the fact that spanish haven’t been added is an absolute disgrace
there’s some civs that shouldn’t even be in the game, as in for rp reasons, nobody wants to play when compared to spanish, scots, norse, italians, polish
true shame
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They’ll arrive in a New World DLC at some point…if Norse/Vikings and Aztecs arrive in the first or second big DLC of the year, then Spanish and Incas could arrive in the second/third, towards the end of this year or the middle of next year…
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Agree, the sad truth is that AoE4 has had an incredibly patchy development history.
It launched underbaked and new updates being added at a snail’s pace. This is likely due to the incredibly complex inter-company set up they have for its development, being head speared by Relic and supported by multiple different internal studios owned by Microsoft in addition to having most assets being made externally by 3D modelling farms.
The result is a very inefficient and chaotic collaboration that is likely very expensive and not fully in line with the interest of each individual party. Relic has their own shiny IP and so, sacrifices will never be made for AoE4, likely explaining the perpetual foot dragging that has been its entire history.
It doesn’t help that AoE2 is simply the more popular game despite all of these efforts, and AoE4 being vastly more expensive due to not only the factors mentioned above, but also because of the complexity of its initial premise. Makes it harder to convince executives to invest into AoE4 and this is reflected in how AoE2 receives almost five times the investment from sponsors.
Anyways. Relic blowing up for two years likely didn’t help, as much as they claim it had no impact on their internal AoE4 development.
I love AoE4. It should’ve had 4 to 6 more new base civilizations by now. But, it is starting to become an old game and is starting to fade from the public consciousness, so I’m happy that it is in fact still being updated.
Thats because aoe4 lack funding, did you not see we keep getting variants nonstop for 3 years, not a single new civs, microsoft is poor atm and they dont have the money to fund aoe4
Will it be better if they do some crowdfunding, if that is the case? I know it is much more complicated than just saying it. Forgive my ignorance if it is a bad idea. I just think it is important that people get what they truly want
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FFS, why cant anyone think about America without adding aliens like portuguese and spanish to it??? Is it that hard to make a DLC about americans with american civs only? Specially to a game that has a DLC called The Sultans Ascend with Byzantines and Japanese instead of… sultans!?
KoMbNHezo was being sarcastic.
Because AoE4’s way of “selling” civs is by popular requests rather than bundling everything with a consistent theme like AoE2DE and AoE3DE did…Which is why I dislike AoE4, along with the variant civs that were kept being added.
Many AoE4 players come from AoE2, and many of them liked its first expansion “Conquistadors”. Because that expansion was so iconic, the desire for a similar one with Aztecs and Conquistadores for AoE4 is mostly hype.
Now, whether it’s possible at the moment, I doubt: First, the Spanish have to be released first, so that their Conquistadores variant can be released, and only then will it be possible to add Aztecs for the same DLC.
In AoE2 and AoE3, it was possible to release regional DLC because it “saved resources” since many of the new civilizations “shared” some regional attribute, whether it was architecture, a unique unit, a unique building, or a gameplay mechanic. Giving examples:
Good side of Regionalization
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Asian Wonders (AoE3: Asian Dynasties): Introduced the “Asian Wonders,” a prelude to the Landmarks of AoE4, inspired by Rise of Nations, since the DLC was actually created by the company that made that game, hehe.
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Warchiefts and Fire Pits (AoE3: Warchiefts): American civilizations had a Warchieft scout and a “Dance Pit,” where villagers dancing over a fire invoked bonuses for the civilization. Because this was fantastical (Hollywood movies), for the DE version, it was changed to the “communal site.”
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Eagle Warrior and Mesoamerican Skins (AoE2: Conquistadores): The Aztec and Maya civilizations shared the Eagle Warrior, a regional unit that replaced the role of cavalry. The Mesoamerican architectural style of stone was also added.
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South Asian Architecture Civs (AoE2:HD Rise of Rajas): The Burmese, Khmer, Malay, and Vietnamese ALL share the same new architecture and a new War Elephant. This saved resources.
