Nomadic Civ - How to.

[Valkrionn]

No, not the Bezeri. Their cities are on the seafloor, not floating. Though you're closer than you might think.

 

[Swinkscalibur]

Hehehehe, I can't wait for "other shoe," so to speak, to drop. That last post confirmed what I had suspected since the formation of this thread.

 

[Mailbox]

It would be cool if there was actually a civ for that gets a boon for each improvement, but has a chance that the land below becomes worse (grassland --> plains --> desert) as it does not care for the consequences of its exploitation of nature.

Heh. There are other ways of modeling exploitation though.

 

[Swinkscalibur]

Just give the civ big time boosts to grasslands (like +1 , +1 , +2 ) and plains (+1 , +2 ) and take away any benefit from desert/floodplains. Then give them a climate modifier similar to the malakim, maybe a bit quicker, this would force them to move regularly. Give them no traditional worker unit, perhaps their worker is simply a route builder/ explorer with naturally high defence, and give them no traditional improvements at all but let them simply "live off the land."

Perhaps give them a single improvement buildable by anyone with their racial promo, cheap and quick to build that would allow them to gain resources/bonuses (like forts in base bts) and would give +1 . A bit more intense would be to have bonuses become invisible (a la some of the bonuses in blizzards) after some time as well, destroying said improvement.

Give them a very strong recon line with strong penalties against city attack as well as potent defensive units with fairly weak offensive units. Then let them plant their cities where ever they want (except for the two tile radius rule) including inside other's cultural borders.

When a city reaches a certain population, say 10, the city can split (using a separate "split city" spell that creates a new city unit with only half the stats), splitting its culture equally between both halves. I would use the unit and promotion method for moving cities, perhaps forcing them through the city move spell to always have one city in place at a time.

 

[Santhman]

Real nomads are nomads because they have to. They abuse the land they settle on and move on when it no longer supports them. The moment they figure out sustainable agriculture they abandon their nomadic lifestyle.

That sounds like it would be perfect for the demons. Or an evil, demon-like civ that abuses the land for massive production power. It builds fast, but its land becomes blighted and depleted so it must conquer new land to survive.

 

[Swinkscalibur]

I have another idea for how to do this in a highly efficient way. But I'm not entirely sure if its possible or good/efficient coding. There are two similar options, both work on the same principal.

Basic principle: Use the unit method but do away with the ridiculous number of promotions. Instead, add a few special xml tags to units: iCityCulture, iCityPopulation, iCityBuildings, etc. (These are the big ones, there could be others). Have a unit cast a spell in the city, the spell creates a new unit and stores some values to these attributes:
1. The cities name is stored as the units name.
2. The city culture is stored on the unit in iCityCulture
3. The city population is stored on the unit in iCityPopulation
4. The buildings are a bit trickier, but all of them can be stored in one variable if you are creative. This is where the two methods come in.

• Method A - Hard Coding: assign each possible building in a city a unique prime number within the python of the spell. Then iCityBuilding becomes the product of all the prime numbers of all the buildings in the city. This works because each number has a unique prime factorization, all the information for each building in the city is stored in the one number, which is later decoded by simply checking if number is a factor (I'm assuming you can do modular arithmetic in python)
• Method B - Finesse: create a new tag for buildings, iPrimeIndex. When the game loads, assign each building in the game a unique prime number. When coding the spell simply have the buildings PrimeIndex number multiplied into iCityBuilding

Method B involves at least one additional tag on buildings as well as coding the function to run on either map initialization or on game loading (when the xml is read), but it has the benefit that it auto updates if any building is added or removed from the available build list of this new civ (or any other civ to use the feature). If the tags are done well the coding for the spells, both to move a city and to settle one never need updating, there is no near infinite list of promotions to check. The most complicated part is the math used to decode iCityBuildings.


Let me give an example of how this would work (using method B).

A scout walks into the city of "Calthur" with a population of 6, a culture of 185 and the following buildings: a monument, a lighthouse, an elder council, a market and a theatre.

1.The scout can cast "Mobilize City"
In python a City unit is created and given the name "Calthur". The unit then has the population of 6 stored in its iCityPopulation tag and the culture of 185 stored in its iCityCulture tag. The python then checks for the buildings in the city, (for simplicities sake) the monument has the iPrimeIndex value of "prime1", the lighthouse has the value of "prime2", the council - "prime3", the market - "prime4", and the theatre "prime5". The value of p1*p2*p3*p4*p5 is stored in the City units iCityBuilding tag. (Again this number is completely unique to the set of buildings in the initial city. (Assuming all other data is lost, which it doesn't need to be if other tags are added - for example iCityGPPCount) Finally the city is destroyed with all of its data stored in the city.

2. The unit named Calthur finds a suitable place to settle and uses the "Settle City" ability.
In python the unit is checked, a city is built on the units current tile, given the name, population and culture identified by the corresponding tags. Then the iCityBuilding tag is decoded, by looping through the possible prime numbers (I'm sure there is even a way to optimize this mathematically). The check uses modular arithmetic or in non-math terms a remainder check simply check: " is prime1 mod iCityBuilding == 0?" If it is create the building with that iPrimeIndex in the city.


This same method can be used to create split cities using a spell that creates a city unit with a new city name (or possibly with a user input for a new city name) and with half the culture and population and an iCityBuilding index of 1 (no buildings). The same settle spell can be used for these split city units to settle.

 

[Valkrionn]

I have another idea for how to do this in a highly efficient way. But I'm not entirely sure if its possible or good/efficient coding. There are two similar options, both work on the same principal.

Basic principle: Use the unit method but do away with the ridiculous number of promotions. Instead, add a few special xml tags to units: iCityCulture, iCityPopulation, iCityBuildings, etc. (These are the big ones, there could be others). Have a unit cast a spell in the city, the spell creates a new unit and stores some values to these attributes:
1. The cities name is stored as the units name.
2. The city culture is stored on the unit in iCityCulture
3. The city population is stored on the unit in iCityPopulation
4. The buildings are a bit trickier, but all of them can be stored in one variable if you are creative. This is where the two methods come in.

• Method A - Hard Coding: assign each possible building in a city a unique prime number within the python of the spell. Then iCityBuilding becomes the product of all the prime numbers of all the buildings in the city. This works because each number has a unique prime factorization, all the information for each building in the city is stored in the one number, which is later decoded by simply checking if number is a factor (I'm assuming you can do modular arithmetic in python)
• Method B - Finesse: create a new tag for buildings, iPrimeIndex. When the game loads, assign each building in the game a unique prime number. When coding the spell simply have the buildings PrimeIndex number multiplied into iCityBuilding

Method B involves at least one additional tag on buildings as well as coding the function to run on either map initialization or on game loading (when the xml is read), but it has the benefit that it auto updates if any building is added or removed from the available build list of this new civ (or any other civ to use the feature). If the tags are done well the coding for the spells, both to move a city and to settle one never need updating, there is no near infinite list of promotions to check. The most complicated part is the math used to decode iCityBuildings.


Let me give an example of how this would work (using method B).

A scout walks into the city of "Calthur" with a population of 6, a culture of 185 and the following buildings: a monument, a lighthouse, an elder council, a market and a theatre.

1.The scout can cast "Mobilize City"
In python a City unit is created and given the name "Calthur". The unit then has the population of 6 stored in its iCityPopulation tag and the culture of 185 stored in its iCityCulture tag. The python then checks for the buildings in the city, (for simplicities sake) the monument has the iPrimeIndex value of "prime1", the lighthouse has the value of "prime2", the council - "prime3", the market - "prime4", and the theatre "prime5". The value of p1*p2*p3*p4*p5 is stored in the City units iCityBuilding tag. (Again this number is completely unique to the set of buildings in the initial city. (Assuming all other data is lost, which it doesn't need to be if other tags are added - for example iCityGPPCount) Finally the city is destroyed with all of its data stored in the city.

2. The unit named Calthur finds a suitable place to settle and uses the "Settle City" ability.
In python the unit is checked, a city is built on the units current tile, given the name, population and culture identified by the corresponding tags. Then the iCityBuilding tag is decoded, by looping through the possible prime numbers (I'm sure there is even a way to optimize this mathematically). The check uses modular arithmetic or in non-math terms a remainder check simply check: " is prime1 mod iCityBuilding == 0?" If it is create the building with that iPrimeIndex in the city.


This same method can be used to create split cities using a spell that creates a city unit with a new city name (or possibly with a user input for a new city name) and with half the culture and population and an iCityBuilding index of 1 (no buildings). The same settle spell can be used for these split city units to settle.

Actually, rather than an INT tag for buildings, I'd make a boolean array, the size of BuildingInfos. Then, you loop through the city's buildings, find the corresponding entry in the array, and flip it to True. When constructing the city, check for values that return true, search for the corresponding building, construct it in the city. Set the value back to false.

Also, I would not use the unit name (too easy to change); Instead, I'd make entirely new tags, but not ones accessible via XML, python only.

 

[odalrick]

• Method A - Hard Coding: assign each possible building in a city a unique prime number within the python of the spell. Then iCityBuilding becomes the product of all the prime numbers of all the buildings in the city. This works because each number has a unique prime factorization, all the information for each building in the city is stored in the one number, which is later decoded by simply checking if number is a factor (I'm assuming you can do modular arithmetic in python)
• Method B - Finesse: create a new tag for buildings, iPrimeIndex. When the game loads, assign each building in the game a unique prime number. When coding the spell simply have the buildings PrimeIndex number multiplied into iCityBuilding

While mucking about with prime numbers in this way works(*), the standard way of accomplishing the goal with computers is to use a bit field.


*After a fashion. The size of the stored number grows by O(n!), where n is the number of buildings. Possibly faster even than that. Calling that "working" is a bit of a stretch.

 

[Swinkscalibur]

Actually, rather than an INT tag for buildings, I'd make a boolean array, the size of BuildingInfos. Then, you loop through the city's buildings, find the corresponding entry in the array, and flip it to True. When constructing the city, check for values that return true, search for the corresponding building, construct it in the city. Set the value back to false.

Also, I would not use the unit name (too easy to change); Instead, I'd make entirely new tags, but not ones accessible via XML, python only.

That sounds even better. I'm no expert at coding, more a math guy, but the basic idea of avoiding promotions and using tags on the unit is what I was getting at. If I was a decent coder (like you and others here) I figure that would be the least time consuming method. And hiding things from XML is smart, no need to clutter the xml up any more.


Oh and Odalrick, I knew there was most definitely a better way, I just didn't know what. I also knew that iCityBuilding would get big really fast, I guess I just figured that wouldn't be as much of an issue for a computer. Anyway the proof of concept is what I was getting at, I'm glad the idea can be simplified/streamlined

 

[readercolin]

How about this as an idea for a new nomadic civ.

Plant civ - primary unit, cities.
The primary idea behind this would be to take and make trees the primary unit, as well as the city. The first unit the player has is a tree, which can build more trees and a few small units. New cities (say, sprouts or something like that) could be spawned to go settle as new cities. Then, the tree gets bonuses based on city size - +1 strength per population, +20% strength per level of culture. It could build buildings that add to its size and strength, or buildings that help it produce new trees. In addition to the trees, it could have unit lines (nerfed ones of course) for the various tasks, and protectors for new trees.

The basic city would start out being able to work only one ring of tiles (this puts something of a max size cap on the city). Calling uproot would allow you to pick the city up (say, a 3 turn casting time for the spell), move around, and do stuff. However, after a certain tech (to be determined), the city would be able to cast "deep roots", which turns it into a normal city, but takes it much longer to uproot itself. Then, in the midgame, allow a few cities to become "one with the earth", work a three ring tile, but be unable to uproot themselves again.

As long as you made the other units somewhat weak, this would give this civ a very good reason to pick itself up and move around, taking advantage of the nomadic traits.

-Colin

 

[snarko]

Inspired by this thread I created an idea for a nomadic civ. Pretty much zero chance of myself making it, as I don't even play, but I'll post it anyway. Maybe someone get a good idea out of it... or a fun discussion.

I also don't know much about RifE never having played it so maybe not suitable for this mod

Spoiler Long nomad civ idea :

Name: Edeb (change name if you like) (credit: Opera)
This is not a human civilization. Which race it is is up for debate, perhaps an entirely new fictional one.

Edeb does not use cities. Instead they have a special settler unit. It can:
Create units based on the land it's on.
Conduct research (creates beakers).
Produce gold (quite a lot per turn, as they are not producing anything else).

Doing any of these immobilize the settler for X turns and afterwards creates an improvement on the land, Edeb fungus (change name if you like; see also "terrain vs improvement").
Edeb fungus cannot be pillaged but it can be removed by workers/replaced with another improvement. This would be the only use for an Edeb worker.

As they have no borders of their own, the Edeb does not respect the borders of others. [All units can enter rival territory.] Their settler unit can create units in others territory, even on their improvements, replacing them with the Edeb fungus improvement. Edeb fungus live naturally in Edeb societies - and only there - spreading to the land around their settlements [the whole plot]. It is also toxic to the Edeb in large quantities, which is why they need to move on regularly. To other civilizations however it is a superb recreational drug and as such, Edeb fungus is great for commerce [each Edeb fungus improvement produce +10 commerce, but is over time "upgraded" into nothing or a basic improvement]. This is why other civilizations tolerate their presence, so that they may harvest the valuable fungus.

--------------------------

UNITS

Settler: can produce units, conduct research or produce gold. Any of these leave behind Edeb fungus, which prevents these very actions. Take a long time to build new settlers.

Their units are special. They can produce some types, notable exceptions siege and mounted. They only take time to build, no resources or buildings, but cost upkeep like normal. They should be a bit stronger than normal units to make up for the drawbacks of this civ.
Recon - pretty much the usual recon line.
Melee - pretty much the usual melee line.
Adept - pretty much the usual magic line.
Naval - nothing special here, just need a settler next to the sea.
Priest units - see below under religions.
Any special units you like to add (civ specific druids, special spy (see science))
Worker (see "terrain vs improvement").

Upgrading units. As more advanced techs become available they can build more advanced units, as usual. But they can also upgrade them in the field, in various ways:

Upgrading to a better unittype. As the Doviello can upgrade units in the field, so can Edeb.

Upgrading to horses/nightmares/sheut stones/copper/etc.
Their units can perform an action on resources (harvested or not). This immobilize them for several turns, cost a little bit of gold and grant them a special promotion
Horse: +1 movement promotion OR upgrades them into a unit along the mounted line - either or, not both, civ maker decides.
Nightmares: Horse and +1 str OR mounted line upgrade - either or, not both, civ maker decides.
Sheut stone: sheut stone promotion
Copper: bronze weapon promotion
Iron: iron weapon promotion
Mithril: mithril weapon promotion
Anything else I forgot

Raw mana: magic line only. Can pick any first level magic promotion that you have the tech for. Cost a lot of gold.
Other mana node: magic line only. Can get the first level magic promotion for this mana type. Cost a little gold.

They could have the ability to steal weapon promotions.

--------------------------

SCIENCE

Obviously they have no use for many of the techs, such as agriculture. But these generally lead to better techs anyway, so consider them a neccessary evil.

Early in the game their settlers should be able to produce enough science to remain competetive. Later on this will be very difficult, as other civs improvements mature and you still don't use any. It may be a good idea to give them a special spy unit at some point, one capable of stealing techs. Plant it in a city and get a small amount of tech per turn, something that civ has discovered but you have not. Alternatively, some techs can passively boost the rate at which they get beakers.

If you give them a mounted line allow them to research these techs; if you don't disable such techs for this civ.

If they are first to research a religious tech they will not trigger holy city creation, since they have no cities. The next player to research the tech should trigger it. They still get a disciple as usual, which can be used to convert their settlers (see religion).

--------------------------

CIVICS

Disabled for this civ, unless you can think of something fun to do with them.

--------------------------

RELIGIONS

The Edeb are religious just like anyone else. There are two ways to go here in designing the civ, state religion or no state religion.

State religion:
They can adopt any religion as state religion, regardless of if anyone follow it or not, once they've discovered that religions tech. Their units will over time convert to the state religion, save units that already follow another one. They can also move settlers into a city with their state religion and try a "force conversion". Haven't worked out exact mechanics but if succesfull the settler now follow that religion.
Settlers can build the religious disciple and priest of the state religion if the unit also follow the religion.
Their own disciples can convert their settlers to the state religion, if they don't follow any.
Optional: units auto convert to religions of nearby cities (or even units).

No state religion:
Units auto convert to religions of nearby cities (or even units). Settler units can be asked to adopt a religion in a city, one that city has... but you can't pick which one. Once your settler has a religion they can produce the disciple and priest units of that religion. Your civ could potentially produce all types of priests, but that will require a lot of effort in setting up, so may not be as overpowered as it sounds (and each settler can only produce one type).
Their own disciples can convert their settlers to a religion, if they don't follow any.

--------------------------

WARFARE

When the Edeb capture a city it will slowly be converted into Edeb settlers, until it reaches size 0 and auto-raze. Perhaps one settler per four pop, rounded up. Each settler being a mini-city of their own this could be quite powerful... but noone said nomads are peaceful. Still, get too many settlers and you run out of space to use as everything become Edeb fungus. It's good to have other civs around to "clean it up" (unless going with temp terrain, see "terrain vs improvement" )
Without siege taking cities may not be all that easy to do, especially since your units will often be poorly promoted (no free xp from buildings/civics/etc).

Fighting against the Edeb is not so easy. Their units can hide in unfriendly territory and their "cities" move around. I'm not sure how to solve the Edeb hiding in unfriendly territory (where you can't get open borders or bribe into war) but it's something that need solving. So, ideas anyone?

--------------------------

WINNING / LOSING

Obviously altar, tower, religious and domination victories are out. As you have no population and no cities score is also likely out. Forcing them to go after conquest to win the game. While this will upset some people I do not see the Edeb as a civ you play if you're interested in playing to win. Personally I have no problem with conquest being the only victory type.

Still, if you want them to have some other way to win you could make a victory condition based on gold. If the Edeb can amass enough wealth (which means their settlers are producing gold instead of units or beakers) they manage to make the whole world dependant on them for trade. This in turn allow them to subjugate the other nations, as they have no choice but to accept the Edeb terms, effectively making the Edeb "masters of the world" with all other nations as their vassals. This give you one peaceful way to win and one warring way to win.

They lose if they run out of settler units.

--------------------------

TERRAIN VS IMPROVEMENT

Edeb fungus can be treated in two ways: temporary terrain or an improvement. Each has benefits and drawbacks.

Terrain
+Is temporary, will automaticly convert back to normal terrain
+Less reliant on other civs being around to clean up their mess
+No need for workers, at all

-May cause problems with other temporary (or permanent) terrain changes.


Improvement
+Easier to explain (the fungus being like an improvement, preventing farming, mining etc until it's cleared... how would you explain it replacing tundra/desert/plains/etc?).

-Must be able to build workers, to clear fungus, in case there's no other civ around to do it for them.
-Removes any improvement the plot had before. This can be a plus instead if you want other civs to become more hostile towards Edeb the later in the game it is (as other civs improvements will be more mature by then, resources connected, etc.)

 

[Swinkscalibur]

A working idea for a nomadic civ, either an entirely new one, or possibly a transformation of the Chislev. It seems they could be somewhat nomadic and might provide some much needed flavor and uniqueness.

Spoiler :

Civ Concept
The civ is a very nature centric and spiritual civ, but they have been cursed by one of the evil gods (not sure which would be the most fitting, but there is opportunity for an interesting back story here). They do not believe in industry or development of the land but are deep thinkers and spend a lot of time in reflection. They have an affinity for nature, creation and spirit mana. While the civ reveres nature highly, to the point of recognizing the spirituality of all living things, they are cursed to carry a plague with them where ever they go. As such while they have a unique symbiosis with living terrain and have an instinctual ability to get the most out of the land naturally, the longer they live in an area the more life dies around them as part of the curse. This has forced them to live an existence life style forced to continually harm the world around them, which is a torture to them. To combat this they have developed into a highly nomadic civ, capable of picking up and moving to a new place as the terrain around them dies off. As part of the curse every time they move the terrain is able to recover behind them. They seek to develop the ability to overcome the curse that has been placed on them, but cannot simply do so with teraforming, as the curse they are under causes Vitalize to back fire (acts as a super scorch). They have a series of rituals which they can perform to weaken and ultimately overcome the curse.

Features and Mechanics

1. Climate System - to simulate the curse, they have a climate system similar to the Malakim forcing deserts to form around them, though they have no affinity for desert terrain (in fact they should have less than a typical civ)
2. Border Irrelevance - they have the ability to settle their mobile cities anywhere including inside other's culture borders (they do need to obey the two tile rule), doing such will naturally cause political malus between them and their neighbors.
3. City Movement
   • No Building Settlers - there settler units cannot be built. They are created by spells in the city. The unit could be called the "Tribe" or something similar.
   • Tribe Spells - at any time any unit of the civ can cast a spell inside the city called "Mobilize Tribe" (again or something similar) taking 10 turns to cast in which the city is in Revolt mode. After the 10 turns the city is destroyed and replaced with the Tribe unit, which carries all of the cities info. The tribe unit can cast the spell settle tribe, which again takes 3 turns, and results in the original city being placed on the new tile. At a city size of 10 (can be higher if the change is important) any unit in the city can cast a spell called "Split the Tribe." This spell has the same effect as Mobilize tribe except the unit created only takes half the population, culture, none of the buildings. and the original city is not destroyed.
   • Other Restrictions - at any time one city MUST exist. This means the first spell cast will be "Split the Tribe" (prevents the no-city problem)
4. Improvements/Workers - the civ can only build one improvement, the "Outpost." Works like a fort in BTS to allow any bonus to be obtained but not gain the traditional improved output from the tile. Workers are cheap units capable of building these as well as routes.
5. Terrain Yields - as part of the trade off for having no improvements the civ has potently increased yields from certain terrain types.
   • Grassland -> +1 , +1 , +2
   • Plains -> +1 , +1 , +1
   • Tundra -> +1 , +1
   • Ice/Snow/Glacier/Desert -> No Yield
   • Floodplains -> -2
6. Unique Units - As a nomadic civ, they have developed two distinct traits in their combat units.
   • Recon - As a nomadic civ, reconnaissance is of the utmost importance. The recon units of this civ have developed to have potent strength. The strength to survive the harshest of Erebus' wild lands. All recon units start with the promotion "Creation's Spirit" (gives -1 attack strength, +1 defense strength, double movement on grassland and plains, +25% vs. animals)
     1. "Whisperer" - Hunter Replacement -> additional +15% strength vs. animals, -20% city attack, starts with Animal Mastery
     2. "War Scout" - Ranger Replacement -> 7/9 (base of 8) , additional +50% strength vs. animals, +25% strength vs. beasts, -40% city attack, starts with Animal Mastery
     3. "Beast Whisperer" - Beastmaster Replacement -> 15/17 (base of 16) , additional +75% strength vs. animals, +50% strength vs. beasts, starts with Animal and Beast Mastery
   • Defense - They have also developed a fierceness with which they defend their tribes.
     • unique units to follow
7. More to come

 

[Randomness]

I wonder if the culture promos for fort comanders would work on moving units. If so, a nomatic civ could have some sort of culture. Of course, as their lifestyle is so different from other civs, it has no effect on them. Why would this be useful? Units costs. They would either need to be imune to unit supply costs, or would need culture. I think it would be kind of fitting if being in a civs land was more costly than living in the wilds. This would encourage them to try to stay in the unsettled lands.

 

[Valkrionn]

I wonder if the culture promos for fort comanders would work on moving units. If so, a nomatic civ could have some sort of culture. Of course, as their lifestyle is so different from other civs, it has no effect on them. Why would this be useful? Units costs. They would either need to be imune to unit supply costs, or would need culture. I think it would be kind of fitting if being in a civs land was more costly than living in the wilds. This would encourage them to try to stay in the unsettled lands.

Well, Fort Commanders don't produce culture. The forts do. But in the original implementation, any unit with the promotions generated culture each turn, which was wiped each turn; Would be quite simple to revive that code, would just have to pull it from an old version of the mod.

 

[Valkrionn]

A working idea for a nomadic civ, either an entirely new one, or possibly a transformation of the Chislev. It seems they could be somewhat nomadic and might provide some much needed flavor and uniqueness.

Spoiler :

Civ Concept
The civ is a very nature centric and spiritual civ, but they have been cursed by one of the evil gods (not sure which would be the most fitting, but there is opportunity for an interesting back story here). They do not believe in industry or development of the land but are deep thinkers and spend a lot of time in reflection. They have an affinity for nature, creation and spirit mana. While the civ reveres nature highly, to the point of recognizing the spirituality of all living things, they are cursed to carry a plague with them where ever they go. As such while they have a unique symbiosis with living terrain and have an instinctual ability to get the most out of the land naturally, the longer they live in an area the more life dies around them as part of the curse. This has forced them to live an existence life style forced to continually harm the world around them, which is a torture to them. To combat this they have developed into a highly nomadic civ, capable of picking up and moving to a new place as the terrain around them dies off. As part of the curse every time they move the terrain is able to recover behind them.
Features and Mechanics

1. Climate System - to simulate the curse, they have a climate system similar to the Malakim forcing deserts to form around them, though they have no affinity for desert terrain (in fact they should have less than a typical civ)
2. Border Irrelevance - they have the ability to settle their mobile cities anywhere including inside other's culture borders (they do need to obey the two tile rule), doing such will naturally cause political malus between them and their neighbors.
3. City Movement
   • No Building Settlers - there settler units cannot be built. They are created by spells in the city. The unit could be called the "Tribe" or something similar.
   • Tribe Spells - at any time any unit of the civ can cast a spell inside the city called "Mobilize Tribe" (again or something similar) taking 10 turns to cast in which the city is in Revolt mode. After the 10 turns the city is destroyed and replaced with the Tribe unit, which carries all of the cities info. The tribe unit can cast the spell settle tribe, which again takes 3 turns, and results in the original city being placed on the new tile. At a city size of 10 (can be higher if the change is important) any unit in the city can cast a spell called "Split the Tribe." This spell has the same effect as Mobilize tribe except the unit created only takes half the population, culture, none of the buildings. and the original city is not destroyed.
   • Other Restrictions - at any time one city MUST exist. This means the first spell cast will be "Split the Tribe" (prevents the no-city problem)
4. Improvements/Workers - the civ can only build one improvement, the "Outpost." Works like a fort in BTS to allow any bonus to be obtained but not gain the traditional improved output from the tile. Workers are cheap units capable of building these as well as routes.
5. More to come

Sorry I didn't respond to this one earlier, I was actually in the middle of a paper... Due tomorrow. Today, actually, it's past midnight. That's done now, though, so I can take time to respond.

The actual mechanic here seems sound; I may add the code necessary, though probably not for the version we're working on now.

On the Chislev - They ARE getting a little flavor next version, but as of now it is entirely that - Flavor. No new units/art/mechanics, just flavor. They may or may not get more, haven't had time to think about it.

 

[Goodwill]

Go go flying citadels - Death from Above!

 

[Valkrionn]

Sadly, that is completely wrong.

 

[Calavente]

To me it begs the question why bother with cities? have it purely based on units & forts, using arcane units to produce science. Literally sculpting an army out of the land for an army(So definitely not humans, or well the main military aren't humans). Use of slaves aswell (maybe give them a couple HN slaver type units?) Then use the slaves to sacrifice straight into units, or science(appease a God with their souls for knowledge) or set them to some task to gain GPP.

My simple little brainstorm, I just dislike the idea of nomads having cities

I like this way of thinking...
An other way to do a nomadic would be to really build it around units.
I like the idea of a "tribe" unit which outputs hammer/gold/science depending on promotions.
Here is my crazy brainstorming....

Spoiler :

Each city is replaced by a Tribe unit, each with a unique name.
The tribe unit have a bit of defense no attack, and 200%worker rate. (maybe give the unit a promotion that gives +50%defense for other units on the stack).
Maybe the first one can get a "throne/palace promotion" giving better output or maybe the palace is always in a first and only city of the civ.
The tribe unit always give some / output each turn.
Each new tribe unit makes all tribes unit have a +1 upkeep, cumulative, up to 3 or 5 or 10 gold/turn. (to prevent having too many tribes around)
any greatpeople can attach as a promotion, helping the "tribe unit" generating ouput.
(GM can give +5gold/turn +1food/turn, allowing to work on low-food tiles without losing foodcount : cf "growing")

all "building" promotion or greatpeople promotions would stay when the unit moves
the tribe unit would always need military units for protection.
the civ would need many tribes units because they produce only kinda small outputs...

Production :
The unit gets many spells to simulate building and unit production.
"ex: worker spell : creats a worker"
"archer spell : needs being on a forest, creats an archer "
"elder council spell : give the elder spell promotion to the tribe : +2 science output and forbids the elder council spell"...etc
"walls spell : +2defense unlocked at masonry"

The output from the tribe unit varies with the yield of tile it is on. Thus producing improvements before using the tile would help you.
The tribe unit can only get commerce/production from tiles while having settled (ie :with a "settled promotion" on). Only 1 tribe can settle on the same spot.

"1 commerce yield gives +2 commerce for the tribe unit output"
"1 hammer yield gives +1 for production"

the Tribe gains a doubled output from the tile yield if it is settled inside it's cultural border (ex : +4commerce for 1commerce yield, +2for production...).. thus forts are useful for claiming territory for the "tribes" to use. (this is important to make up with the fact that they are moslty 1tile-cities....)

growing

Spoiler :

The "ageing" or "experience" mechanisme can be adapted :
-Depending on food on the tile the Tribe unit gains/or lose foodpoints more or less rapidly (ex : tile -1), growing a foodcount. When the foodcount reach X foodpoints, the tribe unit gains a corresponding "size-promotion" (ex at 10 foodcount, the city gains size1 promotion, at 20 foodpoints, the city gains size 2 promotion. While traveling though desert or ice the unit loses some foodpoints each turn, reducing the foodcount and maybe make it reduce in size.)

-With size promotion getting bigger the outputs get bigger too :
+1size induces (while settled) : +1 for production, +2 to gold/science output
(this is also necessary to make up with having 1 tile-cities) so 1size promotion has almost the same effect as 1hammer+1commerce yield in the wilds. But it is half what the tile yields allows you to produce inside cultural borders. (no output due to city size when the tribe is not "settled").
Maybe the size-effect can be a % both in production and gold/science, giving an interesting balance between the size of the tribe and the yield of the tile.

- for each size promotion, the food-count gain/turn is recalculated (so as not to have infinite size units) :
for 1-3 size : foodcount/turn = tile yield -1 (no growth nor size reduction on 1:foof:yield tiles)
for 4-n size : foodcount/turn = tile yield -n +2

thus settled : at size 4 you would gain tile'syield -2
at size 5you would gain, each turn, tile'syield -3..etc
On a 2 tile, the city will be able to go up to size 4.
On a farmed floodplain (7), you would be able to go up to size 10.

Two way of modelling production :
1)the production spells have a duration.

Spoiler :

A tribe can only launch a productionspell if the "settle" promotion is on.
Tile yield hammers, city size promotions, some building-promotions and settled GP reduces the spell duration.
exemple : "worker : 15 turn spell"
forge : - 20%turn, calculated from the beginning.
1 on the tile : -1 turn, -2turns if it is inside your cultural borders.
each size-promotion : -1 turn....etc

ex : to build a warrior : 11turns, with a size 1 city (-1turn) inside cultural borders, on a hillplain (2 =-4turns) : -5turns : 6 turns for building the warrior.
During the same time on the hill plain, with no on the tile you unit will lose in foodcount (ex : -1 food/turn).
to make it interesting, maybe make it so no spell can be lauched if foodcount is inferior to 1-2 or 5 and are aborted...Etc
size1 tribe settled on a plain flatland, no culture : -1turn, -1 turn : the warrior spell is a 9turns duration spell.

issues :
-all production spell not finished before moving or changing orders is lost as it is as interrupting a spell.
-you can only change production by losing the en-cours spell.
-needs to really recalculated the costs as it is not linear with size and hammers.
-there is a maximum for the costs.

2)working with the experience system.

Spoiler :

each hammer on the tile give +1xp/turn if settled promotion is on (+2xp if inside cultural borders), each population gives +1xp/turn if settled is on, some building-promotion gives cost reductions, settled GE gives +3xp/turn...etc.
Xp may be gained only if the settled promotion is on (save the xp from the GE)

you accumulate a quantity of xp...
each production-spell needs to have at least a definite quantity of xp to be launched and it costs some xp, almost the real cost in .

ex : "warrior production spell : needs at least 25xp" actions : creats a warrior unit, takes 25xp from the tribe unit.
With a 1size tribe (+1xp/turn) on a plainhill (+2*2=4 xp/turn) in cultural borders : total 5xp/turn, you would need waiting 5 turns to accumulate 25 xp before spending it on a warrior.
size1 tribe settled on a grassland flatland: +1xp/turn, 25turns to accumulated the xp necessary to build the warrior.

issues :
-reworking the xp system, not allowing levels for this unit.
-it doesn't really favors lowyield tiles or unimproved tiles.
advantage :
-very flexible as you can accumulate xp without knowing what you want to build.
During the same time on the hill plain, with no on the tile you unit will lose in foodcount (ex : -1 food/turn). to make it interesting, maybe make it so xp cannot be gained if foodcount is inferior to 1-2-5 ...Etc

to make to tribes move around

Spoiler :

-while settled, a tribe unit is "working", producing a "waste" improvement (-10 -10, -10). When it is built, the tribe awakes and needs to move. the improvement recedes after 20-50turns depending on balance.
-a waste is produced every 40turns for a size1unit. (worker rate = 200%)
each size of the city ups the workrate with 30%... so each size promotion gained quickens the appearance of the waste by a 15% factor.
at size 10, a city has a work-rate of 500%, producing a waste in ... 40*2/5=16turns.
Thus a smaller city on a big hammer/gold yield is more interessting than a huge tribe on a food-mine counting only on tribe-size to produce things.

maybe make it so the 1st tribe gets a promotion so that each slot it settles on gets the civ-culture so the first tribe is not too much defensless
global issues
-it would induce a lot of micromanagement.
-how to differentiate gold produced from science produced. (maybe make it so each unit can change independamently form a +science mode to a +gold mode ?)
-negates totally the interest of happy/angry, health/unhealth, cultural expansion.
-how to generate great-peoples ?
-getting big size tribe seems more important than having high hammer/gold yield on the tile...

 

[sylvain5477]

Tears are totally without cities (science and production based on promotions)
But the first released version will be internally at first.