Exactly! We’ve already started seeing civs get more than one variant, the more variants we have the less room we have for more… which means more base civs for more variants.
I hope people can begin to appreciate the endgame of variants as we start to see dozens of civs ingame, with a meta forming around optimal picks for maps having 6 choices instead of 1-2.
Alternatively, there are no new factions in DLC 1, but we get a refresh on existing content. If that’s the case, what else would be added other than a campaign? A handful of maps and map themes?
The problem with obsessing over active users (despite it being a reality because things have to be profitable more than they have to be creative or anything else) is that IV was beat with that stick for over a year. I’d know, I was active in most of the threads.
Earth vs. Mars is a competent Advance Wars-style game with a classic Relic twist (bonus points if you remember Impossible Creatures). The only reason I haven’t gotten it despite playing the demo a ton is my kids get stuff before me at Christmas, and the car recently set me back over a grand.
But sure, ding it I guess. I don’t know how that’s relevant to what Relic have been using their resource on.
The industry is in a state these days, and Relic has taken several beatings. It is what it is. They ever been talking a fair bit on Discord how they’ve been needing to prioritise for their 2026 plans and how they can’t commit to everything at once.
If they only release one campaign DLC, and only a campaign DLC, it might be because the campaign is already quite large (theory).
I mean, the recently last large campaign DLCs in the franchise have been:
Chronicles: Alexander the Great, with 18 levels (AoE2)
Vanquished and Victors, with 20 scenarios, some lasting more than 4 or 5 hours, and others at least 2 hours.
Perhaps AoE4 will have its first campaign DLC with “Multi-options,” very long scenarios, or several levels, maybe 12 or 18.
I would love it if the campaign is long and deserves it. For example:
The French campaign feels shortened because it only includes Joan of Arc’s levels, and you want 5 levels like in the AoE2 campaign, but she only appears in 2 scenarios. Then comes “Revenge,” but you only have 2 levels to get revenge on the English, now with cannons, which were great, but you still want more.
A long Chinese campaign that thoroughly explores the history of all its heroes, especially if they performed numerous feats, would be fantastic.
Chinese “beardless” general going alone while being Crying by the people
Does anyone know who this image belongs to? I already mentioned it on Discord, but I’m surprised that nothing has been said about it on the official forum yet.
Are you sure? It’s as if I personally offended you. I didn’t know you were such a big Relic fan. From one of the best RTS developers to what they are today, that’s a big fall. Their games used to be revolutionary. Now, we are defending Earth vs Mars.
I’ll leave it at this because we are off topic, but there’s definitely a similarity between how you’re zealously defending Relic, and how you’re defending AoE4, and denying any kind of criticism.
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been a Relic fan since Dawn of War (I missed the train on Homeworld).
But I don’t demand that we share opinions, and you should probably learn to appreciate that not everyone should share yours, either. If you think Earth vs. Mars isn’t worth defending, or even needs attacking in some way, that’s your life. But people are allowed to disagree.
“I’ll leave it at that, except for another ding, this time at a poster”. Appreciate your time, as always Maybe next time just save it for a PM or something.
They developed others but they all sucked. Unfortunately people don’t learn and some will preorder the next one.
The fact they’re using Unreal Engine is not necessarily a good thing. Everyone is switching to proprietary engines because it’s a cost cutting thing. But RTS games will start losing some of their uniqueness when they’ll all share the same engine, which unfortunately isn’t optimized for large unit counts.
I heard Dawn of War was handed to the Iron Harvest devs. That’s another ouch for Relic. I hope they manage to pick themselves back up, but without some drastic changes in the company culture, I’m not sure that can happen. That T-shirt printing I’ve see them do, with employees walking around with “Relican” on their T-shirts for CoH3, or with a ballista elephant for the latest AoE4 DLC, is characteristic of a company that is deluding itself, i.e. they think they’re doing a great job even when they aren’t. They don’t need inspiration, they need honesty.
Disclaimer: This is just my opinion. Unless I’ve given wrong info (in which case I apologize and feel free to correct me), if I am wrong I will be proven wrong by facts, when the time comes. To quote another forum member’s wise words:
They said that both civs gonna be “Base civs”, not variants, and one of the civs is gonna have vikings (Norse, Danish, Vikings, etc).
So there is only One (1) space left:
Aztec, Korean, Vietnamese, Spain, Italian League, Ethiopia, Scottish, Jurchen, Khitans, Etc.
Aztecs.- Also, some people theorize that since “Aztecs” gonna be included in Age of Mythology Retold, the teams will share 3D models, and it’s likely that Aztecs could appear in AoE4 in the future.
It so happens that many Japanese models from AoM:Re were used for the Sengoku period in AoE4 (Daimyos, Kanabos) and vice versa (Susanno Wonder is an AoE4 landmark: “Floating Gate,” Sakura Trees).
Chinese Campaign Civs?.- I theorize that, considering they’re going to use new units and models for the Chinese campaign in the first DLC, perhaps some of the Chinese enemies in that campaign will be used for a new main civilization. These include:
Khitans, Jurchens, Tanguts, Vietnamese
But at the end, nobody knows which Civ it will be. That said, the message doesn’t rule out if some variants gonna be accompanying the base Civs, but at least they confirmed we’ll have 2 NEW base Civs.
Great, so my theory that the Macedonians didn´t gonna share Swiss Vikings units with the new Viking civ was correct.
Anyway, more than one reason not to share units:
Atgeirmaðr.- Uses a two-handed Viking halberd, so it could hardly be used against the Danish Shield Wall. They used it for the Swiss Berserker.
Bogmaðr.- While the Vikings had archers, the best were the Swiss, so it’s fine for Macedonian Varangians.
Riddari.- This unit is broken!!! I know Byzantine armor is one thing, but in theory, the Vikings weren’t known for having good cavalry; in fact, it was poor to average, so it’s fine that they didn’t have them.
It’s clear to me that the Norse they’re going to represent will probably be more closely related to Danes and Norwegians than to the Swedish Varangians.
Maybe their infantry gonna have the well-known Shield Wall (Skjaldborg) or the famous boar charge (Svinfylking) abilities.
Landmarks: On the other hand, the Scandinavians of the Viking Age didn’t leave many landmarks. I theorize that their landmark system will consist of main buildings, a “Jarl’s Hall” or something similar, and will progress through levels like the Templars or the Golden Horde.
The first three would basically be Mongols but with the Iron Pagoda instead of the Keshik, so I’d go with the Vietnamese (but the issue is how far the Chinese campaign covers; if it’s only the Song dynasty, we won’t see Vietnamese - since it would only be the 11th and 12th centuries - but if it also includes the Ming, then we could see them since they would connect with Le Loi’s campaign in the early 15th century) (if it’s like The Sultans Ascends, that is, between 1100-1421, then it could be; it would even be a great touch if the campaign ended with Zheng He’s voyages, since it would connect with the Chinese campaign in AoE 3, but better done)…
It would be strange if there were only 2 civilizations…we’re still missing 3 variants (Rus, Ottomans and Mali), not to mention the Joan of Arc rework…
Maybe next time just save it for a PM or something.
