Random ideas inspired by history

Age of Empires III: DE III - Discussion
1

TEAM Customs Union (Germans)
Age 2
When the trader passes a trade route owned by your team, all allies (including yourself) receive 33% of the income.

Crystal Palace (British)
Age 4
Ship 1 Factory Wagon; Factories increase the work rate of nearby buildings by +20%. (replace one regular Factory card)

HMS Victory (British)
Age 4
Ship 1 Battleship; Battleships deal +25% damage within 20 range.
1000c
(British is the only one that lacks a unique Battleship improvement now).

Kiheitai (Japanese)
Age 4
Ship 10 Kiheitai (skirmisher equivalent with promotion); Kiheitai can be trained from Castles.

Scorched Earth Tactics (Russians)
Age 3
Blockhouses can be sold for 33% of their original cost; defensive buildings (excluding Walls) decrease the speed of nearby enemy units by -20%.

INF Beylik Army (Ottomans)
Age 3
Similar to “Circle Army” of Germans, ship a different unit in the following order:
Evzone
Qizilbash
Berber Camel Rider
Grant veteran upgrades
Numbers TBD

Meiji Restoration (Japanese)
Rework of the consulate option.
Remove the Isolation option, add the following units and techs:
Units (can all be trained separately, like the Isolation units):
Kiheitai: skirmisher equivalent with promotion
Shishi: spy with charged ranged attack
Battotai: fast melee unit with a charged charge attack (similar to Samurai, but higher speed and lower hp)
Falconet

Techs:
Counter Infantry Rifling: the same tech, but costs export
Silk Manufactory: ship a Factory; -15% gather rate from natural resources (including Shrines)
Taisei Hokan: consulate units cost regular resources instead of export; exchange all exports to food/wood/coin (amount for each = current exports * 1.1/3)

The Lord Protector (British)
Age 3 politician; replaces the Mercenary Contractor.
Enable Harquebusiers at Taverns. Veteran unit upgrades -50% cost.

The Industrialist (British/French/Germans)
Age 4 politician
Factories -50% construction time; grant all Factory upgrades for free (except Mass Production).

BTW, the numbers are all arbitrary so they need to be adjusted by their actual values.

WIP

Also, because I’m not familiar with the history of every civ in the game, this list is very “biased”. So please feel free to propose yours.

3 Likes
2

I’d like to see a historical reference that’s the opposite of this.

Ephraimite - Enemy Trade Posts on routes shared with you have reduced yields.

During the time of the Seven Years’ War, Prussia issued a bunch of debased coins to help pay for the war effort. However, since they had the same coinage as many of their neighbours, they gave them to the soldiers to spend on supplies abroad which caused inflation in enemy lands instead of Prussia. It would be great to actually have a Prussian civ to be able to fit in all the interesting references like this without bloating Germany so much.

I wish the politicians were more themed to each civilization. British should have options like choosing between Cavaliers (Royalists) and Roundheads (Parliamentarians). There are a few new ones like this but some are ridiculously specific like the Medici or the Pope.

Some examples of figures that could use a reference:

The Estrangeirado (Pordugal) - based on Pombal

The Cardinal (France) - based on Richelieu and Mazarin

The Chancellor (Germany) - based on Metternich or Bismarck

1 Like
4

Bismarck then, Metternich is allready present as the Royalist. (but not for the Germans funnily enough)

1 Like
5

Kiheitai could instead be like American Marines, where it upgrades Irregulars to no longer lose health and makes them reusable on a cooldown, whilst also adding the button to call upon them to the Castle.

8

The essence of the Kiheitai was a private armed force that opposed the shogunate and supported the modernization movement.
To the Tokugawa shogunate, they were like revolutionaries or outlaws.
To the Meiji court, they were like one of the many modernized armed forces at the time.
It’s weird to be introduced as a specific unit and be trained or levied by pre-Meiji Japanese civilization.

If I can design it, I would introduce New Army Regular and New Army Rifleman to represent the 19th century modernized armies of East Asia. These two type of units can be trained at Barracks after researching Meiji Restoration, which symbolizes the modernization of Japan’s military simply. The Ever Victorious Army card of Chinese can also be changed to ship a combination of these two units.

It would most likely be inappropriate to make such a drastic change as to turn an ally at Consulate into the another one.
The techs also look a bit out of balance, especially they no longer use exports.

In any case, this civilization still focuses on pre-Meiji Japan.
We could consider adding some Meiji Japan stuff, but it won’t be such a big change.
And technically these changes may not be allowed either.