Amazing design. Definitely want to see the Danes in AOE4 with the features highlighted in the video. It sounds like a challenging version of Mongol-Rus in the early period. Ton of early rushes that are built around achieving feats, like the Rus bounty system?
The editing is top notch, I know this is a more time consuming type of editing but I enjoy this format for the Civ concept videos more than the one you did for the Byzantines, keep up the outstanding work! LOVE the Saga concept, a fun blend of Mongol and Rus early gameplay with the function of the ottoman vizier points.
I would like to see a system similar to the Chinese dynasty system or the Abbasid “wing” system where the Danes are forced to commit to either the Viking playstyle or Christian European playstyle. Basically, by building different landmarks, they can either double down on the high risk/high reward early aggression of the Viking side with military bonuses in feudal and castle age, or they can forego that for a fast castle/ fast Imperial strategy with landmarks from the christianized European side that will give them economic bonuses in Castle and imperial age as well as access to better late game military units like the mounted crossbow. Another tradeoff could be that if they go with the Viking landmark in castle age they don’t get access to monks.
Amazing! We should really try to send relic this work, its a perfect balance between playable-fan service- historical accuracy. Keep going amazing content
Great work. I have seen few viking based civ concepts but most of them are arguable, through I love this one. I personally thought viking civ to be mix of Rus and Mongols. I think you forgot docks for this concept. Their unique unit definitely would be longships, similar to Rus lodya ships and fishing bonuses. Meanwhile from Mongols I imagine vikings having some moveable buildings. My longhouse concept was, that it should act as (perhaps limited to 3) relocatable outpost and house (20 population) combined, that can produce your mentioned raiders. Also really like Mongol plunder bonus.
I don't often write comments, and by that I mean I essentially do not write them at all, however, I have to say you've done an amazing job with this design my man. Loved the sagas, everything is extremely flavourful and well thought out. Hats off to you my dude, keep up the great content :)
Danes/Vikings would be a very good civilization for AoE4 devs have a lot of references and source material to make a very fun and interesting civilization to play.
Relic: "Dont worry guys, we hear you. We already working on making your beloved Wiking/Danes into the game." Introduces the Wikings as a Variant Civ of the Rus. - Realy great video in general, the concep it amazing.
Such great stuff in this series, your civ designs are very inspired and well presented. I’d love to see your take on how an American civ would look in aoe4. The Aztecs and Incas are sorely missed, but maybe we’ll get something new like the Mississippians. Also, I would go crazy for a Māori civ.
Thank you! Unfortunately I've been really scared to do the American civs - they're super different than what we have in AOE4 right now so it's hard for me to speculate on how it'd work. They didn't have cavalry, metal armor or weapons, they didn't have siege weapons (at least not Eurasian style), gunpowder - they didn't even have sheep!
@@ChillyEmpire I think at least the very unique civ designs in AoE4 lend themselves more to diversity than the more rigid designs in AoE2. I’m sure it could be done!
Love the concept, what I’d like to see is a longship that functions as an archer / transport / fishing ship that infantry can build on the shoreline like a ram. It only fires arrows based on # of infantry garrisoned and only fishes based off of # of villagers garrisoned
After watching the Vinland Saga anime, especially the 2nd season, and though i mostly play aoe2, i would LOVE to see the Danes in aoe4 (since aoe2 already has 'vikings'). Great video!
I'd imagine that if you're talking about cavalry units after Christianization, you could remove the horseman and replace it with the Raider or Huskarl as an anti-ranged unit with greater charge speed. I'd do that because I haven't found any sources of the Vikings using horses for direct warfare in the first place.
this is a great design, glad to see that other folks are still interested in aoe4. if youre looking for suggestions of civs to have a go at designing, obviously i would suggest the usual american civs like the mexica and incas, but as a canuck id love to see a civilization from further north around the canada/america border. also, as a scottish person, id love to see your take on the scots. i had a go at it myself and ended up coming up with a system built around sheep, since the medieval scottish diet and economy owed a lot to the humble sheeper, building into a late game gunpowder civ.
honestly i can see how they can add all these unique civs in the game, just like in league the community adapts and it honestly adds for more interesting match ups and games
After we have Eastern Rome and Japan; we need Danes/Vikings(could be Rus variant), Sassanid Emp(Persia), Spanish Emp(Aragon/Castille) as most urgent ones.
Love this and want it added badly! Especially the ring fort design. economic bonuses i would add or change would be starting game with wheel barrow or double broad axe wood upgrade. Vikingr and housecarl units are awesome. 2nd age Respawning military landmark is dope aswell. The fast moving bonus for the Vikingr is a must and they desperately need some form of movement speed bonus for infantry if they are going to be successful or useful as early raiding units.
I imagine the Danes will be at their weakest in the mid game, around the Feudal to Castle transition, as they move from early game raids to late game armies. Thus, the Danes rely on an early game boost where they put enough pressure on an opponent in Dark or Feudal, dominating important map locations sooner to stunt enemy growth so that they can be relatively safe to transition to their Imperial.
