No, Sicilians are not Norman, but the Normans did eventually assimilate into the population. So imo they do count as part of the civ, just as the Muslim elements do (Cav archer, LC, Camels).
Sicilians donât have camels, thatâs the major giveaway of the design being primarily Norman. Almost everyone has Cav Archers and Light Cav, itâs not a uniquely Muslim element.
The one gameplay thing that does seem to derive from pre-Norman period is the food bonus from farm upgrades, which seems to allude to local innovations during the Muslim period.
This post sums it well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/szi468/about_sicilians/
The civ as it is is just Normans with a Sicilian skin. Might as well make them actual Normans.
So a Dutch/Frisians civ. To make more use of the Flemish Militia since they use the Goedendag used by most of the region.
Frisians: An offensive and Naval co
- Hulks fire +1 attacks +1 more in Imp age
- Cannon Galleys Fire 33% faster
- Building 2 (maybe even 1) farm spawns a free cow. Enemies cannot steal this cow!
- Infantry do not take bonus damage from anti spear attacks
- Beguines +2/2 armor
- Crossbow and Arbalest techs research 66% less cost and time
Team Bonus: Killing a herdable grants 5 food automatically
Regional Units: Flemish Militia, Beguine (a beggar of a priestess who has some innate pierce armor and moves at speeds to keep up with militia. Can heal well and carry relics but cannot convert! Unit also available to Burgundy, Franks and Celts who are living in Brittany in northern France. Celts get their infantry speed bonus to apply to them so they can keep up with the sword masses!)
UU: Ruiter - Cavalry unit that regenerates but isnât extraordinary. ButâŠwhen killed the unmounted unit stands up and does massive damage for a few seconds. After those few seconds this unit WILL DIE NO MATTER WHAT! In those 3 seconds it cannot be hurt at all!
UT1: Plancon a Picot â Infantry damage bonuses are doubled.
UT2: Hobesclarone â units gain +2 armor vs anti infantry, anti cavalry or archer respectively (cav archers get both)
Missing Techs:
Barracks: Halberdier, Arson
Archery Range: Heavy Cav archers, Parthian Tactics
Stable: Paladin, Husbandry
Monastery: /
Blacksmith: /
Siege Workshop: Onager, Heavy Scorpion
Dock: /
University: Keep, Fortified Wall, Heated Shot, Architecture
Economy: Crop Rotation, Two Man Saw, Stone Shaft Mining
Castle: Hoardings
Perhaps the infantry is too good. They all have incredible resistance to anti damage and slice up buildings (this is why they lose arson) Shock, cavalry (why they lose Halb) and anything infantry are good vs. if you have an Italian friend you will find you chop up gunpowder too!
So your economy holy cow! You just compensate your farm with cows! Unsalable cows! And you get 5 food infusion per herdable killed! This⊠might be okay? Iâm not really sure. The micro needed to maintain cow levels is uncertain but this is why despite amazing farmlands they donât get crop rotation!
But the trash wars are strong. The pikes donât take +3 from Skirms or any sort of archer. And eviscerate horses to the point you donât miss halb tech at all! And the Skirms are strong! And the Hussars are hurt by lacking Husbandry but by the end game theyâre just there to help expunge your food supplies. The UU is a scary unit with a pretty penny to its cost, which fortunately with your mostly unmounted armies isnât a big deal to set aside resources for! With a gold cost almost as good as a monk it might be worth trying to convert! If you cannot successfully get them away you will need to delete which wastes the reason this unit has a high gold cost to begin with since its stats otherwise are sorta worse than a knight besides the healing!
At least to me if you think that the Norman focus sidelines the locals, adding more elements from foreign nations wouldnt actually make the civ more âSicilianâ
Personally, I find the civ as a whole uninteresting and unnecesary and I could have lived without a Norman or Sicilian civ. The Normans are just too close to the Franks gameplay and culture-wise, the Sicilians are just way too hard to define as a civ
I would remove champion
And probably bracer
Beyond that sounds good
Now, for the Frisiains
Seems like it could generate a lot of lag to me, but it sounds like a fun idea
Their eco is weak enough to just get it for free, in factâŠ
I think they could get this as a civ bonus but with a larger number
Maybe âDead herdables grant 15% extra food after fully gatheredâ or âShepherds drop 15% more foodâ to prevent the bonus from being abused in Ghost Lake-like maps
Soliud, but leaves their miltia a bit behind
Eh, seems fairly modest for units outside of maybe vs skirms
Iâd rename them Caribs like in AoE 3, and that would enable you to use them in at least one other UUâŠ
Castle UT: Hand infantry and archer damage of +10% (+20% in Imperial Age)
Imperial UT: Archer bonus damage against villagers of +1
Arawaks and Caribs are two different tribes!!
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Just make them have a huge attack as the last similar to a petard or the pcm version of this unit.
Itâs sorta like a big temp Shotel. 3 seconds might not admittedly be enough time to even matter. An explosion? Not sure it fits but thereâs places it could work
Not blow up like a petard but do the max damage in the last attack.
Not just tribes but ethnic groups encompassing huge swathes of both Carribbean and South America (with some theories linking them to poorly arrested languages of coastal North America as well). Iâd like to see both as civs, as wars between them might serve as a basis for good campaigns.
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Oh, I thought the Arawaks were Caribs⊠well, they should add both thenâŠ
Docks already do that for food. But this seems kinda useless since res by water that arenât fish based is not a thing. That whole civ feels like itâs trying so hard to be super special
Docks working as a global dropoff might have some use,then again its useless in land only maps.
Fishing Ships should be able to drop off at Town Centers, in the niche hybrid map situations where a Town Center is actually closer than a Dock. Maybe they should also be able to drop off at Mills.
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So⊠goijg by this old masterpiece (Iâm gonna say it is because confidence and self belief is important) Usacâs Civ Crafting Brainstorms Part 5 - Tai
There was this cute little building called the storehouse where you drop all resources and one alone was good to reach age 2 requirements. So⊠we now have the settlement which is that but infinitely better⊠with a SE Asian coat of paint the idea of Siamese travelling from Southern China into Thailand settling along the way⊠no?
Goedendag*
it means Goodday (to you)
A spiked club/spear hybrid weapon means good day? That⊠almost makes
Whatever itâs just a spelling error and itâs not even my main language. I wouldnât dwell on it
As smiki5five said. They are two ethnically different groups. Theyâre not even related. Arawaks are like the Basques in Europe, they are old. Caribe are like the Indo-Europeans they are new and recent and conquered the areas where they lived.
The Arawaks in general had more pacific tribes. While the Caribe are way more agressive and war focused.
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it is my main language 
thatâs why i corrected you haha