The Sand Sea (civ concept)

[mo123567]

I started a thread awhile ago where I was trying to flesh out my idea for a civ concept. I've put most of the ideas from that thread into the folowing concept for a new civ.


The Sand Sea

Leader - Anais - (On-uh-ees) A goddess who was stripped of her powers and confined to the desert

The Sand Sea is a civilization that consists of the goddess Anais and her servants who are captured from other civilizations. Anais can manifest herself as multiple units and becomes more powerful as she devours more resources, land, units, mana, just about any thing she can get her hands on.

Technology - The Sand Sea gains "points" from "devouring" that can be spent on technology which, for the Sand Sea is simply upgrades to the power of Anais. These technologies will alow her to manifest as more powerful units and become less confined to the desert. A separate tech tree would most likely be required for this civilization.

Units - As opposed to building units, The Sand Sea gains generic units over time. Every certain amount of turns one of these is generated in the Capital city until the limit is reached. These units can be combined to form more powerful units. As Anais gains more power (technologies), the unit limit increases as does the ability to combine into more powerful units. If a unit is killed, the amount of combined units that went into it is added back into the unit generation limit. All promotions for killed units are lost and it will take time for the generic units to be regenerated. When units are combined, the experience is combined as well and promotions can be selected for the new unit. All of these units are part of Anais and can only be away form the desert for a certain amount of turns. As Anais recovers her power, the time units can be away from the desert increases. When she is at full power, she is no longer confined to the desert. The "mage" units can control sandstorms which can allow Sand Sea units to travel outside of the desert. Units from other empires can also be persuaded to follow Anais. They will retain thier form and abilities and will be able to travel outside of the desert with no restrictions.

Culture/Land - A new "Sand Sea" tile will need to be created. A Sand Sea tile is automaically within the Sand Sea cultural borders. The only way to take land from the Sand Sea is to convert it back, which would declare war. It takes more turns to convert a Sand Sea tile than a normal desert tile. On the other hand, the Sand Sea can only spread land by converting it into a Sand Sea tile. Of corse converting a tile within another civ's borders is a declaration of war. Any Sand Sea unit, other than captured units, can convert a tile over a certain amount of turns however the unit is lost and returned to the unit generation limit. So it's best to use the weakest units. (Something needs to be done to avoid declaring war if another civ expands into a square while you are in the process of converting it. It happens with the Scions) Land can not be taken from the Sand Sea through culture and the Sand Sea can not take land through culture.

Diplomacy/War/"points" - The Sand Sea needs to generate "points" in order to purchase tecnologies which equate to the godess Anais regaining her power. (The points may simply be gold) Basically everytime the Sand Sea has a chance to "devour" something, points are gained. Any unit that is killed in the Sand Sea generates points, as well as any unit killed anywhere by a Sand Sea unit. If other civs have a war within the Sand Sea's lands, the killed units generate points for the Sand Sea. Also the animal civ will generate dangerous units in the Sand Sea (giant scorpians, sandworms!) which can help generate points. The Sand Sea will be at peace with the animal civ. Converting tiles also generates points. A hill with trees would generate more points than a featureless plain. Resources also generate points and are automatically contected in the Sand Sea but can not be traded to other civs since the Sand Sea does not process them correctly for other civ's needs. (no winery to change grapes into wine etc..) The Sand Sea can trade with other civs however, by offering benefits of the power of Anais which can boost production, food, commerce, science, etc... As Anais becomes more powerful (technology) she will have more of these special bonuses to trade. (They don't benefit the Sand Sea since it has no production, food, etc..)

Featureless desert/Capital City - The Sand Sea only has one City which is invisable and can move throughout the Sand Sea. (Hope this is possible) It can be seen for a few turns after moving and if a unit is in an adjacent tile. The Sand Sea does not produce anything, does not need food, commerce, culture or anything else other than devouring things in order to gain techs/power.

Full Power/Hero - When Anais regains all of her power (all technologies in her tree) She returns to her true form as a powerful godess. (Auric can't be the only super unit running around)


Of course all of this would have to be balanced and a lot of things could be adjusted or changed. I especially am not attached to the civ's name.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

umh, some very interesting ideas there. nice concept, hopefully this can evolve and eventually become a civ

 

[Randomness]

For the capital, try looking at the Mongolian senario in Warlords. The unit (can't remember what it is called) is capable of spawning units, and would be fairly easy to turn invisible...

