Thousands kilometers of posts have been written in this forum, regarding Varangian Guard as a second Byzantine UU, only to become regional unit of the civs of the north (Vikings, Danes, Saxons, Varangians) in the upcoming expansion.
PS: At least Cheirosiphon is remaining to be given to Byzantines, to be the UU with defensive characteristics that will make their Castle drop play more versatile, since the beloved Cataphract can be considered situational, reactive (which is good, reaction is a defensive element as well).
Varangian Guard is a regional unit so it will likely be available to the Byzantines. Why else add it to the game, right? Most logical would be if they were only available to the Byzantines and Varangians.
They were introduced as a regional unit and not as a shared unique unit.
Devs have revealed a scene with Varangian Guard in Byzantine colors next to a Byzantine castle, but it can easily be a scene from the Hardrada campaign, and nothing more:
You probably mean Varangians; the term Varangian Guard refers only to the elite guard of the Byzantine emperor, composed by Varangians. That’s why I said devs are kidding us.
It says that "The Varangian Guard(of the Byzantines)was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England".
Not that Norsemen or Anglo-Saxons formed any guard with that name for themselves.
Who said anything about themselves? What Im saying is if all the viking civis ingame has this unit as a shared unit it should be given to Saxons and Byzantines.Maybe be even Slavs should get them.
Thinking of it, that dlc would be a good occasion to introduce a mercenary mechanic where you could give some of your troops as tribute to an ally.
Opinion?
Mercenary mechanics could be really cool and super unbalanced.
Imagine a new Imperial Age building that allows you to train your allies Castle Unique unit. You can probably immediately think of some insanely unbalanced combinations. But wouldn’t that be kinda fun? Not as a ranked feature of course.
The “Settler” statment makes them a group capable of becoming a nation, cause they expand. Civ in the game are not Nation based, nor empire based, but cultural based. So yes currently the Varangian are eligible as a Civ due to their settling history.
Varangian Guards were hired a lot by Byzantine, but not only.
Byzantine could be rewamped a way they could access them without changing their original identity. If they add some Twin UT like in Chronicles, for Castle and Imperial, they could allow every civ to be played many different ways, including allowing the Byzantine to access the Varangian Guards. And I honestly think it could be a pretty interesting enhancement for many civs, to be able to focus on themselve, or to rely on foreigner mercenaries via UT choices.
is remaining to be given to Byzantines, to be the UU with defensive characteristics that will make their Castle drop play more versatile, since the beloved Cataphract can be considered situational, reactive (which is good, reaction is a defensive element as well).