Tomatekh's New Civilizations

[Tomatekh]

I've also decided I'm going to extend the Garamantes bonus to allow construction of river buildings (or at least Water Mills). There's only three water dependent buildings, I think. Garden (Fresh Water), Water Mill (River), Hydro Plant (River). Currently they can build Gardens in every city because the tile acts like fresh water. It would be a simply matter to add a line of code to also allow them to build the river buildings anywhere. The whole point of the UA is to make the Garamantes less restricted by terrain when settling cities, and this helps that. I'm not sure if I should also allow the Hydro Plant or just the Water Mill. (The Hydro plant only gives bonuses to river tiles, anyway. It would free them up of not having to settle directly next to the river (eating perhaps a valuable flood plain tile) but they'd still need river in the city radius).

 

[Homusubi]

I think that the whole Oasis direction with the UB doesn't represent the Garamantes. The singular thing about the Garamantes which sets them apart from all other Saharan civs is that they could get water without an oasis. You did that with the UA. I am just concerned that the UB might start an oasis dependency that is not in any way Garamantean.

IMO, a better Garamantean UA buff would be to add 1 food to any tile that is adjacent to a desert city/fort, i.e. a Foggaras tile.

 

[Tomatekh]

I think that the whole Oasis direction with the UB doesn't represent the Garamantes. The singular thing about the Garamantes which sets them apart from all other Saharan civs is that they could get water without an oasis. You did that with the UA. I am just concerned that the UB might start an oasis dependency that is not in any way Garamantean.

IMO, a better Garamantean UA buff would be to add 1 food to any tile that is adjacent to a desert city/fort, i.e. a Foggaras tile.

Actually, the Garamantes did make extensive use of oases and many of their towns were settled adjacent to them. Getting water from an oasis was significantly easier than using the fossil water network and oases formed a key part of their irrigation system. The Sahara was also significantly greener and less dessert at the time as well. Although, I understand your concern.

Your suggestion is a good one.

 

[turingmachine]

But all of that is because of how nonsensical the fresh water farm system is in V. (It was done better in IV where farms needed fresh water to be built most of the game). In V there is no difference between a farm built with access to water and one built without until Civil Service. Fresh water farms should produce more food for the first half of the game not just at the middle ( and then only for a little while as fertilizer comes soon ).

 

[turingmachine]

Ur (Maritime): Muscat?, Dubai?
Samarqand (Mercantile)
Kiev (?)

You also have to replace Kabul, unless you want to remove it from the Timurid city list.

 

[Homusubi]

Just use any of the -istan capitals. Bishkek or something. I don't even think Islamabad is in any city list (even though Lahore and Karachi are)

 

[Xandinho]

Tomatekh Hello, I would like to ask you to do the Olmec civ:
I would love to see the Olmec in game

A sample:

Olmec
Leader: Po Ngbe
UA:
Mesoamerican culture: Shrine and Temples produce +2 or
Rubber people: Plantations produce +3
UU: Jaguar Olmec: +50% combat strength in forests & jungles, Moves at double rate through forests & jungles (replaces warrior)
UB: Colossal heads: Produces +2 and +2
Capital: La Venta

City List:

La Venta
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán
Tres Zapotes
Laguna de los Cerros
San Andrés
Chalcatzingo
El Azuzul
El Manatí
La Mojarra
Oxtotitlán
Juxtlahuaca
Tlatilco

 

[FairFenix]

Hello, I wanted to thank you for all your civs, I really enjoy them. Awesome work!!

 

[Tomatekh]

Hello, I wanted to thank you for all your civs, I really enjoy them. Awesome work!!

Thanks! I'm always glad to hear people are enjoying my mods!

Tomatekh Hello, I would like to ask you to do the Olmec civ: I would love to see the Olmec in game

Right now I'm not working on any new civs until BNW comes out. At which point I have 4 civs lined up that I've been wanting to make for awhile. After I get those done, I'll consider doing the Olmec.

 

[Tomatekh]

So there's a unit model I could really use for one of my upcoming civs. The model was the Supply Train in the BTS Charlemagne scenario (I can't remember if it was ever used in the standard game).

