Bay 12 Games Forum

New civs:

All existing civs are gone, and are replaced by;

Romans: The late-era Roman Empire was a powerful force. They typically use the gladius short sword, the pilum throwing spear, and a round or square shield called the scutum (both the gladius and scutum were borrowed from the early Spanish). The legionary is the typical roman infantry, though they are also able to field the bucelari, a primitive crossbow, as well as basic spearmen. However most armies should be fielded of gladius-wielding legionaries, as the gladius is by far the best weapon they can use.

Carthaginians: An offshoot of the ancient Phoenician Empire, the Carthaginians quickly became a dominant Mediterranean mercantile power. After some rather nasty clashes with the growing Romans, however, they were thoroughly conquered and the jewel of the Mediterranean, Carthage, was burned to the ground. They can trade with the Romans in Rome Fortress but they tend to get into wars with them quite often as well. 'At least they're not barbarians!'

Greeks: The Greek empire was once a vast and powerful nation, but fragmented after Alexander's the Great's death into several autonomous regions, most of which were eventually conquered themselves. In Rome Fortress, the Greeks are willing to trade with the Romans and occasionally get into wars with them, but are generally not much of a threat.

The Greeks can field the slow-moving, but heavily defensive hoplites - spearmen with large, heavy shields, and the powerful Spartan hoplites who wield longer spears. They also have a good variety of bowmen.

Persians: Largely, the Persians are like the Greeks: too far away to make much of a difference, and don't wish to war with the Romans if they can help it. Instead, they will send trade caravans. Todo: create spices for them to trade with.

Germans: Big, hulking barbarians from the North, the Germans are everything the Romans are not. Uncivilized, uncouth, unintelligent, the germanic tribes are the very definition of barbarism. They envy the Roman wealth, though, and some will try to sneak in and steal. They wield bows with great skill, but their favorite weapons are gigantic great-axes wielded by their fearsome berserkers.

Gauls: Similar to the Germans, the Gauls are fearsome barbarians who primarily live and hunt in the forests. They tend to use more bladed swords than the axe-favoring Germans, however.

Celts: Wild barbarian tribes from the isles of Britain and Ireland, the Celts once spread their influence surprisingly far, such as into Gallic lands, Iberia, and even as far as Greece. The kilt-wearing savages love nothing more than to charge into the fray wearing nothing but a kilt, a gallowglass twohanded sword, and a wild look in their eye.

Note: As Romans you cannot speak with the barbarians and you will always be at war with them.


New creatures:
Some new domestics: Pigs (trainable), chickens, sheep.
New wild animals: wild boars, rhinos, coyotes, and so on.
Many new vermin, 4 new varieties of bat, etc.

Completely new list of plants, many of which can only be grown in certain seasons and in certain areas. All of them have jams, thread, juices or extracts that can be used for a variety of purposes. Olives, grapes, and flax are of definite importance in Roman daily life.


New items: Many of the items have been shuffled around and changed or removed entirely: armor for example has a wider variety, such as 3 Roman types of armor: Lorica Segmentata, which is thick plates of overlapping steel, Lorica Hamata, which is Roman chainmail, and Lorica Squamata, which is small overlapping metal scales forming a protective suit.

Many new/changed weapons: All civs use proper weapons for their civilization; Romans use the gladius shortsword, Carthaginians use the falcata blade, and so on. All civ entries also have picks and hatchets if you feel like changing it to allow them to be used in Fortress Mode instead of the Romans only.

Damascus Steel: The legendary patterned steel can be made out of a special type of iron, Wootz Iron, found in small pockets in various stone layers. It is 50% more effective than regular iron and 23% more effective than steel (150% compared to 133%), and weighs less.

The entire language list has been converted to Latin, by hand. Yes, all 2112 words. Since I have not converted them to, for example, German or Gaelic or Greek, all civs will use Latin whether or not their culture actually used it. If you want to convert the whole dictionary to ancient Germanic, be my freakin' guest.

Roman god:



Rather horrible Greek goddess:



A courageous Gallic goddess:



Fortuna, an aptly-named Germanic goddess:



An example of the new stuff you can bring on embark:



Seems like a nice guy. One of my Roman settlers.



Celts vs. Carthaginians



Celts vs. Romans. A lot of the Roman "unknown creatures" are slaves, the barbarians don't usually keep slaves themselves.



You get some weird religions sometimes. All pantheons are entirely random.

The Belly of Mops, Celts
 Worship List
  Beneficium the Righteous Saint, deity: forgiveness
  Ammiratio Campedmopped, deity: dance, festivals, music
  Subluceo, deity: lightning
  Cornu, deity: trees, fertility, the rain, rainbows
  Tundo Hagmites the Guts of Wasting, deity: deformity, disease
  Ponto Whiskboat, deity: crafts, labor
  Praescribo the Play of Papers, deity: jewels, minerals, metals, writing, poetry, inspiration
  Phantasma the Boils of Midnight, deity: blight, death, murder
  Nomino, deity: storms, consolation

You are on the elemental plane of fire. It's a boiling-hot place, filled with magma and endless deserts. Outcroppings of rock jut from the desert floors, and occasional savannas can be found - very rare indeed. The only creatures able to live in the plane are those attuned to living in hellish flame-worlds.

