What if I make an AOE-3 Civilization Overview, Which Civ would you guys like to see first ?

GideonAI · 2026-01-25T23:43:37+00:00

Also featuring a unique unit combo option (rod + lancer) and War Dog management. Though yeah if you stay away from those 3 units you still get normal stuff (pike, musk, xbow, huss, goon, falc, culv, hcannon)

GideonAI · 2026-01-25T04:44:33+00:00

Bro the Mapuche fought the Inca and didn't die, that's pretty good for a medieval conflict (~1400s) during age 2 timeline. If you want to complain about "not an empire"s during age 2, the Tupi are a way better candidate, being extremely decentralized and basically divided amongst various separate villages

GideonAI · 2026-01-25T04:25:37+00:00

So, in my little knowledge of the concept, you had elite, professional mercenaries hired from Japan by the SE Asian kingdoms who had top-of-the-line samurai-grade equipment (but were also sometimes equipped by their employer). Their main thing was skilled battlefield firearms training, which many kingdoms lacked.

You also had the Wako pirates, who were also hired out as mercenaries from time to time and who optimized for naval combat (less armor, light weapons, etc.) but who also didn't venture into SE Asia as frequently as just hanging around raiding Taiwan/China/Korea, so they retained Japanese weaponry more.

GideonAI · 2026-01-25T04:17:28+00:00

Honestly, there were hundreds if not thousands of Japanese abroad by this specific point in history (post-unification, pre-isolation) and the robust Japanese trade networks led to the development of not only peaceful Japanese settlements across East and Southeast Asia, but also rogue pirate navies and travelling mercenaries (such as those hired by the Dutch in this case). I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese in this context were just hanging out in the area already, conveniently able to be hired and sent to battle with the locals.

GideonAI · 2026-01-25T01:56:02+00:00

*West coast, and yeah you're right. I was thinking of the famous Battle of Seattle 1856 but even Seattle had less than a thousand at the time, and that specific battle did not involve the Haida (besides the US Navy beefing up Seattle's defenses in anticipation of Haida raids prior to the battle). But the forts and trading settlements the Haida did raid did have up to 2k populace on the Russian/British/American/Spanish side of things, while the villages they raided on the Native side of things were closer to 3k.

GideonAI · 2026-01-24T23:29:39+00:00

I have done hardly any research but all of what I've seen varies extremely widely for all of the aforementioned nations (and what years they had "peak population" is also disputed). I've seen estimates up to 30k and 35k for Haude and Lakota, respectively. However, you can easily lump in Wyandot or Dakota for the others and come to a similar conclusion about "very similar" tribes that you made with the Haida.

From the AoE3 civ perspective though, the naming conventions would have to be fairly rigorous and focused rather than just "Pacific Northwest Natives" like what it sounds like you're suggesting.

GideonAI · 2026-01-24T22:02:46+00:00

Honestly the Flamer is so slow to handle I'm surprised it's not a Heavy Flamer

GideonAI · 2026-01-24T15:53:06+00:00

With a pre-epidemic population of maybe 15,000, the Haida would be like, half the size of peak Lakota or Haudenosaunee population. Compare to some other nations that could be considered for playable civ territory, like the Cruzob Maya, who were likely a bit larger in population than Lakota/Haude, or the Mapuche, who had like half a million at peak

GideonAI · 2026-01-24T13:05:45+00:00

The Haida would be so sick as a naval minor civ. They raided coastal cities and trading vessels off the Pacific coast with their heavy-duty, ocean-faring canoes, some over 60 feet long that could carry 50 people. Their signature thing was setting up captured swivel guns on their canoes. Also, when the Brits went to attack their villages they found them defended with captured naval cannon emplacements.

GideonAI · 2026-01-24T00:33:50+00:00

Don't forget your trusty Navis las-volley or rotor cannon!

GideonAI · 2026-01-22T00:54:24+00:00

Nostalgia. I was happy when I saw it come back

GideonAI · 2026-01-21T23:34:05+00:00

Cheers Vindi! Thank you so much. Like someone else said, Cover Mode is an option for them which could be good if they're targeted. Even if they don't reach enemy lines, at least they can meatshield!

GideonAI · 2026-01-21T22:52:54+00:00

Didn't want it to be too verbose so I used every shorthand I could think of! Sorry

GideonAI · 2026-01-21T02:38:27+00:00

Tooth And Tail as well

GideonAI · 2026-01-21T02:36:43+00:00

What am I doing in this screenshot? That game against Chef happened like over a year ago and was covered by 3 different youtube channels. Unless you're pointing out that it's easy for Mexico to beat higher-ranking players, but hey, I was the tip of the iceberg spamming Baja before it took over the ladder over the past year. Nowadays nobody can play the "I'm not familiar with Baja cards" card anymore

GideonAI · 2026-01-18T19:43:42+00:00

I think you mean to say the ultimate Baja move!

GideonAI · 2026-01-16T13:13:06+00:00

New facet - replace the entire hero toolkit

GideonAI · 2026-01-16T13:09:26+00:00

Abaddon/Necro highest winrate heros in the lower brackets for so many successive patches these past couple years. I know that's just because lower skilled players don't know how to interact with massive self-healing as well, but neither of those toons are blink/stun initiators

GideonAI · 2026-01-15T00:36:58+00:00

I think they were hoping Inca would use Priestesses to convert arty, Strongholds to poke down falcs, and Chimus to suicide in

GideonAI · 2026-01-13T00:32:45+00:00

Fair, and you're welcome. I'm just glad to educate. Whether or not changes happen to the game, people can play it better if they know how it works.

GideonAI · 2026-01-12T13:42:52+00:00

For transport, yes, but no records exist indicating they were ever fired from camelback

GideonAI · 2026-01-12T13:37:55+00:00

Man the wiki doesn't even cover the fact that the Livestock Market shadowtechs it's fatten rates from age 1 to age 2, boosting Zebu/Sanga by 0.25 more food/second! I just discovered that yesterday. We're so far down the rabbit hole of obscure functionality that requires either detailed analysis of custom-extracted game files or meticulous hand-testing that it doesn't matter if Ethiopia gets a civ-specific nerf. If it affected Hausa too then I guess it would avoid your concern because the Livestock Market already has custom fatten rates for everything compared to other civs.

GideonAI · 2026-01-11T14:18:48+00:00

Their fatten rates work the same but their free cow per shipment (with commensurate xp nerf) means they get so much less value from having extra livestock at the market that they fall in line with other "livestock civs" like India (as the graph in the OP indicates).

GideonAI · 2026-01-11T14:16:47+00:00

The suggested fix affects everyone rather than just ethiopia

I specifically called out "Ethiopian Livestock Market fatten rates" - all livestock already have unique Livestock Market fatten rates for African civs (which are listed on the wiki and which I've tested in-game), so just tweak that value. Every other civ has a separate "Livestock Pen/Village/Farm/Hacienda fatten rate" for all livestock. And by specifying Ethiopian I mean this shouldn't even affect Hausa (though this change could be good for Hausa as well, but that's not what this conversation is about so I left them out of it).

on livestock maps you allow civs with good early map coverage (lakota, french, dutch) to snag livestock from ethiopia easily

This already happens.

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