Readability in buildings should be even less of a concern, than with units. Most of the time they are cleary visible and, other than castles and monasteries, all share the same basic design.
Tweaks to Vikings, Britons and Celts I hope
There is a campaign for Slavs already. Giving them a 2nd campaign while a lot of others don’t will raise a lot of eye brows.
That being said, it is possible that they can merge Slavs and Vikings split into 1 DLC. Slavs reworked to Rus or Vlachs and other one is added. Similarly Vikings reworked into Norwegians or Finns and other one is added. Then new campaigns for 2 new civs + old vikings will be a possibility.
Not sure about Swedish. But other 3 is solid choice.
Existing Slavs → Vlachs. Dracula Campaign stayed.
Existing Vikings → Norwegians. New Campaign = Harald III
New civ I - Rus/Ruthenians. New Campaign Alexander Nevsky.
New civ II - Dannes/Dannish. New Campaign Marharet I.
They don’t, and neither Magyars and Turks have.
Dracula is a wrongly mixed campaign so it doesn’t count for any of them.
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Vlachs, the only people who have a campaign but not a civ…
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Its a magyar slav turk campaign which dosent fit anyone.
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Edited my post.
Kurds?
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Saladin was a Kurd but the campaign doesn’t take place in Kurdistan. If they ever get a civ, they should get a campaign that has at least one scenario near Kurd-inhabited areas. Perhaps the Buyid brothers or the Marwanids. Saladin should stay with whatever civ represents the Levant, perhaps with the exception of the first scenario that could switch to Kurds.
I’m not really a fan of “splitting” the Vikings the way they are, but I think the developers did a good job with the Chinese not being “split” in the TTK DLC. I’m not a fan of the 3K civs, but the addition of the Jurchens, KhiTanguts, and the reworks for the Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese were solid (still waiting for a proper Monastery). If they can pull something off at that level again, I’ll be okay with it.
I also think Africa deserves some love and respect, similar to what South America received with the last DLC. Just my opinion.
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The Swedes have existed since the Middle Ages, so they could fit within Age of Empires 2, but Gustav Vasa’s campaign would serve as a link between Margaret I’s Danish campaign and the rise of the Swedish empire during Gustavus Adolphus’s reign, already in Age of Empires 3…
Exactly, somehow, there would have to be a Slavic rework…
If there really is a Norse DLC, it could be made really interesting even without a new civilization. Simply making a few changes to existing lines and units (including those from cultures the Vikings interacted with, like Slavs, Lithuanians, Poles, Britons, and even Teutons), adding a new architecture set and new/adapted campaigns, would potentially create a lot of very interesting content without significantly impacting the current setting.
Here are a few examples from my own Viking scenario:
As a second castle, I added the Ulfhednar (axe-throwing Berserker) to the Berserker.
The barracks (consisting of three infantry units: the Norðmenn Huskarl (a nerfed version of the standard Berserker King Rollo), the Danir Huskarl (Serjeant), and the Svan Huskarl (Elite Huskarl). I designed it this way to represent the full spectrum of Vikings: Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
In the longhouse (manor), you can train Vikingr (Nordic warriors) and Hirðmenn (guardsmen). This simply reflects the myth (perhaps even the fact) that basically every free man was also a warrior.
The shooting range consists only of Bogsveigr (archers) and skirmishers.
The stable is made up of Ridder (light cavalry). For this, I used the Thracian chieftain and adapted it, as well as the axe-throwing variant, the Riðmaðr (a weakened Jarl).
I also added a Jomsvikingr (Elite Sergeant) added. I’ll leave that aside for now, I just wanted to include that legend in my scenario.
In the harbor, I blocked the Elite upgrade for the longship and unlocked the Drakkar (Leif Erkisson) instead. That’s also secondary; I just wanted to have different-looking longships at the same time. The line itself can simply be kept as is, and the Elite version can just be renamed Drakkar. Longship → Drakkar, basically.
