I would like to propose an idea for a civ which I think would be unique and interesting to have in AoEII. The idea is essentially that the civ would branch differently from the Feudal to the Castle age, depending on what the player chooses. This is similar in a sense to how in AoM you choose a Deity when you advance through an age. However, the path divergence would only occur when upgrading to the Castle age (you would need to choose one of two distinct paths).
From a PvP perspective, this would be interesting because it would keep your opponent guessing in terms of what you will do after the Feudal age. Neither path should result in a notably strong civ, but the uncertainty around which path will be chosen should create some difficulty/uncertainty for your opponents.
This idea would work very well with a “SerboCroat” civilization. The change from the Feudal age to the Castle age would represent one of two paths, either:
- The conversion to Christian Orthodoxy (i.e. the Serbian path) via Byzantine/Greek influence, or
- The conversion to Catholicism (i.e. the Croatian path), via Roman influence.
If the Serbian path is chosen:
- The architecture would have a more Byzantine influence (as is evident with Serbian Churches in the real-world)
- The civ would be more cavalry-oriented with a unique unit specific to Serbian history
If the Croatian path is chosen:
- The architecture would have a more Roman Catholic influence (as is evident with Croatian Churches in the real-world)
- The civ would be more maritime-oriented with a unique unit specific to Croatian history
(There are probably other interesting distinctions you can make but I think this would be the bare minimum.)
Also, this civ could have a unique unit, called the “Hajduk” which is essentially a guerilla warfare type infantry unit, which is considered a historical resistance/freedom fighter-type warrior in both Serbian and Croatian culture (both Serbs and Croats had “Hajduks” that fought against the Ottoman Turks for example).
In terms of campaigns, you could have:
- Dusan the Mighty, who created the Serbian Empire in the 1300s which was sizable during its time, and
- Kresimir (or Zvonimir), who was King of Croatia during its peak in the late 1000s.
I believe this idea would work well because:
- Aside from the Bulgarians (which is a very specific civ by name), the southern Slavs are not represented at all in this game. Also, Slavs in general are still far less represented than their Latin or Germanic counterparts for example. This would resolve that.
- It would ensure we remain frugal as we continue to add civs to this game (my understanding is that there are not many civ spots left). This is getting 2-for-1 in a sense (and it actually makes historical sense to do).
- Serbs and Croats share a common language (although they have two scripts: Cyrillic - due to Orthodox/Greek influence, and Latin - due to Catholic/Roman influence), and have a lot of overlap in terms of culture.
- The most significant cultural or national differences between the two come from religious influences i.e. Greek vs. Roman (which are represented by the diverging paths when going from Feudal to Castle age).
I understand that this can be a sensitive topic and I do not mean to offend anyone. I do not mean to imply that Serbs and Croats are the same. I am also aware of the recent history of wars with the breakup of Yugoslavia etc. and I do not mean for this to be political in anyway. I just think it is a unique opportunity for a cool in-game idea that in my opinion would have some real-world application due to the ambiguous line between the two, which was historically mostly driven by the East vs. West Roman Empire influences, and which exists to this day. For example, consider the inventor Nikola Tesla, who was born in modern-day Croatia and whose father was an Orthodox priest. Serbs say that he was Serbian, and Croatians say that he was Croatian.
I would be interested to hear if you have any thoughts/feedback to share.