The Plant civ - Ideas thread

[thomas.berubeg]

PL, did you ever unwrap those models I sent you?

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

Any way to take screens of those ingame? Might be cumbersome to do, I don't know... But I'd like to see

sure im not 100% sure how to get the Mushroom Villages to sit on the rivers correctly though *hmm*

what if the Re Ki had no population unhealth?

well you can always add an additional effect if its cast by Re Ki mages and i agree with magester that flat out adding a small food bonus would be better.

Perhaps a 'building-tied-to-caster-presence' granting a prod modifier and culture modifier?

i was thinking this as well

But maybe a 'special Re Ki' one that kills the caster but gives a chance to every non-bonus tile in a 3x3 area to pop a resource?

if you go with this i wouldnt limit it to Re Ki only.

I tend to think that Pixies should be extremely weak. I'd prefer the spell make multiple units of only strength 1 rather than a single unit with strength 4.

you are thinking of the unit in the wrong manner Magister. note i called it Pixie SWARM. implying LARGE numbers of the little blighters. the higher strength comes from numbers and their inherent magical abilities.

I'd imagine that pseudo-dragons would have the Dragon racial promotion

i considered this, but theyre little bigger than a house cat. that would be like being terrified of a big goanna or scorpion.

I also imagine that they can fly only about as well as domesticated chickens, which is not enough to give them the flying promotion

i dont agree with this.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

PL, did you ever unwrap those models I sent you?

no, i told you i couldnt open them in 3DS max, and i havent had the time to learn blender. (and to be honest i totally forgot.)

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

Ok here are the Ve and Mushroom Village ingame.

It was actually really easy to get the village to sit on the river like the Watermill. i simply copied the watermill code and rotated the nif slightly.
here is the art code:

		<BuildingArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_BUILDING_RE_KI_VE</Type>
			<LSystem>LSYSTEM_4x4</LSystem>
			<bAnimated>0</bAnimated>
			<fScale>2.5</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>0.6</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Structures/Improvements/Re Ke/Re Ki Ve.nif</NIF>
			<KFM/>
			<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Yggdrasil.dds</Button>
		</BuildingArtInfo>

		<ImprovementArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_IMPROVEMENT_MUSHROOM_VILLAGE</Type>
			<bExtraAnimations>0</bExtraAnimations>
			<fScale>0.2</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>0.2</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Structures/Improvements/Re Ke/Re Ki Mushroom Village.nif</NIF>
			<KFM/>
			<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Mushrooms.dds</Button>
		</ImprovementArtInfo>

i also reuploaded both files with the rotated Village i might also make a couple of upgraded versions do you think youd use ugraded versions if i made em?

 

[Opera]

Wow, it's really nice! I like the first picture!
I could use upgrades, yes

And you didn't take any picture of the Vë?

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

And you didn't take any picture of the Vë?

theyre in the second picture, one next to each city (i made them buildings)

Ill work on 2 upgrades now

 

[Opera]

Ah, sorry! I looked but didn't distinguish them from forests
That looks really really pretty! Awesome!

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

ok heres the 2 upgrades (upload also contains the Ve and original Village):

		<ImprovementArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_IMPROVEMENT_MUSHROOM_VILLAGE</Type>
			<bExtraAnimations>0</bExtraAnimations>
			<fScale>0.2</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>0.2</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Structures/Improvements/Re Ke/Re Ki Mushroom Village.nif</NIF>
			<KFM/>
			<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Mushrooms.dds</Button>
		</ImprovementArtInfo>
		<ImprovementArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_IMPROVEMENT_MUSHROOM_TOWN</Type>
			<bExtraAnimations>0</bExtraAnimations>
			<fScale>0.2</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>0.2</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Structures/Improvements/Re Ke/Re Ki Mushroom Town.nif</NIF>
			<KFM/>
			<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Mushrooms.dds</Button>
		</ImprovementArtInfo>
		<ImprovementArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_IMPROVEMENT_MUSHROOM_SETTLEMENT</Type>
			<bExtraAnimations>0</bExtraAnimations>
			<fScale>0.2</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>0.2</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Structures/Improvements/Re Ke/Re Ki Mushroom Settlement.nif</NIF>
			<KFM/>
			<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/Improvements/Mushrooms.dds</Button>
		</ImprovementArtInfo>

 

[Opera]

Really nice
How do they look when not on a river tile?
(I think the Mushroom villages will be able to work the Mushroom resource)

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

they look half complete when not on a river tile atm, but i can fix that in a second by removing the base. would you like a preview of that too?

 

[Opera]

Yes
They won't be restricted by river, so they would need to look nice when not near one.

 

[Jabie]

I'm somewhat behind the trend of these threads, scanning them rather than fully reading them, but I thought it might be a good idea to provide a motivation behind Lena, the Patrian Mage original responsible for the creation of this Civ.

Currently Lena was trying to extend her life with nature magic... but why? My suggestion is that Lena had spent a long time studying Nature Magic to the detriment of her social development. With Patria falling to pieces around her, Lena found herself childless and rapidly heading towards the menopause. Desperate to extend her fertile years she began her fateful experiments blending herself with nature.

This background links in with Sleeping Beauty and "one day your prince will come" (In the orignal Sleeping Beauty tale it took a lot more than a kiss to awaken the princess.) A minor leader character arc could be based on being feted to be Lena's prince.

