Speculation for a Possible Middle Eastern DLC in the Near Future

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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Since the Devs like to keep things in Theme and there’s evidence the next DLC for AoE3 may be one based on the middle east. It may be possible that we may get a Middle Eastern DLC next year, while I am aware there’s significant political scrutiny in that region right now. There is still a possibility it may happen before a Balkan or an African.

So I wanted to make a thread speculating on what may be in such a DLC, especially considering how Viking Sagas expanded Northern Europe while keeping Vikings mostly the same. So a similar philosophy should following this DLC.

Certainties: Things I can say with around 99% certainty from past patterns.

1. Saracens will still be called Saracens since the Vikings didn’t have their name changed but the Mameluke may have some changes based on the speculation below.

2: There is likely to be some kind of widely available regional unit for both the new civs and some past civs like the Varangian Guards. Something like the Camel Archer becoming a regional unit for Berbers and Saracens along with the new Civs.

The Speculation: or rather just me talking about potential civs in this hypothetical DLC.

1. Outremers/The Crusaders: I know they’re not Arabs or Middle Eastern in any way but hear me out. Crusaders are very popular in pop culture, they are an icon. So the Devs will likely not miss the opportunity to put in a civ based on the Christian Crusader States. They can finally make use of the Crusader Knight scenario unit as well, which has been frequently requested to be a trainable unit.

2.Syrian/Iraqis/Any other group of Arabized Semitic people: Honestly both the Iraqis and the Syrians deserve to be in this as they represent the reigion of mesopotamia and the Levant respectively. Thus one can represent the Abbasids and the other the Fatimids, with the current Saracens being the Rashuddin/Umayyads. Though I’m aware only one of them may get in. My vote is on the Iraqis because of the below.

3: Mamluks/Egyptians: The reason for why the Mameluke’s name may be changed, the Devs might actually just called them Mamluks since the Varangians are a thing now which is also a civ named after an Exonym. At least the Mamluks (slave soldiers) had their own language and culture. Nevertheless they can represent both the Fatimids and the Later Mamluk Sultanate.

4: Andalusians/Moors: The least concrete option since they aren’t in the middle east, but they are very much tied to the theme of the DLC. While Berbers represent them now, they did eventually grow their own culture and states. Would be interesting to see how they contrast with their historic predecessors.

Uncertainties: Things I personally am not certain over

Campaigns: I’m more interested in the culture and anthropologics of historical empires along with how they conducted warfare. So I can’t say which significant historical figures would be appropriate to get their own campaign.

There may be more I forgot about since I’m typing late at night, still it’s interesting to think about all this. Any speculation on what a middle eastern DLC would be like? Any ideas for bonuses or unique units/techs? Any disagreements with my listings for possible Civs? Leave them all below.

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so I had just concerted up a Yemeni civ let me work some magic I hope. This civ also Chimeras the preIslamic Oman who were influenced by Savvari Persians and had heavy cavalry…

Anyway…

Yemeni: An infantry and camel civ

  • Camel Scout available

  • Infantry bonus damage output increased by 20/35/50%

  • Camel units +5 vs monks

  • Farm techs increase carry capacity of all villagers by 20/30/40% and movespeed by 4/6/8% (cumulative)

  • Dropsite techs grant the player 25f and g upon research

Team Bonus: Camel units and houses +2 LoS

regional units: (Scout) Camel, Camel Archer, Savar, Caravanseri

UU: Zanburak - Camel with a gun on its back. Faster and more accurate than most mounted gunpowder units but doesn’t do as much damage. Has no bonus damages whatsoever!

UT1: Jamibya - Infantry and Camel riders stab with a dagger instantly during every other attack. This attack does 3 (plus blacksmith) ignore armor damage and for camels and spears does +3 damage vs camels and cavalry and for the militia line and other Condo +3 vs standard buildings and shock armor

UT2: Coffee Trade - Units generate gold while alive. (Think Tuntian but gold)

Missing Units

  • Barrack: Halberdier
  • Archery Range: Arbalest, Cavalry Archer, Thumb Ring
  • Stable: Scout Cavalry
  • Blacksmith: /
  • Siege Workshop: Bombard Cannon, Siege Ram
  • Dock: /
  • University: Architecture
  • Economy: Gold Shaft Mining, Hand Cart, Two Man Saw

So you see the loss of scout cavalry. The team bonus carries the weight of the anti monk job. Camel archers, as outlined in my Sahel thread, are your safety net against the woolooloo.

