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High Elves Civilisation

Adds the High Elves, led by Finubar the Seafarer, as a playable civilisation.


// REQUIREMENTS

Requires both Gods and Kings (for the Quinquereme model) and Brave New World (for Trade Routes).


// DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n07rs7z20voafqx/AACV_loLcf9wBc1nexbwRvqqa?dl=0

If you're having trouble with Steam, just copy the folder into your MODS directory.


// SUMMARY

UA: Made to Rule: Merchant specialists generate +1 Culture. Trade Routes with City-States generate +2 Influence per turn (scales with game speed).

UU: Eagleship: a fast ship that replaces the Galleass. Can cross oceans, meaning High Elves get to explore the world earlier than anyone else (hence "the Seafarer"). It’s slightly cheaper than the Galleass and starts with Boarding Party 1, but has no ranged attack.

UU: White Lion: replaces Pikeman. More expensive and no combat bonus against cavalry, but slightly stronger, has an extra move point, ignores difficult terrain penalties and reduces ranged attack damage by 20% (Lion Cloaks). A great unit for scouting continents that can also handle itself in combat. Upgrades to Riflemen.


// DISCUSSION

The High Elves are fantastic explorers – getting into oceans early can be huge since you can amass gold from discoering City States and put yourself in a great position to found the World Congress. Getting the Great Lighthouse and opening Exploration gives Eagleships a huge boost, setting you up to rule the sea for the rest of the game. This can synergise with the UA, which obviously compels you to get your trade routes up ASAP and grab the Colossus/Petra. Forbidden Palace is also important. When you have an ideology later, run Freedom for Treaty Organisation. You’ll be competing with Karl Franz and maybe Thorgrim for the Diplomatic victory, but are better placed to achieve it than either.

White Lions upgrade to Riflemen but lose some of their promotions, so a Domination win isn't as easy as it seems. Generating extra culture from merchants is intended to illustrate Finubar’s trading efforts with the Old World, and is more a nice bonus for pushing your economy than a leg-up to a Cultural victory. Diplomatic is really the only way to go.

As an AI, Finubar is haughty and mercurial, like a proper Elf. He’s easy to befriend, because in the lore he’s trying hard to build alliances, but he’s also deceptive and not very loyal or forgiving. He loves to denounce and ask for stuff, and is very competitive over victory because High Elves believe ruling the world is their job. He gets annoyed over city states and slightly over wonders, but doesn’t expand much, so it shouldn’t be too hard to stay on his good side unless you’re a warmonger (he hates warmongers more than any of my other WHFB civs). He’s quite fair in trade.

Finubar loves his navy. He’ll build lots of ships and do lots of exploring and trading. He’ll go for a Diplomatic victory first, competing with Karl Franz, and a Cultural victory second, competing with Louen. In playtests Finubar has gone to war with these two more than with Thorgrim, which doesn’t fit with Warhammer lore, but it happens because Thorgrim and Finubar are so different that they don’t tread on each other’s toes. I guess this is Warhammer lore clashing with Civilization V mechanics.


// ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMER

Special thanks to:
- Tomatekh for permission to use some of his code and tips on implementing it. If you didn't know already, his mods are excellent.
- Danrell for the fantastic Guandaoman unit model.
- Civitar, for the sweet Ulthuan map.

Art work sources include various free wallpaper sites and Games Workshop artists Paul Dainton, Daarken and Adrian Smith. The written content within this mod is a paraphrase of, or extrapolated from, the background writing to the Dwarfs army of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy universe, as found in the associated rulebooks.

All external art assets have been edited, and no profit is being sought for this mod, whether through donations or otherwise. This mod is based upon the universe of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles tabletop wargame, wholly owned by Games Workshop. Warhammer and all related names are tm and (c) Games Workshop.


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I can only do so much playtesting, so feel free to share your experiences for future tweaks and updates. Hope you enjoy it!