Life long resident of Brno here and am I beyond pleased! (Nitra lies in what is now Slovakia)
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
FOCK that's such a dumb mistake! Well thank you very much for catching that Hanz, I'm really glad you're pleased with the build! And I hope you think I did them justice with this design. Great to hear from you my friend!
@carlosmartinezcaballer8203
Жыл бұрын
Wow. Read the doc and about to see the video, but congratz because this is your best civ. You got the perfect counterpunch identity while exploring an existing in game mechanic, such as garrisoning. This is what civ theorycrafting is about. Bravo
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Carlos, my good man, this , genuinely put a gigantic smile on my face. Thank you so, so much for saying so my friend, I'm really glad you liked it! Yeah, once the ungarrisoning bonus clicked the rest of the civilization just fell into place -- people often say defensive civilizations are boring and unfun to play against, but I'm hoping that designs like this and others in future will help give them a more dynamic and interesting reputation! Thank you so much for watching, and for your incredibly kind words. Always good to hear from you my friend!
@carlosmartinezcaballer8203
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava :) Btw, did you know that technically they were Dogs in Age of Empires 2? In the original Forgotten empires mod there was a Dark Age tec called Hunting Dogs that made Fishermen and Hunter work faster, which was Free for Magyars. But was removed due to people laming very hard. I missed that comment in the Dog video So hyped for the civ crafting tournament video!!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
I learned about this recently in Spirit of the Law's recent video! I think I had heard of the technology before but never knew why it was removed, makes sense that laming potential was high. Hopefully my hunting dog design avoids that pitfall!
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
18:35 I just thought of fun bonus/UT effect: Around a castle, your units (or some of them) get extra attack/attack speed according to the damage your castle received. The lower is your castle HP, the harder you hit.
@robbylava
3 ай бұрын
That's quite a cool idea! I could imagine it being quite hard to implement, but that never stopped me! That said, I think there might be a couple other civilizations that could be even more appropriate for, so I might save that idea for later.
@slkdfjklasasdfasdf
Жыл бұрын
Just got introduced to this channel - awesome work! I'm glad age of empires 2 theorycrafting is getting the attention it deserves as a fun and creative exercise. You've done a lot of these already, but some other notable civs that might be fun to try: -Armenians -Tibetans/Tufan -Somalians -Zimbabwe -Croatians -Uyghurs -Tanguts -Thai
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HEY, thank you so much for saying so my friend, it's fantastic to have you! And I'm delighted to hear that you're enjoying the channel, I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on some of my builds going forward! That is an excellent list of suggestions! Only one from that list that's not currently on my radar are the Somalians -- I know of a couple of pretty decent sized Empires in that region of Africa during the aoe2 relevant time frame, but I never knew that the Somalia was on the map at that point! Do you know what they were like at the time? Also, if you had to pick your top two from that selection which would they be?
@slkdfjklasasdfasdf
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava Happy to be of service - to be fair, I'm not an expert on medieval Somali history. I just remember reading several posts on the AoE2 subreddit with Somali Civ builds that sounded really cool. The Ajuran Sultanate (mentioned in several of those posts) aligns well with the AoE2 time frame, and they interacted with other major powers including the Ottomans and the Safavid Persians. Beyond that, you might have better luck checking those reddit posts for more detail. A reddit user named Azot-Spike has a good one iirc. From my list, I'd probably be most excited to see the Tibetans and the Armenians (with Zimbabwe being a close third). But before I saw your playlist of civ builds, my answer to your question would have been the Georgians and the Jurchens, as I think they are slam dunks with respect to relevance and overall fit into AoE2 and I hope the devs add them sometime in a future expansion. Looking forward to watching your next video!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
No need to be an expert whatsoever, lord knows I'm not! Those are some great leads, and I'm definitely interested in pursuing them further. I will always jump at a chance to add more African civilizations! I'm not actually on Reddit, never used the site funnily enough, but I'm sure the build you're referring to is very well done. I personally try to completely avoid looking at other people's designs when I'm building a civilization to avoid accidental plagiarism, but after I take my own crack at the civilization I'll make sure to check it out! And duly noted on the Tibetan and Armenian fronts! You can definitely look forward to seeing those at some point in the future heheh If you ever find time to watch some of my other builds, such as the Georgians and Jurchens, I'd absolutely love to hear what you think of them! Thanks again for being part of the channel my friend , it's great to have you.
@dragonlord4643
Жыл бұрын
Suggestions:: The Saxons The Bavarians The Alans The Vlachs The Welsh
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
All excellent suggestions! You can definitely expect to see all of these at some point in the future, hope I do them justice!
@xxxcripyxxx
Жыл бұрын
man I love defensive play style but the other players seem upset when I play like that, however, in my personal opinion I think the game needs more defensive civs. great work man.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey, thank you so much for saying so Sebastian! I've always preferred more defensive play styles myself, pretty much no matter what game I play, but they definitely have a bad reputation for being boring and frustrating to play against. Part of my hope with this build was to make it a little more dynamic to avoid those sorts of contentions. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch my friend! Very much hope you feel I did them justice.
@danielmunsaka2051
Жыл бұрын
Byzantines been real quiet since seeing this video lol. Their crown of being the best defensive civ is in serious threat with this build
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hehehehehe they better stay quiet! Though they did help out with Glagolitic Script, so we can stay grateful to them for that lol
@AxenfonKlatismrek
Жыл бұрын
Well, they sent out 2 Priests from Thessaloniki, so they could create their own sphere of influence in north, to compensate for their losts in east. It went horribly right. They created sphere of influence, but not in modern day Slovakia(JA SOM SLOVÁK!), but in Eastern Europe, or in this case "Proto-Russia" (I HATE when people call Kievan Rus "Proto-Ukraine" (19th century term, it was called Rus, but because Historians had issues distinguishing it, we got this) because it happened to be in the modern day Ukraine(Even tho it started in NOVGOROD(Changed due to geographical convenience), and many of the modern day Ukrainian territories were part of other countries), but thats besides the point). Constantinople fell, then Byzantine church moved to Russia.
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
@@AxenfonKlatismrek Kievian Rus is not proto-Ukraine and neither is it proto-Russia.
@AxenfonKlatismrek
Жыл бұрын
@@tomasstanek2982 1. Ty si Čech? 2. Then what they are?(Tak potom čo su?)
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
@@AxenfonKlatismrek 1. Ano 2.Looking for modern nations 1 000 years in the past is nonsense that never works out. About 1 000 years ago, no concept of German or French people existed. The realms under the Bohemian duke Boleslaus were not Czech in any way, it was a state of a small ruling elite participating in raid economy and extorting tributes over various people of different tribes. In the same way, the Kievian Rus isnt a modern nation in any way. Its a collection of Slavic people, completly disunited in any sort cultural capacity, semi-united by their nobility who were unrelated to them. The Slavic of the Rus were not a homogenous entity, not even in Russia itself. All of that is a result of hundreds of years of christianization which has homogenized the culture, to an extent. Even duchy of Musovy was not a Russian state - there were no Russians, just nobility of Moscow extorting their surroundings. The Rus were a people speaking related languages, not a nationality or a culural group. Formation of common culture and even national identity took hundreds of years.
@Grevnor
Жыл бұрын
Yay, new content. From the civ doc, looks really interesting. Will have more to say once I get to watching the video.
