I thought about the Age Up Mercenaries you can unlock.
It should be 5 per Age up but there aren’t enough mercenary units in the game, and there are obviously no Imperial Age Mercenaries so I’m only going to pick 4 for now.
Also I don’t want to give them any too modern units (like Gatling Camels)
Age 2
- Paladin
- Arbalester
- Champion
- Heavy Camel Rider
They are all based on AoE2 units based on my other thread:
Let’s add AoE2 units to AoE3 for fun!
The idea of the civilisation is generally to be a bridge between AoE3 and AoE2 as well as AoE3 and AoE4 too.
Age 3
- Stradiot
- Armored Pistoleer
- Pandour
- Zenata Rider
A mix of different Mediterranean mercenaries, each with a different unit type.
Age 4
- Mameluke
- Elmetto
- Little Bombard
- Iron Troop
The first 3 are obvious but the Iron Troop was a harder pick. I choose them because the Byzantine Empire had trade relations with China and it’s not a too modern looking unit.
Age 5
I have no idea what should be send in this Age.
Maybe choose between different bonuses for mercenaries instead of unlocking new ones.
They also need to effect from Mercenary Contractors somehow to stay competitive in the Late Game.
But I think they should just be given that as a technology in the Capitol, Basilica or Castle.
I don’t want to give them a strong Musketeer kind of unit because I think there are already too many Musketeer civs.
Also the Maltese and the Ottomans, the two most comparable civs, already have strong unique Musketeers.
The Byzantines and the Ottomans both used Cavalry Archers a lot, therefor I think it’s more fitting to give them a Cavalry Archer unit, like the Ottomans already have.
I gave them an Abus gun like unit, so they are similar to Ottomans in this case.
That could be a really cool unit, but for a different civilisation.
Making them rain range resist when stationary.
That’s a pretty different civilisation.