"Age of Empires" Needs THE EMPIRE: Awe-Inspiring Architecture Transformation & Civ Concept for the Turks/ Ottoman Empire (with BEASTLY Mega Bombards) - NEW! Updated Nov 19th

Vinifrss · October 25, 2021, 5:10pm

Welcome to the longest post on Age of Empires Forum!
This is the result of contributions from at least eight people so far.

This is an open-door home. Everyone’s comments, opinion, criticism, suggestions, corrections are welcome in this Topic. Material about other civs is very welcome here too; we don’t flag people.

Architecture & Civ Concept last major update November 19th, 2021;

Order of contents in this original post:

1. Top 10 Reasons it's the Most Unique Civ
2. Architecture Transformation
3. Full Civ Concept
4. Landmark Details

Recent updates: Turkish cavalry archer is renamed Akinji now, Turkish horseman with raiding ability is renamed Atli, “Janissary” is renamed Yeniçeri (original Turkish term for “New Soldier”); introduction of Humbara, the famous Ottoman Grenadier unique unit; Details about landmarks at the end of OP; NEXT: the unique Ghazi system of veterancy.
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Part 1: Top 10 Reasons why It’s the Most Unique Civ

Here’s the Top 10 Reasons why the Turks / Ottoman Empire concept is the most unique, gameplay-changing civ concept on the Age of Empires Forum (further details on the full Civ Concept below):

1. it’s the ONLY Hybrid (nomad+settled) civ in the history of the franchise

2. the ONLY asymmetric civ in terms of fundamental Economy-Military balance in Age of Empires EVER

3. it has the UNPRECEDENTED trade interference concept / Monopoly

4. when it SLAYS a Trader, it takes ALL the gold bytch was carrying

5. it has the BEASTLY, BRUTAL Great Bombard in its REAL historical size

6. it boosts the army with a badass army BAND, not a priest; a song for each situation

7. it can tame WOLVES based on the cool, unique, SAVAGE legend of origin of the Turks

8. versatile, evolving “Spartan” COMBO unit Yeniçeri (Janissary) in ages 2-4; heavy knight Spahi with massive, BRUTAL skull-crushing mace as weapon

9. it has a NEVER-SEEN-before Devshirme army recruitment method, and Ghazi veterancy system

10. the Ottoman Empire created 97% of Mega Bombards on Earth, invented the matchlock MUSKET that changed history, and was the WORLD’s most powerful empire at the end of AoE4 time

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Part 2: The Awe-Inspiring Architecture Transformation

A much appreciated moderator in our Age of Empires Forum has submitted this strong proposition:

"I submit that the only way this conversation about how to choose future civs can be productive:

1. First try to agree on how the developers should be choosing civs – what factors should be considered and which factors should be more important than other factors. Some common factors raised:

Era : How much does the civ overlap in the timelines of the existing civs?

Location : Is the civ generally located near our existing civs without overlapping too much on their territory? Did the civ interact with existing civs in significant ways?

Historical Significance: How large of a footprint did the civ have with respect to (a) population, (b) geographical reach, (c) cultural/economic influence, (d) military success?

Availability : Historically, would the civ step on the toes of other civs? Is the civ referenced anywhere in the game or other official materials? Is the civ already in the game in some form, such as an alliance, smaller faction, or influence on an existing civ’s Units, Buildings, Techs, and themes?

Name recognition and brand : Does the civ have a well-known name that generates excitement? Does the civ have well-known branding of art, ARCHITUECTURE, and Units?

Campaign Consideration: Is there something about the civ that would lend it well towards a single player campaign?

Distinct Visuals : Would the civ be visually unique in its art, ARCHITECTURE and Units and otherwise lend itself to readability by players?

Playstyle and Design : Would the civ provide an opportunity to introduce enjoyable and fitting new ideas, Units, Buildings, and Techs into the game? Would the civ fit into the game with regards to playstyle, design, and strategy without stepping on the toes of other civs?

Practicality : Is there some reason the civ would be particularly easier or more difficult to develop?"
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I believe the mod’s words are wise and thoughtful.

