One thing that I’ve seen a complaint of regarding Civ 7 among reddit and other forums is that Civ 7 has some Western colonialist vibes. Criticisms such as this got me thinking that we should have some sort of Modern Native American civilization, so I set to work thinking about what would be a good idea. I do think there are other good candidates for the era, but I arrived at the Navajo (aka the Diné) as one of the best possible options (in my eyes), though i was very close to doing a Lakota, Cherokee, or Cree design.
The Navajo are the largest registered tribe in the United States, and have a ubiquitousness in American culture that I think makes them a great candidate to further move Civ 7 away from any western/colonialist criticisms/trends (fwiw I think the series has done a great job branching out more as the franchise has matured over 7 entries). Also, introducing a Native American civilization in the Modern Age gives us a far less colonialist option for progression, and with the past two Civ entries really trying hard to branch out in what cultures are included, this is a great opportunity to show the native peoples of North America that are still present and thriving.
Without further ado, here’s my (possibly not balanced at all) design:
Navajo Nation
Traits: Cultural, Economic
Civics:
Unique Quarter:
- Béésh Bąąh Dah Si’aní (Navajo Nation Council Chamber): Influence base. This city gains additional influence for every quarter. Completing an endeavor grants additional culture and gold.
Capital: Tséghahoodzání (Window Rock) (I would use the different Navajo Nation chapter names as cities but don’t know if that’s ideal)
I decided to differentiate the Navajo from the other Native North American cultures first off by giving them a full quarter/unique building set rather than an improvement. Three things stood out when designing this: 1) the Navajo clan system (K’e), 2) the cultural importance of Textiles and sheep, and 3) the importance of the Sweat, which is not necessarily unique to the Navajo but something very usable to help with my endeavor. Pairing the Sweat Lodge with the Weaver’s Hogan (a Hogan being a traditional building/dwelling of the Navajo people) gave me the idea to use the K’e as a stand-in for a quarter while also honoring the importance of the Navajo clan system. I wanted the wool economy and unique culture of the Navajo to take the forefront, hence the large cultural focus
The unique playing with the economy and cultural victories was my desire to let a Native culture play differently. I toyed with the idea of not allowing the Navajo to build factories and instead rely on the K’e and sheep/cotton trade, but that felt more restrictive than what I did with artifacts. Since sacred mountains play such an integral role in Navajo society, I focused around that terrain type plus Natural Wonders, but also have referenced the importance of plants to their society with the ethnobotany civic.
Regarding unique units, I think the Naabaahii gives an infantry unit and Native Americans unit the appropriate role defending their homeland. The Short Racoon’s name was taken from the Navajo code talker word for Scout, but I didn’t like typing out the word for the purpose of game readability, and combining the different Navajo syllables to create only one or two words felt wrong, so I used the rough English translation. A modern Scout was also unused since the unit is still available, so giving a Scout a good military role felt like a neat opportunity.
The wonder was the hardest part, but the Navajo National council Chamber is fairly significant in the context of the New Deal and US-Native American relations, so I used that to help with the secondary (tertiary?) theme of influence with the Navajo.
Anyways, curious as to anyone’s thoughts on this, and I do hope we can add a Modern Native American nation (and flesh out many other paths, particularly South America and other geographical areas missing good paths) to really shake up gameplay.
The Navajo are the largest registered tribe in the United States, and have a ubiquitousness in American culture that I think makes them a great candidate to further move Civ 7 away from any western/colonialist criticisms/trends (fwiw I think the series has done a great job branching out more as the franchise has matured over 7 entries). Also, introducing a Native American civilization in the Modern Age gives us a far less colonialist option for progression, and with the past two Civ entries really trying hard to branch out in what cultures are included, this is a great opportunity to show the native peoples of North America that are still present and thriving.
Without further ado, here’s my (possibly not balanced at all) design:
Navajo Nation
Traits: Cultural, Economic
Civics:
- Ethnobotany (Native American plant use): Unlocks the Weaver’s Hogan unique building. Vegetated tiles grant Happiness and Culture adjacency to quarters. Unlocks the Three Sisters tradition (extra food and production on vegetated tiles).
