How would you design a civ in civ 7 roster?

[pineappledan]

The split that civ 6 made between civilizations and leaders was a great idea, but I don't think they executed on it very well. There are several examples of separate civilizations that are either direct continuations, descendents or iterations of another faction in the game, which is something the civ/leader dichotomy could have been used to resolve. If I were designing civs fro civ 7, both the civilization and the leader would get the full compliment of ability, unit, and building, for a total of 6 unique components.

I made a spreadsheet of of my ideas with 51 leaders.

Some examples:
Civilization: Celtic

• Ability: Bell Beakers - Iron is revealed immediately. +1 Production to all mines on Resources
• Unique District: Nemeton - Must be built in forests. Does not remove the forest. Additional Faith bonuses
• Unique Unit: Covinni (Classical Era light cavalry) - chariot unit. high ranged attack

Leader: Brian Boru (Ireland)

• Ability: Hibernian Mission - Great Works increase Religious pressure in their city. Missionary spread actions erode 10% of existing foreign religious pressure in target cities.
• Unique Building: Feiseanna Hall (Medieval era happiness building) - Additional bonuses to culture
• Unique Unit: Ceithernach (medieval light infantry) - Flanking bonus increased for each friendly adjacent unit and reduced for each enemy unit.

Civilization: Dravidian

• Ability: Vira Valanjiyar - Naval trade units can defend themselves (ie. they have defensive combat strength and must be killed before they can be pillaged). Gain Gold in all your cities for each Trade Route completed to a unique foreign city.
• Unique Building: Sangam (Ancient era loyalty building) Additional bonuses to science
• Unique Unit: Urumi (Classical Era unique infantry) - Takes reduced return damage on melee attack and deals splash damage to adjacent units

Leader: Rajaraja I (Cholamandalam)

• Ability: Mummudi - Adjacent land and naval units boost each others' combat strength. Towns and Villages gain additional Science and Gold from Trade Routes passing through them.
• Unique District: Kovil - provides Additional faith and gold bonuses, allowing you to purchase buildings in this city using Faith.
• Unique Unit: Taniyar (Medieval Era melee ship) - Cheaper to build for each unique trade route destination you have completed. Your nearby Trade units will perform a ranged attack if within range of an enemy that is attacked by a Taniyar.

 

[Haig]

Can you see on the spreadsheet what the Abilities do ?

 

[Caesar of Bread]

Can you see on the spreadsheet what the Abilities do ?

You can use the left/right/up/down buttons, or just click on whatever you'd like to see.
And just so you know pinapple dan, thank you. I think you have some great ideas on the document.

 

[pineappledan]

Can you see on the spreadsheet what the Abilities do ?

If you are viewing it on a computer all the cells have notes attached to them that you can mouse over to view. I don't think they are visible on mobile.

There's also tabs for my ideas re: other components like resources and policies.

I've left comments open on the sheet so people can give their input

 

[Caesar of Bread]

America
Unique Ability: Beside The Golden Door - Whenever a nation America knows of has -2 happiness, America gains a population from that nation. Every 3 turns of this happening, America gains a random great person.
Unique Unit 1 - Pioneer: Replaces settler. Can be used as a scout.
Unique Unit 2 - Buffalo Soldier: Replaces armed cavalry. 1 extra move and 2x strength.
Unique Infrastructure - Ivy League University: Replaces campus. +1 science, culture, and happiness.

Leaders I have in mind: Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, MLK
Theodore Roosevelt
Leader Ability - Big Stick Policy: +3 diplomacy when defeating a colonial nation. Gain Leader UU "Rough Rider" after researching riflery.
Thomas Jefferson
Leader Ability - Monticello President: +1 science per great work.
Dwight Eisenhower
Leader Ability - Interstate Commerce: +5 gold if all American cities are connected by trade route.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Leader Ability - I Have A Dream: +2 happiness and +1 culture when in peacetime.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

Rome - Cincinnatus (if not, then Marcus Aurelius or Hadrian)
Unique Unit 1: Corvus - Replaces quadrieme. 2 extra units can be added, 2x movement.
Unique Unit 2: Legionary - Replaces swordsman. 2x strength against barbarians.
Unique Infrastructure: Forum - Replaces city center. +2 happiness.

