For sure. I would like it to be a regional unit as well, it wasn’t exclusive to the Berbers.
Slate roofs weren’t common in Britain until the 19th century, when railways made it much easier to move slate around. Before that, you would pretty much only get them in regions with a source of slate, mostly Wales and Cumbria (although sometimes they’d transport slate by boat).
Apart from the roofs, those buildings look like they were built in the 18th century to me (at least, interpreting them as British buildings). But even then, I would expect more rectangular windows and fewer arch-shaped ones.
It’s possibly worth adding that the Feudal and Castle Age buildings are very accurate for Britons. Timber framed buildings with thatched roofs were by far the most common in medieval England, and tiled roofs became more common towards the end of the middle ages. The monastery looks like it was built around 1100, but had a new east window put in c. 1300.
Yes, I think it would be excessive to change them. There are definitely greater architectural inaccuracies!
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Malay
NIL
The current Malays is based upon rac1st colonial term which includes all the people of Indonesian+Philippines archipelago as one race. This understanding of the term is already outdated now and replaced by Austronesian people in Academia circles. The true Malay themselves did not consider anyone outside Malacca and Johor Sultanate as Malay, even the neighboring Kedah and Patani were not considered Malay until the late 19th century when colonial term started to be used.
Pic from Anthony Milner’s The Malays
As such, the Malay civ is currently the biggest umbrella civ. The civ has Minangkabau unique unit, Javanese campaign and UI / User Interface, and Malay (Malaccan) eco bonus.
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Khmer
Historically Khmer were good at Navy but in game they are average.
Suryavarman I, king of Khmer, is depicted with armor while his depiction is lacking. His model and box art is likely based on the Thailand film King Naresuan, with a background of 1590-1605. The armor may not be accurate, it is noticeably European, not Asian.
On the other hand, Gajah Mada, the Javanese prime minister, is depicted with no upper clothes while historical record mentioned him using golden armor. Historically the Javanese (particularly Majapahit) is one of the most well-documented Southeast Asian civ with armor before the arrival of Europeans.
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Wrote about this 3 days ago. 
The mayan aztecs and incas have access to sword units when they never used iron weapons.
Halfway through the OP the post derailed from actual historical inaccuracies into just the Pet Peeves of the author. About half of the things complained about are absurd nitpicks and things that aren’t even wrong to begin with.
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Ok then the other half is correct atleast. Thanks 11
And funnily the current Malay campaign is actually a Javanese one
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Yes, we already know that AoE is not for learning history (for that you have the history or compendium section and the campaigns), it is still a game…
Those are not exceptional either. Campaigns are often more about stories rather than history.
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True, but historical figures fought in historical battles that lead to larger historical events, so partly you learn history… the same could be applied with Assasins Creed…
What’s the point of this post? The game is definitely trying to act as a vehicle to learn history with given the Civ history articles ingame you can read, and the Campaigns, especially all of FE ones always trying to be historically authentic if not accurate. The vast majority of the things you’ve mentioned are either not even genuine inaccuracies (like Teutons not being called Germans) or are just there for the purpose of Multiplayer balance (Siege for Meso Civs), it’s not like we have Fantasy Orcs and Grey Aliens randomly popping up in the Saladin Campaign.
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I have learned a lot from AOE2. And 1.
It’s not a tool to learn history, but it’s a game and you learn something useful from time to time along the way. Something uncommon with video games these days.
I learned quite a bit about Joan of Arc, Chenghis Khan, Ancient Mesopotamia etc.
Sure, the Greek and Roman periods are more historically obscure in the game. But a good part of the game is historically applicable, even though you have to fill it sometimes with your imagination.
The point of this post is to discuss and learn some history.
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Also this thread will kind of act like a reference database like trivia section in wiki for any future historical accuracy discussions or mods for the game.
I know this is a game and its main intention is to be fun. But you should also know that this is a discussion and its main intention is also to be fun.
Instead of trying to defend the developers and game, which is pointless, they are not paying you, are they? Just contribute as to what you think is inaccurate and can be corrected. It is meant to be a fun brainstorming activity. If you don’t really have anything to contribute and don’t care about history then this discussion is simply not for you. Go play the game, what are you doing here?
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Things that I can point out as wrong, there may be more I missed.
Berbers:
- The real-life Genitour unit was based on the style of combat the Berbers themselves used, the word itself is even rooted from Berber as user TamerLame pointed out, there is no inaccuracy for Berbers getting access to it.
- The Berbers are also meant to represent the Moors of Iberia, the word Moor itself comes from Maurentia, which is part of the Maghreb. It makes sense for the Moors Civ to get a coat of arms from a Moorish dynasty.
- The wonder ingame shows the Hassan Tower as it exactly is in real life, it isn’t apart of an imagined version of the completed Mosque that the Hassan Tower was meant to be part of.