I would like to add an essential element, INVENTIONS & INNOVATIONS. Especially military or dual-use inventions like the cool Byzantine Greek Fire, the clever Italian pavise, the Ottoman /Turkish surgical instruments (forceps, catheters, scalpels, pincers and lancets) used everywhere even today and the Great Bombard which transformed siege, the masterly Portuguese caravel and of course the Ottoman /Turkish matchlock musket from 1465 that changed the world forever.

I also recognize the particular importance of PLAYSTYLE/ GAMEPLAY dynamics. The Mongols and the Rus have interesting gameplay features in AoE 4, and I like the Abbasid House of Wisdom and Chinese dynasty mechanism. In particular, the Turks / Ottoman Empire civ are the ONLY world civ to feature a HYBRID transition from nomadic to settled Empire right in the heart of AoE 4 timeframe, and also the ONLY to feature an ASYMMETRIC economy/military BALANCE. The unique gameplay possibilities are endless. See our CIV CONCEPT at the end.

But in this topic, I directly address a point submitted by the AoE Forum moderator that’s been paramount for AoE design since the first game of the franchise: ARCHITECTURE. The nomadic to settled empire transition in the above paragraph powered perhaps the most fascinating transformation in civ architecture of AoE 4 time.

This amazing transformation was totally missed in AoE 2 and AoE 3, that’s the kind of civ uniqueness that could make AoE 4 the best game in the series. Everyone is welcome to please add other civs’ architecture during AoE 4 timeframe in this Topic.

So let’s cut to the chase and see this extremely world-unique and defining transformation of Turks’ civ architecture style from age 1 to age 4 in AoE4 timeframe, a journey from nomadic to increasingly complex Seljuk architecture that already went above and beyond Mongols, then world-unique Ottoman houses, palaces and mosques, finally ending with the glory of a true Empire:

Age I Turkish Architecture

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Age II Turkish Architecture

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Age III Turkish Architecture

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Age IV Turkish Architecture

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Part 3: The TURKS/ OTTOMAN EMPIRE Civ in AoE 4 (Full Civ Concept)

Full Compilation of Concepts, Mechanics, Units, Techs, & Landmarks, all with HISTORICAL SUBSTANTIATION
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General Concept

First HYBRID civ on the franchise, starts nomadic but transforms into a settled Empire, with amazing world-unique architecture evolution

FIRST and ONLY civ Asymmetric in the fundamental balance between Economy and Military: Strong, unique military units/techs mathematically offset the lacklustre economy

WORLD-UNIQUE, sui generis gunpowder techs, guns and MEGA Bombards; sophisticated siege and sapping engineering

Characteristics related to Silk Road MONOPOLY, never-seen-before TRADE INTERFERENCE concept

MULTIDYNASTIC design, with Ghaznavid, Seljuk and Ottoman elements

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Unique Mechanics

Starts off nomadic (all buildings mobile) with 2 scouts, but must analyze the map geography features and choose a location to totally transform into a settled civ in Age 2. The number of possible gameplay paths and strategies is huge , a dramatic transformation of Age of Empires civ concept (for a look at architecture evolution, see the Architecture Transformation above).
Town Center continuously spawns villagers, slower at first, but can pick up speed with Mosque improvements. This allows players to focus on analyzing the map early in the game in order to devise a geographic strategy to switch from nomadic civ to settled civ in age 2, and also launch raids to catch up with civs with better economy (economy-military asymmetry).
Versatile, badass combo unit Yeniçeri (Janissary): The Turkish army’s backbone is the Yeniçeri, a very unique unit, it’s an evolving combo of a melee and ranged units together. It carries a huge, beastly curved sword/scimitar for strong melee combat, but also has a ranged weapon that evolves with time: It starts age 2 as a tanky archer+infantry trained in the barracks, with a composite bow and massive sword, and can be upgraded in age 3 to an early hand cannonner with the same big sword. In age 4, the Yeniçeri can be upgraded to the Imperial Yeniçeri, still with the characteristic huge sword for melee, but now armed with the matchlock musket, the revolutionary weapon invented in the Ottoman Empire in Edirne, today’s Turkey in 1465 that rendered the hand cannon and arquebus obsolete and changed warfare and world history forever, being the basic weapon of all European civs in AoE3. The Yeniçeri is so versatile it can sometimes replace all other infantry and archers in ages 2, 3 and 4 in a single unit line, making the Ottoman Empire even more unique civ
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General Civilization Bonuses

