So far, we don’t have ANY sub-saharan civ in the game. Berbers are North-African/saharan, Mali and Ethiopians are on the border, far from the jungles to the south.
There are three obvious ones for a DLC in sub-sahara Africa however:
Zimbabwe
Congo
Yoruba (representing Ife, Oyo empire and Benin empire)
Just some loose ideas and general flavour of these civs:
Zimbabwe: all about stone constructions, they should have a special unique stone building.
Congo: they made early intercontinental contact and seeked to benefit from it. They can have a heavy discount on all techs that are researched already by the opponent. They could also gain a percentage of the gold gained by other players who use their markets (less when more players in team games). All about unique interactions with what the other player(s) is(are) doing.
Yoruba: urban and economic (=bronze) flavour. To represent their high population growth, they can produce vills from houses, but at the increased cost of 75 food each (or more, or less, depending on how it balances out. Could be a different number for each Age also. A max of 1 per house is also an option).
Regional unit: because of the tsetse fly, they need a replacement for the scout cav.
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Yes, after the South American DLC, it would be time for a sub-Saharan DLC (Kongolese in the 15th century, Zimbabwe/Shona in the 13th century, and Somalians to fight against Ethiopians and Portuguese in the 16th century)…
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The Yoruba do have cavalry. Albeit it was usually uncommon so likely you could have a civ that can’t afford to use lighter cavalry or even have access to scouts but yes to knights and possibly even cav archers and camels as they aren’t as susceptible to tsetses
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I would personally add Nubians but other than that, all good.
My bad.But they’re a good African civ addition unrelated to sub-sahara.
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Won’t disagree nor with all the civs going west into the Sahara either
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It is true that the Oyo empire had a strong cavalry. But they could only be used in the northern part of their empire, and not in the southern jungles and mangroves. They mostly got their horses from Northern states like Kano.
It would be fun to let them have horses, but with certain restrictions. Any suggestions?
The Yoruba did not commonly have camels, though…
camel scout for the northern part at the desert border to go alongside the whatever tsetse scout unit is so your stable is available in Feudal. Then knights and cavalier and regular camel.
The stable doesn’t need to be perfect but access alone is nice for variety compared to the peoples more south of this
I like the picks so far, but if we’re talking sub-saharan, why not add the Kanembu? They were well documented, had a large Empire at their zenith, and were in contact with both North and East African civs as well as the West African ones you describe.
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For me, a good sub-saharan or an african DLC should contain them, alongside Zimbabwes and Somalians. Or even Kanembu and Congo and/or Yoruba.
Pretty sure Kanem, Bourn and Hausa are IN Sahara not sub
Personally, I’d split Africa into 3 dlcs;
West (Sub-Saharan):
Kanembu, Yoruba, Ghana
East (Horn of Africa):
Nubians, Somalians
Central Africa:
Kongolese, Swahili, Shona
Africa is next, I can feel it.
Scandinavia and Mesoamerica next, in that order please!
I’ve always heard them considered sub-saharan. They were below the Tuareg peoples, which were the Saharan nomadic peoples that fed the Salt trade across the desert. If not, then eh, they’re still regionally connected.
aren’t they like due east of Mali/Ghana/Songhai/Mossi area and in the desert
They are due east, yes, but you have to remember the Sahara tends to grow and shrink over time. One of the reasons the Ghana Empire expanded southwards as depicted in the Malian campaign was because the Saharab Desert was encroaching on their territories at that time. During that time, the area around Lake Tchad wasn’t desert, only arid shrublands.
I won’t deny that it might be the case today, but I tend to detach modern influence from historical happenstance.
Yea but people thinking subsahara are thinking Tsetse land
No mistake I want Ghana Mossi, Kanem Bornu Hausa and Songhay, even the eastern non Tsetse Nileish Somalians and Nubians… and in fact these regions need to be visited oncr maybe twice before we head south to Assegai land
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These are good picks, tho I would personally pick the Kanembu instead of the Congo, I know they are literally Saharan, but I feel like they fit better in AoE2 than the Congo
The Yoruba should get the Gbeto instead of the Malians since they are actually Fon people of modern day Benin (Gbeto literally means huntress in the Fon language), who at one point were part of the Oyo Empire (they were nowhere near the Mali Empire)
Shona (Zimbabwe), Yoruba (Oyo) and Kanembu (Kanem-Bornu) would be my picks for an African DLC
Personally I don’t care too much, which civs are added, but how their tech-tree and bonusses should look, to still somewhat feel different without relying too much on funky mechanics.
I think one almost necessary step would be to really shake up the tech tree like the South America or India DLC did.
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