TIMELINE: A Civilization concept by Lord Lakely

[Ryansinbela]

Anyways the list of minor powers you chose seem quite interesting

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

They were very briefly independent. American Minor Powers are spread pretty thin, and I didn't want to use an indigenous group, or a religious group like Quakers or Mormons.

That was a tongue in cheek statement. I know they were independent considering I spent several classes on Texas history.
Speaking of abilities considering the American civilization has a pioneer unit, I assume that means that Minor Powers are able to settle more than one city?

 

[Lord Lakely]

That was a tongue in cheek statement. I know they were independent considering I spent several classes on Texas history.
Speaking of abilities considering the American civilization has a pioneer unit, I assume that means that Minor Powers are able to settle more than one city?

Minor Powers can train one Settler in the Classical, Renaissance and Modern Eras. So yeah, they can settle up to four cities per game.

I see them as equivalent to the minor nations you have in Imperalism:

(highkey love the fake names btw. it's so camp <3)

Minor Powers are intended to be larger than your average City States and can build wonders, found religions, attract Tourists, etc, but cannot actively engage in diplomacy or espionage or win the game.

Also, the amount of Minor Powers will be lower than the usual amount of Independents and City States. On a standard sized map with eight players, I'm thinking only ten Minor Powers at best.

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

highkey love the fake names btw

I mean Manx is a real name but just for something lol

 

[Ryansinbela]

What is Sogdiana’s ability

 

[Lord Lakely]

+15% Range on all Trade Routes, same as Chola's bonus.

I had forgotten to add the Sogdians to the initial Minor Power line-up. This has now been corrected.

 

[Lord Lakely]

Made myself a roadmap with what I still need to do:

More or less in this order? I will probably not follow that to the letter, but it gives *me* a bit of structure as we plunge into the second half.

 

[Ryansinbela]

ANOTHER AMERICAN?

Also not sure which Civ is the one faction one with 2 leaders

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

ANOTHER AMERICAN?

When I saw the word "American" I take it to mean another civ from the Americas. There's not one in South America or Mesoamerica yet.

Also not sure which Civ is the one faction one with 2 leaders

It would be the E faction with the same colors for the different leaders, correct? I'm pretty sure its England with 2 leaders under a British civ.

 

[Ryansinbela]

Anyways looking forward to seeing all of the Great People

 

[Ryansinbela]

When I saw the word "American" I take it to mean another civ from the Americas. There's not one in South America or Mesoamerica yet.

It would be the E faction with the same colors for the different leaders, correct? I'm pretty sure it’s England with 2 leaders under a British civ.

I thought it was and Algonquin civ with an Iroquois faction though it doesn’t fit alphabetically

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I thought it was and Algonquin civ with an Iroquois faction though it doesn’t fit alphabetically

The one right after the Americans? I think it's an Andean civ with Inca faction.

I don't believe that the Iroquois are an Algonquin people.

 

[Ryansinbela]

Whoops I misremembered something
It might as well be Andean with Inca

 

[Lord Lakely]

The one right after the Americans? I think it's an Andean civ with Inca faction.

I don't believe that the Iroquois are an Algonquin people.

You can sort of do Algonquian => Haudennosaunnee, but I doubt this would be appreciated by them. I would call the Civ 'Iroquoian', which is generally considered the correct term.

The Haudennosaunnee aren't in the basegame line-up, and you could have known because the Huron/Wendot (an Iroquoian native group) are an unassociated Minor Power.

Anyway, small Dev Diary on specialists:

'Dev' Diary: SPECIALISTS
Specialists are back from being mostly underutilized and boring in Civ6. Hooray, let's dive into the core mechanics.

The Buildings that you'll construct over the course of the game will have Specialist slots. These are slots that your Population can work, rather than work the land controlled by the city.

As stated in the City Planning Dev Diaries, Cored Tiles you own will generate passive income (50% of the tile's total yield) when left unworked. This change is specifically to make Specialists less punitive, as their yields start small.

However, I've a few changes compared to the Specialists in Civ4 and Civ5. In those games Specialists gave static yields, and their main use was to stack Great Person Points. This is retained as a baseline. Specialists give +2 of a fixed yield and +1 Great Person point of the associated type.

Timeline maintains the core idea, but adds a new mechanic on top of that: Specialist Education.

For a fixed cost of Knowledge, you'll be able to promote Specialist slots so that the slot gives MORE of the associated yield. This upgrade is indefinite, remaining active until the building is destroyed. Capturing a building with a promoted Specialist slot retains it.

Specialist slots can be Promoted up to four times, meaning there are five levels of Specialist Education. The in-game names of the Education levels are Novice, Apprentice, Professional, Expert and World Class. Roman Numerals are used to express the level of the slot in the English version of the game.

