Ever since I've heard about Civ mods, I've wanted to do one about The Legend of the Five Rings ccg/rpg.
For those unfamiliar with L5R, it could be described as fantasy set it feudal Japan. There are Samauri, Shugenja (magic users/priests), creatures, etc. There are a number of Clans that have animal names and a flavour all their own. For example, my favorite clan is the Unicorn Clan - they are mostly cavalry units. Another example, the Crane clan are good politicians and craftsmen. These clans are constantly threatened by the evil Shadowlands Horde made up of Oni (demons), Goblins, Undead, you name it.
Now that I have the Mac editor, I see that it may be a while before I can do it just the way I want (or build a pc). Anyway, that can wait. I need to knock around a few ideas, and I'd love some input.
1) Start the senario with cities in place, complete with the basic buildings.
1a) Make those basic buildings (banks, courthouses, all the regular buildings) have no advancement requirement so everyone can start with them.
1b) I don't want the Shadowlands to have access to these buildings, thier cities need to be basically troop generators. Is that possible? How could the cities be made productive without them?
2) L5R is very character driven. I'd like to create special powerful units that would be a unique person that each clan would start with a few of. Make them unbuildable with the unavailable resource trick I read about in another post. I'd like to think that that would make people a little more carefull with the main characters in battle.
3) In L5R Shadowlands units are not just limited to the Shadowlands, any clan can use them, but using them has a cost. I was thinking of using advancements that can be used to build buildings that allow the creation of Shadowlans units, but produce unhappy citizens and pollution.
3a) I'd like to use pollution to show the spreading of the taint, but pollution stops that tile from producing, right? The area of the map that would be for the Shadowlands would be a big mass of taint (like the Undead in WC3). Could I create a super food resource that produces mega amounts of food and limit that resource to the tile under the Shadowlands city? Would that keep the city productive?
3b) The Shadowlands cities would need to stay happy as well. What about a building that requires that mega food resource that generates uber happiness?
3c) That poses a problem if the Shadowlands get wiped out. How could I make it so if you take over a Shadowlands city, you don't get a super-ultra-dooper city? The Shadowlands cities are basically breading pits.
4) If I made the Shadowlands Barbarians, could I give them big guys like the uniques of the other clans, and have them create waves of little gobblins? By looking at the editor it looks like the barbarian units are limited. Perhaps make the warriors goblins and the horses Oni? What about the sea units? I don't want the Shadowlands using the water for reasons mentioned in point five below.
5) The Crab clan are the first (they would say the only) defense against the Shadowlands to the south. They have a large wall running from the west to the water on the East (therefore limited Shadowlands water capabilities). I saw a post with a wall mentioned and was wondering how hard to implement? I would like it buildable (only by Crab) to let them try to repair the wall if the Shadowlands breach it, but it would have to be limited somehow so the Crab simply didn't surround themselves completely with walls (though I suppose they could over time - why not?). I'd be nice if it was possible to guard the wall to damage those trying to bust it, could that be done with some kind of bombardment? Or perhaps give the wall a defense value?
6) The Advancement tree would be the interesting part. L5R is based off the Book of the Five Rings, the rings being: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Void. I see the Advancement tree being brocken up into these five (perhaps a sixth for the Shadowlands corruption route). Military use the concept of the rings to fight battles, so some of the advancements can provide stronger units. Shugenja use the rings in their magic, so other advancements can provide spells. I saw a post about making wizard able to carry tactical nukes and making the spells nukes, so I'm guessing it could be done.
6a) The hardest way to win L5R is the enlightenment victory. If you get all 5 ring cards in the ccg into play you win. Perhaps each branch of the advancement tree can end in the ring, basically a spaceship part that will give you the victory once all five are built? I'm not real clear on how the spaceship victory works.
Anyway, this has gotten pretty long. I'll leave it at these thoughts for now. I hope the idea interests some of you. I'd love to hear your ideas.
PsiNorm
Bitting off more than he can chew.
