I posted this concept sometime last year, but I’ve made a few changes to it and I don’t feel like necro-ing the old post, so I’m reposting it.
The Avars represent the Pannonian Avars, the Avar Khaganate, and the Sabirs, who they were allied with in a manner similar to the Cumans and Kipchaks. They have the Eastern European architecture, which is meant to represent how they subjugated areas of Eastern Europe. They have a unique castle based on the ruined Markeli fortress, representing how the Avars attacked both the Byzantines and Bulgarians. Their Wonder is Didymoteicho Fortress, a ruined Byzantine fortress, which represents how the Avars attacked and then sacked multiple Byzantine cities after failing to pay their mercenary wages.
The Avars are a cavalry and siege civilization, primarily focusing on Steppe Lancers and light cavalry, with an additional strength of cavalry archers. While their siege is missing Siege Engineers, it is ultimately both tanky and cheap, a dangerous combination.
Like the Goths and Cumans, they do not have stone walls at all, but this is somewhat compensated for by making defensive structures cheaper to repair.
Let’s move on to the civ bonuses.
Civilization Bonuses
- Shepherds and hunters don’t need drop-off buildings
As a nomadic society, the Avars would likely be collecting food as they traveled. They would’ve let their livestock graze in fields that they came across, while hunting animals in nearby woods.
- Repairing costs -50% wood, -25% stone
While this is mainly meant to complement their UU, it represents the strong woodworking abilities of the Sabirs, an associated people group, while adding on an effect for stone to make repairing defensive structures more feasible.
- Cavalry armor upgrades free
The Avars used heavy armor on their cavalry in warfare. The heavier cavalry was typically armed with lances or swords.
- Siege weapons +25% HP
The Avars were highly skilled with siege weaponry, and knew how to construct effective, well-built siege engines. The Sabirs were also highly skilled with woodworking.
- Team bonus: Steppe Lancers +2 attack vs cavalry
Lances were highly effective against cavalry because the shape of the weapon and the force from the momentum easily knocked a rider off his horse. The Avars especially made use of lancers, as did many other cultures, nomadic and otherwise.
Unique Unit: Sabir
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This is a rather unique cavalry unit. It has slightly better armor and stats than a Light Cavalry, but also has the ability to repair siege weapons, ships, and buildings belonging to the player or teammates. This can give it much better success at defending a Castle than a group of villagers can, because it is not only hardier and tankier while repairing, but it can also dish out attacks of its own. It can also be used to repair siege weapons on the front lines without having to endanger villagers or pull them from the economy.
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The Sabirs were woodworking nomads who were attacked and then subjugated by the Avars. They were skilled in building siege weapons and ships.
Unique Techs
Steppe Dynamics: Steppe Lancers and Light Cavalry +2 melee armor
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Cost: 550 food, 350 gold
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This technology makes Steppe Lancers and Light Cavalry much better in melee combat than before. Considering this is one of their biggest weaknesses, they become much stronger with an extra 2 melee armor than units like the Knight would. Combined with the free armor upgrades, the Avars have the potential to have some of the tankiest Light Cavalry on the field.
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The tech name simply represents the process through steppe empires form: a losing faction flees from a more dominant power, allies with other defeated factions, appoints a leader, usually a khagan, and choose a name not necessarily related to others, but important. The effect is arbitrary, however.
Pannonian Woodworking: Siege weapons cost -30%
Cost: 1000 food, 400 gold
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This technology, while providing less wood savings than the Dravidian bonus, also saves a significant amount of gold, making siege weapons significantly more affordable. Although Siege Engineers is missing, the fact that siege weapons have extra HP means they can be a scary combination of quality and quantity. However, the technology is rather expensive.
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This technology once again represents the great skill in siegecraft that the Avars and Sabirs had, and they lived in the Pannonian Basin.
Tech Tree
Note: The Avars lack Stone Wall completely, like the Goths and Cumans.
Missing Units: Champion, Eagle line, Arbalester, Elephant Archer line, Hand Cannoneer, Paladin, Camel line, Battle Elephant line, Bombard Cannon, Cannon Galleon.
Missing Techs: Supplies, Redemption, Atonement, Heresy, Faith, Block Printing, Theocracy, Blast Furnace, Architecture, Fortified Wall, Guard Tower, Keep, Heated Shot, Bombard Tower, Siege Engineers, Two-Man Saw, Stone Shaft Mining.