Achamenid weren’t europe.
4 Likes
Calling Georgians and Armenians West Asia is geographically correct. But the civ designs are nothing but Europe.
Europe already had way bigger share. And I don’t think Vikings split was necessary. I have a bad feeling that next DLC will be a Saracens split instead of Africa.
Correct. Neither is Purus. But main focus of Chronicles is still Europe.
Main focus of Chronicles, much like its predecessor Romae ad Bellum, is the Greco-Roman world. Even something like the Han dynasty that was added kinda interacted with it, if solely through the War of the Heavenly Horses that pitted the Han against the Greco-Bactrians.
So I think its focus on Europe is inevitable lest they expand its scope.
1 Like
You should see it differently. It’s more that extremly famous figure took place in europe, or at least, the one of the mod team that inspired the spin offs.
I’m not saying europe did everything, but that we got some good infos about them.
Chronicle is just at its start, give it time, and it will become incredible, covering tons of cool narratives such as Egypt vs Hitties,m the Troy Wars, Sea People invasion, Summerian, etc etc.
Actually Chronicle base idea has no limit, it can go out of the box and even go for modern era things, as the only key feature is “solo narrative design”, so they could go for renaissance, pre-modern, etc…
Do you remember … This
I’m still waiting for the us soldier spin off since I’m a kid. Empire Earth did not give me the vibe I loved ahaha.
Anyway, Rome is way more than europe, it’s Mediterranea. The punic wars took place also in north africa, some military campaign of the republic were in the middle-east too. But I think I get what you mean, the “origin” point of the focus group outside of europe. But hey, let time do the job, we already know they’re having 2 dlc including one chronicle already on the work for couple of month already and the viking sagas is not yet there. Not many game studio can achieve that, especially on a game like this one nowaday.
So according to the release window of the current viking storm … AoE3 baltic early fall, AoE2 Viking early fall, AoE4 norse fall. What’s interesting there is that everything is for the fall and nothing is actually planned for the Winter. I mean, nothing is announced to be released for the winter.
Economically wise, spreading games’ dlc to cover as much month as possible is sometime better, but I think for AoE games it’s not relevant because AoE2 players are not AoE3 players, and same for AoE4. I’m gonna take myself as an example here, I’ve played AoE1, AoE2, AoE3, AoM, AoE-Online, AoE4, but the only one I’m really inlove with is AoE2. Of course AoE3 DE is pretty cool compared to what it was on the start (old days of 3d RTS was kinda meh, but for every games, compared to 2D Isometric style). AoM never really catched me, not my playstyle, AoE-Online was fun but maybe too different, but fun, I enjoyed it a lot. AoE4, strangly I’ve waited for it many many many years … But in the end, it’s not a game I’m playing that much. The game is pretty cool, blending AoE2 style with more modern technologies and gameplay in a very interesting result but it’s definitly not my cup of tea. Of course I’m buying dlcs too, but only the one I like the civs on it. For AoE2 I’m just taking everything because it’s the game I love.
So with that in mind, if you consider that AoE2 playerbase is different than AoE3 playerbase which is also different than AoE4 playerbase, compacting the release on a “same topic” instead of spreading it during the year is a better economic strategy. AoE4 norse dlc will probably come early-mid October, which mean they will have their pre-order in about 10-14 days. The dlc is scheduled to be released on Q4, which starts in October, that’s also why I’m guessing that.
AoM may receive something during the winter, AoE3 won’t probably have something more this year due to how they took their time to make sure to release the dlc properly. Which leaves basically probably one more dlc release opportunity for the winter, which is probably gonna be Chronicle release.
So we can then expect the 3rd Chronicle spin off dlc for December, which could explain why we heard nothing about it so far.
1 Like
I don’t think so. So far, the main focus of Chronicles has been Classical Greece and Alexander Magnus, who conquered the southern Balkans and pretty much all of Asia Minor, extending his empire as far as India. What part of Europe are we talking about here? Romans are not even a thing yet.
2 Likes
I see. That makes sense. So if there were some very popular other mod, be it Asia or Africa or America, devs might take it for their spin off inspiration.
1 Like
So like Tyranos mandate of Heavan? That didn’t work out so well but we have Hegemony mod practically coming into being
Or any of Wololos? Or Anatarion’s and ChuKoNoobs mods?
1 Like
There’s also a Chinese guy called Kitten (with some numbers after the nick) who makes a lot of East Asian campaigns. They are very grindy and filled with gimmicks that are hard to remember, but otherwise fairly interesting plot-wise (even if poorly translated)
1 Like
Hm, no it’s not exactly that. The Rome ad Bellum mod was not just popular, it had some deep mechanics that inspired the dev team to port them slowly to the main game.