@Grevnor
Жыл бұрын
...and I was not disappointed. It's a radically different playstyle to anyone else, but that's a good thing. And the fact you pulled it off by tweaking existing but underutilized mechanics is just icing on the cake. As for balance, the Druzhinnik line is indeed a bit of a question mark, but given their limited numbers, and their eventual availability to most of the Slavic civs, of which there are surely several more to come, gives me the impression that this would definitely be something that players would build their counter strategy around - take out the big scary limited units first! Also, I just pictured a cavalry force going up across the map, garrisoning and ungarrisoning along a long line of Gords, just to get close enough to use the ungarrisoning bonus offensively to raid the opponent's base. That has got to be the slowest cavalry charge in history. 😅
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey! Thank you so much Johannes, really glad you liked the build! I was definitely proud of this one, it's so easy for an idea to sound good in my head and then look really stupid when I put it in a video, but I actually think I executed okay on the unusual defensive / cavalry play style for this one! I really do hope that the Druzhinnik & Gord workout okay. As you say, they would be implemented in quite a few civilizations, so getting them wrong would be disastrous! But fortunately I think there are enough variables at play it shouldn't be too hard to balance them by just tweaking one or two. And YES, what you describe of on garrisoning cavalry across the map for offensive use was EXACTLY what I imagined this being used for at really high level play! Obviously, most of us mere mortals can't muster the micro to do stuff like that, but I could imagine some pros doing some absolutely incredible things with the Moravians and I think it would be so sick to watch! Just gives me even more reason to find a way to get some of my civilizations modded into the game heheh
@arsenixkikokoro
Жыл бұрын
My man! You are absolutely showering me with gold this week! Another great video, I find the Glagolitic Script tech especially to be a smart translation of history into mechanics. I love the unique combination of defensive & cavalry civ and the spin on cavalry usage. I do, however, have to point out a mistake at 7:04. Nitra is in no way in today's Austria, it was in fact the first "Slovak" state, located mostly in present-day Slovakia (Nitra is actually still a city in Slovakia - one of the biggest ones). Also, I suspect the "cyrillic language" you mention is actually the glagolitic script the Byzantine missionaries brought to Great Moravia. PS: Amazing hair swoop-in entrance in the intro, that technique should be perfected and regularly employed in future content!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
EYY here he is again! Pleasure is absolutely mine Monk, you've been with me since the earliest days and fulfilling some of your requests is the absolutely I can do to thank you! YES, another commenter also pointed out that I fucked up where Nitra is, quite an embarrassing mistake but I appreciate you pointing it out and I will absolutely make mention of it in my recraft video! And I'm quite glad you enjoyed the implementation of Glagolitic Script! I'm a little worried it might be too oppressive, but I'm quite pleased with the historical analog myself. Really great to hear from you as always man. I hope you feel like I did the Moravians justice, and I really look forward to hearing your thoughts on other builds going forward!
@AxenfonKlatismrek
Жыл бұрын
I am from Slovakia, and Devin Castle is literally 4km away from my home.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HEY, that's sick Filip! It's a really incredible structure. Do you think it's a good fit for the Wonder for this build? Hope you enjoyed the video man! And I especially hope that you think I did the Moravians justice.
@Edelweiss1102
Жыл бұрын
Man, from all the civs I've seen so far this might be your best and the one that fits my preferred play style the most. Oc like always things would have to be tested out, but unlike other civs I don't see anything that might be potentially game breaking or completely underwhelming here on first sight. I think you integrated the themes of the Moravians in awesome ways and turned them into a very interesting things. Also big probs on making some compromises for gameplay sake like giving them bloodlines, I know how much you must be itching to go full experimental. I'm a big sucker for civs like Bengalis, Teutons, Persians or Byzantines who can turtle, boom and then hit the enemy hard with imperial age power units. The Moravians take that to the extreme and have a unique counterpunch aspect with the garrison mechanic and some great units to choose from sprinkled with options that aren't perfect, but viable. I also find the Bojar line interessting, units that are op but limited, kinda like heroes in the campaigns, so you have to use them wisely. I'd love to try this one out. I don't have to say as much as other times, but simply because this feels very fleshed out and viable already. Great job on this one Rob!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
It fills my heart with pride to hear you say that Edelweiss! I am so, so glad you think I nailed this one. I also tend to gravitate towards defensive play styles, I just wish they were a bit better supported in the game, but hopefully this build would be able to hold its own in our age of hyper aggression! And THANK YOU for acknowledging how heartbreakingly difficult it was for me to not do weird bullshit like removing bloodlines. So few people understand the hardship I must endure! *sob* Really appreciate you taking the time to watch Edelweiss, and for letting me know that you liked the build. It seriously does mean a lot. Hope you're well my friend!
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
22:34 The number you can create is per Druzhinnik? If one dies, can you replace them? Or are they gone for good? (like Cuman Mercenaries are limited)
@robbylava
3 ай бұрын
You CAN replace them if they die, The limit is just how many you can have at maximum at a time.
@spangopola
Жыл бұрын
Please do Dali and Nanzhao Empires next! You can call them the Bai people (the Yi people also played a part). The Nanzhao/Dali, the Tai/Thai/Siam, and the Cham of Southern Vietnam can be grouped together for a second expansion in SEA. Then I can die in peace. Fun note: marble (the stone) is called 大理石 in Chinese, literally Stone of Dali (region). due to abdundant marble production there. Some stone mining bonus may be considered.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey, great to hear from you spangopola! Asia is a huge priority for me in theory crafting, I'm mostly just held back by how relatively hard it can be to research some of those civilizations! Fortunately, I have at least heard of Nanzhao before! And your stone oriented bonus is very intriguing. You can definitely expect to see a fair few more Asian builds on my channel going forward, including your suggestion here (though I'll warn you it may take a little while for me to get to it). Thanks so much for the input my friend, and I hope you enjoy the content!
@gurugru5958
Жыл бұрын
Very interesting. The ungarrsoning cavalry bonus is a standout and an awesome blend of history and gameplay. It's really cool. When I made a Moravians build, I gave them a very Frankish theme since they seemed to have been influenced by them heavily. Castles +25% HP, knights regenerate, and something else I don't remember. UU might have been called Zupan, but it was some kind of quickly made anti siege infantry unit. The first UT was basically Royal Heirs for them and the second UT may have buffed castle HP and knight regen. Overall not super original and very basic, but I thought it fit a theme of Franks with a Slavic twist. Still highly defensive and cavalry oriented
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for saying so Guru! It seems like our builds were more similar than they have been in the past, we definitely touched on the same historical themes! Even both have anti Siege bonuses, that's a cool touch. Really glad you liked my design man! Always great to hear from you
@gurugru5958
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava Thanks, great to hear from you to
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
Had you not given the civ as many defencive bonuses, I would suggest a UT that would make stone defences regenerate HP, as a reference to the guys repairing them in battle using dedicated stashes or materials.
@brucewayne3472
Жыл бұрын
For once I was waiting for you to end because of your poor throat ahah Anyway this was brilliant, a lot of sinergy in this civ bonuses, maybe a bit too strong (just seeing Def and cav civ made me suspect that lol) and maybe you're right about having two anti siege bonuses. The imp UT makes Moravians win the relic war from the beginning because you get gold if your enemy pick them up while if he ignores relics you have all the time to pick them... Unless he walls/hide them or something ahah that would be a cool new game mechanic now that it think of it. Zupans already exist as renamed Magyar hussars in a custom campaign about tomislav, the only one I know that comes with a mod for a custom civ replacing Portuguese with Croats but maybe you already know by watching ornlu channel. Also ottokar is another custom campaign, quite creative, where you play as Teutons because bohemians still weren't a thing when it was made. And btw you didn't say if bohemians get the Gord or I missed it? Because they're considered a Slavic eastern European civ as well. Finally about my dark age kink, a Samo campaign is going to be the next scenario for the battles of late antiquity's saga I'm putting out, after the one of Adrianople. I didn't found enough info for me to justify a whole campaign so I'll probably go for an expansive scenario, like with the gothic wars. But like you say lots of civs variety around that kingdom. And after this shameless self ad lol I wish you to get better because you need voice for 45 minutes videos! 💪
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey, thank you so much for saying so my friend! Yeah, the old throat was more than a little angry at me after filming this heheh I can see what you mean about the imperial UT possibly being too much, I'll try to think about a way to tone it down and see what other commenters are saying. Same too with the double anti Siege bonuses. I always assumed that Bohemians came too late to really be meriting of the Slavic regional stuff that I propose here, but another commenter actually said that they would be a really good fit for it so I think I will add them in! Good catch from you too. And DUDE, I think a Samo campaign would be absolutely perfect for you, it's exactly the right time frame and is a really fantastic story, so I think you'd knock it out of the park! Really appreciate you taking the time to watch man. Always good to hear from you!
