Swedish Empire - The Era of Gustavus Adolphus

[DioBrando]

Inspired by the Viking mod, I scribbled down some notes and will try to make them into a new civilization based on what we Swedes called Stormaktstiden, which is when Sweden became an empire and a major player in Europe. The empire didn't last that long (about one hundred years) but it was unique enough to distance itself from other civilizations by it's ingenuity and the brilliant governmental and military minds of the kings during this period.

The civilization will be militaristically focused and will be given advantages to unit production, starting at their Iron Working swordsman up to their musketman UU. It will also have a slight economic boost, but it's very situational

The Swedish Empire (Svea Rike)

Leader:

Gustavus Adolphus (Gustav II Adolf, 1594–1632)

Unique Trait:

Swedish Steel

The Swedish iron ore was one of the main reasons that Sweden could build an economy that was strong enough to support their armies. The ore was exported to most of the continent and was one of the best ores for producing steel. You could say that Sweden was actually built upon this industry.

Effects:
Iron resources doubled, +2 commerce from iron tiles. Melee units using requiring iron ore are 10% faster to produce. (Feel free to tell me if you think this is unbalanced or needs to be corrected in some way) This is supposed to simulate the iron export economy and the high quality of the ore.

Two unique units:

1. Carolean
link

Probably the best infantry units of that time, the Caroleans were the solution to the problems of limited manpower and resources. Because of the small unit size, the soldiers had to be the best they could. By having the swedish farmers providing a set amount of manpower and by using gunpowder sparsely, they were able to make the most out of the very meager circumstances

Replaces Musketman

Changes:
25% faster to produce
Lower maintenance cost
Lower base strength
Strength bonus while attacking, that brings it up to musketman level while on the offense.

2. Hakkapell
link

Born and raised in the cold and dark country of Finland, they were light cavalry employed in the Thirty Year war. Quick and deadly, but pretty vulnerable when not blitzing. They employed flintlock pistols and cavalry swords.

Replaces Lancer, but available at gunpowder

Changes: Since they are available earlier, they have lower strength (i’m thinking 20 instead of 22).
This is weighed up by the ability to attack multiple times per turn.
I might also give them the ability to pillage without any move cost, but that’s just balancing

I will update with the city names later on, when I’ve talked with veBear from the Viking mod about the names of Uppsala, Visby and Lund, since they are both Viking and Swedish.

Remaining problems/Decisions left to make:

Balancing
Unit graphics
Leader portrait

I'll do most of the modding myself, but feel free to reply if there's anything you would like to help me with. All and any input will be appreciated.

 

[ywhtptgtfo]

It may be better to use a more Swedish UU. Although Finland was part of Sweden before the Finnish War, most of Finland wasn`t really considered part of the traditional Swedish lands.

 

[richardsvensson]

I think you're on the right track here, definitely!

But there seems to be several different projects constructing the Swedish civilization. Maybe we can cooperate? I can give up my project, and contribute to some other project. Perhaps yours?

My idea was to create 3 Swedish civilizations, with thre different leaders. They can have the same UU/UB and/or trait, or they could (probably better) have different. They ruled during different centuries and they are all different from each other.

Three crowns is probably the most obvious symbol to use, since it has been used since the 1330's as a symbol for Sweden.

Leader 1: Gustav Vasa - Organisation/Economy

• He introduced the hereditary monarchy in Sweden and abolished the elections of the monarch.
• He introduced a strong central government with an efficient bureaucracy.
• He strengthened the worldly power at the expense of the church.

Leader 2: Gustav II Adolf - Military

• He is considered to be one of the best warlords in the history of the world.

Leader 3: Gustav III - Culture

• He is considered to be one of the most gifted, active and controversial kings in the swedish history.
• He was engaged in the cultural sphere and promoted swedish literature and art.

 

[DioBrando]

I think you're on the right track here, definitely!

But there seems to be several different projects constructing the Swedish civilization. Maybe we can cooperate? I can give up my project, and contribute to some other project. Perhaps yours?

My idea was to create 3 Swedish civilizations, with thre different leaders. They can have the same UU/UB and/or trait, or they could (probably better) have different. They ruled during different centuries and they are all different from each other.

Three crowns is probably the most obvious symbol to use, since it has been used since the 1330's as a symbol for Sweden.

Leader 1: Gustav Vasa - Organisation/Economy

• He introduced the hereditary monarchy in Sweden and abolished the elections of the monarch.
• He introduced a strong central government with an efficient bureaucracy.
• He strengthened the worldly power at the expense of the church.

Leader 2: Gustav II Adolf - Military

• He is considered to be one of the best warlords in the history of the world.

Leader 3: Gustav III - Culture

• He is considered to be one of the most gifted, active and controversial kings in the swedish history.
• He was engaged in the cultural sphere and promoted swedish literature and art.

Sure, cooperation is always fun and it's not as if we can't help eachother out. I'm totally new to modding but I'm a quick learner and with Kaels guide it won't be that much of a problem.

