Alright, it is time for another Federal American civ concept that no one asked for!
My design philosophy for the Argentinians consists, first of all, of three theoretical stages of the game:
- Stage 1: SURVIVE! (Age I, II, and early Age III)
This stage revolves around how weak, poor, and unstable the first decades were for what would later become Argentina. The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was the poorest and most underdeveloped of all the Spanish viceroyalties. Besides, it was constantly raided by natives from Patagonia, Portuguese Bandeirantes, and British expeditionary forces, to name a few. On top of that, the heavy rainy season flooded the fields, killing crops and cattle alike and thus producing famines.
In the first Ages, the Argentinians must choose between a slow, careful, and controlled expansion or draining the last drop of resources from their starting area to quickly reach the later Ages. An aggressive playstyle carries a high risk and a low chance of succeeding, and can even doom the game.
In any case, the early economy will be very dependent on certain buildings that boost the villagers’ gather rate, protect them, and generate resources. This way, the Argentinian early game revolves around careful planning. The player can choose to spend resources on fortifying their positions and make use of the Militia and a few military units to defend themselves, at the cost of delaying their advancement to the next Age, or use wood and shipments to build as many defensive buildings as possible and spend their other resources on reaching Age III as quickly as possible.
- Stage 2: CONCEAL! (Mid Age III to Age IV)
This stage focuses on how, through sheer determination, quick wit, and a good chunk of luck, the Argentinians constantly overcame challenging odds and developed one of the most effective and peculiar armies in South America. With time, they established themselves as one of the main actors in the Americas during the 19th century.
At this stage, players finally have the means to use any kind of strategy they desire. Whether through map control or a powerful and fortified base, Argentina’s food economy can start working automatically, and the military begins to show its true colors through a roster of multipurpose units, such as the Mounted Granadero, a core of veteran infantry (more on that later), and lackluster artillery that can eventually reach a decent level.
- Stage 3: PROSPER! (Late Age IV to Age V)
This stage focuses on how, by the end of the 19th century, Argentina established itself as one of the strongest nations in the Americas, after unifying and ending the civil wars, making peace agreements and trading pacts with Brazil (its main rival), developing its infrastructure with a lot of foreign investment, and conquering and colonizing Patagonia.
At this stage, Argentina has the potential to become an economic behemoth almost on par with the strongest economies in the game, producing food at a nearly incomparable rate but always falling short in the production of coin and wood, thus being unable to reach the economic potential of the Germans, for example.
In team games, it should be able to provide its entire team with food and still have a surplus available. On the military side, in the late game, the amount of buffs, passives, and active abilities that the roster could accumulate would make Argentinian units more than capable of going toe-to-toe with any faction in the game.
UNIQUE UNITS
Criollo Militia
A mounted militiaman trained in batches from the Town Center. It loses 2% of its maximum hit points every second until it is left with only 1 hit point.
- Hit point degeneration stops when they have 50% hit points remaining once the Commerce Age is reached.
- Can be called periodically.
- Has higher damage than the Militiaman but fires more slowly, and has a bonus against natives.
- Can be upgraded to Blandengues with the “Blandengues Argentinos” card, which removes their hit point degeneration and grants them a bonus against Outlaws.
- Shadow-Techs with the passing of the Ages.
Tags: Cavalry, Ranged Cavalry.
Fusilero Nacional (Placeholder name)
A Zouave-like infantry unit lacking multipliers but compensating with relatively high and well-balanced stats. Think of them as a cheap offshoot of the Zouave.
- They have the passive ability “Promotion”, granting them more health and damage as they defeat enemies.
- With the shipment “Fix Bayonets”, they gain the homonymous active ability, which temporarily disables their ranged attacks but grants them a speed boost and multipliers against Heavy Infantry and Cavalry.
- This is the only regular infantry unit in the roster.
- Rather costly for their performance in the early game.
Tags: Infantry, Ranged Infantry, Gunpowder Infantry.
Jinete Gaucho
A Counter-Lancer specialized in defeating Cavalry in melee. They fill the role of a cheap Dragoon, which historically Argentina had many difficulties creating and deploying for a long time.
- Has a longer reach and a ×3 multiplier against Cavalry.
- Cheap unit, costing only food and 1 population slot.
- With the shipment “Gaucho’s War”, they gain the Stealth ability.
- With the shipment “Mixed Weapons”, they gain a charged bolas attack that slows down the enemy.
- Low HP but attacks quickly.
- Can hunt and gather cattle, serving as a partial villager.
- With the shipment “Esgrima Gaucha”, gains a bleeding effect that can only be activated once per enemy in melee.
Tags: Cavalry, Hand Cavalry, Light Cavalry.
Tags (as infantry): Infantry, Counter-Skirmisher, Ranged Infantry, Gunpowder Infantry, Rifle Infantry.
Mounted Granadero
The strongest unit in the roster. It can function either as a slow but slightly more powerful Hussar or as a traditional Grenadier.
- Trainable only in Age IV and occupying 4 population slots.
- Can dismount to become Infantry.
- With the shipment “San Lorenzo”, they gain the “Promotion” passive, granting them more speed and health and causing a Mounted Granadero to spawn each time the General is defeated.
Tags (as Cavalry): Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Hand Cavalry.
Tags (as Infantry): Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Siege Trooper, Ranged Infantry, Grenade Trooper.
Oficial Nacional
Support unit with a build limit.
- IT’S NOT A HERO. If they die, they must be trained again.