@DigitalDiscDreamer
Жыл бұрын
I like these ideas but I think Gagliotic Script is a bit toxic in terms of how it works. Although it has historical precedent, it seems to be either the most useful tech or the least useful tech. Here's why: 1) If the opponent techs into monks, you benefit without investing into such techs. Plus, you get conversion resistance which makes your army even more of a monk counter. Of course there is the relic part to add insult to injury. 2) If the opponent does not tech into monks, all you are getting is conversion resistance and sharing relic gold. In this case, the conversion resistance is basically useless because they aren't going for monks anyways, and you only benefit if the opponent gets relics. If not then it truly is completely useless. Assuming the opponent knows about this tech, why would they ever go for monks? Anything they do with the monks would only benefit you in the long run. It's a catch 22 situation with Monk civs. If they go for their strong monks, you benefit. If they don't, you lose nothing. Granted, this tech is in the Imperial Age which by then, monks aren't as prevalent compared to Castle Age. I would imagine this tech being broken in Arena though because although the Moravian monks are terrible in Castle Age, come Imperial Age, the relics won by the opposing team, as well as the techs they put into their monks, would go straight to you. Of course, that's just my opinion and although I may disagree, it sure is an interesting and unique technology.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Those are very well articulated points David. A couple other commenters from what I've seen have also expressed concerns with the technology, though others also seem to really like its historical flavor, so I'm kind of stuck between wanting to preserve its identity and wanting to make sure it doesn't become toxic! Do you have any suggestions on how we might approach rebalancing it? Some of the first ones that come to my mind are making it so that you only benefit 50% from enemy relics for that it only doubles up on certain monastery technologies, with the civilizations-based tech tree being expanded a little bit to compensate. I think another commenter also mentioned that maybe it could only apply to your TEAMMATES, which is fairly smart but does make it a lot worse in 1v1! Maybe it could work to have the technologies only benefit from your team but the relic gold is partially derived from everyone? Not quite sure on the direction yet, but I'd love to hear other thoughts from you if you have any. Really glad that you enjoyed some of the ideas going around here!
@DigitalDiscDreamer
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava Hey Robby! Thanks for responding! We should think about the purpose of Glagolitic Script as it was used in Moravia. As your video mentioned, it was used by Saint Cyril to weaken the influence of Frankish Priest by having a written language for Slavic people. Thus, this means that Orthodox Christianity under Saint Cyril competed with Roman Catholicism by the Franks. The ability I propose would reflect this by: 1) Making conversion on enemies ignore conversion resistance. 2) Make the Moravian monks have +2 Range. 3) Increase conversion resistance 4) Decrease enemy relic gold generation. Justifications: 1) I have yet to see a civ bonus or tech in which monks can ignore conversion resistance. This would make Moravian monks quite viable in late game if the opponent has researched Faith. 2) The +2 Range is inspired by Block Printing. I want the Moravian monks to have BP as well because it makes their monks have insane conversion range of +5 ! 3) This is kind of a given due to the theme of religious "warfare". 4) Instead of stealing relic gold (a bit toxic), I instead went with reducing its gold generation. Works exactly how Hun's Atheism affects relics. (Atheism should be reworked to reducing the gold generation completely to compensate.) Each of these bonuses are quite specific to monks but are very strong if you incorporate monks in the late game armies. I would give the Moravians a bit more monk techs but not too much to make them balanced. Perhaps don't give them Fervor or Sanctity to make their monks squishy but very strong at converting enemy siege. Another idea I had was to simply make the opponents monk techs less effective in general but I think that's quite too simple for your tastes. What do you think?
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
My pleasure David! These are all extremely solid ideas. Another couple of commenters have proposed solutions of their own, having identified like you that the technology and its current state is probably too much. My personal favorite combination of solutions would look something like this: 1. Instead of outright giving you technologies other people have researched, it instead makes them AVAILABLE at the monastery for a decently discounted price, possibly scaling on how many people in the game have researched them. This would still allow you to double research a couple technologies (which I personally really like as a mechanic) 2. Relic gold acquired would only be 50% of the true owner. The intent was never to outright steal other people's gold! But this way, you would get less benefit than the owner, which seems a little more fair and gives you more reason to go after relics yourself. What do you think of these ideas? Since I quite liked the original iteration of the technology I'm personally inclined to go with something that's a little closer to how it looks now. But if it still seemed really untenable I could see possibly changing it in a bit more dramatic of a way. That being said, I really liked a bunch of the bonuses you listed, especially the piercing conversion resistance! That's a really sick mechanic and would be a great fit for another civilization down the line. Thanks so much for the response David! I'm really enjoying the back and forth here.
@PhoenixAlaris93
Жыл бұрын
Honestly you talking about the Avars in the history section makes me more curious about them as a potential civ. That said, I feel like if any Slav group needs a highlight, it'd be the Vlachs, considering where they are is basically the area the Dracula campaign takes place
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Both excellent suggestions Phoenix! The Vlachs are already on my list, but the Avars are an excellent inclusion as well.
@simbelmyne1476
Жыл бұрын
Very nice! I see some similarities to something that may be dropping next week.....111111111 (are the you-know-who the anti-Moravians?) This will be more concise that usual, but in any case -- to the bonuses! -- TEAM bonus (anti siege attack) +1/2/3 I like the concept a lot! I do wonder if applying it to all melee units is a bit much, although it is mainly cavalry that concerns me a tad, as anti-siege sniping ability is incredibly nice (ex: Magyar Huszar). Team bonuses should mostly be quite weak, but I do like stronger team bonuses sometimes. Would this apply to mamelukes/throwing axemen / gbeto? -- 1/3 stone cost replaced by wood. No objection, this is a nice facilitator of slightly earlier castles, etc. and good for extra castles in late game. It does stack a lot with other bonuses though. However, defensive bonuses tend to never be that overwhelming as pure defensive play doesn't challenge your opponent & isn't rewarded very well in "meta"AOE2. --Ungarrisoning cav bonus Now where have I seen this before? :) I don't know how impactful this would be in-game. +33% speed and +1/1 armor is very strong (extremely OP) if permanent, but this is time-limited. Might be difficult to use, or it might end up with Moravians just trying to abuse this a bunch with forward buildings, IDK. Seems a bit swingy though, since it seems like it will either work and be really really strong, or it won't and isn't. But maybe there is a some middle ground balance. -- Less siege damage Besides the difficulty of coding a bonus like this 11, this seems rather nice, if smallish bonus. Very impactful in later stages of the game (esp. treb wars), but weaker than the byzantine bonus for buildings. For units, I'll just say IDK again -- siege frequently overkills, but in the wider blast radius often leaves units partially damaged. Maybe -10% would be enough to keep x-bow alive from a mangonel shot. --Blacksmith bonus This sounds fun, if a bit complex. Given the absence of other meaningful eco bonuses, I'd give this civ a meh rating on eco, but heavy discounts on a universally needed part of the tech tree is of course nice & not all civs should have good eco. Regional units: -- Druzhina-Boyar: Mainly worried for feudal, M@A rushes are already pretty decent with only 3 units, so 3 Druzi would likely be very strong. Gords don't look too expensive either, but perhaps requiring that would prevent too early of a rush. After feudal, the limit on production will prevent OPness, but might also mean that they aren't really used that much? - Gord: I like the build LOS restriction to balance the mini-castle aspect / limit aggressive uses. Likely too strong on defense though, particularly with multiple arrows boosting the damage output. Would need to dissect the stats more though, to be sure. UTs: Castle -- 140 hp knights in castle sounds risky, as does extending the ungarrison bonus for too long, but overall could work Imperial -- This one is real weird, probably mostly useless but occasionally very useful. It is certainly very distinctive and unique UU: More armor when damaged -- armor matters less and less when a unit has low health, so I'm uncertain how this will play out. Not sure if it will be interesting & frequently used, or if it will just be worse than the knight line and not see any use, but I don't see a substantial distinction between this UU and the knight line. They seem to serve the same roles. Tech tree: Removing 2nd archer armor is quite interesting given the otherwise full archer tech tree. At the highest levels, it seems fairly common for arbalest players to just skip the last two armors since arbs stay in the back line / depend on their damage output more than their durability. But it certainly is bad for their skirms and general archer play. Otherwise, they do seem largely pushed towards heavily cavalry and defensive plays, as intended, and overall I don't see this civ as clearly OP or UP, although that might be because of inability to really test some of the most novel bonuses / I didn't really look into the regional / UU stats in any detail so I can't speak to whether they are over/undertuned. But tuning issues tend to be very fixable in the hypothetical situation where you could do playtesting, and the underlying concept is usually more important. So, I like the civ, its unique and different!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HEY, thank you so much Simbelmynë! Honestly, hearing you say that you think the civilization is neither OP nor UP is a huge win for me, since you have such a good grasp of the current competitive metagame. I totally agree that a number of the things I have here are kind of borderline in terms of how impactful they would be, but if we ever got to do practical tests I would be more than happy to shift things around! The fact that it seems most of them have good fundamentals is good enough for me, even if the specifics need to be tweaked. I personally doubt that the Druzhinnik will be too strong in feudal just because I kind of doubt that an early Gord will usually be viable, kind of like how cuman early TCs are often just not feasible. Plus, by the time you can actually get three out, I think your opponent will usually be pretty well walled, unlike with M@As who can get in there much earlier. But I'm very willing to be proven wrong on this one! Main clarification I would give is that the team bonus is NOT intended to apply to ranged melee units like the throwing ax men, so I'll make sure to clarify that. Really appreciate the review man! Always fantastic to hear from you. And you are certainly right that this does bear some striking contrasts to another civilization that shall not yet be named, heheheh
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
30:20 I don't think I understand very well how this tech works. Do you get the techs they research? Can you also research and get extra benefit? What if two players research the same tech? Do you get the same amount of gold as the other player from relics? Does it include both allies and enemies?
