'Monarchs of the Orient': A DLC concept

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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(Ignore the misspelling of ‘Empires’ by the AI image generator!)

I know I’ve posted numerous DLC ideas in the past, but now I’m going to post a series of topics that focus on specific DLCs. I will admit that I have stolen some ideas for things such as UUs, UTs and bonuses from elsewhere, and pieced them together, as I am no good at thinking these things up myself!

First up is a DLC which is perhaps the most commonly requested. ‘Monarchs of the Orient’ will see the Chinese civ semi-split (with the OG AoK civ still keeping their name and previous attributes of course) and finally given their own campaign. It also features two new civs in the Jurchens and Tibetans.

CHINESE (Campaign)

Obviously it goes without saying that the Chinese are to have their own campaign in this DLC. Given the long, rich and varied history of China, there are numerous contenders. Zhu Di was a very tempting choice, as it could basically serve as a campaign bookended by Lake Poyang (rise of the Ming dynasty) and Le Loi (Ming Chinese invasion of Vietnam), and could have provided a diverse array of opponents. But I thought, why not a campaign about Tang China, arguably the greatest period in all of Chinese history? And who else as the protagonist but Taizong who extended the Tang empire to its greatest heights and ushered in a Chinese golden age? In this campaign you’ll face a wide array of enemies, from the Tibetans, to the Koreans, to the Tatars/Turks/Mongols/Cumans (or whoever is a suitable stand-in for the Gokturks and Eastern Turkic Khaganate).

Oh yeah, and the Chinese finally get gunpowder!

JURCHENS

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Unite the Manchu tribes of North East Asia and pour into China on horseback, seize land and forge the almighty Jin dynasty, and fight off any rivals, in your ambition to rule over all of China.

The Jurchens would be an obvious addition as they were hugely important in Chinese history, founding the Jin dynasty and engaging in wars with the Southern Song dynasty. Their speciality is camels and gunpowder. I thought a campaign focusing on wars with the Song would be interesting, but Aguda who founded the Jin dynasty is a very obvious and exciting choice.

Architecture: East Asian

Language: Manchu

Tech Tree: Arbalest, Parthian Tactics, Heavy Cav Archer, Elephant Archer, Eagle Scout, Champion, Halberdier, Supplies, Hussar, Battle Elephant, Onager, Armoured Elephant, Plate mail, Shipwright, Architecture, Fortified Wall, Treadmill Crane, Hoardings, Block Printing, Atonement, Faith, Redemption

UT: 1. Tungusic System: farm yields 50 more foods. 2. Guazi Ma - Camels and Steppe lancers do blast damage

UU: Tiefutu: Fast cavalry lancer with better pierce armor

Wonder: Qingshou Temple

Bonuses

  • Cavalry armour upgrades are free
  • Trebs are 30% cheaper
  • Camels and Steppe lancers resist 50% of bonus damage
  • Fortified walls are free
  • Team bonus: Siege units have +2 line of sight

TIBETANS

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From the fertile lands of the Himalayas, use your people’s religious fervour to expand your territory beyond the known world, and your experience of mountain warfare to your great advantage in your conquests.

Yep, that’s right, the Tibetans. I really don’t think the game will be banned in China for acknowledging that Tibet existed about 1000 years ago. That’s like claiming that British players will be offended by the inclusion of the Celts given the disputed territories that still exist today, and yet the first ever AoE II campaign was a Celt campaign about the fight for Scottish independence from the English! Anyway, less ranting. The civ’s specialty is monks, and their campaign will be similar to Bari, the Hautevilles or the Grand Dukes, in that the focus isn’t one sole protagonist, but a number of them. The Dharma Kings campaign will follow the stories of Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detseng and Ralpacan, and the rise, peak and fall of the Tibetan empire.

Architecture: East Asian

Language: Old Tibetan

Tech Tree: Arbalest, Hand Cannoneer, Thumb Ring, Parthian Tactics, Eagle Scout, Camel, Battle Elephant, Hussar, Paladin, Siege Ram, Siege Onager, Bombard Cannon, Ring Archer Armour, Fast Fire Ship, Cannon Galleon, Careening. Shipwright, Bombard Tower, Heated Shot, Sappers, Fervour, Crop Rotation

UT: 1. Bon Temple: Monks are created faster. 2. Navigating Himalaya - Villagers move faster on elevation

UU: Khampa: Infantry that can also heal and convert like monks

Wonder: Potala Palace

Bonuses

  • Farms are 2x2 tiles
  • Previous age blacksmith technologies are free
  • Monks move 30% faster
  • Stone mines last 30% longer
  • Ballista towers are available in the castle age
  • Team bonus: Scorpions have no minimum range
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Almost useless UT

Very strong

Overpowered

Not very useful in Late Game and also very map dependent.

How can a unit attack and also convert?
If you right click an enemy it can only do one of the two things.

Awkward bonus to have.

This is just a better version of the Romans Team Bonus.

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Tibetans need a new Architecture set. Could be shared with the Mongols.

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Maybe the unit switches like the bengali uu,monk to infantry.Either way its too similar to warrior priest.

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BBT could be ##### ### would make them OP, hand cannons I am not a fan of since they get cho ko nu

really strong

extremely strong

how do you counter their camels with a civ that doesn’t get arbs? in camel v camel fights bonus damage is super important, just as in halb vs camel fights

so a better warrior monk?

slavs already have “monks move 20% faster”

Romans already have “scorpions have minimum range decreased by 1”

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As others have said hiding behind an image yoy didnt make and a bunch of unbalanced bonuses comes across as lazy. Sorry as much as the civs themselves are want you cant just flash a name I want in front of my face with little balance effort and expect rousing applause

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Honestly This seems approximately as good as the Magyar Free attack upgrades. Sure defense is typically better for melee units, but then, cav upgrades only help cav, whereas attack upgrades also help infantry.

Also bonuses like that aren’t as useful on closed maps. If your opponent can wall up, then you’re not really taking advantage of those techs. You save the resources researching them, but unless you’re able to take advantage of having that tech, it’s almost wasted. Magyars and Bulgarians have a similar dynamic. They HAVE to be aggressive to get value out of their bonus. If the map/situation doesn’t call for it, the bonus doesn’t do much.

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i think this is almost on the same level as free fletching, bodkin, bracer
the big difference is also timing: for the the first few minutes in each age this is an enormous bonus where especially archer units are completely useless against knights.
There is a reason that the +1 pierce armor for turks only applies to the scout line (and that indians with their +1/+2 didnt have knights)

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I like the AI ​​image generator from Bing - I had a lot of fun with it, but I couldn’t make an AoE cover as good as yours :smile:

Regarding the topic of your Far Eastern/Chinese DLC proposal, I agree that the presence of Jurchens and Tibetans civs in AoE 2 will be useful. I think that Siamese civ could also appear in such a DLC, as well as completely new Architecture Sets:

  1. Nomadic
  2. Chinese (East Asian would be renamed Japanese)
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Which AI did you use for that banner art? How did you manage to input what you wanted?

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I need to figure it out so I can make banner art for my made up Oceanic DLC.

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Preferably the Siamese should be introduced in a new SE Asian DLC together with Chams and Mons. They weren’t part of the Sinosphere and would be somewhat awkward if introduced in an East Asian DLC with Jurchens and Tibetans.

And Tibetans, although I really wish the devs could include them, are highly unlikely to appear in a future DLC for obvious reasons. The devs had considered adding them before but abandoned the option. And the chances for them to reconsider adding the Tibetans are slim. If the Tibetans cannot be introduced, then the best alternative to replace them would be the Tanguts. The new DLC could be named Lords of the Eastern Steppe featuring Jurchens, Khitans, and Tanguts as well as campaigns for Chinese and Japanese.

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Tibetans should focus on a sheep based economy rather than farms e.g. have mills produce sheep for their herders.

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In terms of drama, I would choose Yue Fei. Tragedy brings out a hero.

Why Camel?
They did use gunpowder, but why make them specialize in gunpowder? Would this even make their gunpowder superior to the Chinese?

Don’t use it as a UT. This is a rumor though it is famous in Chinese world. It is not recorded in the History of Jin. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, descendant of the Jurchens, refuted its existence. Some research also pointed out that Guaizi ma was actually a cavalry formation of the Song Dynasty, not the Jin Dynasty.

Better to just make Tiefutu a UT to provide more armor or other improvements to the Knight-line and Steppe Lancer-line, if it as a UU will be just a steppe lancer with a few more pierce armor.

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Yaks based economy for Tibetans

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Monks and Yaks stereotypical tibet design.

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Most likely it will be with Zhu Di (to connect Poyang Lake), Le Loi and obviously the Chinese campaign of AoE 3 (which is based on Zheng He’s travels)…

Act II: China | Age of Empires Series Wiki | Fandom

The Chinese campaign focuses loosely on the 1421 hypothesis about a Chinese treasure ship discovering the New World before Christopher Columbus. The story mainly focuses on Jian Huang, a Ming captain who has long dreamed of seeing the outside world, and his partner and new friend, Lao Chen, a large, powerful, and crude sailor, who are given orders to help expand the Ming Empire.

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Thanks for the feedback. I admittedly did steal some ideas for these civs so I wasn’t too sure how to completely make their tech tree. I will come back and rethink some of these.

What are people’s thoughts on the campaign choices, UUs and just general choice of civs?

As for the AI image. I used Bing AI image generator and the prompt was something like ‘Age of Empires II DLC entitled ‘Monarchs of the Orient’ with the poster/cover featuring Songtsen Gampo, Taizong of Tang and Taizu of Jin stood front and centre with Chinese mountains in the background’ 11

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The civs per se I like but I’d like to see a new architecture with it. Tibetans should have a Yak based food economy. I loved how they were made in the Dharma mod. They weren’t really famous for being prolific farmers.

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Yes, I agree. My Tibetans concept (which is still one of my best) had a bonus where they could create Yaks from the Mill.

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