Palmyra, Collab Mod

[GPuzzle]

Palymerene Empire​

UA: The Pearl of the Desert
Whenever a Foreign Trade Route passes through Palmyran territory, the closest City gains a Food and Production bonus. Cities settled on Desert spawn between one and three Oasis nearby, and units do not suffer Defensive penalties while on the same tile as an Oasis.

UU: Clibanarii (Replaces Horseman)
The Clibanarii is a Horseman replacement that is more expensive, starting with Cover I. In addition, the Clibanarii gains more Strength for every City-State you are intimidating.

UI: Funerary Tower (Unlocked at Construction)
May only be built on flat Desert tiles adjacent to an Oasis, and may not be built next to one another. Trade Routes provide +1 Gold for Palmyra for every Funerary Tower being worked by the City, no matter whether they are being recieved or being sent. In addition, the Funerary Tower does not initially grant any additional bonuses, but it gains additional Yields for every City-State that you are intimidating, based on their type, up to a maximum of +2 of each yield.*

*Each different City-State type grants a different bonus:
- Military City-States give +1 Production for the Funerary Tower.
- Cultural City-States give +1 Culture for the Funerary Tower.
- Religious City-States give +1 Faith for the Funerary Tower.
- Mercantile City-States give +1 Gold for the Funerary Tower.
- Maritime City-States give +1 Food for the Funerary Tower.

Yeah, that's my take on it. Shouldn't be too hard, actually, if we're smart, and it could be really damn cool.

Actually, I kind of want to make that sort of UI now - one that gives additional bonuses for intimidated City-States.

 

[Firebug]

First great people (which seriously guys, stop with it, i'm not happy with this great people idea it doesn't represent Palmyra at all), now intimidating city states? How does this represent Palmyra?

Your designs are all great sure, but put them aside for a moment and think about what Palmyra is best represented as. (i did write a of paragraphs in the previous page)

 

[GPuzzle]

The whole intimidating bit revolves around Palmyra's influence outside its own borders, and presses you to keep a strong military around, and people inevitably go to war when their military is big enough.

 

[Uighur_Caesar]

I was thinking of something less complicated like this:

UA: Pearl of the Desert: Citadels provide +4 Gold and a freshwater source when worked and can be built by Great Merchants. Any trade unit ending their turn in Palmyrene territory provides Production to your nearest city.

UU: Clibanarii: More expensive than the Horseman it replaces. Starts with Cover I and Great Generals I. +2 Movement when starting on a Trade Route.

UB: Tariff Court: Replaces Caravansary. Gold earned from Trade Routes to this city is converted to Great Merchant points. +2 Gold and +1 Food on Oases.

It's a bit more expansionist and trade focused than my earlier submissions. I see the citadels as expanding control of trade routes in the region, which I think makes sense for Palmyra, and it also makes Great Merchants more useful. I think GMs are an appropriate great person for Palmyra to have a focus for given they were a trading power.

 

[NiaoMeow]

Okay I get it... Palmyra was all militaryily strong and all... but what is so unique about them is their, well... uniqueness! Their culture was somewhere in between mesopotamian, pheonician, greek, roman, syrian etc.. Their culture is really important, and it needs to be represented in the design. That is all.

 

[DJSHenninger]

This is.. probably as good as it gets:

Spoiler :

 

[Natan35]

How about this?

Palmyra
UA: Beacon of the Orient
Oases increases trade route range in the capital by +5% when worked, and grant when building wonders or buildings present in your trade route partner's cities. Improvement construction speed and Great merchant generation are increased by a % percentage equal to their city's land trade route range.

UU: Clibanarii
Replaces horseman. The Clibanarii compensates for being expensive with his superior 15 strength, as well as the Shock and Cover I promotions. Has a +33% combat bonus when fighting near Caravans, increasing to +50% strength when doing so in desert.

UI: Funerary Tower
Unlocked at construction. May be built on flat desert tiles, and never adjacent to each other. Has a base yield of +1 culture, increasing to +2 after archeology. However, it will also yield +1 culture and +1 faith for each civilization that could be reached with a caravan from the city working it.