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
34:20 Partially answered.
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
I don't think I like this tech, it is too dependent on other players decisions in how it benefits you.
@robbylava
3 ай бұрын
Yeah, I would agree it's one of my clunkier designs. I believe I ended up updating this in a later recraft, but if that didn't end up being the case I'd love to hear some thoughts on how you would implement a similar idea. I do quite like the grounding for it!
@unseparator
Жыл бұрын
Hey man, as a history and age enthusiast I really enjoy your videos, they’re fun and I love to think about how they’d fit into the age meta. This is niche feedback and it’s not a real issue, but I find that having your face in the thumbnail gives a very weird vibe, though less so in more recent ones where you’ve integrated it into the theme. It’s just one opinion, and I’d love to see your videos get more views so I thought it best to be honest
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey Matt, I really appreciate you saying so man! A commenter suggested I try to make my thumbnails sillier a little while back, and I've been doing my best to keep them on theme ever since! As I said to him, I was a full-time performer before trying out youtube, so I really didn't know what to put on a thumbnail besides my stupid face! Since my videos are more casual, goofy, and personality driven then someone like Spirit of the Law I do think it's a good idea to keep my likeness somewhere on the thumbnail, but if you have any suggestions as to how I might iterate past the "Silly Photoshop"stage I'm in right now then I'd love to hear! Really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me about this Matt. Does what I'm saying here make sense?
@Unusedmaterial
Жыл бұрын
I feel this is better than your other civs because they end up pushing boundaries too much (I know you intentionally go for this, but it makes them feel like a faction from a different game sometimes not AoE2). This civ I feel balances new mechanics and the aoe2 feel. I just wonder how fast the UU is going to heal with bonuses and double herbal medicine
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for saying so unusedmaterial! I know that my approach isn't always to everyone's tastes, but I'm delighted to hear that you thought this particular build walked the tightrope well! On my civilization document, I have the unique unit listed as getting four times more benefit from healing, so about 2/3 as much benefit as herbal medicine gives. If you get them both together, the intention is to have it heal 10 times more, which is certainly very high! But seeing as that technology is almost never researched, I don't personally think it would be too horrific.
@harpo5581
Жыл бұрын
I didn't think i wanted to hear about the Moravian's, until I heard about the Moravians! Slavs are perfect for getting split apart more. Can't wait to see a "snapping turtle" Moravian offense. Love the mount at stable concept. I've been wishing that got pulled through across all mounted units for 2.5 decades. Should just make the Boyar replacement more expensive instead of limiting them. Overall pretty balanced Civ, I'd give it a 8/10 likeliometer. The forgotten civs are all up for an Indians like rebuild. Are you gonna follow up with a Kieven-Rus build next? Founded by Varangians they had Druzhina as pillars of their military and society. or how about a rebuild of Magyars next?! Magyar Hussar should get rolled into the stable like the polish hussar and the Magyar's should get a heavy infantry/Arquebus troop that represents the Black Army.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HEY, thank you so much for saying so Harpo! I had honestly never even heard of the Moravians till the commenter desertmonk suggested them, but I'm really glad I took the research plunge cuz these guys were fascinating. It's so funny to see you say that you wanted to see mounting up for ages, that was something that when I was a kid I was desperate to make work in the scenario editor myself! Rest assured that I certainly plan on playing around more with this idea in future builds, I think it's absolutely fascinating and could make for some really fun stuff! Both of your suggestions there are great! The Rus are absolutely when I want to tackle, but as of now I've been a little hesitant to do rebuilds of existing civilizations. I don't know why, I just feel like people might not like them as much? What do you think Harpo? If you really like to see some rebuilds I could definitely look into tackling that as a potential series in future! Either way, really appreciate you taking the time to watch my friend. I'm thrilled that you like the build!
@harpo5581
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava You should keep tackling rebuilds of all the Civs released before DE. These were created with the initial game engine limitations. The ones after DE seem to be less likely to be homogenized, or limited in unique play style or functionality.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Appreciate the vote of confidence man! I think I'm going to put a poll out on it and see what other viewers have to say. If enough people are on board with the idea, then you can bet I'll be making some videos on classic civilizations going forward!
@premiumfruits3528
Жыл бұрын
Love the concept of the video and I subbed immediately. I also like the ideas presented, but I guarantee you there is no one that will pay 200 stone for anything in feudal. You said they were historically mostly made of wood, so make it cost like 250w or something. Using your starting stone on a gimped krepost would put you on the back foot for the rest of the game.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Well thank you very much my friend, it's great to have you! There's no doubt the cost would be pretty tough, though I think the benefit it would give, particularly in the face of enemy rushes, would be pretty tremendous. But I can totally be convinced to reduce the stone cost slightly, though I do think it absolutely needs to have a stone cost of some kind that is higher than that of a tower. Do you think like 150 would do the trick for example?
@premiumfruits3528
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava I would think something like 300 wood 50 stone would make more sense historically and gameplay wise, the problem with spending too much stone in feudal is you have to then mine some before you can drop your second TC when you hit castle age, that's why tower rushes are considered an all in strategy, they put you so far behind that they have to work
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
A very well reasoned point! I ended up discussing this with a bunch of other people in my discord (which you're of course welcome to join by the way!) And they gave some fantastic feedback that has led me to what I think is a really good new design direction. Look forward to seeing it in the next recraft!
@diegoramirez7901
Жыл бұрын
The wonder should be the Brněnský orloj. Great Video
@moon2schyzo
Жыл бұрын
Not the c(l)ock!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Having just looked up what that is, I can safely say that a mod swapping the Wonder skin to this would be absolutely glorious.
