A few things first:

1) I give credit to ChuKoNoob for giving me this idea in the first place and you can see this building on his ideas from here

2) In no way am I advocating for a new Dutch civ to be added to AoE2, this was just a fun project and my view of what they could look like if added. I agree with many people that there are probably enough civs by now.

3) In ChuKoNoob's concept, many people complained that the Dutch were outside of AoE2's timespan. While that is true, I have designed this civ to represent the country during the war against the Spanish (1568 – 1648). If you take a look at this timeline ( https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/7v9gw5/when_aoe2_campaign_heroes_lived/ ), they just about fit on at the end. But as ChuKoNoob said, it is a bit of a stretch.

4) I am aware that balance is a very difficult thing. It is very possible that this civ is under/overpowered but its tough to say just from a post like this. Also please be aware that for the 2 UUs, I did my best with the numbers to give an idea but they are not concrete.

Now let's get on with the civ:

The Dutch

Civ Bonuses:

Food from farms increased by 30% in Castle Age, 40% in Imperial Age

Dutch expertise in farming is famous and historical data shows that even in the medieval age, Dutch farms were more efficient.

+1 melee armour on infantry per age (starting in feudal)

Dutch armies often fought in squares, grouping together archers and musketeers with pikemen to deter any cavalry. Therefore this bonus reflects the difficulty enemies had in charging Dutch units. Also, since the Teutons have bulky infantry in the TKs, its nice to share this as the Dutch were close cultural neighbours to Germany.

+50% blast radius on demo ships

This one is pretty cool, and I only learnt it from ChuKoNoob's post. On a few occasions, the Dutch used boats with explosives to hit enemies positions and the use of it appears to have effective and well-known at the time.

Team Bonus:

Trade cogs are 25% faster

As the Netherlands prospered economically partly by using the large number of boats to conduct trade all over Europe and from the dominant Dutch East India company, it felt appropriate to make the Dutch the masters of the trade cog.

Unique Techs:

Unique Tech 1: Goedendag

Spear-line gain +20 HP

Again, the Dutch need good halbs and this bonus helps the Dutch dominate in late game trash wars.

Unique Tech 2: Immigratie

Gain +20 population space.

Part of the economic miracle of the Dutch Golden Age was large levels of immigration, caused mainly by Protestant refugees.

Unique Unit(s)

Waardgelder

The 1st unique unit is the Waargelder, who were foreign mercanaries fighting for the Dutch. It was tough to think of a land UU that wasn't a goedendag so I settled with this. It's like a gunpowder version of the gbeto that's even more extreme, having more attack but less range and accuracy, useful for raiding or king-sniping. The waargelder is essentially a civilian with a powerful gun that doesn't slow him down much.It's also partly inspired by the assasination of [William the Silent]. Note: it may be needed to reduce its damage vs. buildings if its too good against them. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silent#Assassination]

Waardgelder: 40 food, 60 gold Hit points: 30 Attack: 20 Range: 3 Accuracy: 65% Speed: 1.2

Gbeto: 50 food, 40 gold Hit points: 30 Attack: 10 Range: 5 Accuracy: 100% Speed: 1.25

Elite Waargelder: Hit points: 55 Attack: 25 Range: 3 Accuracy: 70%

Elite Gbeto: Hit points: 45 Attack: 13 Range: 6

Watergeuzen

The design of the Watergeuzen is a karambit-like naval unit that is heavier on the gold side to reflect how the Dutch hired their navy. The low cost and 1/2 population space reflects how the Dutch possessed the largest number of ships, which were often used for war but not created for it. The strategy is to flood the enemy with them, using the relatively high hit points to act as a meat shield for some galleys behind them. They also have more armour against towers as the Dutch raided the coast of areas occupied by the Spanish. With a low upgrade cost, they'd be less useful in mid to late imperial age, reflecting how the Dutch eventually acquired a professional navy.

Watergeuzen: 25 wood, 25 gold Hit points: 90 Attack: 5 Range: 4 Speed: 1.3 Population space: 1/2 +5 armour Vs towers and castles

War Galley 90 wood, 30 gold Hit points: 135 Attack: 7 Range: 6 Speed: 1.43

Elite Watergeuzen Hit points: 120 Attack: 6 Range 5

Galleon Hit points: 165 Attack: 8 Range: 7

Tech Tree:

Archery range: Archer, crossbowman, arbalast Skirmisher, elite skirmisher Hand cannoneer Cavalry archer, heavy cavalry archer Pathan tactics Thumb ring

Good skirms are needed as a defensive civ but otherwise there's not much here for later on

Barracks Millitia, men-at-arms, long swordsmen, two-handed swordsmen Spearman, pikeman, halbardier

Stable Scout cavalry, light cavallry, hussar Knight, cavalier, paladin Bloodlines Husbandry

Light Cavalry had to be removed to make sure the Netherlands aren't too strong in trash wars.

Dock Fire galley, fire ship, fast fire ship Demolition raft, demolition ship, heavy demo ship Galley, War Galley, galleon Cannon galleon, elite cannon galleon

Fast fires not needed as the Dutch already have a unit to soak up arrow fire in front

Defences Watch tower, guard tower, keep Bombard tower

Keeps needed for a defensive civ, I was a bit torn on the bombard tower, let me know if you think it should be gone

Monastery Redemption, atonement, herbal medicine, heresy, sanctity, fervour, faith, illumination, block printing, theocracy

Relative religious freedom means that heresy and faith are gone, allowing Dutch units to be easily converted. Decent monks are needed to reflect the large amount of religious activity going on at the time.

Siege workshop: Battering ram, capped ram, siege ram Mangonel, onagar, siege onagar Scorpion, heavy scorpion Bombard cannon

SOs and rams needed to counter archers, something that this civ struggle with.

Blacksmith

Padded archer armour, leather archer armour, ring archer armour Flecting, bodkin arrow, bracer Forging, iron casting, blast furnace Scale barding armour, chain barding armour, plate barding armour Scale mail armour, chain mail armour, plate mail armour

Bracer needed for galleons and good skirms.

University

Masonry, architecture, fortified wall, chemistry, ballistics, siege engineers, headed shot, arrowslits, murder holes, treadmill crane

The Dutch get all other eco upgrades