evonannoredars
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2024
- Messages
- 417
People have floated the idea of Venice returning in Civ VII as an exploration-age one-city civ, but I think there's another Italian exploration civ possibly even more suited to a single-city-adjacent mechanic: The Papal State.
Rather than focusing on training settlers to expand your territory, missionaries become the focus. With more founder beliefs and a unique missionary to make conversion less of a hassle, the ideal way to play the Papal State is to have a capital/holy city (the Vatican City) that focuses on pumping out missionaries to get yields through conversion - the Forum Sancti Petri exists so you don't need to worry so much about replacing buildings in your capital by effectively making them all ageless, allowing you to prioritise churning out Papal Legates and Popes.
You could go for expanionist gameplay, but religion becomes the glue for your empire - a settlement that is converted to another religion for too long may rebel and flip. Since only your capital can create missionaries, the further away a settlement is, the harder it might become to keep it. Fortunately, the ability that gives you copies of treasure fleets means you don't need to have cities in distant lands, and the military ability allows you to make progress by waging crusades, even if you later lose the settlement.
This isn't an entirely fleshed-out concept, I'll maybe return to it to fill out the civic tree, but for now this works as an overview:
Unique Ability
Patrimonium Sancti Petri: Immediately found Catholicism with an extra founder belief. Settlements may rebel if converted to another religion. Missionaries may only be trained in the capital.
Attributes
• Cultural
• Diplomatic
Civic Trees
Descriptive list of a few things that might be in the tree, as abilities:
• Conquering another holy city in any continent grants 1 permanent military legacy point.
• Foreign settlements following your religion generate a copy treasure fleet for you.
• Levying units from city-states converted to your religion is significantly cheaper.
• Founder beliefs also apply to your settlements.
And as traditions:
• Effects of founder beliefs are doubled.
• Buildings with great work slots recieve +1 slot.
• Additional production towards culture buildings.
• Recieve gold per settlements connected to your holy city.
Unique Infrastructure
Pyramis Beati Petri: Unique Building. May only be built in the capital. Influence adjacency for adjacent districts and wonders.
Porticus Beati Petri: Unique Building. May only be built in the capital. Culture adjacency for adjacent districts and wonders.
Forum Sancti Petri: Unique Quarter. Obsolete buildings in this city restore and do not lose their adjacency bonuses.
Pyramis Beati Betri is the name of the obelisk. Had to come up with a name for the colonnades because I couldn't find what they actually call them in Latin.
Unique Civilian Units
Papal Legate: Unique Missionary. Converts rural and urban populations simultaneously.
Pope: Unique Great Person Unit. Can only be built in a city belonging to your religion, and the specific Pope received is random. Each Pope can only be received once. Cost increases per Pope built.
Possible Pope Units:
• Stephen II: Activated on the Palace to recieve an additional founder belief.
• St Leo III: Activated on a foreign Palace to recieve 3 additional war support when joining a war as an ally of this civ.
• Innocent III: Activated on a commander. Commander recieves additional xp fighting in territory belonging to another religion.
• Martin V: Activated on a foreign settlement. Settlement will auto-convert back to own religion after a few turns if converted to another religion.
• Leo X: Activated on a wonder to add production. Recieve gold per remaining production required, multiplied by number of other civs working on the wonder.
• Julius II: Activated on a settlement with the player's religion to grant military units.
• Sixtus IV: Activated on a settlement. Settlement gains 10% production towards building wonders.
Etc, to give a flavour of what Popes would do.
Associated Wonder
Basilica Sancti Petri: Specialists and relics in this city provide additional culture. Has 4 relic slots. Must be placed adjacent to a district.
Wonder quote: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." - Text from the interior of the dome.
Helps with completing the scientific legacy path! Visually connects to the Forum Sancti Petri if placed north-east of it.
Rather than focusing on training settlers to expand your territory, missionaries become the focus. With more founder beliefs and a unique missionary to make conversion less of a hassle, the ideal way to play the Papal State is to have a capital/holy city (the Vatican City) that focuses on pumping out missionaries to get yields through conversion - the Forum Sancti Petri exists so you don't need to worry so much about replacing buildings in your capital by effectively making them all ageless, allowing you to prioritise churning out Papal Legates and Popes.
You could go for expanionist gameplay, but religion becomes the glue for your empire - a settlement that is converted to another religion for too long may rebel and flip. Since only your capital can create missionaries, the further away a settlement is, the harder it might become to keep it. Fortunately, the ability that gives you copies of treasure fleets means you don't need to have cities in distant lands, and the military ability allows you to make progress by waging crusades, even if you later lose the settlement.
This isn't an entirely fleshed-out concept, I'll maybe return to it to fill out the civic tree, but for now this works as an overview:
Unique Ability
Patrimonium Sancti Petri: Immediately found Catholicism with an extra founder belief. Settlements may rebel if converted to another religion. Missionaries may only be trained in the capital.
Attributes
• Cultural
• Diplomatic
Civic Trees
Descriptive list of a few things that might be in the tree, as abilities:
• Conquering another holy city in any continent grants 1 permanent military legacy point.
• Foreign settlements following your religion generate a copy treasure fleet for you.
• Levying units from city-states converted to your religion is significantly cheaper.
• Founder beliefs also apply to your settlements.
And as traditions:
• Effects of founder beliefs are doubled.
• Buildings with great work slots recieve +1 slot.
• Additional production towards culture buildings.
• Recieve gold per settlements connected to your holy city.
Unique Infrastructure
Pyramis Beati Petri: Unique Building. May only be built in the capital. Influence adjacency for adjacent districts and wonders.
Porticus Beati Petri: Unique Building. May only be built in the capital. Culture adjacency for adjacent districts and wonders.
Forum Sancti Petri: Unique Quarter. Obsolete buildings in this city restore and do not lose their adjacency bonuses.
Pyramis Beati Betri is the name of the obelisk. Had to come up with a name for the colonnades because I couldn't find what they actually call them in Latin.
Unique Civilian Units
Papal Legate: Unique Missionary. Converts rural and urban populations simultaneously.
Pope: Unique Great Person Unit. Can only be built in a city belonging to your religion, and the specific Pope received is random. Each Pope can only be received once. Cost increases per Pope built.
Possible Pope Units:
• Stephen II: Activated on the Palace to recieve an additional founder belief.
• St Leo III: Activated on a foreign Palace to recieve 3 additional war support when joining a war as an ally of this civ.
• Innocent III: Activated on a commander. Commander recieves additional xp fighting in territory belonging to another religion.
• Martin V: Activated on a foreign settlement. Settlement will auto-convert back to own religion after a few turns if converted to another religion.
• Leo X: Activated on a wonder to add production. Recieve gold per remaining production required, multiplied by number of other civs working on the wonder.
• Julius II: Activated on a settlement with the player's religion to grant military units.
• Sixtus IV: Activated on a settlement. Settlement gains 10% production towards building wonders.
Etc, to give a flavour of what Popes would do.
Associated Wonder
Basilica Sancti Petri: Specialists and relics in this city provide additional culture. Has 4 relic slots. Must be placed adjacent to a district.
Wonder quote: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." - Text from the interior of the dome.
Helps with completing the scientific legacy path! Visually connects to the Forum Sancti Petri if placed north-east of it.