 

[UNIT 666]

If a Civilization were a plague...

Wowzers! Sounds like a lot of work for just one civilization! Reinventing the wheel, if you will.

Now, some questions about the Sand Plague civ:

1. Could you do something similar for Anais' progression by using buildings instead of techs?

2. How will the AI handle this civ? Will it use custom AI?

3. Do you have any ideas on lore - specifically, why this goddess was not mentioned in it yet, and how she was able to break the compact without any sort of retaliation against her? Or, do the Compact's rules not apply to her because she was stripped of her powers?
[tab]3a. How is she regaining her powers if she was stripped of them?
[tab]3b. How were the powers stripped, anyways?
[tab]3c. Who stripped the powers away from her?

4. Are these 'generic units,' which I shall henceforth call Sand People, of the Tusken Raider (actual Humans) or Elemental (literally Sand People) variety? They sound like they're elementals because they can fuse.

5. Are converted units enslaved/brainwashed/controlled or willingly converting to her cause?

6. How will the Sand Plague spread overseas - will there be ... Naval Sand People? Or, will Anais have to convert naval units from other civs?

7. Will city defenders be moved with the capital? Also, what happens if the capital is taken - is it converted into a normal city, or razed; if it's razed, does it affect the Armageddon Counter?

8. Does Hell Terrain or the Armageddon Count affect this civ in any way? Can the Sand People convert Hell Terrain to Anais' desert? What about water?

So many questions!


Really ambitious civ. I, too, look forward to seeing it.

 

[mo123567]

If a Civilization were a plague...

Wowzers! Sounds like a lot of work for just one civilization! Reinventing the wheel, if you will.

Now, some questions about the Sand Plague civ:

1. Could you do something similar for Anais' progression by using buildings instead of techs?

2. How will the AI handle this civ? Will it use custom AI?

3. Do you have any ideas on lore - specifically, why this goddess was not mentioned in it yet, and how she was able to break the compact without any sort of retaliation against her? Or, do the Compact's rules not apply to her because she was stripped of her powers?
. .. .. .. .. .3a. How is she regaining her powers if she was stripped of them?
. .. .. .. .. .3b. How were the powers stripped, anyways?
. .. .. .. .. .3c. Who stripped the powers away from her?

4. Are these 'generic units,' which I shall henceforth call Sand People, of the Tusken Raider (actual Humans) or Elemental (literally Sand People) variety? They sound like they're elementals because they can fuse.

5. Are converted units enslaved/brainwashed/controlled or willingly converting to her cause?

6. How will the Sand Plague spread overseas - will there be ... Naval Sand People? Or, will Anais have to convert naval units from other civs?

7. Will city defenders be moved with the capital? Also, what happens if the capital is taken - is it converted into a normal city, or razed; if it's razed, does it affect the Armageddon Counter?

8. Does Hell Terrain or the Armageddon Count affect this civ in any way? Can the Sand People convert Hell Terrain to Anais' desert? What about water?

So many questions!


Really ambitious civ. I, too, look forward to seeing it.

Yeah I figure that if a new civ is added, it should be original and hopefully provide a different experience. I love the Scions and the Jotner civs. They made me wonder how far a civ could get away from the norm.

I haven't figured out the lore yet. I need to do some lore research to see how this could fit in. I'm not really an expert on FFH lore at this point. My wife is a writer and she said she would be willing to write the story behind the godess Anais. I/we just need to give her some general direction so it all fits together. For now, the lore is pending.

You have a lot of really good questions about things I haven't thought about yet. Let me try to offer some ideas.

1. Right now I was thinking that this civ wouldn't really produce any buildings due to a lack of a populous to benefit from them. That's why I thought maybe the separate tech tree/line might work. However, I wouldn't want to make a big mess in the tech tree just for one civilization. I was wondering if it could be done with a future tech kind of technology that just increases in number, but I'm not sure if you could tie specifics to the techs then.

