We’ve got another expansion to make, so where to start! We’re all joyously filled with crazy, weird ideas, bouncing them off the wall and eachother. But we’ll have to squeeze those ideas into a proper game. So where to start? Just like last time, it starts with the core of the new content, the new civilizations.
A Theme
In Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten, we were presented with a rather obvious civ choice. Ensemble Studios had left hints behind on which civs they would’ve loved to add to the game. Some were nations that appeared in campaigns but were never turned into a proper, playable civ. Those were the easy choices, but now that we’ve used the most obvious ones, where do we go next? Over the last year(s), we’ve received a lot of feedback from players on possible new civilizations. Ranging from Medieval powerhouses like the Normans and the Khmers to less obvious or specific suggestions such as the Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Principality of Pannonia. But unlike our broader approach to AoF, we’ve decided to build out more of a thematic flair and pay a visit to a continent south of Europe with a rich history: Africa. We’ll be covering civilizations both born within the content, as well empires that held great power in the region – including one that has been requested many, many, many times by the fans.
But to keep things a bit exciting, they will all be revealed over the coming weeks, so feel free to speculate 😉
Oh except for the first one!
The Berbers
The Berbers (~700 AD) are the first African civilization to be seen in the new expansion pack. We caught a glimpse of them in the original El Cid campaigns in “The Conquerors”, where they are portrayed in a more generic term as Saracens. Berbers, however, are more than worthy of becoming an Age of Empires civilization. With dynasties across Northern Africa, the ancient Berbers will primarily be a Cavalry & Naval civilization. They’ll have 2 unique units and will also feature a unique technology that affects the entire team.
3D Model of the Camel Archer, one of the new Berber Unique Units
Since we’re early in development, we don’t have a lot of screenshots yet, but the Camel Archer is already properly functional in the game and looking good. As if it has always been hopping around in the Age of Empires II universe. It was of course teased with the overall expansion announcement.
A band of Camel Archers, guarding the road for unsuspecting enemy trade carts
And last but not least, the Berbers will have their own campaign, but we’ll share more on that later as well.
So this will be it for the first dev blog, it’s more of a tease than a proper “dev” blog, but we’ll certainly dig a bit deeper in the next episodes. We’re hoping to do these monthly, make sure you don’t miss out 😉
I’m berber and approve this !
Do they have a different building set?
So will this be an Africa-themed expansion or will we see civs that are not African? And in case it is completely Africa-themed, will we see more expansions in the future which are not?
Igor – “We’ll be covering civilizations both born within the content, as well empires that held great power in the region – including one that has been requested many, many, many times by the fans.” – so there will be at least one from outside Africa.
Here’s hoping Portuguese. I’m quite surprised they went for a themed expansion. I don’t know what other non-African civs they could do that had power in the region, but then again I’m no historian.
Igor – “We’ll be covering civilizations both born within the content, as well empires that held great power in the region – including one that has been requested many, many, many times by the fans.” – so there will be at least one from outside Africa.
Here’s hoping Portuguese. I’m quite surprised they went for a themed expansion.
thanks, i’ve somehow missed that 🙂
What would be cool for us and get money for them?
Make several themed expansions with, say, 5 new civilizations, 3 new maps, at least 1 campaign all fitting a central theme.
Sell for about 5-10$ and continue releasing new themes over the course of a year or so.
I would love if you changed the (looks of the) infantry and archer lines in the meso civs. It always seems really strange seeing mayans or aztecs with arbalests, halberdiers or champions. anyways, looking forward to the expansion!
What about the Japanese Knights? Those also look weird. They should make a unit graphical set for European, Mesoamerican, Asian and each region the same way as the buildings 🙂
oh yes, they could get inspiration by the nintendoDS version of aoe2, where all units (even vills) got a different skin depending on the civ you played.. actually a nice thing, if you think about it.
Problem is, the warrior customs of Japanese were totally different than other Asian nations
Then why are they wearing European armor and weapons instead? See my point? 🙂 (Note that when I said Knight I meant the Knight unit only, as an example)
I’m saying they should go for a generic unit graphical set for each region so it looks more logical. It could be a unit graphical set for each civilization like Star Wars: Battlegrounds but that would be a lot of work (it’s the best solution but will also take more time).
I get ur point, I just suggest that not only generic unit graphical set for each region, but also unique graphical set for Japan, Byzantine, Celt, Huns, Goth and probably Persian:)
Indeed!! That would be the best!! Just like in Star Wars: Battlegrounds 😀
by the way there’s a mod in the works for the original AoE2 that does exactly what you’re describing:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/aoe-2-hd-new-units-and-terrain-re-skin
there’s a few others that are doing the same thing but this one looks the most pomising
oh, that’s actually really similar to the graphics included in the “Age of Chivalry – Hegemony” mod.. nice thing indeed!
This would be awesome, but i’m imagining it would take so much work!
There are a bunch of fan mods out there that have this stated goal (i know theres a bunch of them in the works, idk if there are any completed). Jorgito’s is the best one I know of.
Could possible Bantu (south africa), Switz ( with landsknechts), Balcains(Croatians, Serbians..) … 😀
I think Slavs already covers the balkans…. after all “Italians” cover all of the numerous italian states of the period!
EDIT: even though the feeling of the Slavs Civ is much more Russian/Ukraine, I’ll give you that
Switz with swiss guard and super pikeman 😉 agree!
Polish with Winged Hussars
and if we have spanish…why not portuguese?
please, choose them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Makuria
these guys looked amazing in a Total War mod from some years ago, they would fit in amazingly well in AofEII!
I can’t believe that there are no civilizations of Indian origin in the Age of Empires series. I expect atleast one civ of Indian origin in this expansion
What are you talking about? They already exist in AoE2 – The Forgotten and in AoE3 – The Asian Dynasties.
What about the Indian and Chinese civilizations?
Those already exist.
Chinese have always been there since Age of Kings, with Indian civilization coming in The Forgotten. I think the doctor needs to prescribe you an extra 2 hours of AOE time every 3 days for a month to help you get over this forgetfulness 😛