As 2026 is around the corner is time to discuss what we would like to see for the game on this New Year!
With the recent announcements telling Red Bull Wololo Tournament and 2 DLCs drops focused on Campaign, CO-OP and base Civilizations put the stand on making the future of the game very promising
Hopefully more unique Civilizations (Aztecs and Spanish hehe) are coming up!
Renaming Zhu Xi and Jehanne d’Arc “civs” (the latter could be “Orléans” I guess?)
I’d also like that!
Suggestions
Jeanne d’Arc could also be called: House of Valois
Description:
Joan of Arc served the House of Valois, leading French forces in the Hundred Years’ War under the command of the future King Charles VII, whom she helped crown in Reims, fulfilling her divine mission to save France from English invasion.
Another name that could also be considered, if desired by the majority.
“Vikings” could also be changed to another name, as already requested in another topic.
Zhu Xi’s Legacy, does anyone have any suggestions? Or would this require a rework?
The biomes already have a great visual variety… Perhaps some other tropical forest biomes are still missing, such as: South America, Indonesia and India. Other biome options, diverse regions of Africa, and the Black Forest of Germany and forests of North America.
However,
We request new animals for the maps… The animals would vary according to the chosen biome.
*In short: New animals need to be added to replace the wolf, the wild boar, the deer and the sheeps on the maps. All according to their biome.
In the examples below, I have included variant species; these variants can be added later or not to save time, choosing only one common standard species.
Colors are extremely important for overall enjoyment and for casual players.
Colors function like SKINS!
Through colors, we can “change” the appearance of units, always providing a new and pleasant feeling.
Some colors can even convey a sense of grandeur if combined with the civilization’s standard colors.
*Regarding the color Green present in the game: The default green color will be removed, and in its place, the two colors Light Green and Dark Green will be introduced.
*Note: It is recommended to use a very neutral color tone for the minimap to facilitate visibility. Generally, light beige or medium beige works very well for the minimap background, making all colors more visible.
Please:
Make it so that when the enemy army is defeated/surrendered, it no longer remains on the map.
In short: - All units, including villagers, when defeated, should be automatically “deleted” in the process, leaving only the enemy buildings still standing.
Reason:
It is very disruptive when the enemy army or a large number of surrendered villagers remain stationary, hindering movement or construction on the map. In addition, some of your units get stuck in the middle of this sea of surrendered units… it’s very annoying to have to eliminate them one by one to clear a path.
Another problem is that sometimes, even after a surrendered army, some enemy units will still attack you, appearing like zombies coming after you, wanting revenge! lol
Include personality selection for AIs (something similar exists in AoM:R).
Possible suggestions for new AI selection behaviors (I really need this):
Both can work. Orleans was the Duchy and Valois the house that ruled it.
As for Zhu Xi’s Legacy… Dunno, any ideas I could come up with would require abandoning the Dynasty names. Either you change Chinese and Zhu Xi into, let’s say, Tang and Song, or go with regions (e.g. North and South China). Or, dunno, keep Chinese and rename Zhu Xi as “Channa” (after Chan Buddhism) or even Shaolin.
Edit: best to ask Chinese players or historians, I’m not confident about either option so take it with a grain of salt.
People cried too much about campign dlc but i think this ones sales will be very low(nearly 0 low) unless they add new civ or civs.
Edit:But i might be wrong maybe it will sell well i dont want to break the morale of the devs keep working guys.
More singled play campaigns would be great
AI selection behaviors would be awesome.
I’d just like for things to work. More civs would be nice, but if you can’t gain achievements without a work around, what good is it? Tickets are being ignored.
Zhu Xi’s Legacy could be called: the South Dynasty or Flourishing Dynasty
Well, as a chinese I can say that Zhu Xi’s legacy it’s totally south china from the landmarks and tecs.（the original one can be seen as the middle China, so devs still can have a north china as variant civilization to make if they don’t want to make Khitan，Jurchen those north-east asia civs.)
But from the former name JadeEmpire and the new units, I speculate the devs want to make a China in its heyday. The Flourishing age can be called.
And why we called it Zhu Xi’s legacy now, it may cause Zhu Xi make a new theory 三教（Three teachings） which devs can put their favourite shaolin monk in it, though Zhu Xi is a great confucian scholar.
