Let’s Discuss Which Civilizations Could Realistically Be Added in the Future

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

So far, we’ve created a lot of hypothetical civilizations here for fun, for the romance of the idea, or simply because we wanted to see them in the game.

But this time, how about putting ourselves in the developers’ shoes and trying to predict which civilizations could realistically be added in the future?

To do that, I think we should first look at some of the civilizations that have already been added and see what kinds of precedents they have created.

a. Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu, Wu)
→ Let’s treat this as an exception. It received a lot of criticism, so I don’t think they will release civilizations in this way again.

b. Vikings (splitting them into multiple civilizations)
→ This is a pretty interesting precedent. It shows that a broader “people” or civilization can be divided into several more specific civilizations.

c. Burgundians
→ The reason I bring them up is that they show how a state does not necessarily need to have survived into the modern era. Even if it was eventually annexed or disappeared, a polity that left a significant name in history can still be represented as its own civilization.

There are probably many other conditions we could consider, but I’ll leave those to you.

Below are some hypothetical civilizations that have frequently been mentioned around here.

I’ll give my own thoughts on whether I think each of them could realistically be added. Of course, opposing opinions are more than welcome.

  1. Croatians
    → I honestly don’t see much reason why they couldn’t be added.
  2. Serbians
    → Same here.
  3. Albanians
    → They already have a potential UU represented in AOE3, so if the developers ever decide to try them, I think they could immediately become a serious candidate.
  4. Swiss
    → I also think they are among the candidates that could be added relatively soon.
  5. Siamese (Thai)
    → Same here.
  6. Tibetans
    → I think this civilization is impossible for political reasons.
  7. Sogdians
    → They already have a UU in the game, so if the developers decide to give them a try, I think they could happen.
  8. Tanguts
    → Hmm… if the developers ever decide to rework the Khitans, I think there could be a possibility.
  9. Welsh and Irish
    → If the “Celts” are ever split up through a DLC in the same way the Vikings were, I think these would be possible.
  10. African civilizations such as Somalis, Songhai, Kongo, etc.
    → Personally, I actually think Africa should be the next region to receive a DLC. It still has one of the smallest numbers of civilizations, and I also think the Malians and Ethiopians should have different architectural sets.
  11. Vlachs (Wallachia/Romania)
    → If the Slavs are ever split up or reworked in a similar way to the Viking DLC, then definitely possible!
  12. Finns (Finland)
    → I can see the possibility, but I think it could take quite a long time before they are actually added.
  13. Champa
    → If Siam is ever added, I could see Champa being included in the same DLC as part of the same general regional theme.
  14. Genoa, Venice, Naples
    → At first I wondered whether simple city-states could really become full civilizations, but considering that this game is set in the Middle Ages, they do seem like they could be necessary.
    However, that would probably require splitting the current Italians into multiple civilizations.
  15. Aragon, Granada, Basques, etc.
    → On the other hand, I’m not so sure about the Spanish region. Of course, you could say this isn’t really that different from No. 14, but personally, the existing “Spanish” civilization already feels sufficient to me.
    (Sorry to the Spanish fans!)
    Since Spain was unified during the medieval period, I personally feel like there is less need to divide it further.
  16. Göktürks
    → I think there is some possibility here because the current “Turks” civilization feels very heavily focused on the Ottomans. If the Göktürks were added, perhaps they could cover the period up to the Seljuk Turks as well.
  17. Xianbei
    → The “Three Kingdoms DLC” already has a Xianbei Cavalry Archer, which made me think about this possibility. I think the Xianbei could eventually become a civilization, although it would probably take quite a long time.
  18. Ryukyu and Ainu
    → If the Japanese civilization were ever split up, perhaps they could be possible. I also think East Asian architecture currently looks too heavily Japanese, so I believe we need a new Chinese-style architecture set as well.
  19. Silla and Goguryeo
    → Similar to No. 16, the current “Koreans” civilization feels too heavily focused on Joseon. I think we could use at least one more civilization representing ancient-to-medieval Korea… but I don’t think the chances of actually getting one are very high.(That’s because an East Asia DLC is low on the developers’ list of priorities, and they don’t seem interested in breaking down the Korean region in greater detail—though they do show interest in Japan.)
  20. Austria
    → See you in AOE3.
  21. North American civilizations
    → I think these fit AOE3 better as well.
  22. Kazakhs and Uzbeks
    → If the developers ever decide to expand Central Asia further, I think that would be the point when these civilizations become possible candidates.

