Wallachians are known as the one of the forerunners of Romanians before the Little Union from 1859, alongside Moldova (Moldavia) and Transylvania. Usually portrayed as either being servants to Ottomans (Turks) or Magyars (and sometimes Poland for Moldavia), Wallachians were known for being a rugged empire/principality, which utilised hit-and-run/guerrilla tactics at its best, given that they were not the strongest of the bunch. Wallachia as a whole was one of the Christian European kingdoms directly bordering the Ottoman Empire which was expanding into Europe at the time and seen by the European Christians as a major threat.
- Their economy was not the best of the bunch, given its rugged terrain and the hostility of the neighbours, but they were known as a fierce nation, mainly because they wouldn’t be afraid of a fight and they were victorious by using the aforementioned tactics.
But how they would perform as a civ in AOE2? For me, I think they can be explained as a cavalry civ that combines elements from Wallachia, Moldavia & Transylvania with a bit of infantry and skirmisher support, that utilises hit-and-run tactics to its advantage and being evasive against its enemies. It also utilises both of its unique units for different scenarios, based on their current status in the battlefield.
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I also think they can be called Romanians in-game if people agree upon this, as in general the bonuses I am going to show you does take inspirations from all 3 regions, because I don’t think anyone wants other 2 civs (Moldavia & Translyvania) that are pretty much identical.
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Architecture : Eastern-European (like Magyars)
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Wonders : Curtea de ArgeČ™ Cathedral (Curtea de ArgeČ™ Cathedral - Wikipedia)
Civ bonuses:
1. Cavalry armor is also applied to infantry-line units, as such infantry does not get the last armor upgrade and do not get Gambesons.
- The reason behind this bonus is that for the most part Wallachian military is mostly based on peasants, small lawn owners, boyars and other military units. For the most part what’s seen on cavalry as armor is also used for infantry, so it is a nice synergy. For that I have decided on removing Gambesons as a researchable tech & only granting the infantry their first armor upgrade as well. That means at the end of the day they gain +5 melee armor and +6 pierce armor, making them a bit sturdier than other infantry lines.
2. Farmers & Lumberjacks drop off +10% extra Food and Wood.
- The initial idea I had in mind is to give them faster farmers & lumberjacks by 9%, being a simple middle-of-the-ground combination between Slavs’ better farmers & Celts’ lumberjack bonus, but the more I look into it, this new civ bonus feels more locked into their identity as rugged people that survived with whatever the land provided. It starts out slow by giving you +1 wood and +1 food in Dark Age and it stacks up with Wheelbarrow & Hand Cart.
3. Skirmishers gain +1/+1 attack in Castle/Imperial Age. They lack Thumb Ring.
- To keep in theme with Vlad Dracula (known also as Impaler), I’m thinking of giving Skirmishers +1 attack from Castle Age and another +1 from Imperial Age. I took into consideration the fact that Wallachians can get the Imperial Skirmishers as a bonus while teaming with Vietnamese and so they lack Thumb Ring.
4. Fervor affects mounted units and as such they do not get Husbandry.
- This is a double edge sword for Wallachians, because Husbandry costs a measly 150F in Stables, while for getting Fervor you need to get a Monastery (175W) and research it for 150G. Even if you think that it somewhat balances out (you have 150F and 175W for Husbandry and 150W and 150G for Fervor), the idea is that they will get their boost much, much later than any other cavalry civ that gets Husbandry, like Franks for example. Once you reach Castle Age and you get Fervor, it makes your Cavalry units go faster than any cavalry civs before Imperial Age, in which the Cumans’ bonus on cavalry speed gets to the same percent as Fervor.
Unique Units:
- Viteji (Braves) - Unique Cavalry Unit - 70F, 45G - Fast moving Cavalry, trained in Castle, comparable to Knight-line, uses a spear that grants +1 range, which allows them to deal pass-through damage. The pass-through damage is 1/3 of the unit’s attack.
Has 100HP, 10 attack, +0/+1 armor, attacks a bit faster than the Knight-line, but is a bit slower when it comes to movements speed. Has an elite upgrade for 750F and 600G that grants +15HP, +1 attack, +0/+1 armor. Has +2 attack against buildings, +1 attack against archers and has the usual counters. With the cavalry armor upgrades they will get +3 (all the upgrades from Blacksmith) melee armor plus 6 pierce armor.
- This is your (mostly) anti-archer cavalry unit, think of it as a mounted Ghulam that specialises in getting a number of archery units off-guard and take them as soon as possible. While the pass-damage is 1/3 of the unit’s attack, it is a balance for the idea of Wallachians being able to mass-produce this unit. And no, this does not replace the Knight’s line, but augments it and so Wallachians can deploy a mixed army of Knights and Viteji.
- 2. Baltag - Villagers with Flails, trained at Barracks/Town Center and available from Castle Age. 60F, 15G. 40 HP, 7 Attack, +0/+0 armor and has +8 damage against Siege units and +3 against buildings.
- Historically, this is related to Vlach’s Law, where each peasant HAD to use a weapon and respond to the call and if they didn’t, they would be executed. This is sort of your response to Siege units. It is a small bonus overall but you can mass-produce them and think of them as your army of ankle bitters, but for siege. As for balance purpose, they are very fragile and they are susceptible to the bonus dealt against infantry by other units. Once all armor is taken into account, they will get +5/+6 melee/pierce armor.
Unique Techs
- Castle Age : Čšepuse (Spikes) - Scorpions can get garrisoned inside the Castles, switching from a volley of arrows to a volley of 2 Scorpion arrows that deals +10% pass-through damage, at the expense of a slower rate of fire. Max of 3 scorpions inside the castle.
- Historically, there was a garrison of ballista men that were operating the ballistas in Bran Castle. To reinforce this, this unique tech allows Scorpions to get garrisoned inside the Castle and change their arrows to be a volley of 2 scorpion arrows that deal +10% pass-through damage. For balance reasons, those arrows are fired at a slower pace and only 3 scorpions are able to be garrisoned inside the Castle.
- Imperial Age : Ordinul Dragonului (Order of the Dragon) - Viteji and Knight-line units regenerate 20HP/minute. Effect is doubled if the unit is within 6 tiles of a Castle or Monastery.
- A regenerative ability like Berserks, but only doubled if the units are close to either their castle or monastery.
Tech Tree:
Archer-line:
- Missing out on Thumb Ring.
Infantry-line:
- Missing out on Gambesons, Plate Mail Armor, Blast Furnace.
Cavalry-line:
- Missing out on Husbandry, Blast Furnace.
Economic-line:
- Not missing.
Naval-line:
- Missing out on Cannon Galleon, Dromon, Fast Fire Ship, Shipwright.
Siege-line:
- Missing out on Siege Onagers, Siege Engineers.
University-line:
- Missing out on Chemistry, Architecture.
Monks-line:
- Missing out on Redemption, Theocracy.
I think that’s all. If you have suggestions to improve the civ, change unique units or something like that, don’t hesitate to tell. A feedback is important so this civ becomes a balanced one.