Skipping any further European based DLC until there’s something for America, Africa and Oceania. Did this already for Return of Rome and considering how shit the DLC turned out to be, I’m feeling some nice Schadenfreude.
Every area of Europe has at least one civ if not more and all European architecture sets have at least 4 civs in each as well as generally speaking the highest civ as well as architecture set density.
My most wanted civ is Mississippians which would require a new architecture sets, thing we desperately need.
Central America could be the perfect opportunity to add a Maya campaign as well as some more Eagle civs.
Africa has widely dispersed civs without interconnecting ones so they really should be a priority. Also desperately in need of more architecture sets.
A South American DLC would be the perfect opportunity to add a Andean set which a new civ like Chimu could share with Inca.
Oceania could be an interesting theme to go a bit more wild when it comes to water. Perfect opportunity to add some more ship types. The game is still missing a generalist non-chemistry Siege ship, the trebuchet equivalent on water.
I tend to agree, though I count the Caucasus out of Europe which may not be your case. Anyway I think we shouldn’t see Europe again until we get at least 2 or 3 more dlc for Asia (China, Caucasus and Indochina), 3 for Africa (East Africa, Bantu area and West Africa) and 2 for the Americas (Mesoamerica + maybe Mississipians, and South America). Maybe a Balkan dlc could be slipped into it at some point to appease the Euro-fans, but anything else would be unwelcome, I think.
Yeah, somehow I forgot to include them because I focused too much on the Vinland Saga historical scenario, but they definitely have potential.
Agreed, and new Meso civs would be much welcome (and maybe the Montezuma campaign pre-Cortez could be reworked to be more historical and include the new civs…)
Agreed, I think we could have at least three architecture sets for Africa alone, with Malians being in the Western African set and Ethiopians in the Eastern African one.
Once again I agree. Plus, it would be the opportunity to change the Pachacuti campaign to avoid having exclusively Incas in the missions.
Not entirely sure about this one, but there’s a lot of support for Oceanians so maybe we’ll see them at some point.
I wasn’t sure exactly how to approach answering this. On the one hand, from a representation point of view, I think it should focus on Africa – probably a mix of east and west so the new civs can enhance the existing Malian and Ethiopian campaigns, which could do with a revamp.
On the other hand, my personal preference would be for Asia, especially east Asia, with a campaign for Koreans (or Chinese or Japanese) in addition to ones for the new civs.
Thankfully the poll allows for eight choices, so I didn’t really have to choose.
It’s a music festival in the Netherlands, so, close enough I suppose.
Well, there are other campaigns that don’t really follow these guidelines (like the El Cid for the Spanish), but sure, Louis of Hungary is perfect candidate too. And maybe he could even bring more variety to the campaign than the Hunyadis, so I like your suggestion.
I agree, the Caucasus has never been considered part of Europe until very recently and even the South Caucasus is still considered Asia today.
However, I think a Caucasus DLC could also include something from the Pontic Steppe, as there is some overlap between both regions. For example, I think the Alans or Kazars could perfectly be bundled with Georgians and Armenians.
Completely agree, I think we should have at least one DLC for West Africa and another for East Africa. Just 3 civs (and one of them being Mediterranean) for that entire continent is ridiculous.
I have in mind focusing on the Balkans with the inclusion of the Wallachians and Moldovans as new civilizations. Here’s why it makes sense:
If you look at the game’s current campaigns and civilizations, there’s a noticeable gap in the Balkans region. We’ve got the Byzantines, Bulgarians, and Magyars, but the Wallachians and Moldovans would nicely fill that void.
We can have the existing Vlad Tepes (Dracula) campaign adapted and revised.
On the other hand, there is Steven the Great of Moldova and his struggles against the Ottoman Empire, with heroic battles won by sheer strategy and tactics.
“Defenders of Faith” would be a powerful and fitting name for the expansion. These civilizations, including the Serbians, and Croatians, (although I am sorry I am not too familiar with their historical figures and battles) played a crucial role in resisting the Ottoman Empire and protecting their religious beliefs. They stood as a buffer, safeguarding the Papacy and the Western powers from further Ottoman expansion.
You have mostly Soninke in the Malian campaign and a few Nubians in one of the Ethiopian one (plus Beja tribes, which could probably be represented as Somali since I don’t think many people want the Bejas specifically as a civ). For South Africa, we have also the Swahili and other Bantu players in one Portuguese mission, so it’s relatively split.
Good thing the person behind the poll expected people to be indecisive then
Caucasus + Pontic Steppe would certainly be a good theme, though I’m not sure the two regions could be entirely covered with only one dlc. After all, we also have the Pechenegs, Avars and Azeri in the region.
Well, not entirely. The Avars can be covered by the Huns (many medieval scholars literally called them Huns). The Azeri I think can be covered by the Turks (which actually seems to represent the Turkomans in general), their differences appeared later (mainly due to the choosing different branches of Islam). Although I can agree the Pechenegs would not be exactly covered, the civ would still probably be very similar to the Cumans.
I mean, they could perfectly be added, but I personally think the others I mentioned are much stronger candidates.
True, but El Cid was made more than 20 years ago. Newer campaigns don’t have such flaws. I would like Hunyadis as a campaign, but Louis’s era fits Magyar playstyle more, and he had wars with more nations.
Wallachians and Moldovans are the same people, the Vlachs, so it is pointless to have both, as aoe2 civs typically represent different ethnic groups.
They could certainly be covered by those civs (even the Pechenegs could appear as either Turks, Cumans or even Tatars, I guess), it’s just that if you want the region to be perfectly covered I think you need all those civs too. Azeri were relatively relevant in the 15th century, with the Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunly, and it’s still part of the game’s timeline, hence why I think they may appear at some point. But I agree all the civs you mentioned should probably take priority, except maybe the Alans which I would say are of equal importance with those three.
The Alans had a major role during the Barbaric invasions of the Roman Empire and were also very significant in the Vandal kingdom (another civ commonly suggested). And also lasted many centuries. Their Caucassian kingdom only finally fell to the Mongols.
And as a curiosity, they are also the last remnants of the Scythians. So they are the last Iranian peoples that lived in the Steppes before the Turkic invasions.
All in all, I think they are a great candidate. I would even say that better than Kazars (whose realm was also heavily influenced by the Alans)
I see your point. I have only thought of the fact that both were considered distinct political and territorial entities during the Middle Ages. Geographically, they have developed separately and given different historical contexts. The unification into modern day Romania happened over time well into the 19th-20th centuries.
But in AoE perspective, yeah. Give me a well-rounded 3-civ (Vlachs, Serbians, Croatians, maybe Albanians) with a new campaign for each. I hold my ground on loving to see a Steven the Great campaign.
Kazars always seemed very interesting to me. I think they’re the only Turkish steppe civ that married Judaism. Looks like they could have a very unique design.
I’m pretty sure Caucasia period just has the one appearance on a portion of a map in a single mission in the Tamerlane Campaign, so I’d go for it. Also they’re Middle East, not Europe
