Canada
ok, I have never been a particular booster of my homeland in terms of inclusion in this mod but now that Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Columbia are in I've changed my mind. leaving aside such issues as how many slots are left, performance and Leoreth's inclination to do the work, this is my pitch:
reasons
1. world's 2nd largest country, probably the largest political entity in the history of the world to not be represented. we are also now the single biggest chunk of land on the mod's map with no local civ.
2. Canada has been at times a major military power. during the 1st and 2nd world wars Canada mobilized significant military forces and helped tip the balance. there were 5 beaches at d-day, 1 was Canadian. at the end of WWII Canada had the 3rd largest navy in the world.
3. I think a northern counter-balance to America would be interesting
4. we are the only country in the G8 not included.
5. we are the world's largest economy not represented
6. our existence seriously affects the world's balance of power, despite our constant semi vassal status. how powerful would the US be (or even Britain for that matter) if they owned Canada?
7. there are lots of ideas for unique assets
8. we have actually significantly influenced the popular culture of our cultural behemoth neighbour. Canadian influence on modern American comedy is critical and involves the export not just of talent but ideas as well. we also invented basketball(!?).
I like the RCMP Detachment (Courthouse, cheaper, +1 happy) as a UB. The RCMP still have an absurdly positive image despite an absolutely atrocious recent record. the UU could be a corvette (destroyer, faster, +1 visibility). Corvettes have a strong association with the Battle of the Atlantic, which the Canadian Navy and merchant marine were heavily involved in.
Here is my just now thought of idea for a UP: foreign culture cannot progress past your cities and your cities cannot be culture flipped. this might actually reproduce the Canada-US border with the Canadian cites right on the line and might also produce a typically Canadian phenomena: cites with more foreign culture than domestic. part of the UP would also be no unhappiness from foreign culture and the effect could also make the Canadian cities smaller depending on resources.
For goals there's culture battling the US, tech (we have actually invented a lot of stuff for such a small population), rairoad building, culture-covering the north, and stopping wars (our weird reputation as peacemakers).
another interesting idea would be to spawn Canada in 1848 as a British vassal, with a goal to peacefully acquire independence.
Come to think of it, if enough people are interested, I could just make a modmodmod with Canada replacing some ancient civ in the 1700ad scenario.
)