@danielmunsaka2051
Жыл бұрын
For the second unique tech I think it should apply only to allies. This is probably one of your best build but it wouldn't be a Robby build with some little quirk that sounds OP on paper at least lol
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HA! I am charmed and delighted to hear you say so Daniel! But seriously though that balance suggestion is not at all bad, I might end up going that direction since a couple of other people are also voicing uncertainty about the imp UT. Thanks for the input man!
@rynoks3504
Жыл бұрын
im a huge tanky cav fan so this is by far my favorite build, im also a big fan of civs from the european continent more than africa etc. so every "western / eastern" ish civ is always a hype moment for me. I'd really like to play this civ!
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Hey, thank you so much for saying so Rynoks! Absolutely delighted you like the build -- if I ever do get a chance to have some of my civilizations modded into the game, this would be one of my top picks!
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Brno hasn't really become the center of Moravia until recent-ish history (think atleast 15th century onwards) for most of the middle ages, Olomouc would be more significant. None of these cities existed during the times of Great Moravia though! It's unknown afaik where the capital was at the time, though the likely answer seems to be the fortress of Mikulčice.
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Btw with the research on Silesia you did, it seems like you may have made a mistake by focusing on "Czech Silesia", which is a somewhat insignificant area today. Historically, it doesn't only have "Polish influence". Vast majority of Silesia today is in Poland, with the capital for sure being the city of Wroclaw, which was strong enough to contest Prague in various times. Silesians do make sense as a civ in my opinion, perhaps more so than Moravians, whose independence and influence was rather shortlived. Silesia in this sense is much more culturally autonomous from both Bohemia and Poland, almost like what Burgundy is to the Franks. Silesia was also a thriving and a urbanizing region, while Moravia remained mostly rural.
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Honestly there seems to be another, much larger problem vid the video: if I understand it correctly, you imply that the Slavs of Moravia were vassals to the Romans? That certainly wasn't the case, as the Slavs only moved in there largely once the Langobards left, meaning over 100 years after the empire has fallen. Also, Rome has never held significant power over the region. You may think of the Marcomanic wars, but that was a one time campaign which didn't yield much success: the Romans gave up on colonizing and projecting power into Moravian lands just few years after the campaign has ended.
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
I would also be very careful about claiming that Moravians were Orthodox... remember, the schism still wouldnt happen for over 200 years! The Byzantine missionaries actually went to the pope, who allowed them to set up bishoprics and gave them authority over most of the Frankish cleregy, so there really isn't much difference in the actual faith... the pope certainly wouldn't give so much authority to someone he didn't see as a righteous christian.
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Last point would be that the existence of Samo is actually heaviely disputed by modern historians. Only a single historic source mentions him, written by a Frank about a hundred years after his supposed death. So not a very reliable source at all. 19th century historians wrote about him a lot with nationalism-tinted glasses, so you definitely should take much of this stuff into your account when designing the civ. A Samo campaign could be fun regardless though. Btw I have no idea what the last tech you suggested really means :D "Byl otec" means "was a father", with the first word being completly unrecognizable to me, think there may be some translation error or missconception somewhere...
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
WOW. Just... Wow! This is an unbelievably thorough breakdown Tomás, thank you so much for taking the time to catch all of these mistakes! One of the downsides of needing to work with internet sources is that very often they just copy from each other, meaning one mistake is repeated in multiple places, adding a false sense of legitimacy to what was originally incorrect! Because of this, and the fact that the Google search algorithm often varies really good sources to cater to my American queries, I really rely on commenters like you who actually know what they're talking about to pick out all the stuff I get wrong! Plus sometimes I just fuck up and misinterpret what's on the page. So I very much appreciate you taking the time to leave these thorough comments. I hope that the multiple inaccuracies didn't detract too much from your enjoyment of the video! And rest assured that I will most certainly highlight your findings in my eventual recraft of this civilization.
@bjarkekiaer
Жыл бұрын
Hello Robby, I hope you get well soon. Great video as usual! The idea of utilising fortifications for combat purposes is especially nice as well as the idea of a strong unit with a recruitment limit. One thing that I did find a bit questionable, however, is Glagolitic Script. First off, how exactly does it work? Once researched, does it just grant techs that have already been researched by other civs, or does it grant any techs researched afterwards as well? Second, if the latter option above is the correct one, it seems to be a somewhat cheap tech for what it potentially gives, since all Monastery techs add up to over 4000 resources. I know this would ultimately depend on how many techs other players got, but still. Lastly, the relic bonus almost seems a bit of a cheat, as it means you'd automatically get the maximum relic gold regardless of who has them. Don't get me wong, the idea behind the tech is absolutely great, but it does need some tweaking (in my opinion). So, instead of granting the Monastery techs for free, it would instead make them available at a reduced price, like 50%. And maybe research a bit faster as well. This way you'd still have to spend something to get the techs, but it would keep the idea and the historical authenticity intact. It might even be worthwhile to remove Heresy from them as well, so they just get Sanctity, Fervor and Herbal Medicine. Speaking of which, getting double of those three techs would still be possible, but only if they have already been researched prior to Glagolitic Script. Otherwise you'd only be able to get them once (but still with a discount). I would also reduce the relic bonus to something like 50% in order to make it more fair for the opponent. It'd be more of an encouragement to get the relics for yourself, as it couldn't just be equalised with the tech. I hope this was useful. And thanks for uploading these videos. They're always fun to watch. Also... can we expect a Hero unit theorycraft coming up?
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
HEY! Thank you so much for saying so Bjarke! Just a couple days later and I'm doing way better. You make some fantastic points about Glagolitic Script. A couple other commenters were also voicing concerns, but this is one of the best analyses I've seen on the topic. And what I like most is your proposed solution! Having the technology UNLOCK stuff that other players have already researched at a steep discount sounds like a much more fair way of implementing it, as is reducing the amount of benefit relics give you! So I definitely think I will be making those changes in the next draft. Seriously man, absolutely brilliant suggestions! Beyond that, I'm really glad that you liked the build. And the thought of doing some videos on hero units has certainly crossed my mind! Is that something you'd want to see? If so, would you want to see it on the sooner side or do you think we should do some more conventional stuff before something that wild?
@bjarkekiaer
Жыл бұрын
I'm glad you liked the suggestions. Hero videos is definitely something I'd like to see - sooner or later isn't important to me, so whenever you feel like making 'em. And I don't even think the idea is too wild. They're already in the campaigns and both AoE3 and AoM have heroes in standard play, so it's certainly possible to make it work. Speaking of wild ideas, is it all right if I email an idea to you at some point? It's an AoE theorycraft of sorts, but at the same time different from anything else. (I'm still working on it so it'd probably take a little while.)
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Excellent! In that case I will certainly put the hero project on my list. And YES, of course you can email me Bjarke! I very much look forward to seeing what you have in store!
