Wait. 13?! I’m back! No time to futz around, lets goooo!
The Yoruba sit at the edge of the desert the cusp of Tsetse flydom. Benin and Oyo empires which honestly I feel could be two civs… and in fact i think I will. The Oyo were just at the south end of the Sahara where Tsetses dared! So screw it, this was a Yoruba civ but now its an Oyo which you could call Yoruba but separate it out from the Beninese.
African power! But a very different civ caught at the cusp of being without cavalry but it does!
Civ setup…
Regional Unit: Savannah Scout/Runner (Elite). Pretty much reskinned Eagles for a set of civs without Eagles but access to gunpowder. The basic gist of South Africa is “What if Eagle… but gun?”
Here there is some cavalry to tey with.
Regional Unit: Assegi: This unit and it’s elite upgrade is to Pikeman and Halberd what Winged Hussar is to Hussar. It’s a slightly better Pike And Halb sorta. Stats? Not sure this could be a can of worms. I was thinking their raw stats as in base attack and armor could be slightly higher offset by -1 or 2 to bonus damages for comparable units. Not all Southern Africans will get the Elite upgrade.
These two which I surmised for the SWahili, Zimbabweans and Kongolese are at home here, but there’s a bit more to it.
They also get Camel scout. Not as a starting scout the way Ghana, Nubia or Gujaras do, but as a reason to excuse this civ having access to an Age 2 stable despite the lack of scout cavalry. This is because to people like this, Cavalry were managable due to the lowered existence of the flies that eat them, BUT mostly if you brought a horse or camel in it needed to be worth the cost. The lack of scouts is symbolic of scarcity!
Let’s get to the bonuses!
Oyo - An infantry and cavalry archer civ
- Barracks cost -50w, -50 more starting Feudal
Oyo armies were armed with lances and swords. All men took training in this way.
- Heavy Cav Archer and Champion Upgrade either Free or much cheaper/faster to research
Heavy Cavalry divisions were precious. The Oyo armies learned to arm their men with bows especially since a horse killed was a horse lost.
- Building an Archery Range spawns a Cav archer starting Castle Age. Any archeries built will spawn upon reaching that age.
Just a power spike. Maybe too good?
- Spawning a farms generate 4 gold per age (16 total)
Textiles and food goods were the mainstay economy of this civilization. In a sense its a lot like spending almost 4w for 1g might be too good since the market without Guilds is far more painful . Definitely NOT a final number.
Team Bonus: Horse Mounted Ranged units and Scout units (except camel) train 25% faster.
This includes all mounted ranged units that are UU but not technically cav archer: War Wagon, Kipchik, Mangudai, Arambai, Conq, Genitour, Ratha. Basically if its already in the Gujara bonus, its not here. It also helps Eagles and Scout Cav/Hussar training. Whether that’s too much or not is up for debate and if you think it is I totally understand!
Missing Techs
- Disabled Infantry: / (Uses Savannah Runner)
- Disabled Cavalry: Scout Cavalry, Heavy Camel, Battle Elephant, Steppe Lancer
- Disabled Archery: Elephant Archer, Elite Skirmisher, Hand Cannoneer
- Disabled Siege: Siege Onager, Elephant, Heavy Scorpion
- Disabled Dock: Elite Cannon Galley, Fast Fire
- Disabled Blacksmith: Bracer
- Disabled Economy: Stone Shaft Mining
- Disabled University: Keep, Siege Engineers, Architecture, Treadmill Crane, Heated Shot
- Disabled Castle: /
- Disabled Monastery: Faith, Atonement, Theocracy
Asante Warrior - Swift armored infantry with low damage but an effect that causes enemies to retarget to hit them instead. Has 1 range but could never compare to a Kamayuk
| Asante Warrior | Stats | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Hit Points | 80 | 90 |
| Armor | 4/2 | 6/3 |
| Melee Attack | 6 | 8 |
| Attack vs. Eagles | 4 | 5 |
| Attack vs. Standard Buildings | 5 | 5 |
| Range | 1 | 1 |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 5 |
| Accuracy | 100% | 100% |
| Rate of Fire | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Movement | .95 | .95 |
| Cost | 65f,40g | |
| Train Time | 19s | 18s |
| Elite Upgrade | 700f,650g | 50 seconds |
| Armor Types | Infantry, UU |
Castle UT: Esusu - The farm gold creation goes up by 25%.
Cost: 600g, 400w
Esusu was some sort of commerce term for the Oyo empire. Get more gold and farm it up!
Imperial UT: Triple Barbed Javelins - Skirmishers ignore armor. Cav archers ignore half.
800s/800g
This pretty penny tech is hopefully not too good. Ignoring half armor means Cav archers still do attrocious damage to targets that have a lot of pierce, in this case, those who when halved have more than 10. Its low value for raiding as it puts your damage as equal to a Hun cav archer, but helps a bunch vs skirms, some siege and Huskarl type units. Basically a FU E Husk with his normal 10 PA is struck as though he has 5 meaning your 10 dmg attack does 5 damage. Remember you are missing bracer!
The military is a strange one. Skirmishers, Infantry and Cav archers are your main force but you can also field paladins. Keep in mind if gold goes thin you have no Light cavalry! Your scout camels also fall off as Camel ends.
To start the game you have good DRUSH potential. With 50w saved on barracks means you can… save it for whatever you want. Another barracks? Sure! Get started on archers if you want. Savannah runners, the Eagle clones will be vital in mobility. Your farm economy is going to help fund a few archer’s gold costs.
Castle Age is… not too big a spike. You have good farming and can train plenty of barracks for Eagle clones or make some cav archers. In fact: this is your Castle spike. An edge in the archer wars, and a 100 resource saving here is significant to say the least. If an enemy prepares with a few skirmishers it wont really be a very powerful spike at all!
Infantry is decent here, and is encouraged through cheap training facilities and gold spikes from farm making! The Asante peoples can provide tanking. Enemies will need to micro to retarget their troops away. Granted the taunt is not a great raiding tool. This is no Woad raider.
If this is too strong I can tweak numbers and satisfy everyone I hope.
Wonder is a giant head sculpture. I’m not joking they had those in Oyo!
It also has full tech elite Assegai and Savannah Eagle clone. Your military is well rounded for sure although your Skirms and Cav archers will bemoan the loss of Bracer pretty heavily.
Not gonna lie. I’m rusty and a bit nervous therefore. Im over a year out of practice and hope this can be understood.
These edit bumps are troubling my psyche.