American Mythological Era (Development Stage: Theoretical)

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TheBladeRoden
Posts: 168
Joined: July 16th, 2007, 8:01 am

Post by TheBladeRoden »

Doo doo doo, it's been a few months, I suppose I should update this thread. It's been kind of slow going. I haven't gotten to concrete stats yet, just brainstorming unit lines. Looking to see who's most qualified for the chopping block.

Columbia (possible campaign variants: Royalists, Federalists, Confederalists)

I think I pretty much revealed all the Columbia stuff last time. I can't decide whether to call them Columbia, or call the entire continent Columbia and call them the Federalists. I'm thinking their gimmick will be powerful ranged weapons but slow firing, a few one-per-turners. For looks they will likely go from Revolutionary-looking to Civil-War looking as they advance.

-Militiaman (cheap and fast)
-Rifleman (powerful but slower)
-Officer
-Freeman (Arcane attacks, cross upgrades to officer line)
-Cavalry
-Cannon (explosive ranged attack)
-Water Maid (heals, cross upgrades to cannon line)
-Shipwright (starts as infantry, upgrades to a boat upon reaching water)

Pioneers

This has been a tougher faction to keep above water, but the forest still needs a faction that's good in it. Not really heavy on the folklorish stuff yes aside from the giant lumberjack. I was thinking of ways to make the different races really separate races like humans, dwarves, elves, and orcs are. But I just don't think I have it in my heart to turn the Pioneers into a bunch of furries.

-Guide/Interpreter(slows?)
-Hunter (ranged specialist)
-Fur Trapper (sets stationary pitfalls for the enemy)
-Falconer/Beast Master (Summoner-type guy)
-Lumberjack (giant melee specialist)
-Bear Cavalry (am not running out of ideas!)
-Supply Wagon?
-Rafter (Similar to the Shipwright)

Natives (possible campaign variants: Plains Natives, Badlands Natives)

Haven't really done as much work on this faction as I should have, I just sorta threw half this stuff together in the last few days. Could always use more ideas.

-Tomahawk Warrior
-Bowman (may upgrade to musket upon killing a firearmed enemy)
-Ceremonial Dancer (elemental attacks)
-Shaman (Animal spirit attacks, buffs friendlies)
-Horseman (Bow or spear type)
-Tracker (scout/skirmisher-type)
-Canoe (Similar to the Rafter)

Westerners (possible campaign variants: Rancheros Salvajes)

And then we have the faction with the least amount of fantastic units, unless I make them Firefly space cowboys, or would that be too much? My unit ideas are a bit long, but maybe I'll have it so when you recruit a gunslinger, it'll randomly be of the lawful or chaotic variety. But maybe folks don't like that much randomness, hmm.

-Gunslinger (Colt Revolver, Lawful)
-Sheriff/Ranger? (Cavalry, Lawful)
-Outlaw/Robber? (Chaotic Gunslinger, gains gold somehow?)
-Rustler (Chaotic Cavalry)
-Cowboy (slowing lasso)
-Sharpshooter (Winchester)
-Dynamiter/Powder Kegger
-Saloon Girl (Can heal or poison >:D)
-Chaplain? (holy attacks, natch)
-Prospector/Gold Panner? (good in Mountains)
-Coach?
-some kinda water unit? A Ferry maybe?

Bayou

I'm trying out giving it more of a particular Louisiana Voodoo/Southern Ghost Story theme than a generic Southern faction. Wish I could come up with a better name, though. Easily the most supernatural of the American factions, but right now it still seems too similar to the Wesnoth Undead faction.

-Machete-armed basic melee?
-Practioner/Priest,Priestess/Houngan,Mambo
-Swarming/poisonous snakes
-Gator man (water&land capable)
-Ghostly Southern Belle/Ghostly Soldier/Poltergeist-type unit
-Loa Spirit (posesses enemy units instead of killing them)
Possession types:
-Zombie
-Dem Bones
-Undead Reb (ranged)

Industrialists

In the interest of making factions play uniquely, for the Industrialists I was thinking of doing something similar to that one faction in the Universe at War demo. Basically battles focused on one big battleship of a steampunk walker, surrounded by lots of cheap, plebeian, immigrant workers. But somehow I ended up creating a bunch of “middle-class” vehicular units out of the likes of the Oiler, Walker, Spider, and Ironclad. Yeesh.