Amazing content, you really added a lot of quality with the visuals! Great ideas...any thoughts on shield interlocking to create a kind of solid barrier?
My original version of the Shield Wall design made it more of a "formation" than just an aura - kind of like how the Ottoman Mehter boosts movement speed within the same formation. But I felt that an aura works better with AOE4's mechanics. Formations are too unwieldy with the way the game works. That being said, if the devs can figure something out to make a "testudo"-like thing work, that could look really cool! But I'm guessing it wouldn't be very practical gameplay-wise.
Consider the rough Chinese Palace Guard equivalent of Obudshaer for the proposed civ. Hirdmen instead of the generic Spearmen? Hersirs as fighting lieutenants Oh, and warships Snekkja (17m long, 2.5m wide), Drakkar (20-30m long) and Skeið (30-35m long)... more of a Norwegian specialty
An issue with the skii's i feel is that it encourages a slow tempo economy in what feels like a fast tempo civ. What about and upgrade for boats to be dismantled then resembled at a different location? Not sure how helpful that would be. Perhaps they can be rebuilt into outposts?
I think the danes should go the japan route where you can choose the faith and it kind of changes aspects of the culture and gives bonus either way, i kind of wanna just play as stubborn pagan danes
Wow, really amazing design, especially the saga system. One quest could be to burn enemy monastery stealing 30% of their total floated resources in gold (at market rates), so there would be a risk as well as reward. Could you try designing deccani? (Includes Seuna Yadavas, Hoysalas, Bahamani Sultanate and Vijayanagara) It is hard to design. Would love to see your take.
It would be awesome if they tap into the idea of Danes/Vikings being raiders that used boats alot. Maybe you can choose/upgrade if your boat have 5 raiders or bowmen, so they get insane value on hybrid/water maps Maybe lile the rus where you upgrade every boat individually
The issue with giving them water-related bonuses like that is that it messes up the balancing. On water maps the Danes would be insane, so then to balance them, they'd have to cut down on their land map potential. It gets really messy really fast. IMHO AOE4 was fundamentally not designed with water in mind, and naval stuff should be dropped from competitive play - super down to have all of those bonuses in casual though.
@@ChillyEmpire Hmm i see your point. I do think its a shame they do not lean more into making water maps more normal in competetive play. But they also say they strive to make the civs historical accurate, so maybe that all their ships can carry units, or making their water trade having a bonus (fur trading during viking age) But i really hope they use your ideas! They are really solid. Would also be fun if they went more into the idea of the Nordic Gods as a bigger role for the Danes early on, maybe offering units for bonuses or sheep etc…
I think we ought to see a Korean civ come into the game eventually. I don't have any ties to the country but, I think if they were in the game, people would be able to learn and explore a little culture and history of a nation that doesn't get as much attention in games and entertainment, compared to China and Japan. I don't know much about Korea history myself but, I'd like to get to know it more through a game. I think it's interesting that they have a war wagon in age(oe )2, I'd like to learn potentially history of how they had and used it. And it's a unit I think would be interesting to see in four. Vietnam could be another candidate that could be good, and I'm always up to see American South or North nations but they might not fit the idea of, nations through the ages
If you've ever played the game Ancestors Legacy, the scorpio/ springald/ballista unit was interesting. I know we have springalds already but perhaps they could have something like that. An early age 2 siege weapon that has bonuses against units. Perhaps that is too powerful/ unbalanced though
They're also the missing th Aztec/Inca/some other Native American group that would kick a$$, so the next expansion should be Vikings and Aztecs and Variants for rhe remaining races
The Andeans rather (Chimor/Chimú, Tiwanaku to Aymara Kingdoms, Kingdom of Cuzco to Inca Empire / Tahuantinsuyu) should stay as a highly separate and isolated, yet unified civilization from the Mesoam fold way up north. No wheels, no literacy (save for reading quipus), no ironworks Vikings now share the same stigma as Saracens nowadays, as far as Relic Ent is concerned. I see Mongols variants being the Kipchaks (Cumans in AoE2; modern-day Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Tatars, Crimean Tatars) and the Timurids The Rus' variant being the Republic of Novgorod The Japanese variants being the Ryukyuans and the Ikko-Ikki (followers of a distinct sect of Buddhism) The Delhi variant being the Rajput Clans (Hindu polytheism, no killing of cattle for Food duh)
Honestly a super interesting concept, however, I would recommend changing the name of one of the landmarks. Firstly, "The Runestone ship" should just be called the "Stone ship". Runestone ships are not a thing to my knowledge, if it's not a reference to ships on runestones.