Sons of the Wolf: according to the absolutely essential, foundational Legend of the Wolf, the Turks were half-human, half-wolf offspring of a tortured, mutilated little boy who survived a historical village massacre by Chinese soldiers. As a civ bonus, the Turkish scout can tame gaia wolves on the map.
Haram: Villagers can’t hunt boar, but hunt deer faster.
Turkish Migrations: Starts nomadic with 2 Scouts.
Seljuk Light Cavalry: Atli (Horseman) line upgrades free on age up, does extra melee damage against villagers and traders.
Ghaznavid Jurisdiction: The Ghaznavid Empire, one of several Turkish empires in AoE 4 time, was the first world empire to be built primarily around control of the Silk Road bottlenecks. As a civ bonus, when a Turks / Ottoman Empire player slays an enemy Trader carrying gold, he plunders the amount of gold profit the trader was carrying. This interesting bonus pays respect to the history of the Ghaznavid and Seljuk sultans and fits in the unique trade-interfering character of the civ.
Rulers of the Mediterranean: can build Ottoman-unique speedy Galleys and Barbary Corsairs faster (interestingly, the Ottoman Empire was the only AoE4-time civ on Earth to achieve superpower status both on land and the sea, even China or Delhi Sultanate did not achieve that).
Cannon Foundries: the Turks / Ottoman Empire were most enthusiastic adopters of cannons, heavy guns and bombards; their Siege Workshop is called Cannon Foundry, and Turkish gunpowder artillery (Cannon, Abus Gun, Culverin and Great Bombards) has extra HP.

Unique Technologies

Devshirme age 3 unique tech: a key element of the civ, the legendary, world-unique devshirme recruitment system accepted children mostly from the minority subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire into a life-long Spartan, not-allowed-to-feel-pain elite army training of unswerving loyalty to the ‘Father’ Sultan, to become the core of the Ottoman army. In the beginning they were forced slaves of the Sultan, but with high pay, status and power, soon Christian families begged the Empire to take their children as a Janissary trainee. With Devshime tech, a Yeniçeri (Janissary) spawns at the barracks each time an enemy villager/trader is slayed, to model the Ottoman army recruitment system.
Surgical Instruments age 3 unique tech: the Ottoman Empire invented surgical instruments (forceps, catheters, scalpels, pincers and lancets) used everywhere in the world even today. With this tech researched, Akinji, Atli and Spahi lines regenerate health.
Artillery age 4 unique tech: Paying respect to the large-scale manufacturing and deployment of artillery by the Ottomans in history, Great Bombards have increased range with Artillery.
Monopoly age 4 unique tech: another key element of the never-seen-before trade interference concept of the civ, the Turks’ ultimate unique tech in Age 4 is Monopoly. At the end of the AoE 4 timeframe, the Ottoman Empire was planet Earth’s superpower. The Ottomans established a near-monopoly on the global trade artery Silk Road for centuries, spurring the great navigations and the age of discovery that changed the world… Expensive Age 4 unique tech Monopoly grants the Turks / Ottoman Empire player a tax of 20% of all the adversary’s Trade Profit from then on. This unique tech concept is a strategic innovation in Age of Empires gameplay because it forces turtling adversaries to reconsider/recalibrate a full reliance on trade for late gold revenue. It’s like Abbasid camels making cavalry weaker, but on a more macro, strategic aspect.
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Dark Age

The Turks / Ottoman Empire civ starts the game with a mobile Town Center, two scouts and a very humble, poor mobile Mosque to improve villager spawning. Contrary to the Mongols, Turks need Yurt (house) to support population.
Turks can build a stable and train the fast but weak Early Akinji in age 1, upgrading instantly to Akinji in age 2. All Turk Akinji have bonus damage against villagers and traders.
The Age 2 landmarks are the Alp Arslan Mausoleum to pay homage to the all-time badass sultan and the Twin Minaret Mosque, both Seljuk masterpieces.