Zhu Xi’s Legacy could be called: the South Dynasty or Flourishing Dynasty
So Chinese remain the way they were, Zhu Xi becomes “Southern Dynasties” and a new variant called “Northern Dynasties” gets added? Sounds cool 
With the Chinese DLC coming in 2026, I expect there will be one or two, or even more, changes to China and Zhu Xi’s Legacy.
Judging by the promotional image for the campaign, which features a Song Dynasty general, I assume it will include several battles against the Khitans and Jurchens.
Considering that Age of Empires II: DE already includes ““Jurchens”” and “Khitans”, with their own bonuses and unique units, including the Iron Pagoda cavalry, I hope that if they appear in the Chinese campaign, they will be well represented.
At least with Sultan Ascend, they created new units for the Templars campaign (The Beast, Genoese Crossbowman, Templar Knight, Teutonic Knight, Hospitaller Knight) and some for the Ayyubid (Turkish Horse Archer, Dervish, Manjaniq), so I expect the same for the Chinese campaign.
Maybe, with the new units models, could be space for a future Khitan or Jurchens civs, or Korean, Vietnamese, etc.
Considering that some levels of the campaign will take place during the Tang or Song dynasty, it would be good to consider a siege weapon more suited to that era.
The Bed Crossbow was a siege crossbow that, like Western ballistae, was used to fire at guards on walls or towers, or from high positions and fortifications to fire at attackers.
Currently, it is a special siege unit for the Chinese, present in Age of Mythology for the Chinese civilization.
The Japanese in that game also have another variant of the Bed Crossbow, called the Oyumi.
In AoE4, the Bed Crossbow would be the East Asian version of the Springald, currently for three main civilizations: China, Mongols, and Japanese.
It would also appear in the two variants: Zhuxi and Sengoku.
Future civilizations, such as the Jurchen, Khitan, Vietnamese, and Khmer, would also have this model.
It is important to consider this model because a unique unit, the Khmer Tower Elephant, had this type of crossbow mounted, unlike the Western version.
Many Chinese naval battles of the Song and Tang dynasties featured the use of unique ships.
One of these is the Low Chan, a warship with a traction trebushet. This unit is already present in Age of Empires 2 for China and for the Three Kingdoms variants.
In Age of Empires 4, there is another unit with a counterweight trebushet, the Venetian Galley for Templars. It could very well function similarly, but with a shorter range (traction trebushet).
On the other hand, they could also consider that Age of Empires 2 planned a remake of its naval system, and now they will have melee warships. This idea should be seriously considered for Age of Empires 4, at least as a replacement for the explosive ship for Feudalism, making it more situational. This would at least make naval battles longer and more interesting.
A rework would be fantastic. The China is a vast country with many possibilities; a well-done rework that opens up other future possibilities would be perfect.
Honestly, I really hope to see this come to fruition sometime in the future.
It would be very nice.
Regarding the ships, I also think that these explosive ships speed up the completion of naval combat too much. Perhaps these explosive ships should also have an increased cost.
I don’t know what a professional player currently prefers… whether they prefer fast or slow naval combat.
But I, as a casual player, would like to take longer in naval combat.
Thank you for sharing this research.
That’s great!
I’m glad someone from China came to help.
Welcome @Dragoon
I’ll need your help to understand better.
Let’s go,
The name Southern Dynasty (South Dynasty), is already a name used at another point in history, before Zhu Xi.
Therefore, this name may cause some confusion, precisely because it is present at another point in history.
Description:
Southern Dynasties (Nan Chao - 南朝): A specific period of political division (420-589 AD) in which four dynasties (Liu-Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen) ruled southern China from Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), in contrast to the northern dynasties.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Southern-Dynasties
A possible alternative name would be:
The developers could rework the variant civilization “Zhu Xi’s Legacy” and rename it Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), in which Zhu Xi worked.