@weifan9533
Жыл бұрын
I have a new idea of a civ, the Moluccans (13th century onward). They represent the sultanates of Ternate and Tidore, which were located in Eastern Indonesia and extended into the coastal parts of Western Papua. I would categorize them as an Infantry and Navy civ. They would have the worst stable out of all the Old World civs, with only the Scout Cavalry available, and they also don't have access to Cavalry Archers and Elephant Archers. Haven't really thought of their civ bonuses and team bonus yet, but I do have some ideas about their unique techs and unique units. Castle UU: Alifuru Warrior: a fast-footed warrior without body armor carrying only a shield and a saber (speed 1.3), with average HP and attack. It has a large LOS (base LOS of 10, the largest out of all infantry units). It kind of serves as a Knight/Light Cavalry replacement for this civ. Its special ability is poisonous attack, with affected units continuing to lose their HP for 5 seconds after a battle with Alifuru Warriors. Although it's not known if the Alifuru Warriors used poisoned sabers, applying poison to various weapons was a rather common practice among the tribal peoples of South China and SE Asia. Dock UU: Cora-Cora: unique ship unit with dual purposes, an elongated boat with both sails and oars, fires bullets at enemies similar to Hand Cannoneers or Conquistadors, and can trade with allies too (although the amount of gold it can bring back has to be somewhat lower than Trade Cogs) Castle Age UT: Headhunting, Alifuru Warriors and the Swordsman line (Militia, Men-at-Arms, etc.) have a 25% chance to one-strike enemy villagers. For instance if fighting against a group of 4 enemy villagers, 1 of them would be an instant kill. Imperial Age UT: Spice Trade, docks and markets automatically generate a small trickle of gold per minute. Effect is not stackable, no matter how many docks and markets you have, the number of gold generated per minute would be constant. Although the Moluccans weren't the only people that participated in the lucrative spice trade, they indeed benefited a lot from it. Please feel free to give me some feedbacks, thanks.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Great to hear from you again Wei! A really interesting proposal for a build. I think I've heard of the Moluccans before, but I had no idea they were a player during the AOE2 relevant timeframe! I think that your proposed build is very cool, poison damage is something I've wanted to see implemented for a long time and the bullet firing trade vessel sounds incredibly fun to use! The idea of them having an extremely weak stable without lacking the stable altogether is also a pretty cool touch, it lets the scout Rush stay on the table as a valid strategy. For me at least, the main thing that I would need to see for a civilization like this is a robust set of bonuses. It sounds like they will have a semi limited tech tree, so strong bonuses sound like a very important feature to make sure they are competitive with the others currently in the game! It seems like they did have access to gunpowder, so that should mean that they have some nice firepower available to them late game. Really cool concepts man! Is this a build that you might want to see me tackle at some point in the future? I promise I won't rip you off if so!
@weifan9533
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava I'd like to see more Asian, African, and American civs to be honest. Maybe the Tibetans, the Khitans, the Jurchens, the Dians (Nanzhao), the Siamese, the Chams, the Kanembu, the Songhai, the Swahili, the Chimus, the Mapuches, etc.
@weifan9533
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava I have an idea of a potential Khitan civ UU called the Pishi Guard, and I'd like to share it with you. The Pishi Guards started off as the guardsmen around the palace of the Khitan emperors, but later became a fully fledged army. And historically speaking, Khitans liked to use blunt weapons such as maces. I’ve envisioned the non-elite version of the Pishi Guard as a heavy infantry armed with a mace and a shield, and the elite version would be similarly armed except that it would be mounted on a horse and thus becomes a cavalry unit. Such a infantry-cavalry distinction between the non-elite and elite versions would make it rather special unlike any unit so far in the game, and would also fit with the historical Khitan Liao empire as an empire that straddled between agricultural and nomadic zones. And the special ability of the Pishi Guard (both the non-elite and elite versions would have this) is the stunning effect, able to stun/immobilize the enemy unit for 1.5 seconds with its first strike, and after that it would take some time to recharge until it could perform another stunning effect.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Totally agree with you on wanting to see more non-european civilizations Wei -- I try to mix it up as much as I can, but since I mostly do my builds based off of commenter requests it often ends up being a lot of European stuff. This week's build is non-european though, and after that I think it alternates back and forth for a little while, so hopefully there's a decent amount of variety there for you! And going forward I certainly expect there to be a lot more non-european civs showing up as well. That's a very cool unique unit idea! I would really love to see a stunning effect put into the game, and what you're describing sounds like a good way of doing it. Could play really well with a combined army featuring both slower melee units and fast cavalry, as using the stun to pin enemies in place while chasing them is a great way to make use of high mobility. I agree with you that having the elite version be mounted would probably be controversial! I think a lot of people would be frustrated that the elite upgrade is not a strict improvement, since it of course would come with a bunch of new weaknesses to units like spearmen. But I think there is a way to make it work! You could always use a Mount Up mechanic like I gave to the Druzhinnik line in this build, allowing them to turn into a cavalry unit at a stable for a small extra cost.
@heikowesterich3810
Ай бұрын
I would Love a Frisian civ (Or some other German civ) with a Bonus for trade because of the hanse that give tradeunits the ability to defend them self or better trade in water
@robbylava
Ай бұрын
Hey! I absolutely would love to do a Frisian civ at some point, and I also have plans to tackle the Hanseatic League as well. I can't promise either of them will be soon, but they are both coming!
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Just so I don't leave just a super-critical comment chain, I actually really liked your civ design! It has to be the favorite one of mine you did so far. The playstyle sounds unique and easy to follow, and the history seems to fit in an interesting way. I especially like the idea of making Grods and Druzhinas a regional attribute for all Slavs! One idea though: what if, instead of making their numbers limited, they cost extra pop space? That sounds like a good way to counterbalance the stats, especially in the early game. One thing that leaves me confused though is that you didnt mention Druzhinas and Grods would also be an element present for the Bohemians. Is that intentional? Until late 11th century, Bohemian nobility is even refered to as "Druzhina nobility" and the whole period as "grod period". Btw while I think the design of the unique unit is fine, I couldnt find any sources on the name. It sounds like some obscure pseudohistory from 19th century to be fair (I certainly dont blame you there, outdated history is still cited way too often on niche topics). Perhaps "Margraviate guard" would make for a better name? Remember that Moravia was a Margraviate, a unique sort of a fiefdom, tasked with guarding the borders of the realm. The effect you suggested seems fit for such a unit!
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
Also if you ever need some fact checking on Bohemians, Moravians or even Silesians, feel free to contact me! I am a Czech student of cultural heritage, so while not really a historian, I am very much used to working with legitimate historical sources and with critical historiography.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
DUDE I just finished reading your other comment chain and was really worried that you hated it! Absolutely thrilled that you enjoyed it, despite all the issues! And EXTREMELY cool that you are so particularly versed in this topic! I see what you mean about costing extra population instead of having a limit. That's a pretty clever way of doing it, though the history purist in me still kind of prefers the way I have it now. Definitely willing to change it if it ended up ever being a problem though! I legitimately had no idea that Bohemia had that connection to the regionals, I honestly assumed it was more germanized due to its location. Shows what I know! An excellent catch my friend, I will absolutely make the change. I can see what you mean about the unique units name too. I found it in a couple sources, but that certainly doesn't mean it's accurate! I personally try to avoid using English words in unique unit names wherever possible, since I love having names from the civilization's own language. So if there's any good translation for the name you proposed that sounds cool and fits the history then I would absolutely be willing to change it to that! Along similar lines, do you think the term "Grod" is better than "Gord"? I saw both spellings used a lot and just ended up going with the one that seemed a little more common across my sources. Thanks again for all the exceptional feedback Tomás! And listen my friend, I am genuinely honored that you would offer to help out with a bill, and I actually think it would be really great to take you up on that. Would you be at all interested in doing a collab on a civilization with me, similar to what I've done with other commenters? I always jump at the chance to work with someone more knowledgeable than myself, and every collab I have done thus far has been with someone who knows a lot more about the civilization in question than I did, so it would genuinely be a pleasure to work with you on one. Shoot me an email if you're interested!
