Sounds great. I originally thought about Folwarks however I went the Magnate court route as in my head I wanted to keep unique buildings down to one to avoid a PLC civ being unnecessarily complicated compared to other Euros. Also you could very abstractly get away with the Dwor referencing them in a tech to benefit a Mill, as Nobility were in charge of the Folwarks - though that’s probably a loose connection!
I like your idea that the Folwarks gets you to focus on what would be initially an expensive and not as efficient way of procuring Food for other Euros as the best way for PLC, over hunting and berries from the start. Also it’s a nice touch that a Euro civ gets a unique Economic building amongst all of the boring mills and estates
As much as I like more uniqueness I’d prefer giving shared units some unique upgrades or visual changes, not another “soldado” kind of naming. There is no need for forced uniqueness. If you envision it as a new unit you feel like you have to give it some gimmick nowadays which causes inconsistencies. You’ll have to look for unusual names and weaponry and weird combinations of them more and more because you quickly use up all the standard ones.
That kind of overdoing starts from TAD. The Asian civs could get some shared pikemen, archer or artillery with similar base stats and different visuals. But they felt obliged to make every unit unique and we get this hodgepodge of exoticism.
US and Mexicans didn’t do any better.
I prefer TAR’s way of handling it: like the javelin rider is basically the same unit. There is no need to develop two sets of gimmicks for Ethiopians and Hausa. They have different visuals (which is great) and different upgrades but it’s still neat and clear.
For Europeans (and European-like colonial civs) with more standardized unit rosters, I think this would make even more sense. Make better use of the royal guard upgrades. Just give the shared unit some unique visuals and some unique traits. Don’t force uniqueness on everything for the sake of it.
It is actually quite baffling how they did all this research into 18th Century infantry regiments of Bourbon Spain and then literally gave them the name “soldier”, but in Spanish.
the problem with Soldado is that the unit is nonsense esp for Mexico, Mexicos “standing army” was never in good shape and didn’t operate anything approaching European grenadier regiments esp. in quality.
Personally I’d veer away from Kings and Queens as feels signicantly different to an Explorer type (would certainly make a good AI leader!), though I’ve added it to the list. For any campaign, scenario or even as a one time shipment ot age-up perk I think that’s fine, however as an it feels like a Native American Warchief or a Shogun type having such a grand, high-up (the highest!) figure as your European Explorer equivelent.
I think it does need to be on the lines of a typical explorer or Maltese more martial-type.
Current suggestions for Explorer type:
Standard European Explorer (with some sort of unique HC shipment as normal)
Szlachcic (Polish Nobleman) suggested by MUTYLATOR553
King Jan IIISuggested by HelpfulGosling3
Grand Hetman - A martial-type similar to the Maltese hero my suggestion (on this thread - others have do doubt suggest similar!)
Personally I’m coming round to the Szlachta idea. The Nobility had the wealth and connections to pursure scientific endevours and exploration, they also acted as emissaries for the crown or as missionaries traveling as far as China. As often expert horsemen they could always have access to mount/dismount ability however they may not be as hardy as a typical Explorer. A later shipment could turn them into or send a ‘proper’ Explorer in addition to the Nobleman, as later in history there were many Polish Explorers, particularly in Africa (there was even an Explorers’ expedition with the intention to establish a colony in Cameroon).
I think the Danes civ should get a unique harbor building. Since the Italians got a unique building to replace the church, why not the Danes got a unique replacement for the Docks. As part of this building, they could receive several unique ships and automatic productions of Fishing Boats.
With the addition of Danes civilization There should be an update to the naval combat system.
I advise against making a ruler for the Poles civ Jan III Sobieski because even though he was an outstanding hetman of the Polish army, he was an average king.
I think that these Poles could be able to use the Home City Card that would send a additional Szlachcic - Jan Sobieski (with better stats than standard Szlachcic).
Personality - Sigismund II Augustus or Stanislaw August Poniatowski
Units
Barracks
Axeman - weak infantry armed with an axe. Instead of Pikeman
Archer - weak archer. It is trained in groups (5 Units simultaneously). Instead of Crossbowman
Skirmisher (Royal Guard)
Stable
Winged Hussar - heavy cavalry with a lance. Using saber in hand-to-hand combat
Cavalry Archer (Royal Guard)
Pancerny - medium-cavalryman with flintlock pistol. Use Horseman’s pick in hand-to-hand combat
Artillery Foundry
Grenadier
Falconet
Petard
Napoleon Gun
Unique Features
Szlachcic is a hero unit instead of the Explorer (cavalry unit, can train a Winged Hussars. 3 limit.). In his surroundings, Cham’s become even more efficient.
Two different settlement units can be trained in Town Center which are unique to Poles civ:
Cham - regional settlement unit, shared between Russians, Poles and Ukrainians civs. Are weak, but quick to train. A special Home City card turns all polish Cham’s into Kosynier (a peasant armed with a scythe - a slow but deadly unit that deals damage to multiple enemies at once).