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Three years ago, I proposed the idea of ​​a Crusader States DLC featuring a Crusader theme. However, some players on the forum argued that Crusader States could simply be represented by their “home” civilizations—specifically the Teutons, Britons, and Franks already in the game. I found this perspective odd; from the viewpoint of Chinese players, a dedicated Crusader faction seemed like a highly appealing possibility. Yet, the reaction was quite different once the Crusader States were actually released in *Age of Empires IV*… Of course, my views have shifted somewhat since then. I believe that the Franks’ powerful cavalry design and the presence of the “Frankish Paladin” hero in the scenario editor may have effectively blocked the Knights Templar from being introduced as new in-game content. I also think it is unlikely the developers would design the Bretons as new Western European content. Consequently, I feel the best hope for Crusader States lies within a Holy Roman Empire-themed DLC. In discussions with friends, I concluded that rather than simply picking the strongest HRE constituent state to represent the whole, we should approach the concept from a different angle. Therefore, I propose a Central Europe DLC that retains the Teutons as the Crusader faction while introducing the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League (Free Cities), and the Swiss Confederation as new content—a move that would finally make a dedicated campaign for the Teutonic Order a real possibility.

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I believe that making changes to the Islamic world would be quite challenging, as it would involve multiple ethnic groups. For starters, the “Ghulam” unit in the game should no longer be exclusive to Hindustani; historically, these warriors were documented across a vast region stretching from Asia Minor to Hindustani—everywhere except Egypt (where they were typically known as Mamluks). Judging by the recent changes involving the Vikings, it seems the developers are reluctant to make major alterations to the units of established civilizations. Consequently, I am unsure whether the in-game Saracens are intended to represent Egypt or the Arab Empire as a whole. Setting that issue aside, however, I believe that in addition to the existing Saracens, the game should introduce factions such as the Yemenis/Omanis, Egyptians, or Nabataeans to the West Asia region.

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Andalusians are an ideal place to see Mounted Crossbow alongside the camel.

Andalusian: Cavalry Archer and monk civ

  • Cranequines available 1 age sooner
  • Farmers generate small food while working
  • Camels +1/2 pierce armor in Castle/Imperial
  • Petards 80% cheaper

Team Bonus: Monasteries -20% cost

Regionals: MXbow, Missionary, Camel, Caravanserii

UU: Jund - Powerful armored horseman who can heal other units while fighting or outside of combat with great speed but his religious nature makes him prone to anti-monk damage.

UT1: Jizia - Farms trickle in about 10 food per minute simply for existing. Caravanserii a lot more.

UT2: Zanata - mounted ranged troops +33% RoF

Missing Techs:

Barracks: 2H Sword, Arson

Archery: Hand Cannon, Has both Parthian and Cranequins

Stable: Hussar, Husbandry

Siege Workshop: Capped Ram, Siege Onager

Dock: /

University: Dry Dock, Keep

Monastery: Fervor, Theocracy

Economy: Gold Shaft Mining, Guilds

An odd mix of Iberian Peninsula peoples and the moors. An odd hybrid civ I almost wish I could give both Cav archers or camel archers and MXbows since they were big on the weapon.

Really it’s an odd amalgamation but I think gameplay wise it can work. I even found out they had Missionaries

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Regarding Central Asia, I believe developers should move away from the current “hodgepodge” approach to the in-game Tatars. They ought to introduce the Seljuk Turks as a non-gunpowder Turkic faction; this would effectively resolve the current dilemma where campaigns are forced to rely on either a “Turks” faction stripped of Janissaries or on Mongols and Cumans to stand in for Central/West Asian Turkic peoples. Furthermore, the existence of Iranian nomadic groups has long been overlooked; Sogdian cataphracts have been waiting in isolation within the Scenario Editor for far too long, and the Sogdians deserve to be considered for future content. Finally, the Chagatai Khanate, the Timurid Empire, and the Golden Horde should be distinguished and reworked individually. We need to put an end to the current hybrid monstrosity—which combines the Golden Horde’s emblem, the Mongol Empire’s unique units, and the Timurid campaign—and restore the true Golden Horde: the Tatars of the region north of the Caucasus.

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Then there are the gunpowder-based units mentioned in my previous post—specifically, the light artillery mounted on camels. Since this interesting combat unit also existed within the Dzungar Khanate (Oirat-Mongols), we run into the issue I raised earlier: the Islamic world saw frequent technological and military exchanges, and this type of unit was employed everywhere from Hindustan to Egypt. How, then, should we define its scope or assign it to specific ethnic groups? And if it is applied to multiple groups, does that deprive any of them of the chance to possess a different, unique unit? It is quite a dilemma…

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Therefore, regarding the selection of Central Asian content, my view is to include a reworked Tatar civilization featuring an exclusive Golden Horde campaign; the Turks inheriting the original Timurid campaign; the Dzungars representing a gunpowder-and-cavalry-focused faction; and the Sogdians representing the nomadic peoples and trading city-states of the pre-Turkic era in Central Asia.

