First to clarify, I’m an AoE II fan and not part of AoE IV community. But I follow news of the whole franchise.
Variant civilization is a unique feature of AoE IV. Recently a Chinese Variant Jin Dynasty was added in the game. Personally I’m also aware how expensive it is to add a full and new civilization to AoE IV and variant civs are a good alternative to that.
But what if some new civs use assets from multiple civs? For example, Yuan Dynasty is the perfect example of Chinese + Mongols. Similarly Lodi Dynasty can be a merge variation of Delhi + Mongols. And if you stretch this concept, you may consider Normans as English + French + maybe even HRE. And if in the future, Persians is added a new civ, there are 5 to 10 potential merged variation with Persians + Ottomans.
If it’s a variant that, for historical and gameplay reasons, resembles several civilizations, but remains sufficiently unique and has new mechanics, then it would be fine.
However, if it’s a variant civilization that blatantly copies 50% of the mechanics of one civilization (let’s say English) and 50% of another (let’s say French), for no other reason than saving resources, it’s going to look very bad.
In fact, the first four variants were criticized precisely for looking like an attempt to save resources to increase the number of civilizations, without considering long-term balance.
Juana has had this problem so far: Because it shares 95% of the French tech tree, landmarks, and mechanics, it was like a “pay-to-win” version of France, since it was France + Hero Tier SSS when it was released. And it was very difficult to balance, precisely because any nerf to the French Royal Knight or Arbalester is also a nerf to Joan, as well as to landmarks (which are the same) or unique technologies. In fact, that is the same reason that when a rumor of a possible Rework of this variant appears, many players still has the hope that this happens.
About theoretical variant civs
Yuan Dynasty
Technically, the Yuan Dynasty is represented within one of China’s mechanics, although in theory it has little to do with the Yuan except for the speed bonus, which is a gimmick to the Mongols’ Orto bonus.
The Mongols also represent a part of the Yuan Dynasty, since many of their landmarks are from Karakorum during the Yuan Dynasty period, and their Outpost architecture with the Pax Mongolica (IV) technology is Chinese architecture. Their vassal soldiers from one of their landmarks are from Rus’, China, and Arabs (Super-trebuchet)… perhaps they should add Jin too, hehehe.
Normans
The Normans, although they were in what is now France and the territory often fell under English control, were actually lands that the French ceded to Vikings who settled in the region on the condition that they convert to Christianity and abandon their raiding lifestyle, becoming subjects of the French crown.
Fate: After a sufficient time, these Vikings became “Frenchified.” That’s why in the game’s introductory campaign on Xbox, the Normans are played as a variant of France, more French than English. On the other hand, there is a “Norman Campaign”, where a group of Normans “invades England” and then seizes the English crown. In fact, this campaign shows how the Normans ended up becoming the English of Age of Empires IV.
Sicilians.- Another branch of the Normans went to Sicily and there they became Sicilian Italians… well, that’s in AoE2.
What history teaches us is that the Normans were a group of Vikings who went to invade and conquer, but ended up assimilating into other cultures and disappearing as a distinct entity.
This year, in theory, Vikings are coming out, so we would have another civilization to represent the beginning of the Normans. A variant would then be unnecessary, since they are already represented by up to 3 civilizations.
Lodi Dynasty
It wasn’t a mix of Mongol and Delhi. The Mongols have always been enemies of the Delhi Sultanate and all its dynasties. It was a dynasty that arose from converting the sultanate into a vassal state of the Timurid Empire. However, as the Timurid Empire lost power after Tamerlane’s death, the sultanate became self-sufficient, but with less territory.
Fundamentally, I agree with you, but Age of Empires 4 takes a different approach than AoE2. It isn’t about the sheer number of civs with only minimal differences, but rather about the distinctiveness—the unique identity—of each one; after all, every civilization is supposed to feel different.
In my opinion, what we really need are entirely new civs with fresh concepts, rather than more new variants. Furthermore, no single civilization should have more than one variant. Why, for instance, does China get three variants while other civs don’t have any at all yet?
My mistake—I meant only two, of course. Others, however, have none at all (Ottomans, RUS).
- → but we need more completely new civilizations, instead of merely minimal changes.
That said, the variants themselves aren’t a bad thing. It contains many good ideas—ideas that would almost be worthy of an entire civilization of their own.I really love many of them—for instance, with Deli, I dislike the entire upgrade system; and thanks to the new variant, I can finally play as the Elephants without having to deal with Deli’s annoying system.
My only concern is the release order and the overall manageability. At some point, it simply becomes too much (like in Age of Empires 2 – and you can’t keep track).