I dont get why a huskarl with a two handed axe would counter ranged and not armored units, the same way i dont get why the jenissaries of the ottomans are weak to ranged, some designs do not make much sense
@@ChillyEmpire oh okay if its going to reference some other AOE unit i get it, but AO4 was supposed to be historically accurate , and the classic Huskarl weapon is the Long Danish Axe. Anyways ur job is amazing and the care and love you put to details is incredible, im sorry if i sounded rude because it wasnt my intention
An unique but trying true to the historical Norse civilization? So you say vikings are not horned helmet-barechested-rampaging-dual-wileding axe solo unit?!?! Yeah I love how you portrayed their weak infantry defense (for balancing purpose) with rather high damage and pillaging bonus, meanwhile compensate it with shield wall (more infantry build suggestion) and a wonder that can support early aggression (putting Danes as scary Dark Age civ, which is scary, but it is how they depicted in early medieval ages). Also no matter how janky and bad maritime fight in many rts games, The Norsemen should have their unique longship because it is a fan favorite. Probably focusing more as transport ship that can shoots arrow and fast movement to emphasize the horror of "pillaging" and "early aggression" on both land or water maps. Also, probably just a suggestion, how good it is if they got extra gold whenever Norse stole or recapture relics/sacred sites from enemy's possession. PS: also I love your Majapahit Empire ideas, most I can accept and give more datas as I born-raised-and probably burned and scattered on the last Majapahit land. Hope you can post it in youtube in the future (Also I'm curious you put a handful of SEA kingdoms on your site, knowing how little devs interested in our history nor our market. Yeah F U Raya and the last dragon)
@@ChillyEmpire Yes the spice is quite unorthodox way but seeing Byzantine with Olive Oil rsc, it's probably possible! But I think the spice can be used as trade rsc with higher trade ratio for other main rsc, thus leading the space trade more than using it to buy literal unit. Also as how janky water fight in AoE is, Majapahit will need it's Djong Java and water trader, because we are a kingdom with thousand islands after all.
From my experience in playing AOE 4. I can say yes the majority of the map is land based and have less water maps. But? Does not mean the creators or developers should not give the Vikings or Danes their unique water unit the Longboat. It's part of their history and by not giving it to them it just feels really wired and off. The Vikings were well known for their seafaring skills and naval ships for attacks and raids. Without the Longboat ship the Vikings would not have been able to do their raids and gaining their famous seafaring skills. It like what they did with AOE 2? The Chinese invited gunpowder and first to invent and use gunpowder weapons including firearms or guns. But weren't given Handcannon and Bombard Cannon units while they gave them to the Mongols, Koreans and Japanese in AOE 2. Which it made it absolutely non sense at all. But? I hope the Vikings or Danes do get their unique water unit the Longboat.
IT'S POLAND ! How do you think will they add Poland Boys !? Poles were mighty back then they conquer - Wents who conquer Vikings , beat HRE plenty times and Poles also ride and sack Kiev in 1018 with our mighty beast king Boleslav the Brave ! They also beat Danes mercenaries i Wrengian armies. Viking Era end in 1135 When Wentish Slavic prince of Pomeranians atack with 600 ship and 30 000 men army invade Konugahela and end Northmen era.
Great design and video, too bad you don't like water gameplay (which I think is quite underrated and simply requires to get into it to have fun) because I think Vikings could definitely be a new big contestant on water ! Otherwise very clean video !
I like most of this design... except for the mounted crossbows. I'm not sure what your source for that is, but having studied Scandinavian history, I don't recall any great emphasis on the use of mounted crossbows or famous battles that were won by mounted crossbows. The cultural association is very weak, compared to the other unique units in AoE4. If you asked 100 historians, "What military unit was Scandinavia known for in the late middle ages?" I don't think you'd hear a single one of them say a mounted crossbowman. There aren't museum exhibits about Denmark's famous mounted crossbows, etc. I'm sure mounted crossbows were used, and maybe they were /somewhat/ more common in Scandinavia than in other regions. But I certainly don't think they have the cultural significance to be a unique unit. As far as what would make more sense? I'd say the Longship is an obvious pick. A faster, tougher arrow ship that also acts as a transport and fires faster when it has units onboard. This is leaning more into the viking heritage, and it would be irrelevant on land maps. But I think the problem is, if you're trying to come up with a unique Imperial Age unit or a unique cav unit for Scandinavia... there really weren't any. In the Late Middle Ages, like you pointed out, they basically fought like other Christian nations of the time. You need to look a bit further ahead to Gustavus Adolphus, more in the AOE3 time period, to find more "unique" Scandinavian units. A Carolean could be interesting as a hand cannoneer with good melee ability and increased move speed, but that's a bit outside AOE4's time period.
I gave them mounted crossbows because I felt like the unit deserves some representation in the game and there aren’t many European civs left that they’d fit well with. In my digging there was a slight bit more association with Scandinavia but yeah you’re right there’s nothing particularly famous or special about Scandinavian mounted crossbows.
