Just a bit of fun but imagine if the scope of AoE3 never included the European civs initially?
The ‘standard’ initially civs may have revolved around the Asian Civs with their wonders, monks and their pretty unique unit rosters, or even the African civs.
How would you market a potential Euro DLC pack?
They share a lot of units though all can access limited forts and factories and revolt among their features so it would be interesting to see how they could be spun as a group of awesome new civs!
I’m seriously annoyed by the look of European buildings in Age 1 right now - I’d love to see brand new Age 1 buildings assigned to specific Architecture Sets. I would give the current look of European buildings from Age 1 to the North European Architecture Set.
I agree, it was rather Euro-centric on a very specific part of the early modern age - which all got rather mixed up upon the release of Asian Dynasties which suddenly consisted of non-colonial extensions of your (Asian) civ.
If I were to be introducing the Euros as a DLC in a different timeline they would have their proper native building styles (which can still be regional) rather than log cabin style in age 1.
(Incidentally, if that was ever revisited, id totally have the USA start with log cabins and progress as the British in terms of unit roster until Fortress Age where aging up replaces your old country unit lines… But that’s another topic!)
I’d also promote their flexibility, with each Euro civ having a particular trait whilst sharing a similar set of European units such as Musketeers. They also have the most and widest set of modern artillery and as the first region to industrialise, they get their Regional unique building - Factories.
Instead of your standard Monks/War Chiefs/Emirs etc, you get Explorers, who are reliant on their ranged rifle attacks and sharpshooting ability.
Thanks for posting that. I’ve seen it some time ago however it’s good to be reminded.
I guess that may well just be an American view point that they thought audiences wouldn’t really know about musketeers, Napoleonics, age of sail etc, which is a shame however its an America company and there was a very sizable American audience so understandable I guess.
If you look across the ocean, there was a Ukrainian games developer making very European RTS games with unique artwork for the gazillion European civs (Cossacks: European Wars) though the standard European units like muskets were the same unless it was a national unique unit.
Colonialism or not, players are playing as a civilization building new towns and competing with each other in a strange and unexplored land. Even if the Dutch are in the Low Countries, the Chinese are in the Central Plains, and the Lakotas are in the Great Plains, what the games symbolize is still a process from a barren land to a prosperous city. So actually even though non-European civilizations are not “colonial” in terms (eg, have Villagers but no Settlers), they are essentially the same — build new cities outside the HC to expand your territory.
Therefore, we can simply understand the games of European civilizations on theEuropean maps just like the activities of Asian civilizations on the Asian maps, without having to get entangled in definitions.
Idk what do you mean but the whole aoe3 game originated from European colonisation of America. But this topic is kinda politically sensitive so maybe they want to deviate from that a little to be politically correct. But still this game is euro centric by design that is hard to change.