Hi everyone, I present to you (and maybe to any lurking devs for inspiration!) my civ concept for the Kingdom of Hungary. It doesn’t seem to be one of the more popular civs to be added (which is another reason why I chose to design it) but IMO is right up there with HRE and French as influential medieval European nations and has great synergy with conflicts against HRE, Mongols, French to a lesser extent, and potential future Byzantine, Turkish, and Polish civs. Full disclosure: I am not Hungarian, but I tried to design everything about this civ with historical inspiration and I spent way too much time researching it, so feel free to ask about any of the features and why I chose them. Almost no actual numbers are included - just concepts - because it’s impossible to know what would be balanced without playtesting. The design goal was a flexible civ that isn’t necessarily the best at any one thing but can develop in a number of different directions. Enjoy!
The Kingdom of Hungary
Immigration, Gold Mining, Mercenaries
896 - 1526
Difficulty: 2/3
Background and Inspiration:
Raiders from the East : The Principality of Hungary was established after the Magyars migrated from the East and conquered the area of present-day Hungary in 896. From here they raided western Europe for more than 90 years before a resounding defeat convinced them to settle down. In 1000 the Christian Kingdom of Hungary was formed and grew to become one of the pre-eminent medieval powers in Europe. The civ design reflects the growth of the Kingdom from pagan raiders to a strong medieval Christian European superpower with castles and Knights. The timeframe ends at their crushing defeat to the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the collapse and partition of Medieval Hungary.
A Multi-ethnic Nation : From its inception, Hungary attracted many immigrants and colonists drawn to its untapped land and resources, especially gold and silver, of which it provided most of Europe’s and about 1/3 of the world’s total production up until the 1490s. After the Mongols devastated Hungary, immigrants drove the population boom. Each immigrant group shaped Hungarian life in different ways depending on their skills. The Immigration mechanic and bonuses reflect this.
Europe’s Strongest Army : In the 15th century, the Black Army of Hungary was a professional standing army larger even than that of France, the only other one at the time in Europe. These professional full-time mercenaries were highly skilled, but also highly paid, requiring massive (unpopular) taxation to retain. This army also contained a much higher percentage of firearms users than other European armies at the time, at 1 in 4. These fought in a uniquely Hungarian way by using a pavise instead of a fork to stabilize their gun, and sometimes borrowed the tactics of the Hussites by fighting from wagons. There is some debate as to whether or not they actually wore black armor, but they are depicted that way in artwork. Because the possibility exists, it would be unique and interesting if they were depicted this way in game. The Hungarians are also well known for their Huszars, light cavalry which was used to harass, scout, and disrupt and was derided by the ‘honorable’ Knight class.
Bonuses
Landmarks slowly (for balance) train immigrants (units). Each landmark can choose to attract different immigrant ethnicities which give different bonuses depending on how many of that type have been created. The same immigrants can be trained simultaneously from different landmarks to speed up that bonus. The goal is to not be able to get all the bonuses in one game but to have the flexibility to choose which ones you want depending on matchups/maps. Initially I had three tiers of bonuses with different bonuses for each but got some feedback that it was too confusing and hard to balance, so now I’ve just included the immigrants’ specialties rather than being specific.
| Immigrants | Age Unlocked | Unit Spawned | Bonus Specialty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saxons | Feudal | Villager | Improved Mining and Churches |
| Vlachs | Feudal | Villager + Sheep | Improved shepards and |
| Cumans | Castle | Horse Archer | Improved Horsemen and Horse Archers |
| Walloons | Castle | Man at Arms | Improved MAA and Knights |
| Slavs | Imperial | Arquebusier | Improved farming, ships, and gunpowder |
| Italians | Imperial | Trader | Improved trade and research bonuses |
Influence: Buildings within the influence of Mine Shafts increase the immigrant spawn rate. Increases in tiers similar to the Abbasid Golden Age. Only active mine shafts count, to encourage map control and development of ‘mining towns’ around gold mines. Various ways exist to extend influence beyond mine shafts so this remains relevant in late game.
Unique Features
Buildings
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Mine Shaft (I, 100W): Must be built on top of a gold mine. Increases current mine yield by a significant percentage. Automatically mines gold at some rate (similar to Oovoo) but also allows villagers to still mine from it. If the building is destroyed, the amount of gold in the mine returns to what its value would have been without the shaft.
