Ngomele civilization, a modmodmod for Orbis

[Opera]

Well, another post for another purpose: the things that are working.

I've got the Shur Acanes button and the Gnoll race button. I choose to use some Guild Wars icons, as it as been done before in FfH and as I really like this game I modified the Gnoll race one to have it golden and the background red. I'm not very graphics oriented so it is really the work of an amateur.

I thought of something: maybe the Gnolls could have a certain chance (say 10%) of creating a "carcass pile" which an unit could take (as an item) and drag to an owned city. There, it could be used for adding food to the city or something like that. I liked the idea of scavenging enemies but not the idea of the food going directly into the cities even if far away. I thought of a bonus for the unit carrying the carcass pile (something along strength bonus and/or illness related) and an interest for transporting it back to a city.

BTW, any thought on the idea of improving tiles only by buildings rather than workers? I said it some posts before, along with pros and cons.

 

[xienwolf]

Anything which is not a number DOES NOT WORK in a module.

There are a few exceptions, but you save yourself major headaches if you just ignore those and follow the first line of this post as absolute law.

 

[Valkrionn]

Ah, I forgot about that. All of your xml looked right, but Modules do not like promotions requiring other promotions. Has to be non-modular for that.

The carcass pile sounds good, should be rather unique.

Don't know about improving tiles by buildings... It would work, and be a unique playstyle, but I'd allow workers to at least build on resources.

Edit: As for the Gnoll units, I can load them up in 3ds max, apply the texture, view the animations, etc, but the moment I try to export it to a .nif bad things happen. I can view the nif in Nifviewer, but it shows up as a red blob in game. Gonna have to read up on how to do it... Issue is I'm having to use guides from two different games.

 

[Opera]

Anything which is not a number DOES NOT WORK in a module.

There are a few exceptions, but you save yourself major headaches if you just ignore those and follow the first line of this post as absolute law.

But what about CivilizationInfos.xml and LeaderHeadInfos.xml? I have plenty of values that aren't not number in there. Seems to work, though.

@Valkrionn: Poor you! I hope you'll succeed

 

[Ahwaric]

Ok, finall got some time to read the whole thread and must say - Great Idea!
I got my first modmodmod

Some comments on the race though.
First, all arcane unique units you proposed are based on nature magic. So I think they fit more as FoL priests replacement or unique units, with the last one replacing druid. Nature magic is more fitting for druid or priest I think.
Also, I do not think financial trait fits. Better make them spiritual, charismatic or smth.
I would exchange leader's portraits and change Vungu trait to spiritual, also replacing arcane.
They are very nationalistic and that is bad for buissnes, especially trade.

Another thing, more power for the males...
Currently, I think Ngomele is the most gender-oppressive civ on erebus.
Why not make females have all the political power and dominating the army, while males having more to say when it comes to spiritual things (the druid line I proposed) or link them to arcane path (like in drow society - females rule and are priestesses of the dominating faith, while the best male can achieve is to be a mage or merchant).

I would change Banung to male and add another hero that is more militaristic and female.
There is no rule that non-agnostics can't have two (i.e. Doviello).
But the heroes need to be balanced - so 3 mana affinity and free mana nodes are way too powerful
I think they should not be agnostic, AV gnolls have certain charm, too

Ok, that is all of my general flavour ideas. They are your civ and you will do as you want
Now to the mechanics:
I do not think modular version is a good idea - for now, it is the only modmod Orbis got (keep them coming!). So not much to go modular for.
Also, you can do much more with non-modular one.
Third, I strongly advise using the excell editor (if you do not have excell 2007, I think it is possible to make an open office version). It makes modders life much easier, plus will make mine easier when I get them to the main modmod. And I want to, when they are more or less ready.

Cannibalize integrated to racial promo is the way to go. Cannibalize normally requires undead unit (and it is race in Orbis), so will not be able to get both unless you will want them to.

The extra food yields from combat (great and fitting idea btw) are best done via Soul forge code (you can specify how far you want it to work, but it is, as you already know, python) and/or with promotion granted from combat with living unit, that can be used (i.e. via spell castable in a city) to fill granary err... smokehouse.

I do not think they should be able to build farms in forests. I think they should get even less food from farms, after all they do not eat many vegetables. But they can get a bonus from pastures/ camps/ foresters/yurts & goums. This is easily done ever since Jean Elcard developed the code (and it is in Orbis).

