New Civ Concept: Iroquois

Hello everyone, ChuKoNoob here for AOE2 Civ Concepts LLC , and today u/anatarion and I are back with a new civ idea: the Iroquois! As always, we try our best to make them at least somewhat faithful to history while still having unique civ bonuses, a distinctly aoe2 play-style, and of course, a balanced power level. We hope that feedback on previous civ posts has improved our designs and promoted a healthy discussion of civ balance.

Iroquoi (infantry civ, specializes in infantry and siege pushes)

For thousands of years, the tribes of northeastern North America have engaged in incessant and bloody warfare. Now, it is time to come to your senses and unite the tribes into a powerful confederation capable of victories against old neighbors and new enemies. Even as old stories recall the incursions of the Vikings, new threats emerge from the south. Can you change the course of history for your people and pioneer siege equipment that can break the fortresses of the Mississippians and hold back the foreign tide? Or will you be forgotten by history?

Spoken Language: Mohawk

Architecture/Ship Design: North American (link to beautiful design by Konrikthus)

Civ Bonuses

• Lumberjacks +10 carrying capacity
• Siege engineers free
• Siege workshop upgrades 30% cheaper
• Eagle line 20% cheaper

Team Bonus: Mobile siege can be garrisoned in castles

Missing Techs

• Barracks: None
• Archery Range: Cav archer, Parthian Tactics, Hand Cannoneer
• Stable: no stable
• Blacksmith: cavalry armor techs
• Siege Workshop: Bombard Cannon
• Monastery: Block Printing, Heresy
• University: Guard Tower, bombard tower, arrow slits, architecture, fortified wall, heated shot
• Dock: Fast fire ship, Heavy demo ship, Cannon galleon Dry-dock
• Castle: none
• Economy: none

Unique Techs

Castle Age: War Chiefs: Eagle warriors regenerate 1hp per 3 secs

Cost: 400F, 200G

Imperial Age: Leather Coverings: Siege units +3 pierce armor

Cost: 500W, 300G

Unique Unit

Mantlet, Siege Archer

Cost: 80W, 50G

Combat Stats: 50 HP (60 elite), 8 pierce attack (10 elite), 6 range (8 elite), 0/3 armor (0/6 elite), 3.5 RoF,

Accuracy: 50%

Minimum Range: 2

Attack Bonuses: +15 (+20 elite) vs buildings

Hidden Armor: +2 archer armor

Classification: archer, unique unit, siege weapon

Creation Time: 20 seconds (18 elite)

Other Stats: 0.8 movement speed, has attack ground option, affected by archer attack upgrades and siege engineers

Civ Design/Synergy Blurb

A Meso siege civ? Not our most historically accurate work ever, but a nice hole in the civ synergy scene that we wanted to try and fill. Perhaps it makes more sense to think about the mighty fortresses of the Mississippian civilization and that the Iroquois came later, supplanting them as the most powerful native group on the continent. One may object that the Aztecs already get good siege, so we already have a Meso civ civ. However, the Aztecs get no bonuses relating to siege, and miss Heavy Scorpion.

The first bonus is that lumberjacks carry more. This was added in after feedback from previous posts emphasized the need for an early-game trait that helps the civ along, and that our civ ideas tended to be weak in Feudal Age. This bonus is not a strong eco bonus, but it helps to take wood early-game by more efficiently taking straggler trees, as well as in the later game by not having to refresh lumber camps as often and reducing villager congestion. A wood-related bonus was a logical choice, as it can make a transition to siege a little bit easier.

The second bonus gives an early-Imperial power-spike on siege. Siege engineers is often hard to get when you're also trying to research Onager, capped ram, heavy scorpion, and/or Chemistry, all on an early-Imperial economy. However, it's a pretty significant boost, as getting +1 range on trebs and onagers can help win siege fights and take down enemy buildings, especially forwards, that much faster. This is meant to give Iroquois a solid boost to their siege play without being too snow-bally and OP

Also helping in early Imperial is that siege upgrades are 30% cheaper. This means that capped ram only costs 210 food to research, while onager costs 560 food and 350 gold to research, to give two examples. While this doesn't make much difference in Death Match, this is really nice for standard play, especially on closed maps like Arena, where getting early upgrades while keeping more resources for unit production can be a win-win scenario.

The true (non-siege) heart of this civ, though, is the cheaper eagles! This one is actually historically-based: the uniting of a vast area and numerous warring tribes under one confederacy provided a massive power spike to the Iroquois, as all their groups of battle-hardened fighters were pooled together into a single force, providing a sudden wave of skilled manpower, especially as unification multiplies the strength of participants into more than the sum of their parts. Because of this, eagles are much easier to come by, being 20% cheaper in-game. We chose 20% rather than 15% or 25% as it keeps a clean round number for the cost, knocking exactly 10 gold off the cost (eagles cost 16F, 40G instead of 20F, 50G). This first starts to take effect in Feudal Age, but really shines most in Castle Age and Imperial.

Traditionally, strong units that are discounted for a certain civ have a good chance of being nerfed to compensate (Malay elephants, Byzantine camels, Goth infantry, etc.), but there are no direct nerfs to Iroquois eagles. However, keep in mind also that all existing eagle civs have unique technologies that provide a huge boost to eagles' power (+4 attack, extra HP, and 2 extra pierce armor are all very significant boosts). While the Iroquois do have a UT for eagles, it is much weaker than those of other civs. Because of the comparison with other civs' FU eagles, we can safely say the Iroquois eagles are weaker to compensate for being cheaper. At the same time, they get all blacksmith and Barracks upgrades, so they are still always a solid choice.

Lastly, the team bonus provides a rather small defensive boost to siege. Ever wished you could hide your exposed onagers in a nearby castle when a wave of enemy cavalry catches you off-guard? Well now you can! "Mobile siege" essentially refers to all non-treb siege units, including bombard cannons (only applies to allies though - you could argue that this is more useful for some allies than it is for the Iroquois themselves, given the squishiness and cost of bombard cannons).

Aside from all that, they have FU archers with a rather poor navy and defense, decent monks for Castle Age, and access to every economy upgrade.

So there you have it, a Meso siege civ! Hope you enjoyed reading this long blurb (not likely, but still), and I look forward to your feedback!

Previous Civ Concepts:

• Bantu
• Chola
• Dutch
• Georgians
• Helvetians
• Kanembu
• Mississippians
• Nepalese
• Nubians
• Polynesians
• Tartars
• Thai

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