Effect of Specialist Education using the Teacher Specialist as an example:

• Novice Teacher (default): +2 Knowledge, +1 Great Scientist Point.
• Apprentice Teacher : +4 Knowledge, +1 Great Scientist Points
• Professional Teacher: +6 Knowledge, +1 Great Scientist Points
• Expert Teacher: +8 Knowledge, +2 Great Scientist Points
• World Class Teacher: +10 Knowledge, +2 Great Scientist Points.

Every level of Specialist Education adds the base value again, and the Promotion from level III to level IV adds an additional Great Person point.

The cost to go from level I to level II is 100 Knowledge per Specialist slot, and the cost increases incrementally.

This means that Specialist slot promotions are generally expensive. It will take a LOT of Knowledge to upgrade every slot to level V, and it eats into the same resource used to Integrate your technologies.

The Greeks are the only Civ in the game that have a bonus towards promoting their Specialists. Their Specialists gain a resource called 'Skill' which promotes them to a higher Education level them when the gauge is filled. Greek specialist gain Skill points equal to 2 + their Education level divided by two. The gauge level of Skill is equal to the amount of Knowledge needed to promote.

Breakdown of the current costs // Time needed for the Greeks

Novice => Apprentice: 100 // 40 (2.5 /turn)
Apprentice => Professional: 250 // 84 (3 /turn)
Professional => Expert: 375 // 108 (3.5 /turn)
Expert => World Class: 565 // 142 ( 4 /turn)

In other words, it takes 40 turns for Greek Novices to become Apprentices. They have a faster start reaching the lower levels of Specialist education, which gives them better yields if they invest in Specialists ealier. The Greeks also get the Knowledge discount on manually educating their Specialists, which allows them to reach higher levels on a larger amount of Specialist slots.

The longterm idea for the "Paideia" ability is to have Greek Specialists give bonus yields based on what Government you have, and for the skill system to be available to every Civ. Governments aren't a base game mechanic however, so I think it's useful to trial the Specialist Education system as the unique ability of one Civ, and tweak it accordingly before I give it to everyone.

Retroactive changes: Because I feel like this bonus is strong enough, i'm removing the bonus yields from Specialist Education level from the Greek ability.

Specialist slots are colour coded. The Population icon is present if the slot is filled. If the slot it empty, it will appear as an empty coloured dot.

There are nine colours, depending on the main yield:

If Colour-blind help is enabled, the Population Icon will be replaced by the silhouette of the yield symbol. (A star is used for Misc, and a shield for Military). The Yield icon will be posted after the 10th first look, when we delve into the Yield Breakdown.

For dual type slots, the circle will be split between the two types (which is hard for me to recreate with my software).


Design Philisophy:
The idea behind educating Specialists is simple: it allows players to shore up their weaker yields and compete for the Great People they care about. Or they can choose to specialize in a yield they depend on in their kit.

The other reason is to give the AI an additional toy to play with, and get ahead with, without giving them a lazy bonus % on all yields. It's easier for an AI to optimize their yields than it should be for a human player.

Educating your Specialists will be availabie via several menus: There will be a Specialist Slot tab in the Empire Overview Menu that allows you to keep track of which slots you have and whether they're filled. You'll have a button to promote them there.

Specialist slots will also have their own tab in the City Menu, which shows the same information and also allows you to upgrade them. The Buildings tab will also include a button to promote Specialist slots, as will the breakdown of all Districts. (Giving the information EVERYWHERE it could be of use to the player is kind of a big deal when dealing with complex games).

Specialists have cost a maintenance like they do in Civ7. Liu Bang's Specialists cost 1 Production. (which compensates for the bonus Feng Shui they give). Specialists of any other Leader cost 2 Coin, which increases with the Education level of the Specialist. Because of the maintenance cost, Coin specialists give an extra Coin per Education level Coin to nullify their maintenance cost.

Specialists are generally a poor source of Food, Production and Coin generation, and if you want to gain more R/C/I, it's recommended you have your Production work tiles instead.


