Malay need to be Split / Indonesian DLC Proposal

[Juggernaut8704]

The current Malay civilization in Age of Empires II represents a vast and culturally diverse region -encompassing present-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, parts of Vietnam (Champa), and even the Philippines. This approach, while understandable when the civ was first introduced, significantly compresses a wide array of distinct historical polities, ethnicities, and military traditions into a single, generalized entity.
With the increasing historical depth and regional diversity reflected in newer DLCs, it may now be time to revisit this area and give the civilizations of Maritime Southeast Asia the representation they deserve.

Maritime Southeast Asia was one of the most dynamic and interconnected regions of the pre-modern world. Between the 7th and 16th centuries, the region saw the rise and fall of multiple influential thalassocracies - Srivijaya, Majapahit, Champa, Malacca, and many others - that shaped the political and economic balance of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Yet, in AoE2, this vast historical canvas is condensed into one civ with a handful of general naval and economic bonuses.

Suggested Civilizations

1. Javanese

• Centralized agrarian-maritime empire (Majapahit, Kediri, Singhasari)
• Balanced land and naval civ with strong infantry and late-game economy.
• They inherit the Majapahit Campaign
• Keris/Kris Warrior: Iconic Sword/Dagger. Infantry with Amok ability (reduce armour of nearby units in radius of 3).
  
  

2. Chams

• Hindu-Buddhist maritime kingdom in central Vietnam.
• Mobile and aggressive civ emphasizing cavalry and raiding.
• Champa Marines (heavy infantry with increased speed when in 5 tile radius of water bodies).
  
  

3. Visayans

• The pre-colonial maritime polities of the central Philippines.
• Fast, adaptable civ emphasizing mobility, archery, and guerrilla tactics.
• Representing the Barangay Confederation, only civ that doesn’t get any Elephants.
• Kampilan Swords (Infantry that periodically throws a Balisong (butterfly knife) at enemy stunning them for 2-3 seconds)
  
  

4. Malayans

• Inherit Malay Civ retaining most of its identity except the Wonder is changed.
• Get a new campaign.

Additional Gameplay Features

• New Elephant Javelineer Regional unit for all Southeast Asian Civs replacing Cavalry Archer.
• New Unique Djong ship that is a regional replacement for Galley Line. It is faster but lesser HP.
• A new Architecture Set for Indonesians mixing Batak Architecture and Nusa Tenggarra Architecture Styles.

Potential Campaign Ideas:

Gajah Mada: (Javanese) - The unification of the archipelago under Majapahit. Original Campaign updated with the new units.

The Fall of Champa (Chams) - War with Khmer and defend against Vietnamese expansion.

Rajah Humabon (Visayans) - The pre-colonial Philippines and first contact with the West. War with Spanish.

Parameswara (Malayan) - The founding of Malacca and its rise as a trade hub post

[FranksAreLame]

It’s an interesting take, but I really, really do not want more gimmicky unique units.

The “Amok ability” is kind of worded to sound like an ability that can be cast via button press when it’s not on cooldown, which is absolutely awful and not in line with AoE II; if it’s not actually intended to be as such, then my apologies.

No stunning either, please. We have enough unique units with these odd effects that are completely out of place.

[VenialFoil55155]

I disagree with Keris Warrior as a unit, the name is uninspired. Keris wasn’t the main weapon of the Javanese, it was instead the spear and pike. My suggestion is the Bhayangkara, Majapahit elite unit. While it’s an elite unit, the Majapahit Javanese indeed have a salaried standing army, which is unusal for Southeast Asian civs at the same timeframe. Majapahit warrior also use armor, it’s disappointing that most modern media failed to depict this, instead depicting bare-chested soldier of the Mataram/Medang era, which is 500 years older.

Modern Indonesian historical drama depicted the armor poorly, the armor below looked like fantasy armor, rather than based on archaeological finding or reconstructing it from temple reliefs.

The Hikayat Banjar noted the Bhayangkara equipments in the Majapahit palace:

“So came out with their ornaments men with baju-rantai (chain mail) numbered forty alongside their swords and red kopiah [skull cap], men carrying astengger [arquebus] numbered forty, men carrying shield and swords numbered forty, men carrying dadap [a type of shield]^[i] and sodok [broad-bladed spear-like weapon]^[ii] numbered ten, men carrying bows and arrows numbered ten, (men) who carried parampukan spears^[iii] embroidered with gold numbered forty, (men) who carried Balinese shields with golden water engraving numbered forty.”

https://www.deviantart.com/danangvector1996/art/Majapahit-Military-Bhayangkara-Elite-Force-895057536

Pin on My Artwork

Pin on Araçil Favourites

If a bladed weapon need to be used for the sprite/model, they could use Kadga, ancient javanese sword that was depicted in temples.

