another bump
 

I'm just bumping this one because there hasn't been anything added to the progress page for 10 days now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

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Remember, Kristoffer, skiing can be dangerous-look what happened to Sunny Bono?

Improving Dominions 3 is profitable, and very safe-if anyone ever tried to harm you or Johan, we'd probably rip them limb from limb-or shoot them, most of us are Americans.

Re: Kristoffer\'s encouragement thread
 

A bit of a tangent, but for inspiration you might want to check out the Norwegian RPG Draug.

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Oh yes, If we have learned anything since 2001 is that us Americans excel at violence of all types. We are #1! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

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Yes, not only are we ignorant, backward, religious hicks, we've all got atleast 3 guns in every room of our house.

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Dont forget chewing gum and monolingual. Those are also very common in american jokes.

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Mono... What? I can't understand them hi-falutin' words. Speak plain Anglish.

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I am glad the world believes everything they see on TV. It would be a dangerous place if people thought for themselves.

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Dont' trash tolk Amerikins or bye gawd ill shot you lik it says is my write in the second amendment to the wholly bible.

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Most Americans I know speak atleast some Spanish.

I personally speak a little Spanish-stilted, but enough to get by, follow a conversation, more than not, and to swear, German-3 years of it in school, a little French-there have been a lot of French ladies in my life and I was buddies with a French translator, Japanese and Latin-a few words and phraises, and Italian-just enough to swear.

I owned two rifles that I inherited from my grandfather, briefly, but they were stolen, and it's been a good 15 years since I've shot a gun. I don't like chewing gum, but I do every once in a while, to guard against halitosis.

Americans speak American, and American isn't English, it's English plus every other word we happen to like from every other language.

The problem with Americans isn't that we hate other people-we're not Nazis by ANY means, and there are plenty of savage, genocidal racists and religious tyrants out beyond our borders. It's that we were isolationists for a couple hundred years, and that was for our own good and protection at the time. We welcome other cultures-infact if we have a defining trait, it's our willingness to borrow other cultures, not because they're our neighbors', but because they're interesting and help us define our individual selves-and we're very open to new ideas, but it's important to us that we make them our own, and that we stay in our own "safety zone"-however we define that.

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Ok - that one made me laugh.... and I'm from Texas...

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I should add that in many states in the US, it's perfectly legal to shoot foreigners on sight, as long as you're using a 14 or higher guage shotgun, or black powder, and infact, to kill anyone-provided that it can be proven they happened to need killing at the time.

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And what's wrong with that? If someone is robbing me, I have every right to defend myself.

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US is a weird place ...

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Yeah, its kinda like the movie Mad Max mixed with Sartre's No Exit.

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What you see on the news is not America. If all of America was like it is portrayed in the news, well then the stories would not be news worthy. The United States of America is a great country and I am proud to live here. For every bad story you see on tv, I guarantee there are thousands of good stories that happen here that you would never hear about, because those stories will not keep you glued to the television.

Although some of our more liberal allies lament and speak against us, always know that our country will be there for you just like we have been in the past. Our country has always weathered criticism and mockery, and in turn we have liberated the mockers, and we have fed the criticizers in their time of need.

Carry on.

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And many of our critisizers are americans with a long list of qualifications for being able to critisize. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

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Having just typed a deleted a long reply to Foodstamps post, we probably should just drop this discussion. It's way off topic and not likely to encourage Kristoffer.

Which was supposed to be the purpose of this thread?

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I suggest we start discussing gnu control. How come there are no gnus in Dominions? There are horses, unicorns, elephants, even moose, but no gnus. Do Illwinter secretly campaign for increased governmental gnu control? Which nation would make the best use of armour-clad gnu-mounted cavalry? Should you ever bring a knife to a gnu-fight?

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Bravo, Foodstamp! It takes guts to speak up and defend something that everyone else is making fun of, even good-naturedly. What's more, encouraging national pride is the best way to strengthen national ideals.

