Interesting, I'm starting to like those evil ponies.
I'd have to note tho that shadowbolts and wonderbolts are a group's name rather then that of a race/civ/caste. It would make more sense if such a name would end up being seen in militarily squats for example.
As for the town names I've bin an idiot, what I mean to ask can those names be culled to such an extent that there is only one name left to name the towns? But by that I mean only the first word of the town, the second can still be anything. I mean can all pony civ towns simply be named "the town of ..." and all rainbow civ town be named "the dale of ..." and so forth? This would make identification of civilizations that much easier in the selection tab at embarking. (again, not suggesting that you do, just want to know if this is possible)
No, we don't have that level of fine control over names. The shadow/wonderbolts thing is certainly an issue, it's mostly just a reference. I suppose one way to remedy it would be to have wonderbolt and shadowbolt creatures and add that name to the language files. That or "elite" versions of each non-royal caste.
I do have a suggestion for the evil ponies.
Make the Keshi the name to replace the dark royal pony, I've read the wiki description and it seems to suit them quite well. The name Diomedian could be used for the earth pony equivalent, it seems to be suiting them better. You can use nightmares in place of Pegasus. All you need then is a name for the civ itself and the unicorn equivalent and you'll have a terrifying civilization all right.
EDIT: possible idea for civ name. "Hrímfaxi" Comes from norse mythology, the name of the horse that pulled night (as in day and night.) Not exactly perfect but it's something to consider.
I have seen something that was either called a dark or black unicorn. But that just sounds to easy in my opinion, you've got some great stuff for the others that having a black equivalent just seems lackluster.
Err, the Hrimfaxi are essentially Celestia and Luna, you realise? That's probably where they come from originally, too. With Discord as Loki, it seems there's a lot of Norse mythology tied into the canon. Diomedian seems to be more a group name to me, whereas Keshi links to an individual with certain attributes. I should probably mod their hair length and growth rates, looking the descriptions.
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Also, Hippogriff, just mentioning that so I won't forget. Don't know if you already knew it.
Good idea for a semimegabeast, perytons, too.
Reinhard, the civ has to actually exist for you to get more than the first two, hardcoded migrant waves. Since humans are quite a bit smaller than ponies, a human civ isn't going to do all that much in the way of expansion. You could add [MAX_STARTING_CIV_NUMBER:3] or something, the humans should still survive and produce migrants, but only three civs aren't going to cause that much havoc.
The only way I can see to implement something evocative of Heart's Desire would be to add them as a plant that could be used in a new workshop to produce a junk item to increase skill. Unfortunately, there's no way to add a downside or make it temporary, it'd just be a way to raise a skill without using resources other than farm space and ponyhours. If the product was non-stackable, it'd be quite exploitable.
The thought occurs that I could add caste-based profession names for the different castes. So, instead of just having "Stonecrafter" after their name, they'd have "Unicorn Stonecrafter", making it easier to identify them at a glance. Giving the different castes different tiles would probably, help, too.