 

[IgorS]

I really like your idea, and I am currently also working on my own design of my fantasy Civ VII roster. And I also have two UUs and one UI for each civ. I'll post my thread soon.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

I really like your idea, and I am currently also working on my own design of my fantasy Civ VII roster. And I also have two UUs and one UI for each civ. I'll post my thread soon.

Nice. I've always thought of some sort of fantasy mix into civ

 

[pineappledan]

I've already made such a list, so I will dump it here:

Pdan's Civ 7 Civ list.xlsx

docs.google.com

I'm particularly proud of my designs for Baltic/Lithuanian, Cascadia/Tlingit, Colombian/Muisca, Dravidian/Chola, Levantine/Phoenician, Mongolian, and Hunnic

Spoiler Notes :

• My designs presume factions are split into 2 levels: civilizations and leaders
  • civilizations are defined as larger cultural, ethnic, or geographic populations sharing common traits
  • a Leader embodies a particular nation or empire that fits within that group.
• My designs presumes civilization and leader each have 1 unique ability, 1 unique unit and 1 unique infrastructure where:
  • Unique abilities are available from turn 1, or as soon as the augmented mechanic is introduced
  • Unique unit is defined as a stronger military unit bonus. This can be a stand-alone unit or a stronger replacement for a base unit. Unique units can either have combat strength and attack/defend on their own, or be support units that directly augment nearby combat units, but they have to be moveable units that are fielded in combat.
  • Infrastructure bonus is defined as a unique improvement, building, national wonder, or civilian non-military unit, like a worker or settler. They can provide military bonuses like a unique barracks or a tile improvement that gives defense, but do not engage in combat directly
• My designs assume that the following mechanics will make a return in civ 7:
  • National wonders - buildings that can only be built once on empire, but all civs can build them, unlike world wonders)
  • Happiness - I formulate this as a city-scale system that would mainly augment a city's attractiveness for emigration/immigration)
  • Ideologies - mutually exclusive, super-powerful late game policies that destabilize competing nations of opposing ideologies through cultural pressure)
  • Health - city population-limiting mechanic that replaces civ 6's amenities)
  • Districts - city tiles that aren't the city center, which are required to relieve certain infrastructure or size limitations on a city's continued development)
  • Villages - sub-city urbanized improvements that act as force-multipliers for adjacent improvements, and can evolve into towns or suburbs as they are worked and the nearby city develops)
  • Loyalty - Empire city number limiting mechanic, where low loyalty caused by unhappiness, corruption, isolation from the capital, and insufficient luxury goods can cause cities to rebel and turn into free cities.)
  • Corporations/Monopolies - Control over >50% of a type of luxury good on the map provides unique bonuses and contributes to an economic victory.
  • Governors - City-level leaders that can be assigned to cities to augment some city-level mechanics
• My designs assume the following mechanics will be introduced in civ 7
  • Immigration - a system that moves populations from 1 culture into another by using differentials in city happiness to drive emigration out of unhappy towns and immigration into happy ones. If unhappy citizens cannot move to happy towns because of movement restrictions or distance, this system would create rebellious cities and generate rebel (barbarian) units)
  • Mercenaries - powerful units that can be purchased for a set number of turns. They cannot be upgraded, and become unable to heal after their contract has expired)
  • Economic Victory - New victory replacing to replace Diplomatic victory. Emphasizes large and healthy financial and commodities markets to dominate global trade.
  • Crops - New bonus and luxury resource category that can be placed by players. Each player starts with some domesticated plant and animal types that they place on the map. New types of crops can be acquired through interaction with other players.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

I've already made such a list, so I will dump it here:

Pdan's Civ 7 Civ list.xlsx

docs.google.com

I'm particularly proud of my designs for Baltic/Lithuanian, Cascadia/Tlingit, Colombian/Muisca, Dravidian/Chola, Levantine/Phoenician, Mongolian, and Hunnic

I have to agree with you for the Lithuanian one. The Unique Abilities are amazing IMO, and I'd add the Mayan civ to your list.

 

[IgorS]

Nice. I've always thought of some sort of fantasy mix into civ

No, when I said "fantasy", I meant it like a wishlist roster, not civs with fantasy elements to them.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

No, when I said "fantasy", I meant it like a wishlist roster, not civs with fantasy elements to them.

