Someone noted that the man on the Obsidian mirror header look like an Inca (see here).
If an upcoming DLC add the inca to the game, the llama caravan are the perfect caravan skin for the Inca.
So what type of caravan skin can replace the atlantean caravan in place of the llama ?
Minoan bull
Atlantis legend can be inspired by the Minoans. This is my preferred option. Also the Cretan Bull was captured by Heracles.
Dwarf elephant
According to Platon there was elephants on Atlantis. Dwarf elephants inhabited medditerranean islands in the past. I prefer to keep normal sized caravan elephant if one day the Hindu pantheon will be added.
5 Likes
There’s a mod for AoM:EE that replaces the Llama caravan with a dwarf-elephant caravan. And it’s so much more immersive. You absolutely can’t go wrong with dwarf elephants. I want that change to happen. In fact, I might even try to recreate that mod, once I figure out how modding AoM:R works.
2 Likes
I instantly thought dwarf elephants would be cool
What about capybaras for Incas? Also, secretly hoping for Incas or Mayans, which ever they can make the most unique and epic.
For Incas, llamas would be the correct caravan unit. But so are oxen for the Japanese, so they had to figure out something else, because the Norse had oxen already.
If you ask me, I’d rather they replace the Atlantean caravan unit with dwarf elephants and give the Incas their llama, than make up a capybara-caravan, or something. Even if capybaras are cute.
It’s literally the same amount of work, respects the Inca, and improves the Atlanteans.
Nobody looses a unit, since the llama doesn’t vanish (unless you don’t buy the DLC, but then you get a different caravan unit for free, replacing the llama)
3 Likes
I’m on board in making the Atlanteans strip away their current identity slowly and coming up with new ones like you suggested. Afterall, they were created by the devs in the first place.
I have always felt that the core theme of the Attys seems to be aquatic / ocean. Maybe like merman/mermaid like creatures? Or maybe crabs?
I would say large turtles but I would like to see them be used for the Maoris even though I don’t think they ever had a proper caravan for trading. Maybe the giant moa would be a good choice too.
2 Likes
what i don’t undestand why not make caravans myth units? i mean chinese showed its possible at like this chinese are the complete outsider to the other civs for whatever reason. so if all had myth units as caravans this would open new possibilities. just another maybe useful idea beside the dwarven-elephant-lama-switch.
And before they want to do Romans, make model changes to all Atlantean military units to look less Roman and more… Something not everyone can identify at first glance.
This is basically my biggest gripe with the Atlanteans and the game in general. The Atlanteans don’t feel like their own culture, but like a blend of romans and incas.
That, and that they kept the Atlanteans from before the destruction of Atlantis as Greeks. I understand it for the original game. The Atlanteans were an Expansion faction, and going back and change the base game to fit into the new lore established in the expansion wasn’t possible. I get that. But that’s not true for Retold.
3 Likes
In theory, absolutely. They could make every caravan unit for every pantheon a myth unit.
But is there a good reason for that? The chinese have a myth unit, yes, but that’s tied to a specific god, and their regular caravan unit is a machine. An incorrect depiction of something that was actually built.
1 Like
I imagine a robot thing like the Automaton, probably based off a marine animal. I like the crab suggestion, holding a basket on its head with its little claws.
1 Like
Well, my argument for it is that Atlantis itself is mythological, and if we assume they gave them a lama to be “exotic,” then a myth unit will fit them. I mean, what Atlantian animals do we know about?
And I would say the a hippalectryon, Half-Horse, Half-Rooster, could be a good choice for it, weird and obscure enough, but also keep the tie to the Greeks
I get where you’re coming from, but I have to disagree on one thing: I’d actually prefer to sever the connection to the Greeks as much as possible without rewriting the story.
Meaning the titans and greek myth units that are there can and should stay, the gods should be given a distinct visual artstyle, to at least create the illusion of distinction, and make the Atlanteans their own culture, rather than “Romans with aquatic ornaments” or “Off-Greeks” in Inca buildings.
And when it comes to what atlantean animals we know about: Plato specifically mentioned one, and that’s the elephant. And since dwarf elephants did exist in real life on Sicily and Krete, it absolutely makes sense for Atlantis to have dwarf elephants.
1 Like
i think atlantean would be THE civ for having a caravan myth unit instead of lamas.
I see the argument, but I also feel a dwarf elephant just keeps the same problem as the llama, what if in the future another pantheon from a region with elephants (For example Hindu) get added? Will feel kinda silly to have elephant and baby elephant.
It’s not exactly a “dwarf” elephant in India, but I see your point.
Having a Dwarf-Elephant for Atlantis and a big Elephant for india is better IMO than keep Atlanteans with Llamas and give Incas Capybaras.
Giving Atlantis a myth unit as a caravan unit poses another problem: Which one?
Taking anything Greek would solidify the connection to Greeks, which I’d actually prefer to soften, taking anything from a different pantheon will be seen as taking it away from that pantheon (even if it’s a pantheon that will never be added, because we don’t know if they’ll add persians, mesopotameans, slavics, hettits, phoenicians, etc) and making up something random will go into the “fantasy, not mythology” basket again, which people love to bash.
The only thing that comes to mind that might fit would be the Peryton. It’s a made up mythical creature from a book written in the 1800s (I think) where the author invented a medieval source on where he has it from. Its basically a stag with bird wings, and it’s said to have been native to Atlantis.
But then it would basically be the Japanese caravan units but with wings.
Making it a machine might work, but the Chinese do have a machine as the caravan unit already.
I believe the Dwarf Elephant is the best solution, because it doesn’t clash with any existing, announced or hinted at pantheon, fits into the Atlantis myth, and is unique enough to stand out against most other possible pantheons.
But what they could also use, and I think would be accepted, is ice age megafauna that’s extinct today.
Easy just give the Inca an Alpaca Caravan!
Seems like they are changing those characters to look more Aztec
intersting. not sure whichs style i like more to be honest. both look good. if just these characters would be showns better and less pixelated…
Yeah, that will be the most ideal…
Where is this image from?