specialists in your empire.
Exploration: (currently: build 2 caravels), new: settle on a foreign continent. The inspiration to explore beyond your local neighborhood doesn't require specific classes of ship, only the will and opportunity to do so. By settling on a foreign continent, you establish yourself internationally, ready to explore the wonders of the world before you.
Colonialism: (currently: research the astronomy tech), new: have 2 suzerainships on a foreign continent. I have no idea what the association with astronomy was for, apart from astronomy unlocking the ability to cross oceans in civilization 5 and colonies being primarily overseas. Instead, it is having a strong political influence that makes you a colonial power, by exerting your authority on foreign entities.
Civil Engineering: (currently: build 7 specialty districts), new: have the Industrialization technology. Civil engineering is now associated with the growth of cities rather than a variety of districts. This helps put it in place with urbanization which expands on and strengthens this idea.
Balance Changes:
Spoiler Balance Changes :
Archery is required for building the following units (in addition to their normal technologies), Quadriremes, Crossbowmen.
Iron Working is required for producing pikemen, samurai, and viking longships, but pikemen and longships don't require iron to be built.
Viking Longships get +10 combat strength and replace Quadriremes, rather than Galleys. Like the Jong, shares its movement speed with any units it is in a formation with. The longship is an innovation of earlier galleys. Rather than being unlocked with sailing, Norway gets the regular galleys. When shipbuilding is developed, Norway gets access to their longships. They lose their early naval ranged unit, but the longship's ability to transport land units quickly across open water should help reduce this penalty.
Gunpowder is required for building Frigates and Privateers. If either unit is obtained before gunpowder is researched, the unit receives a -1 range penalty and a 50% attack penalty until they figure out how to use canons instead of arrows. These penalties do not go away unless you have access to niter, and come back if you lose access to niter.
Caravels do not required gunpowder to be built, but will have the melee combat strength of a galley until gunpowder is researched, and while you do not have access to niter.
Coal is moved to Industrialization.
Battleships are moved to combustion and they and Destroyers require oil and iron to be produced.The dreadnought is clearly the first battleship built and it was fueled by coal, but it was the exception rather than the rule. There's a reason that battleships were called 'dreadnought' class ships, and it's that when the dreadnought was produced, it was leagues ahead of anything else floating. The dreadnought would have been an excellent unique unit for Britain as an early battleship, but Brazil got one instead. By the turn of the 20th century, there was already a lot of support for oil-powered ships over coal-powered.
Ironclads require coal and iron to be produced.
Redcoats and Garde Imperiale upgrade from musketmen and upgrade into infantry. Their combat power is changed to 60 from 65.
All Unique Units require their normal strategic resources, rather than being exempt from them. Since the response is divided whether uniques should require resources, here is a compromise: Unique Units only require a single copy of a strategic resource in cities without an encampment or harbor. This applies to the following:
Eagle Warrior, Hoplite, Pítati Archer, Longship, Berserker, Varu*, Domrey*: None.
Winged Hussar, Hetairoi, Warcart, Maryannu Chariot Archer, Saka Horse Archer: Horses.
Hypaspist, Legion, Immortal, Ngao Mbeba, Samurai: Iron.
Conquistador, Sea Dog, Garde Imperiale, Red Coat, Crouching Tiger, Digger, Jong: Niter.
Mamluk: Iron, Horses.
Cossack, Rough Rider: Horses, Niter.
Minas Geraes, U-boat: Coal, Iron.
P-51 Mustang: Aluminum, Oil.
I think everyone agrees that warcarts are the most broken unique unit in the game. Their timing and combat strength makes them very powerful, and their lack of requisites of any sort take the cake. I'm suggesting imposing a Wheel and Horse requirement on them just like the normal heavy chariot. If it bothers people that Sumeria loses their early war carts, why not just add a Eureka for Wheel: "be Sumeria"? (this is a joke). Berserkers don't have a resource requirement. I've heard that Scandinavia was relatively iron-poor, and that was one of the reasons Norse raiders wore relatively sparse metal equipment. They favoured axes over swords because they needed axes for their domestic lives for felling trees and iron was too scarce to afford separate weapons and tools. Someone else can confirm or deny this. Besides, they dumped most of their iron supply into making tens of thousands of nails for their boats.