Bulgarians
- Because Bulgarians themselves are a Slavic people that get their ethnonym from the Bulgars, whom they were ruled by, and who were eventually assimilated during the Time Period that AOE2 covers.
- Stirrups were introduced to Europe partially by migrating Bulgar horsemen, the UT is a reference to that.
Burmese
- You said it yourself they formed part of the Burmese cavalry, the closest ingame representation of the Manipuris is also the Burmese, and not any Indian civ.
Byzantines
- Persians already get fully upgraded Paladins with access to a unique Team Bonus to boost them already as a reference to their heavy cavalry contingent. The Byzantine UU itself is specifically a reference to the medieval Greek/Byzantine style of Cataphracts, which were a professional military core that made up a significant portion of the Byzantine’s empire military might,
Chinese
- They get Bombard Towers and a UT to represent it, the reason they don’t get HCs and Bombards is balance.
- There were infantry sized and weighted versions of the Chu Ko Nu and they were even recommended as a weapon for usage by women, they were certainly not too heavy to use.
Franks
- Frankish throwing axes were used up until the time of Charlemagne in the 800s
Goths
- Goths literally get access to HCAs and Hussars missing 2 and 1 upgrades before FU respectively, they don’t use the former because Cavalry Archers are just inherently weak, but the latter is frequently handy in multiplayer.
Japanese
- They get fully upgraded HCAs as reference to that, additionally most Samurai, especially in the later periods of Medieval Japanese history were not wealthy enough to equip themselves as cavalry archers, and often fought on foot.
Mongols
- The ruling class of the Golden Horde were Mongols, The word Mangudai also comes from a Mongol Clan Name, and the word was used to refer to Mongol vanguard units.
Persians
- They’re super expensive and elite even compared to other Elephant units to represent that.
- You’re talking about game balance instead of historical accuracy when complaining about the low number of Civ bonuses and UUs persians have, also Persians get fully upgraded Paladins with a unique TB for them as reference to the Savaran.
Poles:
- Hussar units were not used exclusively by the Poles and were not even invented by them, but actually by the Hungarians.
- Nadziaki is the Polish word for Horseman’s Pick which is a different but similar weapon to the Obuch, also it’s the Castle UU to reference the elite nature of the weapon.
Portuguese:
- Conquistadors in real life used a wide variety of different equipment from Swords, Bucklers, Crossbows. Guns, etc and fought either mounted or unmounted.
Romans
- You’re correct about the Centurions, but the game does actually have a Centurion model used in the GOths campaign that is historically accurate to the Late Roman Period.
Saracens:
- The word Saracen was first used by the Romans to refer to Arab Tribes and was primarily used to refer to specifically Arabs until the Crusades, as opposed to the term Moor used to refer to Berber Tribes in Maurentia. It’s also similarly purposely meant to ## ## #rchaic Medieval exonym like other AOK civs like Teutons, Franks, etc.
Teutons
- Teuton is literally just Latin for German and was used a medieval exonym for them, this is what the Teutonic in Teutonic order refers to.
Turks
- There does exist a model of them with the hats as you pointed out, they didn’t have them because the original devs thought they would be thought of as ## #### #### members.
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There is a very proud Zenata community still today who are proud to have fought against Moors.
Obuch actually looks like a axe. The weapon the unit itself is carrying looks more like an oversized Nadziaki.
I don’t think it is the closest. The Manipuris are belonging to the Kuki-Chin group which is as different to Burmese as Tibetan is to Burmese. And they were enemies
There are units like Envoy/Bayinnaung that wear the accurate armour the burmese wore.
Really? the unit does look quite archaic in my opinion.
Well I am talking about the same balance thing when I talk of Chinese get gunpowder units or remove camel. Making War Elephant as the sole unique unit for Persians is just very inaccurate.
They got guns like in the very end, when their exploration was already almost ended in mesoamerica. The jesuit conquistadors who operated in oceania more often used guns and horse like depicted in aoe3 as far as i know. And the fun fact is Spanish don’t even get crossbow upgrade.
Seems like you actually agree Arabs and Germans are better names in continuity with other civ names.
Thats when AoK graphics were not distinguishable enough. DE can easily differentiate with its higher res graphics.
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Yes, in addition to the fact that in AoE 1 and AoE 2 you have many interrelated campaigns due to larger events (Conquests of Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus, Diadochi Wars, Punic Wars and Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire) and even battles that are repeated in campaigns (Grunwald in DotD) and related cross-game campaigns (Genghis Khan and the Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire in AoE 2 and AoE 4, Hundred Years War in AoE 2 and AoE 4, Unification of Japan in Kyoto and Sekigaraha in AoE 2 and AoE 3 and Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire in AoE 2 DoI and AoE 3 TAD)…
The standard graphics in DE actually have the same resolution as the original graphics from AoK. They’re clearer because the game now supports more than 256 colours – nothing to do with resolution.
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