Tweet
If you think this should be posted instead under either the Civilizations or Creation forums please tell me, im posting it here in Play the World because i think there is a general interest in it here:
Im considering making my own expansion pack for civilization 3, of course limited to Mods or what else i can do; there are several ideas but right now im thinking about added civilizations, particularly european ones.
With the addition of play the world, i think alll of the major powers will be added to the game, except maybe the Incas. However, because civilization is not about who actually succeeded historically, but a playing out of history, im considering civs that will account for major cultural groups left out. Im first considering those in europe. Here are some ideas for the civs traits and UUs [please comment on this and critique]:
DUTCH. Commercial, Industrial
The Dutch was a major cultural power, not only mercantile, but industrial and was a major art (Rembrandt, other N European artists) and religious center. Adding the Dutch sort of squeezes in other northern european countries like Belgium and Denmark with similar traits, like adding Spain squeezes in Portugese.
UU: SLOOP [replaces Caravel];
modifications: movement 6 (withdraw ability), blitz, bombard 1 with 1 rate of fire; doesn't upgrade to Galleon, requires Iron.
The Dutch had many innovations in shipbuilding, including the Fluyt which the Dutch are famed for. The Fluyt however, was primarily mercantile. The addition of the Sloop is to add something interesting to the game, the first UU naval military unit; sloops were very quick ships often equipped for war with cannons or other weapons, and fleets of sloops would be able to match against more powerful ships as frigates because of sheer speed. Movement of 6, so it allows for the ship to be able to withdraw from combat with frigates and caravels, and blitz. Because it should compete with frigates, the Sloop would not upgrade to Galleon (which could be a disadvantage), and would have poor bombard abilities, but the added ability requires Iron. I believe the large additions and advantages of the Sloop over the Caravel are justified design-wise, because of the limited ability and use of naval power in Civ3 [a pumped-up caravel with limited bombard will not unbalance the game in any important way]
PRUSSIANS. Militaristic, Commercial
This is to account for pseudo-Germanic eastern european cultures left out of the game, including Austrians, [Prussians, of course], Swiss, Lithuanians. At various times in history, each of these had some substantial power, but in general remained a hodge podge without any real supremacy. The same goes for the SLAVS, the next civilization group in the list I will suggest. This group had militaristic backtones, of course seen in the pomp and court culture of Prussians and Austirans, but also in the mercenary armies of the Swiss.
UU: HALBERDIER [replaces Pikeman];
modifications: attack 3, shield cost 2.
The UU, Halberdier obviously derives from the famed Swiss Halberdiers which were used as Mercenaries in many early modern wars, in Italy, Germany, and France. The Halberd adds extra attack from the pike, bringing it equal to its defense: the Halberdier becomes both a decent offensive and defensive unit. The reason I would increase attack to 3 instead of 2 (which i considered) is that in play the world, the medieval infantry also arrives with Feudalism and has an attack of 4; not leaving the Halberdier 'overpowered', it also does not have the defense of 4 that comes with Musketmen. The lowered shield cost reflects the mercenary nature of the units. What this allows the Prussians is the ability to rapidly create units to defeat swordsmen and protect units, while still having a defensive disadvantage to longbowmen and medieval infantry. In otherwords, i think it mainly only allows to the Prussians the advantage of a stonewalled defensive, allowing them to keep attackers at bay, [and make only limitedly advantageous offensive maneuvers--ie moving in to attack while not fearing as much destruction through counter-offense].
SLAVS. Religious, Industrial
Similar to the Prussians, this is meant to account for a large hodgepodge of cultural groups identified as "Slavo-Baltic" in eastern europe left out from Civ3, in this case, including, Poles, Czechs, and though not technically 'slavic' , 'baltic' ethnicities associated with the Slavs, as Hungarians and Serbians. As is obvious this reigous has been the center of focused religious, ethnic, and cultural conflict; in many cases accompanying strong religious sentiment, hence accounting for the Religious characteristic; and the industriousness reflects the periods under Communist programs more than anything though I think it could be made to relate to earlier slavic history.
UU: MOUNTED SCOUT [replaces Scout - civ starts with unit even though not expansionistic];
modifications: movement 3, invisible, doesn't upgrade to Explorer, requires Horses.
Admittedly I didn't really have a strong historical basis for this; i didn't feel like giving a military UU to the slavs and instead came to the idea of giving an advanced type of scout; something about the atmosphere of the region led me to think a mounted scout was a good variation; my ethnic background is slavic, Hungarian and Ukranian, so don't lecture me for being naive; i just think of images of horsemen steathfully riding through the Carpathians, stories of Vlad the Impaler leading horsemen and cavalries. At any rate, despite whatever historical basis it has, I think its a good idea for the Civ
. Competing with the ability of explorers in some way, it does not upgrade to Explorer (it has movement of 3 rather than 2 instead of having the 'treat all terrain as roads' ability of explorers), and is able to remain invisible so to travel through the territories of competing civs; however, unlike the standard scout, requires Horses [requiring Horses also postpones the use of the scout unit until later in the game when cities and trade are established so the added movement bonus and invisibility isn't too much of an advantage].
also if i were to make a modern europe scenario i would want to include italians but i think romans can substitute for their cultural force in general games. italians i think would be religious, commercial.
