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 😉
May be Fervor tech should affect Teutonic Knights since they are a religious order
I like to propose two campaigns and some battles for the game, the information of each battle its easy to find: Byzantine Campaign (Belisarius) 1- Dara (530): Belisarius Vs Persian Empire 2- Nika riots (532): Belisarius Vs Greens (Byzantines) and Blues (Byzantines) 3- Vandalic war (533-534): Belisarius Vs Vandals and Berbers 4- Gothic war (535-544): Belisarius Vs Ostrogoths, Franks and Alamans 5- Spania (552): Liberius (Byzantines) and Athanagild (Goths) Vs Agila (Goths) 6- Constantinople (559): Belisarius Vs Bulgars (Huns) Inca Campaign (Manco Inca) 1- Civil war (1529-1532): Huascar, Manco Inca and Cañaris Vs Atahualpa (all INCAS) 2- Cajamarca (1532): Manco… Read more »
I think we can make those campaigns in the scenario editor. I can help!
the berbers are a welcomed addition and i will hope for makuria or ethiopia together with mali?! i suppose? great expansion and i welcome it dearly, years i have dreamt of this! very good! some makurian longswordsmen with special damage would have saved the day…
Ethiopians are a must-have. However, I’d say Nubians rather than Makurians, so Alwa ans Nobatia could also be used for Alwa and Nobatia.
I guess Vietnamese civ with campaign about their war against mongols and Yuan dynasty might be very interesting
it would! add in the Khmer and Javanese and there could be enough for an Asian-themed expansion (this one is centered around Africa ofc, but maybe someday in the future).
i would like to ask the creator team if they could somehow resolve the slp replacings, i mean if i have a 15 graphics house slp that replaces a 3 graphics slp house, the 15 graphics should be automatically recognized, so shall not look in the data with age. automatic slp replacement. the same for soldiers and units, generally speaking, different number slp should be automatically recognized. if possible!? hmm
I’d be extremely amused if one of those african civs was denied Imperial age and instead got some balanced castle techs. Wouldn’t that be awesome! 🙂
Very interesting idea. Unfortunately, it should have been perfect for the likes of Mayans or maybe Huns; the African civs did build solid empires.
Yeah, well, I won’t pretend to know about the African civs ’cause I don’t.
But you’re right about the Huns and Mayans.
Please, include the Portuguese. Would make more than sense. Also, the Dutch would be welcome.
There are many reasons to include the portuguese, like the Reconquista period; campaigns in India vs the Dutch, however, belong to AoE III.
Portuguese is on the list. We’ll have them
Awesome! Where did you get this information? (Would be great to know the other 2 new civs)
Ethiopians , Berbers, portu, Mali. There were a leak few days ago
and the fifth one?
I’m really curious to find out what is going to be the starting game soundtrack of the Portuguese.
Here are my suggestions of a few new civs:
Southern Chinese
The original Chinese faction in AOE2 looks more like generic Chinese or northern Chinese, and I think the Southern Chinese deserve their own faction.
Unique Units:
Zhanmadao: a rather expensive heavy infantry unit wielding a glaive, with rather high melee armor and a bonus against cavalry.
Zhijiabing: a cheap light infantry unit wielding a fire lance, has high pierce armor and is good against siege units, houses, and ranged units. However, it should avoid enemy melee units.
Khmers
They established a great regional empire in SE Asia and are definitely deserved to be in the game.
Unique Units
Ballista Elephant: basically a scorpion mounted on the back of an elephant, with bonus against infantry and other siege units.
Skirmisher Elephant: a mounted skirmisher on the back of an elephant, good against ordinary skirmishers as well as horse archers.