 

[DarthStarkiller]

This is.. probably as good as it gets:

Spoiler :

Small suggestion, if possible: make it so they're aren't lined up, but slightly misaligned. Will it look good? I don't know, but I think it is worth trying.

 

[Firebug]

grant when building wonders or buildings present in your trade route partner's cities.

But you can't build wonders that are already built, so the first half of that is a bit obsolete.

 

[Firebug]

Small suggestion, if possible: make it so they're aren't lined up, but slightly misaligned. Will it look good? I don't know, but I think it is worth trying.

Yeah, i told him to line them up and see how it looks. If you can change it, Davey, that'd be great.

 

[DJSHenninger]

Unfortunately, that's not a 5 minute edit. I doubt it'll look any better; perhaps even worse or simply messy. I also need to move on to the other requests I have; I still need like to convert like 6 or so.

 

[Natan35]

But you can't build wonders that are already built, so the first half of that is a bit obsolete.

Wonders in general, or buildings present in the other civilizations cities...

 

[Kerfuffle]

Wonders in general, or buildings present in the other civilizations cities...

Ah if that's the case then the wording is a bit off. It'd be better phrased as:

Oases increases trade route range in the capital by +5% when worked. External Trade Routes grant when building wonders, or when constructing a building present in the receiving City.Improvement construction speed and Great merchant generation are increased by a % percentage equal to their city's land trade route range.

The comma can make a big difference in how something is read

 

[Firebug]

Ah if that's the case then the wording is a bit off. It'd be better phrased as:


The comma can make a big difference in how something is read

Oh yeah, that comma has just made a big difference.

Perhaps this can be used as part of the UA -

External Trade Routes grant when constructing a building present in the receiving City. Can build the Unique Units of a civilization you are at war with.

The first half represents the mix of architecture: Greco-Roman, Middle Eastern.
The second half is based off Palmyra being a rebel Empire. It splintered from the Roman Empire and basically declared its own independence, but used a military style very similar to it.

 

[NiaoMeow]

Oh yeah, that comma has just made a big difference.

Perhaps this can be used as part of the UA -


The first half represents the mix of architecture: Greco-Roman, Middle Eastern.
The second half is based off Palmyra being a rebel Empire. It splintered from the Roman Empire and basically declared its own independence, but used a military style very similar to it.

I like it! The only problem is showing the production gained from trade routes. You know the drop down menus Suki uses? I always feel like UAs that I cannot see happening don't really deliver.

 

[Klisz]

I like it! The only problem is showing the production gained from trade routes. You know the drop down menus Suki uses? I always feel like UAs that I cannot see happening don't really deliver.

MCIS maybe?

 

[Firebug]

Palmyra (Zenobia)
Palmyra
UA: Pearl of the Desert
Gain in the Capital when foreign Caravans pass through your territory. External Trade Routes grant when constructing a building present in the receiving City. Can build the Unique Units of a civilization you are at war with.

UU: Clibanarii (replaces the Horseman)
Can acquire a tile. This gives the Clibanarii XP based on distance from the capital. higher combat strength (14 vs 12).

UI: Tomb Tower (Available at Construction)
May only be built on desert tiles and may not be built adjacent to another Tomb/Funerary Tower. Yields +2 per turn, +1 and +1 after Archaeology. Each Tomb Tower worked grants +5 when a Great Person is expended.

Summary:
Founding a few smaller cities might favour Palmyra, making them places that Caravans have to travel through and grant production to the Capital. You'll need to make sure your new cities will have all the buildings they need to sustain themselves, so sending out trade routes from them to a superior city will give you the bonus towards buildings that city already owns. Fight an empire with their own weapon. From Roman Legions to German Panzers, their advantage will be lost when they have to fight themselves.

The Clibanarii is designed to acquire a tile and gain large amounts of XP and Culture for it. Basically a land Nau. It can take on enemy Horseman units, but isn't as strong as a Cataphract. Acquire these tiles in far off foreign lands to make use of the UA and gain more XP and Culture.

