Warning: Long post ahead.
I had an idea while playing the other day, and I think it could go a long way both with realism and interesting and fun gameplay.
Currently Animal Husbandry is expressed by allowing players to build pastures on preexisting tile with an animal resource. It's clean, simple, somewhat boring, and unrealistic. I add the last one because farm animals weren't simply hanging around waiting for humans to take the initiative to milk them for all they're worth (literally), but rather an extended process of domestication in which wild animals were tamed.
Additionally, wild animals are currently simply barbarian threats, and that's all. That's a shame, as there is so much more that can be done with them. This proposal will give them added significance and impact.
What I propose is to bring animal hunting/domestication to Realism Invictus. Below is a breakdown of my current conception. The major particulars will be listed first. They will be followed by spoilers with further ideas that build on the primary concepts but are not requirements to the feature.
(Note: I haven't played any SVN since 3.2, so apologies in advance if I reference anything that has been made obsolete)
Grazing Grounds (Terrain Feature) - Resource tiles would not be animal-specific, as they currently are. Rather, they would represent good grazing grounds, much like the Fertile Soils, a generic tile that can support any type of domesticated animal (of perhaps only certain types of animals).
(Note: This has no relation to the Mongolian unique improvement; the name is simply a good fit, and so I am using it)
Pasture - Once Animal Husbandry is researched, pastures could be built on the grazing-ground tiles, but this will not immediately yield anything (or perhaps just a small benefit at best). When an animal is domesticated, they can be settled in a pasture to begin taming the animal and raising it for consumption, adding it as a resource to the civilization. The pasture will experience yield-growth, much like Cottages and the Viking Fishing Vessels, requiring it to be worked to reach maximum yield.
Wild Animals - Defeating a wild animal has a chance of giving you an animal unit similar to the slave unit. This animal can be brought to a city to provide a small food-bonus, similar to a slave's production bonus. If Animal Husbandry has been researched, they (or those that can be farmed) can be brought to and settled in a pasture, allowing its yield-growth to begin (with the animal in question determining the eventual yield), and providing the player with the appropriate animal resource. They could also be used for other, culture-specific values (imagine an Egyptian temple that gets a bonus from having cats, or offering cows/sheep as a sacrifice at a Greek or Roman temple for temporary happiness?)
Auxiliary Ideas:
Civics
Wild Animals and their Domesticated Counterparts
Diverse Pastures
Breeding Grounds
Unique Improvements
I had an idea while playing the other day, and I think it could go a long way both with realism and interesting and fun gameplay.
Currently Animal Husbandry is expressed by allowing players to build pastures on preexisting tile with an animal resource. It's clean, simple, somewhat boring, and unrealistic. I add the last one because farm animals weren't simply hanging around waiting for humans to take the initiative to milk them for all they're worth (literally), but rather an extended process of domestication in which wild animals were tamed.
Additionally, wild animals are currently simply barbarian threats, and that's all. That's a shame, as there is so much more that can be done with them. This proposal will give them added significance and impact.
What I propose is to bring animal hunting/domestication to Realism Invictus. Below is a breakdown of my current conception. The major particulars will be listed first. They will be followed by spoilers with further ideas that build on the primary concepts but are not requirements to the feature.
(Note: I haven't played any SVN since 3.2, so apologies in advance if I reference anything that has been made obsolete)
Grazing Grounds (Terrain Feature) - Resource tiles would not be animal-specific, as they currently are. Rather, they would represent good grazing grounds, much like the Fertile Soils, a generic tile that can support any type of domesticated animal (of perhaps only certain types of animals).
(Note: This has no relation to the Mongolian unique improvement; the name is simply a good fit, and so I am using it)
Pasture - Once Animal Husbandry is researched, pastures could be built on the grazing-ground tiles, but this will not immediately yield anything (or perhaps just a small benefit at best). When an animal is domesticated, they can be settled in a pasture to begin taming the animal and raising it for consumption, adding it as a resource to the civilization. The pasture will experience yield-growth, much like Cottages and the Viking Fishing Vessels, requiring it to be worked to reach maximum yield.
Wild Animals - Defeating a wild animal has a chance of giving you an animal unit similar to the slave unit. This animal can be brought to a city to provide a small food-bonus, similar to a slave's production bonus. If Animal Husbandry has been researched, they (or those that can be farmed) can be brought to and settled in a pasture, allowing its yield-growth to begin (with the animal in question determining the eventual yield), and providing the player with the appropriate animal resource. They could also be used for other, culture-specific values (imagine an Egyptian temple that gets a bonus from having cats, or offering cows/sheep as a sacrifice at a Greek or Roman temple for temporary happiness?)