"Danes don't have much eco bonuses." Yet their entire saga system is all eco-bonuses xD. When it comes to prominence of Mounted Crossbow, I think this has to do with the ease of access to resources the Scandinavians had to high quality wood and iron. Making it rather easy to mass-produce crossbows vs, bows. Not to mention it's far easier to keep a Crossbow "Dry" and loaded in the otherwise cold and humid scandinavian climate which dosn't really bode well for regular bows. A crossbow can be "loaded" and kept in a dry storage untill when it is was needed to be used. So it was quite popular with regular hunters aswell. When I mean by "Loaded" I mean to be put into tension, not armed with an bolt. But having it already in tension, loading it with a bolt is rather easy to do right before use. A bowstrinngs exposed to Wind snow and rain looses its effectiveness rather quickly, unless you go full STRÆLBORA making oversized bows, but those are kinda hard to use from horseback. But I think the core and main reason for the Crossbow Prominence inn scandinavian isn't really any of that, but rather it's ease of use and handle for "commoners" Gotta remember that Scandinavians never really had a "elite warrior" Caste, as the scandinavian socaiety even today has always been very Egalitarian. During the medieval age, that meant that technically everyone was expected to be able to fight and be a warrior. but at the same time, everyone was expected to farm and developt their own piece of land. And since crossbow is easy to learn and easy to use, requiring less training, it became a natural weapon of choise. And when cavalry warfare became more common throughout scandinavia, then why not just bring the already commonly used weapon onto the horseback? Due to lack of knowledge of Composite Bows, Crossbows were the more practical and viable choise of use. This is why again we see more prominence of Horse archery in Eastern Europe, while Western Europe kinda "skipped" the horse-archery part and went straight into Horse-gunnery instead when Gunpowder tech got unlocked for Europe. And most form of Horse-archery done by western europe was done with Crossbows. I think the Raider name is also more befitting than Berserker. That way I can proceed to use the For Honor meme when we have Danes vs Japanese: "You're a Raider! Legendary!" You're civ concept is great. Guess you also used the Ottomans as a template? Has a very Ottoman feel to it. Hopefully this wont be a Variant Civ of the Ottomans, the Swedes would go absolutely wild! Hahahaha 23 minute video? Not to long. To short I say, when talking about my semi-homeland. As I am no Dane, but from where REAL vikings come from. Somewhere deep inside the long and narrowing dark Fjords, where the people had to fight trolls and barter with hags. Funfact; My Hometown still carries on the Tradition of "Crossbow batallion" marching through the streets during the national day festival. Known as Buekorps. (Archer corps), where we train children in marching with Crossbows patrolling through the streets. Can't say the same for the rest of the country though who has forsaken their age old traditions. Do like your take on the civ concept, it varies so different from my own, I think you encompassed the Scandinavians pretty well so have a completely Biased like to this video.
Haha thanks again. That's a really interesting theory on Mounted Crossbows. It does make sense that a few of the trends you mentioned just naturally gravitated Scandinavian society towards mounted crossbows. Yes I felt like many aspects of the Ottoman design fit really well with the Danes - namely, the Scandinavians were not "historically standout" (on a broad sweeping, pop culture notion) for their economy, so it makes sense to make their economy less interesting, and instead make their Viking-fueled early game tempo their core feature. Ah so you're Norwegian! I wouldn't have guessed - very cool!
Yeah, post-Umayyad Persians will just be a future Abbasid variant, on top of the land itself being a totes messed-up place to live during those times until Imperial Safavid existence in the 1500s
Hmm... Maybe, 'New Faith' bonus should actually unlock an ability to build a monastery, cuz pre-christian norsemen never had priests and unified church organization. However, this requires another Sacred Site capture mechanic
Big upset For me was that the holy Roman Empire was not pagan in First age. In the Game they are Christian. But ITS wrong. First age need druids and Not Prälats., cuz Till late 900 ad Germany was pagan till Charlemagne wiped Out the pagan ways in His crusade against saxon Leader Widukind..so i Hope for this subfaction If Not danes come
Amazing design. Definitely want to see the Danes in AOE4 with the features highlighted in the video. It sounds like a challenging version of Mongol-Rus in the early period. Ton of early rushes that are built around achieving feats, like the Rus bounty system?
Thank you! Yes, very much also inspired by the precedent set by the Rus bounty system.
The editing is top notch, I know this is a more time consuming type of editing but I enjoy this format for the Civ concept videos more than the one you did for the Byzantines, keep up the outstanding work! LOVE the Saga concept, a fun blend of Mongol and Rus early gameplay with the function of the ottoman vizier points.
Please Microsoft, take some money from your Activision Blizzard adquisition and hire this guy.
Amazing design! Keep it up!!
I would like to see a system similar to the Chinese dynasty system or the Abbasid “wing” system where the Danes are forced to commit to either the Viking playstyle or Christian European playstyle. Basically, by building different landmarks, they can either double down on the high risk/high reward early aggression of the Viking side with military bonuses in feudal and castle age, or they can forego that for a fast castle/ fast Imperial strategy with landmarks from the christianized European side that will give them economic bonuses in Castle and imperial age as well as access to better late game military units like the mounted crossbow. Another tradeoff could be that if they go with the Viking landmark in castle age they don’t get access to monks.
I'd like to try the Danes already. Hope that devs can create this. :)
Your best and most unique Civ concept! Well done.
Amazing! We should really try to send relic this work, its a perfect balance between playable-fan service- historical accuracy.