Flight requires combustion, which may require combustion to be moved on the tech tree.
Combustion requires steam power.
Astronomy requires Celestial Navigation.
Heavy Chariots and Warcarts require horses, but also gain +5 combat and impose a -5 combat penalty on adjacent enemy units when a chariot is adjacent to at least one other chariot. Chariots were terrifying. Before the chariot, the fastest a man could move was by his own two feet (same goes for women). Chariots enabled soldiers to move across the battlefield with incredibly speed, and witnesses record the panic imposed by the thunder of hooves and wheels when the chariots charged. It took strong and highly trained soldiers to stand up to chariots rather than break ranks.
There's an argument for adding a classical era Cataphract for chariots to upgrade into, but I'm not suggesting new units be added here.
Knights and Samurai are moved to Feudalism, which hopes to better represent their place in the societal structure of the time they arose. Knights require horses and iron, and have a -10 combat penalty until stirrups are unlocked.
Mounted cavalry units take no combat penalty when defending against anti-cavalry units unless flanked.
Anti-cavalry units do not have a combat penalty against melee units, but do take a -10 combat penalty when defending against siege attacks. The close quarters formations that spear-wielding soldiers stand in makes them particularly vulnerable to what we might now call AoE type weapons. There are records of tacticians trying to maneuver their pikemen around to protect their artillery while simultaneously trying to avoid being hit by enemy artillery, which would be deadly to them.
Radio requires Electricity. I hope this one is self-explanatory.
Iron Working is required for producing pikemen, samurai, and viking longships, but pikemen and longships don't require iron to be built.
Viking Longships get +10 combat strength and replace Quadriremes, rather than Galleys. Like the Jong, shares its movement speed with any units it is in a formation with. The longship is an innovation of earlier galleys. Rather than being unlocked with sailing, Norway gets the regular galleys. When shipbuilding is developed, Norway gets access to their longships. They lose their early naval ranged unit, but the longship's ability to transport land units quickly across open water should help reduce this penalty.
Gunpowder is required for building Frigates and Privateers. If either unit is obtained before gunpowder is researched, the unit receives a -1 range penalty and a 50% attack penalty until they figure out how to use canons instead of arrows. These penalties do not go away unless you have access to niter, and come back if you lose access to niter.
Caravels do not required gunpowder to be built, but will have the melee combat strength of a galley until gunpowder is researched, and while you do not have access to niter.
Coal is moved to Industrialization.
Battleships are moved to combustion and they and Destroyers require oil and iron to be produced.The dreadnought is clearly the first battleship built and it was fueled by coal, but it was the exception rather than the rule. There's a reason that battleships were called 'dreadnought' class ships, and it's that when the dreadnought was produced, it was leagues ahead of anything else floating. The dreadnought would have been an excellent unique unit for Britain as an early battleship, but Brazil got one instead. By the turn of the 20th century, there was already a lot of support for oil-powered ships over coal-powered.
Ironclads require coal and iron to be produced.
Redcoats and Garde Imperiale upgrade from musketmen and upgrade into infantry. Their combat power is changed to 60 from 65.
All Unique Units require their normal strategic resources, rather than being exempt from them. Since the response is divided whether uniques should require resources, here is a compromise: Unique Units only require a single copy of a strategic resource in cities without an encampment or harbor. This applies to the following:
Eagle Warrior, Hoplite, Pítati Archer, Longship, Berserker, Varu*, Domrey*: None.
Winged Hussar, Hetairoi, Warcart, Maryannu Chariot Archer, Saka Horse Archer: Horses.
Hypaspist, Legion, Immortal, Ngao Mbeba, Samurai: Iron.
Conquistador, Sea Dog, Garde Imperiale, Red Coat, Crouching Tiger, Digger, Jong: Niter.
Mamluk: Iron, Horses.
Cossack, Rough Rider: Horses, Niter.