Civilizations:

Azer (playable in dwarf, adv): The azers are, essentially, fire-element dwarves. As mythic creatures, they do not require drink or sleep - they are tireless and liquids are quickly vaporized in the ceaseless heat of the plane. They do, however, require food, and tend to subsist mostly on meat of various kinds. Azers are known for their craftsmanship and generally try to remain neutral in the grand schemes of the plane.

Efreet (playable in adv): The efreeti are the fire cousins of the better-known djinni. Unlike the azers they have few morals and scruples, in particular when it comes to other species: they will happily capture and enslave the denizens of those they conquer, and find the flesh of sentient beings - even their own species! - a delicacy. They are expert traders and thanks to their use of slavery, many are indolent and use their free time to pursue more philosophical thoughts. They can fly and, like Azers, don't require drink or sleep.

Salamander (playable in adv): Salamanders are half-humanoid, half-serpent creatures, quite at home in the relentless heat of the place. A fairly violent species, they often find themselves at odds with the efreet, and the two have a constant history of passing slaves back and forth as they conquer each other's cities. They are not quite as skilled in trading as the efreet, but much more martially inclined, with a wide variety of weaponry at their disposal.

Fire Elementals (playable in adv): Fire elementals care little about anything besides their own "species": they are simply sentient creatures entirely of fire, and they do what they please without thinking of repercussions. They have few goods to trade, but nobody wants to trade with them anyway.

Mephits (nonplayable): Mephits are small, scurying imp-demons of the least quality. They mainly steal things and are generally too stupid to think much about more important matters like slavery or laws.


Other notes:

A wide variety of completely new creatures have been added, many of which live in magma. Just about every single creature has been either modified or replaced entirely with fire-related creatures suitable for the climate.

Wood, if left outdoors, will generally start rotting due to the heat of most biomes and will eventually decay. Bring it underground or harvest it from firestone rock (a smelter can convert the rock into lumber).

Many things will abruptly burst into flame on contact with the hot air, such as animal fat (even if the animal is immune to heat). Expect plenty of smoke from time to time.

You will never get any water of any kind on any map, so don't even bother. Your azers don't need to drink anyway.

Important animals:
* House Spiders: These are small, fiercely loyal spiders used as pets by drow. They feed on vermin and are quite nasty when riled.
* Rockspiders: The standard utility spider used by all drow families. They're highly valued by the military, in particular, as they have the ability to spit webs at foes and bring them down with paralyzing venom.
* Cave Lizards: A common creature in the depths of the Underdark, easily-tamed cave lizards are used as pack animals by most subterranean creatures.
* Rothe: Enormous subterranean cattle. They are valued for their wide variety of uses, and form a significant portion of the average drow diet.
* Giant Cocoon Spider: A larger, spindlier version of the rockspider; while they cannot be trained by the military, they are valued for their highly-priced webs.

Other creatures:

* Duegar: Bald, grey-skinned dwarves from the depths of the Underdark. The Duergar are usually at an uneasy peace with the drow, and have a burning hatred for surface dwarves as much as the drow hate surface elves. They are master craftsmen, like their surface cousins.

* Aurochs: These huge cattle seem to be a surface version of the Rothe, used mainly by humans. Their numbers dwindle as more humans begin using standard cows, since they require much less grazing land.

* Blue/Green Fungus: These sessile patches of fuzz can be caught and squeezed for precious juices. A rather disgusting pasttime that is a favorite activity of drow children.

* Illithid: A rare creature also known as the 'mind flayer', they have a series of four purplish tentacles where their mouths should be. A powerful foe, but thankfully not too organized this close to the surface.

* Drider: A monstrous half-drow, half-spider hybrid, similar to a centaur. They are filled with nothing but hate for every living thing.

* Ghostyk: A familiar sight in the Underdark, these mantis-like insects are valued mainly for their chitin and web, both of which are used for clothing.

* Gelatinous cubes: Mobile blobs of ooze, they are frequently found in caves and caverns, slowly oozing about cleaning up stray bacteria and rotting carcasses.

* Purring Hornet: The purring maggot, harmless and cute creature of the near-surface mountains, is not quite so cute after it finishes its final chrysalis form. The purring hornet is a creature of legend, able to tear through entire cities without pause and leaving only devastation in its wake. Thankfully, quite rare.


Items:

A variety of new weapons: hatchets, mallets, dwarven waraxes, drow hand crossbows, bladed crossbows, light crossbows, heavy crossbows, shortbows, longbows, shortspears, longspears, sabres, and rapiers.

New armor, shields, helms, food, toys, instruments, etc. The drow almost exclusively use drow chainmail, a light, yet quite tough chainmail suit, while other species have specific armors they tend to use. Humans are often outfitted in full platemail armor and full-faced helms.

Plump helmets now do not grow in the winter, and they are not edible raw. You must cook them. White-cap and black-cap mushrooms can be grown in the winter and are edible raw.


New metal/stone type: Mithril. The dwarves have long since kept this precious resource to themselves, but the drow have since discovered how to detect and mine it. It's extremely sturdy, but only contained in very small pockets in the earth. A good suit of mithril drow chainmail can be easily more protective than a set of full iron plate armor.