My ideas for a Civ4 X-Pack

[Mayan Raptor]

CIVILIZATION IV: GLOBAL DOMINATION

Seafaring Personality

Seafaring
Free promotion (Combat I) for all naval units
Harbor and Lighthouse cost 50% less to produce

Scientific
1 free tech every time you advance to a new era
+10% research per city

Civilizations

Zululand
Leader: Shaka (Spiritual, Expansive)
Unique Unit: Impi (replaces Spearman; has retreat ability and can move twice as far in one turn)

Babylon
Leader: Hammurabi (Organized, Spiritual)
Unique Unit: Babylonian Bowman (replaces Longbowman; more effective at city defense than typical Longbowmen)

Israel
Leaders: David (Aggressive, Spiritual) and Ariel Sharon (Aggressive, Scientific)
Unique Unit: Fanatic (Combined Missionary AND Warrior (+10% attack if you choose Judaism for a state religion))

Mayan Yucatan
Leader: Smoke Jaguar (Philosophical, Creative)
Unique Unit: Maquahuitl Warrior (replaces Warrior; can "enslave" an enemy unit so that it joins the Maya, although this ability doesn't work on units stationed in cities)

Carthage
Leader: Hannibal (Industrious, Seafaring)
Unique Unit: Armored Elephant (replaces War Elephant; 100% defense bonus)

Norseland
Leader: Svein Forkbeard (Aggressive, Seafaring)
Unique Unit: Berserker (replaces Axeman; amphibious)
Unique Unit 2: Longship (replaces galley; more powerful on the offensive)

Polynesia
Leader: Kamehameha I (Spiritual, Seafaring)
Unique Unit: Outrigger Rower (expensive amphibious Settler)

Leaders for existing civilizations

Hernando Cortez of Spain: Expansive, Seafaring
Zhu Di of China: Financial, Seafaring
James Cook of England: Organized, Seafaring

Terrain

Marsh
May contain fish, crabs, and clams, but can cause disease. Both land and early water units can cross this terrain until it is cleared and drained by a worker. Former marshland is very fertile, however, draining the marsh sucks away its resources along with the swampwater.

Volcano
Mountain that may erupt occasionally. Terrain covered by lava becomes unproductive until a worker clears the lava after it cools.

Animals

I think certain animals should be restricted to certain terrains, instead of wondering all over the place.

Bear: Forest
Wolf: Tundra and grassland
Lion: Plains and desert
Panther: Jungle and forest
Crocodile: Marsh
Snake: Jungle and marsh
Tyrannosaurus: Jungle (only present in Lost World random map and certain scenarios)

Random Maps

Lost World: Large, tropical landscape with jungles, marshlands, and volcanoes. Be wary of crocodiles, snakes, and tyrannosaurs who'd like humans as snacks.

New Concept: Cultural Groups

Civilizations would be classified into different "cultural groups". Each cultural group receives unique benefits shared by all the civilizations in it. Leaders within a cultural group get along better than with leaders outside their group. Also, cities and units look different for each culture group (e.g. Classical cities are made up of beautiful Romanesque manors, African units are dark-skinned, etc.)

African (+1 trade route per city)
*Egyptians
*Malinese
*Zulu

West Asian (100% Great Prophet Production)
*Indians
*Arabs
*Babylonians
*Persians
*Israelis

Classical/Greco-Roman (culture produced +15% faster)
*Greeks
*Romans
*Spanish
*Carthagians

European (free City Raider I promotion for melee, siege, and armored units)
*English
*French
*Germans
*Russians
*Vikings

East Asian (religion makes +2 happy faces)
*Chinese
*Mongols
*Japanese
*Polynesians

American (farms next to cities provide 2+ health)
*Aztecs
*Maya
*Inca
*Americans

New Civics

Human Sacrifice (Religious)
Workers, when brought to a City, can be sacrificed to boost culture in the area. In the process, however, you lose not only the worker but also 5 coins brought in from Commerce.

Secularism (Religious, or anti-religious to be more precise)
Great scientists are much more likely to pop up, and technologies take less time to research. However, all effects of religion are deactivated so long as Secularism is preferred.

 

[RED DIAMOND]

I have to say I really like some of your ideas and may implement them in my game. Good work.

 

[MrCynical]

Definitely some very good ideas here. The seafaring trait seems to fit nicely, as do most of the leaders. I'm not so sure about the new terrain types though. Volcanos really didn't add very much in Conquests. Marsh seems fine, though I don't think that sea units should be able to pass through it. It might be OK for things like caravels, but I can't somehow see an aircraft carrier sailing through a swamp . Might look a bit odd having fish on land after the marsh is drained, but I suppose it was like that in Conquests .

