Mapuche Civilization Concept (Mesoamerican cavalry civilization)

Want to do a civ concept of this before /u/UsacDynastic tries doing this.

Anyways, back on a serious note, this is mostly based on this person's post from AoK Heavengames where thought up about a Mesoamerican civ that has access to both cavalry units and gunpowder units. While this is far-fetched, I think a Mesoamerican civilization that has access to gunpowder units and cavalry units is a very unique civilization concept (even more unique than people suggestin Tibetans as a playable civilization, and it does not relate to Civilization VI with Mapuche as a playable civilization). And yes, this civilization does fit into the AoE2 timeline since Mapuche did play a role within the AoE2 timeline since they did resisted the Spanish occupation (see the Wikipedia article on this ).

So the problem with having a Mesoamerican civilization with cavalry and gunpowder units is that Mesoamerican civs don't have these units because they usually have insane early game eco bonus as well as having Eagle Warriors as replacement for cavalry units (and since they can't build Hand Cannoneers or Bombard Cannons, they are given Arbalests and Siege Rams in their tech tree as compensation). I want to design such a Mesoamerican civilization where they are given cavalry and gunpowder units while at the same time, not being overly bonkers OP.

Mapuche (Mesoamerican gunpowder and cavalry civilization)

• Stable unit upgrades, Blacksmith upgrades, and Chemistry are researched 50% faster.

One of the main reasons why the Mapuche were able to defeat and drive the Spanish occupiers out of their lands is because they were to adapt and use several of the Spanish technology against them (mainly gunpowder, iron-metal working, and horseback riding) during the Arauco War. To reflect this, any cavalry related upgrades and Chemistry are researched faster than normal.

• Receive +25 gold and +25 Stone for the first Mining Camp built. Receive +25 Gold and +25 Stone for every Mining Camp tech researched.

The Andes Mountains around Chile has vast variety of resources such as copper, gold, and silver, and the Mapuche will later adopt silverwork after several discoveries of silver (which is a little anachronistic), which they get free gold and stone for the first Mining Camp they build and for every Mining Camp tech researched.

• Cavalry units regenerate health when out of combat.

The Mapuche were known to be great horseback raiders, which were referred as Malons. This is reflected with their cavalry units regenerating health when they are outside of combat (average of 15 HP per minute for Light cavalry and cavalry archers and 20 HP per minute for Knight-line units, and it only activates 5 seconds after the combat is over. Yeah, I originally had this as a Tibetan civ bonus in my original idea, but decided to give this to Mapuche since it's more fitting).

• Team Bonus: Heavy cavalry and light cavalry +1 attack.

This one is pretty decent civilization bonus. The Knight line, Boyar, War Elephants, Cataphracts, Battle Elephants, the Scout cavalry line, and Magyar Huszars with gain an extra attack when you have the Mapuche as your teammate, making it a powerful bonus for cavalry oriented civilization.

Disabled Techs:

• Barracks: Elite Eagle Warrior, Halberdier
• Archery Range: Arbalest
• Stables: Camel, Battle Elephant
• Siege Workshop: Siege Ram, Onager
• Blacksmith: Bodkin Arrow, Bracer
• University: Arrowslits, Treadmill Crane, Heated Shot, Keep
• Monastery: Sanctity, Redemption, Illumination, Block Printing
• Dock: Galleon, Shipwright
• Economy: Two-Man Saw, Guilds

Now some of you may wonder why the Mapuche don't even get Bodkin Arrow, Bracer, and Elite Eagle Warrior. Well, first off, in regards to the Elite Eagle Warrior not be available to them, they have a UT where Eagle Warriors don't cost gold, thus making Eagle Warriors trash units (and for that reason, they don't get Halberdiers as well) Them lacking Bodkin Arrow and Bracer is mostly to balance out their UU (which you will see why) and encourage the player to use Hand Cannoneers as an anti-infantry option. That being said, lacking these two techs will hurt them in naval and defensive fights since their ships and towers will have less range.

UU: Toqui In Civilization VI, this is a unique ability for the Mapuche. However, I want to make this as a creative unique unit instead. Toqui are basically Mapuche war chiefs. The Toqui in Age of Empires II will basically be a powerful cavalry archer unit with incredibly high pierce armor that have stats scale based on how many of the player's other cavalry units near them (cavalry archers, light cavalry, and knights. Other Toquis will not count for the stat scaling) and they have strong base stats, which is why the Mapuche won't get Bodkin Arrow and Bracer. However, to offset their strong stats, the Toqui will use up 2 population space instead of the usual one for most units (also super expensive, meaning you really can't spam this unit akin to a Karambit Warrior). For every 5 nearby cavalry units within 8 range (10 range for elite), the Toqui will have +1 range and +2 attack, which can stack up to two times for a total of +2 range and +4 attack when 10 cavalry units are around.

• Stats [Elite]: 70[80] HP, 7[8] pierce damage (+2[3] vs. Spearmen, + 1[2] vs. other infantry), 0/5 [0/6] armor, 4 range, 60% accuracy, Rate of Fire: 2.03, Projectile Speed 7, Frame Delay: 12, Movement Speed: 1.4[1.42], Training Trime 45[35] seconds, LoS: 7 Cost: 75w/125g, To Elite: 1200w/1800g, Upgrade Time: 80 seconds

Castle Age UT: Aillarehue - Spawn a Relic in the Town Center for the player and all allies. Cost: 800g for every player in the map (Monastery required). Aillarehue means nine rehue or nine clans in Mapuche language, they were confederation of various Mapuche clans and tribes which formed a region of province. A rehue is basically an altar that is used many of Mapuche's ceremonies. To reflect on this, I think it would be nice of this tech will be a team bonus where everyone in your team gets a Relic. Since Relics are powerful gold generation source (since it'll be infinite gold), the tech cost will scale for every player in the map, meaning an 8 player map will make this tech super expensive. That being said, in order to research this tech, you need to build a Monastery though.

Imperial Age UT: Ulmen - Eagle Warriors cost no gold. Cost: 500f/500g. Ulmen means "rich man" in Mapuche's language, who are usually the heads of the clan. To fit into this, the Eagle Warriors will not cost gold, but to offset this, the Mapuche won't get Elite Eagle Warriors.

In terms of gameplay, the Mapuche's army composition is mostly focused on cavalry and gunpowder units like Paladins, Hussars, Hand Cannoneers, and Bombard Cannons. However, their army composition is going to be very expensive, as some of their trash units such as Elite Skirmishers and their Pikemen will be below average (the former won't have Bodkin Arrow and Bracer while the later won't have the Halberdier upgrade). That being said, unlike the Turks, they do have a reasonable early game eco bonus with free gold and stone for the first Mining Camp built and for every Mining Camp tech researched, so they can go for some Drush cheese. You can easily compare them to the Spanish where they have a diverse tech tree, but a bit more specialized and more expensive.