-
Fortified Church(III, 300 S): Built from a regular church by fortifying it like an outpost. Acts as a weaker keep with full monastery functionality (based on the UNESCO Heritage Transylvanian Fortified churches)
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Mercenary Camp (IV, 150W, 150G): Trains Black Army mercenary units. (Ideally I think this should be available to other civs as well and train different units depending on the civ)
- Black Army Armored Company (2:1 ratio of Knights to MAA)
- Black Army Infantry Company (2:1 ratio of Pikemen to Arquebusiers)
- Black Army Raiding Company (1:1 ratio of Huszars and Xbows)
- Black Army Ranged Company (2:1 ratio of Xbows and Arquebusiers with 1 Hussite Wagon)
Units
- Horse Archer (II, Archery Range) : Could be either same as Rus HA or different.
- Huszar (IV, Stable): Horseman with increased LOS and damage vs Villagers
- Arquebusier (IV, Archery Range): Low HP gunpowder Infantry unit with special pavise ability. Pavise has deploy and pack up time. When pavise is deployed, Arquebusiers gain increased range and significantly increased ranged armor but cannot move.
- Black Army Mercenaries (IV, Mercenary Camp): Function as improved versions of Elite units (that do not need upgrades). Cost a large amount of gold and train quickly (to represent a professional standing army)
- Hussite Wagon (IV, Mercenary Camp). Siege weapon-like stats (high ranged armor with low-ish health) Ranged infantry can garrison and fire from the wagon. Would potentially be available to other civs as well.
Technologies
- Treadmill Crane (II, Mine Shaft): Increase trickle rate of Mine Shafts
- Draining Engines (III, Mine Shaft): Increases extra gold yield of Mine Shafts
- Oppressive Taxation (IV, Raven’s Keep Landmark, Toggleable): All non-gold resources return only 50% of resources dropped off, but now also return 50% of that amount in gold. Stops all immigration while active.
- Hospes Privileges: (II, Town Center and Landmarks): Immigration Speed increased.
- Salt Cutters (III, Mine Shaft): Mine Shafts generate a small trickle of food
- Golden Bull (III, Keep): Churches extend Immigration Influence bonus
- Metallurgical Guilds (II, Market): Buildings built within the influence of a mine shaft are cheaper
- Order of the Dragon (III, Church): All units fighting near a Church gain increased damage and/or armor.
- Pavisiers (IV, Archery Range): Arquebusier pavise deploy time reduced
- Diet of Temesvar (IV, Stable): Horsemen renamed to Huszar and gain increased LOS and bonus damage vs Villagers
- Reflex Bows (II): Increased horse archer range and damage
- Stirrups (II): Increased horse archer speed
- River Boats (III): Really not sure what type of naval bonus to give the Hungarians but every civ has a unique dock upgrade. The Hungarian navy was mostly river based, so maybe increased speed to small boats?
Landmarks
Feudal – Raiding/Early Aggression VS Booming
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Chieftain’s Hill fort: Acts as an outpost that can create cavalry archers and horsemen.
- Inspired by the many wood+earthen hill forts such Szabolcs Hill Fort that were built by the Magyars in the early days of the Principality of Hungary.
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Basilica of the Assumption: Nearby buildings contribute to Immigration tier regardless of the presence of Mine Shafts.
- Represents the now destroyed Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary which was the site of the coronation of the Hungarian monarch for 500+ years)
Castle: Defense + Passive bonus VS Flexibility at a cost
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Diosgyor Castle: Keep that builds extremely quickly when in Influence zone and allows for quick defense when under pressure. Keeps now either increase immigration rate or train immigrants (can’t decide which is more balanced).
- Its namesake was one of the castles built in Hungary extremely quickly after the Mongol invasions to deter future attacks.
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Royal Mint: Can spend gold to purchase immigration related bonuses and bypass the required number of immigrants (can be balanced with cost + research time).
- Does not represent any specific historic building, but represents the fact that due to its large production of gold, Hungary also minted many coins in the middle ages. Is also a unique type of building that we haven’t seen before (i.e. not just another church or castle).
Imperial: Immediate mercenary power spike VS eco bonuses for longer game
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Raven’s Keep : Allows hiring of individual Black army mercenaries from Keeps. Acts as a Keep. Enables Oppressive Taxation.
- Represents Hunyadi Castle in Transylvania - one of the largest castles in Europe.
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Grand Library : Acts as a university with decreased research cost and increases immigration speed for every technology researched. Buildings within influence have decreased research cost.
- Represents the Biblioteca Corviniana, one of the most renowned libraries of the Renaissance world, second in size only to the Vatican library in all of Europe.
Wonder
- Buda Palace
(if the devs don’t do it themselves first)