So I have a boring job operating an elevator on a construction site. I don't have a lot of time to play AOE, but I have a lot of time to think about it. My favorite thing about the current state of the game is how they're still expanding it. I've spent the past few weeks considering the most worthy civs to add if they have a new expansion. All day I've been making edits on my civs with a little note pad I keep with me. There are about 6 so far, but I'll post 4 for now since that's all they add per expansion. When I come up with 4 more I'll post another thread. Thanks for the advice on my last thread. That one was just about Poland, but I've improved them a lot since then. I think..
Bantu- I remembered recently that the Bantu was a civ in Rise of Nations. I looked them up, read their civ bonuses and thought "why can't AOE have a civ like that?" There are only 2 civs with African architecture, so one more African civ is in order. They have a strong economy, strong early game, poor navy, poor cav, poor siege, average infantry with unique properties and good archers.
~archers and skirmishers move 15% faster
~skirmishers have +1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial
~infantry have +1/+3/+6 attack vs. buildings in Feudal/Castle/Imperial. No access to Arson.
~Town centers and outposts don’t cost stone
~Loom is free
Team bonus- palisade walls cost 3 wood per piece
Unique unit- Impi: A quick spearman with a bonus against cavalry.
cost: 40f 20g Elite: cost: 40f 20g
hp: 60 hp: 70
armor: 0/0 armor: 1/1
attack: 8, same bonuses as a pikeman attack: 10, same bonuses as a halberdier
speed: same as a shotel warrior speed: same as a shotel warrior
Tech 1- Inheritance: infantry return 50% of their gold cost once they're killed 200g 700f
Tech 2- Decurve Bow: archers do +3 damage against infantry 350s 500w
Archers: full archer upgrades, full armor, no chemistry, no Heavy cav archer
Infantry: no Champion, scale male armor is the only armor upgrade available, no Arson
Stable: upgrade to Light Cav, no Hussar, full armor upgrades, no knight line, no camel line
Siege: no Siege Onager, no Capped Ram, no chemistry
Monks: no heresy, no sanctity, no atonement
Navy: no fast fire ship, no galleon
University/Castle: No keep, no architecture, no fortified wall, no hoardings
Eco: no banking, no guilds
Civ notes: With a strong early game and a potential for a great economy, the Bantu are still limited to their few strengths. They are a hit and run civ even without good cavalry. Their archers, skirmishers and Impis, with their speed, make a strategic triad, defending very effectively against cavalry and archers while pushing with archers. The infantry line is redeemed to spite their poor armor through their anti-building bonus and cheap price once Inheritance is researched. A prolonged push against an enemy town using infantry is both cost effective to you and calamitous to the enemy since Imperial Bantu infantry are as dangerous as Obsidian Arrow Arbalests. In an edgy decision, the Bantu don't get Capped Ram, making the infantry bonus more critical. The Decurve Bow is there to help cover the Bantu's weak spot against Champs and Eagles, though it is a late game tech.
Cover the map quick and soak up the resources with your eco bonuses while saving up your stone so you can build castles to pump out Impis. If your build is successful then your enemy has a prolonged guerrilla war waiting for them.
Venetians- I think Venice was separated enough from the rest of modern day Italy for them to be considered their own civ. They were also very influential and powerful, owning large swaths of Europe at times and even requiring an alliance called the League of Cambrai at one point to put them in their place. With the Venetians we get another civ with Mediterranean architecture, of which we only have two.
They have a strong navy, strong defense, good economy, good trade, good infantry, average archers, poor cavalry and poor monks.
~Galleys have +1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial
~+1/+2/+3 melee armor for all buildings in Feudal/Castle/Imperial
~Heated Shot is free
~Fishing ships gather from fish traps 15% faster
Team bonus- trade cogs carry 25% more gold
Unique unit- Landsknecht: In Spirit of the Law's Burmese overview he mentioned that even with the Burmese attack bonus long swords just aren't cost effective against knights, and so they aren't built too often. Being a two handed swordsman, the purpose of the Landsknecht is to offer the Venetians an infantry unit that is a cost effective counter and replacement for the knight. It has comparable armor, attack, hp and cost. It is as slow as a long sword, but it makes up for that with trample damage.
cost: 55f 70g Elite: cost: 55f 70g
hp: 100 hp: 120
armor: 2/2 armor: 2/3
attack:10 attack: 12
speed: militia speed: militia
trample: 3 attack to surrounding units trample: 5 attack to surrounding units
Unique unit- At the monastery- Plague Doctor: For people who do not know what a Plague Doctor is they look like these cool cats here. They heal at 1.5 times the rate of a monk, can heal at twice the range, move as fast as a militia and have twice the hit points of a monk. They cannot carry relics, or convert enemies. They have conversion resistance of a scout and gain 10 more hit points and heal at 1.7 the rate of a monk in the imperial age.
Tech 1- Spy Glass: ships, towers and castles have +4 LOS and galleys, towers and castles have +1 range 350g 100w A cool side note is the Venetians were the first people to use the telescope for military purposes after Galileo invented it.