Now, for AoE4, “This is not possible” because no two civilizations share the same architecture, unique units, or even anything like “regional mechanics”. Each civilization has its own mechanics.
On the other hand, there is a "Dark Side" to regionalization; it’s not all sunshine and roses for AoE2 and AoE3. Some examples:
Bad side of Regionalization
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Armenian Infantry civ (AoE2:DE Mountain Royals)
Because they were released alongside Georgians and Persians Remake, and since the latter were Cavalry civs, they turned the Armenians into an Infantry and Archers civ… when Historically, they WERE CAVALRY CIVs. Even the existing Fandom concepts for the civ were for a Cavalry civ. They messed it up terribly. And why? To avoid releasing three Cavalry civs. They didn’t have to do that, but that’s what happens when you “force” regionalization. -
Inca Eagle Warrior civ (AoE2:Forgotten)
To avoid working on another unique architecture for a single civ, they gave them the Mesoamerican style and, on top of that, the Eagle Warrior, which doesn’t fit the Inca at all. And to top it off, the Incan Eagle combo… Warriors Rush may have been popular, but it’s not historically significant; it only repulsed history buffs and Peruvians. -
Aztec AoE3 without Human Sacrifice (AoE3: Warchiefts)
Because ALL the new civilizations in this DLC had to have a Fire Pit, it was overlooked that the Aztec religion, unlike that of the Haudenosaue and Lakota, didn’t gain favor through dances or prayers, but rather through human sacrifice. The closest thing to this is the XP bonus the Warchieft receives, but it’s not the same.
So, the devs were already cutting costs before the variants, even for AoE2 and AoE3 regional civs.
If they were to release Aztecs and Mayans in AoE4, their architecture would have to be different, and each of them would have their own bonuses, landmarks, etc . They would also have their own skin for each type of unit, unique or normal, voice actors for each age, etc.
Yes, the years go by and it just gets more embarrassing. What are they even waiting for? Spain held back Islam in Europe and had its own crusade in the peninsula, officially proclaimed by the Pope. What happened there was important and highly relevant in the Middle Ages.
If Spain isn’t the second civ alongside the Vikings, it’s going to be another huge disappointment and a very bad sign for the future of the game. The game needs Spain. I refuse to play until they add the Spanish.
Counting the Years:
2023
+6 civs with Sultan Ascend, +1 campaign, +Size Adjustment of Wonders and Landmarks
2024
This was a dead year due to the video game crash at the end of 2023 (post-COVID sequel), massive layoffs at Sega, and the restructuring of the development team after having to change publishers.
+End of the Siege Wars
2025
+6 more civs, and although they were variants, they are 6 well-developed civs.
2026
+1 campaign DLC
+2 base civs, unknown if more variant civs
About the game’s development
From what we can see, the developers are indeed working on the game. The fact that 2024 was considered a lost year creates the impression that there’s no progress, but there is.
I suspect that when the 2024 layoffs happened, a large portion of the translators and specialists in other languages were let go, and therefore the search for new voice actors for the base civilization was postponed.
If they’ve confirmed Vikings, it’s because they found voice actors for Danish and Old Norse, and for another civilization as well.
Age of Noob recently released a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZueu-rjhgo) and another related one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-v_Yc6fSq0) where he mentioned how complex it is to create sound for Age of Empires 4—it’s a true art.
Let’s just compare how many lines of voice lines are needed for an AoE2 villager farming versus one from AoE4.
And that doesn’t even include the lines for knights and janissaries when attacking.
And any extra civilization they release alongside Vikings will presumably also have a huge number of voice lines for each unit and villager, ambient sound, and so on.
It could very well be Spain, or Korea, the Italian Cities League, Al-Andalus, or whatever.
Well, if it’s not Spain, I won’t mind, as long as they include well-represented civilizations. If they do it right, I hope they continue releasing two civilizations per year.