- Music Tradition: Unlocks Sweat Lodge unique building. All Specialists gain additional culture and gold yields. Unlocks the Dinétah tradition (Specialists generate additional culture and influence, and have additional happiness added towards maintenance).
- Diné Bahane’: 2 tiers (requires Ethnobotany and Music Tradition)
- Tier 1: +2 Happiness and +1 Culture on mountains and natural wonders; Unlocks the Four Sacred Mountains tradition (Mountains and Natural Wonders gain additional culture, happiness, and gold) All Great Works generate additional culture and influence.
- Tier 2: More expensive than other civic masteries to complete. Completing a Purification Ceremony project in a city with a K’e grants an Artifact.
Unique Quarter:
- K’e: Production base. Increased gold and culture for every bonus resource assigned to this settlement. Every source of Sheep or Cotton assigned to this settlement and connected by Railroad to the capital generates 1 point towards the Railroad Tycoon victory. Completing a K’e next to at least one Mountain tile grants an Artifact.
- Weaver’s Hogan: Adds gold, and has a culture adjacency for every resource. All pastures in the Settlement gain additional culture.
- Sweat Lodge: Adds culture, and has a happiness adjacency for every adjacent mountain or natural wonder. Lets the settlement run the unique “Purification Ceremony” project, granting additional Happiness towards celebrations. This project gets more expensive each time it is completed.
- Naabaahii: Unique Tier 1 Infantry unit. Stronger on defense. Generates Happiness from defeating enemy units inside friendly territory.
- Short Racoon (Scout): Cannot be seen except by adjacent units. Reveals all enemy commanders in the Search radius when using the Search ability.
- Béésh Bąąh Dah Si’aní (Navajo Nation Council Chamber): Influence base. This city gains additional influence for every quarter. Completing an endeavor grants additional culture and gold.
Capital: Tséghahoodzání (Window Rock) (I would use the different Navajo Nation chapter names as cities but don’t know if that’s ideal)
I decided to differentiate the Navajo from the other Native North American cultures first off by giving them a full quarter/unique building set rather than an improvement. Three things stood out when designing this: 1) the Navajo clan system (K’e), 2) the cultural importance of Textiles and sheep, and 3) the importance of the Sweat, which is not necessarily unique to the Navajo but something very usable to help with my endeavor. Pairing the Sweat Lodge with the Weaver’s Hogan (a Hogan being a traditional building/dwelling of the Navajo people) gave me the idea to use the K’e as a stand-in for a quarter while also honoring the importance of the Navajo clan system. I wanted the wool economy and unique culture of the Navajo to take the forefront, hence the large cultural focus
The unique playing with the economy and cultural victories was my desire to let a Native culture play differently. I toyed with the idea of not allowing the Navajo to build factories and instead rely on the K’e and sheep/cotton trade, but that felt more restrictive than what I did with artifacts. Since sacred mountains play such an integral role in Navajo society, I focused around that terrain type plus Natural Wonders, but also have referenced the importance of plants to their society with the ethnobotany civic.
Regarding unique units, I think the Naabaahii gives an infantry unit and Native Americans unit the appropriate role defending their homeland. The Short Racoon’s name was taken from the Navajo code talker word for Scout, but I didn’t like typing out the word for the purpose of game readability, and combining the different Navajo syllables to create only one or two words felt wrong, so I used the rough English translation. A modern Scout was also unused since the unit is still available, so giving a Scout a good military role felt like a neat opportunity.
The wonder was the hardest part, but the Navajo National council Chamber is fairly significant in the context of the New Deal and US-Native American relations, so I used that to help with the secondary (tertiary?) theme of influence with the Navajo.
Anyways, curious as to anyone’s thoughts on this, and I do hope we can add a Modern Native American nation (and flesh out many other paths, particularly South America and other geographical areas missing good paths) to really shake up gameplay.
