“Te comprendo” (I think the same). Bella Capela said something similar about Cairo, that Ayyubid has the capital in that city, and Bagdad wasn´t in their control.
I’m going to talk about this, but first let’s consider something that could happen in the future, with the possibility of another Abbasid variant:
I think Abbasid could have another variant. for “Mamluk Sultanate”:
- So that the Mamluks are canon as a heavy cavalry unit once and for all.
- No more camels, or have one as a support unit (with drums).
- No House of Wisdom, but with Cairo Citadel.
Now this brings us even more problems, since we then have to balance units across three civs so that each one is unique.
Let’s at least start piecemeal, because the main problem for Ayyubid and Abbasid is the camels, and it’s been a problem “since the start of the Beta.”
1) AoE IV: Beta, Themed Civs, and “3-Unit Balance”
When the game started in 2021 with 8 civs, each civ had a theme: English: Archers, French: Knights, HRE: Melee Infantry, Delhi: Elephants. In Abbasid’s case, it was Camels.
There was also the unique unit limit: All civs were limited to 3 Early Unique Units, with the exception of China.
- The English had 1.- Early Men-at-Arm, 2.- Bowman-Villagers, and 3.- Longbowmen. The French had 1.- Royal Knight, 2.- Arbalesters, and 3.- Cannons.
- In the case of the Abbasids: Camel Archer, Camel Rider, and Iman, without any abilities, but with a different name than the Monk (Yes, that’s the only reason they considered it a unique unit).
This is the real reason why the Abbasids don’t have a horse archer. Due to “supposed balance,” they only gave each civ 1 horse archer. The Abbasids unique horse archer become a Camel archer for “Themed Civ”, even though historically they were a “support unit” and not the mainstay of the army.
And the Ayyubids carried the weight, being an “Abbadid” variant and one of the first four variants, which, for publicity, were “civs that were 80% indistinguishable from their parent civs so that players wouldn’t get confused when learning how to play them.” So, they give Ayyubid “More camels” instead of properly horse cavalry unique trops.
- We know that didn’t turn out well, but the subsequent patches, which further differentiated the variants from their civ parents, and Knight of Cross and Ross with their new variant definition, gave us a clue as to how they can improve.
2) Ayyubid, current representation
I’m hesitant here, because I’m not really sure if the devs really wanted to make Ayyubids, since the original name was “Army of the Sultan.” If this is true, it would explain why they didn’t bother giving them specific Ayyubid units, and instead looked for variants for “camel” units.
Whether that was the case or not, in any case, I’m grateful that many of the units intended for Ayyubids were part of their army, with “Not acceptable (-), Acceptable (+), Partial (-/+)” aspects.
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House of Wisdom.- Not acceptable (-). During the Ayyubid rule, Baghdad was under the control of the reborn Abbasid dynasty. The ayyubid were allies of abbasid, but didn´t control Baghdad.
– Solution: As many suggest, they could rename the building “Citadel”. The only change would be the name, since technically it no longer functions as a library, but rather as a center of power. If possible, I would also request a slight change to the design, but the wings and current technologies are fine.
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Dessert Raider.- Partial (-/+). Technically, they are allies from the Maghreb desert region; many of them were Raiders. I generally see them as the camel support that Saladin used against the Crusaders; but they were not the actual harassing troops of Turkish horse archers that we saw in the campaign, for example.
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Camel Lancer.- Partial (-/+). Historical sources mention that Saladin didn’t have much “heavy cavalry”; his cavalry was lighter, or his camels. I suppose that for compensation and balance, they designated the Camel Lancer as heavy cavalry, although in theory the lance is not correct, because the Muslims used another type of lance for their cavalry charges, not the European one.
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Ghulam - Acceptable (+). Yes, they were used; they were the mainstay of the Abbasids’ troop procurement, although many of them were also primarily heavy cavalry and not dismounted infantry. It was sometimes interchanged with the term “Mamluk” to refer to military ghulams, as there were also domestic ghulams.
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Sultan Tower - Acceptable/Partial (-/++). It’s a great unit, but in theory, more than one civilization has created giant siege towers for large sieges. In the same campaign, we see that the Crusaders built one. In short, the solution for the future I see is to have more subtypes of “Siege Towers.” Historically, Saladin created two giant siege towers to overcome the walls of Jerusalem in 1187. He also used quite a few to try to reconquer Tyre, but they failed to recapture it.
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Manjaniq.- Partial (-/++).- Technically, it was a Abbasid siege weapon, but I suppose they wanted to give the Ayyubid for variety instead of give it to both.
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Beduin Sworman - Good (++). Bedouin support for the Ayyubid dynasty, represented by skilled swordsmen, albeit lightly armored.
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Beduin Squirmisher - Good (++). Bedouin support for the Ayyubid dynasty, represented by javelin-wielding skirmishers. Islamic armies were always noted for having javelin-throwing units, and this unit fulfills that role well.
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Dervish - Very Good (+++). Sufi cults, especially those following the teachings of the Dervish hermits, only appeared around the time of Saladin. Furthermore, it was also mentioned that Islamic armies had medical units, some using camel-drawn stretchers; this unit combines both aspects well.
3) How could the civ be improved?
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Rename the Howse of Knowledge to Citadel.
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Give Abbasid the Manjaniq. If not, at least "Naphta grenadiers"
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Turkish Horse Archer.- Maybe unlocked by a wing of the Citadel, replacing the dessert raiders as free units by the Military wing, or as mercenaries for gold with the Trade wing.
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Mounted Ghulam - Perhaps with a similar effect to Ghulam: Fast Attacks but less damage. Didn´t know if add only for Abbasid or also for Ayyubid.
Let’s reserve the name “Mamluk” for the heavy cavalry of the Mamluk Sultanate as a new civ variant.
Another ideas?