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Sir you don’t need to make 5 posts in a row

That said a nice Caucus civ would be the Alans

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Yes, the Alans, Sogdians, and Avars—I believe these three nomadic peoples are also worthy of consideration by the developers.

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Sogdians are kinda odd because they’re like this odd crossroad between the southern Elephant civs, the Chinese and trading meaning possible rocket regionals, obviously a Caravanserii, and maybe steppe Lancers and camels as we. The stables here are already flooded and their link to Iranian Sawaran Persia means another possible Savar civ.

I wouldn’t mind if this was THEE regional crossroads civ therefore as you march with Lancers, Battle elephants rocket carts and Ele archers

It’s iffy on elephants but trading gunpowder is a lot easier than elephant pens

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The history of the Sogdians can be traced back to their earliest contacts with the armies of Alexander the Great; archaeological findings reveal their ability to construct Hellenistic-style urban architecture, and research by scholars from various nations indicates that, in addition to nomadic settlements, they established oligarchic city-states. Notably, before serving as the capital for four successive dynasties—the Qarakhanids, Western Liao, the Chagatai Khanate, and the Timurid Empire—Samarkand was originally a thriving commercial city of the Sogdians.

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Yemenis shouldn’t be a separate civ because they would already be represented by the Saracens knowing that Yemen is part of the Arabian Peninsula and the Saracens tends to be known to specifically represent Peninsular Arabs.

Now perhaps, the Kurds should be added because they’re an ethnic group with their own history and culture.

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For the list of potential civs, Kurds definitely need to be on the list.

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your obsession with Kurds borders on obsessive… why can’t we have both? Let’s not forget that parts of Yemen were also Jewish for a time?

You keep talking about Kurds but where’s your civ craft?

You like to tell others their ideas are dumb. So… put up already and prove yourself supposedly better

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If you’re wondering where my civ concept of the Kurds is, well here’s the answer:

[Kurds]

Focus: Economy and Cavalry

Bonuses:

  • Villagers carry +5 food from farms
  • Gold Mining and Gold Shaft Mining are researched 50% faster
  • Cavalry armor upgrades are free
  • Caravan costs -25% gold

Team Bonus: Stables are constructed 15% faster

Unique Unit:

  • Camel Lancer - Camel unit that carries a lance and does slightly more damage than the Camel Rider and deals bonus damage against non-cavalry units.

Effects of the unique techs:

  • Castle Age UT - Trade carts can obtain food in addition to gold from Markets.
  • Imperial Age UT - Cavalry units deal +2 attack vs infantry units.

Missing units and technologies:

  • Gambesons
  • Squires
  • Thumb Ring
  • Siege Ram
  • Siege Onager
  • Hoardings
  • Sappers
  • Shipwright
  • Heavy Demolition Ship
  • Atonement
  • Herbal Medicine
  • Ring Armor Archer
  • Heated Shot
  • Arrowslits
  • Incendiaries
  • Stone Shaft Mining

Note to make is that this is directly copied from another topic.

Now regarding my obsession with mentioning it, well the reason I keep bringing it up is because not many people besides me and a few others have talked about and when I see that it hasn’t been mentioned that much, it just feels like it’s a forgotten civ concept. So yes, every time a Middle Eastern topic is made, I do end up suggesting the Kurds just to try to highlight the idea, but I will try to not to keep bringing it up too many times.

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I mean I hate to say it but if their most unique unit is a camel lancer it doesn’t sound all that unique. It’s the same problem the Camel Archer faces and feels like the design is winging it

Let it be a camel mounted lancer, but it needs a name that feels like it can only go to Kurds

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I would love 100% a middle eastern dlc…

Sarracens could be renamed Egyptians or keep the Sarracens name if we don’t want to change a AOK name.. and we could get Syrians and maybe Andalusians… the only civ I would recomend naming after the dynasty is abbasids.

Probably the new RU should be an hybrid light cav with bows and sword available to other muslims civs suchs as berbers, turks or persians replacing the current CA line for those civs

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sure, why not utterly ruin another classic civ, fits the theme

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If the Saracens got camel archers it would be a boon since if it benefits from the HP bonus they would have alot more staying power to help their low tier Arabia stats

Camel scout would save thier feudal age