Wildwood building is used as Song of Autumn in Orbis. Actually, in 0.22c I use most of the elven buildings Walter posted. But if you need something, we can talk about it...

Regarding sounds, there are great gnoll sounds in both Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. If you can wait 2 weeks i wll check what can I get (need to finish some work I have first).

I will try to help if I can

Edit:
Checked the buttons, Shur Acanes does not look particulary nature-style, but should be ok. Gnoll race button looks nice, but we need to get it more race-like. I will try to take a break from preparing biology testbook (that is the work I am busy with recently) and make one.
For the button making, you can use the attached file. It has the most common backgrounds I use for Orbis buttons (photoshop needed)
It is an edited version of asioasioasio version. He posted the button templates for different graphic programs here.

 

[Opera]

I was longing for your answer, Ahwaric!

Ok, finall got some time to read the whole thread and must say - Great Idea!
I got my first modmodmod

Glad to hear it

Some comments on the race though.
First, all arcane unique units you proposed are based on nature magic. So I think they fit more as FoL priests replacement or unique units, with the last one replacing druid. Nature magic is more fitting for druid or priest I think.
Also, I do not think financial trait fits. Better make them spiritual, charismatic or smth.
I would exchange leader's portraits and change Vungu trait to spiritual, also replacing arcane.
They are very nationalistic and that is bad for buissnes, especially trade.

In fact, I already changed the traits. Mvadang is Agg/Phi (I may trade Phi for Cha; I wanted to show that even though she's slightly impulsive and capable of taking violent decisions, she is the one who decided to unify the tribes, she's not just a brute) and Vungu is Spi/Arc (our minds connected here). When you say "exchange" portraits, you mean switch them? I don't know. They seemed to fit. Would you care expanding your thoughts on that?

As for the Shur (Arcane units), you may have a point. It may depend on what role is a Shur filling. I mean, a priest role is more of a buffer/healer (and is more religious) and a mage role is more of an attacker (well, at least its how it's in my mind, certainly due to too many rpg). Well, whatever the Shur role is (because I'm not sure yet [kind of funny, "I'm not Shur yet" ]), I may do unique units anyway, for both disciple and arcane line.

Another thing, more power for the males...
Why not make females have all the political power and dominating the army, while males having more to say when it comes to spiritual things (the druid line I proposed) or link them to arcane path (like in drow society - females rule and are priests of the dominating, while the best male can do is to be a mage or merchant).
I would change Banung to male and add another hero that is more militaristic and female. There is no rule that non-agnostics can't have two (i.e. doviello). And I think they should not be agnostic, AV gnolls have certain charm, too
But the heroes need to be balanced - so 3 mana affinity and free mana nodes are way too powerfull.

Hm, I'm not fond of the idea of giving power to males. It's not that I personnaly don't like them (well, it's not the point anyway), but in my mind, the Ngomele basically use males as tools, as means to get something. It could be production, pleasure, entertainment or children. So, in fact, they have a huge effect on the society, but they are kept down. They don't meddle in the spiritual affairs, the political or even the trade ones. I know you would want one female leader and one male (you stated that in the Eastern civ dev thread) but here, I will raise my hand against it, while I'm actually searching female leaders to compensate some other civs. It just doesn't fit lorewise. I hope that's okay

As for the hero, I planned on adding Nga Eye-Eater. I'm thinking about whether I add her as a minor leader (she had no big impact politically) or as a hero (militarilly she was quite the opposite: a person who would be revered by generations of warriors). Her being a hero, I could use her relationship with Banung to make a promotion that will trigger only when the two are in the same tile. Could be nice

Now to the mechanics:
I do not think modular version is a good idea - for now, it is the only modmod Orbis got (keep them coming!). So not much to go modular for.
Also, you can do much more with non-modular one.

Okay, I get that. I will do it that way. It's nothing more complicated; I think it may be even simpler.

Third, I strongly advise using the excell editor (if you do not have excell 2007, I think it is possible to make an open office version). It makes modders life much easier, plus will make mine easier when I get them to the main modmod. And I want to, when they are more or less ready.

I will see how that work. I never tried before.

Cannibalize integrated to racial promo is the way to go. Cannibalize normally requires undead unit (and it is race in Orbis), so will not be able to get both unless you will want them to.

