My civ concept series 20: The Mississippians

Hi all! After the Afghans (https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/nx9wl9/my\_civ\_concept\_series\_19\_the\_afghans/), next civ will be the Mississippians, the third and last of the North American civs in my concepts. This will be my last stop in America, and there will be only 3 left in this series. For this civ concept I have taken the similarities between the two major Native cultures surrounding the Mississippi Valley: the Mississippian culture and the Plains Indians. The similarities have helped me unite both of them and applying particularities I got the civ balance and bonuses. Although there were differences in language and styles of life, they shared agricultural and trading traditions.

After the Woodland period, the Mississippian culture flourished from 9th century to 17th century. They were known for building large, earthen platform mounds, and those traits con today be seen in Midwestern, Eastern and Southeastern USA. The culture was composed of urban settlements and small villages linked together by widespread trading networks. They changed their traditional tribe life for a more sedentary one, and started cultivating corn, squash and beans primarily, with tobacco, sunflower and plums as wild plants which they gathered from. Thus populations began to concentrate. Both political and religious power was controlled by a main head. They had no stone architecture, but worked metal deposits (though neither iron nor bronze).

The Mississippi era apex came during the 13th century. At that time Cahokia, the main metropolis, had approximately 20,000 inhabitants, more than many European capital cities. People didn’t live in the center where the main platform mound was erected and surrounded by palisades (that was a Ceremonial site), but they spread around it. During the decline, there has been found evidence of truly defensive structures, symptom that the peaceful life of Cahokia had been replaced by warfare, turmoil and population movement. The main reason for the total abandonment of the site seems to have been the “Little Ice Age” that occurred during the 15th century. The reduction of maize agriculture, deforestation and overhunting seem to be the other reasons for the decline. By the time Hernando De Soto conquistador reached and visited the Mississippians, there was no trace of a big settlement.

The main difference between the Mississippians and the Plains Indians, who lived west to the Mississippi Valley, was the hunting of the bison, which improved drastically with the introduction of the horse so that the bison nearly got extinct. They also were more prone to change their location, and that’s why they lived in tipis that were easily disassembled. They didn’t build platform mounds, either. Their settlements were smaller and the population, although with less density, was as large as the Mississippian culture’s.

Regarding the civ balance, the Mississippians have an especial tech tree adapted to the Native American civs, but in this case, it is geared towards Cavalry and Cavalry Archers (a feature of the Plains Indians). The strength of Cahokia and the surrounding areas during what we could call “the Feudal Age” has been reflected in an eco bonus for Feudal Age wood/farm upgrades. Their leaders were mainly priests, and that’s why monks are boosted. Mississippian Canoes will also be stronger than Algonquian or Iroquois, due to the influence of the river. Finally, there are Archery Range and Cavalry Archer bonuses as a strong military feature.

The Unique Unit is a Cavalry Archer. I know this is utterly controversial. The reasons for this depiction are three. First: although archaeologists claim (and it is globally accepted) that horses became extinct during a glaciation, there is a recent dissertation that states that there were horses in the southern area of the Great Plains, because there is evidence of horses before the Spanish settlers reached North America. These researchers give proof that there are horse bones dating 13th or 14th century, paintings and toys depicting horses and also a horse breed that has nothing to do with the European breeds. Another more historical reason to support this is that the Spanish had not so many horses, and of course wouldn’t want to lose any of them to the Native. Castille had endured a hard war, and at the time Conquistadors reached America, the kingdom was powerful but not rich, so they didn’t take so many horses to American expeditions. Second: even if horses were truly given to or stolen by the Native Americans, these adapted so well to the use of horses (both for hunting and warfare), that it was as if always had owned horses. The contact between Spanish and Mississippian happened before the contact between the Algonquian and Iroquois with the European, so I gave them a mounted unit one Age before the rest of the NA civs. Third: This is my personal interpretation of the civ, in which all Ages come up a bit later than for the rest of civs. Historical stretching has always been a bit of AoE2 feature. Once the idea of including NA civs occurred to me, I could not stop thinking that the UU for Mississippians had to be a Cavalry Archer. The Sioux were chosen because of their ability with horses. The Unique Techs are important features of the cultures: The platform mounds and the Native American warring style, with hit-and-run tactics that always gave problems to Europeans.