Keep going amazing content
Great work. I have seen few viking based civ concepts but most of them are arguable, through I love this one. I personally thought viking civ to be mix of Rus and Mongols. I think you forgot docks for this concept. Their unique unit definitely would be longships, similar to Rus lodya ships and fishing bonuses. Meanwhile from Mongols I imagine vikings having some moveable buildings. My longhouse concept was, that it should act as (perhaps limited to 3) relocatable outpost and house (20 population) combined, that can produce your mentioned raiders. Also really like Mongol plunder bonus.
I don't often write comments, and by that I mean I essentially do not write them at all, however, I have to say you've done an amazing job with this design my man. Loved the sagas, everything is extremely flavourful and well thought out. Hats off to you my dude, keep up the great content :)
Thank you for the kind words! Means a lot.
Danes/Vikings would be a very good civilization for AoE4 devs have a lot of references and source material to make a very fun and interesting civilization to play.
Excellent concept, excellent video, as always
Incredible work, the devs should hire you, original and fun ideas. This should make into the game!
Relic: "Dont worry guys, we hear you. We already working on making your beloved Wiking/Danes into the game."
Introduces the Wikings as a Variant Civ of the Rus.
- Realy great video in general, the concep it amazing.
Such great stuff in this series, your civ designs are very inspired and well presented. I’d love to see your take on how an American civ would look in aoe4. The Aztecs and Incas are sorely missed, but maybe we’ll get something new like the Mississippians. Also, I would go crazy for a Māori civ.
Thank you! Unfortunately I've been really scared to do the American civs - they're super different than what we have in AOE4 right now so it's hard for me to speculate on how it'd work. They didn't have cavalry, metal armor or weapons, they didn't have siege weapons (at least not Eurasian style), gunpowder - they didn't even have sheep!
@@ChillyEmpire I think at least the very unique civ designs in AoE4 lend themselves more to diversity than the more rigid designs in AoE2. I’m sure it could be done!
Haha yeah, and wow, a Maori/ oceanic civ, now that would be something kinda amazing as we've never really seen it be done before
Love the concept, what I’d like to see is a longship that functions as an archer / transport / fishing ship that infantry can build on the shoreline like a ram. It only fires arrows based on # of infantry garrisoned and only fishes based off of # of villagers garrisoned
Just discovered your channel as i just got this game. Been an aoe fan since the 90s.
Have a sub
Much appreciated brother
After watching the Vinland Saga anime, especially the 2nd season, and though i mostly play aoe2, i would LOVE to see the Danes in aoe4 (since aoe2 already has 'vikings'). Great video!
you just made my new fav civ !
I'd imagine that if you're talking about cavalry units after Christianization, you could remove the horseman and replace it with the Raider or Huskarl as an anti-ranged unit with greater charge speed. I'd do that because I haven't found any sources of the Vikings using horses for direct warfare in the first place.
this is a great design, glad to see that other folks are still interested in aoe4.
if youre looking for suggestions of civs to have a go at designing, obviously i would suggest the usual american civs like the mexica and incas, but as a canuck id love to see a civilization from further north around the canada/america border.
also, as a scottish person, id love to see your take on the scots. i had a go at it myself and ended up coming up with a system built around sheep, since the medieval scottish diet and economy owed a lot to the humble sheeper, building into a late game gunpowder civ.
Wow this is an amazing design for the danes
honestly i can see how they can add all these unique civs in the game, just like in league the community adapts and it honestly adds for more interesting match ups and games
Bro they need to hire you ASAP!!!!!!!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥
Amazing video! Can you do a concept about the Aztec empire (Mexica) next.
After we have Eastern Rome and Japan; we need Danes/Vikings(could be Rus variant), Sassanid Emp(Persia), Spanish Emp(Aragon/Castille) as most urgent ones.
Love love love love love this!!!!!!!
This was a lot of fun! Might want to do a quick check on pronunciations of words in the future. My Danish partner was rolling with laughter. ;)
Sorry lol. What stood out?
Love this and want it added badly! Especially the ring fort design. economic bonuses i would add or change would be starting game with wheel barrow or double broad axe wood upgrade. Vikingr and housecarl units are awesome. 2nd age Respawning military landmark is dope aswell. The fast moving bonus for the Vikingr is a must and they desperately need some form of movement speed bonus for infantry if they are going to be successful or useful as early raiding units.
RELIC really need to hire this man,his idie's are great
Aoe4 devs need to just give you a fat check and drop this untouched into the game
I imagine the Danes will be at their weakest in the mid game, around the Feudal to Castle transition, as they move from early game raids to late game armies. Thus, the Danes rely on an early game boost where they put enough pressure on an opponent in Dark or Feudal, dominating important map locations sooner to stunt enemy growth so that they can be relatively safe to transition to their Imperial.
Amazing content, you really added a lot of quality with the visuals! Great ideas...any thoughts on shield interlocking to create a kind of solid barrier?
My original version of the Shield Wall design made it more of a "formation" than just an aura - kind of like how the Ottoman Mehter boosts movement speed within the same formation. But I felt that an aura works better with AOE4's mechanics. Formations are too unwieldy with the way the game works.
That being said, if the devs can figure something out to make a "testudo"-like thing work, that could look really cool! But I'm guessing it wouldn't be very practical gameplay-wise.