This is done. By the way, I was thinking of maybe adding something more to the gnoll race. I don't know what yet but something to distinguish it from the other race even more than just a heal bonus.

The extra food yields from combat (great and fitting idea btw) are best done via Soul forge code (you can specify how far you want it to work, but it is, as you already know, python) and/or with promotion granted from combat with living unit, that can be used (i.e. via spell castable in a city) to fill granary err... smokehouse.

I do not think they should be able to build farms in forests. I think they should get even less food from farms, after all they do not eat many vegetables. But they can get a bonus from pastures/ camps/ foresters/yurts & goums. This is easily done ever since Jean Elcard developed the code (and it is in Orbis).

Yeah, it would be nice to see them more as "carnivorous grass-rubbers/tree-huggers". What you said about the promotion granted after fighting a living unit, it's more or less what I propose with the carcass pile. Maybe skipping the carcass pile phase and jumping directly to the promoted unit with food would reduce the load of clicks the player would have to do after big fights. Would it be possible to scale the amount of food a unit has? For example, after one combat, it gain Food Carried I promotion; after the second nothing (no chance, too bad!) but after the third it gained the Food Carried II promotion that will add even more to the smokehouse.

And as you mention it, it would be nice to change the granary and the smokehouse. The latter would stock more food, since they would be mostly carnivorous.

Wildwood building is used as Song of Autumn in Orbis. Actually, in 0.22c I use most of the elven buildings Walter posted. But if you need something, we can talk about it...

Well, other than that, I don't know what to use. It isn't a priority, though.

Regarding sounds, there are great gnoll sounds in both Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. If you can wait 2 weeks i wll check what can I get (need to finish some work I have first).

Yes, I can wait. I have BG2 actually, so maybe there is gnoll sounds in this one. I don't remember. However, I do remember that there's hyenas in Guild Wars Nightfall. I will see if I can get my hands on their sounds.

Anyway, I hope to help.

Yes, you helped me having some more ideas Thanks for taking time to read and answer

Edit buttons-wise: I thought that too for the Shur Arcanes. I'm open to any better idea (for the gnoll race too). I checked through most of Guild Wars icons and didn't find something that appeals me. The glyphs have something in common that I thought I could use, even though it doesn't seem really "nature". This one was different from the others so I thought it would be nice for the Shur Arcanes promotions and the others for the spells.

Edit2: Maybe the archer signet could be nice for the Shur Arcanes.

Thanks for the file

 

[xienwolf]

But what about CivilizationInfos.xml and LeaderHeadInfos.xml? I have plenty of values that aren't not number in there. Seems to work, though.

@Valkrionn: Poor you! I hope you'll succeed

That is one of those exceptions it is best to ignore. The actual REASON behind it, is the order in which XML files are loaded. If you open up the source code for the DLL and check out the file CvXMLLoadUtilitySet.cpp and search for the name of the base file you are modifying (ie - CIV4CivilizationInfos), everything which is loaded BEFORE that file you are allowed to reference modularly without issue. Anything loaded AFTER that file, and the file itself, cannot be referenced in a module properly. Alternatively, but much more difficult, you can look at CvInfos.cpp for the specific field you want to use text in, and if it is loaded during ::readPass2 (references same file) or ::readPass3 (references file to be loaded later), it won't work.


For most people, opening those files is too daunting, so without knowing the order files load in, it is best to just assume that only numbers will ever work.

Spoiler List of order from CvXMLUtilitySet :

Civ4GameSpeedInfo
Civ4TurnTimerInfo
Civ4WorldInfo
Civ4ClimateInfo
Civ4SeaLevelInfo
Civ4AdvisorInfos
Civ4TerrainInfos
Civ4EraInfos
Civ4UnitClassInfos
Civ4SpecialistInfos
Civ4VoteSourceInfos
Civ4TechInfos
Civ4ReligionInfo
Civ4FeatureInfos
Civ4AnimationInfos
Civ4AnimationPathInfos
Civ4BonusClassInfos
Civ4BonusInfos
Civ4PromotionInfos
Civ4TraitInfos
Civ4GoodyInfo
Civ4HandicapInfo
Civ4CursorInfo
Civ4CivicOptionInfos
Civ4UpkeepInfo
Civ4HurryInfo
Civ4SpecialBuildingInfos
Civ4CultureLevelInfo
Civ4VictoryInfo
Civ4CorporationInfo
Civ4RouteInfos
Civ4ImprovementInfos
Civ4BuildingClassInfos
Civ4BuildingInfos
Civ4SpecialUnitInfos
Civ4ProjectInfo
Civ4CivicInfos
Civ4LeaderHeadInfos
Civ4ColorVals
Civ4PlayerColorInfos
Civ4EffectInfos
Civ4EntityEventInfos
Civ4BuildInfos
Civ4UnitInfos
Civ4UnitArtStyleTypeInfos
Civ4CivilizationInfos
Civ4Hints
Civ4MainMenus
Civ4SlideShowInfos
Civ4SlideShowRandomInfos
Civ4WorldPickerInfos
Civ4SpaceShipInfos
Civ4YieldInfos
Civ4CommerceInfo
Civ4GameOptionInfos
Civ4MPOptionInfos
Civ4ForceControlInfos
Civ4EventInfos
Civ4EventTriggerInfos
Civ4SpellInfos