A whole different route would be to consider the city to be populated by followers of Anais who could necessatate a more traditional approach, buildings, food, commerce, etc... I'm just afraid that it would take away from the originality of this civ which isn't really a civ at all.

2. Man, I have no idea. It would probably be a disaster without a very skilled modder creating a custom AI. Has anyone created a working AI for the Jotner yet?

3. As mentioned above, I need to work on the lore. It would be nice to know which of my proposed mechanics would be possible and worthwhile so the way the civ operates can be integrated into the lore.

4. The generic units are all part of Anais so they would be elemental. (Wind/Sun affinity?)

5. Captured units would give into the temptation of the Sand Sea. A Mirage which could be a unit, a feature, or just an ability.

6. This is a problem. I was trying to think of some way to address this. I was thinking that the Sand Sea tiles would have to be contiguous so they don't spread random tiles all over the map where ever there is space. But, they need to be able to project their power. Perhaps sand units traveling with a Sandstorm could travel over water but I still don't know how the civ could spread to other continents? Perhaps they could also spread Sand Sea tiles that are adjacent to normal desert tiles as well.

7. I would like the defenders to move with the capital and maintain thier fortification bonus. The capital would have to be razed if it is captured as it is not really a city. Depending on how the lore works out, it will be a tomb or some source of power for Anais. (Her Heart?) If it is destroyed, so is she.

I kind of see Anais as being neutral but the Armegeddon counter will be affected depending on how the lore works out. Perhaps, not at all if she is neutral. It might be interesting to link her with Auric somehow. They sure have a different preference for thier desired global environment.

8. I think Hell terrain should not spread into Sand Sea tiles as they are part of Anais. Hell terrain should be able to be converted to Sand Sea tiles but it would take longer. Maybe it would fail sometimes.


Thanks for all the good questions. Of course any of these ideas could be changed or adjusted as necessary.

 

[Valkrionn]

Lore-wise, maybe make her one of Lugus' more powerful angels who rebelled?

 

[mo123567]

Lore-wise, maybe make her one of Lugus' more powerful angels who rebelled?

I'm lore challenged. Where is the best place for me to read about that? Is it the lore discussion thread?

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

this wonderful file has it all http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=272917

 

[mo123567]

this wonderful file has it all http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=272917

Thanks. I'll check it out.

 

[Rasta69]

As another lore idea, perhaps if you're willing to change a few aspects of it then one of Kylorin's students? I would recomend either Jenkin (earth) or Tamesis (sun). For a bit more info on Kylorin's students check out this thread http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=315946 but because there is so little known about them you still have a blank slate to work with.
For example if I understand the basic gist of your civ.

As Kylorin is forcing his former students to repent or get their butt whooped, Jenkin forms an unholy alliance with Ceriwden to save his own skin. However the original term of the bargin is somewhat like "save me and I'll give you anything!"and therefore Jenkin is transformed into (a sand monster? giant worm dune style? im not sure what exactlly you were aiming at for the super unit and its previous incarnations) and ordered to bring a little darkness into the desert (which is now of course predominently controlled by Lugus(for more detail on this one mo check out the Malakim civ) by consuming everything in his path. In exchange for the amount of destruction he causes Ceriwden will gradually give him furhter lease until he is finally allowed his not inconsiderable powers as well as the power of his new form.

OR
If your really attached to the godess idea then Valkrionns idea of fallen angel of Lugus fits quite nicely as the idea of a new god recks Kaels number symmetry in the pantheon of False gods. (then again seeeing as this is in the Fall Further section the number symmetry is somewhat lost anyway so what am i complaining about)

Well thats my two cents and a dollar fifty just as a lore appropriate history for what could be an excellent and unique civ idea.

 

[UNIT 666]

Yeah I figure that if a new civ is added, it should be original and hopefully provide a different experience. I love the Scions and the Jotner civs. They made me wonder how far a civ could get away from the norm.

Yeah, the Scions are really awesome! I haven't used the Jotnar much, though. Your civ will definitely tests the limits on how far away civs can be 'from the norm!'

For now, the lore is pending.

Roger that.

I wouldn't want to make a big mess in the tech tree just for one civilization. I was wondering if it could be done with a future tech kind of technology that just increases in number, but I'm not sure if you could tie specifics to the techs then.

