I have a interesting POV where i think extending the aoe2 timeline is or could be a good thing, if you think about it aoe1 is not very popular anymore (except in vietnam). we could have so many cool civs and stuff if we extend the timeline and include different periods. After all, no-ones forcing you to go a civ u don’t like.
of course with its limits, no spaceships vs cavemen. Don’t be silly
But you cannot avoid to have to play against anything that has been put to ranked. That’s the problem.
I would only include as far as 300 BC. Nothing beyond that. So, Roman Republic, Ancient Greece, Athens, Macedonia/Sparta etc. Iberian Celts, The Gauls, Carthage, Ptolemaic Egypt, Parthia, and the Seleucid Empire. Celtic Britain.
Could be useful for Rome Total War 1 scenario.
Why only go back the time line lets go forward and add aoe3 civis as well that game is abandoned too.
I want space ships. Or think how cool it would be to fight Aliens vs Mayans
yeah there is a point where its to far ofc
not to that point bruh
Too much gunpowder. I would like antiquity based civs vs medieval ones.
This unit does not exist yet. The Legionary in the game appears to be late Roman one. Seems to based on the Comitatenses.
From Rome 1. Comitatenses.
Majority of the aoe3 civis are already in aoe2 adding the missing once like USA and Mexico is not an issue.
I am being sarcastic because there is still so much that is not covered in the main time line that there is no need to extend it for now. Rather, if you tell me that we need to get the collapse of the Roman Empire right once and for all, I’m with you.
Let’s add the Vandals, (Anglo-)Saxons, let’s remove the gunpowder from the Goths, after this DLC the Huns with Paladins can no longer be seen without a laugh. In short, there would be work to be done.
Alien vs. Cave Man can really exist, don’t forget we have cheat codes, even more reasonable than Guan Yu vs. Teutonic Knights. 
also i only mean the past, not any more forward into aoe3 timezone. That is to much of a change
Or why not making a new Age of Empires game in Antiquity rather than turning AOE2 into a bloated mess?
You really reminded me that it seems the classic Roman infantry image has never appeared in the AOE series, which is really ironic.
There is a limit to that, but the 3K sit on the fence. What’s medieval doesn’t exactly correlate between Europe and the rest of the world. The game ends earlier in Europe (1500) than outside (1600) after all, Lepanto being an outlier.
If you start in 220, the Romans are just about to start the Crisis of the 3rd Century (a death spiral of civil wars and usurpers) while already under germanic threat and the Persian threat growing in the East… not that far from what it would be in 300 or 400. The Sassanids defeated the Parthians in 224 so… close enough from 220 I guess. So by 220 the Romans had already crushed all their classical enemies (the Parthians being the last and since Augustus had been a punching-bag anyway), were in their hegemonic position but on the defensive against the Sassanids, Germans and internal troubles. The decline of Rome had already started (the Antonine plague that decreased the population by 1/3 and nuked the classical medicine preventing the population from bouncing back, allowing Germans to attack due to manpower shortages in Rome, Septimius Severus had ravaged the empire’s stability, a serious threat in the East…). Meanwhile in China the Xiongnu would soon be pushed west to become the Huns.
So it stretches the timeline a bit but it’s still not absurd. But I wouldn’t go back earlier as it would change the situation too much, while all things considered, not that much for Rome between 220 and 312 which was the start in my head cannon. Rome starts pagan for a century ? Meh, Constantine did a stellar job to make christianity closer from roman paganism so that there wasn’t that much of a difference (to make christianity compatible with the Empire)
You’re a man of culture I see…
It’s really not an issue for me to start in 220/224/235 but nothing before that (no Parthians, no Dacians, no Mauryans, no proper ancient civs), don’t know why some people see the 3rd century and think oh then let’s add Macedonians! That’s an overreaction which just show you’re lacking the whole point.
As you say yes the 3rd century is a bit complicated because of paganism still being strong though in steep decline but it’s not a big deal.
If not that, like you, I’d have chosen 286 or 313 too as the point from where to select new civs. So it’s either the start or the end of the 3rd century, no earlier, no later, and that’s it for aoe2. If they were to add Parthians, Roman republic or some other classical antiquity civs I’d be the first to harshly criticise that.
And they should be cultures of course, not states.
Parthians being knocked out in 224 really stretches it (they were more a classical enemy of Rome, the most famous event was killing Crassus at Carrhae and taking some eagles that they would return when Augustus asked kindly or else), and you can use other civs for them. Persians for example or more surprising… Armenians.
The Arsacid dynasty that ruled Parthia, also ruled Armenia at the time and would stay there for a few centuries after losing Persia to the Sassanids. Ironically they’d convert to christianity before the Romans do.
I think we should still have a (roughly) shared timeframe for all civs, regardless of the region. Specifically, the timeframe should be between the years 450-1600 (±25 years), as the start and end period correspond to global events that majorly impacted societies at the time:
Year 450 roughly coincides with the Migration Period. During this time:
– Europe is experiencing the Fall of Rome, caused by and resulting in various Frankish, Germanic, Proto-slavic, etc. migrations.
– Indo-Persia is combating incursions from the Hepthalites and Kidarites.
– China is unergoing turmoil caused by the Five Barbarians (Wuhu).
Year 1600 roughly coincides to the
– worldwide cooling due to the Little Ice Age.
– proliferation and maturation of gunpowder weapons.
This ensures that the furture civ picks can be easily filtered via this timeframe, instead of arbitrary discussions of whether classical and medieval combat can be feasibly joined into a single game.
Yes which made me think do Parthians really deserve a spot? In the end nah I’d add Caucasian Albania over them honestly. And as you say a combination of Sassanids and Armenians would be enough (given they would ever appear in a scenario which is extremely unlikely anyway).
Alaric has just been excluded… Again! He will sack your house to avenge this! Seriously poor Alaric, too late to be ancient, too early to be medieval, too Germanic to be Roman, too Roman to be German… (Search for “Adrianople - great battles of late antiquity” in the mod center if you feel for him).