I posted this in the unit request thread, but I imagine most posts there get buried/lost. If someone could convert this for Civ V (assuming it can be converted), I'd be really grateful. I'm not even sure who on the forums can convert Civ IV units. Does anyone know? Maybe I can also pm them and request directly.

(For those wondering, the monk model in the unit is kind of problematic but I can probably make it work with a reskin).

 

[Tomatekh]

Okay, here's a preview of one of the first civs I hope to release for Brave New World:

Just kidding, it'd probably actually end up looking something like this:

You can thank Leugi for the fantastic leaderhead. (Ignore the geographical distortion with Sumer).

I'm not sure about my map:

It's the first map I've made in a while (like five months maybe?). I can't decide about the Meluhha-Agastya symbols in the middle of the map. They're appropriate, just, I think they throw the image off. Maybe if I hadn't made the city text white; change them all to something else? Drop them, and put a picture overlay over the area? The arrows look cheesy too (couldn't figure out how to make decent arrows in GIMP).

Anyway, don't expect this civ anytime soon. I probably won't get a chance to finish it up--along with updating my existing mods--till mid-August. Finishing this civ also depends on what can be modded with the new trade system (although I have a rough UA, UB, UU worked out already). I also hope to finish Great Zimbabwe close to the time I release Harappa. Then I have two other civs (Champa and a mystery civ) that I'm planning after that. I have another one I'm also considering but I'm unsure if I could get the ability I thought up working so I'll leave it at that for the moment.

 

[InsanelyApple]

Okay, here's a preview of one of the first civs I hope to release for Brave New World:

Spoiler :

Actually, it'd probably end up looking something like this:

Spoiler :

You can thank Leugi for the fantastic leaderhead. (Ignore the geographical distortion with Sumer).

I'm not sure about my map:

Spoiler :

It's the first map I've made in a while (like five months maybe?). I can't decide about the Meluhha-Agastya symbols in the middle of the map. They're appropriate, just, I think they throw the image off. Maybe if I hadn't made the city text white; change them all to something else? Drop them, and put a picture overlay over the area? The arrows look cheesy too (couldn't figure out how to make decent arrows in GIMP).

Anyway, don't expect this civ anytime soon. I probably won't get a chance to finish it up--along with updating my existing mods--till mid-August. Finishing this civ also depends on what can be modded with the new trade system (although I have a rough UA, UB, UU worked out already). I also hope to finish Great Zimbabwe close to the time I release Harappa. Then I have two other civs (Champa and a mystery civ) that I'm planning after that. I might also do the Sioux somewhere down the line if I can get the ability working that I thought up for them.

Looking forward to it. Looks like you have some good stuff down the line.

 

[Tomatekh]

Do people like this better?

Or maybe Mel Akam which is probably more appropriate (from the Dravidian instead of the Sumerian).

 

[Leugi]

I don't know a thing about Mel Akam or Meluhhia but the new map does look better and is easier to read.

 

[Tomatekh]

I don't know a thing about Mel Akam or Meluhhia but the new map does look better and is easier to read.

"Meluhha" is a name in the Sumerian cuneiform of one Sumer's most prominent trading partners. Most scholars believe it refers to the Indus Valley Civ (at least in its early mentions). This would also probably make it linguistically related to the Dravidian "Mel Akam" ("high country") and the Sanskrit "Mleccha" ("foreigner"). Harappa and Indus Valley are both modern inventions, so the term the Harappans called themselves would be linguistically similar to Meluhha/Mel Akam/Mleccha. The diamond symbol in my first map is the current theory to represent "high place" meaning there's a good chance it's the symbol the Harappans used to self identify, meaning Meluhha.

 

[Tomatekh]

So things are coming along nicely for Harappa. I don't actually have time to code it at the moment, but I've been collecting art assets, so I should be able to release it relatively quickly once my schedule frees up. I also need to see what can be done with the BNW trade system before I finalize their abilities.

With that said I have:

-Leaderhead (thanks Leugi)
-Map
-DoM
-Unit Graphic (Wolfdog said he'd try and convert it for me)
-Civ Icon
-UB Icon
-Unit SV Icon

As Harappa will be one of the first new civs I've released in a while, and also because I feel Harappa/Indus Valley are one of those really historically significant civs, I think I would like to try to go as high quality with the art assets as possible. I know my maps aren't as good as Sukritact or JanBoruta, but I'm satisfied with the level of map I've come up with; same with the UB icon I've managed to make.