Im considering making my own expansion pack for civilization 3, of course limited to Mods or what else i can do; there are several ideas but right now im thinking about added civilizations, particularly european ones.
With the addition of play the world, i think alll of the major powers will be added to the game, except maybe the Incas. However, because civilization is not about who actually succeeded historically, but a playing out of history, im considering civs that will account for major cultural groups left out. Im first considering those in europe. Here are some ideas for the civs traits and UUs [please comment on this and critique]:
DUTCH. Commercial, Industrial
The Dutch was a major cultural power, not only mercantile, but industrial and was a major art (Rembrandt, other N European artists) and religious center. Adding the Dutch sort of squeezes in other northern european countries like Belgium and Denmark with similar traits, like adding Spain squeezes in Portugese.
UU: SLOOP [replaces Caravel];
modifications: movement 6 (withdraw ability), blitz, bombard 1 with 1 rate of fire; doesn't upgrade to Galleon, requires Iron.
The Dutch had many innovations in shipbuilding, including the Fluyt which the Dutch are famed for. The Fluyt however, was primarily mercantile. The addition of the Sloop is to add something interesting to the game, the first UU naval military unit; sloops were very quick ships often equipped for war with cannons or other weapons, and fleets of sloops would be able to match against more powerful ships as frigates because of sheer speed. Movement of 6, so it allows for the ship to be able to withdraw from combat with frigates and caravels, and blitz. Because it should compete with frigates, the Sloop would not upgrade to Galleon (which could be a disadvantage), and would have poor bombard abilities, but the added ability requires Iron. I believe the large additions and advantages of the Sloop over the Caravel are justified design-wise, because of the limited ability and use of naval power in Civ3 [a pumped-up caravel with limited bombard will not unbalance the game in any important way]
PRUSSIANS. Militaristic, Commercial
This is to account for pseudo-Germanic eastern european cultures left out of the game, including Austrians, [Prussians, of course], Swiss, Lithuanians. At various times in history, each of these had some substantial power, but in general remained a hodge podge without any real supremacy. The same goes for the SLAVS, the next civilization group in the list I will suggest. This group had militaristic backtones, of course seen in the pomp and court culture of Prussians and Austirans, but also in the mercenary armies of the Swiss.
UU: HALBERDIER [replaces Pikeman];
modifications: attack 3, shield cost 2.
The UU, Halberdier obviously derives from the famed Swiss Halberdiers which were used as Mercenaries in many early modern wars, in Italy, Germany, and France. The Halberd adds extra attack from the pike, bringing it equal to its defense: the Halberdier becomes both a decent offensive and defensive unit. The reason I would increase attack to 3 instead of 2 (which i considered) is that in play the world, the medieval infantry also arrives with Feudalism and has an attack of 4; not leaving the Halberdier 'overpowered', it also does not have the defense of 4 that comes with Musketmen. The lowered shield cost reflects the mercenary nature of the units. What this allows the Prussians is the ability to rapidly create units to defeat swordsmen and protect units, while still having a defensive disadvantage to longbowmen and medieval infantry. In otherwords, i think it mainly only allows to the Prussians the advantage of a stonewalled defensive, allowing them to keep attackers at bay, [and make only limitedly advantageous offensive maneuvers--ie moving in to attack while not fearing as much destruction through counter-offense].
SLAVS. Religious, Industrial
Similar to the Prussians, this is meant to account for a large hodgepodge of cultural groups identified as "Slavo-Baltic" in eastern europe left out from Civ3, in this case, including, Poles, Czechs, and though not technically 'slavic' , 'baltic' ethnicities associated with the Slavs, as Hungarians and Serbians. As is obvious this reigous has been the center of focused religious, ethnic, and cultural conflict; in many cases accompanying strong religious sentiment, hence accounting for the Religious characteristic; and the industriousness reflects the periods under Communist programs more than anything though I think it could be made to relate to earlier slavic history.
UU: MOUNTED SCOUT [replaces Scout - civ starts with unit even though not expansionistic];
modifications: movement 3, invisible, doesn't upgrade to Explorer, requires Horses.
Admittedly I didn't really have a strong historical basis for this; i didn't feel like giving a military UU to the slavs and instead came to the idea of giving an advanced type of scout; something about the atmosphere of the region led me to think a mounted scout was a good variation; my ethnic background is slavic, Hungarian and Ukranian, so don't lecture me for being naive; i just think of images of horsemen steathfully riding through the Carpathians, stories of Vlad the Impaler leading horsemen and cavalries. At any rate, despite whatever historical basis it has, I think its a good idea for the Civ
. Competing with the ability of explorers in some way, it does not upgrade to Explorer (it has movement of 3 rather than 2 instead of having the 'treat all terrain as roads' ability of explorers), and is able to remain invisible so to travel through the territories of competing civs; however, unlike the standard scout, requires Horses [requiring Horses also postpones the use of the scout unit until later in the game when cities and trade are established so the added movement bonus and invisibility isn't too much of an advantage].also if i were to make a modern europe scenario i would want to include italians but i think romans can substitute for their cultural force in general games. italians i think would be religious, commercial.
Comment