Alternatively the model could use Lar Bangau sword, which is also depicted in temples:

Krishnayana Relief di 2025

Some people on Reddit suggested the Javanese UU could be an artillery called Cetbang or an armor piercing hand cannon called Bedil Tombak. I disagree with the later, because it looked kinda like fire lancer, furthermore Bedil Tombak isn’t really piercing, it’s a normal hand cannon. If piercing gunpowder unit is suggested, it would be Java Arquebus, a long matchlock arquebus reportedly able to pierce multiple armor. These suggestion is quite a long read, if I copied it all this would be a long post. Link to the Reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/x9v796/comment/inzk41z

As for the Djong, if it was going to replace something it would be Hulk/Carrack Line, not Galley Line. Djong is not a fast ship, it’s a multi-planked, multi-decked ship. I don’t think replacing a Line is urgent/needed for the whole new civs though. If the rumor is true, the civs with unique ship would lose Demolition Line. Historically only the Javanese used Djong as the main military ship (and at least until 1500s, built in Java only, the djong-building in Pegu and Banjar can only be confirmed in later sources), it is not an ubiquitous naval ship. Srivijayan Malay used Samvau, a dugout canoe. Malaccan Malay used Lancaran and Penjajap.

If Djong is not added, the hoaxed Thirisadai can instead be moved to Javanese line. There is a video preview of Thirisadai ship with Malay unit and Malay voices, so I think the devs is considering moving it to Malay civ - or it could be just a scenario / tournament-specific placement.

[Juggernaut8704]

Not button press active ability, I mean the passive ability name when you hover over the bicep icon like this -

[Estevao9543]

I think the ideal would be a Southeast Asia DLC with five civs, the four you mentioned plus the Tai, and I think it would still be possible civs for Borneo and the Moluccas, based on the sultanates of Brunei and Ternate.

It would also be cool to have a unit using the sumpit, a spear-blowgun (although I don’t know which civ exactly would have it, as the web says it was used in Sulawesi, Palawan, and Borneo), even if only in the editor.

[Mahazona]

The true Malay split would be philippines srilanaka and thailand

[VenialFoil55155]

That map did not take into consideration about chronology and how big the influence was. It is instead used an anachronistic (to the era of this game) and pseudohistorical term “Malay world”, which was derived from the Malaysian term “Alam Melayu” (appearing after 1930s), which is in turn derived from post 1800s British term “Malay Archipelago”, which in turn was based on pseudohistoric/pseudoscientific human racial categorization of five races.

Classical Malay texts never recorded such term existing, Malaysian people used it to claim culture, heritage, food, achievement, etc of broader Austronesian-speaking peoples in a political and irredentist fashion. Often the influence is very small, for example Sri Lanka which has some Malay-derived food. Java, Celebes, Moluccas, and Papua have little Malay influence, market Malay language is used as lingua franca, connecting traders, but not everyday language.

If we use historical records relevant to AOE 2 timeline, the Malays only acknowledge someone being Malay in connection with the Malacca and Johor Sultanate. Brunei, Patani, Aceh, and Kedah never identified themselves as Malay, nor did the Malays themselves acknowledge Bruneians, Patanis, Acehnese people, and Kedah people as Malay. In modern Malaysia, any Austronesian people is regarded as Malay because of the large number of Chinese and Indian people and the Malays need to establish Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy/Malay overlordship). Had they not done that, the number of Malay people would be small compared to the Indian and Chinese, and in turn they would object to the rule of the Malay people (demanding more democratic, equal rights compared to the present Malay royalty-Malay first based politic).

In terms of civ categorization that map is worthless and misleading.

”The true Malay split would be philippines srilanaka and thailand”

Sri Lanka and Thailand was never Malay to begin with, nor do they included in Austronesian group in modern academics.

[UpmostRook9474]

Absolutely some potential Southeast Asia civs are very attractive there.
It feels like they could form two differently themed DLCs:

• Mainland civs: Siamese, Chams, Mons (and even the Bai if they’re not introduced in a Chinese-themed DLC).
• Maritime civs: a pre-colonial Filipino civ, Chams if they’re not introduced in the mainland DLC, and separating the Javanese from the Malays.

However, Southeast Asia isn’t actually the region that’s gone the longest without new civs. I’d expect a Native American or African DLC to come first. Despite much larger, those areas are represented even less. Honestly, I’d rather see the devs properly flesh out East Asia first (the Three Kingdoms was quite a disappointing addition) before moving on to Southeast Asia (and as well as Central Asia).