List of Specialist slots, per Great Person type:

• Great Artist Points:
  • Decorator: 1Food & 1Culture
  • Musician: 2 Coin & 1 Culture
  • Painter: 1 Prestige & 1 Culture
  • Poet: 1 Faith & 1 Culture
  • Sculptor: 1 Production & 1 Culture
  • Philosopher: 1Knowledge & 1 Culture

• Great Commander Points
  • Athlete: 2 Culture
  • Guard: 3 Fortification
  • Instructor: 3 Experience
  • Officer: 2 Prestige
  • Recruiter: 1Knowledge
  • Sailor: 2 Food
  • Weaponmith: 2 Production

• Great Engineer Points
  • Brewer: 2 Food
  • Blacksmith: 2 Production
  • Civil Engineer: 1Knowledge
  • Craftsman: 1 Culture and 1 Production
  • Jeweller: 3 Coin
  • Military Engineer: 2 Prestige & 2 Fortification
  • Seamstress: 2 Culture

• Great Merchant Points
  • Accountant: 2 Prestige
  • Banker: 3Coin
  • Cook: 2Food
  • Cartographer: 2 Knowledge
  • Innkeeper: 1 Culture & 2 Coin
  • Shopkeeper: 1 Food & 2 Coin
  • Stockbroker: 2 Coin & 1 Prestige

• Great Prophet Points
  • Cardinal: 3 Coin & 1 Faith
  • Peacher: 2 Culture & 1 Faith
  • Priest: 2 Faith
  • Monk: 1 Knowledge & 1 Faith
  • Mortician: 2Food & 1 Faith
  • note: Religions can add Specialist slots of other GP classes to their Grand Temples via Tenets, which will always give Great Prophet points when used.

• Great Scientist Points
  • Astronomer: 2Faith
  • Curator: 2 Culture
  • Doctor: 2 Food
  • Inventor: 2Production
  • Teacher: 2Knowledge

• Great Statesman Points
  • Activist: 1 Knowledge & 1 Culture
  • Assistant: 2 Food
  • Magistrate: 2 Prestige
  • Manager: 2Production
  • Public Speaker: 2 Faith
  • Secretary: 3Coin

Specialist slots are assigned to the buildings I believe suit them the most. Some Specialist slot types may be unused as it stands.

All yields generated by the building are added to the output of the building, and can affect its other abilities.

Retroactive changes:
Universities are given a slot for a Philosopher and a Teacher, instead of two Teachers.
The Stift (Teuton UB) is given a Monk over a Philosopher.
The Mortuary (Egyptian UB) is given a Mortician over a Priest
The Gymnasium (Prussian UB)'s is given a Military Engineer slot
The Chaguan (Ming UB) is given an Innkeeper slot.

 

[Ryansinbela]

What dialect does Zhu Di speak

 

[Lord Lakely]

Standard formal Mandarin. I want Zhu Di to sound more modern as opposed to Liu Bang.

 

[Ryansinbela]

I see

Just saying you forgot to list it

 

[Lord Lakely]

'Dev Diary': ESPIONAGE
Espionage was another tried aspect of Civ6 that desperately needed an improvement. Spies were fiddly and irritating, and the AI loved inciting revolts that actively meant you never wanted to build Neighbourhood districts. It was an annoyance you couldn't fully turn off.

I've done away with all that rot, and looked at a game with actually good Espionage mechanics, Master of Orion, and looked what Ideas could be applicable to Civ as well.

This Dev Diary will detail what I found, and how it led to the creation of Alcibiades's leader ability.

Agents
In Timeline, there is a class of Civilian unit called 'Civil Servant'. These are Civilian units strongly tied to a yield and its mechanics. Prestige, which is the diplomatic yield in the game, is tied to the Agent Civil Servant. Agents are recruited and rushes with Prestige, rather than Production or Coin. The exact mechanics of recruitment will be explained in a future Dev Diary.

Civil Servants, like military units, gain Experience from what they're good at. They gain promotions, and have three Promotion trees to pick from.

For Agents, Experience is gained by conducting Diplomatic and Espionage operations. Their three Promotion trees are DIPLOMAT, SPY and COUNTERINTELLIGENCE

• DIPLOMAT: receive bonuses towards improving Relations with other Players, or gain Influence with Minor Powers. We will elaborate on this in the 'Positive Diplomacy' Dev Diary.
• SPY: receive bonuses towards Espionage operations and building up Infiltration against other Players.
• COUNTERINTELLIGENCE: receive bonuses towards preventing other Agents from building up Infiltration against you.

Agents can have promotions in all three trees, but it's better to specialize. I haven't finalized the Promotion trees yet, but the intent is for them to be backloaded, rewarding players to stick to one of the three trees.

Agents cost Prestige in maintenance, starting a 2 and increasing by 1 for every Promotion they've earned. They have 'names' based on their Civilization's Civilian name list.

New: Keywords:

• Agent: a Civil Servant specialized in Diplomacy and Espionage

Infiltration.
Infiltration is the resource you build up by sending Agents to other Player's cities. It is accumulated slowly by stationing Spies and gathering Intelligence. It was called "Intelligence" or "Intrigue" in previous notes. So if you read me refering to those terms - be aware they're the same as Infiltration.

