Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The European Borderlands (DLC proposal)

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The European Borderlands

This is a DLC suggestion similar to the good-big old DLCs like DLCs ​​from AoE 2 HD.

The DLC I propose would add the Eastern European civilizations currently unrepresented in the game. The release of such an add-on could eventually complete the further addition of civs from this region. This expansion would add 3 Balkan civs and 1 Northern European. Additionally, 2 completely new architectural sets would be added - also an architectural reorganization for all East European civs.

This DLC would include 4 brand-new campaigns - 2 for new civs (Serbs and Croatians) + 1 for Slavs civ (who would change their civ name to Ruthenians) + 1 for Vikings&Finns.

Civs:

Serbs

Like @srbnems propose

  • Unique Units: Hajduk (Serb replacement for Hand Cannon - use Fitiljača) and Buzdovaner (heavy infantry with flanged mace)
  • Regional Unit: Zupan (light cavalry unit that is strong against melee units, but has no base pierce armor)
  • Unique Technologies:
    Rebellious - villagers get + armor and attack (because whenever Serbian army was defeated the peasantry would rebel against oppressors)
    and
    Faithful - units immune / very resistant to enemy monk conversion (because Serbs rejected every religion imposed on them, save for orthodoxy which was very much reshaped to reflect pagan roots)
  • Wonder: Visoki Dečani
  • Unique Castle: Belgrade Fortress

Croatians

Like @Ongarelli173 propose

  • Unique Units: Kondura (Naval trash unit) and Rohatin (A warrior armed with Rohatyn)
  • Regional Unit: Zupan (light cavalry unit that is strong against melee units, but has no base pierce armor)
  • Unique Technologies: Recruits (Knight-line gold cost reduced to 50, Zupan reduced to 35)
    and
    Bans (Castles fire additional arrows)
  • Wonder: St Blaise’s Church, Dubrovnik
  • Unique Castle: Veliki Tabor Castle

Romanians

  • Unique Units: Hospodar (cavalry armed with a spear - throws spears in ranged combat)
  • Unique Technologies:
  • Unique Building: Culă (Stable combined with Outpost. Granting population space)
  • Wonder: Sucevița Monastery
  • Unique Castle: Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle)

Finns / or Swedes

Like @Mahazona propose

  • Unique Units: Ugric Warrior - Skirmisher with attack bonus vs armored units
  • Unique Technologies:
    Hillforts - Towers cost -50 stone, outpost cost no stone (650w 100s)
    and
    Suomenhevonen/Finn Horse - Scout-line move 5% faster and have +2 pierce armor (300f 250g)
  • Wonder: wonder of the Slavs civ - Kizhi Church (the Slavs civ would receive the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv or Saint Basil’s Cathedral in this place )
  • Unique Castle: Häme Castle

Campaigns

Stefan Dušan (Serbs)

Fight the Byzantines and Bulgarians for the birth of the Serbian Empire and rule the Balkans.

Tomislav (Croatians)

Based on the great mod - Tomislav

Ivan the Great (Slavs / Ruthenians)

Take off the shackles of the Golden Horde, conquer Russian principalities and make Moscow the capital of all Russia. You will face numerous wars with Tatars, Cumans, Lithuanians and Poles + Ruthenians principalities.

Gustav Vasa (Vikings & Finns)

Break the Kalmar Union and build a strong foundation for a new Empire - Sweden.

Dracula’s campaign would become the Romanians civ campaign (no DLC required).

New content

Brand new sets of architecture:

  • Byzantine set
  • North European set

Architectural reorganization for Eastern European civs:

  • Central European - add Bohemians
  • Eastern European - add Romanians and remove Bohemians, Bulgarians and Slavs
  • Mediterranean - add Croatians and remove Byzantines
  • Byzantine - add Byzantines, Bulgarians and Serbs
  • North European - add Vikings, Slavs and Finns
28 Likes
2
Bonus for this DLC

Eastern European Castles Pack

  1. Teutons = Default Eastern European Castle (because resembles the Malbork Castle - Teutonic Order capital)
  2. Slavs = Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin
  3. Magyars = Visegrad Castle
  4. Bulgarians = Baba Vida
  5. Lithuanians = Trakai Island Castle
  6. Byzantines = Kızkalesi Castle
15 Likes
3

No
No more European civs, is more than enough right now (and wtf Eastern Europe now has 6 civs, that’s absurd)

24 Likes
4

6 of the last 8 civs have been European. I’d like to see some non European love.

Furthermore some of your unique techs tread on other civs

21 Likes
5

Why Finns over Swedes, Danes or just really any other civ that had an actual independant state and history of well “Empire”? Even the main character of your suggest campaign is an Swedish historical figure, and all of the “unique” units and technologies are incredibly generic

4 Likes
6

I think that there are plenty of civs and we don’t really need any more

3 Likes
7

I agree but its always nice to conceptualize new contents.

