If the Romanians are to ever be added in Age of Empires 2, that would naturally require a rework of the Vlad Dracula campaign, if only to be played with the Romanians instead of Turks/Slavs/Magyars.
However, it can be taken a step further and turned into a co-op campaign.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/@CorpusDraculianum/videos
"This is the official channel of the international research project CORPUS DRACULIANUM, the main authority in the study of the life and times of the Wallachian voivode Vlad III the Impaler DrÄculea (1431-1476). This channel provides exclusively scientific researched and referenced facts packaged in a format easy to absorb by the general public and history buffs: no vampires, no Balkan stereotypes, no commercial non-facts, only source-based history!
We are professional historians from universities and scientific institutes in Germany and Romania. We spent more than a decade finding hundreds of medieval documents and chronicles on Vlad DrÄculea in many archives and libraries.
We are sharing our knowledge and the latest key findings, which help us look beyond the myths and legends of DrÄculea."
I. First of all, letâs address some minor historical inaccuracies:
During Mission 1 â You have 3 Romanian voivods. There are 2 issues with this:
a. The name of lords/dukes in Wallachia and Moldavia was boyars. Voivod, at the time of Dracula, meant ruler of the country. Only Dracula himself was voivod. So the 3 random voivods should be 3 random boyars.
b. Jakub, Mircea and Istvan are not real people who helped Vlad the Impaler, theyâre randomly named.
c. Jakub and Istvan are not even proper Wallachian names. Only Mircea is a Wallachian name. And they are supposed to be Wallachian noblemen.
Instead, the first mission should use real people who actually helped Vlad III instead of generic nobleman names:
- Vlad the Younger (nobleman & brother; the youngest of the 4 brothers: Mircea, Vlad, Radu, Vlad; he was not sent to the Ottomans and supported Vlad the Impaler when he returned; he would rule in 1481 as Vlad IV the Monk being placed on the throne by Stephen III of Moldavia, until 1495 when he was ousted by Mihnea the Evil, son of Vlad the Impaler. But in Vlad the Impalerâs life, he was a loyal ally)
- Vintila Florescu (nobleman)
- Neagoe de la Strehaia (most powerful of his allies, nobleman, ruler of Craiova)
- Giacu Balaceanu (nobleman)
- Udriste Manea (nobleman)
- Commander Gales (nobleman & general, he failed to attack the Ottoman Camp from the east during the night attack, while Vlad the Impaler attacked from the west; some sources blame Gales for the failure of the night attack and wonder why he didnât attack, whether it was intentional or miscommunication)
End of Mission 2 â At the end of the intro in the 2nd mission it says: âBogdan II, Draculaâs cousin and the new Voiveod of Moldaviaâ. This is not correct. Bogdan II was Draculaâs uncle. The creator of the campaign in Forgotten Empires likely confused him with his son. His son and Vladâs cousin, was Prince Stephen who helped him take back Wallachia in this 2nd mission. And after becoming the new Voiveod of Moldavia (because of other events not in the scope of this campaign) would help Vlad take back Wallachia the last time in Mission 5 (where he actually succeded not died as the game claims). So if a voice editor could be used to change âcousinâ into âuncleâ it would be great.
Wallachian & Moldavian politics would put Game of Thrones to shame since rulers would change quickly, so I understand Forgotten Empires Teamâs mistake, but it would be a nice detail for historical accuracy.
This is the timeline in Moldavia:
â Bogdan II
â Vlad comes, his cousin Prince Stephen helps him.
â While Stephen is in Wallachia is father is killed by his uncle who takes the throne.
â Vlad the Impaler helps Prince Stephen to take back his throne (not a mission in the game)
â Prince Stephen becomes Stephen III of Moldavia, and actually rules for 47 years (unique in W&M at time)
â Stephen III of Moldavia ne(textGetsCensored)ciates Vladâs release from Hungary and helps him take Wallachia in mission 5.
Intro & End of Mission 4 â Not sure why this isnât mentioned, but itâs worth pointing out that Vlad was waiting for reinforcements from Hungary, as they promised since the beginning of the war (they were supposed to arrive since mission 3 at Giurgiu). He wasnât stupid to take the Ottoman Empire alone. Instead, King Mathias didnât sent reinforcements to Giurgiu, and when Vlad came to Transylvania he betrayed and imprisoned Vlad. Perhaps this should be mentioned in the outro. It would be quite thematic for Vlad, as he hated treachery. Basically, King Mathias tricked Vlad to fight a war alone, promising heâll come with the army in Wallachia but never did, and when he lost, King Mathias imprisoned him to secure good relations with the Ottomans. (Kind of poetic, Vlad hated treachery)
End of Mission 5 â Fixing the historical inaccuracy at the end saying he died in battle. Actually he won and became prince of Wallachia for the last time in his 3rd and final reign. This can be easily checked by Wikipedia saying he reign 3 times. He died 1 and a half year after that, betrayed by the boyars and given to the Ottomans (which is ironic considering he hated treachery the most). But he didnât die in that battle as the game says.
I think mission 5 outro should state that he won, and his cousin Stephen III of Moldavia left him 200 bodyguards and left, Dracula tried to stabilize his rule once more, but the boyars betrayed him and gave him to the Ottomans. Perhaps the campaign could be ended with this real life Dracula quote:
âWhen a man or a prince is powerful and strong at home, then he will be able to do as he wills. But when he is without power, another more powerful than he will overwhelm him and do as he wishesâ - Vlad the Impaler
II. How it can be made a co-op campaign:
- In mission 1, player 1 could play with Dracula as Romanian (loyal Wallachian retinue) and player 2 play as Turks (Mustafa Hassan gave him the Turkish troops but didnât personally lead the army).
- In mission 2, Prince Stephen could be the co-op partner. (real person)
- In missions 3 and 4, Commander Gales could be the co-op partner. (real person)
- In mission 5 Stephen III of Moldavia could be the co-op partner. (real person)
So, in every mission both players will play as the Romanians except the first one where the non-Dracula player plays as the Turks. Which it rhymes, you start playing with the Turks in mission 1, then end up fighting the Turks.
III. The following characters could be made Heroes:
- Vintila Florescu, Champion (pro-Dracula boyar from mission 1)
- Neagoe de la Strehaia, Paladin (pro-Dracula boyar from mission 1)
- Giacu Balaceanu, Arbalester (pro-Dracula boyar from mission 1)
- Prince Stephen, Hussar (Draculaâs cousin from mission 5, not yet voivod)
- Stephen III of Moldavia, Paladin (Draculaâs cousin from mission 5, voivod)
- Commander Gales, Knight (general in service of Dracula in missions 3 and 4)
IV. And a possible 6th mission between missions 2 and 3 âThe Debt of the Dragonâ
Making reference to the fact that Vlad pays his debt to Prince Stephen. â The Invasion of Moldavia to depose Prince Stephenâs uncle (Petru Aron) who just killed Stephenâs father to take the throne.
You invade Moldavia from the south with 2 Romanian armies (in co-op), one led by Dracula another led by Prince Stephan, and have to capture DoljeÈti, Orbic and finally the capital city Suceava. After that Petru Aron flees to Poland an Stephen is crowned king/voivod.
V. And finally, a duel between Vlad the Impaler and Vladislav II at the end of the 2nd mission
After you take Tagoviste, Vladislav II could challenge you to a duel, only Vlad the Impaler may enter the arena. Sort of like El Cidâs campaign at the beginning.
