We know that they are likely working on an African DLC for AoE3, there are enough hints for that.
But how could a DLC with a European Setting look like?
How are Natives going to work?
Does the style of European buildings have to be changed to look less European?
I think this DLC also has to potential for some bigger gameplay changes.
One of the reasons why I think AoE3 never got as popular is the Colonial setting. The time frame of AoE3 has so many famous and important historical conflicts that took part in Europe.
Ottoman conquest of Eastern Europe (especially interesting because Eastern European Nations aren’t represented yet), 30 years war, the many wars of the Dutch independence, the 7 years war (the American part of it was represented in AoE3 already), Napoleonic Wars and many more.
A lot of people want to have Empires fight against each other and not small skirmishes in Colonies.
Would it be possible to change up the gameplay for European maps to feel less “colonial”? Making a European game mode without Home Cities sounds like an extreme idea but maybe that could work. Even though Home Cities for Asians and Americans would make more sense in that setting.
Easy, since many major battles took place in the German and Italian states they provide the “natives” Bavarians, Bohemians, Florentines, Venitians etc.
Add three new European civs which are fitting to the setting (e.g. Habsburg, Poland, Italy), add some European maps (e.g. Alps, Ural, Bohemia), add some European Natives (e.g. Swiss Mercenaries etc)
Wars of Liberty does a fine job adding more Europe to the game and widens the horizon of AOE3 a lot.
Home City is a great option. On the European continent, it doesn’t bother me a bit. This feature sets AoE 3 apart from the rest of the series. It can be treated simply as the capital of our civilization.
Exactly. These would be small “towns” based on the natives found in the game. The best base for this is the Jesuit Mission. It is enough to replace the buildings with more European ones. And in this way, one could add: Bavarians, Swiss, Venetians, Cossacks, Serbs, etc. The architectural styles of these “towns” could be divided into:
Balkan,
Scandinavian,
Western European,
German,
Mediterranean,
Slavic
And you could train unique “natives” units there. You can use ready-made mercenary units, for example:
Swiss - Swiss Pikeman
Albanians - Stradiot
Scots - Highlander.
Home cities should not really be a big problem.
For example, if you’re Great Britain and you’re fighting on the European mainland, you still need supplies from your home country.
Asians and Native Americans also fight on their homelands in the game but they still have home cities.
Poles and Italians, a whole host of Minor Settlements and maps, A Siege of Vienna Historical Battle, a Napoleon in Russia Historical Battle and a 30 Years War campaign.