So as I said, after our discussions I’ve come to the conclusion that having at least two “Teutonic” civilisations - Dutch and Germans (+ maybe Swiss) - would be more appropriated to the actual game than my initial suggestion of 6 civs which, despite their cool medieval sounding names, would be better suited to some eurocentric game rather than AoE IV.
These new suggestions are more based upon gameplay than history and aren’t very accurate to this regard, but concessions have to be made unfortunately.
Dutch would represent both the Low Frankish cultures of the Low Countries and the Hanseatic North of the HRE, which means mainly (the descendants of) Salian Franks and to some extent continental Low Saxons (related Frisians could have a place in it too).
Having Saxons encompassed in a civilisation named Dutch may sound weird but there are actually strong cultural and linguistical ties between Dutch/Low Franconians and Low Saxons. Both languages belong to the Low German language family.
In terms of gameplay, this civilisation would be turned towards trade, sea and infantry. They would get a good artillery in Imperial Age. They may also have a special trade-related building providing some function, such as Waaghuis (weighhouse).
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Languages:
Mainly Old and Middle Low Frankish along with some Old and Middle Saxon and Old Frisian. -
Unique units:
Communal Militiaman, a heavy well armored infantryman armed with the famous Flemish weapon goedendag, which would well portray the power of the Flemish cities and their militias.
Armed Cog, basically an armed merchant ship typical of the Hanseatic League.
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Wonder:
Ridderzaal of The Hague, a nice and old example of Dutch Brick Gothic which was originally the manorial hall of Floris V (1256–1296), count of Holland and Zeeland. Its name means “Hall of Knights”.
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Castle:
Either the keep of Doornenburg castle as it is given how well suited it is for a AoE castle (left) or a castle based upon Muiden Castle/Muiderslot, the most famous Dutch medieval castle (right).
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Architecture:
Mix of wooden buildings and Brick Romanesque in Feudal Age.
Mix of grey stoones and Brick Gothic in Castle and Imperial Ages (photos).
Germans would be mostly based upon High German area, which makes a bit of sense as modern Standard German comes from High German languages. They would be pretty close to AoE II Teutons in their design.
When it comes to gameplay, they would specialize in agriculture and heavy cavalry, thus being much more of a traditional knightly civ than the Dutch although they would share with a them some impressive artillery.
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Languages:
Varieties of Old High German, Middle High German and Early New High German. -
Unique unit:
Teutonic Knight. Heavy armored cavalry unit, powerful but rather slow. Either in 13th-14th century equipment (left) or early 15th century one (right), Teutonic knights being most known in those two styles.
Attributing this unit to Germans only isn’t accurate as Dutch, Saxons and most of Swiss were Teutonic too but concessions have to me made.
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Wonder:
Limburg Cathedral in Hesse. Built in the first half of the 13th century in a transitional Romanesque-Gothic style common in Germany. A very striking building which would look awesome in AoE.
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Castle:
A mix of Eltz (left) and Marksburg (right) castles, both very famous and representative of these German castles looking more like huge fortified noble households than proper fortresses.
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Architecture:
Castle and Imperial ages: a mix of white lime-coated and painted walls and bare dark stones. Such style is found all across modern-day Germany and especially common in Rhineland. Painting over the coating would adapt to the player’s color.
Swiss’ main point to be in the game would be to portray an Alpine civilisation rather than a Southern Teutonic one, all the more as not all Swiss were Germanic speakers. I preferred them over Austrians/Bavarians because they are a bit more differenciated than inner Germans and also have a readily found unique unit.
I can see them with a cliché montainous gameplay, i.e. economy focused on pastoralism and logging, efficient infantry, etc.
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Languages:
Mainly Old Low Alemmanic and Old Franco-Provençal/Romand. -
Unique unit:
Mercenary Pikeman. A fast lightly armored anti-cav infantry unit with very long spear (that the pic doesn’t portray but whatever).
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Wonder:
Basel Cathedral. That way the beautiful pink sandstone architecture would have a place in the game. As a wonder, the fact that it differs from the rest of the architectural set isn’t too problematic.
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Castle:
Thun castle keep, which literally looks like it was made to measure for AoE.
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Architecture:
White lime-coated buildings with mostly reddish clay tiles roofs (Thun castle keep again on the left).