Infiltration is built up separately for every Target (players that you're spying against). If you spy against Rome, you're not gaining Influence against Prussia.

The symbol for Infiltration is a Cloak and Dagger:

All Espionage operations require a certain level of Infiltration before they can be conducted. Infiltration is lost if your spies are caught. It also gradually reduces over time, and fasted if the owner of the city has stationed one of their own Agents inside the city.

Infiltration is gained by stationing a Spy inside another player's city (a slow passive trickle) or by completing the "Gather Intel" operation (which gives a large boost).

High Infiltration will also give you access to information about the target's Reports, or statistics - how far ahead they are in yields, what technologies they possess, which cities they are influencing, and how they feel about you.

This will be accessible via a Reports Tab in the Espionage menu, sorted by leader. Putting together a Report is an Operation, and the Report ONLY counts for the turn it is assembled. If you want to keep your information up to date, you'll have to regularly assemble new Reports.

Unlike other Operations, Reports are not conducted by Agents (and they cannot be failed), but by clicking a button and selecting a Target. You must have stationed at least one Agent inside the Target's empire for this to work. The more Agents you have Infiltrating the Target, the faster you'll get an updated status Report.

An example of what the Espionage Menu looks like from Master of Orion (Report button highlighted)

(note: AIs are allowed to lie to you about their disposition, and some AI personalities (Ruthless, Philantropic) will do exactly that. The values displayed through diplomacy may be fake, and the only way to reveal the true values is via Infiltration and Reports. You as a player can do the exact same thing, and appear more amiable or hostile towards AIs to further your own agenda and influence their behaviour. Just be aware that the AI may uncover the truth via their own Agents, and then share it with the player you've lied to.)

New Keywords:

• Infiltration: a resource used to determine what spy missions.
• to Station: to put an Agent inside another player's City.
• Target: the player you're conducting Espionage against.
• Reports: the collection of information on the Target that you have.

Operations
The activities your spies can undertake in other player's lands are generally called 'operations'. Operations require a certain level of Infiltration built up before they can be conducted. They have a set success rate and time period, depending on the skill level of the Agent carrying out the Operation.

When a spy starts an Espionage Operation, they have the option to increase the success rate of the Operation, or reduce the time needed to carry out the Operation, via a set of sliders.

Increasing the Success rate increases the time needed. Your spy will leave nothing to chance and patiently wait for the right moment to strike.
Reducing the Time needed decreases the Success rate. Poor preparation and rushing tends to do that.

You can influence both Time and Success rate at the same time. Doing so will reduce the time and increase the success rate, but this will cost a large amount of Prestige and reduce your Infiltration with the target.

A list of Operations will be included at the bottom of the Dev Diary.

If the mission fails, the spy is automatically Detected. This exposes the Agent's presence to the Target and forces them to flee. Detected Agents can be caught my the Target's Agents via Counterintelligence Operations, even if they do flee. The Agent will remain 'Detected' in that City for a set amount of turns, which will prevent them from engaging in Operations. Other Agents can engage in Operations to reduce the Agent's Detection, and the exposed Agent can 'Hide' in a safe location until Detection goes down again.

The amount of Detection an Agent gains is affected by the Operation they conducted, whether they succeeded and how much time they took. The longer the Agent has been working inside the Target's empire, the less likely they are to be Detected.

Your Agents can also be Exposed or Framed by Agents belonging to third parties if they detect their presence. (This counts as a Secret)

Important: Counterintelligence Agents can ALSO be Detected, which allows enemy spies to Capture them.

Detection is both city-specific and empire-wide once the Agent is Detected by the Target's Counterintelligence Agents. The empire-wide Detection is always half of the city-specific value.

New Keywords:

• Operation: The in-game name for Espionage actions.
• Time: Determines how many turns it will take for the Agent to complete the chosen Operation against the Target.
• Success Rate: Determines how likely the Agent will successfully complete the chosen Operation
• Counterintelligence: Agents work defensively, countering spies.
• Detection: an Agent-specific rating that exposes their presence to the Target, and allows their Counterintelligence Agents to Capture the spy.
• Expose: the act of uncovering the presence of another player's Agent.
• Capture: the act of catching an enemy Agent before their Detection runs out. This eliminates them for an indefinite amount of time.
• Hide: the act of hiding a Detected Agent, reducing their chance of being Caught by other Agents.
• Frame: the act of successfully blaming a third party for your Operations.

Framing other Civs

Framing is an important mechanic in Espionage. Whenever one of your Agents is Detected, you have a chance to Frame another player for the Operation you were about to conduct. If you succeeded in the Operation, your chance of Framing is higher than if you failed.

