Vikings Civ: All we know until now [Hints and Speculations]

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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Vikings: All we have until know

Good afternoon, everyone.

We already know the Vikings are coming, so I think it would be great to start posting theories or wishes for the civilization in this thread as feedback, as well as compiling everything we know about the civilization so far.

Unique Units

  • Bondi (Spearman).- Has the famous Shieldwall ability in group. Yeah!!!

  • Hirdman (Man-at-Arm).- Their heavy infantry, fast as any viking hungry for looting.

  • Shield Maiden (Javelin Throwers).- There are many captures of them. Im curious which would be their unique ability, different from the other javelin throwers.

  • Berserker.- I want to suppose is Shock infantry, like the Freeborn warrior and Condottiero, so “melee infantry” (not heavy, not light).

  • *Crossbow Militia.- I gonna suppose their unique crossbow. I want to know from what period they gonna be… 900-1000 or 1000-1066? The first crossbows before 1050 AD were weaker than the proper war-crossbow with animal tendons as bowstring, so i gonna suppose they gonna make less damage or bonus damage. Their lath is made from wood instead of iron, take note.

  • Knight Militia or Knight*.- For the way it was written in English, didn´t known if gonna be militia knight or knight. In any case, has the mail of the Norman period Heavy Knight. It makes me wonder if the option to convert to Christianity will start in the Castle Age, if it will be optional, or how it will work. They confirmed there will be some kind of “evolution” from the Viking Age to Scandinavian kingdoms, which sounds great. Actullay, his armor has gilded decoration, maybe you only could make Knights at Imperial age (Yeah, good historicity).

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Landmarks

Unknown. Actually, it’s not even known if they’ll have landmarks or if they’ll age up using edicts or something else.

The Viking culture before Christianization wasn’t about building monumental architecture, but rather about getting enough money from looting and burying it very deep in the ground before dying.

Gunpowder?

State: Unknown

It’s unknown whether the Vikings will have handcannons or bombards; I’d prefer they didn’t.

Historically, the Scandinavian Viking Age spans from 793 to 1066. Gunpowder and the first firearms only appeared in Europe around 1350, and the first bombards around 1400.

If they’re going to be an Early Medieval civilization (800-1000) with shamans, sacred groves and berserkers, I’d prefer they didn’t have anachronistic gunpowder.

BUT, if they gonna have the “Period transition” that they refer that gonna let them have Crossbowman and Knight, maybe is possible. Well, the only problem i see is that if they become the Danish, Norweig or Sweden kingdom of 1350-1500 at Imperial, they gonna have to represent the Kalmor Union… But i gonna suppose, that way they gonna either Lose Berserkers or Sacred Grooves. So is very probably they didn´t gonna have gunpowder. No problem, Templars didn´t have it either, and they are very cool and great civ, Tier S in water in many seasons.

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Yes, the Vikings from AoE 4 are basically the Norse from AoM…

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To the devs pls dont add too much unique units game will become complicated.Also when a person look at that unit that person should be able to tell what its strong against.Like spears strong against horses but when you give them shield it should mean they have defence against archers.In malian Javelineer design i didnt like that they dont have a shield.They are anti archer and they are naked to the arrow fire.Other example is Slzachta Cavalry and Earl’s Guard they have hammers but they dont have bonus against heavy units.These things are important and stops making game become too complicated.

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Yes, 5-6 UUs per civ is fine (although I wouldn’t complain about 10 UUs)…:sweat_smile:

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I know historical records for berserkers are rather vague when you trace them back, but this bear‑skin‑clad, dual‑axe‑wielding design is really poor. In my opinion, a warrior swinging a pair of broad cutting axes would work far better than this take on dual‑wielded axes.

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Regarding Dual Wielding, i want to suppose they are using the Model of another unit in Age of Mythology, the Coyote Warrior, but with differente animation attacks:

Coyote Warrior AoM:Re
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I suppose they liked the model and applied it to the Berserker.

Regarding why they didn’t give it the two-handed Danish axe, I think there are two reasons:

  1. Visually.- To visually differentiate it from the other two infantry units (Spearman, Men-at-Arms) and to have it act as the civilization’s “Shock Infantry” (neither light nor heavy, like the Condottiere), they gave it axes, which, being short, make it lighter and faster when running.

  2. Jomsviking unit?.- Maybe, there’s already another unit that carries the two-handed Danish axe. Perhaps the “Jormsviking”? That’s the only thing I can think of. Maybe a new technology will allow the Hirdman or the Berserker to use this axe.

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