In which world would a mesopotamian civ feel too similar to egypt thematically? It’s like sayin’ ‘‘an indian civ would be too similar to the chinese civ’’ like what the heck I never heard of someone saying this before. I can understand people who say ‘‘too similar to greeks thematically’’ to my beloved wish for a roman civ (even if i highly contradict to that statement) but to say that about mesopotamians in relation to the egypts is absurd. Yes, celts would be cool and they are on my list of the three most wished future civs for AoM (romans, mesopotamians, celts) but if they are a legit choice, mesopotamians whould be a super legit choice. You know, the culture which is mentioned as the cradle of civilization, which contains several of the earliest empires of humankind like the akkadian, sumerian, babylonian or assyrian empires, which has many gods that several times influenced pop culture like Marduk, Nergal, Ishtar, An/ Anu etc. to just name a few, the culture with one of the most iconic architectures with the hanging gardens, the ziggurats, the ishtar gate (just look at the mesopotamian architecture set in Age of Empires 1 for example). The culture that tells prominent legends like the Story of Gilgamesh and is even mentioned in modern religion.
Sorry i don’t want to attack you but your post really triggered something in me.