This would be a dream come true... Vikings and Japanese... My Two preferred civs.
And the Khmer as well.
Yes Microsoft, this man right here, HIRE HIM!
Im a Dane myself, I would absolutely love to see the Danes in aoe4
Would love to see a concept for Spanish or something American in the next video. Great work keep going 🎉
Consider the rough Chinese Palace Guard equivalent of Obudshaer for the proposed civ.
Hirdmen instead of the generic Spearmen?
Hersirs as fighting lieutenants
Oh, and warships Snekkja (17m long, 2.5m wide), Drakkar (20-30m long) and Skeið (30-35m long)... more of a Norwegian specialty
An issue with the skii's i feel is that it encourages a slow tempo economy in what feels like a fast tempo civ. What about and upgrade for boats to be dismantled then resembled at a different location? Not sure how helpful that would be. Perhaps they can be rebuilt into outposts?
I think the danes should go the japan route where you can choose the faith and it kind of changes aspects of the culture and gives bonus either way, i kind of wanna just play as stubborn pagan danes
Wow, really amazing design, especially the saga system. One quest could be to burn enemy monastery stealing 30% of their total floated resources in gold (at market rates), so there would be a risk as well as reward.
Could you try designing deccani? (Includes Seuna Yadavas, Hoysalas, Bahamani Sultanate and Vijayanagara) It is hard to design. Would love to see your take.
It would be awesome if they tap into the idea of Danes/Vikings being raiders that used boats alot. Maybe you can choose/upgrade if your boat have 5 raiders or bowmen, so they get insane value on hybrid/water maps
Maybe lile the rus where you upgrade every boat individually
The issue with giving them water-related bonuses like that is that it messes up the balancing. On water maps the Danes would be insane, so then to balance them, they'd have to cut down on their land map potential. It gets really messy really fast. IMHO AOE4 was fundamentally not designed with water in mind, and naval stuff should be dropped from competitive play - super down to have all of those bonuses in casual though.
@@ChillyEmpire Hmm i see your point. I do think its a shame they do not lean more into making water maps more normal in competetive play. But they also say they strive to make the civs historical accurate, so maybe that all their ships can carry units, or making their water trade having a bonus (fur trading during viking age)
But i really hope they use your ideas! They are really solid.
Would also be fun if they went more into the idea of the Nordic Gods as a bigger role for the Danes early on, maybe offering units for bonuses or sheep etc…
I think we ought to see a Korean civ come into the game eventually. I don't have any ties to the country but, I think if they were in the game, people would be able to learn and explore a little culture and history of a nation that doesn't get as much attention in games and entertainment, compared to China and Japan.
I don't know much about Korea history myself but, I'd like to get to know it more through a game.
I think it's interesting that they have a war wagon in age(oe )2, I'd like to learn potentially history of how they had and used it. And it's a unit I think would be interesting to see in four.
Vietnam could be another candidate that could be good, and I'm always up to see American South or North nations but they might not fit the idea of, nations through the ages
Have you taken a look at my concepts for Vietnam and Korea?
So iirc the raider is already a unit for the Danes in the Siege of York mission in the Normans campaign (I think it’s mission 2)
Excellent conceptualization. I want dlc that is a 1 for 1 of this idea. But I doubt it’ll happen.
If you've ever played the game Ancestors Legacy, the scorpio/ springald/ballista unit was interesting. I know we have springalds already but perhaps they could have something like that. An early age 2 siege weapon that has bonuses against units. Perhaps that is too powerful/ unbalanced though
CHILLY PLEASE MAKE A SCOTLAND CONCEPT
I would change the archer for an axe throwing viking. Faster fire rate but less movement speed it would be sick!!!!
Very nice ideas I hope they add vikings soon
DANES
dont care@@rollthetape88
Do you plan to do more faction concepts? Like Italians now I don't know if that "faction" existed at that time but Sicily, Milan or Venice ?
I have a bunch more posted on my website! Check it out.
@@ChillyEmpireI know 13 factions I see all your civs but have you planned make another ?
I'll do more boss :)
I want this. I want it so bad
Can you make one about a bulgarian civ i really like your videos just subscribed
They're also the missing th Aztec/Inca/some other Native American group that would kick a$$, so the next expansion should be Vikings and Aztecs and Variants for rhe remaining races
The Andeans rather (Chimor/Chimú, Tiwanaku to Aymara Kingdoms, Kingdom of Cuzco to Inca Empire / Tahuantinsuyu) should stay as a highly separate and isolated, yet unified civilization from the Mesoam fold way up north. No wheels, no literacy (save for reading quipus), no ironworks
Vikings now share the same stigma as Saracens nowadays, as far as Relic Ent is concerned.
I see Mongols variants being the Kipchaks (Cumans in AoE2; modern-day Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Tatars, Crimean Tatars) and the Timurids
The Rus' variant being the Republic of Novgorod
The Japanese variants being the Ryukyuans and the Ikko-Ikki (followers of a distinct sect of Buddhism)
The Delhi variant being the Rajput Clans (Hindu polytheism, no killing of cattle for Food duh)
They should be named Norse or Scands. Danes we’re definitely not the only Scandinavian people.
