We need better animals!

[Lemon Merchant]

Best way to derail an internet thread: introduce either Monty Python or Hitler...

I suppose we'd best behave. Someone will say "Ni" pretty soon.

Oops!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I demand a shrubbery.

 

[skyline5k]

Høw about møøse?

Mynd yøu, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...

Excellent! THAT is one that should be in.

That's pretty much up there with TETurkhan's Elvis unit in Las Vegas.

 

[Vidar]

Killer rabbits! Run away! Run away!

Can only be killed with the Holy Hand Grenade.

 

[ruff_hi]

Combat Wombats!

Taken from wikipedia: lol

"Its sheer weight makes a charging wild wombat capable of knocking an average-sized adult over, and their sharp teeth and powerful jaws can result in severe wounds."

"Humans who accidentally find themselves in an affray with a wombat may find it best to scale a tree until the animal calms and leaves. Humans can receive puncture wounds from wombat claws as well as bites. Startled wombats can also charge humans and bowl them over, with the attendant risks of broken bones from the fall."

This is no joke. I was walking back to the car after dark and disturbed a wombat ... bloody thing charged down the hill sounding like a 44 gallon drum - had to go home and change my underpants.

Also watch out for the Drop-Bears and the Hoop-Snakes!

Killer rabbits! Run away! Run away!

Yes, they have (as Tim the Wizard says) these huge teeth that rip your throat out.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I demand a shrubbery.

A nice one. And not too expensive.

Said Lemon, who is currently whipping up a nice batch of møøse tarts.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

A moose once bit my sister.

 

[ruff_hi]

A moose once bit my sister.

oh oh, me, me - I claim first right of response ... Was the moose ok?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I'll just link it

http://www.smouse.force9.co.uk/monty.htm

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I once saw "Fillings øf Passiøn."

I thought it was a Fellini film, but it turned out to be an early Bergman... The Dental Hygienist was pretty hot.

 

[ruff_hi]

2 comments about Swedish films ...

1) wife and I were watching a film in Swedish with English subtitles - after 45 mins, reading the subtitles became second nature. about 60 mins into the film there is a picnic scene where they had lots of people over for lunch which was in English (some of the visitors were English) and the sub-titles disappeared. Wife and I looked at each other and said ... hey - I can understand Swedish now.

2) visiting Swedish friends in Stockholm - we watched the movie Stargate. Like all films in Sweden, it was in English with Swedish subtitles - that was fine for us until they aliens started to speak ... alien dialog with Swedish subtitles - we didn't understand what was going on so the 5 year old boy of our friend translated on the fly for us.

PS: Totally missed the python reference re moose - have to hand in my MP license ... sniff.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The current ones are pretty predictable and not at all realistic.

Instead, I propose the following:

Sharks – 1 , 3 These would replace barbarian Galleys, early on. They'd terrorize exploring workboats, but would be fairly easily dispatched by Galleys.

Crocodiles - 3 , 1 Only found on tiles adjacent to rivers/freshwater lakes, and not in Tundra/Ice. Invisible until adjacent. Throws a bit of a wrinkle into the mix.

Tigers – 3 , 1 (like current Bear) There are plenty of maneating tiger stories, but relatively few maneating bear stories. So the Tiger is the apex land predator.

Lions – 2 , 2 Much as they are now.

Leopard – 2 , 1 Pretty much like the current Panther.

People just don't get eaten by bears very often, so the bears are out. Wolves will very rarely eat people... but they're pretty weak in the game. Either leave them as is, or out with them.

Who's with me?

With you?

The best change to animals would be to eliminate them entirely. Animals do not kill groups of people, let alone organized military units. 2+ str land animals are a total joke ---> you get a luck box whether your exploring unit survives, and your skill has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Sharks as a replacement for barb galleys until everybody can build triremes would be a step in the right direction ---> on high levels barb galleys can really only be stopped by mechanics abuse, not building legit naval garrisons.


Tigers do not attack groups of people large enough to found cities, large numbers or humans working together, and CERTAINLY not hundreds to thousands of men wielding weapons.

Barbs in general are pretty un-fun, but worse yet is the mechanics knowledge (abuse) required to cost-effectively stop them on high levels. Why subject players to trial and error gameplay? Why deliberately program the GUI to lie to players? Why hide hide mechanics and game rules? These things are pretty inexcusable, and worse yet, we have a thread that wants to exacerbate them.