With that said, if anyone wants to help with either the Leader Icon or the UU Icon, I'd be more than grateful. Otherwise, I'll put something together next month or so when I have time.

I'm also having difficulty in settling on a color combination, if anyone has any suggestions.

 

[janboruta]

Hello Tomatekh, I know this was a request you made ages ago, but I could get back to mod art only recently. And so here's an icon for Benin's Isienmwenro, so it doesn't re-use Kongolese Pombo anymore.



I'm quite busy producing icons for Project Civ and occasionaly for Pouakai's/Sukritact's More Civilizations, but if you'd have some requests, maybe I would have the time to do them.

 

[Tomatekh]

Spoiler :

Hello Tomatekh, I know this was a request you made ages ago, but I could get back to mod art only recently. And so here's an icon for Benin's Isienmwenro, so it doesn't re-use Kongolese Pombo anymore.


I'm quite busy producing icons for Project Civ and occasionaly for Pouakai's/Sukritact's More Civilizations, but if you'd have some requests, maybe I would have the time to do them.

Wow, that is absolutely amazing, well worth the wait! I'll be sure to integrate it into the mod, probably when I get around to the BNW updates. I can't thank you enough!

I'm actually in the middle of finishing my dissertation for my Master's, which is due mid August, so I can't do any serious modding for about the next two months anyway. At the moment, I'm trying to put together the art for my next civ, Harappa, so that I hopefully will be able to release it relatively quickly once my schedule frees up.

I won't officially request it, as I know how busy you are, but if sometime over the next two months you had the time/inclination to make a Leader Icon based off the fantastic leaderhead Leuigi made, that would be great:

I've actually been able to make decent UB Icons recently, but human figures still give me way too much trouble. As I said, though, not an official request. If you can't get around to it, I'm sure I could put something together.

By the way, what do you think of my Harappan map? I'm not really satisfied with the trade seal images, but finding high quality images to overlay for Harappa proved problematic. I recently had to make a new symbol from scratch for the Civ Icon, though, so I might try to incorporate that. Also, it took me forever to figure out how to make arrows in GIMP and I think they came out kinda cheesy looking:

 

[janboruta]

I won't officially request it, as I know how busy you are, but if sometime over the next two months you had the time/inclination to make a Leader Icon based off the fantastic leaderhead Leuigi made, that would be great

Added to my list. Actually I'll be making quite a lot of leader icons based on Leugi's screens so I'll get a hold of it anyway

By the way, what do you think of my Harappan map? I'm not really satisfied with the trade seal images, but finding high quality images to overlay for Harappa proved problematic. I recently had to make a new symbol from scratch for the Civ Icon, though, so I might try to incorporate that. Also, it took me forever to figure out how to make arrows in GIMP and I think they came out kinda cheesy looking

The map is great and deserves highest praise, especially for the research done. The arrows could use some love indeed. In my maps I make them manually - just draw lines with a paintbrush with shape/size dynamics turned off, then add regular triangles where needed. In your map I'd drop the shadow from beneath them too, it contributes to them looking a bit bulky. But the shadow might look better if you use regular triangles in place of stylized arrowheads.

 

[Tomatekh]

The map is great and deserves highest praise, especially for the research done. The arrows could use some love indeed. In my maps I make them manually - just draw lines with a paintbrush with shape/size dynamics turned off, then add regular triangles where needed. In your map I'd drop the shadow from beneath them too, it contributes to them looking a bit bulky. But the shadow might look better if you use regular triangles in place of stylized arrowheads.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try them out when I get the chance. And thanks for appreciating the research. Most maps on google search of the area won't show that the Runn of Kutch was all water at that time-frame and that the Ghaggar-Hakra River (which was probably the Sarasvati) wasn't dry, making the area a two river system, not one.

Of course, if I'm ever feeling bad about my maps I always just look at this comparison and realize how far I'm coming:

And I'll admit I do a fair bit of staring at your and Sukritact's maps trying to figure out the stuff you've done. It's usually how I think of some new technique to try out