Example from Master of Orion 1:

In order to Frame, you need to have a believable scapegoat. Detecting Agents of a third party inside your Target's lands increases it. Third parties that are at War or in a Rivalry with the Target are more likely to be Framed. Some factors are Operation specific. In order to successfully Frame another player for stealing a Tech, the Target must not know whether the third party has that particular Tech.

These are all values and factors you as a player won't need to memorize. The game will do it for you, and give you the information synthesized. (Ideally.)

Framing other players for your Espionage results in a penalty to Relations between the Target and the player you've framed, equivalent to the one you would have gotten for being Detected. It affects player Reputation (more on that in the later Diplomacy Dev Diary), and some personalities, particularly the Honourable and Erratic ones, respond very poorly to being spied against.

Framing another player for your Espionage generates a Secret.

Secrets & Blackmail
Secrets are an additional layer of tracking everything that happens in the game, tying it to espionage. Secrets are optional and can be turned off. They are however, enabled by default.

Secrets are all diplomatic actions you undertake in the game that the other players are unaware of. They are uncovered by completing Reports or by actively discovering Secrets. These include:

• Your true disposition towards other Players (regardless of how you present yourself)
• Your Technological progress and when you discovered what Tech
• Your Cultural Influence over other Civs, and their causes.
• All active deals you have.
• All Operations you've conducted, successful or not.
• All instances where you've framed other Players.
• All instances where you bribed or blackmailed other Players.
• All instances where you've honoured or broken promises. (told the truth or lied)
• All Great Works you currently possess (including those that you haven't Displayed) and how you obtained them.
• All votes you've cast in the World Congress (which are ANONYMOUS by default, with the exception of Vetos and the Diplomatic Victory vote)
• The Minor Powers you're currently Influencing.
• The current whereabouts of your Civil Servants.
• The Personality and Strategies of AI leaders.

All of these actions are Secrets. Secrets can pertain to your own actions, or those of other players. There are always two people invovled in the secret: the player that made the action (the Culprit), and the player they made the action against (The Target). The Target is ALWAYS either unaware of the Secret or the Culprit's true identity, or both.
The Secrets you uncover will almost always be true. High ranking spies however can fabricate Secrets, turning them into lies.

Secrets can be uncovered via Reports, but also by discovering Inconsistences. These occur when you get a Report that doesn't match something you already know to (not) be true. For instance, you can have discovered that a Civ stole a Tech, only to discover via a Report that that Civ already possessed the Tech at the time it was stolen. This indicates that a third party is the true Culprit and framed the other Civ. Your Counterintelligence Agents are able to research Inconsistences, uncovering the truth, which often generates a Positive Secret.

Secrets can be used two ways: by either Blackmailing the Client to force them to do what you want as an alternative to Bribery, or by sharing the Secret with the Target, causing a rift between the two players while increasing the Target's disposition towards you. Both of these actions generate Secrets with you as the Culprit.
Secrets are usually Negative, but some of them can be beneficial ('Positive): you can use them to clear yourself of accusations and submit them as evidence. Negative Secrets can even be submitted to Ruthless AIs to increase their disposition (they approve of double-dealing). The effect of sharing the secret will be displayed in a tooltip.

Negative Secrets usually result in Exposure for the Culprit and their Agents. Positive secrets tend to result in Exoneration (the reversal of negative Reputation and Relation effects due to perceived Backstabber Reputation).

High level spies have the ability to fabricate Secrets (lie), at the cost of a HIGH amount of Infiltration and Prestige.

Because of how important it is to keep your Secrets to yourself, Counterintelligence Agents are given the ability to cover up your Secrets of choice, making them inaccessible via Reports.

New Keywords:

• Secret: a covert action conducted against another player that the Target is either unaware of, or is aware of but doesn't know who conducted it. They can be Positive or Negative, depending on the nature of the Secret.
• Culprit: the Player responsible for the Secret.
• Inconsistency: These are found when you get conflicting information. This is often an indicator that you've been Infiltrated.
• Negative Secrets & Espionage: the umbrella term for Operations and Diplomatic Actions that can damage Relations between Culprit and Target. They lead to Exposure.
• Positive Secrets & Espionage: the umbrella term for Operations and Diplomatic Actions that can improve Relations between Culrpit and Target. They lead to Exoneration.
• Blackmail: the act of using a Negative Secret to persuade a Culprit to do something. This doesn't expose the Secret to the Target. This creates a Negative Secret with you as the Culprit, and the original Target as the Target.
• Exoneration: the act of reversing reputation and relationship loss due to perceived Backstabber behaviour.
• Backstabber: the type of Reputation you build up with other players if you engage in Negative Espionage
• Reputation: What other players think of you, based on the information they have available. Reputations can be positive, neutral or negative based on the AI's personality. Reputations affect Relations.

