Yoruba (Civ concept)

(This was inspired by u/Azot-Spike's design, and notes from a few history sources. He has more of the history notes on his design page though.)

Yoruba

Infantry and Monk civ. (More a Jack-of-all trades)

• +150 wood at game start.
• Barracks upgrades cost 50% less.
• Can build Earthen Walls: (3 wood, 1 stone. 700 (1250) HP, 6/8 armor.)

UU: Ipara (Outlaw from Medieval Ibadan): Scout-infantry. Can cut trees and (like a villager) convert farms. Can build outposts and walls. 1/2 (3 elite) armor. 60 (80) HP. 9 (11) attack (+2 against spears). 1.2 speed. 8 (9) LoS.

Castle Tech: Ifa: Monks +3 Range.

Imperial Tech: Eredo: Repairs are free.

Team Bonus: Infantry +2 damage against houses, walls.

Tech

• Barracks: All techs
• Archery Range: Crossbow - E.Skirms - Cavalry Archer - TR.
• Stables: Hussar, Cavalier, Heavy Camels, Husbandry, Bloodlines.
• Blacksmith: All except Ring Archer armor.
• Siege Workshop: Capped Ram, Siege Onager, Heavy Scorpion, Bombard Cannon.
• Monastery: All except Sanctity and Atonement.
• University: Missing Siege Engineers
• Docks: Fast Fire - Heavy Demo - Cannon Galleon - War Galley - Dry Dock - No Shipwright.
• Castle: No Hoardings.
• Eco: Gold/stone mining (no shaft) - All lumber, guilds, Crop Rotation.

The Yoruba regularly grew artificial forests around their settlements for cover, farming benefits, and miscellaneous resources. For this reason, they receive the wood equivalent of the Lithuanian bonus. Their infantry formed a reliable core of their army due to the trees and Tse-tse flies weakening the other branches of the military.

Still, when the Oyo city-state assumed dominance over the others, they immediately prioritized the use of cavalry in this hostile setting (at great cost, too) by purchasing many of their steeds from the Kanuri to the North. Husbandry formed a strong basis of their power in the region, so they have a fairly-strong stable.

Ifa, the predominant religion of the Yoruba, defined much of their society's character on all levels, so its reach is represented with its first unique tech.

The Eredo, one of the world's largest Medieval structures, was a massive wall and ditch that protected the Ijebu kingdom from raiders. It would inspire the construction of many similar walls in Benin. Many families were responsible for the construction and maintenance of the walls, but this ended at some point during Oyo's Imperial period, likely to keep the region under control.

I wanted to make a civ with a flexible opening and transition into generalist gameplay, then maintain the tradition of African civs having raider UUs (in this case, facilitating invasion by others as well).