3 Likes
8

I’m on more European civs bandwagon, but i also want more Asian and African civs first, and after that more European civs.

But this civ concept is amazing to me, the region is often overlooked and snubbed, which is disappointing. A big thanks to @MUTYLATOR5553 for this proposition!
Also big thanks to @DarthPyro4335 for suggestions for suggestions!

Also, i like the shared regional unique unit idea!

About my proposition, some people gave input about bonuses and UTs so i had different propositions after that, so whichever make more sense:

Gusar - fast light cavalry (forerunners to hussars)
Vlastelin (aristocracy) - fast heavy cavalry with lighter armor [read Battle of Ankara]
Buzdovaner - heavy infantry with flanged mace
Hajduk - fast light infantry gunpowder unit (pistol only - short range) ​

Wonder can be one of many Fortress-Monasteries unique to Serbian architectural style such as Monastery Manasija surounded by high walls (Moravian style)

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Gusar (irregular light cavalry shock troops, forerunners to hussars),

Vlastela (unique heavy cavalry with less armor and more speed),

Buzdovaner (heavy infantry which commonly used flanged mace, this wasn’t unique only to Serbia, however flanged mace Pernach or Šestoper/Shestopyor somewhat was).

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Sagena longboat (similar to Viking Drakkar, it carried around 40 men) - Sagena ship was used by Serbian Adriatic pirates (9th-11th century) known as Pagania or Narentines pirates, their leader had a title Judge.
Narentines - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9ToouxefL4A/0.jpg
https://cro-eu.com/uploader/uploader/KRCKI%20JEDRENJAK-,%20Vrbnik%2012.-13.%20st..gif
https://tehnika.lzmk.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/HTE_0319.jpg
(Even though Narentines were Serbs, I’m fine with giving this to Croatians, since they are more naval based country)

UT:
Popovski Bir - Monasteries generate food (Castle Age)
Slava - units very resistant to enemy monk conversion (Imperial age)

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Team Bonus: Light Cavalry +10 HP

Villagers gain +3 melee attack in Dark and Feudal Age
Cavalry do +15% damage while elevated
Archers +1 speed
Gold mining upgrades free

7 Likes
9

I would like one last European DLC before we venture out to other regions. I agree on the Romanians, but the second civ should either be the Serbocroats (yes combine them) or the Aragonese. Romanians and Serbocroats would make for a nice regional DLC. The Romanians already have the Dracula campaign but not the civ!

But I do believe that a future DLC will not be in Europe.

3 Likes
10

Romania did not even yet exist as a concept in AoE2 timeframe. And wouldn’t yet for a few hundred years.

1 Like
11

Are croates and serbs same people/culture?

12

They speak the same language and were under the same church for half the Medieval ages. Keep note that both the Kingdoms of Croatia and Serbia were small entities in the Balkans which by themselves would not justify in my humble opinion two separate civs. Croatia entered into a personal union with Hungary and then Serbia formed a larger short lived kingdom called the Serbian Empire and was eventually conquered by the Ottomans. If they were joined into one civ that would make it more justifiable to include them. That’s my two cents.

13

A good proposal and well summarized by the respective individual proposals. The proposal supports peoples in the Dinaric alps in particular, of which we have at time no playable peoples.

The Byzantines belong to the Pindus mountains and the Bulgarians to the Balkan mountains.

The European Borderlands DLC:
Dinaric Alps:
-Croats and Serbs
Carpathian Mountains:
-Wallachians/Vlachs (Romanians)

4 Likes
14

As I have already described and other users too, the Slavs should get the Eastern european architecture set, which was planned for the HD edition. And of course the Slavs should then renamed to Rus.

The origin Slavic (Rus) architecture set HD edition 2013:

steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net
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12 Likes
15

Havent you had enough Euro civs in a row?

Hes talking about the Vlachs

3 Likes
16

I’d just stick to 2 civ in a DLC… so out of OP’s list Serbs and Finns.

2 Likes
17

Lol FInns are pointless. They didnt even have any decently sized cities

Croats and Vlachs are like 1000% better

2 Likes
18

Under hungarians same as finns,serbs with a touch of albania and vlachs is the better choice.

19

Vlachs literally were mostly nomadic, barely can call it a civilization, sorry but it’s just laughable. There was almost never any point at which they weren’t subjugated.

20

They at least had some independent states (around 150 years of indedendence if im not wrong)

Finns literally had nothing, no big cities, no independent states, not even stone architecture.

2 Likes