Need inspiration, lore and more for Mad Max/Waterworld apocalypse (fun) mod

[The Glenn]

I've been working on a post apocalyptic fun mod for some time now, but I'm kinda stuck with coming up with new lore, countries, characters, tech tree mods, units, all that sorta stuff.
I created it to have some fun but not for too long, like world domination or decades long scenarios. Just some good 'ol post apocalyptic fun. I'm doing the modding by myself in my own spare time or when just when I feel like it, I work on other mods as well and so don't expect a working mod soon but maybe with some help I'll be able to release some sort of beta version.

Setting/universe:

• For setting/lore think of movies like Mad Max, Waterworld, Escape from NY, Doomsday, The Postman, Tank Girl, Book of Eli etc;
• They all come together on the continent of Australia(and New Zealand). Mad Max meets Waterworld;
• Sea levels dropped and then rose again, the whole world was submerged and never again came to see the surface again apart from Australia(and NZ). Nobody knows why, nobody wonders, , it was a traumatic apocalyptic event. Just go with it.

Countries(so far):

• The ending of the movie Waterworld was just pure propaganda. The Deacon of the Deez was triumphant over the weird gill monster with his pathetic catamaran and ultimately found land as well and ran the mighty Deez aground there. It seemed to be a small Island. Not long after, they discovered a whole continent lay behind it and seems to be up for grabs;
• The capital territory of Australia is now run by a ruthless military dictatorship who claim the whole continent. They poses relatively modern technologies and are well-organised but lack manpower;
• The other great player in NSW is the self-proclaimed Emperor of the world, George VII. Yes, the son of William and Kate went down under when the apocalypse stroke and established himself in his new castle in New Castle. From there he reigns with a titanium fist(his hand was blown off in a workplace accident) and aspires to be the sole ruler of the world. Think medieval kingdom parody, Blackadder, Monty Python type of nation but still a great force to be reckoned with;
• The oil rich south coast of Victoria is ruled by an evil dictator called Lord Pyro. This, from Melbourne run, industrial dystopia just seeks access(by force) to resource rich lands to feed their industries. They will enslave any state in their way;
• On the southern tip of the island of Tasmania, the merchant republic of Hobart soars as a beacon of decency above all degeneracy going on on the main land, or so they think of themselves. More entrepreneur like than expansionist, they find that trade by force is still within their moral limits;
• The Brethren of the Coast are a viking raider inspired nation. They live on their treasured and heavily defended Kangaroo Island, raiding the coasts of the continent, plundering and enslaving away;
• On Norfolk Island, a tribe of evil Maori purists seeks so reconquer their native Aotearoa. But only the North Island because they think the south is shit;
• I've started work on making the Great Northern Tribe(from the Mad Max universe) located in and around Cairns. Plan to make their leader an older version of the Feral Kid. I plan to make some good helicopter technology reference to the Gyro Captain and references to the legendary Road Warrior. Not yet sure how to fill in this nation further;
• Made another generic nation called Children of Land. Its a barbaric anarchist gang of wastelanders. No further lore yet.

So what I need is some more lore, storytelling, country idea's, character idea's, tech teams and technologies in general, unit idea's and art, lots of art. Maybe someone who can handle AI art generators well? Eventually also event creation(or event idea's). Maybe even a grand scenario goal or goals, like ways to win the game. Anything is welcome really!

I've used the E3 map because that way Australia might be most interesting to play in.

Here are some screenshots:

 

[The Glenn]

This is the ideaology matrix I created. It was inspired by the Fallout Mod.

 

[Litteäperuna]

Very interesting scenario looking forward for your stuff if you ever decide to make this playable. I would include the indonesian islands or some parts of it to add some variety maybe asian type of faction that surived the sea level changes. Also maybe islands around pacific could be part of that map too would make that seaworld vibe richer perhaps.

 

[Miihkali]

Very interesting scenario looking forward for your stuff if you ever decide to make this playable. I would include the indonesian islands or some parts of it to add some variety maybe asian type of faction that surived the sea level changes. Also maybe islands around pacific could be part of that map too would make that seaworld vibe richer perhaps.

I agree with all these. Even the inclusion of Malay peninsula and Indonesia might not be too bad. Jungles teeming with mutants would provide an interesting contrast to the deserts of Australia.

I think this is the kind of a scenario that could benefit from sandbox elements. Plenty of random events and generic decisions with a vibe suitable fo the genre. I like the idea that each ideology (evil autocracy, military technocracy &c.) would come with its own random events and generic decisions, each tailored for the specific type of society.

