Japanese, Italians, Malians, Aztecs, and Inca are what I picked.
They are all good choices I think because they all had unique aspects of history and culture that would make for interesting civilizations.
Japanese could be an infantry and archer civ with special bonuses for water
Italians could be a civ with a focus on trade with allies in team, and with some form of mercenaries like age of empires 3
Aztecs could be a strong civ at infantry with a replacement to cavalry order some sort, and a replacement to gunpowder and trebuchets
Malians can be a civ that focuses on trade, cavalry, and infantry, with a bonus to gold gathering.
Inca could be a strong defensive civ with many military options available and some form of road building.
Alternatively to Italians I think either Castile or Portugal could be added instead, if Italians do get added they will have to pick witch country in Italy.
Besides the Byzantine Empire that everyone wants my second highest on my wishlist are the Hungarians (Magyars) I think they could make a very interesting hybrid nomadic settled down civilisation. Imagine they start nomadic like the Mongoles but they can choose the settle down any time but they can’t reverse the decision.
Some ideas for the most requested ones:
Byzantine Empire
Fire Ships as unique unit
Maybe a land based flame thrower siege unit
Special unique infrastructure buildings that buff surrounding buildings
Japanese Empire
Samurai unit that can switch between Heavy Cavalry and Cavalry Archer (for a small gold cost) replaces Knight.
Warrior Monk with a Naginata that can’t convert or carry relics but can heal and fight like a Pikeman but more expensive and not as good against cavalry.
Shugun unit that can be build once that buffs foot soldiers nearby
Danes (Vikings)
Can build Raider in Dark Age. Less hitpoints than Man at Arms but strong against buildings. Becomes more durable in later Ages.
Longboat is a cheap and fast transport ship with limited fighting abilities that is available in Dark Age
They are Christianised in the Feudal Age so they can build Monasteries/Churches and Monks like everyone else.
Improved (naval) trade
Persians
They seem kinda similar to the Delhi Sultanate that already is a Persian civilisation.
Maybe they could combine Cavalry Archers with Elephants.
Turks/Seljuks/Rum/ Ottomans (Finding a good name is hard)
Strong Cavalry Archer
Horseman available in Dark Age and gets additional upgrades
Janissaries are unique durable Archers.
Mexica (Aztecs)
No cavalry, no gunpowder units, no crossbows and no siege weapons available
Jaguar Warriors are unique counter Infantry (I assume that might be the rolse of the Knight)
Eagle Warriors are unique Skirmishers that replace Crossbowman
Coyote Runners are Shock Infantry that take the role of Horseman
Slingers are cheap but strong support units that replace Hand Cannons
Ethiopians
Archer of the Eye are a very long range but fragile Archer
Camel Riders are anti cavalry mounted units to support the Archers
“Empire” is a Western Word.
we translate Tenno to Emperor so that makes ancient Japan an Empire too.
It’s just a word.
Ethiopia could also be called an Empire.
It’d be better if Turks had that since they’re much more significant than the Magyars , imagine if they are nomadic at the beginning but can settle irreversibly later on . They must also be sedentary to get their signature gunpowder units in the third or fourth age .
im Persian and as much as i like to have Persians included in a video game, i don’t think it’s a good idea to add Persia in a mostly medieval focused game when alot of power houses like Poles - Byzantines - Vikings/Norsemen and real diverse civs like Aztecs and Mayans which can be an excellent fit for the asymmetry identity of the game are not in the game yet
if it was an ancient era focused game, sure, Persians would be my first pick
Persia was ruled by many rulers outside Persia in the Middle Ages but I think due to cultural and architectural achievements and uniqueness I think it should be found in the DLC, also what should not be ignored is that a large number of players want Persia in AOE 4
I hope they are serious about making asymmetric civs and don’t spend much more time messing around in Europe at the expense of the rest of the world.
Make the Byzantines and Germans and call it a day until they have maybe another 8-10 civs elsewhere.