"I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that mercy is only to be expected from the strong." (Leo Rosten) America has always responded generously to praise and gratitude, but ingratitude is a poison. Much as we pretend it doesn't matter to us, America really does want to be liked.

-Max

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'Cough'
I shall hold my tounge...

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I'd love to see a nation based on Slavic mythology in one of future patches.

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I remember hearing there likely would be one? I think there was also some talk of a Finnish-themed nation.

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Heh. I just put in a request for info from the military buffs on 13th century slavic armies (I'm better with folklore than military history myself.)

That said, I'd love to see some russians.

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I'd like to remember you that I'm researching slavic mythology (what's left of it, anyway... christianity devastated it too much and it's very fragmented. There are no proofs that there was even one slavic mythology, in the sense that it's not consistent enough.)

Have a look here (Dom2 mod forum). I'd like to read your comments.
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=1

I have more free time now. All that is left: please motivate me :-).

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Just to tie everything together-for the benefit of the off-topic police-how come noone ever suggests an American style nation? Besides purely Native American ofcourse. I'm sure some clever person could come up with a nation based on the early settlers, tall tales, and the mixture of imported and native legends and myths.

We used to have a great early history section in the library of my home town. The stupid so-and-sos replaced it all with romance novels, but there was some fascinating stuff in there. Stories from tribes you've never heard of, stories about faeries in the new world, and devils and witches from the Puritans and others, all sorts of surprising things.

You wouldn't have to use guns, either. There were swords forged right here in the 'States for the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. A man named Nathan Starr is perhaps the most famous American swordsmith, but their were others. We also had the Bowie knife and the steel tomahawk, both American inventions.

Re: another bump
 

Perhaps you have an idea there, HoneyBadger:

An Early Era, totally pre-Columbian North American civilization, a Mid Era, 'we've got horses now' plains civilization, and that sort of 'Last of the Mahicans' combo civilization for Late Age.

Sounds interesting.

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Umm... Mictlan ?

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None of those descriptions fit Mictlan.

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TwoBits, Haida Gwai fits the EA civ I think.

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Haida Gwaii represents the first peoples of the Pacific Northwest with a small bit of influence from Inuit and southwestern Native American tribes.

Native American tribes are so diverse it would be a little bit of a challenge to create a nation that represents them, although I do think it is possible. One thing is definitely certain though; North American tribes had very little in common with the Central America empires that Mictlan represents. They are like night and day.

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How on earth does this fit into Dominions? Everything except the first one, and even on that one you have to go way back, is gunpowder era. There's no place for it in the game.

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Whadda you mean, there's no place for it?

The Plains Indians had horses for generations before they had access to guns, or had much, if any, contact with white men (so middle age is no problem).

As far as the late era goes, give it any back story you want. I like the idea of fusing it with Marignon (renegade, "we don't like blood and demons" colonists, perhaps?). Would go well with the whole 'missionary' aspect. Think the French influence in Canada for inspiration.

Re: another bump
 

Eh, I can't help but see it as an attempt to force American history into a game based on a time when American history didn't even exist yet. I do think that a Plains Indian -based nation whose troops have desert/forest survival, plenty of stealth and strong nature, death and fire magic could fit into EA quite well. National Manitou summons etc. could also be used.

Re: another bump
 

A slavic nation is not unlikely the next one, beside fomoria that is.

I have the general ideas finished, I think, but you might get a PM or two, Borsuk, if you don't mind.

I got the Eliade Encyclopedia of Religion (15 nice volumes) this winter, but it is a bit limited regarding folklore.

Yesterday discovered that there is an encyclopedia of finno-ugric mythology translated to english 2003.

Re: another bump
 

Score. Can't wait to see Väinämöinen as a national hero. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: another bump
 

I'd be happy to help out with the Slavic mythology research as well. It's something I've been trying to piece together myself (as much as is possible) ever since I became interested in Russian myth, and through that (what there is left of *that* tradition) the rest of Eastern Europe.

