I invite everyone to discuss the proposed new civilizations for AoM 
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The problem with Slavic, Celtic, Norse and Baltic paganism is that they have common roots. Having all of them in the same game could feel samey. Maybe that is also a chance because similar civilisations are easier to implement.
They Greek, Hittite or Indian mythology have too but they go heavily influenced by other civilisations and got their own characteristics this way.
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Drekavac yes pleaseeee
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Well, the mythology of the Slavs differs from the Norse mythology, and even more so from the Celts. There is a hypothesis that the Slavs and Balts have a common origin - even the names of the gods sound similar:
Perun - Perkƫnas
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Not only those two.
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the common roots of a lot of Religions.
So technically you can find Temples for Thor in Japan because the Buddhist gods have the same origins as the Norse gods.
Making those common roots a feature could be awesome.
I kinda like the idea of an AoM2 were you start without a main god and without civilisations features and than only by building a temple for a specific god you gain civilisations traits.
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Slavic and Norse mythology have more in common with Indian than with Celtic mythology. Hittite Mythology has more in common with the Semitic mythologies (Canaanite, Assyrian-Babylonian, pre-Yahwist Hebrew, etc.) than any of those, and the origins of Celtic Mythology are actually a mystery, as there was never a unified Celtic culture and local variations of the religion diverged greatly.
However, I do agree that Slavic mythology is very similar to Norse mythology, but thereâs a more glaring problem with it: much of it is speculative. We donât really have much surviving information about the Slavic gods and their relationships, much of it is reconstructed from folklore, linguistic evidence, and comparative mythology with related religions.
Iâd say in my own personal opinion that if they ever make AoM 2 itâd be a mistake not to include the main three civilizations from the first game, and also introduce new civilizations as well.
I think a lot of people like myself think of specifically the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norsemen when talking about AoM. They can find new ways to make them more interesting to play, while also keeping what made them unique in the first game.
As far as new cultures Iâd like to see are as following (in no particular order):
- Japan
- China
- Aztecs
- Babylonians
Letâs hope that they are indeed working on a sequel rather than a DE version because we already have the HD version of the game.
One idea I have is giving the Slaves, Celts and Germanians a common tech tree but than different gods that make them into different civilisations when progressing through the ages.
- I had the exact opposite idea as an âalternate civilizationsâ mechanic, such as Romans for Greeks, Nubians for Egyptians, and Saxons for Norse, where you have the same Major/Minor gods and myth units, but the core gameplay mechanics (such as how to generate favor), your military units, and architecture were different.
- You wrote slaves instead of slavs.
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I had a similar idea too. Not Greeks and Romans because they actually had a different religion.
My idea was that instead of choosing a main god like in AoM you choose one of 3 variants of a civilisation
For Germanians it would be Norse, Saxon(or some other West Germanic tribe) and Goths.
For Greeks it would be Sparta, Athens and Thebes.
For Egypt it would be Upper, Lower Egypt and Nubians
For Mesopotamia it would be Assyrians, Babylonains and maybe Summerians (They share a lot of mythology).
For China it depends on which period you want to base it on because I think 3 Kingdoms is to modern.
Doesnât work as well for all cultures like Aztecs for example. Mayas, Zapotec or whatever are too different.
Those different sub civilisations would have the same base techntree and the same base mechanics but some unique technologies, units and maybe modifiers.
Like Sparta gets better Hoplites, Athens batter Ships and Thebes maybe better Cavalry.
I think AoM overdid it a bit with differences between civilisations. I think Egyptian buildings should coast Wood too and Norse Villagers should be a able to build buildings.
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Different practices and stories yes, but most of the beings (gods, heroes, monsters) were the same. Even if they had different stories about said beings, or combined attributes not present in greek mythology, such as syncretizing them with etruscan gods and spirits, they were still there in some form or another, and the current God bonuses and myth units work well for both cultures.
They adopted a lot of the Greek mythology later on but originally they had their own and different religion. When they get in contact with Gods of new civilisations, like the Greeks themselves, they either try to explain why they are just a different version of one of their gods, or they add the god to their pantheon. So they set Thor and Zeus are the same as Jupiter but they started their own Isis cult.
Roman gods originally werenât depicted as humans but more abstract. It was easy for them to adopt the Greek view on them because it didnât conflict with their older vision.
But anyway if you would make a Mythological version of Rome, all the modern stuff like the Imperial Age Legions wouldnât fit in. They would also use Phalanx and stuff like that and I donât think it would be worth making calling them Rome because people would expect other things.
Mythological civilisations need to have some mystery to them, classical Romans or Hellenistic Greeks would feel wrong next to mythological creatures.
Early Slavs or Germanic people would work nicely because we donât know much about them. A good chance to fill the gaps with some Mythology.
I think these are brilliant solutions.
- Germans: Vikings and Saxons
- Balto-Slavs: Slavs and Balts
- Hellenic: Greeks and Romans
- Egyptian: Egyptians and Nubians
- Mesopotamian: Babylonains and Persians
- Pre-Columbian: Aztecs and Mayas
- Far East: Chinese and Japanese
- The Atlanteans would only have one variant.
A total of 8 civs (3 completely new) with 15 variants.
More civs would appear in extensions:
- Hindus
- Inca
- Celts
- Phoenicians
Or maybe even:
- Africans
- Indians
- Aborigines
- Jews
I was guided by a brilliant series of books on world mythologies (in Polish).
(These are not my photos, only from the net)
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The Atlanteans can have the Lemurians as a variant, since they were a distant territory of Atlanteans all the way in the Indian Ocean that had their homeland destroyed by the gigantes Ephialtes and Otus, they could be given their own distinct culture developed after the sinking of their homeland and resettlement in either Australia, East Africa, or Asia.
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India, Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica are the most known and varied in creatures and gods out there that still arenât in the game. Would be the obvious options imo.
Just imagine Gilgamesh or Arjuna as heroes, or the god Mictlantecuhtli⊠just imagining those characters portrayed to a new Age of Mythology (or a Definitive Edition) hypes me so bad.
There are many mythological creatures in the Andean and Amazonian territories that were under the Inca domain. Sadly these are unknown to most people, so itâs almost impossible to see them in AoM. Still, it would be great to see a Mod with creatures like Ăawpa Machus (The âAncestorsâ or first people created by Wiraqucha that are depicted as powerful giants or spectres), Yakurunas (River spirits that are usually drawn in a similar way to the Black Lagoon creature), Pumarunas (Warlocks that transforms into Pumas or Puma therianthropes) and the Amaru (A winged snake with a llama head, similar to a Dragon) among others.
Romans donât fit into a Mythological game. Because they canât be designed in a satisfying way.
Either they look to modern and the Mythologic aspects look wrong.
Or they look to old and donât feel like Romans.
Two completely different cultures.
Babylonians and Assyrians fit better together.
Also two completely different cultures.
Also very different. They share a few cultural similarities but people wouldnât want them to have similar gameplay.
I donât like them. I think with American Civilisations there is no need for Atlanteans.
They where kind of a weird American Greek mix.
They have a Mythology that perfectly fits into the game.
Those and Japanese Mythology. I think Japanese Oni are relatively well known and would make for nice Mythological units. Also have the advantage that you can pronounce their names unlike Chinese.
Itâs about mythology rather than time period. Romans would be fine