Characters / Age Of Empires III Non European Major Civilizations

Age of Empires III character sheets
"Blood", "Ice" and "Steel" | "Fire" and "Shadows" | "Japan", "China" and "India" | Deathmatch/Skirmish AI | Major Civilizations (European | Non-European) | Other Civilizations

Here we're listing the Non European-style civilizations.

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Native American Civilizations

Civilizations introduced in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs.

In General

Shared Features:
Start with all Trading Post sites visible.
Build the Fire Pit/Community Plaza and task Villagers to perform dances
Choose a Tribal Council member to advance in Age
Shared Units: Native Scout^note scouting unit with high line-of-sight, Warrior^note emergency infantry units, Medicine Man^note native healers, Captured Mortar^note anti-building artillery units, Canoe^note native boats which can attack and transport units, War Canoe^note native war boats
Shared Buildings: Farm^note combines Livestock Pen and Mill, Fire Pit (Community Plaza in DE)^note assign Villagers and other special units to activate certain boosts, War Hut^note Barracks with defensive capabilites, Corral^note trains cavalry units, Tribal Marketplace (introduced in DE)^note designated mining camp for Haudenosaunee and Lakota
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• A Commander Is You:
  • Guerilla: They have units that can use stealth and ambush the enemy^note Aztec Jaguar Prowler Knights, Iroquois/Haudenosaunee Forest Prowlers, Sioux/Lakota Tashunke Prowlers, and Inca Jungle Bowmen, Chimu Runners, War Huts, and Strongholds (though they must send specific cards first). Their War Chiefs also provide different auras to buff nearby units.
  • Spammer: They are able to spam units with ease.
    • Elitist: They can optionally be played as this, as they can put their villagers to work in the community plaza to massively boost the damage output of the entire army, thus making their units stronger at the cost of having a weaker economy and likely smaller force.
• Adaptation Name Change: The Iroquois and Sioux had their names changed to Haudenosaunee and Lakota, respectively, in the Definitive Edition release. This is due to the names "Iroquois" and "Sioux" being considered an epithet by certain members of their respective nations, as they were the names that were given by their enemies.
• Army of Thieves and Whores: With the shared "Gun Running" big button tech, Native American civs can train gunslinging outlaws from the Native Embassy, supplementing their armies with extra firepower.
• Ascended Extra/Promoted to Playable: All of these civilizations were originally Native American Tribes in the original game, but were all made playable in later expansions. However, players can still encounter them as minor tribes you can ally with in certain maps.
• Badass Bystander: The Native American civilizations have the "Warrior Culture" card, which drastically increases their Villagers' attack. While it doesn't necessarily make them combat ready, their raised attack makes them useful as emergency units and lets them hold their own against a small raid.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: There are many differences between them and their European/Asian counterparts:
  • With the exception of the Haudenosaunee^note and the Inca if they research the "Thunderbolts of Illapa" big button tech or ship the "Tupac Rebellion" card, they lack siege weapons. The Definitive Edition would also introduce the Captured Mortar unit for all native civilizations in the Imperial Age at the Native Embassy once "Gun Running" is researched.
  • They can build a Fire Pit/Community Plaza, a building where up to 25 villagers can dance in order to grant certain boosts, with more dancers giving it greater strength. Some of the common dances for each civilization include the Fertility Dance, which lowers the time needed to train villagers, and the War Dance, which increases their military units' attack.
  • Each building^note with the exception of Walls and Trading Posts has its own "big button" technology, which provide either upgrades or shipments to the civilizations.
  • In order to advance to the next age, they can choose one out of 5 Council members. Unlike the European politicians, these council members are kept throughout the ages and the age up bonuses increase with age, at the cost of the same member not being able to be chosen more than once.
  • Unlike other civilizations, they have no access to mercenaries, with their closest analogues being native units, as well as Renegade and “volunteer” European troops sent from the Home City/Tribal Council. They can still train outlaws at the Native Embassy once the aforementioned "Gun Running" has been researched.
  • Also in the Definitive Edition, neither the Haudenosaunee and the Lakota can directly mine Coin deposits. Instead, they must build their Tribal Marketplace near Coin deposits in order to gather Coin.
• Rock Beats Laser: Downplayed, particularly with the Aztecs and Inca. Despite generally lacking gunpowder units, cavalry, and naval vessels larger than canoes, they're still more than capable of holding their own against ostensibly more technologically advanced civilizations. Definitive Edition also grants them access to Captured Mortars and more powerful cards to help even the playing field.

