SilverLeaf167
2015-04-03, 04:09 PM
There's a lot of mods around to cover most of the world in one form or another, but there's always that one region that feels ignored or just misrepresented. Even those who have their own country depicted in the actual game may find it unsuitable for their play style or personal vision.
The more ambitious and skilled may set out to mod the (surprisingly cryptic and undocumented) game files, but the rest of us will just have to think aloud. :smallwink:
So, if you had the theoretical chance to design your own beloved fatherland, say, for Civilization VI, what would you go with?
You can lay it out in mechanical detail, describe it in broad strokes, explain your design choices, just throw around basic ideas, whatever you want. Just share a glimpse of your great visions; admit it, you do have some. Game balance is only as much of a concern as you want it to be. Ideas for historical civs in your area (or anything else, really) are also welcome. Historical discussion is inevitable, but try to keep religion and politics within the usual guidelines.
Some of my own, rather lengthy musings on Finland, in spoiler form to avoid cluttering the OP any further. Prepare for a crash course in Finland:
There are a couple of mods for it, but I find them all lacking in one way or another. Like most countries', Finland's history is hard to represent in a single form, having existed as a very rural, almost tribal society for so long until suddenly making the leap into a developed welfare state in just a few decades. Civs like this typically have to choose a specific part of their history to focus on; typically some dramatic, "defining" period. In Finland's case, it's probably a choice between the famous Winter War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War) and the country's more modern form. The choice of leader for each is obvious, too: Marshal Mannerheim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim) for the former and President Kekkonen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urho_Kekkonen) for the latter. Mannerheim is more "dramatic" and somewhat less controversial, though, so I'm going with him and making the rest of the civ a bit of an amalgam.
It makes sense for Finland to be a defensive, peaceful nation rather than a warmongering one. Mannerheim is basically a symbol of the Winter and Continuation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War) Wars, where Finland resisted the USSR against impossible odds and defined its own position for the rest of the 20th century. A combat bonus in friendly territory is rather lazy, but effective. In addition, Finland's politics were relatively progressive at the time (first country with full universal suffrage), it remained a democracy for the entire 20th century and the welfare system is still effective today, so perhaps something like a little happiness for each social policy and ideological tenet adopted would make sense. Let's call this unique ability of his Northern Sisu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu), very integral to the Finnish national identity.
The Jääkäri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4ger_Movement) ("Jäger", Finnish soldiers originally trained in Germany) are almost too obvious for an unique unit. Other options include the Ski Infantry that were so instrumental in Finnish tactics, but they're kinda generic and overlap with Denmark's unit, so maybe not. Snipers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4) would be another fun option, though I'm not sure how to make them function in Civ. Perhaps a machine gun replacement that has lower defense strength but extra range and free movement in harsh terrain? Might be cool. Basically it comes down to either the Jääkäri as some relatively generic Rifleman replacement (probably with some terrain bonus, too) or the Sniper.
Two unique units don't really make sense for a peaceful civ, however, so we need a building. Paper Mills and other forestry are still notable in today's Finland, but more importantly they kicked off Finland's industrialization and rapid development. They generally ran on water power, so cities with fresh water could build them without Coal. Since Finland is very technologically advanced today, some sort of tech bonus feels appropriate, so why not put it here? Something like Science from forest tiles would probably make sense.
So we end up with:
Mannerheim of the Finnish Empire
UA: Northern Sisu - Units gain +15% Combat Strength in friendly territory. +2 Global Happiness for every Social Policy and Ideological Tenet adopted. [feels a little strong, but +1 is conversely weak]
UU: Sniper - +1 range, can ignore movement penalty from rough terrain and move after attacking, but weaker on the defense and against cities than the Machine Gun it replaces. [went with this for now since it's more interesting]
UB: Paper Mill - No Coal requirement in cities with fresh water access. +2 Science from every Forest tile worked.
Overall, Mannerheim benefits from building somewhat wide to get an use for his extra Happiness, more territory for his combat boost and more forests for the Paper Mills to work, but has no real bonuses for conquest and the Happiness bonus's mechanics still favor a tall strategy. As a combination of his own personality and Finland's overall policy, Mannerheim's AI is cautious but opportunistic, loyal but ultimately self-serving. He doesn't have many direct benefits for a specific victory type, but favors Science, with Diplomatic and Culture as back-ups.
