Serbian Civilization Concept
If there’s one thing everyone says AOE2 needs more of, it’s European Civilizations, right?
Jokes aside, AOE2 desperately needs an African expansion… or two, and another East Asian expansion…buuuuuuuttttt if we’re intent on adding Civilizations till there's 150 of them, we gotta return to Europe at some point. It is here where we find the Serbs, one of the better contenders to be implemented into Aoe2. They bring a typical eastern European cocktail of Infantry, Cavalry, and Monks tot he field, but with a very unique tech tree and units that ensure they have a playstyle like nobody else's. Lets begin!
Serbs
Infantry Civilisation
Mediterranean Architecture
Campaign: Dušan the Great
Castle: Belgrade Fortress
Wonder: Gračanica Monastery
Civilization Bonuses:
- Villagers don’t need mining camps to drop off resources
Medieval Serbia was known for its mining cities, some of the largest in Europe. This bonus makes your mines (especially saturated ones) work much faster, and lets you skip a mining camp early, though you’ll want one eventually for technologies.
2. Cavalry Armor Upgrades have double their usual effect
Cavalry, light and heavy, was used to great effect by the Serbs throughout the middle ages, and the strength of their armor is frequently emphasized in descriptions of them.
Also yes this bonus is incredibly OP in isolation and is balanced by the tech tree.
3. Infantry +1/1 Armor starting in Feudle Age
The strength of the Siberian Infantry is also noted in descriptions of their army. Bouncing between you Barracks and Stable is a major part of playing Serbs
4. Monastery Technologies are 33% more effective
Even today, Serbia is a pretty religious country. It was obviously more religious in the middle ages, and under the resignation of Stephan Dusan, many religious reforms were launched and many very pretty churches were built.
As for this technology's impact, it doesn’t work on techs like Redemption or Atonement obviously, but when applicable, it’s very helpful. Block printing gives +4 range instead of +3, Fervor gives +22.5% speed instead of 15%, you get the idea. Your late game monks are excellent.
Team Bonus: Relics generate wood in addition to gold
More religious stuff. Wood is generated at the same rate as gold (30/Minute)
Unique unit: Sapanik. This mounted crossbowman for the Serbs is inspired by their own usage of crossbowmen, Cavalry Archers, and Cuman mercenaries. It is a heavily armored Cavalry Archer unit that fires a crossbow that pierces enemy armor. Thus, the Sapnik is a ranged unit that removes enemy armor Obuch style. This obviously makes it rather formidable in prolonged engagements, especially against units with high HP, where its armor stripping ability can really stack. Unfortunately, the unit is a bit slow, and even by Cav-Archer standards, it's extremely expensive, so while it can beat Archers with equal numbers, long term its poor value for the unit. Siege also handles it fine. Still, its an extremely powerful unit and essential to Serbs late game, and it gives their usual army of Infantry and Light Cavalry a lot of population efficiency.
Stats for Non-Elite and Elite:
Costs 70 Wood 70 Gold
60/65 HP
5/6 Attack
Deals +2 damage against Spearmen
Strips 1/1 Armor from enemy units with every attack (Does not work on buildings or Siege)
2.0 Attack Rate
2/3 melee Armor
2/3 peirce armor
4 Range
1.3 movement speed
0.5 Seconds of frame delay (Same as Mangudai, but its also a little slower)
100% accuracy
Trained in 27 Seconds
Armor Classes: Unique Unit, Cav Archer, Archer, Cavalry
Elite Upgrade Costs 1250 Wood and 800 Gold
Missing Upgrades: Ring Archer Armor
Second Unique Unit: Sapper
Oh boy, this is an interesting one. The Sapper is a Trebuchet replacement available at the Castle in the Castle age, and is inspired by Serbian mining. It actually has a similar mechanic to Trebuchets, having to unpack into a “Sapper Camp”, a 1 by 1 tile structure before attacking, and unpacking renders it immobile. It is only capable of attacking Buildings and Siege Weapons. While much weaker than a Trebuchet, the fact it's available in Castle age gives Serbs an unprecedented ability to threaten enemy buildings far before any other civilization can. While it does not get an Elite Version, it gets 60% more bonus damage from Siege Engineers instead of 20%, so in the late game it can compete with the Trebuchet.
Stats
Costs 175 Wood and 175 Gold
80 HP
7 Attack (melee)
2.0 Reload Time
Deals +30 damage to buildings, as well as 20 “crumbling” damage per attack against buildings. This is basically just bleed damage, and it is improved by Siege Engineers.
