Sent this email with a DLC idea to the developers. Please let me know what you think!

Age of Empires III: DE III - Discussion
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N.B. I used the info@forgottenempires.net and tantalus@tantalus.com.au email addresses I found on their websites. If anybody has a better way of contacting them, please share.

I suggested Sokoto, Ethiopia and the Zulus for their geographical and cultural diversity, their power and size relative to other African nations, and because they were active in the 19th century. While the Mali and Songhai Empires are arguably better known than the Sokoto Caliphate, they did not last long enough to embrace gunpowder, and I think it’s odd to see nations which never used gunpower fight in a 19th century setting.

Subject Line: African Empires DLC Suggestion for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Dear Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media,

Thank you for your work on the Age of Empires Definitive Edition games. It is great to see these tremendous titles get the care and attention they deserve. Your passion for the series is obvious.

I appreciate how Age of Empires II contains civilizations from Africa. While playing as the Malians, I began to think how exciting it would be if Age of Empires III also contained African factions.

I and many others would be thrilled if you released DLC with playable African nations in Age of Empires III. It would bring attention to an all too often ignored part of the world, and to the long history of statecraft and warfare on the African continent.

Africa had a number of military-focused, expansionist states in the 18th and 19th centuries. The three most powerful were the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa, the Ethiopian Empire in the Horn of Africa, and the Zulu Kingdom in Southern Africa. There were many others, but Sokoto, Ethiopia and the Zulu Kingdom were the largest, and historians have produced more scholarship on these than other African states.

If you are curious about sources for historical research, I’ve provided some suggestions below [I can provide these in the comments if anyone is interested]. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at this email address. Thank you.

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Would love to see a Polynesian expansion too.

I generally hope for more civs for the DE’s and Mythology.

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They would not have been involved in the development and would only have been involved in the transplant to a new environment.

If you want something new, you’ll have to tell the forgotten empires Team.

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I wasn’t sure which team did what. That’s why I emailed both Forgotten Empires and Tantalus. But that was on December 2nd. No responses yet.

If you know of a better email by which to get in contact with Forgotten Empires than info@forgottenempires.net, I’m all ears.

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Africa is appropriate because the continent had powerful states during the time the game is set, c. 1500 - 1850. I know little about Polynesia. Which states or people would you hope to be included in a Polynesia DLC?

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Maori, Samoa and Tonga mostly.

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I’ve been doing some Wikipedia reading on the history of the Maori and Samoans, and I see how warfare played a large part in their histories in the 19th century. However, I couldn’t find any recent warfare in Tongan history, so I’m less confident in them being a suitable addition to the game.

One issue I see with Polynesia is how to add distinction to the factions. If you had Sokoto, Ethiopia and the Zulus, it would be easy to differentiate their play styles, because those nations were in different regions of Africa and necessarily pursued war in different ways. Sokoto made great use of cavalry, while the Zulus did not use the horse in a significant way. Accordingly, Sokoto could be a cavalry-based faction, while the Zulus could be an infantry-based faction.

I’m not knowledgeable enough on Polynesia to say if you could or could not differentiate Polynesian militaries in a game like Age of Empires, but I’m confident it would be more difficult than differentiating African, European or Asian militaries.

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I don’t think new civ is a good idea before devs make the balance well.
This is not single player game.