Yeah, the tech tree mess is what I was thinking of when I asked about using buildings instead of techs, because it feels crowded with just the few that Orbis added on. (e.g. Took me a while to find Honor and Deception, embarrassingly enough.)

Hopefully someone can answer your technical questions! (Alas, I'm no modder.)

A whole different route would be to consider the city to be populated by followers of Anais who could necessatate a more traditional approach, buildings, food, commerce, etc...

So, are you saying captured units could be sacrificed at the capital to increase the population - sorta like manes. Probably not as much pop. per use, though.

I'm just afraid that it would take away from the originality of this civ which isn't really a civ at all.

Hey, man... if this isn't a civ, why is it being made for Civilization?

To me, it sounds like a civilization that claws its way into existence before your very eyes - like a revolution taking place in Erebus.

It'd be neat if it could be the Neutral version of civs like the Mercurians and the Infernals - I only say this because it sounds like it's on the same scale of them....

In a word,


*puts on sunglasses*


Revolutionary!

2. Man, I have no idea. It would probably be a disaster without a very skilled modder creating a custom AI. Has anyone created a working AI for the Jotner yet?

I think they're still player-only.

Just going by the Kuriotates, the AI's main problem is city placement and proper usage of special features (like settlements) because it acts just like a normal civ when using them - which it should not.

3. As mentioned above, I need to work on the lore. It would be nice to know which of my proposed mechanics would be possible and worthwhile so the way the civ operates can be integrated into the lore.

Whatever you think of, there will surely be some way of integrating it into the lore - so don't worry too much about it. In the Resurrecting the Aifons civ thread, I believe there was some mention of moving cities and how feasible they are. Might've been cities in water, though... I don't recall, exactly.

4. The generic units are all part of Anais so they would be elemental. (Wind/Sun affinity?)

Why wind/sun for a sand/earth goddess? :l
Seems more... Earth/Sun/Creation or somesuch to me.

So, she can still do extraordinary things... Whoever stripped Anais of her powers did a terrible job of it.

5. Captured units would give into the temptation of the Sand Sea. A Mirage which could be a unit, a feature, or just an ability.

So they give in to the sand sea, die in it, and join it - becoming a mirage, a ghost, of what they once were? I don't understand!

6. This is a problem. I was trying to think of some way to address this. I was thinking that the Sand Sea tiles would have to be contiguous so they don't spread random tiles all over the map where ever there is space. But, they need to be able to project their power. Perhaps sand units traveling with a Sandstorm could travel over water but I still don't know how the civ could spread to other continents? Perhaps they could also spread Sand Sea tiles that are adjacent to normal desert tiles as well.

If they're fully made of sand, they could sandstorm (makes them a flying type, better mobility, but poor attack/defense strength) to fly over water, as an ability devoted to the recon line of sand people. The generic sand monsters can be upgraded to the recon line, or any other, for gold.

7. I would like the defenders to move with the capital and maintain thier fortification bonus. The capital would have to be razed if it is captured as it is not really a city. Depending on how the lore works out, it will be a tomb or some source of power for Anais. (Her Heart?) If it is destroyed, so is she.

Anais' heart, the civ's palace, eh. A living civilization, that's just awesome - what I've always wanted. It's vaguely like the Zerg in StarCraft.

Maybe the capital would always have a set amount of defenders - representing Anais' natural defenses - that grow more powerful over time and never obsolete - representing Anais' growth in power.

The only problem with making the palace her heart is that, then, whatever unit she manifests into at full power is only an avatar of her, which means it dying wouldn't be such a crushing blow to the civ. It'd be sorta like... losing Korinna as the Scions, I guess.

I kind of see Anais as being neutral but the Armegeddon counter will be affected depending on how the lore works out. Perhaps, not at all if she is neutral. It might be interesting to link her with Auric somehow. They sure have a different preference for thier desired global environment.

I completely forgot about alignment!

Well, being Neutral seems best, I think... Neutrals seem sorta rare, in a way. (Unless there are Dwarves in a game, then everyone gets to be Neutral together!)