Note: Difficulty and AI personality determines how often your opponents will engage with the secrets system. On lower difficulties only Ruthless players will active parttake in it. On higher difficulties, everyone will.

Alcibiades's kit

Alcibiades is specifically designed to take advantage of the intricacies of Espionage, and his leader abilities were designed alongside it. He gets the following bonuses:

• Improved chances to Frame other players when his Agents fail
• Increased Infiltration speed for his Agents, scaling with Relations
• Faster uncovering and fabrication of Secrets
• Higher combat Strength of troops, scaling with Infiltration.

In addition to his inherent Relations bonus, he's a leader that is able to schmooze his way into your circle of trust and wreck quite a bit of damage if you let him in too far. He's the only leader with a direct Espionage bonus. (Maurya initially also had an Espionage ability but I dropped it to make them a newbie-friendly Civ, and added some aspects of their original ability to Alcibiades' kit).

One of the unrevealed Civs has a unique version of the Agent which specializes in Counterintelligence (particularly capturing enemy Agents).

Design Philosophy - Espionage
My personal goal for the Espionage system I've laid out before you is make it an integral part of playing the game. in Civ6, Espionage felt like an optional exercise in patience. In Timeline, it's almost mandatory to infiltrate everyone just to ensure you get valid informaton on what everyone else is doing - info that is a key knowledge in helping you make the best strategic decisions possible.

Agents I believe are a more interesting unit than your regular Spy because have more functions - they can serve as your Diplomats improving relations, or as Counterintelligence operatives that delay the effects of enemy spies inside your lands, all in one unit. All Civil Servant units are packed that way. Logistically, Agents move similarly to how Merchants do in Civ7 - you can move them manually across the map, or task them to a city directly, which makes them travel there over time.

Additionally, I wanted to ensure that Spies are more of a necessity than a nuissance, and the game's natural complexity helps with that. The Tech tree is massive, and stealing Technologies will help you bridge that gap. Tourism is heavily tied to Culture output, so stealing Great Works will be key in preventing other players from winning it before you do.

Espionage should also be heavily tied with Diplomacy. Action should have consequences and sabotaging a rival, or even worse, a FRIEND should have an immediate impact on your international reputation. Conversely, helping your friends thwart enemy spies by exposing them builds up relations.



List of Spy Operations:

• Arson: Set fire to a World Wonder or Natural Wonder, disabling its effects for a set amount of turns.
• Assassination: Disable a specialist slot or Great Person in the target city for a set amount of turns
• Breach Vault: Steal Knowledge, Prestige, Culture, Production, Food or Faith from the targeted Civ's stockpile.
• Cover-up: Reduce the odds of other Agents to be Detected, or reduce the Detection value of a nearby Agent.
• Crime Wave: Increase the Crime rating of the target city by +2 for every Population living there for a set amount of turns.
• Cut off Supply Lines: Reduce a target stack's supply limit and prevent them from healing.
• Digging up Dirt: discover a Negative Secret (Truth)
• Fabricate Claim: Create a core on the targeted tile.
• Feign Conspiracy: Reduce the target Civ's relations with a third party for a set amount of turns.
• Fly Tipping: Reduce the appeal of all tiles of the targeted city by -2 for a set amount of turns.
• Forest Fire: Set fire to a National Park, pillaging its tiles.
• Gas Explosion: reduce the city's Housing limit by 1 for every building in the targeted district for a set amount of Turns.
• Ghosts of the Past: Make the targeted Structure lose World Heritage points for a set amount of Turns.
• Great Work Heist: Steal a Great Work (It will be disguised as a Great Work of your Civilization).
• Gunpower Plot: Disable all buildings inside the City Centre for a set amount of turns.
• Harmful Gossip: Reduce the target's World Congress votes by a set percentage.
• Hire Partisans: Create barbarian units near the target city, scaling with Civil Unrest and War Weariness
• Imposed Settlement: flip the targeted tile and all adjacent non-cores to your Civ (must have a border). The tiles cannot flip back for a set amount of Turns.
• Industrial Accident: Destroy a Workshop, and prevent Workshops of the same Industry from working for a set amount of turns.
• Money Laundering: Reduces the targeted city's Coin income for a set amount of turns, and add the same amount to your global Coin income.
• Mutiny: Damage all units in a target Army, Navy or Squadron, and remove their actions for a set amount of turns.
• Pogrom: Organize a riot in the target city, reducing Population and pillaging buildings by a set amount.
• Plant Fake Evidence: Create an Inconsistency leading to a Secret (Lie)
• Poison Water Supply: Add +2 Pollution to the City for every Population living there for a set amount of turns
• Propaganda Campaign: Quadruple the War Weariness suffered in the Target City for a set amount of turns.
• Revolt: Add +2 Civil Unrest to the city for every Population living there for a set amount of turns.
• Roadblock: Prevent all Trade Routes from stopping at the target city for a set amount of turns.
• Steal Technology: Steal a Tech Reward from the target (the more skillful your spy, the likelier you are to choose the Tech)
• Treachery: Persuade another player's unit to switch sides. It will spawn in your Capital.
• Undermine: Reduce the base Fortification strength of the targeted city by a set amount for a set amount of turns.