I can’t tell why they took this topic, but I’d bet on AoE1. Antiquity was AoE1 main focus, so having a spin off about it is kinda “safe”, as AoE1 sold very well. There is also the historic documentation, that may have also helped on the decision.
It’s always easier to start a spin-off dlc serie with a topic that you’re sure will work and sell well. Then you increase slowly the budget with the incomes, and explore more “risky” topics. Just look how people reacted to 3K dlc, when a topic is not “accurate” (as in, not many historical texts) people tend to see it differently than how devs would and then it creates waves of haters <.<
Some topic are easier to cover, due to historical informations preserved in museum etc. And then you should add the “political” part, and the ethical part too.
What makes a good dlc is not just the topic it’s the impact of it, the reception. Some people will want one thing more than other, etc etc.
Chronicle will probably explore Rome history for at least one or two max three dlc, with the first a mix between rome and foes, second a focus on rome and barbarian, and third centered arround the barbarian that fought against rome at the end of it’s glory.
But guess what, once that is done, we’re arround 500 AD. It depends a lot if they do a chronological style dlc telling or just one dlc focus on one specific epic tale. I think they will cover rome and once that is done, the base “roadmap” will be done, and by Rome I mean punic wars, civil war, caesar, and the empire.
So Chronicle will probably keep the current style up to 2028, and may eventually shift toward other unexplored part of history in 2029, if they keep doing chronicles spin-off at that time. Only time will tell. (or devs in announcement xD)
Nah, I’d leave that for Return of Rome or, as a last resort, Age of Empires 5 if they go back to Antiquity (although in my opinion they should take a chance on the 20th century like “Fall of Empires”, after all, the game sells itself)…
Someday we’ll have it…someday…
Yes, it’s understandable… I also love the whole saga (although I’m more fond of AoE 3 because it was the first one I played and because it’s the most unique), but nothing beats the AoE 2 campaigns…
Yes, it was a good thing to have thematically similar DLCs throughout the saga (last year it was all East Asian and at the beginning of this year it was South American DLC for AoE 2 and Aztec DLC for AoM)…
Yes, exactly…AoM already had its DLCs in March, AoE 4 had Yue Fei’s in May, AoE 3 and 2 are getting them now in September, and AoE 4 will receive its second DLC in November…so now only the Chronicles DLC would be left in winter (December to March)…
Yes, they’re now going to release several Rome DLCs for Chronicles to fill in the gaps left by Age of Empires 1, up to 400 AD, before the Alaric campaign in the base game…
-
Rise of the Roman Republic (509-387 BC)
-
Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar (as a remake of Caesar from Age of Empires 1) (134-45 BC)
-
The Gothic Wars (248-378 AD)
And then who knows… maybe they’ll go back to Return of Rome to modernize it like Age of Empires 2 and focus several campaigns on the Bronze Age (I’d say make a Chronicles spinoff in the Early Modern period, but Age of Empires 3 is already for that)…
1 Like
I’m kind of surprised there is no news about Chronicles. I would like one about the Roman empire, even if it’s the last of the series!
But if you ask me, I prefer standard DLC for main game.
1 Like
Yes, we all want standard DLCs, this Viking Saga DLC is my favorite since TMR (all the experiments in between were meh, and the 3K and TLC ones never quite worked for me because of the context)…
I enjoyed TLC. It was a fresh air after the 3K fiasco.
8 Likes
Yes, it’s not a bad DLC, but it feels a bit out of place (I feel it fit better in AoE 3, although I wouldn’t rule out them releasing a similar DLC for that game in the future)…
1 Like
I think TLC was good enough. Not perfect, with bugs, translation, weird campaign UI, unbalanced units at launch, no campaign for Mayas. The good: new architecture, nice new civs, campaigns, historical background… I was surprised at how well they integrated these south American civs into the game.
It fits the game in my eyes as it feels as a new “Conquerors expansion” sequel!
6 Likes
Yes, they didn’t include the Mayan campaign because it’s a South American DLC and they’re probably saving it for later…
2 Likes
Come on, of course they don’t save it for later. They just stopped creating campaigns for civ without it. A Maya campaign would have been perfect to follow the trend of the first DE DLCs (to add a campaign for civ lacking it), and TLC was a medieval America themed DLC after all.
4 Likes
The first DLC for DE was LotW (The Last Khans already came with DE), unless you mean The Forgotten… but yes, a Mayan campaign instead of just Dos Pilas would have been nice…
There is certainly room for another Mesoamerican DLC, they can add a Maya campaign there just fine
1 Like