A Suggestion for Redesigning the Regional Pre-Colombian Units

I am fully aware that Age of Empires 2 isn’t a completely historically accurate game, but minor changes can be made so that each civilisation is properly presented in some way. And if there is one thing that I cannot stand about the Pre-Colombian Civilisations is that both the Inca and Maya can train the [Eagle Scout/Warrior], which are actually soldiers with Aztec origin.

In order to fix this issue how about replacing the [Eagle Scout/Warrior] that is available for the Inca and Maya with a new unit that will fulfill the same role as the [Eagle Scout/Warrior]? Including redesigning the [Xolotl Warrior] into a more culturally ambiguous South Native American military unit.

When it comes to this new unit that could replace the [Eagle Scout/Warrior] for the Incas and Maya, they can go by the name [War Club Runner]. The [War Club Runner] unit will function the same as the [Eagle Scout/Warrior] but they will have a more ambiguous South Native American look, so that they will be a unit that fits for both the Inca and the Maya civilisations culturally speaking. Including for other Pre-Colombian Civilisations that might get added to the game in the future.

The [War Club Runner] unit could be a Pre-Colombian Warrior that wears a padded armour chest piece and is of course armed with a War Club as a weapon. They could also have different stats in comparison to the [Eagle Scout/Warrior] so that both of these units will not be completely identical. Plus they could later be upgraded to the [Axe Runner] in the Castle Age and finally to the [Elite Axe Runner] in the Imperial Age.

And as for the [Xolotl Warrior] similar changes can be made, except for replacing it with another unit, where they could also be given a more ambiguous South Native American look so that they do not look like a unit that leans more towards the Aztec culture. Since the word “Xolotl” is the name of an Aztec deity, the name for the [Xolotl Warrior] could also be changed. Perhaps they can be renamed to [Horseman Warrior] instead.

They could also wear some kind of padded armour and wear a generic Pre-Colombian helmet instead of the Jaguar headdress. They can keep the Macuahuitl as weapon since it was a wide spread weapon among the indigenous people of South America.

(Edit: Maybe the Aztecs and Incas can also get access to a special upgrade for their [Skirmishers] that renames them to [Javelineer Runner] and where they will move just as fast as a [Eagle Scout/Warrior]. By doing this they could have a [Cavalry Archer] substitute).

(I have also created another topic where the Pre-Columbian Civilisations can get access to the [Canoe] as a Regional Ship unit, so check it out if you are interested):

(The [Canoe] a Regional Ship for the Pre-Colombian Civilisations and the [Flare Archer])

I’d rather just stick with the current stuff to be honest. I don’t care enough about this kind of historical accuracy personally, and the renames just aren’t good (it’s not your fault, it’s almost impossible to come up with cool sounding and interesting unit names for these units, other than what they have). If the devs are doing reskins, I’d much rather they dedicate time and effort towards regional units, or at least regional monks and villagers.

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Eagle warrior is at least semi-appropriate for the Mayas (the Itzas & Mayapan had warriors of the order at some point). Incas is far more of a stretch for sure, and I would prefer a regional variant. Even so, there are much more essential issues as far as I’m concerned, like fixing bugs and adding new American civs.

Xolotl warrior is beyond fine, given that it’s totally superfluous gameplay wise, and is mainly just useful in the Editor, where you can rename it to whatever you want. It also doesn’t represent any particular Native unit, just the concept of a Mesoamerican warrior on a horse.

Edit: Also, this may be the longest thread title I have ever seen on here.

Edit2:

Also also, these names sound like they came out of a Star Wars/Space Age game.

This must be the longest topic heading in the forum.

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I have made the title for this thread shorter now and have came up with a different name suggestion, where these fast moving infantry units could be called [War Club Runner] instead and later be upgraded to the [Axe Runner] in the Castle Age and finally to the [Elite Axe Runner] in the Imperial Age.

The title is way to long still. Here’s what it could be to improve it a lot “An idea to redesign and/or rename the Mesoamerican regional units”.

Instead of “Redesign the [Xolotl Warrior] and give Inca and Maya a new unit that replaces the [Eagle Scout/Warrior] which can be called the [War Runner]”, which is a total mess to read.

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I have rewritten the title once again. Thanks a lot for your feedback @TheConqueror753.