Personally, from what Anais sounds like, the AC should hinder her significantly. It should be something she strives to avoid - she wants to control the world with her sands, she can't have it all corrupted by the Infernals. At the same time, her taking control of the world is something that sounds armageddon-y, sorta like Auric ascending (the Draw, the second last Illian Winter Ritual, raises the AC by 10, I believe).

Being Neutral, this gives her some leeway as to how aggressively she wants to fight AC, but, at the same time, she will know that she has to combat it if she wants to become as strong as possible, similarly to Auric.

By link between the Illians and Anais, do you mean that you want the cold to be problematic for the civilization, or do you want the two civs to hate eachother and war often? As far as competition goes, every civ is competing to rule the world, one way or another.

8. I think Hell terrain should not spread into Sand Sea tiles as they are part of Anais. Hell terrain should be able to be converted to Sand Sea tiles but it would take longer. Maybe it would fail sometimes.

Anais is neither good nor made of the sanctify spell, and, from what I gather, she is, literally, trying to control Erebus itself. Perhaps Hell Terrain should corrupt Anais herself, as she is one with it - warping her mind, her vision, and her goal, into a twisted version of itself - making her a mockery of what she once was.

In fact, this would truly make Hell Terrain terrifying to her - instead of death, it would be a fate worse than death - like a Human's tortuous descent to a Mane.


--

Some more questions, though.


[tab]Capital
1. What advantage is there to moving the capital?

2. The capital is invisible - so only units that can see invisible like recon units and certain others can see the capital and units in it?

[tab]Hero
1. Auric isn't a hero unit, the Illians have several other notable hero and hero-like units - Drifa the White Dragon, the priests of winter, and Wilboman, plus they can gain the Aggressive Trait from Letum Frigus, giving the Illians a respectable three leader-traits. Additionally, before Auric can be created, the world must be at war with him because of the second last Illian Winter Ritual - the Draw. On top of all this, the Godslayer is given to the top scoring civilization (other than the Illians) so they can kill Auric. Many of these sorts of things are missing from your civ.

Would the Godslayer be given out to the top-scoring civ (sans Illians), and will Anais be the civ's only hero?

Edit: Oh, right!
[tab]World Spell
1. Is there one, currently?

 

[Valkrionn]

Took me a while to find this thing, but I found several modcomps that I'll be using so it was worth it.

You don't need to clutter up the Tech Screen in order to have unique techs... In fact, you could have a unique tech tree as convoluted as the normal one if you wanted. Just use Civ Specific Tech Trees. You'd have to be able to compile a DLL, but it shouldn't be TOO hard, seeing as you just have to merge his changes in.

 

[mo123567]

As another lore idea, perhaps if you're willing to change a few aspects of it then one of Kylorin's students? I would recomend either Jenkin (earth) or Tamesis (sun). For a bit more info on Kylorin's students check out this thread http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=315946 but because there is so little known about them you still have a blank slate to work with.
For example if I understand the basic gist of your civ.

As Kylorin is forcing his former students to repent or get their butt whooped, Jenkin forms an unholy alliance with Ceriwden to save his own skin. However the original term of the bargin is somewhat like "save me and I'll give you anything!"and therefore Jenkin is transformed into (a sand monster? giant worm dune style? im not sure what exactlly you were aiming at for the super unit and its previous incarnations) and ordered to bring a little darkness into the desert (which is now of course predominently controlled by Lugus(for more detail on this one mo check out the Malakim civ) by consuming everything in his path. In exchange for the amount of destruction he causes Ceriwden will gradually give him furhter lease until he is finally allowed his not inconsiderable powers as well as the power of his new form.

OR
If your really attached to the godess idea then Valkrionns idea of fallen angel of Lugus fits quite nicely as the idea of a new god recks Kaels number symmetry in the pantheon of False gods. (then again seeeing as this is in the Fall Further section the number symmetry is somewhat lost anyway so what am i complaining about)

Well thats my two cents and a dollar fifty just as a lore appropriate history for what could be an excellent and unique civ idea.

Luckily for me, I injured my ankle the other day so I have some time away from work! I've been reading up on the lore so I can make more edjucated suggestions. I've become a little attached to the godess idea. I think it would work well with Valkrionns idea but your idea is interesting and I would not be disapointed if it went that way either. I had a basic concept but once I posted it here I figure anyone in this community who is interested can help shape this civ as it goes forward, hopefully. In the end it would probably be something even better.