Minas Geraes, U-boat: Coal, Iron.
P-51 Mustang: Aluminum, Oil.
I think everyone agrees that warcarts are the most broken unique unit in the game. Their timing and combat strength makes them very powerful, and their lack of requisites of any sort take the cake. I'm suggesting imposing a Wheel and Horse requirement on them just like the normal heavy chariot. If it bothers people that Sumeria loses their early war carts, why not just add a Eureka for Wheel: "be Sumeria"? (this is a joke). Berserkers don't have a resource requirement. I've heard that Scandinavia was relatively iron-poor, and that was one of the reasons Norse raiders wore relatively sparse metal equipment. They favoured axes over swords because they needed axes for their domestic lives for felling trees and iron was too scarce to afford separate weapons and tools. Someone else can confirm or deny this. Besides, they dumped most of their iron supply into making tens of thousands of nails for their boats.
Flight requires combustion, which may require combustion to be moved on the tech tree.
Combustion requires steam power.
Astronomy requires Celestial Navigation.
Heavy Chariots and Warcarts require horses, but also gain +5 combat and impose a -5 combat penalty on adjacent enemy units when a chariot is adjacent to at least one other chariot. Chariots were terrifying. Before the chariot, the fastest a man could move was by his own two feet (same goes for women). Chariots enabled soldiers to move across the battlefield with incredibly speed, and witnesses record the panic imposed by the thunder of hooves and wheels when the chariots charged. It took strong and highly trained soldiers to stand up to chariots rather than break ranks.
There's an argument for adding a classical era Cataphract for chariots to upgrade into, but I'm not suggesting new units be added here.
Knights and Samurai are moved to Feudalism, which hopes to better represent their place in the societal structure of the time they arose. Knights require horses and iron, and have a -10 combat penalty until stirrups are unlocked.
Mounted cavalry units take no combat penalty when defending against anti-cavalry units unless flanked.
Anti-cavalry units do not have a combat penalty against melee units, but do take a -10 combat penalty when defending against siege attacks. The close quarters formations that spear-wielding soldiers stand in makes them particularly vulnerable to what we might now call AoE type weapons. There are records of tacticians trying to maneuver their pikemen around to protect their artillery while simultaneously trying to avoid being hit by enemy artillery, which would be deadly to them.
Radio requires Electricity. I hope this one is self-explanatory.
Bonuses: The following are passive effects granted by researching techs and civics. They represent fundamental improvements on the operation of your empire based on ideas rather than quantifiable buildings or government policies. The game already has a few of these, but these are some additional ones which I hope will help the game.
Spoiler Bonuses :
Celestial Navigation: +10% range for land trade routes, +25% range for sea trade routes. +1 movement for naval units. Tying into the idea of "ships of the desert", navigating by the stars was important for traders on land as well, not just by sea. It also helps sailors navigate better on the ocean, which grants a permanent +1 movement to all naval ships compared with other civilization that lack an understanding of navigation.
Wheel: +1 production in every city. +10% range for land trade routes. The wheel improves the productivity of all of your cities and lengthens the distance land trade routes can cross. Celestial navigation still extends sea trade routes farther than the wheel and celestial navigation do together for land trade routes.
Irrigation: Enables farms to be built on desert tiles with access to freshwater. Desert farms cannot provide adjacency bonuses to other farms when later techs or civics are unlocked. Essentially, this allows you to farm flat desert tiles adjacent to oases. Since desert tiles have no yield, this makes desert tiles still very poor. It does make petra cities better though.
Currency: +1 gold in every city.
Construction: +10% production towards city-center buildings.
Engineering: +10% production towards building districts (but not district buildings).
Mathematics: +1 science to libraries.
Military Tactics: Doubles flanking bonuses.
Apprenticeship: +1 to primary yield of engineer and artist specialists.
Education: +1 to primary yield of scientist and religious specialists.
Stirrups: +4 combat to all pre-modern mounted cavalry units. Eliminates the -10 combat penalty on knights.
Mass Production: +10% production towards units.