Feudal Age

Turks can train the Akinji (cavalry archer) and the Imam (see Tolerance) in Age 2.
Seljuk Raiding age 2 unique tech: being adept, first-rate raiders in history, Akinji can torch buildings.
Mehter: (recognized by UNESCO of the United Nations as the oldest army band in the world, either a unit or temporary boost?) the iconic Turkish army band boosts troop speed and attack with energizing, inspiring powerful music (see videos of Mehter on this Topic above!).The Mehter army band songs include

Attack Song (for battle or storming fortress)
Marching Song (extra speed)
Defend Bravely Song (near landmarks)
Raiding Song (extra line of sight for cavalry)
Heroic Song (extra armor)

The Age 3 landmarks are the green-stone Rumi Mausoleum in Konya dedicated to one of humankind’s giant poets and philosophers, the Islamic “Poet of Love” Rumi (most popular poet in the USA still in 2021); and the romantic, soaring Galata Tower, one of the history’s oldest, tallest, most iconic stone towers, from where the world’s first paraglider flight jumped off.

Castle Age

In addition to the Trebuchet, the Turks /Ottoman Empire civ gets the Great Bombard in Age 3. The awesome, beastly, iconic, world-unique historical Great Bombard from 1451 is much larger (monster-sized), more expensive with more HP than a normal Bombard; it moves and fires very slowly, but with more attack, AED and range.
The Yeniçeri can have the ranged weapon upgraded from composite bow to hand cannon in Age 3 (from Yeniçeri to Veteran Yeniçeri). Akinji upgrades to Veteran Akinji.
Tolerance Age 3 unique tech: reflecting then-unmatched Ottoman acceptance of all ethnicities and religions in the medieval Empire, Imams can convert enemy villagers without a relic after researching Tolerance.
Turks / Ottoman Empire gets the iconic, dignified, tanky heavy Ottoman knight Spahi with a brutal skull-crushing mace that deals AED as a weapon in age 3. Spahi does not have ‘cavalry charge’ attack.
The Tophane (“Bombard Yard”), the world’s largest cannon foundry from 1468 in Istanbul, is an Age 4 landmark to produce Imperial Bombards with extra HP (see the amazing Tophane in the Architecture Transformation above)
The other Age 4 landmark is the Topkapi (“Gate of the Bombards”) Palace from 1465, the home of the Ottoman Sultan, quite simply, the world's LARGEST palace when built, which boosts overall army production.

Imperial Age

Yeniçeri can have their ranged weapon upgraded from hand cannon to matchlock musket (from Veteran to Imperial Yeniçeri), Atli, Spahi, Akinji and the beastly Great Bombard are also upgradable to Imperial, the Imperial Great Bombard can utterly OBLITERATE a stone wall and its adjacent segments in a couple of bombardments.
The Ottoman Empire gets the Humbara (Grenadier) unique unit in age 4; Humbara was the first organized and specialized grenadier and mortar corps in the world.
The Monopoly unique tech brings about a major strategic transformation of the game (read details anout this important unique tech in civ bonus above).
The Wonder of the Ottoman Empire civ is the colossal, exquisite universal masterpiece, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

End of Civ Concept

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Part 4: Turks / Ottoman Empire Landmarks

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Our Suggestion for Wonder of the Ottoman Empire/Turks civ:

The BLUE MOSQUE

Built in 1609 (AoE 4 goes up to ~1650) by Sultan Ahmed I with funds from the imperial treasury after a bloody and costly 15-year war with powerhouse Persia while fighting most of Europe at the same time, this enormous and colossal architectual masterpiece of humankind has 20,000 priceless blue-themed Iznik porcelain tiles inside (Iznik is the largest and oldest porcelain manufacturing and design center outside of China).

The Blue Mosque is in the Eternal City Istanbul and is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world today.

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A Landmark Idea for a REAL AoE4-Time EMPIRE:

The Ottoman Empire’s TOPHANE (Tophane-i Amire, or “BOMBARD YARD” in Istanbul from 1489).

Real-history world’s largest cannon foundry and ONLY one specialized in manufacturing the Ottoman Empire’s uniquely iconic Great Bombards, for producing these monster-sized Mega Bombards in Age 4 for the AoE 4 Ottoman Empire DLC civ.
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I feel it’s unbelievably cool, one-and-only place with a powerful vibe, sounds of huge bombards thundering, the voice of a true Empire echoing in the air. Sui generis architecture… it can still be visited in ISTANBUL today.

A living AoE4-worthy landmark with an imperial vibe. I’ve visited it myself.

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A timeless green-stone Landmark with a soul:

The Mausoleum of RUMI, the eternal “Poet of Love” of humankind

Even today, in 2021, Rumi (Mevlana in Turkish) is still the most popular poet in places as far away as the USA, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Australia

The Mausoleum of Rumi is our Ottoman Empire DLC civ age 3 Landmark suggestion; Location: KONYA, Turkiye It’s visited by millions of tourists, as it’s the authentic home of the whirling DERVISHES, with daily performances; In our AoE4 DLC suggestion, this landmark can train SUFI IMAM, a more powerful version of the Imam with TRANSCENDENCE (temporary invulnerability) & better, relic-less conversion skills, adding a transformative new tactical dimension to Age of Empires.

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Everyone welcome to contribute other prospective civs’ architecture and/or related civ concept material anytime.

I’m particularly interested in other serious (like the Ottoman Empire/ Turks) AoE 4 candidate civs such as Persians, Inca, Mali, Byzantines, Japan.

Let’s join hands to help, support and inspire Age of Empires to be even better.
Best regards to all,

TheConqueror753 · October 25, 2021, 6:22pm

Rather hyperbolic isn’t it?

Winter2643 · October 25, 2021, 7:21pm

Architecture in the time period of AoE4 is incredible. From the native tribes of North America to the dozens of European and Eurasian Kingdoms, it really was beautiful. I have been to Istanbul and seen a decent amount of Turkish buildings, and my god it’s insane.

Here in Ireland most of the older buildings that have stayed preserved aren’t that grand. There’s homes in hills, castles, and colorful renaissance buildings. I think everywhere has great architecture to be represented in the Age of Empires series.

I think the devs are doing a great job with the architecture (especially landmarks). If they can pull off even more like the pictures you presented, it would be great.

Best architecture from the era imo:

China
Germany (Holy Roman Empire)

unnamed384×512 66.4 KB
Istanbul (Constantinople)
(Images presented above)
Norway

1200px-Borgund_stavkirke1200×1603 479 KB
Incan

JetDinosaur2039 · October 25, 2021, 7:27pm

Much more impressive and inspiring than what we see being built these days…

Winter2643 · October 25, 2021, 7:43pm

Well, not necessarily. I’d say older architecture looks better but it’s impractical in a lot of ways. Newer architecture is more refined and built for stability. There’s a reason we changed.

timtsilo · October 25, 2021, 8:10pm

nice post, but most of architectures you posted in Age II and III fall in age IV.
Like topkapi was built in 15th century, in the imperial age. I could hardly put it in the castle age (which is always medieval period)
Same with mosque Selimiyeh which was built in 16th century.
Same with the typical houses you posted for the age II, which are appeared way later.

Vinifrss · October 25, 2021, 9:35pm

Yeah there’s a lot of awesome, almost uncanny buildings in the past. I think the importance of architecture in Age of Empires is underrated, even compared to other historical franchises. It’s a cornerstone of AoE. I’ve been to Istanbul and other cities shown in the photos several times before.

Me too, wonderful job, one of my favorite things in AoE 4 by far.

MinusKollege · October 25, 2021, 9:36pm

Could you maybe NOT dump your whole pinterest account into here?

What are those? They look interesting.

Vinifrss · October 25, 2021, 9:39pm

I feel it’s hard to overstate the importance of inventions and innovations. Because they often transcend the civ itself and even trigger systemic, tectonic shifts in civilizational balance and progress, such as the musket. I’ll elaborate more on this when I have time, but perhaps not here, as the Topic is basically AoE 4 architecture which is fascinating by itself and crux to the game.

DGPstudios · October 25, 2021, 11:27pm

Because everything is about money and less about prestige these days.
When the French built Versailles, almost every european ruler wanted a copy of that.
In germany there are a lot of palaces that imitate it, money was no factor.
Same with churches.

Winter2643 · October 25, 2021, 11:33pm

Capitalism. Gotta love it.

Vinifrss · October 26, 2021, 1:47am

I know why you’re saying this, and actually you seem to have a lot of knowledge!.. I’m going to explain.

Please forgive my curiosity, but… Where are you from, brother??

Key is, I did not divide the timeframe into four equal lengths of years, I divided it analytically into “civilization phases”. I know the Middle Ages in the world technically ends with the fall of the true Eternal City, the New Rome… Constantinople, in 1453. And yes Topkapi Palace, then the world’s grandest palace by far, was built in 1465, and the gigantic, legendary Grand Bazaar, the world’s first mega mall and oldest still in service, was built in 1455 (pictures above).

But these dates are very close you see, and since the architectural style is overwhelmingly medieval Turkish based on my knowledge and research, without any European influences, it is better to position them in Age 3 in my consideration.

Plus the Ottoman Empire has simply so many magnificent landmarks (Istanbul has the most in the world even TODAY), that it is impossible to cramp all of them in Ages 3 and 4, much less in Age 4 alone.

Another thing is, palaces and mosques are built of solid rock but houses are not. Most Seljuk & Ottoman Turkish houses are beautiful wooden homes. Houses don’t last 1,000 years. So I posted pictures of still-existing houses with unique traditional Anatolian Turkish / Ottoman style in evolving fashion.

Turkish construction is more unique than any individual European civ, and AoE 4 can’t afford to ignore such a rich architecture tradition as AoE 2 and 3 both regrettably did. It has a duty to do better.

Winter2643 · October 26, 2021, 2:29pm

Um. I wouldn’t exactly say that?

Think of Architecture as an art. The architect lays down the design and then someone executes it. Saying an entire country has better construction is a little… much. It’s like saying Da Vinci made good art and therefore Italy has the best paintings of all.

Plus, even if it is true, I still prefer Chinese or Scandanavian architecture. It’s purely up to personal preference and taste in art. I much prefer the steep roof of a longhouse or the tall shape of a Buddhist temple.

AoE2 architecture is kind of sucky imo. You can see a difference between continents, but they’re not very unique per say. AoE3 architecture is slightly more diverse but almost all of the buildings are shaped the same.

I’d say AoM or AoE4 buildings look the best, but AoE1 has the nicest wonders.

GorbMort · October 26, 2021, 2:34pm

I mean, palaces and churches were literally all about the money. Churches in particular - that’s where tithes came in. And yes, spending too much also lead kingdoms to financial ruin, even back then.

timtsilo · October 26, 2021, 3:52pm

well, that’s wrong, Seljuk turkish architecture is overwhelmingly medieval. And early ottomans were building in a really similar way than anatolian seljuks. As the Green Mosque in İznik

Most of architectures you posted are inseparable from the fall of the Byzantines. It’s not just “technical” in the case of the ottomans, because these architectures emerged from their study of Byzantine architecture and the desire to surpass it. What they will achieve in the Renaissance / Early modern period. Even Renaissance Italians architects said than ottomans architects were some of the best of their epoch.

Topkapi Palace started in 1465, but he was really far to look as the greatest palace you imagine, it was expanded over centuries, and most of the greatest changes were made under Suliman in the 16th century…

Here, you are mismatching the prestige of the today touristic site, without the context of medieval period. It was initially a bedesten, was called Great Bazaar waaaaay later, still a great bedesten, but nothing “gigantic” or “legendary”. It was again expanded over centuries, with a second bedesten added in this complex by Soliman again.
But there were several bedesten in constantinople and the empire.

And no, as a bunch of ottoman and seljuks infrastructures, it was based on persian infrastructures. It’s not the first, I mean, there is the Trajann’s Market for exemple … But it’s right than it’s the world’s oldest continuously-operating, still would appears as you imagine (large and expanded) in the Age 4.

Ottomans architecture is famously full of byzantine influence, and I think than it’s considered as european influence, because byzantine architecture is mainly greco-roman.

I mean Ottomans shined in AoE 3, the trope covered by the game is perfect for them.
In AoE 4, Seljuks fit perfectly with Age III, they fit perfectly with medieval period, they were one of the most important player of the period and of the crusade, with emblematic character like Alp Arslan. And are always skipped in these games … which is a shame : there would be no Ottoman Empire, if there was no Seljuk empire.
Ottomans and all the related stuffs have way more sense and will shine anyway in Age IV.
Let’s shine some seljuk stuffs in age 3, like the Çifte Minareli Medrese of Erzurum, or a Nizamiyeh of Nizam al-Mulk.
And late Seljuks already using Sipahis, so it would be a good unit anyway for Age 3. Ghulams for Age II. And janissaries and bombard for Age 4.

Well. There are reconstructions of Seljuk houses, which could perfectly work with Age 3. So it don’t need later houses pictures which are misleading, even if there are some similarities. And we obvisouly know how looked Ottomans houses, so it would be not to hard to design imperial age.
But my issue was mainly than you posted these pictures for age II, IMO, they should have early turk stuffs, like some nomadic houses and persianized architectures, not so late architecture which have “roman - anatolian” influence (because there were a bunch of diverse poeple living in the eastern roman empire before the arrival of turks, and a great part off these architectures come from here.)

Vinifrss · October 26, 2021, 4:15pm

We’re actually on the same page here my friend. I totally agree with you and I do think of architecture as an art, a supreme one.

I never said “better”, I only said “more unique”, since Turks bring influences and culture from truly faraway, distant lands and also the heritage of a different religion renowned for its architecture. All this one and only amalgamation makes it more unique than, say, English compared to French architecture. Do you understand me now? By the way I’m a major Italian architecture fan… I’d never say Ottoman architecture is “better” (poor word in general) than Italian. Both are awe-inspiring and one does not compare awe levels.

We’re also on the same page about AoE 2 architecture kinda sucking… AoE 3 is an incremental improvement. Culmination statement:
In a new era of sophisticated, genuine asymmetric-civ Age of Empires, this Turkish, Inca uniqueness is pure GOLD.

I really appreciate you contributing the images here, but Chinese and HRE / Germany are already in vanilla AoE 4. Inca would be amazing, big empire and super unique, Norse kind of yeah.

Winter2643 · October 26, 2021, 4:54pm

Same with my faith when it was a big thing. Used to build longhouses and massive maypoles. Smaller scale, but I like it.

English and French architecture is actually quite varied in the latter period of the middle ages.

French:
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English:
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The two do have many similarities, but that’s from proximity. There’s still quite large differences. But if you were to compare the Austrians to the Turks there would be a durastic difference. I think it varies on who you’re comparing. Compare the Byzantines to the Turks and you’ll get it on the same amount of similarity as those two pictures.

Alas, AoE is usually a very European series. To all the Eurocentrists on the forum Turkish architecture would look exotic compared to the typical thatch roof.

It’s kinda better when you compare the different DLCs, I just dislike the same-shaped buildings. In AoE4 the buildings look much more differentiated from other civs, and that’s one of my favorite things about it. It really displays the cultural change when you play as a certain civ. Even the music changes.

If there was a Turkish faction I’d bet it’d have some traditional music and different architecture to the Abbasids. They managed to make even the French and German buildings look much different.

I was merely giving examples to my favorite architecture. But hell yeah Incans would be awesome in-game. Terrain bonuses for heights would fit them well, but I’ll get off the new civ topic in one of buildings.

Can’t wait for the new architecture and atmosphere of the new civs, and I haven’t even played full release. They really managed to capture differences.

Vinifrss · October 26, 2021, 6:51pm

Honestly I make an effort to see things this way when looking at English, French buildings in AoE 4… But civ-specific music is superb indeed.

Absolutely yes. Can’t stress enough how different Arabs and Central Asians are. That’s the point of this Topic… time for AoE 4 to really go above AoE 2 and 3. Though of course, Persian soft power heavily influenced these nomad-origin peoples.

That’s a superb idea man, can elaborate. In terms of architecture, AoE 3 Incas are pretty decent visually, one of my favs.

Winter2643 · October 26, 2021, 6:53pm

but no, they both live desert, so they same!!1!1!1!!1!

Vinifrss · October 26, 2021, 7:36pm

Man… the tragic thing is, it’s all too real.