I have another possible angle we could take with the lore which could make the godess Anais very significant and potentially powerful...

Anais is a mysterious being. None of the gods knew where she came from or at least wouldn't admit it. The idea got around that perhaps she was a spy left behind by The One to keep an eye on the others until his return. Due to the suspicion as to her motives and her lack of any desire to explain herself, the other gods agreed to imprison her deep beneath the desert since none of them knew what her allegence was and if she was a threat.

But... Unknown to the gods Anais was created with the ability to limit thier powers Over much time she has been able to weaken her constraints and her ability to wield influence in the world of Erebus is growing. Unfortunately, for her to continue gaining power she must take it from the creations of the gods and the gods themselves. Thus her need to devour the world. She does not want to destroy the world but she feels her influence is necessary to stop it's total destruction so sacrificing part of it in order to regain her power is in the greater interest of Erebus.

I don't want her to be a clone of Auric and simply want to take over everything but it will be up to the player to decide how far Anais must go in order to feel she can maintain creation itself. Also, once she is at full power, she is no longer confined to the desert which means she no longer needs to expand the "Sand Sea".

As I write this she is starting to sound good. but she wants to maintain everthing including all 21 gods themselves.

I'm not sure if this is too much but once Anais is recovered she could start healing the damaged parts of Erebus, including the damage she's done with another kind of terrain that would resemble the realm of The One. I want to call it heaven terrain but maybe it is something altogether defferent than the battle between good and evil that is being fought by the gods. This last paragraph is just a thought and it's mere consideration would raise all kinds of questions as to how to go about it. Might be too much.

 

[mo123567]

(Hey, man... if this isn't a civ, why is it being made for Civilization? )

What I mean by not being a civ, is that it's just one being, Anais, as opposed to a group of people working together as a civ.

(Just going by the Kuriotates, the AI's main problem is city placement and proper usage of special features (like settlements) because it acts just like a normal civ when using them - which it should not.)

If that is the main problem with the Kuriotates then maybe this one won't be as difficult as I thought. The "Sand Sea" only has one city and it's placement doesn't really matter. The AI just needs to trade effectively and know how to combine units properly. I mean that's oversimplification but It doesn't sound too bad. Of course, I'm no modder either.

(Why wind/sun for a sand/earth goddess? :l
Seems more... Earth/Sun/Creation or somesuch to me.)

Yeah, the only reason I threw wind in there is because of the "controlling sandstorms" idea. Earth, Sun, and Creation definately make sense.

(So they give in to the sand sea, die in it, and join it - becoming a mirage, a ghost, of what they once were? I don't understand!

They are tempted by the godess Anais into her service through her use of desert mirages

(If they're fully made of sand, they could sandstorm (makes them a flying type, better mobility, but poor attack/defense strength) to fly over water, as an ability devoted to the recon line of sand people. The generic sand monsters can be upgraded to the recon line, or any other, for gold.

I love this idea. It solves the water issue while making them weaker outside the desert as they should be.

(Maybe the capital would always have a set amount of defenders - representing Anais' natural defenses - that grow more powerful over time and never obsolete - representing Anais' growth in power.

I like this idea too. Plus it would automatically force the AI to defend the extremely important capital.

(The only problem with making the palace her heart is that, then, whatever unit she manifests into at full power is only an avatar of her, which means it dying wouldn't be such a crushing blow to the civ. It'd be sorta like... losing Korinna as the Scions, I guess.

She could be rebuildable as long as the city isn't destroyed (which destroys the civ anyway) or we could go really crazy...

The Mongolian mod that was sugested earlier turns the capital into a unit. She is the capital, which, upon her return to full power, can travel anywhere. It's capital model would change appropriately as well. This could be possible since cultural borders aren't tied to the capital anyway.

Well, being Neutral seems best, I think... Neutrals seem sorta rare, in a way.[size]

I'm partial to neutral as well. Even with the lore suggestions from my previous post, She could still be neutral. She doesn't favour good or evil and is actually disturbed by both sides causing destruction of the world. She's a bit of a hippocrit.

