Eh elephant monk a a simply high HP meatbag heal/converter imho and grabs relic with trunk
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Why we still do not have a cavalry archer UU that can shoot while moving? Probably too strong?
I thought about giving it to Avars or hepthalithesâŠ
I donât think the Genie Engine has the capability for such a unit.
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Yeah I agree, great concept by @KarstHillFort77 
A ranged infantry that does melee damage with Kipchack projectiles sounds deadly. Another possible UU for a Filipino based civ, could be a Kali/Arnis warrior, a martial art that is popular now. Itâs awesome you guys have interesting ideas for a Filipino based civ. Just go ahead, your ideas are great! 
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The name filipino might be a little bit weird, considering it comes from the Spanish king whose reign marks the start of the colonization of the archipelago. Wouldnât Tagalogs, Visayans and/or Maguindanao make more sense?
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So is Vietnamese. The term wasnât used until long after the AoE2 timeline. Itâs used in-game for the convenience of modern audiences.
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Thatâs a false equivalent. The etymology of the demonym Vietnamese is still tied to Medieval and even Ancient history of this state. The etymology of the demonym Filipino is tied to the colonial power that conquered the country after the gameâs timeframe.
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But if weâre going to cover all of the Philippines in a single civ, neither Visayans nor Tagalogs are actually correct.
Then maybe covering all of the Philippines with a single civ isnât correct?
If it wasnât okay, then @Lakan247, an actual Filipino, wouldâve had a problem with it. But he didnât. That means itâs not wrong or anything.
I have absolutely no issue with umbrella civilizations. Itâs a lot better to have them than a million civilizations representing the same geographical area.
With that logic we could keep the Philippines under the Malay umbrella, as all those ethnicities are related to the Malay culture. If there isnât a word to designate specifically the archipelago nor its people in the Middle Ages, it kind of suggests it couldnât really be considered as a unified cultural or geographical entity (and even less a political one) in this time period.
Someone being from a country gives more credit to his opinion regarding its history, but it doesnât make them automatically right, otherwise we wouldnât have disagreement among Chinese people about Chinese history on those forums.
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To be fair, I like umbrella civs, and they keep the number of necessary civs manageable. But there is such a thing as an umbrella civ thatâs TOO big. The Malay representing all Austronesian peoples is one example. They donât really have any cultural similarities to the majority of them, so they wouldnât be a good umbrella.
However, all of the Philippines is largely unified culturally, though with regional differences according to the island group. That makes an umbrella civ representing all of them quite natural.
As for the name, just consider it a modern convention for recognitionâs sake, and not something thatâs trying to be period-accurate.
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Eh from what I know, they werent unified culturally. At least thats the impression I got after reading a bit about some of the Tagalog nations and then about the peoples of the south
I would be fine with a Filipino umbrella mostly because its hard to draw a line to which civ to include and which you would rather not
Exactly this. I think if weâre going to avoid having 100 civs in the game, umbrellas are the way to go. The Philippines are isolated geographically and are close together, so having the whole region represented with one civ, when there isnât a good reason not to do so, is just logical.
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Yes this is true, the Filipino ethnogenesis only began upon Spanish admixture, and the pre-colonial kingdoms were mostly at war with each other; that is why colonization was relatively easy. If we are to divide for historical accuracy, the most logical would be dividing the Filipino umbrella based on alliances and cultural spheres:
Tagalogs/Lusongs - represents the northern kingdoms of Tondo, Maynila, Cainta, Ma-i, Caboloan, Sandao, Ibalon, Igorot plutocracy, etc.
Visayans - middle kingdoms of Cebu, Madya-as, Butuan, Dapitan, Taytay, Lawan, Sanmalan, etc.
Bruneians - represents the sultanate of Brunei, and other Bornean and Philippine kingdoms under its sphere of influence such as Sulu, Maguindanao, Buayan, and Lanao; who were unconquered and were all allied against the Spanish during the Castilian War.
However, this would require a Malay split as you pointed out that they all belong to the Malay archipelago, which is likely not anytime soon. If ever, it is also likely they will be bunched together as one civ under Filipinos as pointed out by @Apocalypso4826 since the devs donât get too precise or detailed with civ divisions; and the colonization and even the first revolts is still actually within the AOE2âs timeframe. Either way, it would be fine.
I also agree and wish for a Malay split one day since it would showcase the uniqueness of the different Malay kingdoms in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Moluccas, and the Philippines.
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Well, Iâm all for a Malay split. Thereâs a huge number of candidates though, so Iâm not sure about what they should start with aside from the Javanese.
By the way, Iâve recently heard that the Spanish never succeeded at fully conquering and colonizing Mindanao and that it only happened under the US occupation, is that true?
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Yes they never fully conquered the Muslims of Mindanao, although they eventually were able to control some areas, and turn the Sultanate of Sulu into a protectorate. Maguindanao, Lanao, and Buayan remained independent and only fell to the Americans later on.
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Thatâs quite impressive! As apreciated as they could be in AoE2, I think we definitely need the Philippines represented in AoE3âŠ
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What about giving fortified church to a sourh-slavic Balkan civ (Serbian)?
Rename Malay to Malays. The civ is better suited for Malays than Javanese. Malays had better armor which is represented by the Free Infantry Armor. Malays also had Elephants. Karambits originite from Western Sumatra (Malays).
Add Javanese, Moluccans and Visayans/Filipino umbrella. Gajah Mada becomes the Javanese campaign so Malays need a campaign based on Srivijaya or Malacca Sultanate.
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