I simply renamed the Hulk to Knorr, the merchant cog to Kaupskip, and the fishing cutter to Karve. I blocked all other “regular” ships and also unlocked the Dromon (renamed Busse). Historically, that’s inaccurate, but in the game, the Vikings should have a siege ship.
The longhouse mentioned above could be a regional building that can be used beyond the Vikings. Perhaps the manor (simply renamed Longhouse) could be used instead. (Renamed) simply transferred to Vikings and possibly also Teutons. Adapted so as not to completely eliminate the Poles’ unique advantage.
My personal vision of the barracks can easily be achieved by renaming and visually redesigning the militia line.
As for the Hirðmenn, they could be addressed using the same measures applied to the spear thrower line.
The “Varangians” theme, which is quite relevant in this context, could also be incorporated, giving them to the Byzantines as a unique elite warrior upgrade.
As I said, these are all just ideas on how to create a Norse DLC with many interesting features without adding a new civilization and making yet another change to the existing one that would introduce entirely new requirements.
For me that’s too many changes… Sure, I’d like to see standard unit lines reskinned for each region, but giving them different names and stats would be too confusing.
The changes to Vikings (or Norse in case of a split) I’d like to see:
- Dromon or Catapult Ship instead of Cannon Galleon (mandatory)
- Demo Ship returned (mandatory)
- Longboat as an upgrade to the Galley line, Savar-style
- Settlement added, renamed “Longhouse” for both the Vikings and SouthAm civs
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This is just a collection of ideas/suggestions. I didn’t mean to adopt it verbatim, but merely wanted to illustrate what one could do (in detail).
Ultimately, my ideas should be viewed as individual suggestions. For example, I design my scenarios primarily around the Feudal Age and the Castle Age. The Dark Age and the Imperial Age play a minor role in my imagination of the Middle Ages. Therefore, my builds are hardly transferable to the game as a whole.
What I actually wanted to express was that I also believe new civilizations aren’t necessarily needed. The existing ones—especially the older ones like the Vikings or Saracens—offer more than enough potential for some fine-tuning. Even minor changes, whether graphical or a new UU here and there, a more appropriate technology, etc., can bring a significant breath of fresh air without fundamentally changing everything.
The game should never be historically accurate, but you can certainly move it a bit closer to that with small adjustments here and there. I believe that would simply be the best compromise.
Take the Varangians, for example. As a new unit, they would only be suitable for the Byzantines, because it’s only through them that this unit gained any historical relevance.
Otherwise, Varangian was simply the name given by the local Slavic population to the Swedish Vikings with whom they came into contact. So, for me, it wouldn’t be a new unit for the Vikings. And I think it would make the most sense if it were the unique Champion upgrade for the Byzantines, similar to the Persian Savar. I wouldn’t replace the Cataphract.
Here are a few pictures from my Viking scenario. Maybe they’ll get a few of you excited for a future Viking DLC… 
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What’s your called so I can download it please?
I haven’t actually uploaded this anywhere yet, mainly because I have absolutely no idea where or how to do so. Additionally, I should mention that this isn’t really a “scenario” in the traditional sense. While there is a large number of triggers, they aren’t set up in the way you would typically expect from a “proper” scenario. So, it’s really more of a map than a scenario—or rather, it functions as a scenario primarily for me, since everything is tailored specifically to my needs.
If you don’t mind that, and if someone can tell me how to go about it and what I need to keep in mind, I would be happy to make the map available.
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What on earth is going on…?
Why are there THREE now just sitting there?!
I get that one is likely the Viking DLC, as it was needed to show off the new flags. And one is possibly the Chronicles one. But 3!?
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They are either working on a DLC way early in advance or maybe is some other Crap Icon DLC like the ones they’ve done before or something along that way. This is what they have upload to Steam on a public enough way for SteamDB to notice anyway, they can have all the private depots they want.
We shouldn’t be so jumpy every time by any thing they add in Steam Database when we are already expecting the usual DLC pattern of a Main game one first semester and a Chronicles ones in the Second .
Regional skins DLC… I want to believe…