Nomadic Horde implementation

[DominusNovus]

This is a very rough idea, because it came to me as I'm heading out the door (and I don't want to forget about it). Anyway, while tribal holdings do a good job of representing those people that weren't quite settled down into urban or feudal life, it doesn't quite go far enough to represent genuine nomadic societies. Dark Age DLC or no (every upcoming DLC is either Dark Ages, or China), the scope of the current game covers plenty of major migratory populations, from the Magyars to the Mongols and plenty of others. But, of course, the game is built around holdings, and migratory societies wouldn't have holdings.

So, instead, why not take a page from the Republic DLC and give them 'off-map' holdings, just like Patrician families have? These would represent the main camps of the tribe/horde, and could be upgraded as usual. Meanwhile, the levies would always be up and running (with considerations for upkeep and attrition taken, however that would best be implemented). That doesn't mean a nomadic leader wouldn't have a realm; he could easily conquer a bunch of territories that would then be subject peoples, with the same basic mechanics as the current tribal structure. But, if they ever decide to settle down, they'll have to abandon the 'camp' holding and settle into an actual village (which might get some boosts, depending on how developed your camp is.

There's not much meat to this idea so far, but its a start. I'll brainstorm more.

 

[illathid]

Well I've been playing Total War: Attila and they attached buildings to armies for nomads, which is an interesting idea. To further build upon that idea, you could have the "nomad" holding as a slot on an army, kinda like the trade post is on coastal counties.

But that's just me being unimaginative.