Honestly a super interesting concept, however, I would recommend changing the name of one of the landmarks. Firstly, "The Runestone ship" should just be called the "Stone ship". Runestone ships are not a thing to my knowledge, if it's not a reference to ships on runestones.
Yeah fair enough, probably better to call it a Stone Ship.
I dont get why a huskarl with a two handed axe would counter ranged and not armored units, the same way i dont get why the jenissaries of the ottomans are weak to ranged, some designs do not make much sense
Huskarl would be a sword and shield unit like in AOM
@@ChillyEmpire oh okay if its going to reference some other AOE unit i get it, but AO4 was supposed to be historically accurate , and the classic Huskarl weapon is the Long Danish Axe.
Anyways ur job is amazing and the care and love you put to details is incredible, im sorry if i sounded rude because it wasnt my intention
An unique but trying true to the historical Norse civilization? So you say vikings are not horned helmet-barechested-rampaging-dual-wileding axe solo unit?!?!
Yeah I love how you portrayed their weak infantry defense (for balancing purpose) with rather high damage and pillaging bonus, meanwhile compensate it with shield wall (more infantry build suggestion) and a wonder that can support early aggression (putting Danes as scary Dark Age civ, which is scary, but it is how they depicted in early medieval ages).
Also no matter how janky and bad maritime fight in many rts games, The Norsemen should have their unique longship because it is a fan favorite. Probably focusing more as transport ship that can shoots arrow and fast movement to emphasize the horror of "pillaging" and "early aggression" on both land or water maps. Also, probably just a suggestion, how good it is if they got extra gold whenever Norse stole or recapture relics/sacred sites from enemy's possession.
PS: also I love your Majapahit Empire ideas, most I can accept and give more datas as I born-raised-and probably burned and scattered on the last Majapahit land. Hope you can post it in youtube in the future (Also I'm curious you put a handful of SEA kingdoms on your site, knowing how little devs interested in our history nor our market. Yeah F U Raya and the last dragon)
Thank you! I'm a big fan of how my SEA civs turned out. I really hope the devs take a look at Khmer and Majapahit especially in the near future.
@@ChillyEmpire Yes the spice is quite unorthodox way but seeing Byzantine with Olive Oil rsc, it's probably possible! But I think the spice can be used as trade rsc with higher trade ratio for other main rsc, thus leading the space trade more than using it to buy literal unit.
Also as how janky water fight in AoE is, Majapahit will need it's Djong Java and water trader, because we are a kingdom with thousand islands after all.
From my experience in playing AOE 4. I can say yes the majority of the map is land based and have less water maps. But? Does not mean the creators or developers should not give the Vikings or Danes their unique water unit the Longboat. It's part of their history and by not giving it to them it just feels really wired and off. The Vikings were well known for their seafaring skills and naval ships for attacks and raids. Without the Longboat ship the Vikings would not have been able to do their raids and gaining their famous seafaring skills. It like what they did with AOE 2? The Chinese invited gunpowder and first to invent and use gunpowder weapons including firearms or guns. But weren't given Handcannon and Bombard Cannon units while they gave them to the Mongols, Koreans and Japanese in AOE 2. Which it made it absolutely non sense at all. But? I hope the Vikings or Danes do get their unique water unit the Longboat.
IT'S POLAND ! How do you think will they add Poland Boys !? Poles were mighty back then they conquer - Wents who conquer Vikings , beat HRE plenty times and Poles also ride and sack Kiev in 1018 with our mighty beast king Boleslav the Brave ! They also beat Danes mercenaries i Wrengian armies. Viking Era end in 1135 When Wentish Slavic prince of Pomeranians atack with 600 ship and 30 000 men army invade Konugahela and end Northmen era.
Great design and video, too bad you don't like water gameplay (which I think is quite underrated and simply requires to get into it to have fun) because I think Vikings could definitely be a new big contestant on water ! Otherwise very clean video !
I like most of this design... except for the mounted crossbows. I'm not sure what your source for that is, but having studied Scandinavian history, I don't recall any great emphasis on the use of mounted crossbows or famous battles that were won by mounted crossbows. The cultural association is very weak, compared to the other unique units in AoE4. If you asked 100 historians, "What military unit was Scandinavia known for in the late middle ages?" I don't think you'd hear a single one of them say a mounted crossbowman. There aren't museum exhibits about Denmark's famous mounted crossbows, etc. I'm sure mounted crossbows were used, and maybe they were /somewhat/ more common in Scandinavia than in other regions. But I certainly don't think they have the cultural significance to be a unique unit.
As far as what would make more sense? I'd say the Longship is an obvious pick. A faster, tougher arrow ship that also acts as a transport and fires faster when it has units onboard. This is leaning more into the viking heritage, and it would be irrelevant on land maps. But I think the problem is, if you're trying to come up with a unique Imperial Age unit or a unique cav unit for Scandinavia... there really weren't any. In the Late Middle Ages, like you pointed out, they basically fought like other Christian nations of the time. You need to look a bit further ahead to Gustavus Adolphus, more in the AOE3 time period, to find more "unique" Scandinavian units. A Carolean could be interesting as a hand cannoneer with good melee ability and increased move speed, but that's a bit outside AOE4's time period.