@tomasstanek2982
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava I'll definitely send you a mail, I'll just try to answer some of the points here in the comments first, in case that anyone else wants some more context on Bohemian and Moravian history. As far as the Grod/Gord discussion goes, that was actually an accidental mistake on my part, I wanted to try to stay consistant with your spelling. From my understanding, Gord is Proto-Slavic, which means that it is still from the time period before the Baltic - Slavic split (they used to be one group of people, however the split happened hundreds of years before Common era, so it is really almost ancient history). I don´t think any Slavic language since then uses Gord. The closest variant would probably be Gorod, which is present in some eastern and south-Slavic languages. I accidentaly used Grad, which is a Polish and old Czech spelling of the word. In current Czech, it would be Hrad. It should be noted though, that in most Slavic languages, this word got adopted as the basic word for high medieval castle, in some languages it even became a word for a city. In modern Slavic languages, a modern variation is usually used to refer to these structures. For example, in Czech, the world evolved as following: Grad - Hrad (a medieval castle) - Hradisko (the closest equivalent to the word would be "hillfort" in English). I honestly really cannot give you advice on what to use, as the word has shifted in meaning in most Slavic languages, with the only consistant aspect being that it refers to something FORTIFIED. But for pretty much all modern Slavic speakers, Grad or Gorod sounds more natural, even if it´s not necessarily a part of their language, while Gord is completly a thing of the past. Germanization of Bohemia and Moravia has only really begun in 12th century, and at first was really slow. Until then, the relation between Bohemia and Holy Roman Empire was more akin to that with the Frankish empire: they extracted tribute, sometimes, and when they didn´t get it, there was a small war fought over it, which sometimes the Bohemians won, sometimes they lost. That is why Moravia was made into a margraviate at all, it reflects the policy of the Holy Roman Empire of this time: Moravia being some fringe land in the far east, which is tasked with nothing else than guarding the borders, as there isn´t much to extract from the land anyways. By 11th century, you still have weird little events such as Bohemians casually going on a raid into some of the German fiefdoms, despite already technically being integrated into the empire. By 12th century, things began to change rapidly, as the Empire was in a lot of chaos, and both the Emperor and the Pope made many alliances with the dukes of Bohemia, as they were able to stand up to the German opposition. Bohemia shifted its loyalty from the Emperor to the Pope every few dozen years, who were at this time in fierce opposition, and through this process got much more capable at navigating European diplomatic landscape. By the beggining of the 13th century, Bohemia has become a kingdom, and was experiencing quick modernization, as it managed to connect more with western Europe in the previous century. By this time, the kings of Bohemia began to look for foreign aid in making their rule more effective: western architects come in and introduce Gothic architecture to Bohemia, Italian experts reform the coinage and make many changes to the economy, and German craftsmen are invited over start new guilds and settlements. With newly founded cities being quickly populated, and flourishing of the royal court, a demand for "high culture" manifests in Bohemia, which is mostly satisfied by importing German culture and adopting it, partially. That doesn´t necessarilly mean that Bohemian becomes a German speaking land, just that they get connected to German cultural trends in poetry, arts, architecture, politics and culture. It should be noted, however, that this isn´t really any different in Moravia, which is getting just as much German culture as Bohemia. It isn´t even that particularly unique in the context of central Europe, it just happens in Bohemia earlier than in other regions. Hungary, Poland, and in late middle ages even lands further to the east get increasingly connected to German cultural elements. In this context, we can´t forget the Silesians, who get germanized even more, many of their cities even start to speak German as the common language (though by this point, we are talking about late middle ages). So basically, what I was trying to say by this insanely long rant is that Bohemia does have design space for Gords/Grads/whatever and for the Druzhiniik unique unit. Bohemia has had about 250 years of history since the fall of the Great Moravia that can be characterized as "Druzhina" (Družina in Czech) period. During this time, Bohemian authority rose from a small tribe at the centre of the country (remember, by 900s, the Bohemians weren´t even the only tribe living there) and built up control over the surrounding lands by constructing many "Gords" and assigning bureocrats to them from their capital. They pretty much copied the succes story of Great Moravia. At this time, there was no nobility. Only the duke (the voivod, in this case, they are synonymous) and his Družina. As the lands became more developed and too hard to centrally administer, and as Bohemia shifted towards western European cultural elements, they started giving off lands to the most important members of the Družina, creating a vassal system in Bohemia. Soon, lands began to equal prestige, and traditional nobility developed. This also coincides with the fact, that by 11th century (well, 995 and 1108, to be exact) the dukes of Bohemia began o process of exterminating competing tribal aristocracy. Two entire families were murdered, women and children included, and the power vacuum left by the killing of these traditional authorities left room for new, modern nobility to develop. 11th century is a period of great transition from Bohemia, as by this point in time, it is sort of semi-feudal, semi-tribal. I should clarify that the word "feudal" is highly controversial today among historians, as feudal systems worked very differently across Europe, to the point that it´s even questioned whetever it can be reffered to as a single system. I could talk for hours about the weird, quirky "feudal system" of Bohemia, but that would be very off-topic. Either way, I am currently working on a Bohemian rework concept, and I may include a page or two dedicated to the Gords and Druzhiniiks. But my interpretation of this mechanic is, that the Bohemians shouldn´t have acess to any of the Druzhiniik´s upgrades, but instead maybe have a bonus towards more Druzhiniik capacity. Afterall, the old Slavic system has been replaced in Bohemia sooner than for example in Poland (and much sooner than in eastern Europe). Yet early duchy of Bohemia was absolutely able to field significant armies capable of conducting slave raids and defeating opposing tribes, on some ocassions even defeating Holy Roman armies. As far as the unique unit goes, Margrave guard would translate directly to Markraběcí stráž. It is, however, just a direct translation. There never was any "specific unit" of such kind. The knights and margraves of Moravia simply had a specific role to play in the Empire and in the kingdom, but they were not really unique in their methods. I checked the etymology of the word Vítěz in your sources (that´s the Czech spelling, my keyboard isn´t capable of doing the old Slavic spelling) and found out that they claim that it is the name for heavy cavalry in many Slavic languages (mostly southern though). Well, conviniently, it isn´t used in such a way in Czech! It simply means "victor" in Czech with no additional meaning. Though I admit, it could have possibly been a feature of old western-Slavic languages which simply stopped being used as the languages developed (in 9th century, there was no such thing as Czech or Polish, western Slavic branch hasn´t diversified yet). The modern Czech word for a knight (or heavy cavalry) is Rytíř, which comes from the German word for knight (or rather a cavalrymen), Ritter. So it may be possible that a germanized word has replaced an authentic old Slavic word, but I can´t confirm in any way that it was ever used in western European languages.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Sure thing man, whenever is convenient for you! You can find my email address is in the about section of my channel, that you have to be on desktop to view it. And thank you again for those really excellent historical breakdowns! Since "Gord" seems to be the most purely historical and least regionally specific version I think I'm going to stick with that for now. Your breakdown of early Bohemia was also extremely interesting to read. I think your suggestion that they receive the Druzhinnik but no others in the line is absolutely perfect. As for the unique unit, what you just described is exactly what I found in my research too! Since it seems unclear as of now whether the source is complete bullshit or not I think I'll keep the name for now, but I'm more than happy to change it if new evidence surfaces! Extremely cool that you're planning a rework for Bohemia my friend! I think you'd do them exceptional justice. I love that the civilization is in the game, but it seems to have too much of a focus on the hussite era from what I understand, so someone with your body of knowledge tackling it sounds like it has incredible potential. If you manage to finish it before April 1st you should totally submit it to my theory crafting contest! But regardless, I'm very honored that you would think that my regional units are good enough to possibly include. I would absolutely love to see the project whenever it's finished!
@divicospower9112
Жыл бұрын
Suavellos brater! An interesting faction overview. I would not have done a Moravian build but why not after all? It can be a good civilization to add. For the Silesia however, I don't see it as a potential new faction. 2-3 things before the review. When their unique unit loses HP and gains armor, does the armor stay when they are back at full health? Ottokar could be a good idea for a campaign as Bohemians as shown are more Hussites. Ottokar as king had an army of heavy knights and halberdiers + HC and canons would not fit the 13th century. Does their imperial age unique unit apply if it is researched after the ennemy get them? Herbal medicine x2 will be insane. I like the design. I think that the defensive bonuses are very powerful but as they don't have great eco bonus, it doesn't make them overpowered. I also think that the counter charge is a good idea but what if the HP given were replaced by attack. Would it fit their identity of strong buildings and lethal but frail units?
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Great to hear from you Divicos! Thanks so much for saying so man, I knew nothing about the Moravians before researching this build myself and I had a great time learning about them! Another commenter actually mentioned that Silesia was an extremely important power within the region, possibly even more meriting of a civilization than the Moravians! So even though initially I was more in your camp I might end up trying to tackle them at some point in the future. To clarify your questions, yes the unique unit loses the armor once it's rehealed and yes the unique technology does give you the benefits if it's researched after! I agree that Ottokar wouldn't be a good fit for the Moravians alone, but my proposal was that he could have a split campaign kind of like El Cid where you play as the Moravians for the first half and the Bohemians for the second half! I see what you mean about attack possibly being a better fit than armor, but from a historical and thematic standpoint I felt like it would be better to emphasize further tankiness rather than damage. I could totally see another civilization getting a similar ungarrison bonus that boosts attack though!
