The problem that I personally find with it is the 48 civ limit. I’m not sure if this still exists, but until the devs confirm it can be changed, we have to assume it is. Because we have 39 civs currently, this leaves space for 9 more civs. If we look at the use of different architecture sets as an easy measure of where civs come from:
- Eastern European, with 6 civs, about 15% of the civs use this.
- Mediterranean, with 5 civs, about 13% of civs use this.
- East Asian, with 5 civs, about 13% of civs use this.
- Central European, with 4 civs, about 10% of civs use this.
- Western European, with 4 civs, about 10% of civs use this.
- Middle Eastern with 4 civs, about 10% of civs use this.
- South East Asian, with 3 civs, about 8% of civs use this.
- Mesoamerican, with 3 civs, about 8% of civs use this.
- African, with 2 civs, about 5% of civs use this.
- Central Asian, with 2 civs, about 5% of civs use this.
- South Asian, with only Indians, about 3% of civs.
Now, if we condense this into continents/larger areas, we get:
- Europe, 19 civs, about 49% of civs are European.
- Asia, 11 civs, about 28% of civs fall into the Asian continent.
- Middle East, with 4 civs, about 10% of civs are from the Middle East
- Central America, with 2 civs, about 5% of civs are from Central America.
- Africa, also with 2 civs, once again 5%.
- South America, with only 1 civ, about 3% of civs.
- Indian Subcontinent, which I’ve counted as part of Asia, but I’ll also put it here, because it only has 1 civ, making up 3% of the game.
Now lets say we add some of the most common European civ suggestions, such as Romanians, Wallachians, Serbians, Croatians, Venetians, Swiss, and probably a few others. Let’s just say we add those, over 2-3 DLCs. Now we have 3 civ slots left if we assume the 48 limit is correct, and Europe has now changed to 25 civs, giving it 55% of civs. Asia, as the next highest now only takes up 24%, and South America and India now only account for 2% of total civs. The entire African continent would only have about 4% of civs in the game. Lets say we add Georgians and Armenians, another popular suggestion. Now the Caucasus accounts for 4% of civs, the same as all of Africa. But we only have 1 civ selection left. Where do we put it? It isn’t possible to put it somewhere that will fully be able to represent the neglected areas, India, Africa, America, at least two significant areas will be left out.
Now, let’s use a different hypothetical scenario. Lets say that instead of adding those European and Caucasus DLCs, we add a DLC to South America, adding 2 civs, such as the Chimu and Wari, diversifying it, justifying a new architecture set for South America, to which we can add Incas, as well as increasing the civ diversity in South American campaigns. Now South America takes up 7% of civs. Now, we have another 7 civs we can add. Lets say we add 4 to Africa, probably over 2 DLCs, lets say the Zimbabweans, Nubians, Congolese, and Swahili. Now Africa has been increased up to 13% of civs, and Europe has balanced out a bit more down to 42%. And now, we are in the same position we were earlier with 3 civs remaining. This time though, Europe makes up 42%, as opposed to 55%. That’s a pretty major difference, and allows for a lot more civ diversity. Now, with our last three slots, lets visit India/Southern Asia, the final neglected area. Let’s say we add two civs to India, for example the Rajputs and Chola. This breaks up the Indian umbrella, allowing different parts of India to feature. Our final civ could then be anything, it could be another Indian civ, it could be Nepal, or Tibet, it could be a European civ.
Another key argument to consider is how we differentiate civs from one another. Some of the popular suggestion for the European civs listed above include Heavy Cav unique units, focus on booming, Cav Archer units, Swiss pikes. Most of these either aren’t hugely unique, or cross over quite heavily with civs that already exist. Swiss Pikes from example might just be a Kamayuk/Teutonic Knight hybrid unit, which isn’t very unique. Lots of the European suggestions revolve around knights, of which most of the European civs already do. About 10 of the 19 European civs are typically played as a cav civ, just over 50%. If we add civs from other areas we can diversify this more. We can have more elephant civs added from India, Camel civs from Africa, not to mention the fact that entirely new regional unit lines can be created for these areas.
In summary, if we add more Euro civs, we throw away the potential for greater civ diversity, as well as filling up most of the slots with civs that probably won’t really bring anything new to the table in terms of units, gameplay, mechanics, or architecture. That’s my view on it, we really need to prioritize other parts of the world than Europe as long as the 48 civ limit remains in place.