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Author Topic: Request: A Nomadic Civ  (Read 1794 times)

Archaalen

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Request: A Nomadic Civ
« on: July 11, 2009, 11:59:00 am »

Hello, peoples.  I am new to DF, but I have been lurking about the site for a few days now and I have a suggestion I would like to make.  I think it would be cool if there was a civ of horse-riding nomads who lived on the plains areas of the world.  I am thinking of something along the lines of the Eurasian steppe nomads (Huns, Mongols, Turks) and/or the Plains Indians of the North American West (Sioux, Comanche, etc.).  I don't know if having an actual civ of these guys would be possible, seeing as they move around all the time, but it would at least be neat as people to meet out on the plains who could fight or trade with you.  They would survive off of herding sheep or cattle and some hunting, and have a "town" that would be the camp they made up each night that could move around the plains in a pre-determined pattern.  Their main weapon would be bows (used from horseback, obviously), so they could make a credible threat for the unprepared, but their numbers would be rather small.  Is this a good idea?  Is it implementable?  What are the thoughts of the world on this idea? 
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Rowanas

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2009, 12:21:44 pm »

I like. It can be done, but I don't know if toady has specifically implemented this. it could easily be done by using the new code toady is writing and specifying a bunch of immigrants who pick a destination on the world and then repick a new destination the moment they get there.
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Craftling

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2009, 08:05:53 pm »

I like the idea and its about time it ws brought up again.
Is it in the eternal suggestions?
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Archaalen

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2009, 11:28:38 pm »

I thought the idea of horse nomads would be cool in this world, especially since it seems like the humans are the only ones who really live much out on the plains (from what I have read, at least.)  This way, maybe human expansion would be checked a little bit, and the other races would stand a fighting chance against the humans during world gen.
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Footkerchief

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Archaalen

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2009, 01:06:47 am »

My apologies, I did not intend to spam.
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Rowanas

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2009, 05:49:47 am »

Yeah, humans destroy everything else. The world I'm playing at the moment is pretty much all human. I had to search for ages to find an elven town in an elven area. THe humans beat most of the goblins, pretty much all of the elves and were everywhere. The only people they didn't manage to conquer even one city of was the dwarves :D
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Granite26

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2009, 07:21:38 am »

Yeah, humans destroy everything else. The world I'm playing at the moment is pretty much all human. I had to search for ages to find an elven town in an elven area. THe humans beat most of the goblins, pretty much all of the elves and were everywhere. The only people they didn't manage to conquer even one city of was the dwarves :D

I think that's the goal.

It's hard impossible to make a game with 5-6 species that doesn't unbalance one way or another (without making smaller civs more powerful, which is gamey).  The humans are more powerful, so they eventually win, and it pushes the game into the age of myth, and so on.  Even with just human civs, one civ will win out eventually.

One way to slow this down will be to encourage the num 1 and num2 civs to fight, and somewhat force a civ to split (revolution) when it's twice the size of it's nearest competitor.

Rowanas

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2009, 08:12:49 am »

no, that was terrible when I tried it before. I started a game in year twenty with 100 civs. I had to go civ hunting :D

why are humans extra powerful?
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Granite26

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2009, 12:53:03 pm »

no, that was terrible when I tried it before. I started a game in year twenty with 100 civs. I had to go civ hunting :D

why are humans extra powerful?

Just a facet of the game.  They are bigger than the other races and breed pretty fast.

Rowanas

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2009, 01:20:34 pm »

I might make them slower to breed just so they don't conquer everything.
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

Granite26

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2009, 02:13:15 pm »

Doesn't matter.  It's impossible to balance it... it's like a house of cards.

Archaalen

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2009, 12:08:32 am »

Another poster in the forum cited the lack of competitors to humans in plains areas, which permits them to expand very rapidly with little opposition (compared to other civs) during the early stages of world gen.  This was why I suggested a nomad civ, actually, to help provide those pesky humans with a little more competition in their home region.
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Mel_Vixen

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2009, 04:12:19 am »

Well the game isnt finished yet. For example elves will get Animal-man as support troops (according to threetoes storys), dwarfs and Goblins have a tech advantage and the Kobolds have theyr poisonous-bugs.

There is also politics which can be a mayor problem for the human if the multiple elv civs form alliances.

The Elves, Goblins and to some extend the Dwarfs also have the advantage of living rather long which increases theyr chance to become champions and legendary fighters while the short lived humans would have only a good average if the there is no fluctuation thanks to wars etc.
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Pilsu

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Re: Request: A Nomadic Civ
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2009, 08:38:03 am »

Adding more forests tends to curb them. At least if you remove wooden swords from the elves. Suddenly they start winning those 4000 elf zerg rushes

Individual population caps would be useful for managing this stuff. That and the ability to define how many of each civ you get, not just set a total
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