 

[Ahwaric]

In fact, I already changed the traits. Mvadang is Agg/Phi (I may trade Phi for Cha; I wanted to show that even though she's slightly impulsive and capable of taking violent decisions, she is the one who decided to unify the tribes, she's not just a brute) and Vungu is Spi/Arc (our minds connected here). When you say "exchange" portraits, you mean switch them? I don't know. They seemed to fit. Would you care expanding your thoughts on that?

Yes, switch. I think that current Mvadang one is great for shaman. It looks powerfull and strong, but also barbaric. So, I think it is ok for shaman, but I am not sure fot the cunning leader Mvadang is
Vungu's one is more thief-like, but also better suited for clever leader (dancing tribe in the back...).
But that are just my feeling, as I already said, that is your civ and you decide.

As for the Shur (Arcane units), you may have a point. It may depend on what role is a Shur filling. I mean, a priest role is more of a buffer/healer (and is more religious) and a mage role is more of an attacker (well, at least its how it's in my mind, certainly due to too many rpg).

That is the reason I think unique druids would be better for them. I.e. in D&D gnolls do not have many arcane casters, but druids are very common. Also, it fits the whole green sea idea.
Druids are offensive spellcaster's too. At least in Orbis and most rpg I played.
Actually I think it would be best to add unique druidic clergy, while keeping normal FoL (and other) priests. FoL is very tree oriented, and Gnolls do not seem to be forest cretures. Also, unique FoL priests would require running FoL.

Hm, I'm not fond of the idea of giving power to males. It's not that I personnaly don't like them (well, it's not the point anyway), but in my mind, the Ngomele basically use males as tools, as means to get something.[...] I hope that's okay

I am not Ngomele male, so sure Just thought it would add some diversity, plus it seems hard to believe that they do not revolt if not having any rigths outside house...
I do not think all civs should have equal number of male and female leaders. In case of Ngomele male leader, save for minor rebel one (mage? ), does not fit at all. I want fun leaders, plus thought it woulb be fun to add a female general leader for asian civ.

Regarding Orbis editor, wait till later today, as I am going to finally release version c, and it comes with new editor version.

Would it be possible to scale the amount of food a unit has? For example, after one combat, it gain Food Carried I promotion; after the second nothing (no chance, too bad!) but after the third it gained the Food Carried II promotion that will add even more to the smokehouse.

Scaling is certainly possible in python, need to check if it is in xml. You might need to add a blank promotion to get it exactly as you described.
Food carried I -> food carried I (upgraded) -> food carried II
So it might b better to just add a chance to promote I -> II or three promotions of different "capacity"

Yes, you helped me having some more ideas Thanks for taking time to read and answer

No problem
Archer signet is great!
I will try to make the gnoll race promotion today and post it here

 

[arkham4269]

So basically in regards to the male/female relations, the Ngomele are the opposite of the Kzin, right?

Another option to think about is the whole concept of the structure of a lion's pride. The women do almost all the work but they are led by 1 (or two depending on the size) Alpha Male and the rest of the males are just sort of out of luck. Same with gorillas actually. One big kahuna male and the rest just have to suffer.

So perhaps some of their heroes are males trying to gain enough status to be 'elected' the new Alpha Males by the Woman's Council (or what ever they have).

Even with the Alpha Male leading, looking at lions, his job is still mostly ceremonial, looking regal and roaring from time to time and the like.

 

[Seon]

The males also have to defend it's territory from marauding Hyenas...