Stable and buffed Xolotl for Meso Civs+1

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My idea would be making something even more generic so it could also be used for civs that live in other regions that didn’t have horses back then

TBH if you make it too generic it will probably become boring, just some nondescript dude with a spear. At least now it has the advantage of being very appropriate for Aztecs and somewhat appropriate for Mayans. They kind of dropped the ball on the Incas of course, but not nearly as much as by giving Incas Meso Architecture. (Understandable given that FE was a mod, but still an unfortunate limitation). I think 1 or 2 regional variants of the Eagle would be fine, given the large number of cavalry variants out there (Steppe Lancer, Winged Hussar, and cav UUs)

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American DLC with Andean Architecture when

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I once made a concept for a “Falcon Warrior” here:

Edit: and a lot others had already some Ideas too: @TougherTrack508 , @Szaladon, @CheshireWig3203 , just eg

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My other idea was giving a unique scout line to each native american civ. Obviously Eagles would become exclusive Aztecs, though idk what Mayas and Incas would get.

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Maybe the Mayans could have the [Macuahuitl Runner] as their unique scout line unit, while the Incas will have the [Star Mace Runner] or [Mace-Axe Runner] as their unique scout line unit counterpart.

The Mayans did apparently use the Macuahuitl as well and the Incas used two different types of Maces where one of them is called the “Incan Star Mace” while the other is called the “Mace-Axe”. The Mayan scout unit will be armed with the prior mentioned weapon while the Incan scout will be equipped with either the Star Mace or the Mace-Axe.

Both Maya and Inca could also instead have a shared regional unit that can be called the [War Club Runner]. They can later be upgraded to the [Axe Runner] in the Castle Age and finally to the [Elite Axe Runner] in the Imperial Age.

I still think Mayans are more than fine with the EW, both historically and gameplay-wise. If you’re going to make a unique variation for every civ, then it’s just another UU, which isn’t really needed.

Also, if we’re going to bother with either a unique Inca version, or a Peruvian regional unit, there are plenty of more region-specific names. Chasqui, Runancha, or Auca Runa.

What needed role does this fill (especially for Mayans, who definitely don’t need any kind of buff)? I’m all for more American regional units, but most of these would make more sense in the context of new civs.

Yes. Goth can have Hand Cannoneer and Huns can have Paladin because of their descendants, why not Meso Civ with their own horse?

What I know from playing aoe3:

Chaskis weren’t warriors. They were messengers and transporters.
Runancha means guide or road/tour guide.
Auca (awqa or aukaq) runa means soldier. As in a war professional who received a salary.

Auca means war or martiality; and runa means person. From what I understood from @ SafeHorizon8488 and @ TungstenBoar posts in another thread.

Imo giving them a generic name in english might be better and easier to identify. Like “star-maces” or “mace warrior” or “champi warriors”.
Inca army - Wikipedia

Macuahuitl Runner sounds good for mayans. The idea that I have in mind is to give aztecs and mayans some sort of generic unit shared by both civs. But in imperial age, aztecs get Eagle warriors as the final upgrade. And Mayans get their own upgrade as Macuahuitl runner. With the sprite looking similar but without the eagle hat, instead they get plume crowns.

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Indeed. Not a perfect fit, but they at least represent the (current) Eagle’s role as a very fast foot unit, and there isn’t really another great way of representing Chasquis in game.

And therefore is a good possible option for renaming a military unit for Incas specifically.

Of the three, I much prefer this one since it uses an actual Inca word. When it comes to changing weapons, there does come a point when it might be confusing for units with 3 different weapons (spear/maquahuitl/mace) to share the same role. IMO variants of regional units should at least share the same weapons.

Eh, not sure about that. If we’re going to bother with making them specialized with new sprites and names, might as well give them something that reflects the uniqueness of the culture. A name like “[Weapon] Warrior” is fine for generic units that are shared across many cultures, but IMO is too bland and on the nose when a unit’s weapon is already obvious from its sprite, and there are more culturally relevant names. There are a couple UUs with fully generic names (Camel Archer, Chakram Thrower), but the majority of them have an element that is linguistically derived from the host culture. Imagine calling Samurai “Elite Curved Swordsmen” or “Katana Knights” (okay, that last one is semi-cool, but only because of the alliteration, use of a native word, and “knight” being an unusually cool word). Even units with “exotic” sounding names which people may mispronounce have been added (Shrivamsha, Coustillier, Houfnice, Leičiai, even the Xolotl Warrior, which I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone pronounce correctly), so I wouldn’t make that a limiting factor.

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Yes just Winged Hussar, Mayan final upgrade will be a bit tanker and aztecs one will be a bit higher damage