Idea for a Mongol ability

[Avatan]

I was watching a documentary on the Mongols and was really fascinated by their tradition of incorporating general, soldiers, and technicians from defeated army. This was particularly decisive with Chinese gunpowder specialists which led to the use of firearms as early as the 13th century.

This could make for a cool UA: "after defeating a UU the Mongol gain the ability to train this unit for the rest of the game".

This could get overpowered, but would only work for UU that are already being produced. But imagine a Khan-boosted Varu/Toa army! I am sure there are even more broken combinations.

Opinion?

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Genghis already has the ability to capture enemy cavalry units so you can get Mongolian Varu. Maybe not every unit, but maybe being able to build unique cavalry units that he had captured would at least be an interesting start.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Genghis already has the ability to capture enemy cavalry units so you can get Mongolian Varu. Maybe not every unit, but maybe being able to build unique cavalry units that he had captured would at least be an interesting start.

Except that the Mongol ability IRL was not limited to cavalry units. The first use of counterpoise Trebuchets in China was by the Mongols in around 1268 CE, and that was because they 'hired' Persian specialists to build and use them. Earlier, around 1232 CE, the Mongols were using gunpowder Bombs - exploding shells fired from catapults, a distinctly Song technology - in a siege. So what might be appropriate would be to extend the current Mongol ability to capture any enemy unit, but possibly only if the enemy unit is defeated by a Mongolian Unique Cavalry Unit (Keshik), which might keep it from being too OP.

 

[Avatan]

Good points. I would associate the ability to Khans and not Keshiks so it lasts longer: *units captured within two tiles of a Khan has a chance of being captured.*

Extending the capture ability instead of allowing for unit training might limit the abuse potential, but also make the Mongols into some sort of unstoppable zombie-like wave which would be weird.

Maybe limiting the ability to UUs specifically to represent the capacity of Mongols to use the best abilities of their defeated enemies? It would be a bit more situational but would make for some interesting decisions when facing the Horde with a good UU.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Good points. I would associate the ability to Khans and not Keshiks so it lasts longer: *units captured within two tiles of a Khan has a chance of being captured.*

Khans as a separate unit don't exist in Civ 6, just in Civ 5.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Good points. I would associate the ability to Khans and not Keshiks so it lasts longer: *units captured within two tiles of a Khan has a chance of being captured.*

Extending the capture ability instead of allowing for unit training might limit the abuse potential, but also make the Mongols into some sort of unstoppable zombie-like wave which would be weird.

Maybe limiting the ability to UUs specifically to represent the capacity of Mongols to use the best abilities of their defeated enemies? It would be a bit more situational but would make for some interesting decisions when facing the Horde with a good UU.

There's also a certain symmetry to that: Mongol UU can 'capture/convert' other UUs. It also limits the ability to some extent, since the chance of a Keshik capturing a Rough Rider or a Cossack is going to be marginal and capturing an Ancient or Classical UU in the Medieval or later Era is not exactly Game Changing.