that so cool. I hope this will end up in game soon ^^.
Firstly, not to call them ‘Norse’ as that would lock them into an early time period.
It’s sad they do not add them in the update for october, maybe in the second civ update
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I think they should take an AOE3 Mexico approach - each landmark could be a representation of a Norse offshoot civ. There could be a Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, finnish, Norman, and scottish landmarks that all give bonues related to each respectable empire so mirror matches wouldn’t feel like mirror matches. I’m talking unique units would drastically change too. Might be interesting.
Do not confuse Vikings and Varangians, for Vikings Rus was Terra Incognita, and their drakkars did not walk on rivers and none of them were found on the territory of Rus, the Varangians were Polab Slavs-Rus (south of the Baltic/Of the Varangian Sea, Pomerania) Rurik from those places, after the Germans were entrusted to write the history of Rus in the Russian Empire, they attributed Rurik, the Varangians and the way “From the Varangians to the Greeks” to the Scandinavians 
Finns don’t even have the same origin. Better to choose one representative civilization, and do it the right way, then add the next one… I honestly don’t like the hybrid concept of civilizations from AOE 2
Oh fun topic. I’d just make the Norse from AoEO. They are complete and more asymmetric, more creativ, and more grounded in that civ’s history and tone than any civ in aoe4.
There will never be “Norse” or “Vikings” in AoE4 like there are no “Turks” or “Indians”.
In the 2021 Gamestar Gamescom interview they were asked when they will add the “Vikings” to the game and the answer was “The Danes won’t be the first civilisation they will add.”
And then we got the Danes in the English campaign.
Unlike AoE4 so far has a different time frame then AoE2. AoE2 did roughly cover 500 AD till 1500 AD while AoE4 focuses on 1000 AD till 1500 AD. There are no Goths or even Celts in AoE4 for a reason.
Also in a different interview they said that the Dark Age European buildings were inspired by Denmark. So It’s save to assume that Dark Age Danes will look similar.
I very highly doubt that we will see Viking Age units past Feudal Age.
No Viking has every seen a gun or anything gunpowder related in general. The Viking Age ended even before the Chinese got Gunpowder.
AoE4 has some flexibility in the timeline, like having Castle Age Janissaries with guns. But they haven’t shown a 500 year time travel unit yet. So I can’t imagine a classical “Viking” unit being available in the same Age as cannons.
Considering they were already present in the English campaign and they are a fan favourite I assume they are already quit far in the development.
The Flag of Denmark was adopted in 1219 (according to legend) and holds the world record in the oldest continuously used flag. It would be a shame not to use it.
Some things that could make sense:
- Similar ships to the Rus
- Unique MAA unit with a Dane Axe
- Generally infantry bonuses
- Raiding like the Mongols
- Swordstaff carrying infantry (maybe upgrade for Spearman)
- Infantry being able to build some of the buildings (Delhi already does that with walls and towers)
Things that would make no sense:
- Pagan shamans in Castle Age
- Axe Throwers (Those are Frankish)
- Longboats fighting ships that have cannons
- Cartoony Viking units like in AoE2 with horned helmets
Talking about Landmarks
Feudal Age Landmarks are around 1000 AD.
Castle Age maybe 1200 AD.
Imperial Age 1400 AD.
Østerlars Church could be a nice Feudal or Castle Age Landmark with it’s iconic round design. There are some other alternative round churches.
Church of Our Lady has a very iconic 5 tower design.
Egeskov Castle could make a nice Imperial Keep type Landmark as an early Renaissance castle.
Denmark has 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are all withing the AoE4 time frame.
Jelling stones Runstones that commemorate the Conquest of Norway and the conversion to Christianity under Harald Bluetooth (yes the technology in named after him ᚼ+ᛒ = H+B). Could work as a nice Feudal Age Landmark and could give pretty much any bonus.
There was originally a Stave church similar to the AoE2 Viking wonder next to it and that should probably be present in the Landmark too.
Roskilde Cathedral is a very early Gothic brick cathedral. Perfect for a Castle Age landmark. Could have religious bonuses and train monks.
Kronborg is a pretty epic looking castle. Could be an Imperial Age Landmark or even Wonder.
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Actually the earliest civ start is 750 CE.
But the Danes would have to transition from their “viking roots”. They could have an incentive to be very aggressive in the early ages as raiders and then go from there to something more appropriate. The danish king Valdemar IV did make use of german mercenaries, so that could also be incorporated in some degree.
If I would design this civ in any way, I’d have a landmark system that decides what the civ becomes later on.
Example:
Dark age & feudal age: vikings focused on raiding.
The castle age landmark decides if the civ goes into Swedes or Danes, depending on what landmark is chosen. From there they unlock different focuses, techs and units.
Depending on the previous choice you continue on with Imperial Swedes or Imperial Danes.
That’s why I said it doesn’t make sense past the Feudal Age.
Some people earlier had ideas like Imperial Age Landmarks spawning Vikings.
I hope AoE4 gets some kind of Mercenary system one day.
I think that is something that goes against their design philosophy.
So far the game has no umbrella civilisations.
The closest we have are Chinese Dynasties.
So I don’t think it’s impossible but unlikely.
Also Sweden and Norway were part of Denmark at the end of the Middle Ages anyway.
Sweden only really become important later, that’s why they are in AoE3 instead of Denmark.
I wouldn’t say that is an umbrella civilisation and there is just divided path to make it more unique. Also since they were closely connected with the Kalmar Union you could actually use that as an argument for making something like an umbrella civ.
If you are referring to the Kalmar Union, it was never one country ruling the other, it was more or less an agreement to have the same ruler, the first king being Eric of Pomerania after his mother Margaret the first. Denmark has however never ruled Sweden as during the Kalmar Union, all of the kingdoms had their own laws, parliaments, etc.
Gustav Vasa did however fight the danish and the Swedes broke off from the Kalmar Union in 1523. But it is quite an introcate history with lots of nuances.
Ok random poster who is responding to year old reply.
At the current point Danes seem to be more consistent with their current logic.
Not really worth arguing over that anyway. They have very likely already decided on what they gonna do.
It will likely mean that we won’t see Swedes or Norwegians directly represented in the game any time soon though.
We’re talking about a thousand years of history here, what are we one year old?)
Shameless self promotion:
Here is my idea for a Norse Civilization.
Det er bare å ta en titt!
I am very in favor making the Norse villagers unique in a sence that they are also Militaristic. being able to turn vills into infantry, and infantry into vills should be their main gimmick.
This could allow some proper Dark age aggression with unique transport ships, and really play on the viking expansionary theme.
Being able to expand out into islands in watermaps, early, and on land be efficient early raiders. And give the French Royal knights a run for their money trying to harass civs who might just pull a spear up their yes.
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Regarding the unit designs, I would like to highlight that more than the stereotypical image of a Nordic warrior with a masked helmet, it was a variation on a sea of armor and Scandinavian vernacular styles, of which the conical helmet definitely stood out the most.
They are all fairly accurate representations of Norse warriors, especially Norwegians.