Vikings for AOE4? Some Ideas

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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So far we have 4 out of 8 confimed civs for AOE4. A Viking civ would be a cool addition, so here are some suggestions for abilities that would fit a Viking civ.

1: Raiding
Vikings were raiders, and what would be a better way to emphasize this than to give them a bonus to raiding enemy towns?
An example could be: “When you destroy a building you get 20% of the recourses used to construct that building. When you kill an enemy unit you gain 5% of the recourses used to train that unit.”
A general bonus against buildigs for their infantry could be nice too.

2: Trading
The Vikings were even more known for their trading, than for their raiding. So a bonus that emphasizes this would be nice.
Something like: “The minimum market trade rate is -100 for +25. The maximum trade rate is -400 for +100.”

3: Sea Kings
Vikings were very known for their sea faring, as well as their sea kings, of which their kingdom was their fleet.
So for this I have 3 suggestions.
Ship Bonus: “All viking ships can traverse land slowly by being pulled on logs.” Something the Vikings was very known for.
Longship: “A quick combat ship, capable of storing units.”
Capital Ship: “A larger ship that doubles as a town center. Must be docked onto shore to function as garther point. Can produce berserkers in later ages. The capitol ship should both provide population space, as well as take some of that population space”

4: Berserkers
Berserkers were the elite among the Vikings. There are many written records of them, some even describing them being pierced by spears only to walk into the spear, and keep on fighting.
So a quick, high damage infantry unit that keeps fighting for roughly 5 seconds after dropping to 0 HP could be nice.

5: Cavalry
King Sverre Sigurdsson became well known for his use of heavy cavalry against infantry. Giving them a heavy cavalry with an attack bonus Vs infantry, and a defence bonus against anti cavalry damage could be a nice reference to that.

6: Huskarls
Vikings did not in any way have a separation between military and civilians. So, in the second or third age they should be given the option to make the Huskarl. A Villager, that is also a capable infantry unit.

General traits:
Vikings should have horrible siege weapons, but a strong raiding potential. A strong and mobile navy, but bad farming alternatives, perhaps relying more on animals in a similar way to the Mongols.
Their overall eco should rely at least somewhat on raiding, considering this was one of their bigger incomes during the viking period. Trading should also be a focus, meaning their standard recourse production would need to be somewhat weaker.
Vikings should have strong but limited stone defences. They were well known for making sturdy stone fortifications, but rarely utilised this technology, as they more often relied on mobility.

Viking towns should be compact and semi-mobile, with strong but expensive and limited stone defences. With an economical reliance on raiding and trading.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: I somehow confused the name Snorre Sturlason with Sverre Sigurdsson. It’s fixed now. Embarrassing one on my end.

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Using ‘Norse’ instead would give a more interesting playstyle that isn’t ‘nomadic’ persee, yeah?

Literally, a ‘Vikings’ only civ will be nothing but boats. How would that work on land map :wink:

Other than this you present some cool ideas for them.

That boat one is epic xaxa

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Whether you call them Norse or Vikings doesn’t matter. Viking was basically the Norse word for pirate, but the modern use of the word has come to encompass all of Norse culture.

The reference to weaker eco, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have an internal eco btw. Only that the focus should be somewhat different, thus relying more on raiding and trading.

The Norse were very adventurous, and for large parts of their lives many lived nomadically, as wanderers, explorers, traders, and warriors.

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Actually this is not true. It still only means the Norse who raided by Sea

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I do not know but they will have very very sweet mechanics

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I think Age of Empires 4 should definitely be Vikings. An important civilization for a medieval game.

by the way will the aoe4 closed beta keys be sent to all insiders (it’s a bit off topic but sorry, I’m pretty curious about that)

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most likely yes

…

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Vikings or Scandinavian, [1] [2] Scandinavian pirate and merchant tribe.

I got the above sentence from wikipedia.

I think there should definitely be significant ship bonuses for Vikings,
At the same time, a special trading system should be developed for vikings not seen in previous aoe games.

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Only spitballing here, but one could make a market function, where you slowly sacrifice a certain recourse to get more of a different type of resource.
Let’s say you sell gold, and get a steady supply of stone in return. Or you sacrifice food to get a steady supply of wood.

At what trading rate would need to be balanced depending on the eco of other civs, which we know very little of at this point.
A higher or lower rate than 1 for 1 could be very controversial depending on the eco balance of the game.

Also, if you do this viking markets would need to take population space, or at least have a limited number which can be constructed at once.

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Just wanted to point out the irony of the proposed Vikings having a relatively weak economy, when the Vikings of AOE2 arguably have the best economy in the game :joy:. I like the change, though, and a lot of the other suggestions sound interesting, too.

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these are great suggestions

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Love it soooo much.

When they said at the end of the fan livestream that there was something they were working on, and started showing the ships, I so hoped they would have showed us Nordic ships.

But hey, there are still 4 Civs to be announced and the Norse are somehow already canon in the english campaign presentation.

About their defenses, I also thought they woudln’t rely on stone walls. Wooden walls would be more than enough since they would indeed only rely on their warriors as main defense.

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Yeah, they will very likely be a DLC civ.

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As long as they’re added in the game eventually, I’m up for anything, really :slight_smile:

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The problem of using ‘Viking’ istead of ‘Norse’ or ‘Scandinavia’ is that you lock the time period to 800-1500 roughly.

This is a plomblem when using the time period of 400-1700 circa.

I, as a Swede, would like the term Scandinavia.

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From a historical standpoint there are many things we could call them. Norse being one of the more obvious. Skandinnavians could work, but it would exclude any non-Swedish/Norwegian Vikings.
From an advertisement standpoint on the modern market Viking makes the most sense. So you have to choose.
Words evolve, and the modern use of the word Viking has come to encompass more than its original meaning. Admittedly due to missinformation.

So we don’t disagree really, but if you were to use another word Norse is probably best.

Also, officially the Viking period lasted from (793–1066 AD). However this is based on an incomplete estimate, using mostly Christian sources from the (1300-1400 AD).
A Viking civ could easily take inspiration from a broader time spectrum, though anything beyond (1350 AD) would be a stretch. Considering Norway, Sweden, and Danmark, as well as the Norwegian archipelagos in the North Sea got the Black Death in (1348-1351 AD), and Iceland got it in roughly (1402-1404 AD).
An event in which more than half of the Norse population died, and the Catholic Church semented their position using the decease as religious propaganda.
Bringing forth the true nail in the coffin for the Norse/Viking culture and lifestyle.

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Brilliant idea - definitely following and supporting this thread! :slight_smile:

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Were there any large raidings parties in Europe after Christianization? Harald Hadrada was not even a raider, but fought for his right to rule England. Furthermore, the selling slaves became harder, since enslaving fellow christians was not possible anymore.

The Swedes were crusading into Finland long before the Black Death and Scandianavian nobles took part in the Crusades. Sigurd the Crusader of Norway was a fervent crusader. By the 12th century the Norse were thoroughly christianized.

I am surprised to hear that it was only after the Black Death that the Viking Lifestyle became outdated. On what literature did you read this?

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Honestly with the whole proper classification and naming convention. Stop trying to be clever than everyone else and just call them Vikings, so people actually know what civilization to pick in the game instead of trying to learn up on the history. Simplicity should be the first, then you can have historical lesson regarding to the name.

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I agreee Vikings should be their name coz it sounds cool. Yes maybe some time periods dont match but it’s just a game. Stuff like China fighting England in stone age doesnt match even more but every1 accepts that

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