Inuit having birchbark canoes is both a bad fit culturally and a missed opportunity for map design. Instead of giving every native civ birchbark canoes, they should be restricted to the North American tribes that actually used them and other tribes should get more appropriate vessels such as kayaks for the Inuit, reed boats for the Inca, and dugout canoes for Aztecs and most other minor civs.
Kayaks
Kayaks are small maneuverable boats used by arctic peoples like the Inuit or Aleuts for hunting and fishing. As such they could be faster and better at fishing than a standard canoe, but slightly worse in combat. They could attack by throwing a harpoon so a shorter attack range could fit. Visually they could potentially use some animations from the Ethiopian fishing canoe that has a two ended paddle like what is used with kayaks.
These boats are traditionally made from hides stretched over a wooden frame. Therefore a cost of both wood and food would be appropriate (maybe something like 90f/20w). This would work very well on the sparse Arctic maps where wood is extremely scarce and fish are abundant. On the new wood starved maps, a boat that costs primarily food will make the water far more accessible and the maps more playable overall.
Dugout Canoes
These simple boats are used throughout the world by a variety of cultures. They are constructed by taking a single log and hollowing it out by burning and/or chiseling. Since they require a lot more wood to produce and are sturdier in construction, they could cost more but have higher health than a standard canoe. As a slightly bigger, stronger, and more expensive canoe, they could also have a lower build limit to balance them.
They should be available to West Coast natives, and those in Central and South America. Aztecs should also have this type of boat at their dock.
Visually the paddlers could be more generic than the buckskin wearing fellows on the regular canoe that looks like they belong in the North American fur trade. Also for the models/animations it would be great to have separate paddler animations compatible with most units and have the guys as attachments. That would make it way easier to mod and switch the units out and/or make custom boats. That could allow using existing models for the crew or even switching it up and having different crew models for the different civs or maps.
Reed Boats
It took awhile, but it looks like it finally sunk in that Inca having a single do everything boat was a bad idea. So now they’re getting canoes as well as Chincha rafts.
But like most other civs, the standard canoe is a bad fit, and they used reed boats instead. This is referenced in their big button dock tech and there are even texture files for a reed canoe so it was obviously considered at one point.
As well as for Inca, they could also be the canoe equivalent of the Quechua. Design wise, it should be adjusted to ensure balance with the Inca’s naval roster. Being a distinct boat from the canoe even gives more flexibility for balance tweaks necessary for Inca without inadvertently impacting the other native civs and minor civs.
