A Call for More Independent Civs in AOE IV instead of Variant Civs

First of all, I want to say how excited I am about the upcoming DLCs in 2025! The announcement of Knights of Cross and Rose and the introduction of new civs is definitely something to look forward to. It’s great to see the game expanding with fresh content, and I appreciate the team’s hard work in keeping Age IV engaging.

That said, I wanted to share my thoughts on the approach of variant civs. While I understand the idea behind them—offering different playstyles within existing civ frameworks—I personally feel that independent civs would add more depth and diversity to the game. Age IV does a great job capturing medieval history, and I’d love to see more completely new civs from underrepresented regions, rather than variants of existing ones.

Independent civs bring unique architecture, distinct mechanics, and fresh identities that make the game world feel more expansive. There are still so many fascinating historical powers from the time period that haven’t been explored yet. Instead of re-imagining current civs, I’d love to see new ones that represent different cultures, strategies, and innovations from the medieval era.

I really hope future expansions prioritize adding fully independent civs to further enrich the diversity of Age IV.

Would love to hear what others think about this! Thanks for reading.

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It is in the developer’s interest to make the least amount of content for the most amount of money. You can draw a chart which explores where that point becomes the most profitable for them, and what kind of content they would like to invest into.

Personally, I enjoyed that AoE4 wasn’t just reskinning civilizations like AoE2. I imagine a lot of us prefer this. Developers are aware that there are both players who care, and players who don’t. However, if they have done sufficient market research and learned that maybe there are enough people who don’t care if it is a variant, or real civilization, then it is better to invest money into that rather than spend a ridiculous amount of money in hiring other studios to create models for them like they have been in the past.

I would’ve liked to see zero variants in AoE4. I thought they were a failure when they were announced, and have maintained that status to today. All the effort and time put into variants, could’ve instead have just enhanced the original civilizations–but then they wouldn’t make money. So, awful idea altogether.

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While they have brought in different ideas for how the factions play, i personally wish they just weren’t a thing.

I find them very disconnecting with the theme of the game, and would rather play against the actual proposed empires instead of splinter groups.

More unique factions would be most welcome.

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