[MOD] Civ3 Evolution - Atlantean Chronicles

[Blue Monkey]

If I already got these to you, then I apologize for the duplication. Here are two versions of maps with Vedic place-names. These could be used to make the Arya city list more era-appropriate.
thumbnail

 

[Madeira]

Hmm where?

edit: nevermind, guess they didnt load the first time.

Nope you havent showed them to me before

But they're similar to one you sent me in a PM, those are kingdom names right?

 

[Blue Monkey]

Ummmm. There. ↑

 

[Madeira]

Hehe, yea I edited my post as you were writing your reply
Going to take a better look at it tomorrow.

Btw, I think im going to change the Phoenicians to Canaanites, since the Phoenicians were Canaanites but Canaan also includes the southern kingdoms, and since there's no Israel civ in my mod, we can have a single civ representing the whole area. Just so I can add the city of Jericho

 

[Blue Monkey]

Hmm where?

edit: nevermind, guess they didnt load the first time.

I posted without pasting in the image link. Then you posted before I could edit the post. Then I posted a reply while you were editing your post. more posts & reposts than a sword-fight in a Marx Bros. movie.

those are kingdom names right?

some are tribes, some are settlements, some are geographic names, some are ill-defined (locations/peoples?).

 

[Madeira]

Hehe, what a mess
Ok I'll take a better look at it after work.
Should have another batch of screenshots this weekend since most of the afro asian civs have been placed on the map.

 

[Madeira]

Well I have no idea which are city names, I'll keep the list I allready have with kingdoms, just made a few modifications thanks to the map you provided. Now the Arya have 6 cities to the east and north of the Sindh. Going to work on the other civs.

 

[Madeira]

Here's a new bunch of screenshots. I'll cover the Afroasian civs in more than one post because there's a bunch of them. Again remember a Level 1 civ has a total of 20 citizens and 200 culture to spread around a number of cities, and that number decreases to 10, 5 and 3 in the next levels. What techs each civ starts with hasnt been decided yet but I have a good idea which civs will be more or less advanced.

In this post I'll show the civs near the big mountain chains of south Asia:

Tamilakam: Level 1
An exception to what I just wrote, not near any big mountain chains, but after the Atlanteans its the most developed civ. Located in the mythical land of Mu, which sank in our history (if you choose to believe it at all ). Notice the city of Lanka, located near the Rama Bridge area, a land bridge that once connected India to Sri Lanka, the city has a tremendous strategic value as it blocks the way from India to Mu by land. Mu has a good number of resources that makes it pretty much self-sufficient in the ancient age, closest Iron is in eastern India though.

Spoiler :

Sindh: Level 2

Better known as Harappa, they only start with 4 cities but they're so spread apart that I couldnt get them all in one screenshot, you'll have a better look at the capital Harappa in the Persian screenshot. They're also one of the most developed, at least with techs of a more civilized nature. Havent placed any irrigations yet. They're probably going to start in a locked war with the Arya you can see to the east and north, meant to be wiped out early on mostly because I dont have much unique content for them, starting with the leaderhead which is Single era.

Spoiler :

Arya: Level 2

Not to be confused with the Nazi movement, they represent the Aryan people that overrun the Harappans and later developed into the many Vedic Kingdoms of north India. I choose to believe what is known as the "Out of India" theory that says the Aryans are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and migrated out, originating the many Indo-European languages, so you wont see the Aryans coming from the Asian steppes. They have a large number of cities, second only to the Atlanteans, but they're small cities. Give them time to grow and develop the land a bit and they'll have the power required to control the Indian subcontinent, the Tamil better keep a good defense in Lanka. Notice the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau, and remember only "alpine" units can cross mountains, so the only way large armies of "line" infantry and cavalry can reach the plateau and the Asian steppes to the north is by following the rivers. Not shown in this screenshot is that the mountain chain east of India goes almost to the coast, and the one west of India as well, so any Indian civ is pretty well protected against the Oriental or Middle-eastern civs as long as they maintain good protections in those few mountain passes and coastal areas.

Spoiler :

Persia: Level 2

They represent not just the Achaemenid dynasty but also the Medes and Parthians that ruled the land of Persia at different times. They originate in northern Iran, with easy access to Horses and Iron they'll use eventually. Notice also the many mountain chains, impassable to most units, you can also see some plateaus that provide a route to cross some of the mountain chains, but only if they have a road connecting them to lower grounds, Mountains can not have roads built on them, but Plateaus can, so some places can provide passages to other areas only after investing the time and workers to build some roads. The Persians will only have access to both the Middle-east and India once they do just that, with the exception of an Elamite controlled city to the south called Aratta, which some believe is also the location of Jiroft.

Spoiler :

Elam: Level 2

The Elamites are located in the mountainous region of southern Iran, they dont have much land for agriculture but they have good access to metal resources, especially Copper wich the nearby Sumerians and Akkadians are likely to need. The city of Aratta blocks the way to reach the Indian subcontinent from the south.

Sumeria: Level 2

A well developed agricultural civ, they do have the fertile land to allow cities to grow, but they lack metal resources, will they gain them from trade or conquest? The closest Copper resource that doesnt have another civ in the way is in western Arabia. They're also in a though position, between the Elamites to the east and Akkadians to the north.

Spoiler :

 

[Blue Monkey]

 

[Madeira]

hehe
A few more screenshots to follow, probably tomorrow, with the remaining Afroasian civs. The Oriental civs are on hold, hoping Sandris comes back and releases a Korean and Japanese set If not I'll eventually make do with what we have. Then I start work on adding a bunch of new city improvements and possibly a few wonders.

 

[Madeira]

Here's the last group until I update the Oriental culture:

Akkad: Level 2

Also located in the Fertile Crescent, but unlike the Sumerians the Akkadians are far more hostile in nature and militaristic. Located in the middle of multiple civilizations, if they play it smart they may conquer the surrounding area, Sumeria for an economic boost, Canaan for the resources, then the Hittites and Elamites would be no match for them.

Canaan: Level 2

Representing the tribes of Canaan, including the Phoenician (which is a Greek name) that later created colonies all over the Mediterranean, the Canaanites, though lacking much land for agriculture, have good access to resources, both strategic and luxurious, enabling them to become a true commercial civ early on after building land routes to the nearby Egyptians, Hittites and Akkadians, and later sea routes to the many civilizations in the Mediterranean.

Hatti: Level 2

Located in Anatolia / Asia Minor, they have some room to expand both east and westwards, and can block the shortest way to Europe if they protect a few hotspots in their area. Not seen in the screenshot is the area between the Black and Caspian Seas that has room for a few colonies and a number of resources, especially Copper, with a mountain range from one sea to the other, with plateaus in the middle to allow a road to reach Scythian territory.

Spoiler :

Egypt: Level 2

The builders or the Pyramids, were they? I've thought about making the lower Nile cities Atlantean, making them the Pyramid builders, and setting up a locked war between Egyptians and Atlanteans so they have a chance to capture them, maybe I'll do that Comments? Anyway, you may notice part of the Nile is actually coastal terrain, it makes the Nile navigable up to the Nubian city of Buhen, as long as there's cities connecting sea sections, so its obvious the Nubians wont reach the Mediterranean unless they conquer the Egyptians. It would be a shame to see the AI razing some of those cities since its unlikely they would be rebuilt. The city of Heliopolis is interesting because it also allows access to the Red Sea. The Egyptians are a very interesting civ thanks to their unique content, and they can easily become the most powerful African civ.

Spoiler :

Nubia: Level 3

Not much to say, they can gain access to some more resources if they expand farther south, and they have the whole South African continent if they manage to keep making settlers.

Spoiler :

Saba: Level 3

The Arabian civ, notice a less arid Arabia. Saba is both a Commercial and Expansionist civ, they're in a very good position to have sea routes to the Egyptians, Sumerians, Elamites and the Indian civs because there are no civs that can blockade their coast, and if they manage to get some resources to trade, they may improve their economy and make more settlers which are also cheaper for them, and expand their territory quickly, to the rest of Arabia and possibly to Ethiopia.

Spoiler :

Libya: Level 3

Also known in classical times as the Numidians, they're located in North Africa and in a very good position to blockade the sea routes between the eastern and western Mediterranean. They have access to enough resources around the Atlas mountains to allow them to grow and become a threat to the Egyptians. Also notice the big river that crosses the Sahara.

Spoiler :

Yoruba: Level 4

They seemed a far better choice for a Black African civ than say the Zulu/Bantu, and thanks to the great Benin unit pack by Plotinus they'll have a good number of unique units mostly in the Iron Age. The Yoruba are said to have migrated from the east, so I placed them near the coast of the fictional (or not) Sahara Sea, couldnt find any good names for their starting cities before their recorded history so I just used the first in their citylist. Notice the less arid Sahara with vast Savannahs, which provide a good number of Elephant resources and the Jungles to the south some Gems.

Spoiler :

And thats it for now. Have to work on some city improvements and the system I developed that will allow civs to either upgrade Peasants to Settlers or to Mercenary / Auxiliar units. Basically Peasants are auto built by some city improvements, but those city improvements can only be built in areas inside the radius of special strategic resources that represent each civ's culture, so you have different Peasants built in different "Peasant building" Improvements, if you play as the Romans and you get a Roman Peasant, you can only upgrade it to a Settler, but if you get a Celtic Peasant (because you captured a celtic city with celtic culture nearby) you can only upgrade it to a Celtic Auxiliar (some celtic looking unit). Its the only GOOD way of limiting AI expantion because Settlers cost gold and cannot be built (tested and it works even for the AI as long as the Peasant unit has offfensive capabilities) and a good way to implement a Mercenary feature at the same time.

 

[Virote_Considon]

I especially like the way you've handled the Nile - I have a similar approach in my Ancient Greek scenario!

I wouldn't suggest giving the lower Nile to the Atlanteans - they're strong enough already, are they not?!

 

[Madeira]

Yes I guess so, if I did that I would set up an alliance against them, probably Greeks and Egyptians again Atlanteans, that would work if it were a short scenario, but not a great idea for an epic, constant war from ancient to atom age is a bit too much. Guess I'll leave it unchanged.

Thanks Virote, im aware we thought of the same concerning the Nile. No actually I think I got the idea from you

 

[Madeira]

Progress report: Not much in the last few weeks
I've moved to a new home and thats a lot of work! But I still managed to do some work with the city improvements, the new data will be uploaded to the website soon, and some info posted here.

Im on vacations next week so im hoping to use some of that time to do some work on the mod, Sandris released a Persian pack that im going to put to good use And have to do some changes to the Canaanite unit line, and possibly more.

In the last couple of days i've been reading some interesting stuff, found a book preview on google while searching for some info on the Picts, its called The British Chronicles, and not only does it provide some interesting ideas about the Picts, the Atlanteans too! Im not going to change my storyline to the book's one, but may take some ideas from it.

So I find myself once again thinking about the Atlanteans as the builders of the Pyramids, but having the scenario start as the Egyptians under Menes start their conquest of the lower kingdom, Memphis will be in Egyptian hands with the Pyramids captured, but Heliopolis and Tanis to the north still be Atlantean. And of course, they'll be in a locked war.

Crete will still be an Atlantean colony, and the Mycenean Greeks (Hellas) will also be in a locked war with the Atlanteans, not necessarily allied with Egypt.

Then im making use of Wilkens theory that Troy was in England, and put it there as another Atlantean colony, I'll ignore Wilken's idea that the trojan war was fought between celtic tribes and the Myceneans were located in France and were Celtic in origin, in my scenario the trojan war may or may not happen, thinking on adding the Celts to the list of Atlantean enemies in a locked war. So things will be balanced in a way that will make it almost impossible for the Atlanteans to hold their European / North African colonies, but their home land near the Caribbean will be mostly safe thanks to the atlantic ocean, for a time...

 

[Blue Monkey]

Glad to see you're continuing work on this. I look forward to seeing it in process. & hopefully I'll be able to help in some way.

 

[Madeira]

Worry not, I have no intention of dropping the project, too much time invested in it allready
And you've been helping "in some way" for a while now

But if you mean help with actual work on it, I think there will come a time I will request help with some specific stuff, like perhaps pedia text or other pedia stuff thats missing, custom diplomacy text would be cool, and of course, actual play testing Im thinking on setting up a private forum on my website to help in that process, I'll invite some people when the time comes. Possibly as soon as I finish the ancient era, start a closed beta, and work on the second era up to gunpowder, then an open beta.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Can I make a suggestion? Could you make the capital of the Akansea as the Ouachita Mounds? They're the oldest mound builder site IIRC. c. 3400 BC.

 

[Madeira]

Hey Huayna, thanks for the info! If you have any more usefull information on mound builders sites let me know!

Actually I have something to decide regarding the Akansea. That book I mentioned above says the mounds in North America were built by Atlanteans, and were actually early prototypes that would evolve to the pyramids in Meso America and Egypt. It says the Atlanteans established colonies in North America and were present there before the Amerindian ancestors migrated from Siberia, and eventually replaced them.

Im undecided whether to use that idea and make the mound sites Atlantean colonies and have the Akansea start somewhere else, or give some of the sites to the Atlanteans and let the Akansea keep others, supposing they would be influenced by the Atlanteans and build their own mounds, or just let things stay as they are.

One thing is for sure, im adding Ouachita (where does the name come from?) and Aztalan too. And as I write this im inclined to give the southern sites to the Atlanteans, and let the Akansea stay centered on Cahokia near the great lakes. Dont know if I'll also put them at war with the Atlanteans.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Ouachita is near the Ouachita River.

The Ouachita Mounds, built c. 3400 BC, are the first mound builder site, and the only one for nearly 2000 years (Poverty Point, to the west in Louisiana was c. 1600 BC).

Thus, they could be a prototype settlement of Atlanteans that failed and thus discouraged them in settling North America. Then, according to conspiracy theories that I just made up, the Lost Tribes of Israel came and saw the Ouachita Mounds and copied them at Poverty Point. Voila! It all makes sense!

 

[Madeira]

Hehe yes perfect sense

How's this?
(havent changed ownership to the atlanteans yet)