The Iroquois, also known nowadays as the Haudenosaunee, represent the Five Nations, or the Iroquois Confederacy. The confederacy’s formation date is often considered to be 1450 at the earliest, but a date of 1142 is also accepted frequently; either year puts the civ firmly within the AoE2 timeline. I went with Iroquois as the civ name because it is much more iconic and memorable than the very long and difficult to pronounce Haudenosaunee, and because AoE2 tends to use more old-fashioned names than modern ones for civs. In-game, the Iroquois use the North American architecture set shared with the Mississippians, with the unique Castle being based on hill villages surrounded by palisades that Europeans referred to as castles. The Wonder is Onondaga, the walled village that served as the capital of the Iroquois League.
The Iroquois specialty is infantry, but can succeed with archers in the early game, and can be successful with many unit types in the mid to late game due to a significant gold discount from a unique tech. The Iroquois navy is decent, being affected by the gold discount, and all four civ bonuses involve wood savings, so going for ships and archers can feel very natural. The Iroquois are designed to train a lot of cheaper, weak units compared to the other American civs, which are designed to focus on higher quality units. They are the only American civ to lack Elite Eagle Warrior, but Eagle Warriors are much cheaper, to reflect this playstyle.
Anyway, enough of the intro. Let’s get into the civ design itself.
Civilization Bonuses
- Longhouses replace houses and camps
Longhouses were the famous multi-family dwellings of the Iroquois. Each one could house up to 20 families, and were typically built in large settlements for long-term use until resources ran out, though smaller groups of longhouses were built to house fishermen or hunters. Longhouses were built out of elm bark placed onto wooden frames, so they were quite wood efficient. I’ll go into this building more later.
- Farm upgrades affect existing farms
This bonus represents the three main crops of the Iroquois and other American peoples, known as the Three Sisters: squash, maize, and climbing beans. Other crops were grown as well, but these were the primary three used. The Iroquois created boiled cornbread, samp (a porridge with beans and dried meat), cornmeal dumplings, and what is known today as Indian pudding, and these were staple dishes in their society.
- Blacksmith upgrades cost wood instead of gold
This bonus references the wooden armor that the Iroquois made use of, and synergizes well with the Longhouse providing tremendous resource efficiency.
- Barracks cost -100 wood
Aside from the bow and arrow and javelin being used, other important weapons in Iroquois warfare included the club and the spear. While the bonus mostly exists for gameplay purposes, it can also reflect that the Iroquois were familiar with effective methods of building sturdy buildings without as much wood required.
- Team bonus: Buildings heal 2X faster
The Iroquois were quite familiar with medicine, and could even perform surgery. Healers could be male or female, and there was a spiritual aspect to medicine as well. This naturally stacks with Herbal Medicine, but provides an earlier benefit and for free, which can also synergize with the starting Eagle Scout being able to garrison in the Town Center if injured.
Unique Unit: Sachem
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This is an infantry unit that costs 35 food and 50 gold and is trained in 12 seconds. It wields a spear like the Eagle Warrior and even moves at the same speed, making them natural to have together, but it has 10 attack instead of the Eagle’s 7 (12 for Elite). However, it has much less armor, with the same 0 melee armor, but only 1 pierce armor instead of 3 (2 for Elite). This makes it less tanky and more of a support role, but this plays into its intended gimmick. As for bonus damage, it has only +2 against buildings.
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The Sachem’s special ability is that each time one of them dies, any infantry units in a 10-tile radius receive +1/+1 armor (“motivation”), essentially powering up the Sachem itself as well as any other infantry nearby. The maximum is +4/+4, making fully-upgraded and motivated units quite tanky, but the effect only lasts for 75 seconds in total (90 for Elite), regardless of how much motivation was actually given. Any affected units will have a charge bar under their UI which depletes over time in order to show the remaining duration; once the duration is ended, their armor values will return to normal, and new Sachems will have to die in order to start the process over.
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While the Sachem is initially quite weak, it can really improve nearby infantry units and make them sturdy in combat, albeit temporarily. Its high cost may not be initially worth it, but as Sachems die, other Sachems become harder to kill, making the army gradually more cost effective. It is important to take crucial engagements with the Sachems and avoid fleeing from fights when motivation is in effect, so previous Sachems did not die in vain.
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The sachem was a type of paramount chief in Algonquian and Iroquois societies, with another similar position or alternate term being the sagamore. Sachems were elected and did not inherit the positions, and represented clans within the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy.
Unique Building: Longhouse
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This building, as mentioned before, replaces houses and camps. It provides 20 population space, which is the same as four houses, but only costs 75 wood instead of 100 wood, providing the same benefit for 25% less. As a camp replacement, it’s also a discount, as each camp normally costs 100 wood; if a Longhouse is built on multiple resources, the savings are even greater. Longhouses are also 3x3 instead of 2x2, the same size as the Barracks, so they can more efficiently be used in walling.
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The main benefit the Longhouse provides is by generating +5% resources every time a villager drops off there. Each time a villager drops off 10 resources, 10.5 will be added to your stockpile. This may not seem like much, but can add up over time, and results in a similar longer-lasting effect to other civilizations provided that the villagers are using Longhouses rather than Mills or Town Centers. Longhouses cannot be drop-off points for berries or farms, but can be for hunt and fish, similar to the Mule Cart.
Unique Technologies
War Chiefs: Military units cost -33% gold
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Cost: 450 food, 350 gold
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This technology makes all military units cheaper in gold cost. It does not include Monks, since they are not military units, but warships are included, making the Iroquois a bit of a sleeper naval civ as well. Iroquois gold units are generally quite a bit weaker than most civs, but since they cost significantly less gold than for other civs, it’s easier to get more of them on the field, especially in the late game when gold is running out.
- Prices for Post-Imperial gold units with this technology, rounded down, are as follows:
- Champion: 45 food, 14 gold
- Eagle Warrior: 25 food, 34 gold
- Condottiero (with Italian ally only): 50 food, 24 gold
- Arbalester: 25 wood, 30 gold
- Capped Ram: 160 wood, 50 gold
- Onager: 160 wood, 90 gold
- Heavy Scorpion: 75 wood, 50 gold
- Siege Tower: 200 wood, 107 gold
- Elite Sachem: 35 food, 34 gold
- Petard: 65 food, 14 gold
- Trebuchet: 200 wood, 134 gold
- Galleon: 90 wood, 20 gold
- Fast Fire Ship: 75 wood, 30 gold
- Demolition Ship: 70 wood, 34 gold
- Prices for Post-Imperial gold units with this technology, rounded down, are as follows:
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In Iroquois society, war chiefs were men who led other men into battle against other tribes. They often led war parties, but could also veto the creation of war parties led by individual warriors. They were limited in the power given to them by the female leaders of the council, and often functioned on a temporary basis until a particular raid had concluded.
Grand Council: Sachems, Crossbowmen, and Eagle Warriors produced 50% faster
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Cost: 650 food, 400 gold
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This technology makes several important units of the Iroquois trained significantly faster, which makes them easier to mass and replace. Combined with War Chiefs to make them cheaper, the late-game Iroquois army will be large and easy to replace; however, because several important upgrades are missing, they will be much weaker on a per-unit basis, making massing them up essential for cost efficiency.
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The Grand Council was the central government of the Iroquois Confederacy that still exists in a form to this day. Under the system, a certain number of sachems represented each tribe, but most ultimate decisions were made by the women of each tribe. While it was believed to be a central government, it was more of a collection of local governments where each decision was made on the tribal level. This system allowed greater efficiency in the government because most decisions were not made by the council, while only important decisions, such as choosing to go to war, were left to the council, which required majority consensus.
Tech Tree
Missing Units: Elite Eagle Warrior, all mounted archers, Hand Cannoneer, all cavalry, Siege Ram, Siege Onager, Bombard Cannon, Heavy Demolition Ship, Cannon Galleon, Dromon.
Missing Techs: Thumb Ring, Parthian Tactics, all Stable, Redemption, Heresy, Sanctity, Illumination, Hoardings, Sappers, Plate Mail Armor, all barding, Architecture, Fortified Wall, Keep, Heated Shot, Bombard Tower, Siege Engineers, Arrowslits, Crop Rotation, Gold Shaft Mining, Guilds, Shipwright.
