Unique Leaders per Era

[Ankorafeonix]

I wondered today, if something I've always wanted to see in a Civ Game, might at last be possible: A different leader for each era of a civ, with varying bonuses, unique units, etc.

The reason I thought this might be possible is after I saw Gedemon's new YNAEMP and saw the possibility of adding something like 50 Civs in the game at once. It'd be a lot of work, and one would have to get pretty creative to find leaders for all eras for some civs. I imagine it would have to be a scenario as well, rather than mod for standard games. Still, it'd be epic to play a Europe scenario, starting out with Roman-era leaders that change over time.

Of course, although I'm familiar with XML editing, LUA is a mystery to me, though it seems within the realms of possibility to trigger a 'civ change' upon reaching a certain era, which changes you from the old leader to the new one.

So, is this idea plausible, once the mod tools are released?

 

[GPuzzle]

I'm gonna go ahead and say "no". It wasn't possible in Civ V, I highly doubt it will be possible in Civ VI. Besides, doesn't really match the design philosophy.

 

[Ewok-Bacon-Bits]

Well there is a lua command for "SetPlayerLeader" which means it *could* be possible that it would allow you to switch leaders while in game but its also possible that command can only be used before the game is initialized, which is more likely.

 

[GPuzzle]

We've tested that, requires reloading to work properly, really.

 

[Ankorafeonix]

Ah ok, that's a shame I guess. Does it really go against the design philosophy, though? I see it as just a tool for more immersion - it's not the worst thing in the world playing as Roosevelt in the Classical Era but it'd be nice to see each era populated by the empires of the time. England's special ability should be that its cities, at a certain point, all split off into unique civilisations America, Australia, and Canada, and (after a possible independence war with one of them), the four of them get bonuses to trading with each other and diplomatic points. But oh well, I'll keep hoping for another game like that in the future!

 

[GPuzzle]

Ah ok, that's a shame I guess. Does it really go against the design philosophy, though? I see it as just a tool for more immersion - it's not the worst thing in the world playing as Roosevelt in the Classical Era but it'd be nice to see each era populated by the empires of the time. England's special ability should be that its cities, at a certain point, all split off into unique civilisations America, Australia, and Canada, and (after a possible independence war with one of them), the four of them get bonuses to trading with each other and diplomatic points. But oh well, I'll keep hoping for another game like that in the future!

Civ VI's philosophy mirrors that of a boardgame rather than a normal 4X. More players entering at random times is not only annoying, it's a massive danger to interesting gameplay given the inherent ideas in its conception.

 

[Gedemon]

I don't see a problem with a mod not following the core game's "design philosophy", IMO the most important part when making a mod is to have fun while designing it and then playing it.

If other people like it too, that's a bonus.

About the possibility, gameplay wise you could change rules mid game with various trick if it can't be done directly, but for the art side (3D leaders) it would be challenging (and hacky) if the engine does not allows hotloading.

 

[Ankorafeonix]

More players entering at random times is not only annoying, it's a massive danger to interesting gameplay given the inherent ideas in its conception.

Annoying for some, maybe. There was a mod like this for Civ 5 and I loved it, and as far as I remember it was quite popular. As Gedemon says, it's about having fun, not following a philosophy, and I don't think I'm the only one who would like to play a civ that changes organically over the course of a game depending on its leader, say, starting off as a barbaric German civilisation, moving through the Holy Roman Empire stage, then to unification, then having a brush with fascism, finally ending up as an economy focused civ. I can't see what's not interesting about the dynamics of that kind of game.

 

[mikeejimbo]

I'm going to go against the bandwagon here and say it's something I'd want. I remember way back in Civ II, if your capital was revolting, if it was captured there was a chance of splitting your empire in two. That was awesome.

At the moment probably not possible, but maybe something like unique powers for the same leaders per era? Changing the leaders' names per era? Maybe?