 

[Lord Lakely]

First Look: the ANDEAN Civilization:

The people of the Andes have been living in sophistication long before the Spanish arrived. Though they left no written records, archaeologists have discovered that they were meticulous craftsmen, creative engineers, dedicated warriors and skilled traders. Adapted to the harsh world around them, a world of stone where water is scarce and ocean streams are unforgiving, the people of the Andes developed advanced irrigation systems to grow crops in their inhospitable home biome, and kept detailed records of everything they owned.

Their intricate record keeping system using strings and coloured knots, Quipu, is the name of the Andean ability. The Andean people receive an interest on all yields they have currently stockpiled, which is larger for Coin and Food, and increases every time they integrate an Economic technology. Additionally, every Andean building that provides a Stockpile limit, stores twice more yields, which helps prevent theft.

The Andean people communicated with each other through brave messengers called Chaski. In Timeline, these are unique Trader units which can establish Trade Routes through the Andes' tricky mountain passes. Every resource traded on the route also gives additional yields in the Origin city.

The Andean Civilization is represented by its Faction, the Inca Empire. Its associated Minor Power is Nazca (Religious)

Andean Civ Ability: QUIPU

• Receive a +5% interest on your Coin andFood stockpiles, increasing by 0.5% for every Economic Tech you've integrated
• Receive a 2% interest on your other stockpiles, increasing by 0.2% for every Economic Tech you've integrated.
• Building with a stockpile can store +100% more yields.

Andean Unique: CHASKI
Unique Trader for the Andean Civilization

• When creating a Trade Route, can immediately move across mountains, which are treated like Navigable Rivers.
• Trade Routes created by this unit give extra yields in the Origin city based on the Resources traded on the route.
  • +1 Coin per Material on the Route
  • +1 Food per Food Resource on the Route
  • +1 Culture per Luxury on the Route
  • +1 Prestige per Stratagem on the Route

Andean Faction: the INCA

The Kingdom of Cusco was a relatively small polity in the region for a few centuries, until the rise of Pachacuti, the ninth Incan Sapa Inca. Under his leadership, Cusco resisted invasion, and conquered its aggressors, annexing them into a large empire that spanned four directions, or 'Tawatinsuyu'. The Inca were the top engineers in the region, building irrigation systems, storehouses and palaces in their signature masonry.

Incan stonework, called 'Pirqaq' in Quechua, is the name of their ability. All Incan buildings have a lower Production cost, and gain bonus adjacencies from being built inside Districts adjacent to a Mountain. Incan improvements also get Mountain adjacency bonuses.

The Inca also have the Andén, or Terrace farm, at their disposal to create arable land where there otherwise is none. These farm-like improvements can be built on Rough terrain or adjacent to Mountains, and give Food, Coin and Production depending on the tile. They do not replace Fields, but benefit from the same bonuses.

The Incan Unique unit is their royal guard, the Kamayuq. Armed with a long spears, these Pike and Shot replacements have the ability to strike at enemy stacks, damaging the top unit without taking damage in return.

Faction Overview: INCA
Jersey: Light Orange on Dark Red
Adjective: Incan
Your in-game name is 'The INCA'

Spawn: The Incan Settler starts on a Rough Desert tile with Fresh Water, adjacent to a Mountain.
Terrain Bias: Desert, Mountain, Rough.
Resource Bias: Gold, Llama

City List:
Capital: Cusco
Cores: Andahuaylas, Cajamarca, Huanuco, Machu Picchu & Pachacamac
Imperial: Arequipa, Ayacucho, Coryhuayranchina, Ica, Llactapata, Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuamán, Sausa, Vilcabamba & Vilcashuamán
Other: Abancay, Arica, Aquimarca, Chan Chan, Cincaypujio, Choquequirao, Cochabamba, Guayaquil, Inca Raqay, Incawasi, Ingapirca, Intipuncto, Intiwasi, Kuelap, Lima, Nasca, Machu Collca, Moquegua, Moray, Pajatén, Paramonga, Patallacta, Paucartambo, Pinkulluna, Pisac, Puka Pukara, Puruchuco, Quispiguanca, Quito, Raqchi, Riobamba, Rosaspata, Runku Raqay, Sipan, Sollana, Tiwanaku & Tumbes.