The cultural groups idea would certainly add a nice bit of extra diversity, though the balance of your suggestions would need a little work. The West Asian and Classical bonuses are much weaker than the others and the health bonus for the American group would be very overpowered. Maybe +2 health from the first farm in the city radius, but no further bonus after that.

 

[Banira]

great ideas the beserker should be amphibious and the scandinavian civ should get another longship UU that can travel across ocean- at half speed for balance perhaps.

 

[Mayan Raptor]

I have to say I really like some of your ideas and may implement them in my game. Good work.

You're making your own game?

 

[BriantheBold]

When you propose the idea of the Armored Elephant as the UU for Carthage I disagree with making it weaker offensively because in past Civ games and expansions an UU has always been an improvement in one or two areas from the base unit it replaces rather than a decline in one area and an improvement in another. Maybe armored elephants could have a +100% defensive bonus in grasslands/plains! (a revolutionary idea considering all previous defensive bonuses have been limited to woods/jungle and cities).
I have the same problem with the Longship UU for Norseland as making it slower contradicts the Firaxis convention stated above.
In addition to the revival of the Seafaring trait, (one that I have sorely missed since the days of Conquests) I would also suggest the return of Barbarian ships who could raid your fishing and work boats and wreak havoc along your empires' shores.
As for positive feedback, I love the idea of the Indonesians Outrigger Rower UU as an amphibious settler. That sounds like a great idea! (maybe it could have some limitations so it would not be cheap). I approve of Crocodiles in marshes but have some doubts on the presence of Snakes in jungles and marshes killing warriors and scouts
Great post and keep those ideas flowing!

 

[Elhoim]

One thing I would like to see is different city stiles for different culture groups. I really miss that from Civ III... The current model takes away a lot of playing inmersion, it´s lame to play as the Romans in the classical age and to have huts instead of those beatiful white stone houses...

 

[RED DIAMOND]

You're making your own game?

Yes and no. The beauty of this any many other games that are open to modding is that you in essence make it "your" game.

 

[Mayan Raptor]

One thing I would like to see is different city stiles for different culture groups. I really miss that from Civ III... The current model takes away a lot of playing inmersion, it´s lame to play as the Romans in the classical age and to have huts instead of those beatiful white stone houses...

That would also be appreciated. Also, units should look different for each culture. It's strange to have a light-skinned Worker digging for a brown-skinned African civ such as Mali or Egypt.

 

[lost_civantares]

First of all I say WOW! This is very neat and a lot of this would be great for civ4., but:

James Cook of England: Organized, Seafaring

However great a captain and explorer he was, I don't think that he has done enough to earn the leadership of England, especially when there are already 2 leaders who have a higher claim, Elizabeth and Victoria were actual rulers of England, and defended and expanded to the point that the times that they lived in were named after them, and additionally there are people like Churchhill who also have a claim to the throne of England.

Marsh
May contain fish, crabs, and clams, but can cause disease. Both land and early water units can cross this terrain until it is cleared and drained by a worker. Former marshland is very fertile, however, draining the marsh sucks away its resources along with the swampwater.

Although hard to move across, it was still able to be traversed, I think that 2x cost for movement would be more approprate, especially since there is already a terrian that prevents movement.

Animals

I think certain animals should be restricted to certain terrains, instead of wondering all over the place.

The problem is that in most maps it would make the animals just congregate in little islands, think of four bears suddenly finding out that your lone warrior is in range.

African (15%+ wonder production)

Unless I'm forgeting a lot, there really wasn't too many African wonders (Although the Pyramids is a great wonder, but the majority of the wonders in civ4 are european). A bonus that might work though would be an automatic +2 or +4 experience point bonus (symbolizing the Jihad), or +1 trade route per city (symbolizing the African traders as middlemen between Asia and Europe, and how they were the major people buying and selling in the middle ages.

Classical/Greco-Roman (coastal tiles next to a city generate +2 commerce, or +3 commerce for Classical civilizations led by Financial leaders)
*Greeks
*Romans
*Spanish
*Carthagians

This might work (particularly with Carthage), but when I think of Greece and Rome I think of philosophy, not trade. Maybe +100% great leader production, which can be seen in all of these people.

 

[Mad2rix]

Return of some units from CIV III + Conquest version.