If we follow the line that Erebusian pixies have fermented wine from Lena's flowers, they can be infected with her thoughts. This may lead them to steal children, a staple from fairy mythology.

Lena's desperation for children would explain the seeds which infect the "plant zombies" which have been discussed elsewhere in this thread. On Erebus, Mother Nature is a terrifying prospect indeed.

So with that in mind, here's some lore to consider...

Furled up in blossom and clothed within bark
The Mae Queen once slumbered, awakes with life-spark.
Pollen and petals and gossammer grace,
Maiden awaits for her prince's embrace

Tears cast in sap weep for the crime
Of offspring denied by passage of time
Budding the children that she never bore
She will drink of their dreams ten thousand and more

Hopes that lie curled within kernels of seeds
Scatter and drift on the breath of the breeze.
Written in lilac and ochre and tan
The daughter of earth shall be mother of man

 

[Opera]

I'm not sure yet if I like this or not but it could tie in neatly with the 'Children of Dy' units.

Edit: Nevermind, I like this. But I don't see a need for "Lena's [feted] prince". She has no need for anyone now to have children

 

[thomas.berubeg]

Edit: Nevermind, I like this. But I don't see a need for "Lena's [feted] prince". She has no need for anyone now to have children

She has no Physical need. but a psychological one? Her subconscious still needs it.

 

[Opera]

She has no Physical need. but a psychological one? Her subconscious still needs it.

I don't believe so. All she needs is her children and she has them now; maybe she even views the Sleeping Princess as one of her children...

 

[CladInShadows]

Hmm I really like this idea so I thought I'd throw in some ideas of my own

When I imagine this civ, I don't imagine that they have much interest in the other races concepts such as 'territory'.

I'd imagine that as part of nature they consider all of Erebus their land anyway. I'd picture a confrontation with the Re Ki to unfold more along the lines of 'two Khazad warriors enter what they believe to be a safe forest in neutral territory, only to suddenly realize that they are surrounded by living mushrooms with no intention of letting them back out. The Khazad leader, of course, would have no idea why his warriors disappeared in the forest, because he is no more aware of the Re Ki existence at that location than they were.'

How to implement this? I would love to see Re Ki cultural borders, while acting the same as those of every other civilization, invisible to all but the Re Ki themselves. That way the only way of identifying their land is by stumbling upon one of their cities themselves, or as the game progresses, their unique improvements. Of course, we would then have to allow all civs to move through their cultural borders, even without a open borders, but again, I don't imagine a Re Ki leader paying attention to such laws anyway.

If we were to then give the Re Ki a racial ability, their units Hidden Nationality and Invisible while inside their own cultural borders, we would be able to almost recreate the situation above. Imagine, any other players units would not be prevented from entering Re Ki lands, but upon doing so they wold risk being attacked out of nowhere from a unit that they did not see coming. It would not be an act of war, because the Re Ki simply see this action as a fair response to their land being trespassed on, and the victim unit's civilization never finds out what happened to their units, represented by the hidden nationality. Of course, outside their borders, Re Ki units act and appear normal as any other civ's units would.

There could maybe be some kind of unique 'open borders' deal, through which they could reveal their land to other leaders, and allow them safe travel through it.

Units in cities should obviously not be HN, to avoid other civs intentionally attacking them, but it would not be an issue for other units because they would be invisible anyway.

I don't expect people to agree, nor do I even know if this is indeed possible, I just thought it wouldn't hurt to throw around a few extra ideas.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

I actually REALLY like your idea CladInShadows it seems to suit the wai i envisiage the Re Ki as well.

some issues with such a mechanic howere are: what if an AI tried to send settlers into your borders thinking that its neutral territory, and you can easilly pick them off with hidden nationality units. this would be very difficult for the AI to grasp.

i think some parts of what you suggest are good, especially the invisible and/or hidden nationality in borders (akin to the Homeland promotion). we could have all other civs simply ignore Re Ki borderds like you suggest but alow them to still recognise that it is still occupied land so they dont try settling it. similarly i think a lot of ReKi units should be able to ignore borders as well, and be able to enter rival territory, even if it is restricted to Recon units or something.

 

[Opera]

I like the idea too
Invisible and HN in own territory... sounds good to me. Maybe a bit much though... What do you think?

Actual borders would be hard to hide though... I'm not sure how to do that.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

i think invisible and HN in borders would be a bit much.

how about HN in borders and Invisible in FORESTS in borders. you can balance this by making all other civs get automatic uncancellable open borders when they contact the Re Ki (through event.)

i also dont think hiding the borders is such a good idea. itll screw with the AI too much.

 

[Opera]

i think invisible and HN in borders would be a bit much.

how about HN in borders and Invisible in FORESTS in borders. you can balance this by making all other civs get automatic uncancellable open borders when they contact the Re Ki (through event.)

Hmmm, yeah. I think I can set a bAlwaysOpenBorders tag... But the problem is that it would allow trading even if you don't want to. I wish we had a distinction between Military Passage and Trading Routes Treaty...

i also dont think hiding the borders is such a good idea. itll screw with the AI too much.

No, it wouldn't screw the AI; if I did it, it would only hide the culture for the player. Would just be an interface thing.