If Sweden is to have three different leaders, then we could go down two paths: either we distance them from eachother and make them really different, or we just do a general "swedish" civ and give each leader different traits, but otherwise don't change the UUs and stuff.

I modeled the UUs after the swedish empire (to the poster above: hakkapellis were only used during that time, under the rule of swedish kings, when Finland was Swedish. That's pretty Swedish if you ask me), so we *could* make different UUs/UAs for each king. I don't have time to think about something right now, but it should be pretty easy.

For the Gustav III trait, how about Swedish Absolutism, to simulate the Absolute Monarchy under his period? Vasa has a lot of possible abilities, since he was a pretty cool person, but Gustav III would work best if he had administral powers and maybe the Swedish Academy as a unique wonder instead of a building replacement?

There's a lot to work with here, so i'm more than willing to cooperate.

 

[richardsvensson]

Sure, cooperation is always fun and it's not as if we can't help eachother out. I'm totally new to modding but I'm a quick learner and with Kaels guide it won't be that much of a problem.

If Sweden is to have three different leaders, then we could go down two paths: either we distance them from eachother and make them really different, or we just do a general "swedish" civ and give each leader different traits, but otherwise don't change the UUs and stuff.

I modeled the UUs after the swedish empire (to the poster above: hakkapellis were only used during that time, under the rule of swedish kings, when Finland was Swedish. That's pretty Swedish if you ask me), so we *could* make different UUs/UAs for each king. I don't have time to think about something right now, but it should be pretty easy.

For the Gustav III trait, how about Swedish Absolutism, to simulate the Absolute Monarchy under his period? Vasa has a lot of possible abilities, since he was a pretty cool person, but Gustav III would work best if he had administral powers and maybe the Swedish Academy as a unique wonder instead of a building replacement?

There's a lot to work with here, so i'm more than willing to cooperate.

Ok, great!
Do you agree that Gustav Vasa and Gustav III are the best choices besides Gustav II Adolf? (This way we won't make the swedish civ too similar to the viking/norse civ that is being created)

I think the Unique Trait: Swedish Steel is a very good idea! I like it, and the effects of it seems good to me. After all, you usually don't have very many iron-tiles, so the +2 commerce (which I at first thought was a bit too much) is perhaps appropriate after all.

I'm not sure what path I prefer. Maybe it would be better to make a standard swedish civ. And then just add a leader trait to make them different from each other,..
...on the other hand,...
I think they should be able to construct different buildings (UB), and perhaps even different units (UU).

Another question,... All the standard civilizations have either a UU OR a UB, right? They never have both?
Would it be a problem if we added a couple of UU and UB to each leader,...? If they are not super-units the changes wouldn't make Sweden a superior civ. What I am thinking is just to make the civ more swedish, not necessarily better. I have a couple of suggestions...

 

[richardsvensson]

Here is a .pdf-file with a few suggestions for the swedish civ (from what's been discussed so far). It can (and should) be discussed and I can edit and update it when changes are decided.

PDF

 

[Vordeo]

I'm no expert on Swedish culture/history, but I'm bored and I've just taken a quick look at wikipedia.

Unique Trait:

Swedish Steel

The Swedish iron ore was one of the main reasons that Sweden could build an economy that was strong enough to support their armies. The ore was exported to most of the continent and was one of the best ores for producing steel. You could say that Sweden was actually built upon this industry.

Effects:
Iron resources doubled, +2 commerce from iron tiles. Melee units using requiring iron ore are 10% faster to produce. (Feel free to tell me if you think this is unbalanced or needs to be corrected in some way) This is supposed to simulate the iron export economy and the high quality of the ore.

Feels underpowered, actually. I'd make it +3 commerce or more (iron tiles aren't exactly common, even if you give the civ a start bias towards it), and make all iron units 20% faster to produce.

Alternatively, decreasing maintenance costs for all units requiring iron might be interesting.

Two unique units:

1. Carolean
link

Replaces Musketman

Changes:
25% faster to produce
Lower maintenance cost
Lower base strength
Strength bonus while attacking, that brings it up to musketman level while on the offense.

Looks pretty balanced to me. That said, I've just taken a look at that wiki page and seen this:

It is said about Charles XII that "he could not retreat, only attack or fall". The same goes for his soldiers. In the Swedish army tactics of that time retreat was never covered. Troops were obligated to attack or fight where they stood; a military doctrine, that with the advantage of hindsight might have proven a bit rash.

Would be cool if their special ability was that, when they attacked, they'd keep attacking until one unit was dead. Might be tough to code though.

2. Hakkapell
link

Replaces Lancer, but available at gunpowder

Changes: Since they are available earlier, they have lower strength (i’m thinking 20 instead of 22).
This is weighed up by the ability to attack multiple times per turn.
I might also give them the ability to pillage without any move cost, but that’s just balancing

No need for the pillaging ability, the multiple attacks and early availability are more than enough IMO.

Good luck with this!

 

[Optimizer]

There is already a thread for a Swedish civilization:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=382304

 

[richardsvensson]

How is it going with the modding?
What have you done? What's left to do?

Let us know if you need help with anything.