This civilization represents the major Polynesian cultures of the Pacific Ocean, including the Maori, Rapa Nui, and Hawaiian peoples. It reflects their shared Austronesian heritage, strong naval traditions, and mastery of long-distance ocean navigation.
Taíno
This civilization represents the indigenous cultures of the Caribbean Sea, primarily the Taíno peoples of the Greater Antilles, with influences from other Caribbean island societies. It emphasizes coastal life, agriculture, fishing, and seafaring warfare.
New Architecture Set: Oceanic
A new Oceanic architecture set not tied to a specific continent. Buildings are constructed from wood and volcanic stone, inspired by Pacific and Caribbean island societies, with a distinct tropical and maritime aesthetic.
Regionalization
Following The Last Chieftains approach to regionalization—introducing line replacements, regional units, and unique architecture—an Oceanic / Islander DLC could feature the following shared regional elements:
Militia and/or Archer line replacements, reflecting island warfare traditions and lighter infantry doctrines. A blowgunner unit could replace the archer line, while a club unit (more specific a Patu club) could replace the militia.
A regional scout line, adapted to island environments and coastal mobility, unless another regional unit have the scouting function.
No traditional cavalry, due to the absence of horses in most island societies. (unless a mythical Nereid-style unit is introduced — just kidding).
A regional warship line, inspired by large war canoes and outrigger vessels.
A regional siege unit, focused on mobility and unconventional siege methods rather than heavy mechanical engines.
Regional buildings that can mix other buildings functions, units or adding new gameplay.
This approach would allow islander civilizations to share a coherent regional identity while still retaining unique bonuses, units, and gameplay roles.
Well as someone from Chile I’m fine with the Mapuches being tied with Muiscas (Colombia) and Tupi (Brazil) in a single DLC, with shared units and architecture.
Do not see the “lumped civs” as something bad. It’s better to have 1 or 2 Oceanic civs + 1 Caribbean than nothing.
Those are all the same continent, so a shared expansion with the same architecture set makes sense. Oceania and the Caribbean are thousands of miles apart.
Yes but they share the same topic of the DLC idea: islander civs.
Amazonian rainforest don’t have nothing in common with the andean mountains, but all the civs from both regions from South America, Inca included, belongs to the same topic of The Last Chieftains though, sharing units, architecture and buildings.
Devs will not give a single caribbean civ an unique architecture or regional stuff if they can share those with anothers similar ones with a lot of things in common. They didn’t did that with the Tupi giving them an Amazonian American one.
Inca and Muisca traded, Inca and Mapuche fought… but Tupi?
Tupi belongs to nowdays Brazil, in the amazonian rainforest conquered by portuguese colonizers.
Inca and Muisca were conquered by spanish conquistadors, while Mapuche were attemped to being conquered, but in part, they failed.
The point is, despite they belong to the same continent, Tupi do not have anything in common with Muisca, Inca or Mapuches. They never interacted yet were included in the same DLC, sharing a lot of assets including units, buildings and architecture.
I wanted Chimu instead Tupi for the same reason. Tupi give me the same vibes I had with the Koreans during The Conquerors release. Maybe both Tupi and Taino would have their own DLC, with an Tropical American enverioment. Maybe in another timeline…
Taino might come later and then the Tupi architecture could be switched again. The much requested Chimu probably need a more suitable Desert South American architecture set as well, though I personally would tolerate it if they’d use the South American architecture set.
Polynesians is way too broad of an umbrella. And I agree with @Apocalypso4826 that they’d need their own DLC with 2-3 civs added. Maori, Tongans and Hawaiians could be good additions from the top of my head. Or maybe one of the many Melanesian people groups.
No, it’s not. Individual islands or island groupings are too small and unknown to make multiple full-fledged civs. One umbrella civ for each region of Oceania is the best way to go.
If Civ 6 can pull it off with Maori, so can AOE2. It’s tasteless to have the broad strokes approach for Oceania when other regions get very detailled and hyperspecific civs. Civ 5 felt always weird on that regard.
Polynesians, Micronesians, and Melanesians, with an extra Filipinos civ if you want.
Civ 6 is covering all eras of history, not just the Middle Ages. Most specific Polynesian islands only had notable figures after the timeline of the game.
The regions of Oceania are as big as entire swaths of Europe, but only when lumped together. There isn’t enough medieval material for multiple individual Polynesian civs, besides the fact that the area that they controlled is very small. Trust me, umbrella civs are better and more plausible.
As someone who lives on an (admittedly fairly large) island, I find the idea that islander civilisations should “share a coherent regional identity” just because they live on islands quite confusing…
Don’t forget Manx, Maltese, and Balinese. They can all share architecture with Japanese because they all “adapted to island environments”, right? /s