Planar Gates

[Sarisin]

I'm playing the Sheiam for the first time and I thought the planar gates were pretty neat. A couple of questions:

1. What is the deal on how they spawn creatures? I built them in 4 of my cities and within a few turns got 2 Moebius Witches (love those!) and 2 Chaos Marauders. However, in my Epic game, I went more than 300 turns before the 4 gates and a 5th I added spawned any creatures. Now, I am getting overwhelmed with creatures! Seems bizarre to me.

2. Does your orientation/religion have anything to do with what creatures are spawned? In my first game, later I was getting deluged with Tar Demons. In my current game it is mostly Chaos Marauders, Revelers, and still many Moebius witches. I did see one Succubi too. In my first game my religion was AV and this game it is FOL.

3. Is there any way to 'turn off' the gates so no more creatures come through it, or just delete?

 

[BeefontheBone]

The spawn rate and maximum number of creatures increase with the Armageddon Counter, and certain other buildings are required to enable each unit to appear - mage guilds for the witches, for example. It's curiosly absent from their Wiki entry, actually.

 

[[NWO]_Valis]

From Kaels Fire developers diary:

02/07/2007: The Sheaim
Spoiler:

The Sheaim don't get any melee units beyond the warrior. Instead they get the Planar Gate building (in the Sheaim screenshot the Planar Gate is the building on the opposite side of the river form the city).

Planar gates have a chance per turn of attracting creatures from other planes. The type of creatures that come through are dependant on the buildings in that city according to the following:

1. Carnival- attracts Chaos Marauders
2. Gambling House- attracts Revelers
3. Public Baths- attracts Succubus's (Sucubi?)
4. Large Animal Stables- attracts Ahmen Minotaurs (this may be changed to the chimera if we can get good art for it)
5. Mage Guild- attracts Mobius Witches
6. Weaponsmith- attracts Synish Minotaurs
7. Temple of the Veil- attracts Tar Demons

We may add more, Fire elementals may come through if you have the eternal flame in the city, etc. Players that have played Dungeon Keeper may recognize the mechanic.

The important part of this is how its controlled by the Armageddon counter. The higher the counter the more likely creatures are to come through the gate. It also influences the upper limit for each creature type. It starts with a maximum of 1 of each creature type per gate you have in your empire. So if you had 3 gates you could have 3 Revelers at once, no more will come through. If the Armageddon counter gets above 50 you are allowed 2 units of each type per gate. At 75 you are allowed 3 per type for each gate and at 100 you can have 4 of each type per gate.

When the Armageddon counter gets high the Sheaim can field an army of units that they didn't have to produce, leaving them free to spend hammers on the Elegy of the Sheaim ritual which raises the Armageddon count.

 

[eerr]

you need at least one creature-related building in a city with a planar gate
in order to spawn
(this is all you really need to get the maximum if your willing to wait)

the maximum number of the "recruits" is based on the number of gates vs the armageddon counter(and maybe the map size/game speed)

 

[Fetus4188]

The spawn rate and maximum number of creatures increase with the Armageddon Counter, and certain other buildings are required to enable each unit to appear - mage guilds for the witches, for example. It's curiosly absent from their Wiki entry, actually.

I don't know what you mean. It's in the wiki.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/FfH_Planar_Gate_(Building)

 

[Sarisin]

I really appreciate the explanation from everyone. It is fun learning about new civs on your own, but even better to have this forum where members can help out by filling in the gaps.

One other question: I have the Council of Esus built in one of my cities with a planar gate. Should the creatures spawning in that city be Hidden Nationality?

Thanks.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Neither free promotions nor free experience is given to the units that spawn in planar gate cities. That is the main reason I rarely play as Sheaim.

Note, however, that for some reason Ride of the Nine Kings seems to give the morale promo to all units on the city tile, not just those built there, so planar gate creatures should be able to get that for free.

Completely unrelated, but I've found that when a city has both a planar gate and a city hub (cheating), then the units appear 2 tiles up and right of the city, even if that is in the middle of the sea.

 

[GeeJo]

Something to bear in mind when BtS allows the Sheaim to go Sprawling, I guess.

 

[xanaqui42]

One other question: I have the Council of Esus built in one of my cities with a planar gate. Should the creatures spawning in that city be Hidden Nationality?

No spawned (i.e. non-built) units presently grant standard free promotions or XP. A few (Imp, Djinn, Mobius Witch) have constrained random free promotions, and one (Mobius Witch) acts as a higher level (with XP to boot) regardless of the promotions gained randomly.

On the other hand, your question was if they should. That part I can't answer; only that they don't.

 

[xanaqui42]

I don't know what you mean. It's in the wiki.

http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/FfH_Planar_Gate_(Building)

It wasn't in the Sheaim entry's mechanics section. I've put a reference to the Planar Gate there.

 

[Sarisin]

Thanks again for the responses. I have to say it was quite exciting when my first Minotaur and Manticore showed up in my cities. Great work on the art on those units, guys!

It's funny, I was locked into playing mostly Einon Logos/Elohim and being Good in my games. However, after trying the Sheiam for the first few times, I am having a blast being Evil!

 

[Sarisin]

Can the Planar Gates mutate a regular unit built there?

I built a Thane of Kilmorph (playing as Tebryn Arbandi) and it came out mutated with the Enraged promotion.

I cannot figure out what else could have caused it.

Also, it was strange that I got a Moebius witch from a planar gate the turn BEFORE I built the Mage Guild. I did have a mage guild in the city of my other planar gate though.

 

[snarko]

Chaos mana mutated your unit.

 

[Sarisin]

OK, thanks. I take it this is rather rare. I am well into my third game playing as the Sheaim and have had it happen only once so far.

 

[onedreamer]

Something to bear in mind when BtS allows the Sheaim to go Sprawling, I guess.

I'm very much hoping that the change of traits is made an option to enable and disable.

 

[xanaqui42]

OK, thanks. I take it this is rather rare. I am well into my third game playing as the Sheaim and have had it happen only once so far.

See here.

If you have 1 Chaos Mana, 2% of your built (not summoned or Planar Gated) units should have the Mutation effect.

 

[Sarisin]

See here.

If you have 1 Chaos Mana, 2% of your built (not summoned or Planar Gated) units should have the Mutation effect.

Thank you again, sir. It is probably about right. I suppose I have built, oh, 100 or more units, but with the planar gates in each city I tend to build a lot less than I would playing another civ.

It was interesting that in mutated a Thane of Kilmorph, of all things, which was bound to spread religion to one of my cities.