1.What advantage is there to moving the capital?

2.The capital is invisible - so only units that can see invisible like recon units and certain others can see the capital and units in it?[size]

The capital is very important as this civ only has one city so Anais would not want her enemies to know where it is. It is hidden but once found, and enemy would have to act quick or else it may move and they would have to find it again. Depending on balance, I was thinking that any unit could find the capital as long as they were adjacent to it but ranger type units couldn't see it from a distance either. That could be adjusted for balance though.

. .. .. .. .. .Hero
1. Auric isn't a hero unit, the Illians have several other notable hero and hero-like units - Drifa the White Dragon, the priests of winter, and Wilboman, plus they can gain the Aggressive Trait from Letum Frigus, giving the Illians a respectable three leader-traits. Additionally, before Auric can be created, the world must be at war with him because of the second last Illian Winter Ritual - the Draw. On top of all this, the Godslayer is given to the top scoring civilization (other than the Illians) so they can kill Auric. Many of these sorts of things are missing from your civ.

Would the Godslayer be given out to the top-scoring civ (sans Illians), and will Anais be the civ's only hero?

Edit: Oh, right!
. .. .. .. .. .World Spell
1. Is there one, currently?

How about solving the hero and the worldspell issue at once?

World spell: Call of Anais (or something)

Calls units from other civs into her service including a random hero, or two. (Details as to how many units/heros and which ones may be immune would have to be worked out.)

 

[mo123567]

Took me a while to find this thing, but I found several modcomps that I'll be using so it was worth it.

You don't need to clutter up the Tech Screen in order to have unique techs... In fact, you could have a unique tech tree as convoluted as the normal one if you wanted. Just use Civ Specific Tech Trees. You'd have to be able to compile a DLL, but it shouldn't be TOO hard, seeing as you just have to merge his changes in.

Great find! That would completely solve the tech tree issue. Now I can even see giving it branches so the player can decide which powers Anais wants to regain first.

 

[Rasta69]

Mmk i kinda like that idea. Certainly dosnt mean we have to worry bout why nobody mentioned her before hand. Shes under the desert! On the alignment issue, and the world spell issue, perhaps do something similair to Khadi. Make the world spell decide whether she save the world and turn good/neutral which ever way you want it, or decide that shes just going to keep expanding an ever increasing desert!.

What im thinking is that if she decides to be goody too shoes, she gains the ability to cleanse the sand sea, and start making cities, and able to use all the techs and units shes researched and become a normal, albiet small civ, which also has a relitavly strong avatar unit.(i assume she'll have the avatar promotion?)
OR
Kick it in the other direction and say the world can go to a sandy tormented doom! This would mean that you retain the spreading of the sand sea, and it is in fact kicked up a notch, perhaps spreading like wild fire? or another mechanic to make it spread much easier. This way Anais becomes a much more powerful unit but is vulnerable to getting swamped by units if she dosnt make full use of the desert. (this way she CAN leave the desert but shell be spreading it at a rate that she dosnt have to)

Again if im not mistaken i belive that you will still be able to manafacture "normal" units except they'll be sand elemental style? In that case you may want to make it that you use hammers as your only form of researching. This forces players to make a choice. do I create my army of sand people or go straight for making the Anais unit as poweful as i can? As for heros and what not, if say you use the same mechanism applied to Korrina, in that when you finish a certain building or technology, she can upgrade into a specific unit (perhaps reflecting her choices in the world) then that could make up for the general lack of heros and flavour. (then again if you want more flavour in a civ this unique then you may need to check if your tastebuds are still alive) Also I think the sand people she builds should be able to leave the desert, or a way for them to leave for extended periods, she still needs a mechanism to take out the Sheaim who keep leaving demons on the front lawn

As for the repurcussions for similair god units i think the inherent nature of the civ is a penalty enough. To get to the stage where she is free to wreck God-like havoc she'll have spent a LOT of beakers or hammers getting there, sacrificing her sand people armies for her own advacment. Perhaps put similair constraints on her as her power grows, war and what not, depending on how aggresivly she spreads the sand sea. And thats quite enough from me i think.....