 

[Imuratep]

So basically in regards to the male/female relations, the Ngomele are the opposite of the Kzin, right?

Another option to think about is the whole concept of the structure of a lion's pride. The women do almost all the work but they are led by 1 (or two depending on the size) Alpha Male and the rest of the males are just sort of out of luck. Same with gorillas actually. One big kahuna male and the rest just have to suffer.

So perhaps some of their heroes are males trying to gain enough status to be 'elected' the new Alpha Males by the Woman's Council (or what ever they have).

Even with the Alpha Male leading, looking at lions, his job is still mostly ceremonial, looking regal and roaring from time to time and the like.

Hyenas ARE actually lead by the alpha female so Ngomele are quite realistic. Perhaps you could create a second civ with Lion-people. Your idea sounds quite cool. I play an p&p system with lion-people and many other exotic races that aren't used yet and I like this system a lot, so you had at least one that would enjoy it .

 

[Opera]

Well, to settle things about the social structure of the Ngomele: it's more or less like the one of the spotted hyena. There's an alpha female and different rank in the tribe; the males are the lowest. They are the one "exchanged" with other tribes instead of the females. They don't really matter. They don't even raise babies; the sole area where they can "shine" is as actors; but not as playwriters, though. The reason they don't revolt is the exact same reason human females didn't revolt until recently: 1) females Ngomele are bigger and stronger than males; 2) it's deep in their mind.

There exist(ed) some examples of tribe leaded by a male: Migeng of the Bwungi tribe (see Mvadang description in first post). However, he was killed during the assault of the Veve tribe (Mvadang's). The people of the Bwungi weren't all exterminated nor enslaved: they were given the free will to follow Mvadang (now de facto leader of the Bwungi) or to flee. Many followed her and a few fled somewhere else. But the Bwungi are not said to have been "unified" since they have been defeated by force. The two other tribes that I haven't talked about yet are the Mvadu, leaded by Dimdi the Black (Big-Heart) and the Wugan, leaded by Wiri Big-Heart (female). The second was enslaved by the first and Wiri Big-Heart was executed publicly by Dimdi the Black (btw, some Mvadu began to call her Wiri Not-So-Big-Heart since this day, because the execution was to extract her heart and eat it). The Mvadu are sort of the arch-enemies of the Ngomele: they're pretty powerful and they refuse to be unified. Open war is not declared but tensions exists. Without the existence of the Council, Mvadang would already be waring against them I thought it was time to talked about those tribes.

Since Orbis 0.22c is out, I will take a look at that Excel file.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

Perhaps the Ngomeles are a lot like Amazons...There are quite a few similarities I think.

 

[Seon]

Maybe they are Amazons

 

[Opera]

Kind of like Amazons but not exactly since their exists Ngomele males. They aren't just a bunch of women living together and then proceeding to attack a village in order to steal babies/procreate with males. Women have the power and don't want to share it. I can understand that

 

[arkham4269]

Well that makes a lot of sense, in that males have to be entertainers. I mean if the males are smaller (many species are like this) then other than just being a walking sperm bank, you'd better make yourself useful to the females in some way.

I did a lot of study on biological psychology and evolution in college and many studies point out that the 'strongest' in the old 'survival of the strongest' wasn't always the BMOC jock type but often the most glib or the best at making alliances. Mike Tyson is all that but it doesn't mean squat if Bill Gates convinces 4 others to help him bushwack Tyson in the showers. So while Mr. Studmuffin might be good to look at to your average Ngomele female, it's Mr. Class Clown that probably will get the better deal since he is more 'useful' on a day to day basis.

Another thing they found (and easily seen in rock stars) is that singers and guys who can just tell a good story or funny can be very attractive to women regardless of how they look. I mean I can't see why any woman would find Mick Jagger attractive, but there they are, throwing their knickers onto the stage at him.

Perhaps the Ngomele might have a 'medic' type character called a bard or something that has, as one of it's powers, the ability to give small culture boosts when it's in a city like you can do (but destroys the unit) with missionaries.

 

[Ahwaric]

The reason they don't revolt is the exact same reason human females didn't revolt until recently: 1) females Ngomele are bigger and stronger than males; 2) it's deep in their mind.