13 Range
3.5 projectile speed (Its projectiles are invincible as it attacks underground, but this slow movement speed akin to a Trebuchet allows Bombard Cannons to dodge its projectiles)
100% Accuracy against Buildings and Siege, cannot attack units
Takes 10 Seconds to Pack/Unpack
Mobile Version has a movement speed of 0.9
1/5 Armor
The Unit can chop down trees, but depletes their HP instead of killing them instantly
Trained in 50 seconds
Armor Classes: Siege, Unique Unit
Before Siege Engineers is researched, the Sapper deals about 55% of the damage of a Trebuchet, but after this technology, it deals 80% of the damage of a Trebuchet, though the Sapper is cheaper and available one age earlier. After some rudimentary math, I calculated that the Sapper is roughly evenly matched with Trebuchets in direct engagements (Trebuchets have a slight advantage, winning 55% of the time, but that’s fine since it’s an Imperial Age only unit and is more expensive), while Sappers will still die pretty hard to Bombard Cannons and Traction Trebuchets.
Okay that was alot. Here's the unique techs the Serbs have to offer
Castle age: Dusan Code: Healing units with monks generate resources. Costs 100 food, 250 gold and takes 40 seconds to research.
HOW THIS WORKS: Basically fully healing a unit from 1 HP to max HP recovers 15% of its cost, so fully healing a 1 HP Hussar to 95 HP gets you 12 food. This works for monks not units garrisoned in buildings. And no, repairing buildings does not count, and it has to be damage delt by ENEMY units, so no attack ground cheeseing.
Imperial Age: Proniiars: Infantry, Cavalry, and Monks can periodically “block” melee attacks. This is a worse version of the Iron Pagoda's ability, as it has a 60 second cooldown, but it applies to more units, so it’s very welcome, and makes your Infantry and Cavalry among the best in the game. Yes, Sapniks are improved by this technology. Costs 600 food 600 gold and takes 50 seconds to research
Now for the Serbs aforementioned tech tree, which is odd but provides them with more than enough to compete with most civilizations. The Serbs have a general trend of having a nominally poor tech tree, but being better than they look.
Blacksmith: No Ring Archer Armor or Plate Barding Armor (but they get double cav armor, so their Cavalry is fully upgraded in practice)
Archers: No Hand Cannoneer, Heavy Cavalry archer, or Arbalester. Its a bad tech tree, but their archer rush is pretty great, as is the Sapnik, so it's better than it looks. Grade: B
Infantry: Everything except regional units. It's your most reliable military branch. Grade: A
Cavalry: Serb Cavalry is peculiar; They miss literally everything but the Hussar-Line, Bloodlines, and Husbandry, but said Hussar line is exceptional throughout the game, especially the midgame, where it’s a true scorn to any fool making archers. How good you Cavalry is really depends on how well you utilize these and work around your lack of knights. Grade: B+
Siege: Serbs lack Siege Ram, Siege Onager, and Heavy Scorpion. Sappers have pros and cons compared to Trebuchet, but overall are a positive. This branch is a shame since a siege would compliment their Infantry very well. Grade: B-
Ships: No Shipwright. It’s an unrenamarkable but usable navy. Grade: B
University and defences: No Keep, Arrowslits, Treadmill Crane, or Heated shot. You don't miss anything too important, but don't really have any bonuses for this field either. Grade: B
Monks: Nothing is missing. Grade: A+
Economy: No Two man Saw, Guilds, or Crop Rotation. Good early game, kinda tanks in Imp. Grade: B
Trash units: Serb Skirmishers are unremarkable, but their Hussars and especially Halbardiers are absolutely top tier. Throw in some Monks to generate some resources, and Serbs are arguably a top five trash civilization. Grade: A
So that's the Serbs, who have some insane options and crippling limitations. They’re supposed to be a good civilization on Arena thanks to their good monks and Infantry, and are probably viable on open maps as well, with 4/6 armor light Cavalry in Castle age being extremely powerful and scary. The main weaknesses of Serbs is a bit of incongruence with their bonuses (insane scout line, but gold/stone eco bonus) and especially their transition to Imperial age. Archers in the late game are also a bit of a sore spot to offset Serbs murdering them in the mid game. What do you think of this concept, and do you think it fits into the game?