I realize there's a lot of overlap with existent mods, but none of them really do it exactly as I'd want. :smallamused:
(Yes, this thread was partially an excuse to share this, but I'm genuinely interested in other designs too) :smalltongue:
The more ambitious and skilled may set out to mod the (surprisingly cryptic and undocumented) game files, but the rest of us will just have to think aloud. :smallwink:
So, if you had the theoretical chance to design your own beloved fatherland, say, for Civilization VI, what would you go with?
You can lay it out in mechanical detail, describe it in broad strokes, explain your design choices, just throw around basic ideas, whatever you want. Just share a glimpse of your great visions; admit it, you do have some. Game balance is only as much of a concern as you want it to be. Ideas for historical civs in your area (or anything else, really) are also welcome. Historical discussion is inevitable, but try to keep religion and politics within the usual guidelines.
Some of my own, rather lengthy musings on Finland, in spoiler form to avoid cluttering the OP any further. Prepare for a crash course in Finland:
There are a couple of mods for it, but I find them all lacking in one way or another. Like most countries', Finland's history is hard to represent in a single form, having existed as a very rural, almost tribal society for so long until suddenly making the leap into a developed welfare state in just a few decades. Civs like this typically have to choose a specific part of their history to focus on; typically some dramatic, "defining" period. In Finland's case, it's probably a choice between the famous Winter War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War) and the country's more modern form. The choice of leader for each is obvious, too: Marshal Mannerheim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim) for the former and President Kekkonen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urho_Kekkonen) for the latter. Mannerheim is more "dramatic" and somewhat less controversial, though, so I'm going with him and making the rest of the civ a bit of an amalgam.
It makes sense for Finland to be a defensive, peaceful nation rather than a warmongering one. Mannerheim is basically a symbol of the Winter and Continuation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War) Wars, where Finland resisted the USSR against impossible odds and defined its own position for the rest of the 20th century. A combat bonus in friendly territory is rather lazy, but effective. In addition, Finland's politics were relatively progressive at the time (first country with full universal suffrage), it remained a democracy for the entire 20th century and the welfare system is still effective today, so perhaps something like a little happiness for each social policy and ideological tenet adopted would make sense. Let's call this unique ability of his Northern Sisu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu), very integral to the Finnish national identity.
The Jääkäri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4ger_Movement) ("Jäger", Finnish soldiers originally trained in Germany) are almost too obvious for an unique unit. Other options include the Ski Infantry that were so instrumental in Finnish tactics, but they're kinda generic and overlap with Denmark's unit, so maybe not. Snipers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4) would be another fun option, though I'm not sure how to make them function in Civ. Perhaps a machine gun replacement that has lower defense strength but extra range and free movement in harsh terrain? Might be cool. Basically it comes down to either the Jääkäri as some relatively generic Rifleman replacement (probably with some terrain bonus, too) or the Sniper.
Two unique units don't really make sense for a peaceful civ, however, so we need a building. Paper Mills and other forestry are still notable in today's Finland, but more importantly they kicked off Finland's industrialization and rapid development. They generally ran on water power, so cities with fresh water could build them without Coal. Since Finland is very technologically advanced today, some sort of tech bonus feels appropriate, so why not put it here? Something like Science from forest tiles would probably make sense.
So we end up with:
Mannerheim of the Finnish Empire
UA: Northern Sisu - Units gain +15% Combat Strength in friendly territory. +2 Global Happiness for every Social Policy and Ideological Tenet adopted. [feels a little strong, but +1 is conversely weak]
UU: Sniper - +1 range, can ignore movement penalty from rough terrain and move after attacking, but weaker on the defense and against cities than the Machine Gun it replaces. [went with this for now since it's more interesting]
UB: Paper Mill - No Coal requirement in cities with fresh water access. +2 Science from every Forest tile worked.
Overall, Mannerheim benefits from building somewhat wide to get an use for his extra Happiness, more territory for his combat boost and more forests for the Paper Mills to work, but has no real bonuses for conquest and the Happiness bonus's mechanics still favor a tall strategy. As a combination of his own personality and Finland's overall policy, Mannerheim's AI is cautious but opportunistic, loyal but ultimately self-serving. He doesn't have many direct benefits for a specific victory type, but favors Science, with Diplomatic and Culture as back-ups.
I realize there's a lot of overlap with existent mods, but none of them really do it exactly as I'd want. :smallamused:
(Yes, this thread was partially an excuse to share this, but I'm genuinely interested in other designs too) :smalltongue: