Well, since I did a Japanese concept earlier (https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/japan-civilization-concept-for-aoeiv-by-goldenarmorx/226547), I think I have some ideas what the Japanese teaser could mean:
JAPANESE UNITS.- Although when I made the Japanese concept I was scared by the amount of possible unique units, apparently it was a self-founded fear, and it seems that it will be an infantry civ with several unique units:
- 1.- Samurai with naginata: from the armor it seems so, I suppose a substitute for the men-at-arm (or is it like the Russian militia?).
- 2.- Spearman or Samurai with Yari?: He appears with samurai armor, he must be the veteran version of the spearman, or is he the theoretical samurai with yari?
- 3.- Horsemen: Our beloved horsemen but Japanese. Good, Japanese have light cavalry in feudal.
- 4.- Archer Yumi: Curiously with the model of the Sohei Archer. Note: If you remember my model, the Sohei were warrior monks, their featured weapons were the naginata and the bow. That being the case, either it is a special unit or it is the design of the feudal archer. Note 2: Japanese samurai archers preferred to fight on horseback, so it makes sense that the feudal archer was a Sohei and not a samurai or achigaru (peasant).
IS THE SAMURAI WITH A KATANA DISCARDED?.- Nah, it’s impossible. It is likely that if the naginata samurai exists in feudal and castles, the katana samurai is an Imperial Age unit and is very broken. Historical trivia: Although katanas were invented around the 12th century in Japan, they did not have much of an impact on the internal wars of the Kamakura and Ashikaga period, whose samurai favored the bow, yari, and naginata, and were not popular until they began. the Sengoku Period (1470-1615). I guess that would be Imperial Japanese age, so my theory is that it will be a 3rd heavy infantry unit (if not the naginata samurai is light infantry). Another possibility I see is that the katana samurai acts as a replacement for the Spearman or Knight, and has a Yari to charge and then switch to using katana to fight. Although this possibility avoids the possible attack of IaI or battojutsu of my model, but anyway, the thing is that we finally have Japanese.
Possible other units: Samurai horse archer (early feudal unit), General, Umamawari (heavy cavalry), Samurai with Katana (maybe in Imperial), ########### gunner (His handcannoner of his but with Arquebus). Ninja?
ABOUT THE NINJAS: I don’t know if they’ll get it. I would make it the replacement for the scout, but we would have to consider if the devs consider creating Aoe3-style Shock Infantry (with the same advantages and weaknesses as Cavalry), or as light infantry with high speed. Other names for Shock infantry could be Run##### As an additional note, in my Aztec model, the Aztec would have about 4 runner units, including the Scout, Runner Warrior, Guerrero Aguila, Coyote Priest.
4X4 BARN.- About the 4x4 barn, I don’t think it’s a landmark, it’s practically a repetition of 6 small barns. It’s probably a unique Japanese building, I have reason to think this:
- 1-. Have you noticed that there is no windmill in the image?
- 2.- The farms are not next to the mills, but next to the houses.
- 3.- There are too many farms attached to one house… all of them… it’s strange.
That only makes me think of one possibility: there is a mechanic between houses and farms, and the raised barns are a unique Japanese building unlocked in feudal, perhaps with some similar mechanic to the Chinese dynasty of unlocking buildings.
OTHER UNIQUE BUILDINGS.- No idea, but I have some suspicions:
- 1.- Sanctuary-Monastery: Most likely, it would be a sanctuary and a Buddhist Monastery, due to the emperor’s orders to syncretize the Buddhist religion with Shintoism. The other option is that they are separate buildings but with an influence mechanic if they are built together. The Sanctuary part would have a similar effect to that of Aoe-iii.
- 2.- Noh Theater.- The Japanese daimyo were fans of this theater. Does it give you passive money next to houses?
- 3.- Tea House.- The Japanese daimyos were fans of drinking tea in extravagant ceremonies. Note: while the Chinese drank tea, they only drank tea, it was fun. The Japanese, on the other hand, complicated everything and created a whole system of etiquette and rigor for it. No idea with the bonus. Money if it is isolated from any building? (Usually they were isolated buildings in the woods, you see, the #### complicated everything)
POSSIBLE ECONOMIC MECHANIC.- There is a mechanic between houses and farms. You do not need mills because the houses supply that function. It could also be related to the lack of a mining camp, but if a smithy next to a mine, do some Japanese buildings completely replace others? That would be great. On the other hand, that leads us to an also terrifying idea:
- 1.- Villagers collect sheep meat (meaning that livestock farming is still legal)
- 2.- The curious number of houses attached to farms
- 3.- The smithy attached to the villagers mining
- 4.- No villagers are hunting (is hunting prohibited due to the Emperor’s feudal decree?)
Discussion: It is likely that each house will come attached to a farm and will allow you to gather food from the house itself, similar to the Aoe-3’s Swedish torpor that spawns a fodder bush. The unique raised barn building should be your mill replacement if you want to create clustered farms in one area, and you don’t want it to be anchored to a single house. If not, it’s a Landmark, although to my knowledge I don’t recall any historic Japanese high barn.
It is probably related to Japanese feudal politics in relation to the term Shōen. The Shōen were mansions and tracts of land in which a noble, or at least an official, was granted land for cultivation, “tax-free”. On the other hand, in certain areas, the peasants were “Owners of their lands” attached to their houses. Of course, these peasants still had to pay taxes and serve in the militia if there was a war. By the way, most of the taxes were in RICE (They weren’t that different from the Incas and Aztecs).