this takes the techs Warfare + Mil Strat, and removes them from the melee unit lines. I feel it unnecessary for it to have been linked to begin with, seeing as the mod seems to allow us to use and ignore any and all combat lines as we see fit.
Also, the removal of BW requirement allows (imho) the question of Conquest at Warfare or Education to be a moot point. In fact, I would take the liberty to extend Mil State civic to Mil Strat tech because now Warfare is easier to attain. People can still take BW if they have copper and feel the detour is worth it for a faster Titan ... while those with less interest in the melee line can at least grab the civics.
Heron's Throne: now a national wonder that gives +1 hammer on local water, +1 food on ALL owned water.
I think the Lanun change is fair because regardless I'm going to have 3 food ocean tiles be a possibility, and they still get their nice Pirate Coves. I feel allowing ALL to get 3 food sea, and disabling the lanun's bonus in the opening moves might make all-water maps a bit more balanced.
instead of the Heron's Throne change, we *could* have fishing villages for each tile that gives +1/0/0 or something ... but that is a LOT of workboats, and probably a noob trap (not worth the micro). In any case, another reason to avoid this is that Tsunami destroys improvements ... and it would be bad to lose all that micro because you are defending yourself with Tsunami.
I'm thinking of having Tsunami restricted to 1 range AND having it not affect your own improvements. This would make Tsunami better for defense and slightly less cheesy. Since it is also the only form of Water-based collateral ... I could either add a second form of water-collateral or simply limit Tsunami to being only *slightly* better than ring of fire ... like 50% or 60% max damage.
One thing I think is important behind modding is having a clear philosophy behind them: not only what the mod is to do, but what the game is thought to be about.
If you take base Civ 4, there is one thing that has been lost in BtS and in FfH, and that I think should be brought back: only population is productive, you get commerce, hammers, or anything else by using your population. I view the Sankore/Apostolic/Spiral Minaret wonders as the very antithesis of this.
In FfH this is made worse: I think buildings like the Elder Council and Market should be reworked.
Maybe a rework how the bonus to beaker and money production functions. One option I've been thinking about is to use them additively, as that the generated commerce is first funnelled through the buildings, and then split into money, beakers, and culture. An example:
A city with a library (+20% science) generates 10 commerce per turn, at a slider of 100% gold. Instead of having 0 beakers and 10 gold generated, the library would generate 0.2 * 10, ie 2 beakers at all times.
Related to this is that I think culture should be tied to population as well. Cities should automatically generate small amounts of culture based on size and commerce, but I don't have a ready idea for how such a system should work in detail (eg on how "automatic" culture, commerce-generated culture, and culture buildings would interact).
Another thing to look at is the tech tree and unit interaction. That Bronze Working is overpowered in Civ 4 should be apparent to all: the most powerful early military unit, and the only two ways to accelerate production in the early game are all in the same tech.
I like how FfH in part decouples the organisation and role of a unit with its equipment, but it should be made even more explict. Eg the Inca army seems to have partly mirrored the tactics and organisation of the ancient Greek and Roman armies, using only stone age weapons. So you have one set of techs/civics that provide the social framework for the units, and another set of techs that govern their equipment.
Another thing to consider is the idea of a production reserve. MOO had its planetary reserve, and it allowed developed worlds to funnel resources to where they were needed, but in a controlled and limited manner. Ie, not only beakers and gold could be pooled in an empire, but also production.
In the starting game, only the palace would siphon off a bit of production to the reserve (it should be considered if this would be a part of the city production, or simply proportional to it). Later civics and techs would allow that all cities contribute to the reserve, or assign its production directly to the reserve. A civic like State Property could eg reduce the production in every city a little, but drastically increase how much they contributed to the reserve.
The reserve could be funnelled to where it was needed, but would be capped to the current production in the city (or less, with civics and techs that can raise the ratio). I'm also thinking the reserve could be used to build improvements, ie workers would consume small amounts of reserve while building mines, roads et c.
Improvements costing hammers to build was implied, and I think either the reserve could be used, or it would be taken directly from the city hammer production (if no reserve is available).
As for buildings, I think buildings should be tied to the size of a city. A city needs to be of a certain size to eg build a library. If the city falls below that size, the building ceases to function.
The axeman versus spearman (as well as the pike, maceman, and swordsman) is another thing to consider. Historically, there is nothing in that division that makes any sense.
The most common weaponry in melee infantry before gunpowder has always been the spear. It's easy to use in mass, is relatively easy to train with, and is cheap to produce. Swords are much more expensive to produce, and axes are much harder to use, especially with other people using axes around you.
The main factor for being able to withstand cavalry isn't the weaponry, anyway. It's discipline. Eg, Harold's housecarls at Hastings (armed with axes!) were able to withstand cavalry charges, as long as they held their formation.
As for tactics and viability on the battlefield, there is probably little difference between the Greek phalanxes, the early Roman legions, the Swiss pikemen, or the Spanish tercios.
Which brings us to that the cost to support a military unit is far from fixed. Cavalry should cost at least five times as much to support than an infantry army. Artillery is also hugely expensive to support. And infantry that can use swords and axes in large groups need to be able to train regularly, ie they also should cost more.
I've always thought it strange that we never see a mass army of spearmen like you might see in, say, China ... although I suppose it was similar for many armies, until they could afford to focus on all swords for their primary force (like rome). And even then they gave the spears to slaves/mercenaries to act as skirmishers/cannon fodder.
As far as easiest and most expensive ... the way I see it is
From Easiest to Hardest (to learn, to fight with)
Mace -> Spear -> Axe -> Sword
and from Cheapest to the Most Expensive (to build, to maintain)
Most of medieval Europe had a socio-political setup that made it impossible to field strong and disciplined infantry forces, because those would be too dangerous to the feudal lords.
Maces are specialty weapons - their main role is against heavily armoured opponents, and their use is probably similar to axes. Chain-linked maces are probably extremely hard to use well. (I'm ignoring polearms for now.)
Well, for the record, I would like a difference between crappy drafted spearmen and advanced pole arms (vs mounted)
Spearman, Levy, and Pikemen? or just Spearman and Pikeman, with Spearman not being an Anti-horses special, but just a grunt force troop.
probably not worth it to split pikemen and halberds ... so perhaps have Spearmen to be cheap + weak shock troops to fill the gaps in any fight (like a medieval 'warrior'), while any melee unit can learn anti-horses (except maces I think), and have pikemen as an all around good defensive unit.
although I can see how spearmen can be a bit easier to fight horses (even though it requires discipline) ... so perhaps have spearmen to be able to learn formation 1 at combat 1 instead of combat 2? although that would require either a special promotion on spear units or a separate unitcombat for them. While the first leads to clutter, the latter would open a huge can of worms.
But yea, perhaps removing the +100% vs mounted from spearmen, make them a lot cheaper(?) and allow regular BTS medieval units to get Formation 1 and Formation 2 (for a full 80% vs horses ... yes boost the anti-horse promos for BTS XD ... they will need it if we nerf initial spearmen)
Alternatively you could have national units (like in FFH) available at Military Strategy that are good against horsemen ... Ragnar could have Huscarls, etc.
... and it would be bad to lose all that micro because you are defending yourself with Tsunami.