Technically the circle is a variation of malt, perhaps you could base it on malt and add units like the Hessian mercenaries and campaign based cards?
Regarding the language, I do not recommend that you complicate your life, it does not matter which ones you choose, for me they could even be random, what matters is that you like how it turns out in the end.
In my humble opinion, the circle could be a very interesting civilization, it could basically be a civilization with its own units and deck, but with the bonuses of the civilizations that it is copying.
Similar to those characters in fighting games who use all weapons or combat styles randomly, god now I want the developers to make the circle. XD
True, letās say that it would be similar to the Templars of Assasins Creed, where, like the Templars during the Middle Ages, they served Spain and then the Holy Roman Empire during the Habsburg government and already in the 18th century they would put their headquarters in London as seen in AC4 and in the 19th century, AC Syndicateā¦That is why at first the Circle would be more German and already in the 18th century, Britishā¦
For fun and to add more lore to AoE 3ā¦
It would have to be German in I and II age and British in III and IV age, that is:
Exploration Age (1492-1565): Settler Wagon in the Town Center
Commerce Age (1565-1648): Boneguard Swordman and Ulhan
Fortresses Age (1648-1756): Boneguard Musketeer and Longbowman
Industrial Age (1756-1817): Rocket in the Factory
Sure, letās say you add cards from the British and Germans of the MP and thatās it.
One thing you could do for the voices, which will take work, is to code it so you could pick which voice you want everything to use (or selectively tweak units) if you donāt want to do mixed or canāt decide on one. Youād do that by making a tech that activates and disables the other voice techs, and in the sound files it switches the units to Portuguese when itās active. I did that on a small scale in my Circle mod, the Grand Inquisitor unit can be changed between Alain/Warwick/Beaumont, and the Settlers start speaking in additional voices as you age up with the Enclaves system I made for them.
In my humble opinion, the circle could be a very interesting civilization, it could basically be a civilization with its own units and deck, but with the bonuses of the civilizations that it is copying.
I was working on a mod civ design and was playing around with an age-up mechanic that ultimately didnāt feel right for that civ, but I couldnāt help but feel it was perfect for the Circle. I liked the thought of it so much that I did sit down and mod my own Circle civ using it. Inspired by the international Enclaves revealed in the campaign, I used the two-card unlock civ type and with each Age you pick an Enclave and one of the cards gives you a bonus like better gather rates from France and Manor House unlock from the British. (I was originally tempted to make it so you start as a random Enclave so in theory youād start the game with any of the available Enclaveās cards and your age-up choices would be altered accordingly, but I wasnāt sure how that would feel and I didnāt want to code it all to find out.)
Is gaining bonuses as cards balanced? Well, some of the bonuses are watered down but a better question would be is it fun? and Iād like to hope so as I at least had fun putting it all together. Unfortunately, in early January I had an accident that left me in the hospital for almost a month and even now Iām still recovering and I havenāt had much time to play or work on anything, so my Circle project lies mostly done but probably some rough edges I 've never had time to smooth out.
Love to see people interested in the Circle though, as itās something just begging for interested modders who love AoE III to expand upon and have fun with. Just donāt forget the white animals!
I have some doubts about this first sentence: how were they inspired by the Templars exactly? They always sounded and seemed more āIlumminaty-likeā to me.
That does sound like a good idea, but in general I always have scope creep. I wanted to add speech to both Boneguard units and now Iām getting into adding voicelines for the whole civ.
Of courseā¦ I think that eventually they will put the civs of the campaign in the multiplayer or at least in skirmishā¦
Oh interestingā¦
Great and it also makes sense since the Circle would be an American civ or at least a mix between an American and a European oneā¦
Yeah, it looks interesting at leastā¦
Uh, thatās badā¦ I had peritonitis in June 2018 and I was hospitalized for two months, but after several operations I recoveredā¦ good luck and get betterā¦
Of course, that the Inquisitor of the Circle can create white tigersā¦
They are inspired by the medieval clothing of the Templarsā¦ although since they speak German, perhaps they are more like the Teutonic Knightsā¦
Yes, it will be good when itās finishedā¦
The Boneguard are modeled loosely after the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, better known as the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar was a very influential order formed in the twelfth century to protect Christian pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land. Some saw the Knights Templar as corrupt because over time they became involved deeply in finance and politics. They became much more secularly oriented than other knightly orders, and rulers coveted their power. Some of them admitted heresies under torture, and the Knights Templar were crushed by political fallout in the wake of these, later pardoned, admissions.
There is wild speculation that the Knights Templar led unsuccessful expeditions to North America predating Columbusā voyage by up to 100 years. This is unproven, but the mythos of Columbus is sprinkled with Templar lore; Columbusā naviagtors were rumored to have charts of earlier voyages and their sails bore the red cross of the defunct order.
(In AC Discovery and the AC movie, Columbus gets his navigational charts from the assassins of Ezio Auditore and Aguilar de Nerja, who in turn stole them from Torquemada and the Templars)ā¦
