As the first step towards making my fantasy mod for Civ4, as well as to train myself in python scripting and get familiar with the unit XML files, my first mod for Civ4 is going to be a "Hero Unit" system.
Basically, what I forsee for this system is as follows:
Heroes appear through events and are tied to civ, tech, and resources. For example, you can't get an Elven hero unless you have an Elven Village resource connected to your capital.
Heroes are standard units, not Great People. They can fight and be killed, and they can gain promotions.
However, the promotions they gain aren't the same ones that normal units get. Hero units have their own individualized promotions that represent them growing stronger. For example, the elven hero above might start out as a swordsman; at his first promotion, he might gain the option to learn to use a bow (getting a first strike and small strength upgrade perhaps) or to concentrate more on his swordsmanship (getting a bigger strength upgrade). Each of those promotions would then have their own set of possible promotions, and so on.
Heroes are completely unique. Each hero will only appear once in the game, and if they die they stay dead forever (with the possible exception of very high level heroes, who might have discovered how to defeat death itself...).
These are being made for a high-fantasy mod, so the heros are intended to be very powerful individually. Yes, it's possible that high level heros will destroy entire legions of troops. That's fine from my point of view. There will also be upgrade paths for most of the heroes that leads them to a "command" role (generals, marshals, and the like) which will make them less individually strong but will grant bonuses to nearby units.
Anyway, I will use this thread to update my progress on this system (I expect the first alpha version to be working by next monday - just a single hero and single promotion) as well as to field any questions or comments
Basically, what I forsee for this system is as follows:
Heroes appear through events and are tied to civ, tech, and resources. For example, you can't get an Elven hero unless you have an Elven Village resource connected to your capital.
Heroes are standard units, not Great People. They can fight and be killed, and they can gain promotions.
However, the promotions they gain aren't the same ones that normal units get. Hero units have their own individualized promotions that represent them growing stronger. For example, the elven hero above might start out as a swordsman; at his first promotion, he might gain the option to learn to use a bow (getting a first strike and small strength upgrade perhaps) or to concentrate more on his swordsmanship (getting a bigger strength upgrade). Each of those promotions would then have their own set of possible promotions, and so on.
Heroes are completely unique. Each hero will only appear once in the game, and if they die they stay dead forever (with the possible exception of very high level heroes, who might have discovered how to defeat death itself...).
These are being made for a high-fantasy mod, so the heros are intended to be very powerful individually. Yes, it's possible that high level heros will destroy entire legions of troops. That's fine from my point of view. There will also be upgrade paths for most of the heroes that leads them to a "command" role (generals, marshals, and the like) which will make them less individually strong but will grant bonuses to nearby units.
Anyway, I will use this thread to update my progress on this system (I expect the first alpha version to be working by next monday - just a single hero and single promotion) as well as to field any questions or comments