- Has a build limit of +1 in each Age, starting from Age II.
- Only one can be trained at a time.
- Has the “Deflection” passive ability.
- Has an Aura that boosts the speed and rate of fire of nearby allied units.
Tags: Infantry, Ranged Infantry, Gunpowder Infantry.
This unit’s role is to provide more utility to the Fusileros Nacionales over time and is inspired by how, in some of the most important battles in Argentina’s history, such as Tucumán and San Lorenzo, the chief commander was incapacitated in some way and a lower-ranking officer had to take command mid-battle.
All of this is still somewhat unclear, since I’m not entirely sure about the concept of this unit.
SHARED UNITS
- Hussar
- Demolition Charge
- Falconet
- Culverin
- Mortar
- Horse Artillery
- Heavy Cannons
NATIONAL GUARD UPGRADES
Patricios (Fusilero Provincial)
Upgrades the Fusilero Provincial to Patricios and grants them +10% Melee Armor.
Infernals (Jinete Gaucho)
Upgrades the Jinete Gaucho to Infernal, which can dismount to become a powerful Counter-Skirmisher while retaining all the abilities from shipments, but cannot hunt or gather cattle while dismounted.
Holmberg’s Cannons (Horse Artillery)
Upgrades Horse Artillery to Holmberg’s Cannons, which have +15% Health and a bronze appearance.
OUTLAWS
Matrero
Basically a reskin of the already existing Gaucho from the Argentine Revolution. Ranged Light Cavalry that attacks with bolas that slow down the enemy.
- Costs wood and coin.
- Can train cows that cost coin instead of food.
- Can steal enemy cattle.
- With the shipment “Esgrima Gaucha”, gains a bleeding effect that can only be activated once per enemy in melee.
Tags: Cavalry, Light Ranged Cavalry, Ranged Cavalry, Gunpowder Cavalry, Outlaws.
Montonero
Irregular Heavy Cavalry, good against Skirmishers and Artillery.
- Very fast but with low HP.
- Has a Charged Lance Attack.
- Good for rear attacks.
- Has a negative multiplier against Heavy Cavalry.
Tags: Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Hand Cavalry.
Faconero
Rodelero-like brawler that uses a facón long knife and a poncho wrapped around his arm instead of a sword and shield.
- Very fast Heavy Infantry.
- Has the Evasion passive ability.
- Has a ×1.50 multiplier against villagers.
- Very good for raiding.
- With the shipment “Esgrima Gaucha”, gains a bleeding effect that can only be activated once per enemy in melee.
Tags: Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Hand Infantry.
UNIQUE BUILDINGS
The Estancia
The Estancia’s main purpose isn’t to be a glorified Livestock Pen; rather, it serves as the central building of what can become a border settlement that includes various buildings to reach its maximum potential.
Similar to the Hausa University, the Estancia gains a set of bonuses when certain buildings are nearby, such as:
- When a Trade Post is nearby, the Estancia has an Aura that improves the villagers’ gather rate.
- When a Livestock Pen is nearby, cattle fattens more quickly.
- When a Fortín is nearby, villagers move faster.
- When a Pulpería is nearby, the Estancia produces a trickle of XP and improves the training speed of Outlaws.
- Through a shipment, when a Mill or State is nearby, the Estancia periodically produces a quantity of food or coin respectively (maximum of 2 Mills and 2 States per Estancia). This works somewhat like the Feitorias of the Portuguese.
In this way, the Estancia becomes a building nearly as important as the Town Center, and a base established outside your immediate control will almost always include an Estancia. Dear God, it was so hard to keep it from overlapping with either the Hacienda or the Livestock Market.
Fortín
The Fortín is the main defensive building of the faction. The Argentinian General cannot build Forts, which can only be built through shipments. In exchange, however, he can build Fortínes starting from Age II.
A Fortín is a great investment, costing twice as much as an Outpost and only being able to train Fusileros Nacionales and Hussars. However, it has almost twice the damage of an Outpost and fires twice as fast, representing the number of soldiers firing from inside.
Pulpería
The Pulpería is Argentina’s unique tavern. It trains the faction’s Outlaws and Mercenaries, can be built a maximum of three times, and produces a trickle of XP instead of coin.
The role of the Pulpería, besides being a tavern, is to fill the role of the Church/Meeting Hall, neither of which Argentina has access to. That’s right: Argentina can’t train Healers in the normal way, but it can send the “Wandering Missionaries” shipment, which makes the Pulpería automatically train Missionaries, up to a maximum of 3.
Cabildo
The Cabildo combines the functions of an “early” Capitol (Age IV) and the Church/Meeting Hall. It contains the Church upgrades and other capabilities. For example, it can:
- Train Surgeons.
- Train Spies.
- Upgrade Spies to “Mazorcas”, which have a small bonus against villagers.
- Train Outpost Wagons, making it the only way to build them without a shipment.
- Research certain Fortín upgrades, such as enabling it to train more kinds of units.
SHARED BUILDINGS
- Barracks
- Stables
- Artillery Foundry
- Dock (trains Fishers, Sloops, Steamers, and Ironclads)
- Market
- Livestock Pen
- Mills
- Estates
- Houses
- Walls
- Town Center
And that’s that for now! It was really fun to create this civ concept, but quite challenging to give it a distinct identity and ways to play. I know that many things are still missing, such as the Province options for Aging Up and a list of Shipments, but I want to do some research before adding all of that.