Auxiliary Ideas:
Civics
Spoiler :
Agrarian Economy - this civic could be expanded to capitalize on the hunting aspect. Although titled 'Agrarian', it's only bonus at current is the Hunter's Cabin (if memory serves right... I don't have the game open in front of me at the moment), so it already fits being the 'hunter-gatherer' civic. I imagine it functioning as a reversal of of Animal Husbandry, providing a penalty to pastures but giving helpful bonuses to hunting (perhaps a boost to a slave-animal's food bonus, or increased frequency of wild animals).
Pastural Nomadism - Rather than provide an outright and huge (almost unfair) bonus to pastures, the civic can provide an increased growth rate of pastures, allowing player to capitalize on them much sooner. Perhaps also a penalty on using slave-animals for food bonuses.
Pastural Nomadism - Rather than provide an outright and huge (almost unfair) bonus to pastures, the civic can provide an increased growth rate of pastures, allowing player to capitalize on them much sooner. Perhaps also a penalty on using slave-animals for food bonuses.
Wild Animals and their Domesticated Counterparts
Spoiler :
Wild Animal -- Domesticated Counterpart
Bovines (cattle/buffalo/etc) -- Cows (can be settled in pasture)
Boar -- Pigs (can be settled in pasture)
Mouflon -- Sheep (can be settled in pasture)
Wolves -- Dogs (can't be settled; provide bonus to sheep pastures?)
Wildcats* -- Cats (can't be settled; bonus to Egyptian temples?).
*Alternatively can derive from jaguars/panthers/lions/etc, though it would be somewhat inaccurate. Sense as a game feature depends on where the realism vs history line is drawn.
Bovines (cattle/buffalo/etc) -- Cows (can be settled in pasture)
Boar -- Pigs (can be settled in pasture)
Mouflon -- Sheep (can be settled in pasture)
Wolves -- Dogs (can't be settled; provide bonus to sheep pastures?)
Wildcats* -- Cats (can't be settled; bonus to Egyptian temples?).
*Alternatively can derive from jaguars/panthers/lions/etc, though it would be somewhat inaccurate. Sense as a game feature depends on where the realism vs history line is drawn.
Diverse Pastures
Spoiler :
An alternative to the growth-yield pastures, settling an animal only increases the yield by a certain amount, with maximum yield achieved by settling multiple animals. So for a cow pasture to reach full yield, say, a pasture would need to have 3 cows settled there. This would also allow for pastures to accept multiple types of animals, maybe with each one providing a type of bonus?
Possibility:
The first instance of a settled animal provides and an extra benefit (cows ; sheep ; pig ). Adding a second instance of an animal provides and an additional resources based on the animal (Sheep and Pig, ; Cows ). Adding a third instance will provide and also that animal as a resource (so having a mixed pasture will not provide enough of any animal to act as a proper resource, but can provide mixed bonuses).
So, totals would be:
3x Cow: 3 2, Cow resource
3x Sheep: 4, 1, Sheep resource
3x Pig: 5, Pig resource
2x Cow, 1x Pig: 4 2, no resource
2x Cow, 1x Sheep: 4 1 1, no resource
2x Sheep, 1x Cow: 4 1 1, no resource
2x Sheep, 1x Pig: 5 1, no resource
2x Pig 1x Sheep: 5 1, no resource
2x Pig, 1x Cow: 5 1, no resource
1x Cow, 1x Sheep, 1x Pig: 4 1 1, no resource
Possibility:
The first instance of a settled animal provides and an extra benefit (cows ; sheep ; pig ). Adding a second instance of an animal provides and an additional resources based on the animal (Sheep and Pig, ; Cows ). Adding a third instance will provide and also that animal as a resource (so having a mixed pasture will not provide enough of any animal to act as a proper resource, but can provide mixed bonuses).
So, totals would be:
3x Cow: 3 2, Cow resource
3x Sheep: 4, 1, Sheep resource
3x Pig: 5, Pig resource
2x Cow, 1x Pig: 4 2, no resource
2x Cow, 1x Sheep: 4 1 1, no resource
2x Sheep, 1x Cow: 4 1 1, no resource
2x Sheep, 1x Pig: 5 1, no resource
2x Pig 1x Sheep: 5 1, no resource
2x Pig, 1x Cow: 5 1, no resource
1x Cow, 1x Sheep, 1x Pig: 4 1 1, no resource
Breeding Grounds
Spoiler :
Breeding Grounds are terrain features that spawn wild animals, similar to revolting slaves (animals can spawn even if the tile is revealed/in player territory). Breeding Grounds can be cleared by (workers? military units?) to prevent further spawning. Each Breeding Ground will spawn a particular type of wild animal. This can allow players to continue to tame wild animals even after the initial phase of the game is over and wild animals stop appearing.
Unique Improvements
Spoiler :
Cattle Trek - The cattle trek could be similar to its current version in that it functions as a pasture that can be built anywhere, but doesn't grow to the same extent as normal pastures.
Mongolian Grazing Ground - Perhaps a replacement for the regular pasture that provides extra bonuses?
Mongolian Grazing Ground - Perhaps a replacement for the regular pasture that provides extra bonuses?