Kurp - unique hunting unit for Poles civ. He can only get resources from natural sources (except mines) and he can’t build buildings. At the same time, this unit would be quite good in ranged combat. Kurp can gathering coins from Beehive (Kurpian honey is famous in Poland). Beehive can be constructable only for Kurp unit.
They have a new building - Folwark (economic building that combines Estate, Mill, and Livestock Pen). This building would be something between Hacienda and Granary. Fields would be added to the Folwark building in order to be able to obtain food or coins. Contrary to Hacienda, Folwark did not automatically spawn settlers or cows, but it could be used to train Cows and Cham’s in groups and also could be used to train Szlachcic. Units can be garrisoned in this building. This shoe would have no build limit, but building another one would be increasingly expensive.
The main source of income for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the sale of grain to the west. I think farming grain in Folwark would generate coins. Poles mainly ate legumes and little meat, so legumes could generate food. In addition, Cows could be garrisoned inside the Folwark to generate a passive food source - Milk.
As an elective monarchy they get completely unique politicians. Candidates may come from other civilizations and offer you their stuff.
Royal guard:
Skirmisher - Piechota Koronna
Cavalry Archer - Lisowczyk
Revolutions:
Lithuania
Livonia
Hungarian revolution - from the fact that Poles were on the Hungarian side during the revolution of 1848
January Uprising
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth civ should also have poor artillery, and quite weak infantry, but powerfull cavalry. Their settlement units have guerrilla abilities. All Polish units and buildings have extra line of sight. Buildings are cheaper, but weaker than those of other civilizations.
Totally agree. I cannot find any sources that relate to Axemen nor (foot) archers though - they seem a little out of place for the 1500s and onwards. Can you point met to where they may feature? I know they, very early in the 16th century, used crossbows but they fell out of favor pretty quickly.
From what I have researched, PLC considered infantry as really just ranged support to their cavalry, so had very heavily musket-based infantrymen. Even in the 16th century, arquebusier/musketers made up 90% of the infantry with just 10% being Pikes, Half-Pikes and Polearm/Halberdiers with most of these being infantry Non-Commisioned Officers or Royal Guard (Halberds). The infantrymen were Polish-Hungarian and dressed like Haiduks so looked very different to the standard Musketeer.
I also agree with Artillery - they were weak in that area too. Foreign infantry (particularly German pikes/muskets and the odd Scottish soldiers) and foreign artillery crews and Dragoons (almost all Dragoons were foreign initially) were always in strong demand.
The military roster is based upon the Danish Army during the Northern and Schleswig Wars. The Danes are war-torn people, ready to defend their homes at all times. Through centuries, they have developed special skills at irregular warfare and especially at fighting on snowy terrains, but they have also excelled at literature, poetry and the arts in general, offering Europe some of its greater masterpieces on these fields.
The Danes are a supportive and solid civilization, in the sense that they are all rounded but don’t excel at anything. The Danes have a few strong late game options as they have a unique artillery piece, strong Dragoons, and unusual Line Infantry. The versatility of the Danes makes them a great teammate to follow an ally’s strategy, and when faced alone, makes them an unpredictable opponent.
Features
Ageing-up gives the Danes and their teammates a Golden Age which provides a temporary bonus to gather rates and kill experience bounties. A Minor Golden Age is triggered after receiving a shipment
Start the game with a shipment
Age up 50% faster
The Dock has been changed with the Anchorage, which has special traits
Ox Cart: Wagon that improves nearby Villager gathering rates and can turn into economic buildings. (It’s a nod to the Ox cart of the Norse from AoM) Friskytte: Vastly upgradable ranged archaic infantry. Unique musketeer (although in WoL it is skirmisher in the second age). Gunboat: Light warship carrying a cannon. Replaces the Aviso, but can not gather from fish. It’s like the Flat-bottomed Boat but with a cannon… Espingol: A fast-firing organ gun with short range. Better against infantry than buildings. Replaces the Heavy Cannon at the Factory. Ingenior: Ultimate heavy infantry whose ranged attack deals siege damage and does bonus damage against artillery. Can repair artillery. Since you already have the unique musketeer, ingenuity would be the skirmisher…
Unique Buildings
Anchorage: Unique Dock that freezes enemy ships that get too close, and boosts the gather rates of your nearby ships.
Yup, though it’s used mainly by horsemen such as Pancerni - there were never infantry specifically using it. The musketeers would use sabres and bardeche axes (which were mainly used as musket-rests or for making field fortifications).
It seems good to me, you could also make the Pancerni dismountable (by the player’s decision or when he is killed/knocked down) and that it can be the Obuch…
In other European countries it was also like that about peasents. Not to mention the colonies of European countries, e.g. in Africa, and also much later than XVII century. Second Boer War concentration camps - Wikipedia (They can delete my account but the truth is always good)
