Brief summary of my ideal Balkan DLC & Venetian concept
This is my ideal Balkan DLC concept, with the Venetians included because of their enormous historical involvement in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean. Everything below is a rough concept, not a finalized proposal; exact numbers, tech trees and unit statistics would ultimately be for the developers to determine according to gameplay and balance. The broader idea is to give each civilization a distinct historical identity and gameplay experience, rather than simply adding civilizations for the sake of numbers.
Wallachians (Vlachs) — Mobile Warfare & Attrition
Representing the medieval principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.
- Fast-moving foot archers, rather than another cavalry-archer civilization.
- Călărași as elite raiding/light cavalry.
- Resource-efficient economy reflecting the pastoral and mineral wealth of the Carpathian region.
- Defensive bonuses inspired by Carpathian warfare and fortified strongholds.
- Identity: mobility, harassment, attrition and defensive warfare.
- Designed to remain distinct from Bulgarians, Magyars and Cumans.
I would also rework the existing Dracula campaign so that the Wallachians become the principal civilization representing Vlad III and the Wallachian side of the campaign.
Serbs — Defensive Endurance & Heavy Cavalry
Representing the medieval Serbian kingdoms, Nemanjić Empire and Serbian Despotate.
- Durable infantry and heavily armored noble cavalry represented by the Vlastela.
- Strong monasteries and mobile monks.
- Efficient stone economy supporting castles and fortified positions.
- Identity: battlefield endurance, defensive warfare, fortifications and resilient heavy troops.
- Designed to differ from Bulgarians, Byzantines and Slavs.
Venetians — Naval Power, Trade & Amphibious Warfare
Representing the Republic of Venice and its Mediterranean possessions.
- Strong trade and maritime economy.
- Durable ships and improved naval production.
- Coastal Castles/Towers supporting and repairing fleets.
- Marinai as unique naval infantry, eventually trainable directly from Docks.
- Stradioti as fast anti-ranged cavalry inspired by the Balkan mercenary troops employed by Venice.
- Identity: naval supremacy, commerce, coastal warfare and amphibious operations.
- Designed specifically to be different from the mainland-focused Italians.
Reworked Italians
The current Italians would also be somewhat reworked, becoming more clearly an umbrella civilization for the mainland/northern and central Italian powers outside Venice — Milan, Florence, Genoa, Bologna, Pisa, Lombardy and the wider Italian communes/signorie.
Their identity would focus more on professional armies, crossbows, cavalry, condottieri, banking and technological/economic strength, while Venice would represent the distinctly maritime Republic of Venice.
So the basic division would be:
Wallachians → Carpathian mobile warfare & attrition
Serbs → defensive endurance, monks & heavy cavalry
Venetians → naval power, trade & amphibious warfare
Italians → mainland communes, professional armies & economic power
The goal isn’t to claim that every Balkan or Italian polity deserves its own civilization. It is to identify civilizations that can combine major historical significance with a genuinely distinct gameplay identity. These concepts are deliberately rough, and I’m not suggesting developers simply copy the exact bonuses, units or statistics.
If anyone wants to see some of my other ideas, they’re scattered throughout this thread, although I’ve also posted various civilization, rework and DLC concepts in many other threads across the forum.