That’s everything I can think of for now.

Feel free to discuss as much as you want!

Just one thing: please don’t attack other people simply because you disagree with their opinions.

2 Likes
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I think finish are overdue honestly.

I would add:

  • The Basques. Very distinct family from all Europe
  • Split Teutons is necessary: Saxons already exist, Bayuvarian and Swabian to call it a day
  • Luxembourg. Long history
  • Waldensian: great campaigns with the RCC
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Yeah, I was just listing the ones that came to mind at the moment. Honestly, I was more interested in reading other people’s ideas than sharing all of my own, so I wrapped it up pretty quickly :sweat_smile:

4

Aren’t they religious people?

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South America - Chimu
North America - Iroquois, Tlaxcalans, Toltecs

East Africa - Nubians, Somali, Swahili
West Africa - Songhai, Soninke, Beninese, Hausa
Central Africa - Kenembu
South Africa - Shona

South East Asia - Siamese, Cham, Javanese, Meitei, Mon
South Asia - Kannadigas, Deccanese, Kalingans, Sinhalese
East Asia - Tibetans, Tanguts, Bai, Xianbei
Central Asia - Avars, Alans, Khazars, Hephthalites, Gokturks, Sogdians
West Asia - Kurds, Bedouins, Levants, Egyptians

East Europe - Vlachs
North Europe - Finns
South Europe - Venetians

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Originally just a religous group, yes, but they were outcast and didnt mingle, so became culturally total separate, lets call them “Mountain Italians”.

In the beginning, they were only slaughtered, but later, they fought back. That would make a great campaign. The first 1-2 missions would be mainly villagers and priests, fleeing and being killed, only to strike back later.

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**That would just be a heck of a campaign!

Identity: Religion or People?**

The Waldensians were originally a purely religious movement and not a distinct ethnic group. However, centuries of brutal persecution and geographic isolation forged such a powerful socio-cultural identity that they historically functioned like a distinct cultural group.

  • The Origin (12th Century): Founded around 1170 by Peter Waldo in Lyon, France, it began as a Christian lay movement focused on apostolic poverty and Bible translation. Its early members came from completely different regions across Europe.
  • The Isolation (Cultural Ethnisation): Hunted as heretics by the Catholic Church, survivors withdrew into the highly inaccessible Alpine valleys of Piedmont (the “Waldensian Valleys”). Over centuries of isolation, they practiced endogamy (marrying only within the community) [2] and preserved their own language (Occitan/Franco-Provençal). This turned a scattered faith into a tightly knit community bound by shared trauma and survival.
  • Status Today: Today, they form the Waldensian Evangelical Church (Chiesa Evangelica Valdese), the oldest Protestant church in Italy. Membership is defined by faith and baptism, not ethnic descent.

Warfare and Resistance (The Myth of Absolute Pacifism)

For the first few centuries, the Waldensians strictly followed a pacifist doctrine, refusing to kill or swear oaths. In the face of early medieval persecutions and mass executions (such as the 14th-century Inquisitorial crackdowns in Austria and Germany), their primary defense was secrecy and flight.

However, the historical image that they never fought back before the 16th century is a myth. Desperation forced local groups and individuals to resist much earlier:

  • Alpine Stone Throwing (Late 14th Century): In the narrow rock gorges of the Alps, Waldensian peasants realized they held the high ground. When soldiers or inquisitors marched up the narrow paths, locals rolled massive boulders and pelted them with stones, forcing retreats.
  • The Innozenz Crusade (1487/1488): When Pope Innocent VIII launched a formal crusade against the Alpine Waldensians, the valleys organized a coordinated armed response. Using crossbows, hunting bows, and modified agricultural tools (like scythes and pitchforks), they ambushed the crusader army in the mountains, inflicting such heavy casualties that the campaign was abandoned.
  • Targeted Assassinations: Historical Inquisitorial records show that desperate individuals or small underground cells occasionally targeted traveling inquisitors on lonely roads to destroy arrest lists or raided local dungeons to violently free captured preachers.
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Technically, you can include another hundred new civilizations to AOE2. But they will start to overlap too much if you do not add regional units/buildings and new mechanics. If you do that, the game becomes too complicated So, AOE2 can fit a few more civs but the devs need to realize that at one point they need to stop.