Tech 2- Monopoly: market rates are halfed for the whole team, 500w
So if you're selling 100f for 17g, then if you, or one of your team mates researches Monopoly, you can now sell 100f for 34g.
Archers: no ring archer armor, no heavy cavalry archer
Infantry: full upgrades, full armor
Cavalry: no bloodlines, no husbandry, no camel line, no Hussar. They do get Paladin.
Siege: no siege ram, no siege engineers
Monks: no fervor, no atonement, no heresy, no theocracy, no illumination
Navy: full upgrades except heavy demo ship
University:no treadmill crane, no conscription, no siege engineers
eco: no gold shaft mining, no crop rotation
Civ notes: While archers are viable, it would be foolish to leave the Landsknecht un-utilized. As such, it is worth getting the mail armor upgrades thus making the milita and spear lines more viable, in contrast to the Italians. I would've liked there to be a castle age tech that gives +1/+1 armor to infantry, but the Spy Glass tech seemed more in line with the nature of the Venetians. If you're pushing with Landsknechts, Long Swords and Pikes, you might as well bring a couple Plague Doctors with you since they'd keep up with your infantry well and can take more of a beating than monks. The Plague Doctor is kind of like a constant health buff to accompany your infantry. You can go for Paladin if you need to, but of course they lack bloodlines and husbandry.
The fishing bonus gives you the food eco of a Slav player, if you have enough water available to fully capitalize on it. To accompany this bonus and the trade cog bonus is free Heated Shot, the Spy Glass tech and longer range Galleys, allowing you to anticipate and fend off enemy eco raids on the seas a bit easier. Over all your town is less at risk from raids because of the higher melee defense on buildings. You now have more time to respond before an army of knights snipes one of your TCs.
Poland- A third civ for the Eastern European style architecture, they have fantastic defense, strong and heavy infantry, quick and powerful late game cavalry, mediocre siege and monks, and bad navy.
~Villagers repair 25% faster
~Buildings auto repair for free at 25% the rate of a generic villager. Their buildings auto repair faster with an extra 1/4 of a generic villager rate with each unit garrisoned inside. 3 garrisoned units + the constant auto repair = an auto repair rate of one generic vill.
~Infantry have +1/+2/+3 melee armor in Feudal/Castle/Imperial
~Cavalry move 10%/15% faster starting in Castle/Imperial. No access to Husbandry.
~Stone mining upgrades are free.
Team bonus: infantry have +5 hitpoints
Unique unit- Grenadier: infantry unit with an area of effect gunpowder attack, has 3 pierce armor and short range. They are both a counter to archers and a replacement for Polish archers as a powerful ranged unit. Has a minimum range of 1 tile and benefits from the infantry armor bonus. They have a bonus against buildings.
cost- 60f 45g Elite- cost- 60f 45g
hp- 50 hp- 60
armor- 0/3, benefits from infantry bonus armor- 0/3
attack- 16, area of effect 1 tile attack- 21, area of effect 1 tile
range- 4 range- 5
rate of fire- 3.5 like a hc rate of fire- 3.5
speed- same as a hc speed- same as a hc
Tech 1- Quarantine- Villagers are created 25% faster. 400w 300f Poland was left largely unaffected by the Black Death because of quarantine measures that were taken.
Tech 2- Winged Hussars- Scout cavalry have +1/+1 armor. 500g 800f
Archers- no Arbalest, no Thumb Ring, no Elite Skirmisher, full armor
Infantry- full infantry upgrades, full armor
Cavalry- full cavalry upgrades, full armor
Monks- no fervor, no redemption
Siege- no siege engineers
Navy- no Fast Fire Ship, no Dry Dock
University- no bombard tower
eco- no gold shaft mining, no two man saw, no banking, no guilds
Civ notes- Some of the most intense parts of the game are when you're frantically repairing a castle or tc while it's being attacked. The Polish are effectively a defensive civ since they can succeed in this type of siege much better than anyone else. Buildings will also auto heal very slowly, so those flaming buildings will slowly be extinguished over time, instead of remaining on fire for the whole game. With more garrison the building repairs faster. 10 units in a TC means the TC will auto repair at the rate of 2 and 3/4 normal vills. This bonus will help keep it up, but if you do have to jump out and repair your vills will effectively have 1 extra vill repairing for every 4. The auto repair is kind of an eco bonus because it is for free, but their only real eco bonus is free stone upgrades, which goes well with the other defense bonuses. The Quarantine tech also aids in defense as it lets you recover from raids easier and boom back to fighting conditions faster.
I have a thing for trying to make infantry more viable and for the Pols Champions and Halbs with +3 melee armor will hold up far better against cavalry. Accompany your infantry with Grenadiers to deal huge damage from behind the lines, or to soak up arrow fire and dispatch archers with equal efficiency. The lack of Elite Skirmisher is a decision I'm not sure of, but it will force a Polish player to resort to their quick cavalry and Grenadiers when facing an archer civ. Not only do the Pols have fully upgraded cav AND free husbandry essentially AS WELL as +5% more speed in the Imperial making them the fastest in the game, BUT Winged Hussars gives you the beefiest Hussars for some real late game strength.