North American civ features:

- Can’t build stone walls

- Can’t build stables

- Start with a Native Scout, which is the very same as an Eagle Scout (including costs, armor classes and upgrades) but with different design. The same is for the Native Warrior and Elite Native Warrior

- They can create Canoes at docks, starting in the Feudal Age. The Canoes can be seen in many campaigns and are available in the Scenario Editor. They’re small ships that fire two arrows. No elite upgrades available.

o Creation time: 50s in Feudal Age, 30s in Castle Age and Imperial Age

o Cost: 75 wood 20 gold

o HP 70

o Attack 7 (pierce)

o Armor 0/6

o Range 5

o Reload time 3.05 Frame delay 0 Speed 1.5

o Upgrades: Attack and range (blacksmith); armor and speed (dock).

o Attack bonuses Ships 9 Fishing Ships 9 Buildings 7 Rams 4

- When they reach the Imperial Age, in the Town Center they will get a Technology to research called “Horse Imports”. Cost 300 wood 300 food 300 gold. Its research time will be 90s, and allows North American civs to build Stables.

- After researching Horse Imports, they can build Stables at the Imperial Age. There won’t be any technologies available, but can create two units:

o Mounted warrior: A reskinned version of the Hussar. With the same cost, hidden stats and bonuses, and these stats:

· HP 95; Attack 7 - Can be upgraded at the blacksmith; Armor 2/5; Speed 1.65

o Mounted lancer: A reskinned version of the Elite Steppe Lancer. With the same cost, hidden stats and bonuses, and these stats:

· HP 100; Attack 11 - Can be upgraded at the blacksmith; Armor 3/4; Speed 1.60

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Mississippians: Cavalry archer and monk civilization

- Horse Collar, Double-Bit Axe and Wheelbarrow don’t cost food

- All Archery Range techs cost -50%

- Monks get +25/+50% HP in Castle/Imperial Age

- Elite Canoe upgrade is available in Imperial Age

Team bonus: Cavalry Archers (and Unique Units with Cavalry Archer armor) are created 30% faster

Unique techs:

- Platform mounds (300 wood 300 stone): All buildings get -25% damage

After all the damage has been calculated, it is multiplied by 0.75.

- Great Plains Tactics (600 food 500 gold): Mounted Units get +10 Cavalry Armor

Unique units:

Sioux Warrior: Cavalry Archer with bonus attack against Cavalry

Cost: 60 wood 70 gold

Upgrade cost: 900 wood 650 gold

Creation time 25s. Speed 1.35 Reload time 2 Frame Delay 20 Attack Delay 0.6 Accuracy 75 (90)

HP: 60 (75)

Attack: 7 (8) pierce

Armor: 0/0 (1/0)

Range: 4

Armor class: Archer, Cavalry, Cavalry Archer

Upgrades: Blacksmith, Archery Range, University

Attack bonus: Cavalry 3 (5) Camel 2 (4) War Elephant 6 (8)

Elite Canoe: Upgrade for Canoes, only available for Mississippians

Upgrade cost: 300 wood 250 gold

HP: 115

Attack: 8 pierce

Number of arrows: 3

Armor: 0/7

Range: 7

Attack bonus: Fishing Ship 11 Ship 11 Building 9 Ram 4

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Barracks: Champion – Halberdier – Elite Native Warrior – All techs

Archery range: Arbalester – Elite Skirmisher – All techs

Stable: Mounted Warrior – Mounted Lancer

Siege workshop: Siege Ram – Onager – Heavy Scorpion – Siege Tower

Blacksmith: Lack all cavalry armor upgrades and Blast Furnace

Dock: War Galley –Fire Ship – Heavy Demo Ship – Elite Canoe – All techs

University: Lack Bombard Tower –Fortified Wall – Siege Engineers – Keep – Treadmill Crane

Castle: Lack Hoardings and Sappers

Monastery: All techs

Economy: Lack Stone Shaft Mining

The eco bonus for this civ applies in the Feudal Age, but it is strong, since it will save 350 food in economic upgrades (of course, Wheelbarrow will be researched later). In this case, scout opening is not possible, but it may help a lot with the transition from m@a or drush into archers, and then for a faster Castle Age time. It will be interesting to have many archers, since crossbow and arbalester techs will be cheaper. Skirmishers will also benefit from the discount.

The Unique Unit is costly but very strong, and the cheaper Thumb Ring and Parthian Tactics will help amassing and powering them. The Imperial Age UT will make them and stable units tankier against Halberdiers, Camels, Mamelukes, Genoese Crossbowmen and Kamayuks. Monks will be a very good addition to this army, since they’ll start with 38HP, for a final 60HP in Imperial Age with Sanctity. The Castle Age Unique Tech will be a very strong defensive one, and it will certainly help with building survival and in treb wars. Finally, they also have an Imperial Age upgrade unique to them for Canoes, which can help in small water battles, even doing hit-and-run against Fast Fire Ships.

I hope you enjoyed, and of course, suggestions are welcome. Next civ (21 of 23) will be the Yorubas.

Thank you!