Rebels could be re-named as ”Mutants”. With a little tinkering you could even make it so that rebels only get specific mutant units. This can be done by setting Rebels army composition to 50 and Rebels army tech level to -1 in db/misc.txt, and giving special stats for 0-model infantry and militia. Mutant infantry could be slow and powerful with high organization and low morale (e.g. ”Mutant Brutes”), whilst mutant militia could be fast and weak with low organization and high morale (e.g. ”Mutant Swarm”). Then you just need to set starting techs and units so that no playable faction has access to these models.

 

[Miihkali]

Need inspiration, lore and more....

I just remembered a silly post-apocalyptic movie from the 1980s, entitled ”The Atlantis Interceptors” or ”Raiders of Atlantis.” It is an utterly mad scifi-action romp with a plot involving a sunken Soviet submarine (the film takes place in the distant future of 1994). A group of American scientists attempt to raise the submarine, but accidentally raise Atlantis instead. Not too long afterwards, hordes of Atlantean bikers invade Miami and mayhem ensues. The big bad of the film is named Crystal Skull, and I much prefer this interpretation to the one seen in the fourth Indiana Jones movie. It also has a catchy theme song, penned by the Italian duo that also composed songs for Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movies. Here is a review with a more thorough explanation.

 

[Miihkali]

By the way, I have a script that generates hex grids with unique color coding for each hexagon. This can be used to build a new map for DH with relative ease. Would you be interested in it? I think your Australia might benefit from a new map, since there are several large desert provinces. A more detailed map would allow for further factions and greater tactical depth. Plus, a hex map would fit the science-fiction theme, in my opinion.

 

[Khor]

Well some ideas:

- In the series Last Resort a US submarine occupies an inland, and technically functions as a sovereign state for some time. That is a good jumping point. America goes away, but some submarines survive and they take some inlands for theirs. They are led by an Admiral, who wants to create a new American Republic. Technically quite good, but lacks serious manpower.
- Snowpiercer had a train going endlessly in an ice world. If you take parts of it, than it could work. Some train lines remain and settlements are built around them. While they have some manpower and they can easily go where train lines are, they have no power, influence or force beyond those train lines.
- Kevin Costner also had the movie Postman in which a random office guy becomes a general and builds an army by force of will. That is actually a good idea. A random guy takes over some land and becomes a warlord.
- Hawaii could become a base of the super rich. They have a ton of money and quite some technology, but everyone hates them and they need to spend some serious cash and resources if they want to improve relations. In bunkers the worlds elite survives.
- A Chinese corrupt island state remains. (Like the Legation Cities.) Its inhabitants are from various nationalities and they are ruled by underworld gangs. The Council is the leader which is run by the most powerful gang families, but the members always change.
- The Saints of the Forgotten World is a seriously mentally instable religious sect who view every new nation as a threat and they try to restore everything before the Cataclysmic events. They hoard material, manpower, everything they can get their hands on, but they can not ally to anyone whose country was not there before. They are highly unstable and their moves could not be predicted. (They consist of people who could not adapt to their losses and many of them are addicts of pills. They hoard supplies of medical pills like anti-depressants and similar, but those are running out and they are quite insane.)
- Tribes of the Forests are half-civilized people in some islands. There was a Conference for Children in which many children were flown there from all over the world. After the events their teachers and a lot of townspeople were suicidal or simply left them to their own. As the years gone by the strongest survived and created tribes. They are technically low, but quite good fighters and they started to conquer some nearby lands. They usually adopt the children and kill of the adults.
- Headhunters of Attenborough. Some island towns were experiencing famine since supplies were quite low. But than in an abandoned library they found a book about Headhunters which were described by David Attenborough. They turned cannibal quite fast. They rewere Attenborough as their savior so they adopted his name. (Or is this to harsh of a joke? )

 

[Bad4play]

First I must say i don't know much about madmax or waterworld, i just saw picture and heard stuff about it so if the following is not relevant just ignore me x)
I remember hearing that waterworld was a kind of ecological fable. Maybe adding an australian aboriginal faction could be interesting, land is very important to them as ancestor are linked to the land and they learnt to live in harmony with nature for thousand years. They could get fed up by what's going on in australia and try to protect the land from destruction and chaos by pushing everyone out of australia. They could be located in daintree forest north east of australia and be named "the gardian of the dream"