Mini Mausoleum of Hallicarnasus! the Tomb Towers are your faith producers, securing your chance at religion (hopefully). After Archaeology they become a tourist attraction and an interest of historians. They also give you a smaller bonus to expending Great People, which you should get from your UA. Mix with Desert Folklore and Petra for some fun yields. They don't synergise much with the rest of the civilization, but they're a strong UI to have and you shouldn't say no to building them on some of your more useless desert tiles.





Edit:
Oooh, a collage

Spoiler :

Leaderscreen - Me
Leader Icon, Civ Icon and Map - Kujarim Weaver
DJSHenninger? - Clibanarii Icon

 

[Natan35]

I doubt that there's any point building an improvement which yields 2 faith. A desert based tall civilization should have some sort of a food bonus. It really seems like sort of a city spam civ though, with the insane amounts of faith and production you could gain.

While this design is nice, I don't really think it represent the civilization... And its kinda counter intuitive: Why would you go to war and build units if you can gain more production while at peace? especially as the first part of the UA is based on foreign Caravans, and the AI doesn't fancy trading with Warmongers, last I checked...

 

[shaglio]

And its kinda counter intuitive: Why would you go to war and build units if you can gain more production while at peace? especially as the first part of the UA is based on foreign Caravans, and the AI doesn't fancy trading with Warmongers, last I checked...

I don't know about your games, but for me sometimes the AI is the one who declares war.

 

[Redaxe]

I know people are sick of great people suggestions but what do you think of this one.

No-one is going to deny that the Great Merchant is the most useless type of Great Person in the game and the Merchant specialist is terrible -
-What about a Great Merchant UU that doesn't increase the point cost of other great people - so you can work as many merchant specialists as you like without delaying scientists or engineers...
He would increase the gold gained from Citystates and have a bonus to influence or have other distinct uses - maybe trigger a golden age like the great artist can?


-One part of the UA could increase the value of the Merchant Specialist (i.e. from the Market) by providing a +2 +2 +1 bonus to merchants specialists - on top of the existing +2 gold income.
After all merchants trade food in and out of cities and that can make living in a desert environment more hospitable. Merchants were one of the most important professions of the desert lands as they would bring in food and wares to an environment too inhospitable to produce them. Trading Posts could also produce an additional 1 when placed in any desert environment.

The UA could also increase the food/production/gold yields of desert tiles surrounding a Palmyran city. Every normal desert tile (not oasis or floodplain) would have its food/production/gold value increased by 2/0/1 or 1/1/1. This would give Palmyra a distinct advantage to settle areas deemed too inhospitable for other civs. Building an early market and employing citizens as merchants will bring additional food into the city from distant lands...

-Alternatively Palmyra could have a date palm plantation as a UI. There possibly is some basis for this historically
According to Schultens, the Romans altered the name from "Tadmor" to "Talmura", and afterward to "Palmura" (from the Latin word "palma", meaning palm),[2] in reference to the city's palm trees. Then the name reached its final form "Palmyra".[7] Other philologists, such as Jean Starcky, consider Palmyra to be a translation of "Tadmor" (assuming that it meant palm), which had derived from the Greek word for palm, "Palame".

Date palms could be planted onto desert tiles directly adjacent to a city or an Oasis or other desert freshwater tiles to provide additional food and gold in excess of what could be achieved from a normal desert tile. Thus a typical Palmyran city would be ringed with Date Palms on the map - in other words the city would look like a green oasis surrounded by vast deserts... I would think a 3 food 1 gold yield with Calender technology to unlock would be ok. Once you unlock fertilizer then the food yield becomes 4 food 1 gold... Otherwise it is potentially too powerful with Petra wonder...

Type the words "Date Palm Plantation" into Google and you'll see some design inspiration. Possibly the palms and grass from the stock Oasis tile could be cut and pasted to create a Date Palm Plantation...
A date palm plantation is a cool idea and date palms have been a staple food of the middleeast for thousands of years. The Hebrew city of Jericho was called the "City of Palms" in reference to the prominence of the date palm...