Banking: +1 gold to merchant specialists.
Printing: Doubles the yields from great works of writing. Foreign works of writing get +1 science after their yields are doubled.
Metalcasting: +5% production towards renaissance and later era units.
Ballistics: +3 combat strength to ranged units.
Industrialization: Districts grant +1 housing each.
Rifling: +5 strength to gunpowder melee units.
Steel: Improved sources of iron grant +1 production when producing buildings.
Electricity: Power plants gain: +1 to primary yield of specialists in districts within range.
Computers: Power plants gain: +2 to primary yield of specialists in districts within range.
Games and Recreation: +1 amenity in the capital.
Drama and Poetry: +2 culture in the capital.
Military Training: Land units start with +5 exp.
Defensive Tactics: +25 defence to city fortifications.
Recorded History: Palace gains +1 science and culture for every era you've progressed since the civic is discovered. Resets if your capital is moved (due to your original being captured).
Naval Tradition: Naval units start with +5 exp.
Civil Service: The first specialist in a city doesn't count towards your housing limit.
Guilds: Districts provide +1 great person point of their type.
The Enlightenment: All great works gain +1 culture.
Mercantilism: Trade routes with other major civilizations (not city states or your cities) gain +2 gold for both parties.
Nationalism: Great works you've created grant +1 culture in your cities. In a Fascist government, units get +5 defence in your territory.
Opera and Ballet: Theming bonuses grant +1 amenity.
Urbanization: Specialists consume 25% less food.
Capitalism: All specialists grant +2 gold in all governments except Communism. This bonus is increased to +3 gold if your government is Democracy. Under Communism, specialists get +2 production and -1 gold. This is a little odd. I wanted capitalism to increase the value of the economy and for it to excel in a democratic society. At the same time, communism clashes with capitalism, so capitalism had to have some other effect. I hoped the difference might make players think more carefully about which government they want. Fascism does not get any special benefit from capitalism, but I added a benefit from Nationalism to Fascism.
Professional Sports: Regional bonuses from Entertainment complexes can also be passed from the broadcast tower if the city has one.
Cultural Heritage: Wonders grant a standard adjacency bonus to entertainment complexes.
Wheel: +1 production in every city. +10% range for land trade routes. The wheel improves the productivity of all of your cities and lengthens the distance land trade routes can cross. Celestial navigation still extends sea trade routes farther than the wheel and celestial navigation do together for land trade routes.
Irrigation: Enables farms to be built on desert tiles with access to freshwater. Desert farms cannot provide adjacency bonuses to other farms when later techs or civics are unlocked. Essentially, this allows you to farm flat desert tiles adjacent to oases. Since desert tiles have no yield, this makes desert tiles still very poor. It does make petra cities better though.
Currency: +1 gold in every city.
Construction: +10% production towards city-center buildings.
Engineering: +10% production towards building districts (but not district buildings).
Mathematics: +1 science to libraries.
Military Tactics: Doubles flanking bonuses.
Apprenticeship: +1 to primary yield of engineer and artist specialists.
Education: +1 to primary yield of scientist and religious specialists.
Stirrups: +4 combat to all pre-modern mounted cavalry units. Eliminates the -10 combat penalty on knights.
Mass Production: +10% production towards units.
Banking: +1 gold to merchant specialists.
Printing: Doubles the yields from great works of writing. Foreign works of writing get +1 science after their yields are doubled.
Metalcasting: +5% production towards renaissance and later era units.
Ballistics: +3 combat strength to ranged units.
Industrialization: Districts grant +1 housing each.
Rifling: +5 strength to gunpowder melee units.
Steel: Improved sources of iron grant +1 production when producing buildings.
Electricity: Power plants gain: +1 to primary yield of specialists in districts within range.
Computers: Power plants gain: +2 to primary yield of specialists in districts within range.
Games and Recreation: +1 amenity in the capital.
Drama and Poetry: +2 culture in the capital.
Military Training: Land units start with +5 exp.
Defensive Tactics: +25 defence to city fortifications.