@weifan9533
Жыл бұрын
Great design but I'm really wanting to see some civs outside of Europe, like in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot for saying so Wei! Yeah, I'd like to do more of those too. Since pretty much all of my builds these days are coming from viewer requests it's typically a bit more common that Europe gets focused on, but I do have quite a few non-european builds coming up!
@gurugru5958
Жыл бұрын
Whooo!
@ivanstrydom8417
Жыл бұрын
Not my favourite civ build. But great work none the less :) Would be a fun enemy to fight against.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Thank you very much for saying so Ivan!
@Crossil
Жыл бұрын
I find it peculiar you went with Moravians rather than Croats/Serbs or Ruthenians/Russians(as replacement for the current Slavs).
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
It's not exactly the civilization I would personally have picked to do, but for a while now all of my civilization builds have come from viewer suggestions and collabs rather than my personal tastes. The request list is quite long too, so it's looking like it's going to stay this way for quite a while! That's not to say I didn't really enjoy learning about the Moravians -- even though they weren't at all on my radar until desertmonk left the comment requesting them, there was a really awesome piece of History to learn about, and I'm very pleased with how the build turned out!
@thomasfplm
3 ай бұрын
39:29 Could be interesting, but the last mining techs already tend to not have a great return of investment (specially the stone one).
@erikdw8379
Жыл бұрын
I don't really know why it took me this long to say this but better late than never, right? Anyway, I have some issues with the Glagolithic Script tech. For the most part I do like it as having a weak Monestary that can become strong thanks to your opppnent's Monestary techs feels unique and intresting, and doesn't really feel that overpowered as Monks are fairly situational from what I can tell. My issues lies with the Relic part of the tech, as it basically means that you don't have to pick up relics at all throughout the game, as from what I can tell Gold becomes most important in the late game when most relics have already been picked up. It introduces a degree of laziness that just feels off to me. It also doesn't feel quite right that your opppnent has no way of knowing whether or not you've researched the tech so, once the Moravian player is in Imp, they'll just be constantly paranoid on whether or not the relics they've picked up, and Monestary techs they've researched, is actually helping their opppnent or not. It just doesn't seem like it would feel very fun. Two ways I would fix is by: 1. Giving the opppnent a message once the tech's been researched. That way they can decide whether or not keeping the relics in their Monestary is worth it since they now know for sure that it's helping the enemy. 2. Make the Gold generation while the relic is in enemy or ally Monestaries for the Moravian player about half, or even less, than if THEY had it in THEIR Monestaries. That way the tech can work as a bit of a Relic insurence tech than anything else. It would make it so that you can get Gold from not collecting Relics yourself but doing so would only net you half of what they would have been if you HAD collected them. So you're still ultimately incentivized get them yourself. And it would also still be balanced by the tech not working retroactively like it at least is now.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Very reasonable concerns Erik! I've had a few other commenters mentioned similar concerns to me, and I think you're proposed solution of 50% gold income is a great starting point. Another commenter also mentioned that instead of getting technologies that other players research for FREE, Glagolitic Script could instead just unlock them for the Moravian player to research at a steep discount (still allowing you to double up on certain technologies!). What do you think of this overall proposal?
@erikdw8379
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava Well, now that I think about it getting so many technologies potentially for free doesn't really seem quite right so I'm all for it. I also noticed that one of the Monestary techs that Moravians do get is Herbal Medicine so if another player researches it so Moravians can get it again they could heal their units at super speed when garrioned, especially their unique unit.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Excellent! Glad to hear you're on board. And yes, herbal medicine x 2 in the UU is definitely one of the combos I hope would be made more viable through this technology! There's a chance it's too powerful, and I'd be happy to nurse it if so, but garrisoning to heal is pretty much always a losing proposition so I figured it would need some major juice to be viable at all!
@quasibrodo923
Жыл бұрын
You might need a few more conditions for the gord placement. You could delete and rebuild your tc near your enemy. Basically a Persian douche with extra steps.
@erikdw8379
Жыл бұрын
You said that you're giving Civ grades Spirit of the Law style but he's actually stopped talking about civ Economies in favor of their trash units. Now I'm not saying that YOU should stop grading your civs ecos but it would be nice to hear you grade their trash as well. Or levies as you call them. If I were to do it for the Moravians it would probably be something like this: Looking at their trash units, that is to say units that don't cost any gold, this is really not an area where the Moravians shine. They're stuck at Pikemen without Plate Mail Armor. Their Skirmishers are missing TWO of the Archer armor upgrades so they really struggle against ranged units. They do have Hussars that are basically fully upgraded and can get bursts of speed and armor when ungarrisoning but in trash wars that only really helps on defense and even then they're still easily cut down by Halberdiers. Their excellent defences does make Moravians pretty difficult to dislodge in trash wars, but in terms of going on the offensive their trash kind of falls flat and they don't even have anything even remotely like an eco bonus in the late game. I'd give their trash a C.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
I could literally hear his voice saying those words, your ability to match tone in writing is absolutely uncanny Erik! That's not a bad idea at all. My presentations are getting a little cramped, but I think that I can make room for trash on the tech tree slide! I definitely do think that keeping the economy section in there is important though, even though Spirit doesn't discuss it anymore. Thanks for the suggestion Erik!
@erikdw8379
Жыл бұрын
@@robbylava Thank you. I acutally think of myself as a bit of an empath. It's pretty easy for me to sense the emotion and/or tone of a person in the way they talk or even in how they write and if I listen/read long enough I can even imitate them to an extent. But back to AoE2 discussing. I might actually give similar Trash overviews to your other civ builds so keep an eye for those. Spoiler alert: Danes are NOT a C.
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Totally man! I would be delighted to hear your suggested ratings for all of them. And YES, I would CERTAINLY imagine that the Danes will be a good bit higher than that!
@BloodyQShark
Жыл бұрын
I see some of your videos and they're cool, but from the gameplay mechanics will be worst than the Chinese on low Elo players they do terribly, and on high Elo players they do very well. And to bonus it feels too micro-intense you have on cavalry and blacksmith. The bonus on cavalry is good if you pay attention your cavalry fly like Cumans put if you neglect it your cavalry il be slow like Teutons. The blacksmith bonus will be used 1 or 2 times on your resource from your base and even they it is still expensive you need 150 wood per blacksmith and on villager that not gather why you don't chance to o unique building in the imperial age a mine where you garrisons 20 villages and they gather gold a same speed like villager gathers without mining upgrade to be on the theme of history and you can build just one for balance reasons and you can put some mechanic like if your mine is destroyed the village die so you need to think can you troop good and same the mine or not and you garrison and try to save some a second cool thing is to have petard to do additional bonus damage to the mine so you have to think were you build your mine cost will 200 wood and 250~350 stone. And here to 2 images of how could look in the game. medievalbritain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/medieval-occupations_miner.jpg ro.pinterest.com/pin/735071970430672458/
@robbylava
Жыл бұрын
Great to hear from you QShark, really glad you like the builds! I definitely agree that some of my designs require pretty high skill ceilings. But as the Chinese have shown us, not everyone needs to execute a civilization perfectly for it to become a perennial favorite! And I personally really dislike civilizations that feel like they are "playing themselves" (looking at you, Franks). That being said, if this build ever ended up being tested and it turned out the garrisoning thing was completely unfeasible, I would certainly be happy to change it. I really like your mineshaft idea! It really is quite uncanny that you mention it, since that's been on my list of things to do for quite some time! But not as a unique building, rather a common building available to many civilizations! It's a really cool idea, and I certainly wouldn't want to limit it to just one civ. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and share your thoughts QShark. Hope to see you in the comments on future videos!
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