-Worker (level 0)
-Riveter (Ranged)
-Welder (Flamer)
-Miner (pick axe? steam drill?)
-Oiler (carriage->tank shoots oil jets, alt. upgrade shoots slag jets)
-Walker (mechanized, starts melee, but adds on cannons or rockets)
-Spider (mechanized, drills, machine gun upgrades)
-some kind of landmine
-Banker (negative upkeep)
-Ironclad ship
-Executor Walker (powerful, but limit 1)

Inventors

Reading through the units it sounds kind of Flash Gordony, but hopefully the right visual treatment (some brass goggles here, a few wood frames there) will still make it look like a faction that fits somewhere in the 1800's.

-Magnetic Rifle
-Zapper Soldier (basically a tesla trooper)
-Tesla Disruptor (mechanized or tower,defensive death ray)
-Journalist(Photographic->Radio->Film, slows the enemy for fear of bad publicity)
-Holoprojector (creates illusionary units)
-Mechanical Man (ray-gun robot)
-Scout Rotocopter
-Flyer (fighter->bomber)
-jet-pack guy?
goldenerasuburb
Posts: 3
Joined: November 25th, 2007, 1:17 am

Post by goldenerasuburb »

Here's what I've got as to what eras there are:

The Colonial War (1) and Revolutionary War (2) works, where you have the European Powers having great influence, and in between those and the Civil War you should include the Westward Expansion (3), where the Pioneers, and the Westerners, not to mention an expansion to the natives, come into play. After that, Civil War (4) works, followed by Reconstruction(5), where the Industrialists and Inventors come into play. And some added ideas would be to integrate an Urban Warfare option into the whole thing. If you do that, then Industrialists and Inventors becomes a lot more historically plausible, which if you are doing this based in any way on American History, is definitely a concern. The Industrialists obviously would be acting primarilly in cities, and would hire thugs and gangs to do the fighting rather than doing it overtly. For them to do otherwise would require complete soverignity as states of ther own. And that would be going into alternate history too much.

And a few more things I just thought of - To make Bayou different enough from the Undead Faction, add some Columbian Units to it - Like Militia or Riflemen. And the Inventors as you last described them were more retrofuturistic than Steampunk, not to mention the fact that the Native's shamans would rely on different animal spirits, depending on what part of the continent they are on.

Just some thoughts.
Last edited by goldenerasuburb on March 4th, 2008, 3:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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TheBladeRoden
Posts: 168
Joined: July 16th, 2007, 8:01 am

Re: American Mythological Era (Development Stage: Theoretical)

Post by TheBladeRoden »

After much trial and error, I finally figured out how to make square-based buildings. By having them act like cave walls, it could be possible to make urban warfare work.
Attachments
amebuildingtest.jpg
Founding Father of Columbia
catwhowalksbyhimself
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Joined: January 23rd, 2006, 8:28 am

Re: American Mythological Era (Development Stage: Theoretical)

Post by catwhowalksbyhimself »

For the pioneers, why don't you make them all larger than life tall tale characters. They don't have to fit exactly to know tales, just in the same spirit. Maybe a unit riding a comet, or maybe a tornado (or both one being a higher lever of the other)

The natives should be similar to the elves in mainline. Wood based and lots of mystical, magical type creatures and units. Use Native American folklore as a basis. Thunderbirds just HAVE to appear as a flying unit.
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TheBladeRoden
Posts: 168
Joined: July 16th, 2007, 8:01 am

Re: American Mythological Era (Development Stage: Theoretical)

Post by TheBladeRoden »

catwhowalksbyhimself wrote:For the pioneers, why don't you make them all larger than life tall tale characters. They don't have to fit exactly to know tales, just in the same spirit. Maybe a unit riding a comet, or maybe a tornado (or both one being a higher lever of the other)

The natives should be similar to the elves in mainline. Wood based and lots of mystical, magical type creatures and units. Use Native American folklore as a basis. Thunderbirds just HAVE to appear as a flying unit.
I guess it is kind of lacking in flying units ATM isn't it?
Founding Father of Columbia
catwhowalksbyhimself
Posts: 411
Joined: January 23rd, 2006, 8:28 am

Re: American Mythological Era (Development Stage: Theoretical)

Post by catwhowalksbyhimself »

With mythology, not a problem.

Looking through the factions, I have a couple of comments there.

The Pioneers and Westerners need to be merged together. A lot of what we think of westerners were pioneers anyway, or a few sparse people living miles apart. Just combine the two and have a couple cowboy units appear.

I don't see how the techonologists and industrialists really fit together with the rest. Perhaps merged together as a big city faction. But then again, the Columbian areas were and are the big cities essentually. Since this isn't real America, a combined urban faction with steampunk technology might be fine, but I still can't see them as two factions.

Not sure if I like the Bayou at all.

As for flying units, there are actually plenty of opportunities. Pioneers or Westerners could have tornado riders, Natives Thunderbirds, and technologists some sort of flying contraption. Columbians could be the faction that has none.
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