Description:
*Southern Song (Nan Song - 南宋): After northern China was conquered by the Jurchens in 1127, the Song dynasty moved its capital to Hangzhou, and the subsequent period (1127-1279 AD) is known as the Southern Song, specifically referring to the southern half of the Chinese empire. *
Zhu Xi (1130–1200) worked primarily for the Southern Song Dynasty, a period when the Song court was in southern China after northern China was invaded, and he served in various official capacities, deeply influencing Neo-Confucianism during this era.
https://archive.shine.cn/sunday/now-and-then/Foremost-NeoConfucian-thinker-朱熹-Zhu-Xi-circa-11301200-AD/shdaily.shtml#:~:text=Now%20and%20Then-,Foremost%20Neo-Confucian%20thinker%20--%20朱熹%20Zhu%20Xi%20(circa%201130,to%20read%2C%20write%20and%20teach.
However,
As you yourself said, it could be… The developers wanted to recreate a new China at its peak… therefore, the name “Southern Song Dynasty”, wouldn’t encompass the entire technological peak of southern China.
So, I found some Chinese geographical/administrative names that were used exclusively to identify southern China.
Could you tell me what you think of these names?
Do any of these names make sense to you?
Have you ever heard of any of them?
Southern Dynasties (Nan Chao - 南朝): A specific period of political division (420-589 AD) in which four dynasties (Liu-Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen) ruled southern China from Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), in contrast to the northern dynasties.
Yes, narrowly speaking, it refers to the collective name of these four dynasties. South Dynasty ，broadly speaking, it can refer to all dynasties that had their capitals in southern China, such as Southern Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty. And Zhu Xi’s unique tec are all based on bureaucratic reforms and technological innovations of the Song and Ming dynasties.
Researching Zhu Xi from its unique units.
Early palace guards can be seen as Foot soldier(步人甲士), a super-heavy infantry equipped with heavy lamellar armor in Song dynasty.
The Yuan raiders can be inferred based on 兀良哈三卫（Wuliangha’s Three Guards）. Three native auxiliary garrisons established in northeastern mongolia during the Ming Dynasty(1389 A.D).They are naturalized Mongols who once assisted the Ming dynasty in its expeditions to Mongolia and helped the emperor win the Ming civil war. And they may be Yuan dynasty army, but I can not find any famous army of Yuan dynasty that good at raiding out of Kheshig. So I guess they are the Mongol soldiers at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming dynasty.元朝掠夺者
Imperial Guard actually every dynasty have, so cannot be distinguished by time or region.
And there is no any unique units from Tang dynasty such as Xuanjia Army（玄甲军 heavy cavalry equipped with black iron armor），Stranger Blade Squad（陌刀队或者说斩马刀队Long-sword infantry that counters cavalry）. No any unique units about Yuan dynasty（ except Yuan raider） such as huihui（回回炮），Scout Cavalry（探马赤军）. Also no any unique tec about Tang dynasty and Yuan dynasty.
Southern Song Dynasty
Actually , we already have a Southern Song Dynasty mod, though its over buffing. But it have the unique things can not skip if talk about Song dynasty.
Lingnan
Absolutely no, Lingnan is an exile locations for criminals and officials in ancient China. And the famous economic outputs of Lingnan are port trading of GuangZhou and the fruit economy, such as lychees. Most important Lingnan army have Elephants .This is no what the chinese like in game.
Jiangnan
Congratulations, you have discovered the economic core areas of each dynasty after the Tang Dynasty，the starting point of the Silk Road. I think Confucian reforms in Jiangnan is better than Zhu Xi’s legacy to summarize this civ if you don’t want to give it a decent civ name.
And I have to say that Crusader Kings 3 know east Asian better than AOE4
So Zhu Xi‘s legacy is full of Song dynasty and Ming dynasty elements, and their capitals were all in the south china once. I think Flourishing South Dynasty mighty be the correct name
“Southern Dynasties” can refer to this specific period, but also to other historical instances of dynasties based primarily in Southern China. I don’t think it’d be confusing.
To answer op’s question, I’d like to see an announcement for something like this :
not really interested in anything about AoEIV since beta 
Thank you for replying.
These terms are new to me.
Yes, Crusader Kings 3 is extremely detailed.
I’ll put the maps below with a better zoom.
The maps first show counties, and then provinces + counties.
This other map here is from the book “Korean History in Maps”.
The image shows a slightly more detailed map of Korea and its borders with China, including the names.
