Hello, I want to know what community would think about adding a Poland and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the game. As it peak of power matches almost perfectly timeline that we have in AoE4 and campaign of Poland could be very flexible, as history of Poland in 1000-1600 is basicaly constant wars and they had them, also with civs existing in the game, among others:
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Russians (according to wikipedia starting dates of some wars: before many wars with kievan rus, 1492, 1500, 1507, 1512, 1534, 1558, 1577, 1609, 1632, 1654)
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Holy Roman Empire (1002, 1007, 1015, 1028, 1109, 1146, 1157, many more with Brandenburg)
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Mongols (1241, 1259, 1287)
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Ottomans, that big part of community wants to see (1443, 1485, 1497, 1620, 1633, 1666, 1672)
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Teutonic Order
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Bohemia
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Sweden
I’m not historian at all, I just like AoE :D, so if I made mistakes or wrote some BS I would love to be corrected. I just want to give overall view, how Poland can look and want to know opinion of community.
Polish military from it’s rise to 1138 had “drużyna książęca” and it was private army of Prince Mieszko I (he had around 3k man) and his successors who paid them for everything. They were lite cavalry, heavy cavalry and infantry.
Later, in 12th to 15th century army of Poland was based on “pospolite ruszenie” which means mass mobilization. Polish nobles, “wójt” of towns and “sołtys” of villages (mayors) had duty to gather with their own men when it’s called and keep maintenance on their own cost – only in borders of Poland. It was used for a long time after 14th century but it got less singificant later, mainly because professional armys were better and pospolite ruszenie from 1454 could be called only by sejm approval. Poles treated this more like last stand option then. Polish army was mainly focused around heavy knight cavalry.
Pospolite ruszenie in game could be trait for fast and cheap unit recrutiment for short time but with some consquences on them. Like HRE repair their building.
Józef Brandt, “Pospolite ruszenie u brodu”
At the end of 15th century Poland formed professional army “wojsko zaciężne” mostly heavy cavalry. They were uniqe mercenaries paid from polish taxes. Recruitment was called by king with special letters named “list przypowiedni” and made by special leaders which could change and army would not change. In short, they were paid like mercenaries but they were more under the king not under their own captain. Main reason for making “wojsko zaciężne” was low discipline of men from “pospolite ruszenie”. Wojsko zaciężne was main force in 13th years war against Teutonic Order and later on. Quantity of army was determined by how high taxes are at the moment so in times of war army could grow 10 times than at peace. In 1562 Poland created “wojsko kwarciane” - permament regiment of this mercenaries. This army had changes in course of history and it evolved into more stable “wojsko komputowe” in 17th century.
In game it can be implemented as resources for recruitment would be more gold than food but less overall resources.
Armor of “zaciężny” knights.
Jan Matejko, “Battle of Grunwald”
Of course military structure of Poland was waaaaay more complex but I wanted to give at least some context.
Poland was for long time with alliance with Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And they had personal union, first with king Władysław II Jagiełło who lead Polish-Lithuanian army in one of the biggest medieval battle - battle of Grunwald in 1410. Later there was Union of Lublin in 1569 - that formed “Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów” - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. So Lithuanian forces could also appear in game together.
I don’t want to create stats for nation, units and buildings because I’m not gameplay designer. I don’t know what would work and what not but I want just to give an idea.
Units that could be uniqe in game:
Drużyna książęca (Prince Guard I think is good enough translation)
Michał Bylina, “Bolesławowa drużyna”
Early warriors, that could be represented by better Horseman or early Royal Knight, better Pikeman or Man-at-arms – they were very differentiated so there is a lot possibilities.
Cossacks/Petyhorcy
Mid to late game lite cavarly with spear/saber and bows.
Hussars/Winged Hussars
Late game heavy cavarly that would replace Royal Knight on last upgrade or when entering IV age. Big charge bonus?
Piechota Wybraniecka
Infantry with rifle and big axe or saber.
Potential Landmarks:
Jasna GĂłra monastery
Could be defensive and religous landmark at once.
KsiÄ…ĹĽ Castle
Wawel Royal Castle
Sukiennice in Cracow
Kamieniec Podolski Castle
Barbacan in Cracow
St. Mary’s Basilica in Cracow (had interesting story when Mongols attacked)
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wrocław
Toruń Town Hall
Wroclaw Town Hall
What do you think about it guys? I saw that there is another topic about Poland but is more focused about specific game mechanics , numbers and implementation and I wanted to put more focus on overall presentation.