Recorded History: Palace gains +1 science and culture for every era you've progressed since the civic is discovered. Resets if your capital is moved (due to your original being captured).
Naval Tradition: Naval units start with +5 exp.
Civil Service: The first specialist in a city doesn't count towards your housing limit.
Guilds: Districts provide +1 great person point of their type.
The Enlightenment: All great works gain +1 culture.
Mercantilism: Trade routes with other major civilizations (not city states or your cities) gain +2 gold for both parties.
Nationalism: Great works you've created grant +1 culture in your cities. In a Fascist government, units get +5 defence in your territory.
Opera and Ballet: Theming bonuses grant +1 amenity.
Urbanization: Specialists consume 25% less food.
Capitalism: All specialists grant +2 gold in all governments except Communism. This bonus is increased to +3 gold if your government is Democracy. Under Communism, specialists get +2 production and -1 gold. This is a little odd. I wanted capitalism to increase the value of the economy and for it to excel in a democratic society. At the same time, communism clashes with capitalism, so capitalism had to have some other effect. I hoped the difference might make players think more carefully about which government they want. Fascism does not get any special benefit from capitalism, but I added a benefit from Nationalism to Fascism.
Professional Sports: Regional bonuses from Entertainment complexes can also be passed from the broadcast tower if the city has one.
Cultural Heritage: Wonders grant a standard adjacency bonus to entertainment complexes.
Improved Resource Benefits: In Civ 5, some resources provided passive benefits to your cities when you improved them. This brings some of those back.
Spoiler Improved Resource Benefits :
Copper: +25% production towards ancient era units in this city (except slingers and warriors. Doesn't stack with multiple sources of copper per city). +2 production on the tile when building the Colossus.
Stone: +10% production towards buildings in this city (after Masonry. Doesn't stack for multiple sources of stone per city). +1 production on the tile when building stonehenge or the pyramids.
Citrus: +10% Sea trade route length in your empire. Only applies for the first citrus you have improved. Look up scurvy if this doesn't make sense to you.
Cotton: +10% production towards pre-industrial naval units in this city. Doesn't stack with multiple sources of cotton per city. For making sails.
Marble: +10% production towards ancient and classical land-based wonders. (Doesn't apply to the Great Lighthouse or Colossus, which are sea-based).
Whales: After conservation, food and production benefits from the tile or improvement convert to gold, and the tile produces tourism equal to its gold output. Provides amenities to your cities, but no longer produces a tradeable luxury.
Ivory: Gives +100% production towards Varu and Domrey. Not required as that would be too specific. Doesn't stack with multiple ivory sources.
Stone: +10% production towards buildings in this city (after Masonry. Doesn't stack for multiple sources of stone per city). +1 production on the tile when building stonehenge or the pyramids.
Citrus: +10% Sea trade route length in your empire. Only applies for the first citrus you have improved. Look up scurvy if this doesn't make sense to you.
Cotton: +10% production towards pre-industrial naval units in this city. Doesn't stack with multiple sources of cotton per city. For making sails.
Marble: +10% production towards ancient and classical land-based wonders. (Doesn't apply to the Great Lighthouse or Colossus, which are sea-based).
Whales: After conservation, food and production benefits from the tile or improvement convert to gold, and the tile produces tourism equal to its gold output. Provides amenities to your cities, but no longer produces a tradeable luxury.
Ivory: Gives +100% production towards Varu and Domrey. Not required as that would be too specific. Doesn't stack with multiple ivory sources.
Changes to Features and Improvements:
Spoiler Changes to Features and Improvements :
Lumbermill: +5% production towards pre-industrial naval units in this city. Does stack with multiple lumber mills.
Rainforest: After conservation, rainforest gains +1 faith, and the appeal modifier to adjacent tiles changes from -1 to +1.
Rainforest: After conservation, rainforest gains +1 faith, and the appeal modifier to adjacent tiles changes from -1 to +1.
I tried to work within the rules established by the game. At the time of posting, Rise and Fall is unreleased, and there may be better systems to work with once we have that to play with. I'd like feedback or questions if anyone has them.
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