For those unfamiliar with L5R, it could be described as fantasy set it feudal Japan. There are Samauri, Shugenja (magic users/priests), creatures, etc. There are a number of Clans that have animal names and a flavour all their own. For example, my favorite clan is the Unicorn Clan - they are mostly cavalry units. Another example, the Crane clan are good politicians and craftsmen. These clans are constantly threatened by the evil Shadowlands Horde made up of Oni (demons), Goblins, Undead, you name it.
Now that I have the Mac editor, I see that it may be a while before I can do it just the way I want (or build a pc). Anyway, that can wait. I need to knock around a few ideas, and I'd love some input.
1) Start the senario with cities in place, complete with the basic buildings.
1a) Make those basic buildings (banks, courthouses, all the regular buildings) have no advancement requirement so everyone can start with them.
1b) I don't want the Shadowlands to have access to these buildings, thier cities need to be basically troop generators. Is that possible? How could the cities be made productive without them?
2) L5R is very character driven. I'd like to create special powerful units that would be a unique person that each clan would start with a few of. Make them unbuildable with the unavailable resource trick I read about in another post. I'd like to think that that would make people a little more carefull with the main characters in battle.
3) In L5R Shadowlands units are not just limited to the Shadowlands, any clan can use them, but using them has a cost. I was thinking of using advancements that can be used to build buildings that allow the creation of Shadowlans units, but produce unhappy citizens and pollution.
3a) I'd like to use pollution to show the spreading of the taint, but pollution stops that tile from producing, right? The area of the map that would be for the Shadowlands would be a big mass of taint (like the Undead in WC3). Could I create a super food resource that produces mega amounts of food and limit that resource to the tile under the Shadowlands city? Would that keep the city productive?
3b) The Shadowlands cities would need to stay happy as well. What about a building that requires that mega food resource that generates uber happiness?
3c) That poses a problem if the Shadowlands get wiped out. How could I make it so if you take over a Shadowlands city, you don't get a super-ultra-dooper city? The Shadowlands cities are basically breading pits.
4) If I made the Shadowlands Barbarians, could I give them big guys like the uniques of the other clans, and have them create waves of little gobblins? By looking at the editor it looks like the barbarian units are limited. Perhaps make the warriors goblins and the horses Oni? What about the sea units? I don't want the Shadowlands using the water for reasons mentioned in point five below.
5) The Crab clan are the first (they would say the only) defense against the Shadowlands to the south. They have a large wall running from the west to the water on the East (therefore limited Shadowlands water capabilities). I saw a post with a wall mentioned and was wondering how hard to implement? I would like it buildable (only by Crab) to let them try to repair the wall if the Shadowlands breach it, but it would have to be limited somehow so the Crab simply didn't surround themselves completely with walls (though I suppose they could over time - why not?). I'd be nice if it was possible to guard the wall to damage those trying to bust it, could that be done with some kind of bombardment? Or perhaps give the wall a defense value?
6) The Advancement tree would be the interesting part. L5R is based off the Book of the Five Rings, the rings being: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Void. I see the Advancement tree being brocken up into these five (perhaps a sixth for the Shadowlands corruption route). Military use the concept of the rings to fight battles, so some of the advancements can provide stronger units. Shugenja use the rings in their magic, so other advancements can provide spells. I saw a post about making wizard able to carry tactical nukes and making the spells nukes, so I'm guessing it could be done.
6a) The hardest way to win L5R is the enlightenment victory. If you get all 5 ring cards in the ccg into play you win. Perhaps each branch of the advancement tree can end in the ring, basically a spaceship part that will give you the victory once all five are built? I'm not real clear on how the spaceship victory works.
Anyway, this has gotten pretty long. I'll leave it at these thoughts for now. I hope the idea interests some of you. I'd love to hear your ideas.
PsiNorm
Bitting off more than he can chew.
Don't give up that easy 
It sonds like good mod. The main reason for the seemingly lack of interest could be the non descriptive thread title. It sounds like a lot of work though. 
You'll find most of your answers by looking around in old threads (I know 
) but most of what you're wanting to do has been disscused before 
I'm bad with dates and birthdays 
I know that sounds bad but, my brain isn't what it used to be.