 

[Krajzen]

It has been always annoying to me, how unique units exist only for a short timespan, offering you a small window of opportunity to use them. I think there is no Civ player out there who didn't have this discomfort of finally unlocking a fancy unique unit, only to be in the era of peace, with such units being 'wasted'. So my suggestion would be giving each civ a military bonus which includes both era - dependent unique unit, and some fancy thing which is connected to that unit, but functions along the entire game. So, for example, Romans have some cool toy for their heavy infantry, of which Legions are only the most shining representative, but which is retained across all eras afterwards.

Previous civ games sometimes offered something akin to that, due to some unique promotions being carried over from unique military units into later eras, but a) it was quite awkward and b) it was quite unfair, as some civs had those inheritable bonuses, while others unique units only had pure combat strength bonus, lost along the upgrade, hence making their military completely generic in later eras. So I was trying to think of a better solution.

 

[IgorS]

Well, I guess this is what barbarians are for. With barbarians you can always test your units in battle.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

It has been always annoying to me, how unique units exist only for a short timespan, offering you a small window of opportunity to use them. I think there is no Civ player out there who didn't have this discomfort of finally unlocking a fancy unique unit, only to be in the era of peace, with such units being 'wasted'. So my suggestion would be giving each civ a military bonus which includes both era - dependent unique unit, and some fancy thing which is connected to that unit, but functions along the entire game. So, for example, Romans have some cool toy for their heavy infantry, of which Legions are only the most shining representative, but which is retained across all eras afterwards.

Previous civ games sometimes offered something akin to that, due to some unique promotions being carried over from unique military units into later eras, but a) it was quite awkward and b) it was quite unfair, as some civs had those inheritable bonuses, while others unique units only had pure combat strength bonus, lost along the upgrade, hence making their military completely generic in later eras. So I was trying to think of a better solution.

I agree with you here, Mr. Krazjen. We should have these unique units be able to use since we unlock them.

 

[pineappledan]

It’s still pretty unbelievable to me that civ 6 went that direction, stripping ALL unique abilities from units on upgrade. Unique units should all have a unique ability or free promotion that they carry forward, and at least 1 thing that they lose on upgrade (eg higher base CS than the default unit, higher vision, a special lost on upgrade ability)

 

[Evie]

Of course that would require later UUs to get comparatively larger bonuses to make up for showing up late.

 

[Jeppetto]

I think this boils down to what Civ 7 will look like. First you need the basic mechanics (which may vastly change from 6 to 7), then you design Civs and their Leaders to amplify these mechanics. Which will help you decide which Civs and Leaders best fit the mechanics you need.

 

[jsciv69]

I would like to bring in more 20th century leaders to bring a more modern feel to the game. For instance.

RUSSIA

LEADER
Nikita Khrushchev "We'll kick you so hard, you won't know your own name"

Industrial giant and Military Engineering Super Power. The Soviet Union reached powerful heights during the Khrushchev Era. Post WWII Russia recovered from the War to evolve into a legit Super power. 1957 saw Russia reach Space with Sputnik in 1957. Russian Industry flourished under Khrushchev. Agriculture and The Arts also were emphasized. As well as Science. Most impressive was the might of the Soviet Military Industry.

Unique Buildings.
The Kremlin, Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Industrial Academy, KGB Headquarters

Unique Units.
T-64 Battle Tank, Mig-17 Fighter Jet, Mi24 Attack Helicopter

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I would like to bring in more 20th century leaders to bring a more modern feel to the game. For instance.

RUSSIA

LEADER
Nikita Khrushchev "We'll kick you so hard, you won't know your own name"

Industrial giant and Military Engineering Super Power. The Soviet Union reached powerful heights during the Khrushchev Era. Post WWII Russia recovered from the War to evolve into a legit Super power. 1957 saw Russia reach Space with Sputnik in 1957. Russian Industry flourished under Khrushchev. Agriculture and The Arts also were emphasized. As well as Science. Most impressive was the might of the Soviet Military Industry.

Unique Buildings.
The Kremlin, Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Industrial Academy, KGB Headquarters

Unique Units.
T-64 Battle Tank, Mig-17 Fighter Jet, Mi24 Attack Helicopter

I don't know if bringing a more modern feel to the game, and then doing it with Russia, is necessarily what most people want.