Trebuchet: (Cannons usually comes in late part of the game)
Paratroopers: (I assume most people want to use them for bait tactics)
Chinook: (Kinda like an air transporter, except it can only lift foot units. Probably useful when playing tiny island maps.)
TOW infantry: (We sure wanted at least one type of gunpowder unit who already start with anti-armory ability)
AEGIS crusier: (Somewhere between destroyers and battleships)
Guerrilla: (Upgrade this from Explorers and get first strike. They might be weak, however they'll prove useful in ingenious cunning strategies)
Privateer: (Nothing like a good-old navy hunting and blaming at the barbarians)
Horsemen: (Probably be classified as anti-melee or mounted horse unit)
Cruise Missile: (Another suicide collatral damaging unit, except for their ranger between 2 - 3 squares)

Also I noticed that there's no anti-naval city improvement called coastal fortress in CIV 4.

 

[lost_civantares]

I agree with that, but for better or worse, I never really liked and used Cruise Missiles in civ3, that fact that they were lost really annoyed me, something that you spend 3 turns making should make more damage for them to be something that I would want in civ4.

 

[Gladnir]

Thanks for your Sefairing suggestions. You could replace Berserker with a Valkire - but I think Berserker works better in Civ ;-)
I would rather see this king... ;-)
Harald Fairhair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Fairhair

CIVILIZATION IV: GLOBAL DOMINATION

Civilizations

Norseland
Leader: Svein Forkbeard (Aggressive, Seafaring)
Unique Unit: Berserker (replaces Axeman; amphibious)
Unique Unit 2: Longship (replaces galley; more powerful on the offensive)

 

[Mad2rix]

You got any ideas for new Wonder buildings for X-pack?

My ideas:

Red-Fort: Any units even mounted or armored units gains 30 or 50% city defense bonus ability.

TerraCotta Warrior monument: Gives you free mercenaries (just like Ancient Cavalry or Crusader from Civ III) with no support cost for every x(Depends on the game speed) of turns.

Adam Smith's Trade Company: Gives 20% financial bonus on Markets, Banks, Grocers, etc.

Leonardo's Workshop: Reduces unit upgrade cost by 50%

Longevity: Population increased by 2 instead 1, and -2 unhealty citizens in each city.

Porcelain Tower: ?
Temple of Tikal: ?
Supercollider: ?
Magellean's Voyage: ?
Big Ben: ?
Statue of Zeus: ?
Temple of Artemis: ?
Serengeti Migration: ?
Sydney Opera House: ?
Astrodome: ?

 

[Rainlife]

You got any ideas for new Wonder buildings for X-pack?

My ideas:

Red-Fort: Any units even mounted or armored units gains 30 or 50% city defense bonus ability.

TerraCotta Warrior monument: Gives you free mercenaries (just like Ancient Cavalry or Crusader from Civ III) with no support cost for every x(Depends on the game speed) of turns.

Adam Smith's Trade Company: Gives 20% financial bonus on Markets, Banks, Grocers, etc.

Leonardo's Workshop: Reduces unit upgrade cost by 50%

Magellean's Voyage: ?
Big Ben: ?
Statue of Zeus: ?
Temple of Artemis: ?
Serengeti Migration: ?
Sydney Opera House: ?
Astrodome: ?

I like the ideas of the wonders you me,tioned, because it actually just reminds me of the fact that some of "the seven wonders of the world" are not included in CivIV, also recently read some articles about making anew list of wonders and the Opera was on it

 

[atreas]

I would also like to see two things that have both something to do with sea transportations:

1. Canal improvement: can be built only in a tine (1 square width) tile with sea at both ends. The land of course mustn't be hills. The result is that friendly ships can pass this tile (and so speed up very much their movement), but enemy ships cannot pass the tile (we suppose there are cannons at both ends. After the improvement, the square will give food as all sea tiles but would give +4 commerce.

2. Bridge city improvement, only for island cities with no more than 2 squares distance from the mainland. The result is that land units will be able to cross the bridge and go to the city without transport. This city improvement should also add some percentage in the commerce produced in the city.

Of course, both of these should come quite late in the game, and especially the first should be really hard to build.

 

[Exel]

Some very good suggestions here. Hope they will be heard.

 

[balthamael]

Why would the UU for the Norse be Valkyrie ( which arent real)- Berskerker is much better.

 

[RandomInsanity]

the west asian culture group bonus seems rather week compared to the others.

 

[ButSam]

Good ideas; add in Scientific trait though! One free tech per era (including the beginning of the game)--or if that is too powerful, one free tech per era (excluding the beginning of the game). Or perhaps +10% research per city.

Sam