I’m sharing here a reflection proposal about the Egyptian civilization in Age of Mythology: Retold, focused on coherence and identity, and not on a request for buffs, nerfs, or intentional power changes.
Of course, modifying the structure of units would necessarily imply, at some point, balance adjustments. This is neither denied nor ignored. It’s simply not the objective of the proposal, which remains primarily conceptual and identity-driven.
Any balance adjustments would of course remain the responsibility of the developers, should such a reflection ever be considered.
I like a lot of your proposed changes. It gives Egypt a more coherent identity based in both their history and mythology. It does however weaken their identity as the "biblical” faction. It is clear that a major part of their theming is tying them to the exodus story. Honestly I am okay with that though since my most wanted pantheon is the Canaanites and this would give them more room. I think this would be a great base for a AOM2
I always hoped that they would make the mythology of the Egyptians more Egyptian. For example, I hoped they would change the look of war turtle from an American Snapping Tortoise to a Leatherback Turtle found around Egypt. I would have preferred they changed the generic baboon (which is a hybrid cross of a Olive Baboon and a Mandrill) to a Hamadryas Baboon from Egypt. Or added warthogs, as Africa doesn’t have boars.
I also found there myth unit options odd. Egyptian mythology has their own beasts, so why we got two units solely based on the ‘Mummy’ movie is an interesting choice. Though, these two units have grown on me.
Thanks for taking the time to read the proposal and share your thoughts. I’m glad some of you find the approach legitimate when it comes to strengthening Egypt’s identity.
That’s a fair point, and I understand why people look for historical justification if they enjoy war elephants.
There are indeed some debated references to elephants being used in Nubian or Meroitic contexts, but these are late, rare, and highly hypothetical, and not part of Egypt’s classical pharaonic military tradition.
Occasional or ceremonial use doesn’t amount to a sustained doctrine of war elephants, and most historians treat these cases as exceptions rather than representative of Egyptian warfare.
Since Age of Mythology clearly draws from a pharaonic and mythological vision of Egypt, elephants feel more like a later or peripheral outlier than a defining element of that civilization’s identity.
The Egyptian faction suffers greatly from raids because they lack feudal cavalry, which is annoying considering that they “historically” developed the Chariot long before the Vikings even had cavalry, and the Norse have feudal cavalry (II).
War chariots could work as light melee cavalry of feudal age (II), while the War Elephant can be the “Heavy melee cavalry” of Egyptians since III age.
In fact, in the game’s Beta version, there were plans to create a building called “Chariot House” for the Egyptians to house their cavalry. The model for the Melee Chariot was even already in place.
Following the logic of Age of Empires 4 for distinguishing melee units from mounted ranged units, it could easily be called: War Chariot.
In AoM Retold, Nords produce Hersir in the Temple and the Great Hall. So, they could do the same with the Archer Chariot, which could be produced in the Chariot Workshop from the 3rd Age onward, along with the Migdol Stronghold.
I was aware of the melee chariot as an unused Egyptian unit, but I had never seen the model before ( like the myth unit), so thank you for sharing that.
They could definitely do something far better and much more coherent for the Egyptian civilization. I’m also fairly confident that, in the end, people would come to like it, even if many are understandably afraid of change at first.
That would be good, but you must remember one thing: There are already “Nubian troops”, in theory, for the Egyptians.
They are represented by the "MERCENARIES".
Tthose units that “NOBODY USE” because they die too fast (40 seconds), and it’s not very good to give such a short lifespan to a unit that is created one at a time, can be taken down by mythical units in two hits, and on top of that, spend something as expensive as 90 or 120 gold per unit.
There could be a mercenary archer, but it would have the same use as the others.
What should be done first is to “Increase the mercenaries’ lifespan.” At 3 or 4 minutes, it’s already good that they cost pure gold; that at least makes them difficult to produce. And they should stop losing HP per minute; it only makes the unit more useless.
Chinese has better “Mercenary Mechanic”
With Chinese, they make a better way to make a defensive Levy with the Stone guards army:
I agree that mercenaries are not very “fair” in their current state — their lifespan is too short and they are very expensive.
I remember a mod where Nubian Archers were added to the roster, and it worked really well. It was basically a mercenary skin with a bow — simple but effective. The link seems to be broken now, but it was on AoM Heaven under “Nubian Archer,” and I think you could still find it if you’re curious.
As for Chinese mercenaries, that’s more a case of the old system versus the newer one. Updating that approach could be a good way to modernize the Egyptian civilization.
It looks too much like a sphinx. I’ve already staked out the Jörmungand. So there is nothing surprising here.
All AoE parts had war elephants. They needed a place to cram them in. That’s how they came about. Although the quality of these elephants is questionable.
Definitely not. I already stopped playing as the Norse because they added stables. If they add stables to the Egyptians, I’ll quit the game altogether.
The idea of a melee chariot (which was already in AoE 1) is quite good, but the developers decided to add flavor at the expense of authenticity and made the riders on camels.
Excellent. It’s incredible how many tactics will be available with this mercenary rework.
Berbers are from the northern of Africa. Many of them travel in camel caravans, and wear turbans to protect themselves from the sand.The Their skin is more white than black.
Nubians are from the southern part of the Nile, north of Ethiopia. Their skin is black, negros en español.
In the Ancient Egypt, the Nubians who lived in tribes were called Medjay. Sometimes allies, sometimes enemies, many were hired as caravan guards, servants, or mercenary soldiers.
During the New Kingdom (1550-1100 BCE), with these tribes’ control firmly established in Upper Egypt, there was also a reorganization of the army. The Medjay ceased to be mercenaries and became a Nubian police force, serving to protect palaces, temples, and caravans.
In the game, the mercenaries represent these Medjay. In fact, there was a technology in Age of Mythics: Extended Edition that increased the lifespan of Egyptian mercenaries, making them “Useful,” and it was the Medjay.
I like the deign and concept of new units, it is odd that theres no kopesh user in the current eggy army (please dont bring the EE one thou) and melee chariots use.
that said some of this “needs” are not true
This one for example is not the case for good egyptians. Spearmen make great work to defend raids and play well into eggys ne identity of stronger classic age gameplay.
I would rather OP´s idea that if camel riders arent as prominent to swap them for melee chariots to just be a model change and not introduce new basis units.
Seen mods about a pharaoh on a chariot that also sounds interesting as a concept.
The biggest reason why mercenaries arent what they used to be isnt the loss of the tech. Its due to the pop increase we got on retold.
On the old game since you had smaller pop side pushes were done by less unit count, so mercenaries were more than enough to defend it since even if they were few, you were also attacked by few units on the sides. This allowed eggy to focus on a single push and be able to adress most side pushes. Now side armies can have significantly more units so the amount of mercenary are less effective.
I fully agree that the terracota calvary is a better concept of this tc defense mechanism.The newer civs seem to have better design space in terms of how strongly implemented this mechanics they have are. A costier 1 time defense mechanism seems better tailored to its job and balance than a spamable weak unit that no longer fulfills its purpose the same way as it used to be
Not to mention raids, I don’t even know what “Kronos Rush” is when I play as Egypt.
Nobody used those Minutemen there either. Because they were so expensive and they only lasted a minute. Although I remember tactics where Egypt used them before an attack to overpop them. Here, even that kind of use doesn’t exist. So the lack of upgrades really does have an impact. So, the mercenary mechanics were screwed up here, but they were following the bad example of AoE3.
But yes, if they added female berserks they could make female pharaohs