Incan ability: PIRQAQ

• All tile improvements have +1 base yield adjacency bonuses with Mountains
• All buildings receive +0.5 base yield adjacency from every cored Mountain adjacent to their District (capped at +3)
• The Construction costs of all Tier 1 Buildings are reduced by 10% Production or by 25% Production in tiles adjacent to a Mountain.

Incan Unique Unit: KAMAYUQ
Unique Light Infantry unit, replaces the Pike & Shot

• +4 Strength when attacking compared to a regular Pike & Shot
• Has the ability to Strike at enemies when in Rough or Urban terrain, or when adjacent to a Mountain.
  • Strikes allow the unit to issue a melee attack against the strongest unit in the enemy stack, at 50% of the usual damage, with no damage taken back.

Incan Unique Structure: ANDEN
Unique Farm-like improvement that doesn't replace anything

• +1 base Food
• +1 additional Production if placed on a Crop Resource or Rough Terrain.
• +1 additional Food if placed on Desert.
• +1 additional Coin from adjacency to Fresh Water.
• Restrictions: Rough Terrain, or any open tile adjacent to a Mountain.
• Counts as a Field for the purpose of determining what bonuses it gets from Technologies and adjacency to other improvements.

TUPAQ YUPANQUI leads the INCA in TIMELINE!

Tupaq Inka Yupanqui was the son and successor of the great Pachacuti. While Pachacuti was the Sapa Inca that founded the realm and reformed it into an empire, Tupaq Yupanqui was the Sapa Inca that expanded it to gigantic proportions, including all of Peru and Ecuador, and sizeable chunks of present-day Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Chile. A careful ruler who left little to chance, Tupaq Yupanqui built fortresses, entrepots, roads and shipyards, creating a communication system that helped him organize the empire in a well-oiled machine, and keeping it stable as more of the Andean kingdoms were brought into the fold.

Tupaq Yupanqui's ability is 'Tawantinsuyu', the Four Courners of the Realm: All of his units can move through Rough terrain with no penalties, and his cities can expand into Mountains sooner than other players. At Masonry, Districts can be placed on top of Mountain tiles, with the seven normal building slots. In addition, his Cities receive bonus Fortification from every Mountain claimed by the city, with the amount being higher if the Mountain is cored. Mountains are cored more easily.

He speaks Quechua.

Tupaq Yupanqui's Ability: TAWANTINSUYU

• All units move through Rough terrain without penalties.
• Mountains cost -50% less Prestige to Core.
• Districts can be constructed on Mountains after Masonry and have the same amount of Building slots as a standard District.
• Cities receive +3 Fortification per claimed Mountain and +5 Fortification per cored Mountain

Tupaq Yupanqui's default personality is Erratic, which makes him unpredictable, indecisive and prone to change his mind. He may also appear as the Docile and Aggressive personalities. (He's intended to be neurotic in his characterization, double-checking and overcalculating his moves.)

Tupaq Yupanqui's default strategies are Financier and Expansionist.

Tupaq Yupanqui's Agenda is 'Sapa Inca'

• Favours settlement locations near Mountains. (Comfortable with higher altitudes)
• Improved flavour towards training Settlers. (Wants to expand towards all four corners)
• improved Flavour towards building Traders and maximizing trade routes. (A vast inhospitable realm needs well-maintained supply lines)
• Prioritizes having above average output of Food, Production and Coin over other yields. (the Population needs to be fed, housed and clothed)
• Prioritizes building Districts and Fortifications. (Perfected andean masonry)
• Waits longer to spend stockpiled resources. (Natural caution leading towards empire-wide thrift.)
• Approves of leaders that build Fortifications, and by a larger amount if they also hoard yields in their stockpiles and reserves. Dislikes those that don't build up reserves and those that don't fortify properly. (Believes a strong defence leads directly to political security.)

As the Andean Civilization, you will have to think about when to stockpile your resources and cash in a large interest, or spend them in times of need. Mountains, Rough Terrain and Desert, inhospitable to most other Civs are your ideal terrain, and provide you with opportunities to grow and trade where others would struggle. Be sure to use Tupaq Yupanqui's abilities to core Mountains near your cities for bonus Fortification and well as good spots for your Districts, leaving you with more tiles for improvements. The Andeans are a versatile Civilization geared towards high yields over time, that reward patient and moderated gameplay over all-out deficit spending.

Will you claim an empire higher than the sun? What mark will the ANDEANS leave on your TIMELINE?

 

[Ryansinbela]

So it was the Inca, huh