Civilizations that could potentially fit into AOE2 are:

  1. Tibetans
  2. Tanguts
  3. Tai
  4. Purepechan
  5. Zapotec
  6. Mixtecs
  7. Iroquois
  8. Lakota
  9. Kanem
  10. Zimbabwe
  11. Kongo
  12. Benin
  13. Swahili
  14. Ghanians
  15. Songhai
  16. Kurds
  17. Afghans
  18. Wallachians
  19. Serbs
  20. Croats
  21. Albanians
  22. Aragonese
  23. Tamil or Kanada

And in the meantime, move the Three Kingdoms to the Chronicles. And personally, I do not want to see any more Germanic civs but they will happen nevertheless.

5 Likes
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That would be fascinating. There could be a completely new Siege Weapon:

The Dual-Stone Thrower: Two people together that role 2-3 Stones and throw them on enemies. Only medicore damage and range on flat ground, but stronger than mangonels on elevations.

That’d be fun.

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To make it work in competitive AoE, there would need to be the possibility to use “artificial elevation”, meaning, you would need to be able to put the Dual-Stone-Thrower on Walls. That would finally be that kind of change the Devs always want for their new DLCs :slight_smile:

11

Realistically anything or anyone can be added ingame now.old school concepts like neeeding a uu having a wonder building and 10 12 leader names are out the window now.

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I thought they fit more on AoE3 era and that’s why didn’t include them on my list.

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Hmm… I like the idea. I really do. But since the game has so far focused on civilizations based on peoples or states, it feels a bit too religiously defined to be realistic to me. Especially since they weren’t a single ethnic group and didn’t establish a state of their own.

2 Likes
14

I would like to see hospitallers and templars get added as full factions.they should get hero units like the 3k factions the grand masters of those orders.they should also get turcopoles as a shared unit.hospitaller uu can be a unit that can fight and convert since heal is already taken.templar uu will do extra damage with the last hit similar to a petard blowing up.

Why am I suggesting these because both of them appear in Saladin and Barbarossa campaigns.

15

from a historical point of view, i think the game can keep splitting and splitting civs and factions forever. The real question is “how many civs can the game accommodate, where each civilization is still unique and fun?”

I don’t think a single civ since DoI has been unique AND fun. So I don’t think there is any space for new civs in the game. I’d be happy to be proven wrong

In general I think this “let’s name some ethnic groups” approach is tackling the problem from the wrong direction. This is a game first, so any design should come from a place of “what kind of gameplay would fit well”, and then move to “what region could represent this kind of gameplay”. The devs’ current approach is putting the cart before the horse.

2 Likes
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If you are interested to see a list of civilisation concept that have been made in the past.
We had a littel project going on, trying to catch as many of them as possible. Look here:

The easiest way to make such a hub would have been if every concepter just linked that hub in their opening post, so it would automatically generate a reverse link.

3 Likes
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By “political reasons” you mean Microsoft lawyers who outsourced their thinking to AI? Because other medieval games with playable Tibetans are sold in China without issue.

Is this a joke?

The Ghaznavid Dynasty was based in Afghanistan (even though they were of Turkic origin), so Afghans are doable, although I’d rather see Sogdians first if I had to choose from the area.

I almost took this seriously until I read the second sentence. Lmao.

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Luxembourg was a fairly powerful state in the HRE.

Luxembourg and the Habsburgs were fighting over supremacy in the HRE. If there ever is a Teutons split Luxembourg is a valid candidate.

That said, I don’t think Teutons should ever be split. they are one of THE classic civs.

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Dude im dead serious we need them and they have stories to tell.imagine the hospitaller story ending where the aoe3 story starts.

Can always keep them as it is and add swiss bavarians austrians etc while giving them something to share like a unit.

20

Mea culpa. Albeit IMHO Burgundians already cover this area.

1 Like