AOEIV civilization concept - The Danes

coatol5 · August 22, 2023, 7:35pm

What makes this faction stand out?

The Saga “quests” are a new and refreshing way to give players interesting strategic choices. Additionally, powerful early infantry raiding is an archetype not yet explored in AOEIV.

Notes on the concept:

I chose to call this faction “The Danes” over alternatives like “Scandinavians”, “Vikings”, or “Norse” because of the following 3 reasons:

Denmark was the dominant power in this region for most of the medieval period, especially with the Kalmar Union.
Danes are already represented as a faction in the campaign.
Alternative names are slightly misrepresentative. “Vikings” and “Norse” don’t do a good job of representing the later ages, while “Scandinavians” is too vague.

The Danes in this concept are very similar to the Ottomans - a relatively base neutral civ, with a selection of Tempo bonuses to choose from as they progress in the game.

The new Saga system relies on feats, which is like a selection of quests, and depending on which feats the Danish player prioritizes, they can win significant bonuses for their faction.

I think it’d be cool to see a Danish player “go a little out of their way” to accomplish feats in a competitive match. It keeps the opposing player guessing, and mixes up the play style, making the faction feel more fresh.

As usual, I did not touch Water with this concept. All civs in the game should be able to stand on land-only maps. Though as you can imagine, Viking longships would be the Danes’ go-to unit on the seas.

The “Ring Fort” mechanic is an influence bonus related to Longhouses. This gives the Danes some early defensive options, while making them less Keep-focused as a civ.

Mounted Crossbows were a common unit across medieval European militaries, and were particularly prevalent in Scandinavia, so I felt this was a good faction to get this unique unit.

References

For this concept I took inspiration from Kameho88v2’s Norse concept, and squigthedude’s Dane concept, and googlesomethingonce’s Viking concept. Once again, the image of the flag comes from Seicing on the AOE4 official forums. The cover art was generated through Midjourney, and then heavily edited by me.

More Concepts

For more concepts please check out my website: Chilly’s AOEIV Civilization Concepts

VoidMaker5560 · August 24, 2023, 3:52am

Really cool concept overall. Id also prefer to see the Danes as viking civ.

I like the choice of units but not sure about some bonus:

-The raider slow attack speed with faster for long battle, i think is a bad idea because it’s very much anti-thematic. Raiders to me sounds like a unit that can quickly go in and out of combat, not one that wants to fight for long time. And it would be extremely hard to play it well since people would just run kite, etc…

I think it should just have a high attack speed and high movement speed but be a light unit (vulnerable to ranged). Maybe it has bonus damage against building, or gain gold when damaging buildings instead so it can really be a “raider”. Stats could be high enough so it can handle MAA easily.

I think the shield wall thing would be very OP, especially with spears or ranged infantry. Maybe it should be a timed ability like other skills in game instead of a formation.

Ranged armor on spearman is no-no.

And Ulfhenar would need to be changed based on my previous comment on raiders. Could be made simpler and just a skill that increase the attack speed of all melee infantry units.

For the berserk thing i would just make it like the Sipahi skill instead. Gaining def as a berkserk skill isn’t really thematic.

Longhouse I see it more like a disadvantage honestly. Should probably cost 75 for 20 pop to be an advantage otherwise you need to wait for more wood when population capped so its a disadvantage over 50 wood for 10 pop. But the concept is cool.

Saga i have a mixed feeling about it. I think its sounds really cool but i’m afraid it would be too overwhelming or distract from the main game. Would probably need a lot of testing, But it could also work well. I’m not a big fan of the Rus hunting mini-game and it seems to be a bit like that. But more complex. Maybe something simpler based on how many units and buildings you kill or how many units die?

The landmarks seem well designed and really great! but converting military into villager would be absolutely OP. Thematically its amazing though. Maybe you would need to first garrison the unit into the great hall and it would convert after some time, with a limit in how many units can garrison.

They also need a unique ship! Or some unique naval tech!

coatol5 · August 24, 2023, 6:02am

Hey thanks for the feedback.

You got a point about the Raider, the current design doesn’t really allow for an in-and-out playstyle. But I was imagining the increased attack speed being especially useful for when sieging buildings. Similarly, the Berserkergang delayed damage intake is designed to help give this unit staying power. My concept for the Danes is a ball-of-infantry that fights slow but steady. What you’re saying could work too.
Shield wall and ranged armor spearmen is iffy. I’m in agreement, both could use some adjustments. I’d probably get rid of the Kite Shields tech and just give Kite shields to the Huskarls and call it a day.
75 wood for longhouse may make more sense! I agree.
Saga is indeed a Rus-like mini game. I think since there’s a precedent in the game for something like this, I felt comfortable including it. The specific Quests aren’t as important as the overall concept. The idea is that against most factions, you are counterplaying their macro - where/what they are gathering, are they going 2 tc, did they build an archery range, etc. I like the idea that to play against the Danes you have to try to figure out which Quest they’re opting to go for. Similarly, as the Danes, you can play against your opponent by optimizing for one quest or another. I think this adds a fun new dimension of play.
I didn’t touch naval stuff because I don’t think it’s currently well implemented. But yeah, naval stuff would be a must have for a Dane faction.

VoidMaker5560 · August 24, 2023, 3:48pm

I think the shield wall ability could be nice if its only on the raiders or the Huskart. Not on any other units. It may need to other values than 66%