The #1 priorities if anyone wanted to improve this game are to 1) fix control shortcuts (since apparently through 10+ patches and multiple expansions fireaxis can't handle that) and 2) remove all the hidden/lying interface issues that good players know about but casual players suffer through no fault of their own.

 

[6K Man]

With you?

SOMEONE's not in the spirit of this thread.

The best change to animals would be to eliminate them entirely. Animals do not kill groups of people, let alone organized military units. 2+ str land animals are a total joke ---> you get a luck box whether your exploring unit survives, and your skill has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Well, probably true, but this thread is about better animals, and not no animals. Threadjacker.

Sharks as a replacement for barb galleys until everybody can build triremes would be a step in the right direction ---> on high levels barb galleys can really only be stopped by mechanics abuse, not building legit naval garrisons.

Now you're getting in the spirit of things.

Tigers do not attack groups of people large enough to found cities, large numbers or humans working together, and CERTAINLY not hundreds to thousands of men wielding weapons.

Well, yeah. But neither do Wolves, Panthers, and Lions, which are in the game now.

And especially not Bears.

Friggin' Bears. So implausible.

 

[6K Man]

To the rest of y'all: If you haven't already modified your GP lists to include "Tim the Enchanter" as a Great Scientist, then you have no bidness talkin' at me.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

SOMEONE's not in the spirit of this thread.

1st time ever in the history of CFC, I'm sure

Well, probably true, but this thread is about better animals, and not no animals. Threadjacker.

That's not the only thing I'm...wait no. IMO the imbalance of early animal eats scout = luck affected outcome is valid. If anything, animals *should* be toned down or eliminated. Either would be better than the current situation. Maybe give them the tiniest sliver of str (like .1 or something) such that they kill completely defenseless units, but not organized military. Or give them 1 str and pull the scout bonus vs them (such that exploring type units smaller in # might die to them, but an organized military force almost never would). Something.

Well, yeah. But neither do Wolves, Panthers, and Lions, which are in the game now.

And especially not Bears.

Friggin' Bears. So implausible.

None of those should be in the game either.

However, what you're seeing aren't ordinary bears. Ever read golden compass? Yeah, those are ARMORED BEARS, and they will tear you up!

...(in all seriousness, bears can and do kill people. Some are > 1000 pounds and could probably kill tigers. I'm not sure which kills people more often, but either can be pretty lethal).

And by the way, hippos are more dangerous than crocs are, and kill more people on the Nile consistently. Most people don't seem to realize that.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

To the rest of y'all: If you haven't already modified your GP lists to include "Tim the Enchanter" as a Great Scientist, then you have no bidness talkin' at me.

Just you wait for BAT 3.0, Mr. Smartie Pants.

 

[ruff_hi]

To the rest of y'all: If you haven't already modified your GP lists to include "Tim the Enchanter" as a Great Scientist, then you have no bidness talkin' at me.

err - wouldn't Great Artist be better for him?

 

[Tristan_C]

SOMEONE's not in the spirit of this thread.

Pfft, I'm with him on that. My early proposal of a Mosquito as a siege unit was an attempt to condemn this whole idea ad absurdum. It clearly didn't work, and the whole thread has been an unmitigated disaster.

I read TMIT's insights on animals earlier, but I'm not committed on removing animals. They add flavor at lower levels (combat odds are 99+ and there are free victories against barbs), and if anything they speed up exploration by giving an easy Woodsman II. At high levels they make it increasingly risky and slow to explore. At all difficulties they make it advisable to escort settlers, although at that point I agree... less could be left to chance. If you lose a warrior and a settler in one fight on a hard setting, the situation is probably beyond salvaging.

 

[Fatality_Slim]

We need some snakes up in this thread, as snakebite (sadly) is a pretty legitimate fear in southeast asia and the indian subcontinent. Pretty sure snakes kill more farmers in India and Bangledesh than Tigers, panthers, or whatever other else you can come up with.

With all the clearing of jungle that my workers do, some of them are bound to get owned by Russel's vipers or cobras. Hell, in Thailand workers using ELEPHANTS to clear lumber sometimes lose phants to king cobra bites on the trunk, albiet rarely.

Snakes = scourge of the jungle and rice paddys.

 

[Sisiutil]

...and if you have discovered Flight and built Hollywood, you get to load them onto planes with Samuel L. Jackson.