Re: another bump
 

One nation that is really missing is another pure water nation for the Late Age.

In my mind I'm thinking humanoid sharks with a heavy military empire and lots of blood magic... The Red Sea Empire or something like that.

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That rocks!

Kristoffer, if you intend to pursue something along those lines, feel free to ask me stuff. I have a fairly good grasp of some parts of Finnish folklore, especially our mythology about gnomes, elves and suchlike beings. It's been almost 20 years since I read a good part of one of THE primary sources on the subject (written sometime in the 40s or 50s when there were still a lot of old folks who remember that stuff alive) for a school project and I've not forgotten all that much of it.

Re: another bump
 

I wouldn't be offended at all. I can even do some extra research if needed. I have a lot of stuff on my head and mostly lack motivation, not time, to work on it.
I have some ideas that could make the nation a bit more unique, including national spells which probably can't be done without access to source code.
Being a native polish speaker I can understand some websites written in other slavic languages, although those using russian letters are a bit trickier (Still, I was learning Russian several years ago and I can read it somewhat slowly. Ukrainian is easier. My mother finished both ukrainistics and russicistic studies and can be great help.)


Some random thoughts:
- Some kind of huge bear would be very cool and very thematic national hero. Animal Awe, recuperation (bears were believed to heal quickly, not without reason), large standard, sacred, boosted MR to compensate for no leadership and poor slots.
- Some kind of commanders who attract or summon bears, just not as fast as wolves because that would be overpowered.

Wolves, and especially bears are one of very thematic animals for this nation. Bear is national symbol of Russia, to.

Likho (Licho), personification of misfortune I mentioned in Dom2 modding thread... I have a song here by Ukrainska Lira. It's about Bieda (poverty). Lyrics, combined with a legend from my city (Gdansk) lead me to believe that Likho is as much a spirit of misfortune as poverty. I think it is safe to say that eastern Europe and russia, and slavic tribes were often quite poor.
It would be great if it could combine stealth with instill uprising ability and #causebadevents (no such ability).

Don't forget mushroom lore, herbalism and healing. Comparing to other nations, slavic nations still have good knowledge of mushrooms. Looking for mushrooms to eat, alone or with family, is a popular pasttime.

PM me for more thoughts if you have some. If possible, I'd prefer to avoid spoiling too much in public.

Demonology (NOT blood magic, the demons were usually more neutral than evil, and often could be reasoned with or at least tricked) would certainly be one of pros of this nation. Lots of national summons. Forest/Swamp survival. Possibly even global enchantment or immobile freespawns in forest/swamp.

Finally, no one says that the 'slavic' nation has to be a carbon copy of your typical slavic nation ! You can mix any weird ideas as long as it makes the nation interesting and playable. Slavic/Tuareg mix would be crazy :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg

Re: another bump
 

Funny, many of the charasteristics you mention could easily apply to Fenno-Ugrics as well (Mushrooms and herbalism, forest survival), and they also considered bears to be the most sacred of all animals as they represented ancestral spirits. So this could be reasonably applied to both, with the two nations then having other attributes that set them apart from each other.

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The finno-ugric and especially sami bear cult (together with the intriguingly similar ainu bear cult) is perhaps the most bear-dedicated one. The slavic cult seem less directed towards the bear in particular, and more towards the forest in general, with bears as a symbolic representation.

Bears will probably appear in one form or another.

Re: another bump
 

So, ah... are we feeling encouraged? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

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It's been a MONTH since any posted updates, so apparently not encouraged enough...

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Don't be harsh Badger, things may well be going on behind the scenes, and we've had plenty of patch-y goodness lately anyway.

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There has been some interesting activity which would not quite go onto that update page.

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The fact that nothing has been posted in publicly visible places does not mean that nothing is happening.

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I do realize that. I just feel somehow that we're not doing enough to inspire the Devs...

Re: another bump
 

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See, I don't know how to interpret that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif