The Vandals represent the Germanic Vandal people as well as the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Carthage. They have the Middle Eastern architecture set, which is meant to represent their presence in North Africa and the architecture there. Their unique Castle is Byrsa, a walled citadel on a hill overlooking the port of Carthage, from where the Vandal kings ruled. Their Wonder is the Temple of Jupiter in Rome, with loot surrounding it, referencing how the Vandals stripped gold from its walls during their sack of the city.
The Vandals are an infantry and naval civilization, but any classification can really be applied to them, including cavalry, siege, and even defenses. They are very different from the Goths, having strong defensive capabilities and a nearly full University, but also have the ability to swarm just like the Goths. They are strong through most stages of the game except for the Dark Age, due to having a totally generic economy until Feudal.
Enough of that, though. Let’s get into the concept.
Civilization Bonuses
- Land military units (except siege and Monks) take up -10% population space in Feudal, -15% in Castle, -25% in Imperial Age
This doesn’t have a particular historical origin, but is meant to have a similar flavor to the Goths, allowing for late-game swarms of units, who are all full price, but don’t take up nearly as much space, allowing for more of them.
- Receive +100 food every two minutes after building a Market
After the Vandals took Carthage and the rest of North Africa, Rome’s food supplies were greatly hampered, due to receiving a significant grain trade from North Africa. However, the Vandals soon agreed to a treaty with Rome allowing the grain trade to pass untouched, causing the Roman economy to be undisrupted once again.
- Universities and University technologies (except Ballistics and Chemistry) are available one age earlier
Contrary to their reputation for wanton destruction, the Vandals were notable patrons of the arts and sciences, opening many learning institutions in North Africa and undertaking large building projects. Many of the most notable academics in Europe at the time hailed from the Vandal Kingdom.
- Dromons cost -33% and are trained 50% faster
This references the large Vandal navy, and the Dromon was a Byzantine ship contemporary to the Vandals.
- Team bonus: Trade units +2/+2 armor
This is a further reference to the treaty with Rome allowing the grain trade to pass through unharmed.
Unique Unit: Hasding
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The Hasding is a light cavalry unit with 75 HP instead of 60, 1 more attack, and 1 more pierce armor, but less speed and no bonus against Monks. Its main gimmick is that it has the ability to instantly kidnap enemy villagers without harming them, trapping them in a sack on the horse’s back. It can then deposit the villagers at the nearest Town Center to convert them. Gender, job, and resources carried are all retained from the kidnapped villager, but any stat changes are not. It still has the option to kill units like normal, which may be preferable, because any kidnapped villagers are instantly freed if the Hasding that captured them is killed.
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The Hasdingi were one of the two main Vandal tribes, the other being the Silingi. They were the leaders of the Vandals, and orchestrated the conquest of Carthage. Gunderic was a Hasding. During the sack of Rome, his brother Geiseric captured inhabitants of the city and brought them back as slaves, accurately reflecting the Hasding’s gimmick.
Unique Technologies
Vandalism: Infantry and cavalry units generate gold while destroying buildings
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Cost: 500 food, 500 wood
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This technology grants Vandal units a similar gold trickle to the Keshik while attacking buildings. It’s a bit lower, at 0.09 gold per second per unit, but since buildings are larger, take longer to destroy, and can have many units attacking them at once, the effect should be fairly comparable.
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Since the tech applies to all infantry and cavalry, including Pikes and Light Cavalry, it should be a useful tech in trash fights, especially since it doesn’t cost any gold to research. The gold trickle for attacking key targets with trash units will allow the occasional gold unit to be added, strengthening the trash war greatly.
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Vandalism is the term that English speakers use to refer to any pointless destruction of other people’s property. It gets its name from the Vandals’ sack of Rome in 455, which lasted for 14 days and caused countless destruction to Roman buildings and artwork. However, loss of life and arson were kept to a minimum, if not eliminated entirely, due to Geiseric heeding the residents’ plea for mercy.
Carthaginian Legacy: Dromons have no minimum range; Galley line +3 ship armor
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Cost: 800 food, 600 gold
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This tech makes Vandal naval units stronger by making the Galleon more robust and making Dromons hold up much better against Fire Ships, their main counter. Demolition Ships are still a major concern for them due to their close range one-time attack, so nearby Galleons to take them out will be necessary. Dromons have a large minimum range, so this tech eliminates their main weakness, and combined with the discount and creation speed boost, they will likely form a major component of the Vandal navy.
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While the extra Galleon armor negates the bonus damage for Fire Galleys and Fire Ships, the units’ fast attack will still make them good against Galleons, and Fast Fire Ships still get some bonus damage.
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When the Vandals took over Carthage, they inherited a long and storied naval tradition from the people living there. Carthage had one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient world, and the Vandals followed in its footsteps with a similarly large and powerful navy that posed a serious threat to Rome. It took several tries for the Roman attempts to expel the Vandals from their territory to succeed for good.
Tech Tree
Missing Units: Eagle line, Arbalester, Elephant Archer line, Heavy Cavalry Archer, Hand Cannoneer, Paladin, Battle Elephant line, Steppe Lancer line, Siege Onager, Bombard Cannon, Fire Ship, Cannon Galleon line.
Missing Techs: Arson, Thumb Ring, Parthian Tactics, Redemption, Atonement, Heresy, Sanctity, Hoardings, Plate Mail Armor, Plate Barding Armor, Heated Shot, Bombard Tower, Arrowslits, Crop Rotation, Stone Shaft Mining, Guilds.
Make buildings based mainly on tents which would make the dark-feudal upgrade feel smoother than most civs, with tents becoming much more ornate in castle/imperial, maybe built on top of ruined stone buildings with charred wood parts to indicate pillaging. Overall it would fit nicely with the different wonders (ruined Cuman fortress, Genghis Khan’s tent, pillaged Arch of Constantine).