Improving Natives

[OzzyKP]

In the original game I vaguely recall seeing natives cities changing after trading them a lot of tools or other items. I don't recall if there were any real effects of this, but i always imagined that through frequent trades with the colonial powers they were civilizing.

I'd love to see a mechanic where good things happen to a native tribe that gets X gold or X tools/resources. Either improving their base combat stats, or productivity, or something, or, ideally, the ability to build colonial buildings, compete for Founding Fathers, etc.

 

[raystuttgart]

Please be more specific.

We can not really work with a vague idea of "good things happening" we would need a more detailled concept.
Also please explain why "Natives are civlizing" would improve gameplay to your opinion.

Stuff like "being able to build colonial buildings" and competing for "Founding Fathers" will most likely not be implemented though.
It would require way too much effort for very little benefit to my opinion.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

Natives can already share Founding Fathers if they ally with the player as far as I remember - and considering the historical events like the French and Indian war probably every tribe has to ally someone sooner or later.

The concept of Natives civilizing is interesting to me because of the 5 civilized tribes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Civilized_Tribes

Instead of trying to fight the european colonizers like Pontiac or trying to ally all tribes and then fight like Tecumseh, the 5 civilized tribes actually tried to become more like the europeans, embracing their teachings and trying to become their equals (e.g. having their own constituition, even having own plantationslaves emulating colonizers practices.

In the end historically it did not go better for them than for those who fought and they were deported several times to new eternal reservations.

 

[raystuttgart]

Natives can already share Founding Fathers if they ally with the player as far as I remember

Correct.

But they do not use the game mechanics to acquire "Founding Father Points".
(Thus they can not get them on their own.)

The concept of Natives civilizing is interesting to me because of the 5 civilized tribes

I understand that lots of things are interesting from a perspective of "immersion / authenticity".
But we need to consider other aspects as well. Most importantly gameplay, efforts and technical risks.

If nobody is interested to invest all the efforts needed, it will simply never be realized.
That is simply the hard truth of modding. There is no point if we lie to you about it.

 

[orlanth]

In my old 2071 mod, I did make Natives (Aliens in that mod ) fully playable civs that are able to do tech research and invest to compete for FFs. They started out far behind the colonial civs (Earthlings) in techs and units for creating the advanced manufactured Yields, but with an advantage in techs for production of their native raw Yields from their local lands. I thought it turned out really interesting and made the game more of a challenge (especially as trading to gain access to their native knowledge and resources could also help them become more able to advance), though I guess that won't be for everyone.