Two weeks ago we learned about Jeanne d’Arc. Last Tuesday Aussie_Drongo made a video about Ayyubids. I expected some news today, the pattern suggested it obviously, but there is nothing or I missed something?
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U are right 
first new was on a monday, the second came on tuesday. Ok lets wait tomorrow then 
actually would be nice to know something more about the new civs, or some screenshot atleast. Not only these “variants”…
The civ website seemed to have updated in the past couple of hours and made the layout in alphabetical order. Last time they updated this page was when they announced new info.
Edit—
Now they seem to have reorganized the page with original civs, and then another section for the new civs.
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I was thinking that maybe the announcements aren’t scheduled every 7 days, because if they presented a civ or variant every week they’d have a empty week. So it may be that announcements are scheduled on a longer period. Or maybe because of random issues the update comes out whenever in the week. At the moment, nothing new, let’s wait a little longer…
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No new civ announced this week? 
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ya I don’t know what’s going on. They are taking their sweet time.
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Another time we have to say it: this lack marketing skill sucks
It isn’t just marketing. It is safe to say that Relic and AoE4’s greatest poison is likely internal structure. They move like a monolith, slowly and with extreme difficulty. This is likely one of those cases where a higher up made a request that pierced through the entire system, making what little marketing they had go awry.
Friday is still right around the corner though, so this could definitely be wrong and an overreaction from the folks in this post. But, I think I’m right about their issues with command structure regardless.
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Wow its friday and nothing… maybe they just skip this week^^^
Instead they could atleast show some pictures or an artwork i dont know…
I would prefer they do the reveals in tournaments. I think they should give footage to EGCTV to show during their breaks in between games. The devs can post it online later in the day. I remember the first commercial for the movie Ant Man came during the premier of the show Agent Carter. That type of marketing gets people more invested.
You know, I just realized there’s an analogy to the lack of a teaser this week and what the Joker said in The Dark Knight about the plans:
- Nobody panics when things go according to a plan, even if the plan is something very simple or very horrible.
- If Relic says “No news until the DLC release”, bobody panics, because it’s all part of the plan.
But, if Relic says that every week would be more news, but one week those are delayed.
Well, THEN EVERYONE LOSES THEIR MINDS! Because its not part of the plan.
I guess the reason why the production team did not release the update information as planned is because they did not expect that variant civilization would encounter strong opposition from a large number of players in the player community, so they are now trying to modify variant civilization to allow variant civilization to Civilization can be accepted by players.
Obviously, this challenge is very difficult. The variant civilization must have been planned and designed half a year ago, and it is very difficult to change it now. Perhaps the best way for the production team at the moment is to remove the variant civilization and launch the DLC early. .In this way, players can at least enjoy two carefully crafted new civilizations quickly.
As for the variant civilization, they can have another half year to make the new variant civilization more popular with players.
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This is very possible, i had the same thought
We need more info! I want to learn more about these civs
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Same here. About Variants: atleast they must have completly new landmarks, otherwise to me is just bullshit. They could just add different things/unit/tactics to the old civ and it was fine.
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Somewhere along the lines of redesigning the Mongol Lancer into a Keshik, the Horseman for Delhi to a Ghazi Raider and the MAA of Abbasid into the Ghulam, they realized that they could just do it a few times, slap on some models for those new units only and call it a civilization.
Just let in some streamers 2 - 3 months in earlier to release, have them spout to the entire community of 5 people on discord, reddit and these forums about how the expansion is maaaassive and that it has a whole 6 new civilizations.
You’ve effectively convinced the rest of the fools that there is actually more going on than just 2 new civilizations and one singular campaign. The veil is there, and it is thin for anyone giving it more than a second of thought.
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I’ll follow the comment up above with classic gamedesign mentality. Concepts are cheap. Design is cheap. All of these mechanical units are cheap to put together. Having a few artists manifest models for those things is still a farcry from building a whole new set of architecture, create music and art as well as integrate a proper civilization into the game.
No, instead, it is 2 years into this games lifespan and we’ve already devolved to making Empire of Jade.
It is beyond a joke and though the expansion release may put some people at ease for a few months, I suspect it’ll just bubble forth eventually how lazy this entire premise has been.
I was extremely critical upon announcement. I contemplated for a while, holding back criticism for a good week or two. But, the more I think about it, the more it brings me back to the initial outrage. No matter how you look at it, they crossed many lines.
I’ll end this with that many people were excited for the Tale of the Dragon in AoM. People do not look back at it today fondly and I suspect the only saving grace for The Sultans Ascend will be the only thing people asked for to begin with; two proper civilizations, new biomes and a campaign.
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Since we’ve moved on from speculation about (the lack of) communication, just a bit on this.
Code is not cheap. Programming is not cheap. Senior programmers are often the highest paid discipline in both software and games dev.
Obviously we have no idea yet exactly how fleshed out these variants will be. But let’s not knock things just because they’re merely “design” work, because somebody needs to implement it.
And of course, not having new art is obviously a cost-saver. Not denying that. But I don’t think folks understand what real programmer resource costs (vs. say working with the same tools the modders do, which is “code” but not developing the engine, etc - very different job specs).
(also you missed the bunch of maps that are apparently coming out with the expansion - honestly for the low price of £12 I think it’s reasonable even without the variants)
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I know you are trying to be the bulwark and champion of programmers, but you’re entirely ignoring the message by addressing it in this way. Implementation is of course something that must be done, it isn’t as if a CEO in his Yacht, snaps his fingers and four new variants appear out of thin air. There is a whole hierarchy of individuals that make this product come together.
Having said that. What I said above was simply not addressed by you. You moved into a whole different space by talking about implementation. Concepts are cheap. Ideas and designs are cheap. No where does that mention programming, so make a note of that.
But, since you mentioned it, let me address implementation. Would you say a cake made with one fifth of its ingredients is cheaper than a cake made with all its ingredients? You can’t really dance around this, as the reality is that the amount of coding would be multiplied by all of the other things needed to be done, had they decided to actually do full on civilizations. So even in that aspect, having a programmer doing far less work IS cheaper.
Programmers are one of the more costlier members of production, and seemingly have more sturdy careers as they tend to be more flexible and are able to move from project to project far more smoothly than some of the other major roles due to specificity. Going from a bubbly game to something very grim can require a whole different set of skills from Artists or Musicians.
Anyway, the point here is that, they are likely to have programmers around regardless. Having them be able to convert their skills into a fully functioning civilization at a fraction of its original cost is a godsend; and as I explained in my initial comment, they likely bumped into this realization at some point last year and its led the variants as well as the “new” unique units introduced months ago.
I champion programming not least because it actually involves design, but because that design can also be costly. It took me three days to spec out a piece of work recently. My superiors don’t consider that effort cheap.
I also focused on programming because you and others seem to be focusing on the lack of art, and the resulting costs thereof. If I’m wrong, I’m sorry about that.
(r.e. the cake, again, you’re picking a fraction out of thin air based on what you think the costs are. The development tools we use in modding are the same they use in-house. They don’t require programming to hook things like art, music, etc up to)
But more than that, because of the mistake you make towards the end of your post. You assume programmers will be around regardless. Normally when I get on my soapbox about development, you tell me you’re already aware, and I don’t want to talk down - I just want to inform, when it’s relevant. So with that in mind: how much do you know about games development and how projects are structured?
LATE EDIT - maybe I also need to clarify what I mean by programming. I don’t mean “things that can be achieved with the content editor”. That can be done by anyone with the requisite training.