Well, in our history women were anything but helpless. Queens, epresses, leaders... Even if not in the open, they were the neck that makes the head move
The difference between us and hienas is the complexity of the social structure and the intelligence.

that the 'strongest' in the old 'survival of the strongest' wasn't always the BMOC jock type but often the most glib or the best at making alliances.

Actually, it is never the survival of the strongest, but 'survival of the fittest'. That is a huge difference. Males of some species come in two varietes (which can be connected i.e. to their age). Big males that have their own harem and small ones,. But it does not mean the small ones do not reproduce, some of them pretend to be female, try to look even smaller, and get to meet females in big male harem...

Anyway, I apologize for strating this discussion, it comes more and more off topic. Here I stop and will not talk of it any more, hoping it will end

Since Orbis 0.22c is out, I will take a look at that Excel file.

Two things you need to be aware of before you start. First, to export xml files, it needs to be in the same folder as assets one (and there need to be xml inside and proper folders inside xml one, i.e. gameinfo, art etc.)
Actually, I have two copies, one is in safe place with allthe proper catalogs created, and I just copy it over to mod location.

Second, there is something broken with promotion sheet, so you better insert promotions before the last one, as there is some "stop exporting" procedura I can't identify. Otherwise, it works nice

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Kind of like Amazons but not exactly since their exists Ngomele males. They aren't just a bunch of women living together and then proceeding to attack a village in order to steal babies/procreate with males. Women have the power and don't want to share it. I can understand that

That is far from the only view of the Amazons. While a few myths about them would assert that, more of them claimed that the Amazon's just treated their husbands the way Greeks treated their wives, as housekeepers and nearly chattel. I believe that in some versions they were a tribe where men and women were equals, and that many scholars think that that was likely the case for the real tribes on whom the exaggerated tales were based.

While they are usually thought to have been from Asia Minor, I kind of like the theory that they were actually North African. The Berber word for Berber (Amazigh) happens to sound a lot like Amazon, and before Arab domination they were known to have been rather gender egalitarian, with their most famous generals being female. Apparently the ruins of ancient Berber forts bear a striking resemblance to amazon forts found in Greek art.

 

[Opera]

Well, all I have to say is that it's all interesting stuff. It pleases me to think of the Ngomele males as entertainers of all sorts: dancers, singers, maybe athletes too. Since the Mbumgwu is all about playing battles, it would be no surprise to have quite a few athletes in it participating in other games. Crowd-pleasers. Yeah, I fell it fits

@MagisterCultuum: I have to admit that I didn't know that even though I'm particularly attracted to the "Amazons" myth. Maybe I just never checked the good sources. I thank you for that bit of culture

Well, in our history women were anything but helpless. Queens, epresses, leaders... Even if not in the open, they were the neck that makes the head move

Yes, that's right. Somehow, I knew you would answer me that Maybe it's how Migeng became a leader. He was the favorite of the alpha female of his tribe and, when she died, rather than another female taking are place, he took it. Somehow, he would have "crowd-pleased" all the Bwungi ladies. One thing that would make his case rare is that there is no idea of couple as we know it. The alpha female as not only one male who would be the de facto alpha male. She has favorites. They take time to bond, so they are a few but generally more than one. I don't have thought about their status right now. However, a relation such as the one between Nga Eye-Eater and Banung the Blind (except the weird way they bonded...) is commoner and leads frequently to inheritance of power.

Apart from that, thank you for your tips on using the excel sheets. I was totally in the dark when I saw that. I thought "well, beautiful indeed but how do I modify anything with that?" Now I got it

Perhaps the Ngomele might have a 'medic' type character called a bard or something that has, as one of it's powers, the ability to give small culture boosts when it's in a city like you can do (but destroys the unit) with missionaries.

That's what leaded me to my thinking about crowd-pleasers. It's a really good idea. I'll try to implant them... not sure how though, especially in regards to the priests. Because I will make them quite liking FoL (using that FavoriteReligion field that don't seem to be used by any leader), and I will do them some unique priests. Maybe I will just drop the +x culture ability from them. I need to brainstorm (that's my unique ability: brainstorming, take 5 turns to cast; result: many units spawn in 1 tile of me, all unique and with unseen abilities! Wow!)

Thanks all for your answers!

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I'm not sure the Favorite Religion tag really does anything except for telling the leader what to choose when founding a religion with the Pick Religion option is on, which it isn't in FfH.

A large ReligionWeightModifier would be more effective. You could block the other religions entirely with -100 values for them.