 

[mo123567]

Mmk i kinda like that idea. Certainly dosnt mean we have to worry bout why nobody mentioned her before hand. Shes under the desert! On the alignment issue, and the world spell issue, perhaps do something similair to Khadi. Make the world spell decide whether she save the world and turn good/neutral which ever way you want it, or decide that shes just going to keep expanding an ever increasing desert!.

What im thinking is that if she decides to be goody too shoes, she gains the ability to cleanse the sand sea, and start making cities, and able to use all the techs and units shes researched and become a normal, albiet small civ, which also has a relitavly strong avatar unit.(i assume she'll have the avatar promotion?)
OR
Kick it in the other direction and say the world can go to a sandy tormented doom! This would mean that you retain the spreading of the sand sea, and it is in fact kicked up a notch, perhaps spreading like wild fire? or another mechanic to make it spread much easier. This way Anais becomes a much more powerful unit but is vulnerable to getting swamped by units if she dosnt make full use of the desert. (this way she CAN leave the desert but shell be spreading it at a rate that she dosnt have to)

Again if im not mistaken i belive that you will still be able to manafacture "normal" units except they'll be sand elemental style? In that case you may want to make it that you use hammers as your only form of researching. This forces players to make a choice. do I create my army of sand people or go straight for making the Anais unit as poweful as i can? As for heros and what not, if say you use the same mechanism applied to Korrina, in that when you finish a certain building or technology, she can upgrade into a specific unit (perhaps reflecting her choices in the world) then that could make up for the general lack of heros and flavour. (then again if you want more flavour in a civ this unique then you may need to check if your tastebuds are still alive) Also I think the sand people she builds should be able to leave the desert, or a way for them to leave for extended periods, she still needs a mechanism to take out the Sheaim who keep leaving demons on the front lawn

As for the repurcussions for similair god units i think the inherent nature of the civ is a penalty enough. To get to the stage where she is free to wreck God-like havoc she'll have spent a LOT of beakers or hammers getting there, sacrificing her sand people armies for her own advacment. Perhaps put similair constraints on her as her power grows, war and what not, depending on how aggresivly she spreads the sand sea. And thats quite enough from me i think.....

Yeah, now that we kind of have some direction with the concept and lore of this civ the big question is what to do once she gets all that power she's looking for? Like you said, she could start a mid to late game entering civ like the Infernals/Mercurians with cities and such. That would make developing this into almost the work of two civs. She could go crazy with all her power and take over the world, but Auric has already been there. (Of course, you can take over the world with any civ, if you want)

What should the climax of Anais' story be after she's returned to power? I really want to come up with something fun, interesting, and original.

In the end, though, since I'm not a modder, (I'm aware that I could be a modder but it just doen't come naturally to me.) so it comes down to a skilled modder or group of modders creating this civ. I'm sure if someone like, ahem, Valkrionn, for example, dangeled the interest and possibility of working on this at some point if he gets time in the future, a lot more people would be willing to debate every little detail to complete a thorough blueprint for this civ. Maybe, with FFH feature locked, Kael is itching to create something new. Just kidding, he probably needs a long break from modding.

I'm going to try editing the original post with some of the ideas offered here and new ones if anyone has them. I really want a good endgame idea for this civ.

 

[UNIT 666]

So you... came up with all this on the off chance that some modder might want to pick it up? I hate to break this to you, but I don't think (m)any modders would do it, at the expense of their own modding work.

 

[Valkrionn]

Eventually, someone might run with it. The Aifon thread inspired the Bezeri, after all. But near future it's unlikely... At least, I won't have time for it. Can't speak for anyone else, but I have a few ideas of my own atm.

 

[mo123567]

So you... came up with all this on the off chance that some modder might want to pick it up? I hate to break this to you, but I don't think (m)any modders would do it, at the expense of their own modding work.

Yeah. This was mentioned in the original idea thread for this civ. It was also mentioned that a couple of mods were started based on other people's ideas, including Fall Further. Plus, once someone starts working on it, it wouldn't be at the expense of their own modding work, it would be their own modding work.

I know it doesn't happen all the time but, what the hell, I had some ideas so I thought I'd put them out there. If it gets made that would be even better.