The Mask spell (an Esus thing)

[Tasunke Witka]

Overview: 2 identical spells with 2 different sets of requirements

Mask(A) -> Req Player.getReligion = Esus State religion, req unit.getunitcombat = Recon

Mask(B) -> Req unit.getPromotion = Mask

BOTH SPELLS are necessary

Mask promotion for Nightwatch and Shadowriders,

Mask spell for ALL recon. (w/ Esus state religion)

---> need both spell versions to get the full picture in the simplest way possible

Currently Mask is a spell available only to recon units with the Esus religion. Now, given the nature of Civ games, if someone is planning on going Esus it would be a natural assumption that they might focus on recon BEFORE going Esus, and it would be an unnatural request, imho, to encourage players to play suboptimally by beelining Esus before building up an army (I would call this a 'Noob trap', something that Kael wished to reduce as he moved from Fire to shadow to Ice. Or from .2, to .3, to .4)

In some mods, and possibly earlier versions of original FFH, there was a mask promotion that allowed the spell. Now, many previous changes have involved the mask spell have involved either getting the mask promotion to more units, or getting the Esus religion to more units. However there is a much larger issue here ... which religion is the nation following. Why not make it easier for the Esus player and harder for non Esus player. After all, this IS an element of the Esus religion, and for years non-Esus followers have been exploiting Esus utility. The ability for non Esus players to exploit Esus utility weakens the Esus religion.

I have a radical new (or overlooked) idea that could drastically simplify matters. (for me it is a new idea at least)

Two versions of the Mask spell. One is tied to the Mask promotion, and the other is tied directly to all unitcombat and statereligion only (not looking at unitreligion).

This has the double benefit of both allowing full Mask utility for followers of the Esus State religion, and minimizing the usage of Mask for those who want to squeeze Esus utility into a non-Esus strategy.

My vision for this is to give the Mask Promotion to Nightwatch units and Shadowriders, so that they can use Mask as I believe was originally intended (because they start with Hidden Nationality).

I would advise adding Mask to Pirates/Privateers (and renaming ALL to Pirates, giving the Lanun a 'hidden' UU, given the nature of the unit).

I would also advise removing Hidden Nationality promotion from the Svartalfar Hero. An argument could be made to start the hero off with 'Mask' promotion instead, but between the Svartalfar worldspell, and the fact that my changes would allow him to automatically be capable of using the spell when following the Esus religion. While seeming like a nerf, the inverse is that it increases synergy between Svart and Esus,

[Tasunke Witka]

The primary change here is making Recon-based Mask impossible outside of Esus, and guaranteed inside of it. The state religion, of witch there are only 8 choices including No State Religion, will be the deciding factor.

Nightwatch and Shadowrider start with the Mask promotion, and being Esus religious units, could always be given iabandon if deemed necessary. (iirc Shadowrider is already iabandon due to being tier4? Personally I think the same tag should be 're'-added to Paladins and Eidolons (as my last game where I had both unitclasses at the same time was just silly)