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Palmyra, Collab Mod

Unfortunatley, mock exams have come at a bad time. So i'll be unable to compile the XML. which was my job. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to the best of my ability, and help with stuff.
The main priorities are
- XML
- Lua
- Art
- UI model conversion
 
What exact XML and Lua need to be done?

Basically every last letter. There is 0% progress on anything but art and designs.
 
I've begun coding the XML and i've asked davey_henninger to convert the improvement from civ iv.

What i need help with is lua, the civilopedia and dom writing, and the compatibilities.

This was the current design by Uighur but its still up for change.
UA: Pearl of the Desert
Trade units ending their turn in your territory gives a Production boost to the nearest city and each Great Tile Improvement speeds up city Border Expansion.

UU: Clibanarii (replaces the Horseman)
Stronger and more expensive than the Horseman it replaces, the Clibanarii yields +1 Culture per level per turn spent in foreign territory and provides a sum of Great People Points dependent on it's level when killed or upgraded.

UI: Tomb/Funerary Tower (Available at Construction)
May only be built on desert tiles and may not be built adjacent to another Tomb/Funerary Tower. Yields +2 Faith per turn. It may be built instantly on tiles adjacent to Great Tile Improvements. Gain Faith upon expending a Great Person for every Funerary Tower. +1 Culture upon researching Archaeology.

me and davey_henninger believe this code to be very difficult and/or impossible.
 
I can help out with the lua. What are you guys considering uncodeable? The UA is perfectly fine from a coding perspective. The UU has the inconvenience that it doesn't specify which great person, but maybe it could just be randomized. Also, the great people points can just go to capital to make it easier to code. The only difficult part about the UI is having it be built instantly next to great person tiles. DMS said he had a way of doing it by converting your workers into another special worker when next to the UI, but that's probably too hard and the AI wouldn't understand most likely. Perhaps we could change that effect for something else. Maybe something will oases? Like maybe it could improve adjacent oases or vice versa?
 
Given the name of the UA, could some kind of desert bonus be added to it? Otherwise it looks fine.
 
I can help out with the lua. What are you guys considering uncodeable? The UA is perfectly fine from a coding perspective. The UU has the inconvenience that it doesn't specify which great person, but maybe it could just be randomized. Also, the great people points can just go to capital to make it easier to code. The only difficult part about the UI is having it be built instantly next to great person tiles. DMS said he had a way of doing it by converting your workers into another special worker when next to the UI, but that's probably too hard and the AI wouldn't understand most likely. Perhaps we could change that effect for something else. Maybe something will oases? Like maybe it could improve adjacent oases or vice versa?

Well, the trait is codeable. The UU is as well, though Firebug mentioned he'd rather have a different design for that. Also, the Great People thing apparently came out of nowhere. The hardest part would indeed be the instant construction for the UI. The method you mentioned crossed my mind as well, but, I tried this once and I faced one big issue: whenever I took two steps with my worker, I'd get two workers. So there was some kind of multiplication problem, though this was back when I knew less about lua, so I might have overlooked something.

An idea is to drop the Great Person focus, and change it to desert. Especially considering the name of the trait, as Skaz mentioned. Something with oases sounds nice..:crazyeye:
 
What i don't like about the design
random great people affinity
Clibanarii generate gpp but each great person has their own gpp so how does that work
instant improvement building next to great people improvements

The new part of the trait could be something simple like Oasis yields being changed.
 
1st of all: We need to pick a great person/great person type (military, cultural etc.).

Or, this design which does not factor in the type of great person.

UA: Pearl of the Desert
Flat desert tiles within Palmyran territory have a chance to become oases. Gain production from land trade routes ending in your territory every oasis, great person tile improvement and funerary tower within city borders.

UI: Funerary Tower
May be built by expending great people. Gives +2 faith and +1 culture, and an additional +1 great people points of the great person expended if built by a great person. Yields doubled if built adjacent to an oasis.
 
Maybe something here will be useful:

UA: Pearl of the Desert: Trade units ending their turn in your territory provide a Production boost to the nearest city. Oases may spawn on flat desert tiles and provide +2 Culture.

UU: Clibanarii: Stronger but more expensive than the Horseman. +1 Culture per level while inside of hostile territory. Provides points towards your capital's closest great person upon killing enemies.

UI: Funerary Tower: May only be built on flat land and not adjacent to each other. +2 Faith and +1 Culture, with an additional +1 Culture if on Desert and another +1 Culture after Archaeology. Instantly claims all surrounding tiles if built next to a great person tile or vice versa.
 
How about something simple for the second bit? For a desert start I think this would be simple, powerful and thematic:

"Great person tile improvements function as sources of fresh water"
 
How about something simple for the second bit? For a desert start I think this would be simple, powerful and thematic:

"Great person tile improvements function as sources of fresh water"
While it encroaches on an upcoming design idea I have, it has the advantage of being easy to code. I could pretty easily adapt the code I have for this application.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
How about something simple for the second bit? For a desert start I think this would be simple, powerful and thematic:

"Great person tile improvements function as sources of fresh water"

I do like that, it would help with desert cities but not too much. And it would allow gardens to be built on non-fresh water cities.

Also, according to how Davey does with making the UI, we could think about a UB. Maybe a garden replacement to go with the UA.
 
Actually while I'm at it this is how I'd have done this, based on all the existing designs and some of my own stuff:

"Trade routes to Palymyran cities yield Great Person points and food for every desert tile worked by the city. Great person tile improvements act as a source of fresh water.

Palymerene Empire

UA: The Pearl of the Desert
Trade routes to Palymyran cities yield :c5greatperson: Great Person points and :c5food: food for every desert tile or funerary tower worked by the city, doubled during :c5goldenage: Golden Ages. :c5greatperson: Great person tile improvements act as a source of fresh water.

UU: Clibanarii (Replaces Horseman)
The clibanarii is more :c5production: expensive than the horseman it replaces, but starts with the 'Cover I' and 'Shock I' promotions. Aditionally, clibanarii are much cheaper to upgrade into knights than regular horsemen.

UI: Funerary Tower (Unlocked at Construction)
The Funerary tower yields +1 :c5faith: faith and +2 :c5culture: culture. May expend a :c5greatperson: great person on a funerary tower to permanently boost its yield by 2 :c5faith: faith and 1 :c5culture: culture. Constructing a funerary tower on a desert tile grants a sum of :c5goldenage: golden age points.

Also most of this is relatively easy to code, the only bits I don't think I'd be able to do would be the yield boost on the UI from expending a GP and doubling the UA output during GA's.
 
I like this, but what kind of GPP?
 
Dont mind, could be random, could be the closest to completion, could be chosen upon the player setting up the trade route or it could be a specific GP (Great engineers maybe? Would make the most sense to me, thematically, though the manufactory is nowhere near as widely used as say, citadels or academies, so the second half of the UA wouldn't get as much use there.)
 
To help with ideas heres a quick brief i've written explaining how i've read Palmyra to be.

Palmyra started as a resting place for caravans. Taxing traders created a large amount of income for Palmyra and this would usually take place in a building called the Tariff Court. There was also agriculture thanks to the Oasis near the city. "The oasis had about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of irrigable land, that surrounded the city", and an extensive irrigation system was built to catch rainfall. However, food was imported because the agriculture was more luxury based and could not sustain the population. Palmyra was not on the silk road, but was able to secure the desert route passing their city and connect it to the nearby valley that the silk road did pass through. This route was used exclusively by Palmyrene merchants.

Palmyra was described by Irfan Shahîd as the "Sparta among the cities of the Orient, Arab and other, and even its gods were represented dressed in military uniforms." Military forces extended Palmyrene authority beyond the city walls, and as previously mentioned would protect trade routes. The Clibanarii were the majority of the force. Their heavy armour made them durable, but did hell to their speed and endurance. They would carry large lances with no shields.

Zenobia had a very short reign as regent in the 3 years that Palmyra was an Empire, splintered off the Roman Empire. She was deceptive and expansionist, but also a very strong military leader. She was an able-horse rider and would walk alongside her troops for miles.


Palmyra's designs should have trade, production and military all considered. But we also have to consider whether we actually need funerary towers as a UI, or they're just feeling forced. They weren't a massive part of Palmyra's history. Also, Great People are not a huge part of Palmyra's history, not in the sense that it might be for other civilizations. So i see no reason to keep trying to force in a great people synergy.
 
To help with ideas heres a quick brief i've written explaining how i've read Palmyra to be.

Palmyra started as a resting place for caravans. Taxing traders created a large amount of income for Palmyra and this would usually take place in a building called the Tariff Court. There was also agriculture thanks to the Oasis near the city. "The oasis had about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of irrigable land, that surrounded the city", and an extensive irrigation system was built to catch rainfall. However, food was imported because the agriculture was more luxury based and could not sustain the population. Palmyra was not on the silk road, but was able to secure the desert route passing their city and connect it to the nearby valley that the silk road did pass through. This route was used exclusively by Palmyrene merchants.

Palmyra was described by Irfan Shahîd as the "Sparta among the cities of the Orient, Arab and other, and even its gods were represented dressed in military uniforms." Military forces extended Palmyrene authority beyond the city walls, and as previously mentioned would protect trade routes. The Clibanarii were the majority of the force. Their heavy armour made them durable, but did hell to their speed and endurance. They would carry large lances with no shields.

Zenobia had a very short reign as regent in the 3 years that Palmyra was an Empire, splintered off the Roman Empire. She was deceptive and expansionist, but also a very strong military leader. She was an able-horse rider and would walk alongside her troops for miles.


Palmyra's designs should have trade, production and military all considered. But we also have to consider whether we actually need funerary towers as a UI, or they're just feeling forced. They weren't a massive part of Palmyra's history. Also, Great People are not a huge part of Palmyra's history, not in the sense that it might be for other civilizations. So i see no reason to keep trying to force in a great people synergy.

What I'm thinking of is a Great General focus that also allows them to be used in other ways (funerary towers).
 
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