I gave them mounted crossbows because I felt like the unit deserves some representation in the game and there aren’t many European civs left that they’d fit well with. In my digging there was a slight bit more association with Scandinavia but yeah you’re right there’s nothing particularly famous or special about Scandinavian mounted crossbows.
they should be call scandinavians
"Danes don't have much eco bonuses." Yet their entire saga system is all eco-bonuses xD.
When it comes to prominence of Mounted Crossbow, I think this has to do with the ease of access to resources the Scandinavians had to high quality wood and iron. Making it rather easy to mass-produce crossbows vs, bows.
Not to mention it's far easier to keep a Crossbow "Dry" and loaded in the otherwise cold and humid scandinavian climate which dosn't really bode well for regular bows. A crossbow can be "loaded" and kept in a dry storage untill when it is was needed to be used.
So it was quite popular with regular hunters aswell. When I mean by "Loaded" I mean to be put into tension, not armed with an bolt.
But having it already in tension, loading it with a bolt is rather easy to do right before use.
A bowstrinngs exposed to Wind snow and rain looses its effectiveness rather quickly, unless you go full STRÆLBORA making oversized bows, but those are kinda hard to use from horseback.
But I think the core and main reason for the Crossbow Prominence inn scandinavian isn't really any of that, but rather it's ease of use and handle for "commoners"
Gotta remember that Scandinavians never really had a "elite warrior" Caste, as the scandinavian socaiety even today has always been very Egalitarian. During the medieval age, that meant that technically everyone was expected to be able to fight and be a warrior. but at the same time, everyone was expected to farm and developt their own piece of land.
And since crossbow is easy to learn and easy to use, requiring less training, it became a natural weapon of choise.
And when cavalry warfare became more common throughout scandinavia, then why not just bring the already commonly used weapon onto the horseback?
Due to lack of knowledge of Composite Bows, Crossbows were the more practical and viable choise of use.
This is why again we see more prominence of Horse archery in Eastern Europe, while Western Europe kinda "skipped" the horse-archery part and went straight into Horse-gunnery instead when Gunpowder tech got unlocked for Europe.
And most form of Horse-archery done by western europe was done with Crossbows.
I think the Raider name is also more befitting than Berserker. That way I can proceed to use the For Honor meme when we have Danes vs Japanese: "You're a Raider! Legendary!"
You're civ concept is great. Guess you also used the Ottomans as a template? Has a very Ottoman feel to it.
Hopefully this wont be a Variant Civ of the Ottomans, the Swedes would go absolutely wild! Hahahaha
23 minute video? Not to long. To short I say, when talking about my semi-homeland. As I am no Dane, but from where REAL vikings come from. Somewhere deep inside the long and narrowing dark Fjords, where the people had to fight trolls and barter with hags.
Funfact; My Hometown still carries on the Tradition of "Crossbow batallion" marching through the streets during the national day festival.
Known as Buekorps. (Archer corps), where we train children in marching with Crossbows patrolling through the streets.
Can't say the same for the rest of the country though who has forsaken their age old traditions.
Do like your take on the civ concept, it varies so different from my own,
I think you encompassed the Scandinavians pretty well so have a completely Biased like to this video.
Haha thanks again.
That's a really interesting theory on Mounted Crossbows. It does make sense that a few of the trends you mentioned just naturally gravitated Scandinavian society towards mounted crossbows.
Yes I felt like many aspects of the Ottoman design fit really well with the Danes - namely, the Scandinavians were not "historically standout" (on a broad sweeping, pop culture notion) for their economy, so it makes sense to make their economy less interesting, and instead make their Viking-fueled early game tempo their core feature.
Ah so you're Norwegian! I wouldn't have guessed - very cool!
Instead of danes i would preffer norway
Vikings? um.. no.. we want PERSIA
Yeah, post-Umayyad Persians will just be a future Abbasid variant, on top of the land itself being a totes messed-up place to live during those times until Imperial Safavid existence in the 1500s
Hmm... Maybe, 'New Faith' bonus should actually unlock an ability to build a monastery, cuz pre-christian norsemen never had priests and unified church organization. However, this requires another Sacred Site capture mechanic
what gamer is 9:09
"Land of the Vikings" (2022) by Laps Games. I title all my references on the side when the clip starts.
Also @ChillyEmpire, almost 1k subscribers! Channel is growing fast. Planning on a 1k subscriber special?
Im Danish and if we ever get Viking danes ill be so happy !!
insane design but god they look op XD but look like my new main
Big upset For me was that the holy Roman Empire was not pagan in First age. In the Game they are Christian. But ITS wrong. First age need druids and Not Prälats., cuz Till late 900 ad Germany was pagan till Charlemagne wiped Out the pagan ways in His crusade against saxon Leader Widukind..so i Hope for this subfaction If Not danes come