I know it’s not good, but it’s the only example I could think of in sudden at that moment. Anyway, what I want to say is that Jomon people were the first human inhabitant of the Japanese archipelago, a prehistoric culture, lacking much information and too ancient to be a good reference for a civ. I hope you catch this.
The earliest known battles in Japan, minus the mythology, were between the Wa kingdoms of the 1st to 3rd centuries, in which Shamaness Queen Himiko’s Yamatai became the dominant power. Then, in the 4th century, when there is a lack of highly reliable written records, a unified Yamato Kingship was established and began to expand, fighting neighbor foreign tribes such as the Emishi.
I would choose Emishi. Ezo is not considered as it is just another name for Emishi and is used more to refer to land than people, while Ainu only covers the last few centuries.
I would expect to see a subgame focusing on the 15th-17th centuries. In my opinion, it would be enough to create a dozen civs using the various clans as references.
It seems like this DLC will likely already have 3 Kingdoms content in it (not civilisations though).
The advantage of naming them Ainu would be that the name is more recognisable since they still exist today. People are more biased towards recent things for obvious reason.
But I personally don’t care to much about the exact name.
I made a concept for a Spin-off that fills the gap between AoE2 and AoE3 which aligns well with the Sengoku period.
I’d probably do a few things differently then I did them back then but I still like the overall idea.
For Japan it might be an interesting idea to be able to choose a Clan every match instead of every Clan being it’s own civilisation. Similar to mutually exclusive technologies in Chronicles.
Greek only really had 3-4 major factions (Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Macedonia) while Japan would probably have a few more.
What clans do you think would be important and unique enough to be their own civilisations?
Maybe the Chinese campaign indeed, or one of the kingdoms portrayed as a neighbouring civ (as China wouldn’t have its gunpowder units due to the period).
We’ll get the full list once the DLC is officially announced.
I see that Cao Cao conquered the Xiongnu, which is how the Chinese call the Huns. Somehow the 3K still link to the main AOE2 timeline, triggering the barbarian invasions by driving the Huns west.
Effectively picking a few bonuses and maybe at most an UU, while retaining the same base tech tree. Similar to how it’s done in Shogun 2, most clans are pretty much the same but each has one or two units stronger than the norm, and a DLC unlocks some unique units (Oda long pikemen, Shimazu heavy gunners, the fan favourite Otomo blunderbuss cavalry who brings a shotgun to a sword fight…). Enough to bring some flavour while remaining similar, the Takeda cavalry still won’t match Frankish paladins.
An unique building (the dojo for example) could centralise it all nicely : first research mutually exclusive techs to pick a clan and get its bonuses, then have the clan UU unlocked from the dojo.
But if that is done to the Japanese some other civs would be screaming for it, Italian city-states for example (specialise into Venice or Milan or the Papal States…).
I think all 3 kingdoms civs are just Chinese without gunpoweder and some unique things through triggers.
That was not an idea for the base game but instead for a Chronicles like Spin off.
Hello, I am returning to this thread again. Well, I started to investigate in the AOE wiki and I saw that the Japanese of AOE2 is a civilization focused on Infantry, having as unique unit the Samurai. While the Yamato of AOE1 is a civilization focused on Cavalry.
So if someday they add the Yamato of AOE2 for a hypothetical rework of the Japanese. They should add a unique unit for the Yamato, being a Cavalry unit.
Just because a civ is focused on a certain unit type doesn’t mean their unique unit has to be too. I think the best unique units are the ones the complement generic units not the ones that make choose between 2 very similar units (English Crossbows are basically the same as Longbows).
Also almost all civs now come with more then one unique unit too.
One unique unit idea I had was to give them a Archer version of the Warrior Priest called Miko.
Which would be a reference to Himiko how was ruling Japan around 200 AD according to legend.
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Not a civ that I wish to see in the main game since they existed rather early in time something like the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, however they could be included in the Chronicles along with Baekje, Gaya, Silla, Goguryeo, Emishi, Okjeo, etc. if the devs ever decide to make a Chronicles expansion for Northeast Asia.
Now this is on the table XD
Next DLC can be Yamato (UU: mounted samurai archer, hero Sakanoue no Tamuramaro) and Emishi (UU: raiding cavalry, hero Aterui)
And believe me they fit better into AOE2’s setting than the three kingdoms.
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Here me out, Yamatai is totally fair addition now that Wei is in Ranked play. Next door at Civ 7, Himiko’s UA is directly related to Wei, they are chronologically parallel.
Add some hero unit and we can have Himiko battling Oda.
Well Yamato and Emishi are clearly within the AoE2 timeline now, right?
It must be the fight; Yamatai wololo monks vs Oda hand cannoneers.
Not worse then Roman Legionaries fighting Italian Hand Cannons, right?
The Yamato were from the 4th to the 7th century; the Emishi were from the 5th to 9th century.
Actually they are within the AoE2 time frame from the beginning.
We are talking about the Wa (倭). When the game introduces 3 Kingdoms, the Wa, including Yamatai, would have a similar situation as well since they were from the 1th to 3th century too.
Yeah but Yamatai make a lot less sense then Yamato anyway.
But now it’s clear that Yamato can’t be Chronicles since Chronicles is confirmed before 200 AD now.