Suggestion for new Oceana units

[Spendios]

Some suggestions :

A chariot drawn by hippocampi or dolphins

A very big and very hungry shark

Loch Ness monster

Mosasaurus like monster

Jörmungandr (though would be a nordic nations specific summon)

Charybdis (like a living whirlpool)

[Endoperez]

I really like Cleveland's idea of making Ichtycentaurs more powerful in land. A group of strange beings coming up from the waves, jumping into air and coming down on four legs, and charging. Also, Ichtycentaurs (and other Oceania amphibious guys) could be given Swamp Survival. It's just a minor bonus, but it'd mean Oceania can use Quagmire to give their troops an edge aboveground.

Oceania reminds me of Gene Wolfe's Knight Wizard duology, which I just re-read thanks to a thread in these forums. In the books, "strength of the sea" is described as being able to come at you again and again like the waves, never stopping and never growing tired; to fall down when felled to rise again, like a tide, with enough strength to crush mountains. I thought of this because earth-blessed ichtycentaurs would have abilities similar to those the knight taught about the sea had: reinvigoration, rejuvenation and ability to survive underwater.



Baalz' suggestions are well-thought, except that I don't think Crocodiles should be their own summon. Crocodiles and perhaps some amphibious creatures summonable in swamps and coastal provinces with Summon Animals would be nice, but even big crocodiles are just weaker cave drakes, and not even really amphibious. Shark Knights are awesome, but Oceania's ichtycentaurs are supposed to be their underwater cavalry, so they shouldn't be necessary. Some denizen of the deep is more interesting. Perhaps access to the Bogarus remote summons, or similar new spells?

[BesucherXia]

I think even Pangaea, specially the MA one should have access to some amphibians summons.
This could be thematically reasonable, given the fact that in MA the ocean has been somewhat overran by "evil races", and the ocean and the wild are supposed to be nature allies.

I also like Baalz' suggestion and cannot stop imagining their appearances now.

[JimMorrison]

Endo, the inclusion of SS is brilliant. I really think Survival traits would add new layers of strategy if more widely applied, and this is an excellent example.

[Sombre]

I'm dead set against them getting swamp survival. I don't see why they should. They aren't swamp dwelling races. If it's on the basis of them being amphibious, why not give all amphibians swamp survival?

[HoneyBadger]

One thing I've always wanted to see was the Great Kraken as an Ammonite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonite
I find them much more interesting that simply bigger and bigger squids, maybe because I've actually held their fossils in my hands, but it would be fantastic if the Great Kraken could be a survivor of this extinct (as far as we know) species.

Another thing that could be fun is if there were some type of fossilized Ammonite underwater summons. Imagine a Great Kraken, only now it's made from living stone.

There are all kinds of really interesting extinct animals out there that could be put back into the game in various ways and forms, to very good use.

[JimMorrison]

Sombre said:
I'm dead set against them getting swamp survival. I don't see why they should. They aren't swamp dwelling races. If it's on the basis of them being amphibious, why not give all amphibians swamp survival?

Why not indeed? But I think it's more on the basis that they are aquatic origin amphibians, as opposed to land origin amphibians. That distinction may be important, may not be. Like I said, I think Survival traits should be more widespread - not because of the Supply issue, but because it opens up options for movement. And in this case, new strategic options for a nation that has few of them currently.

[Endoperez]

Sombre said:
I'm dead set against them getting swamp survival. I don't see why they should. They aren't swamp dwelling races. If it's on the basis of them being amphibious, why not give all amphibians swamp survival?

It came from thinking if it would be possible to have Ichtycentaurs run on water, i.e. sailing for Ichtycentaurs lead by Ichtycentaurs. I realized the current Sailing command wouldn't work and implementing another mechanic would be a huge process at this point, so I didn't even mention it in my post.
Then, from that, I thought that at the very least they should be able to do that on swamps. I liked the mechanical effect it would give them, so I suggested Swamp Survival.

[Tifone]

This thread is so damn exciting... the idea of "nature is pissed off" applied to the ocean guys seem great to me

As I wasn't able to find a guide to MA Oceania and didn't play it yet, I just would like if someone tells me briefly what are this nations weaknesses and strong points and how does it play usually in early, mid, late game. Briefly ^_^

Because I would like to find something imaginative and nice too, but also not completely unbalanced or twisting to its natural gameplay.

The ideas I liked the most for now are the crocodile (it could be a nice water/nature summon) and the chariot lead by hippocampi or dolphins ^^ And even the amphibian Ichtycentaurs gallopping furiously on the surface of water (and the consequently swamp survival trait) is an EPIC image