Nomadic Era- Alternate start idea.

[Galgus]

these ideas are sick. I know there is a mod that has an early era which i played a few times to change it up (anyone who hasn't tried it should), but nothing like this

I think I saw a mod about the prehistoric era, I think, but haven't tried it yet.

Its not really the same as my idea, but how does it work as a whole?

I need to play around with it later, but my commitment to play only Marathon length games on huge maps makes me a bit slow to try new things.

(I don't commit to finishing them, though- I just want a great Empire by whatever definition I choose, not world domination.)

 

[Galgus]

people were moving because they were exhausting natural resources (not because they didnt know about agriculture or how to settle). when resources were abudant (or their tribe was small) they didnt move. agriculture or stock breeding or hunting or any other food technology doesnt imply settled or nomadic life style. there were moving agricultural cultures. they used to settle for a major period of time (decades) and then abandoned their village and moved to a new place (where they started to work a fresh, fertile soil). on the other hand, there were permanent settlements of hunters or fishers, and they exist nowdays among some primitive cultures.

even when you settle in the game you can still imagine that you are nomadic: as a city works a number of surrounding plots, you can think of your cultural borders as of a territory of your tribe, where your "citizens" (tribesmen) roam gathering resources.

what can be done - abandon a city interface command introduced, that way your city is destroyed and you get a settler on its plot. when you settle in another place, new city starts with a population of the abandoned one. that way you could settle at the first turn, build a scout, then build worker while your scout is scouting, then abandon that city and move to a better location.

The ability to move cities around would be quite an interesting UA for a civilization.

Perhaps there should be a fee for each building moved like this, though, as it would simulate the difficulties of moving after being well-settled in.

 

[Galgus]

I had this idea where there are common people that will follow you and join your 'group'. When you have 5 you may found a city. Before that or if you do not found a city you can set your people to make weapons, tools and other equipment. You then equip say a bow to a follower and the nomad gets a weak ranged attack. When you found a city it will become a regular archer. A follower that is equipped with tools will provide a bonus to food/production/gold depending on the tile it is stationed on. It then can become a worker. This would allow more diverse gameplay. Please comment on it.

That could be an interesting way to customize the Nomad in the era, though it may be simpler to just have the mini-city research upgrades.

Perhaps these upgrades would translate into a one-time production bonus on a building when the city is founded, like a faith upgrade leading to the shrine, a club upgrade helping train a single Warrior, ect.

Its off-topic, but kind of interesting.

 

[Galgus]

I love this idea - I have also had something like this pass through my mind before.

However, I would like to suggest the option of keeping one's civilization in Nomadic state while still playing on through the game. There are a number of civilizations out there (including some already in the game) that were more nomadic, less city-building. I have longed to play this out or play against an AI that plays this out. It would be interesting to see how it clashes with city-building colonial powers, especially if a nomadic civ is unable to prevent a rival city-building civ from settling nearby without combat.

This should be done!

Theres been some ideas on how to do that in the thread, but that would require a more elaborate system than the one I have so far.

Is it possible a nomadic civ might have some static elements, such as a tile improvement?

I'm not entirely sure how a nomadic civ throughout the ages would need to function- would their growth be mainly spreading out multiple nomad-towns across the map while city builders focus on spreading cities and/or population?

Nomads would need some population system I think to work throughout the ages.

 

[jozef57]

ik think it is in general a good idear, but i think it would only work on epic or marathon speeds and even these should be expanded than.

 

[Galgus]

ik think it is in general a good idear, but i think it would only work on epic or marathon speeds and even these should be expanded than.

Admittedly, I only play Marathon speed games, so I may be a bit out of touch with the pacing of the other modes.

 

[kirbdog]

Lots of good ideas here, but if the only goal is to add some flexibility to starting location, one hack would be to make a separate settler (the "founding tribe"?) a larger movement, such as 5, and the scout ignore terrain cost upgrade, in order to give it the ability to found somewhere else on the first turn.

 

[DudewiththeFood]

I think researching either agriculture, hunting or fishing first is a good idea. If you choose agriculture, your city starts with 2 population and a warrior. Hunting gives a production bonus and scout while fishing gives a sum of money and a work boat. Also, if you meet a city-state while exploring, the type of city-state influences the bonus upon founding a city. Mercentile - more money, Maritime - +1 population, Militaristic - a warrior, Cultural - a SP and Religious - a Pantheon.

 

[killmeplease]

it would be nonscence
hunting and fishing were practicised tens of thousands years before agriculture