To try and write down "missing " improvements. I put in the quotes so as to try and not be disrespectful to the already excellent content we have. This is all in good fun, as always.
This first set of points below are not really mine (although I agree with all of them), but rather some of the most reiterated ones I’ve seen in this forum, reddit, and Youtube.
- replacing Japanese Kataparuto unique tech with something more historically accurate;
- for historical accuracy, changing some civs (namely Vietnamese, Burmese, Khmer) cavalry archers with Elephant Archers;
- correcting the Persian architecture;
- Huns losing Stone Walls and Stone Gate and gaining Steppe Lancers;
- creating a new architecture style for steppe nomad civs (or at least Huns and Mongols).
The second set of points is entirely subjective on my part.
- giving the Frank Paladin a “skin” (like the already existing Frankish Paladin skin), like they did with the Persian Savar;
- giving the Britons a 10% Archery Range speed civ bonus, so that with their current team bonus of 10% it would regain them their previous 20% total speed bonus;
- give the Portuguese and the Italian something extra related to the Monk/Monastery, for historical accuracy and fun, like the Spanish already have;
- for correctness, renaming the Mangonel;
- Romans: receive Slinger and balance the civ, as the civ is strong;
- Tatars: remove Fortified Walls and now start with and have Mule Cart;
- Cumans: start with and have Mule Cart;
- Slavs: receive fortified Church;
- Spanish: remove passive ‘Gunpowder units fire 18% faster’ (Conquistador is not affected - it never was) and replace the Supremacy mostly meme tech with ‘Tercio Tactics’: ‘Gunpowder units fire 18% faster, train 10% faster’;
- Italians: receive Gambesons (not only did the Italians use it extensively - like other Europeans - but Italy was known for its armor crafting skills during the medieval and Renaissance periods);
- Japanese: new Samurai ability, it can now switch automatically between melee and ranged attacks, and replace Kataparuto with ‘Bushido’: effect ‘Samurai, Monks trained 10% faster; Samurai receive Heresy’s effect and, when defeated, deal a final retaliatory blow to surrounding enemy units’. Also, consider giving them Bombard Cannon, if we can balance it;
- Huns: remove Illumination and Masonry; new passive: Arson applies to the Steppe Lancer line and Tarkans;
- Dravidians: maybe rename them to ‘Tamils’;
- Koreans and Bulgarians: receive Hoardings;
- Dravidians: Urumi Swordsman receive bonus attack vs villagers (they have whips, cmon);
- Celts: remove Paladin (not sense in having it in the first place);
- Byzantines: receive Heavy Scorpion (they heavily used it historically);
- Burmese: ‘Relics visible on the map at the start of the game’ now a passive bonus instead of a team bonus; new Team Bonus: ‘Elephant units cost -5%’ (historically based);
- Bohemians: Blacksmiths and Universities cost -100 wood → Only Universities cost -100 wood (so the Blacksmith bonus is left for another civ), and make the Hussite Wagon more tanky and less mobile, so it can’t do runaway tactics (historically they were used as more of shields, like their original game vision);
- Aztecs: receive Masonry (historically accurate) and base Jaguar Warrior: Line of Sight 3 → 4 (it seems like an oversight that they have 3 LOS; Elite has 5);
- Make Militia instantly and automatically upgrade to Man-at-Arms upon reaching the Feudal Age and balance as necessary (saw another user giving this idea on the forum and I really liked it);
- rework the Celts.
I believe none of the above changes (besides the last 2) is radical. I like the philosophy of “let’s make this civ historically accurate and then balance around it, so in the end it achieves both”.
Besides these 2 sets of points, what more can you remember?
To finish this text, I also want to make an extra observation, which applies mostly to reddit, not so much the official AoE forum. It seems that, frequently, when someone gives new civ ideas there are people that like to immediately reply either that the person doesn’t really like the game, or else they wouldn’t dare to “change it”, or that the new civ idea would ruin the game because it somehow breaks the balance especially if we label it as “for historical accuracy”.
If we interpret suggestions as negative, then so are all the mods that exist for AoE. And in that case then so is everything after The Conquerors expansions, as Cysion, the main guy behind The Forgotten expansion, was also just one of us, creating posts like these on the old forums.
The game CAN be more historical accurate and still very balanced. I agree that we shouldn’t ruin civs for more “historical accuracy”, but it is possible to have more of it still. We can have both. We can’t have complete historical accuracy, of course, but at least get a bit closer than what it already is. I wouldn’t suggest, for example, taking the Trebuchet away from most civs, or other economic techs available to them. Making it even more historical accurate does not mean changing the game into that old mod - if you remember - “Age of Chivalry: Hegemony”, which I loved, but god damn, was it way more complex and bloated. I still recommend trying it out, though.
Many examples can be had, of the more popular nitpicks some of the community has, like: why are the Celts and Ethiopians SO MUCH siege focused, why do the Celts have the Woad Raider as a sole unique unit for the given time period, what the hell is up with the Dravidians’ Thirisadai, why is the Koreans’ War Wagon the way it is, why choose to depict the Armenians as an “Infantry and Naval civ” instead of more cavalry focused like realy life, why isn’t the Samurai more like the Ratha, and many more…
I follow the game since the base AoE1 and, for me, that stretch of time immediately before “Forgotten Empires”, when Cysion was just “one of the us,” up until it became an official expansion (nevermind the unofficial mods) was my favorite. Writing and reading the posts on the older forums was a lot of fun, and new ideas were not faced with as much hostility as some are nowadays.
Thank you for reading and I hope I can read some more ideas for the civs, from you.