Karnata- This is southern India during the time AOE2 takes place. Another name for this empire is Vijayanagara, but wiki says another name for them is karnata, which is easier to say. These guys were basically a response by most of southern India to join together against the Islamic controlled northern India. Obviously the in game India civ refers to when India was under control of the Mughals, or the Sultans, by virtue of their late game tech, Sultans. This being the case the Karnata Empire is a specifically Hindu civilization, though historically they allowed free religious expression.
They are very versatile and aggressive with a strong rush, strong archers, strong infantry, weak cav, but good elephants and Hussars, strong navy and strong monk, but overall bad defense.
~Galleys get +1/+2 attack in Castle/Imperial.
~The militia line is 80% cheaper to upgrade.
~Herdables generate gold while you possess them. They cannot be harvested by you. One heardable generates 1/5 the rate of a relic's gold.
~+100 wood at game start.
~guilds is free
Team bonus: infantry +2 attack vs. archers
Unique unit: Tiger Claw: An infantry unit very similar to an Eagle Warrior to compensate for the Karnata's lack of a knight line, although they have a bonus against archers instead of cavalry. They have a higher attack rate comparable to a Hussar's attack rate in relation to a Light Cavalry.
cost- 50f 60g Elite- cost- 50f 60g
hp- 60 hp- 70
attack- 10, +4 vs archers, +2 civ bonus, +3 vs siege, +8 vs monk attack- 13, +5 vs archer, +2 civ, +5 vs siege, +10 vs monk
armor- 0/2 armor- 0/3
speed- same as an eagle warrior speed- same as an eagle warrior
rate of fire- 1.93 rate of fire- 1.93
Unique unit: at the monastery: Swami: A monk on an elephant. Conversion range of 7, healing range of 3. Same mana regen and healing rate as an monk. They cannot carry a relic. Their obvious benefit is going to be high hit points, probably around 150, but it's basically a tanky monk. Their cost is going to be something like 225g though. They benefit from all the monastery techs and the Mahayana Meditation tech. They move as slow as a elephant typically does.
Tech 1: Mahayana Meditation: Elephant units regenerate health at a significant rate of at least 1 hp per 1.5 seconds (equal to Berzerkergang,but possibly it should be faster than that for 1 hp per second since elephants have so much health) and monks regenerate mana at a 35% faster rate. 500 gold, 500 wood
Tech 2: Wootz Steel: infantry have +1/+1 armor 300f 300g
Tech Tree:
Archers- full archer upgrades, full armor
Infantry- full infantry upgrades, full armor
Cavalry- no knight line, no camel line, fully upgraded Hussar and Elite Battle Elephants, full armor upgrades.
Monks- no heresy
Navy- full naval upgrades except elite cannon galleon
Siege- no Heavy Scorpion, maybe no Siege Onager
University/Castle- no sappers, no hoardings, no architecture, no heated shot, (maybe no murder holes, if feels right for some reason).
eco- no gold shaft mining
Civ notes: The heardables bonus is strange and is obviously a reference to the Hindu religion. This bonus deprives the Karnata of early game food in exchange for a trickle of gold, so to make up for this they start with 100 wood to help build farms or rush if they want to, but if the early game can be balanced then the overall effect of having 2 relics while playing maps like Arabia for the whole game is obviously powerful. Again a lot of testing would have to be done, but I think this is an opportunity for a very unique eco bonus. Imagine strategies where your allies give you all their heardable, or walling in your sheep to protect them from the enemy. If this herdables idea can't pan out then I think they should just receive +100 wood for every age.
Once again I have this hang up on making infantry more viable and with the Karnata lacking both Knights and the powerful camels of the Indians, having their militia line more appealing in an apparent choice. I was thinking about just giving them half off all barracks upgrades like the Burmese monastery, but that seemed too generic. I also wanted to give them free militia upgrades like the Ethiopian spear line, but you can't really do that when there's more than one upgrade in the Imperial age. In the end I made their militia line practically free. Swordsmen are now far less cumbersome to switch to if you choose and some great opportunities for rushing has been opened up. Upgrading to Man at Arms is now only 20f and 4g, Long Swordsman is 40f and 13g, Two Handed Swordsman is 60f and 20g and Champion is 150f and 70g. That's a large chunk of resources which can go to making more swordsmen, and the benefit ramps up as you age up naturally. In the end the Karnata ended up being very similar to the Goths in their cheap infantry and strong anti-archer unique unit. I wanted their final unique tech to be an expensive hp upgrade for fire ships to bolster their naval presence, but to be honest I couldn't find anything historical to justify that other than a general naval presence. No unique ship designs or anything, or at least nothing that I could find, but in the process of looking I read about Wootz steal, or Damascus steel as it's known over here, which was originated in southern India. It was too perfect and I felt another late game upgrade for their infantry was very suitable.
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