[Poll] How many DLC per year?

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
1

If we assume we get 4 new civilisations per year, how should the DLCs be split up.
Price per Civilisation stays the same (I’d guess 5€/civilisation).
So we get either 1, 2, 3 or 4 DLC with two different ways to split the civilisations up for 2 DLC.

Which pattern of DLC would you prefer

  • 1+1+1+1
  • 2+1+1
  • 2+2
  • 3+1
  • 4

0 voters

Assuming they are distributed equally over the year with the biggest one last.

1+1+1+1

  • They don’t have to find pairs of fitting civilisations to add new ones
  • New content every 3 months
  • Hard to make campaigns
  • Makes free DLC challenges like the USA one possible
  • Example: Byzantines, Danes (Vikings), Japanese and Aztecs

2+1+1

  • One themed DLC plus two individuals
  • Limited possibility to explore themed expansions
  • New content every 3-6 months
  • The single civilisation DLC might come without campaings
  • Makes free DLC challenges like the USA one possible
  • Example: American DLC whit Aztecs and Maya and than Byzantines and Japanese as single civilisation DLC.

2+2

  • Civilisations always come in pairs
  • The model AoE2DE seems to follow now
  • New content every 6 months
  • Easy to add campaigns to all DLC
  • Example: Mediterranean pack with Byzantines and Turks and a American Pack with Aztecs and Inca

3+1

  • Strong themed expansion
  • The possibility to add one civilisation that doesn’t fit in
  • New content every 6 months
  • Maybe the AoE3DE model
  • The single Civilisation DLC might be without campaing
  • Makes free DLC challenges like the USA one make the most sense with this model
  • Example: American pack with Aztecs, Maya and Inca and the Byzantines as a single Civilisation DLC.

4

  • Very strong themed expansion
  • Problems adding civilisation that don’t fit in
  • Hard to find 4 fitting civilisations
  • AoE2HD DLC model
  • Only one DLC every 12 months
  • Makes it easy to make a lot of campaigns
  • Example: Big Mediterranean Expansion with Spanish/Castile, Barbers/Morocco, Byzantines and Turks

4 might be a bit optimistic but in case they add 3 civilisations per year a similar pattern applies. Like 1+1+1, 1+2 or 3.
I think 5 per year would be a bit much that would be more than half of the base game.

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2

It is better to release strong themed 4 civ or 3 civ DLCs.
It makes adding in at least 1 campaign easy, and allows the devs to pad up the roster nicely.

For example, in a DLC with a Byzantines theme, they could include:
-Byzantines
-Turks
-Venetians
-Bulgarians

This example adds 3 classic rivals to one of the civs, that also have relation with other civs already in the game.

Then could also do a Mesoamerica DLC with:
-Aztecs
-Mayans
-Tarascans
-Tlaxcalans

Again a DLC with a major theme (Aztecs) and 3 classic opposing civs.
Same model would also be easy to transport to most areas of the world.

Iberian DLC:
-Moors
-Castillans
-Aragonese
-Portuguese

Indian DLC:
-Tamils
-Bengals
-Odyias
-Sinhalese

And so on.

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3

I know it’s been a tradition, but they don’t really need to do a very strong themed expansion. Like, The Forgotten were just that, the forgotten. They could do, for example, Lords of the Sea, with civs from different parts of the world. Nothing against region-themed expansions, though.
Talking about tradition, by the way, I don’t think they will launch DLC’s with 4 civs. AOE 3 and AOM had 3 civs/major gods only expansions, and both are the more asymmetric Ages we got (I don’t know about AoEO, never played, unfortunately).

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4

The issue with this approach, is that having cis from very far away corners of the world, all in one DLC, makes it very hard to get at least one campaign in said DLC.

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5

My favourite pattern is 3+1 because it allows strong themed expansion but also a small DLC to bridge the time between those Expansions and the possibility to add civilisations that don’t fit into a themed expansion.

Making Free DLC challenges like the USA keeps the interest in the game high while giving people with lower income (or students with no income) the possibility to get new content for Free.
But I think it’s sad that the US DLC had no single player content at all. A small mini campaign with 2-3 missions would have been nice.

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6

Yeah, they would need to cross civs campaigns with other DLCs. Might work well if they advertise (and develop this concept) properly.

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