usi
Shogun
I recently came up with a mod idea, and I am having hard time falling asleep because I cannot stop thinking about it. So, I decided to post the idea here so that I can sleep well.
Also, please excuse my broken English.
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Rome was not built in a day. At first, it was just a group of small city states of various tribes. Some of them prospered and then became Romans, while some of them died or were absorbed. If historically different city states had gained power in that region, their history might have been different too. They might have been more artistic and less militaristic. They might have not been called Romans either --they might have been called Carthaginians.
My idea is to start the game as a leader of a tribe which might be later called Rome, India, Mongolia, Inca, Germany, etc. You start with nothing: No special traits; No starting techs; No UU or UB. You will be able to pick a civ by satisfying certain conditions. Say, if you have gold, you are able to (but do not have to) become the leader of Inca, and your people will be called Incans. If you have some coastal cities, you are able to become the leader of Carthage. If you have horses, you are able to become the leader of Persia.
When you start a new game, you should look around to find out what civs you can pick later. You cannot lead Persia without horse. You should build a city not just in terms of making a production city, a commerce city or a GP farm. You might build a crappy city to hook up certain resources which allow you to pick certain civs. Every civ gets some bonuses as well as some UUs and UBs. Say, Roman army (not just praets) is strong, and Roman cities can construct buildings faster. India gets a free shrine for its state religion. China receives production and food bonuses. Depending on what neighbors you have and what victory condition you are trying to achieve, you should pick the best civ possible.
It would be so unrealistic if some civs like America appear in 2000BCE (1). Such civs should appear later. You should have the knowledge of democracy -- though you do not have to select the universal suffrage civic -- to lead America. But, then, it is also nonsense to play as a leader of a nameless civ until, say, 1600CE to pick America. It would be more realistic if we can pick Celt, then pick British, then pick America. Thus, it should be possible to change civs, though it should not be very easy. Switching to another civ is harder than picking the first civ. You might choose not to pick Babylon because it makes it harder (say, you will need five coastal cities instead of three) to pick Carthage, a stronger civ. Also, it is impossible to make a nonsense switch like Egyptians becoming the Japanese.
Generally speaking, civs that appear later are stronger (2). If you lead Babylon, you are strong at the beginning, but you will be heavily beaten up by America if you are still leading Babylon in the Modern era. You should plan what civs you want to switch to later and try to satisfy conditions for the switch as soon as possible. There cannot be two players using France, so you should hurry up if you want to switch to a certain civ.
Of course, a problem with this mod idea is the AI. I dont know anything about modding, but I can imagine it would be nearly impossible to teach the AI to satisfy conditions for picking and switching civs. I think the AI can pick civs not based on resources etc. Depending on the era and difficulty level, an AI player can pick a civ from a list. Say, an AI player might pick Rome, Carthage, Persia, Japan, Maya, etc during 1000BCE to 100BCE on monarch difficulty.
1: However, there are exceptions. Some civs like Aztec are not very old, but IMO they should be able to be chosen in an early game (i.e. conditions for choosing them should be easy and possible in an early game). I do not think it makes sense to choose Aztec when you have Macemen and Knights.
2: Some civs lasted longer than some others. In order to account for this, some civs can become stronger by meeting certain conditions. Say, China can improve its bonuses by building a lot of cities. Say, Rome can improve its bonuses by researching engineering. Say, Japan can improve its bonuses by founding a corporation.
Also, please excuse my broken English.---
Rome was not built in a day. At first, it was just a group of small city states of various tribes. Some of them prospered and then became Romans, while some of them died or were absorbed. If historically different city states had gained power in that region, their history might have been different too. They might have been more artistic and less militaristic. They might have not been called Romans either --they might have been called Carthaginians.
My idea is to start the game as a leader of a tribe which might be later called Rome, India, Mongolia, Inca, Germany, etc. You start with nothing: No special traits; No starting techs; No UU or UB. You will be able to pick a civ by satisfying certain conditions. Say, if you have gold, you are able to (but do not have to) become the leader of Inca, and your people will be called Incans. If you have some coastal cities, you are able to become the leader of Carthage. If you have horses, you are able to become the leader of Persia.
When you start a new game, you should look around to find out what civs you can pick later. You cannot lead Persia without horse. You should build a city not just in terms of making a production city, a commerce city or a GP farm. You might build a crappy city to hook up certain resources which allow you to pick certain civs. Every civ gets some bonuses as well as some UUs and UBs. Say, Roman army (not just praets) is strong, and Roman cities can construct buildings faster. India gets a free shrine for its state religion. China receives production and food bonuses. Depending on what neighbors you have and what victory condition you are trying to achieve, you should pick the best civ possible.
It would be so unrealistic if some civs like America appear in 2000BCE (1). Such civs should appear later. You should have the knowledge of democracy -- though you do not have to select the universal suffrage civic -- to lead America. But, then, it is also nonsense to play as a leader of a nameless civ until, say, 1600CE to pick America. It would be more realistic if we can pick Celt, then pick British, then pick America. Thus, it should be possible to change civs, though it should not be very easy. Switching to another civ is harder than picking the first civ. You might choose not to pick Babylon because it makes it harder (say, you will need five coastal cities instead of three) to pick Carthage, a stronger civ. Also, it is impossible to make a nonsense switch like Egyptians becoming the Japanese.
Generally speaking, civs that appear later are stronger (2). If you lead Babylon, you are strong at the beginning, but you will be heavily beaten up by America if you are still leading Babylon in the Modern era. You should plan what civs you want to switch to later and try to satisfy conditions for the switch as soon as possible. There cannot be two players using France, so you should hurry up if you want to switch to a certain civ.
Of course, a problem with this mod idea is the AI. I dont know anything about modding, but I can imagine it would be nearly impossible to teach the AI to satisfy conditions for picking and switching civs. I think the AI can pick civs not based on resources etc. Depending on the era and difficulty level, an AI player can pick a civ from a list. Say, an AI player might pick Rome, Carthage, Persia, Japan, Maya, etc during 1000BCE to 100BCE on monarch difficulty.
1: However, there are exceptions. Some civs like Aztec are not very old, but IMO they should be able to be chosen in an early game (i.e. conditions for choosing them should be easy and possible in an early game). I do not think it makes sense to choose Aztec when you have Macemen and Knights.
2: Some civs lasted longer than some others. In order to account for this, some civs can become stronger by meeting certain conditions. Say, China can improve its bonuses by building a lot of cities. Say, Rome can improve its bonuses by researching engineering. Say, Japan can improve its bonuses by founding a corporation.