Aztec

Home City: Tenochtitlan
Unique Features:
Warrior Priests can dance at the Fire Pit/Community Plaza and are counted as two units.
War Chief aura doubles the experience of nearby friendly units' kills.
Starts with a Warrior Priest.
Unique Units: Aztec War Chief^note explorer and leader of the tribe, providing an aura that increases experience, Warrior Priest^note priests that can heal and fight, Macehualtin (Otontin Slinger in DE)^note slinger good against heavy infantry, Coyote Runner^note fast shock infantry that excels at ambushing long-ranged units, Puma Spearman^note anti-cavalry infantry, Arrow Knight^note long-ranged nobleman, strong against buildings and artillery, Eagle Runner Knight^note nobleman equipped with javelins, strong against cavalry, Jaguar Prowl Knight^note stealthy nobleman that carries an obsidian sword, good against both infantry and cavalry, Skull Knight^note strong berserker summoned through Ceremonies or shipments, Tlaloc Canoe^note powerful native war boat
Unique Buildings: Nobles' Hut^note improved War Hut that trains noble units
Unique Fire Pit Dances/Community Plaza Ceremonies: Heal Ceremony^note Units heal when idle, Garland War Ceremony^note spawns Skull Knights, Calendar Ceremony^note DE only, update 50830; reduces the cost of the next age-up over time

For the minor native civilization from the base game, check the Other Civilizations page.

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• Anachronism Stew: The Aztecs even at the Imperial Age are portrayed as they were when Cortez's conquistadors defeated them. Definitive Edition, meanwhile, can pit them against Mexico.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Moctezuma, Tonatiuh, Goddess, and Aztec Queen.
• Combat Medic: Unlike other Priests or Medicine Men, their Warrior Priests double as infantry, as well as being able to heal allies. They are as potent as two villagers on the Community Plaza, allowing the villagers to concentrate on improving their economy.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Brute Force: Their Skull Knights are heavy infantry that specialize in Area of Effect damage, and the Noble Hut units are slower and expensive, but deal tons of damage.
  • Spammer: Most of their big button technologies simply send a huge number of units, instead of being limited to just the Town Center's. Shipping "Religious Unity" gives a significant discount to Native, Renegade, and Temple Support cards that cost coin. While the Haudenosaunee and Inca also have equivalent cards, the Aztecs can send the card as soon as the Exploration Age.
  • Unit Specialist (Infantry): The Nobles' Hut units cost more but they include the javelin-throwing Eagle Runner Knights that counters cavalry, the hard-hitting Jaguar Prowler Knights that are capable of stealth, and the Arrow Knights with their long range bonuses towards buildings and artillery and their answer to siege units. Their entire ground troops consists of infantry (cavalry was unknown in ancient Mexico) and only three of their units are ranged. They do make it up for having the best navy of the four Native civilizations but their canoes are still weaker to the European and Asian counterparts.
• Composite Character: The Aztecs also incorporate elements from the various pre-Columbian peoples they had interacted with or subjugated by the time the Spanish arrived in the New World. This is reflected in how their units don't just speak Nahuatl but also various other Mesoamerican languages like Yucatec, Kaqchikel, Kʼicheʼ, and Mam.
• Elite Army: The Aztecs can train and deploy elite warriors such as Jaguar Prowl Knights (which can benefit from combat promotions) from the Nobles' Hut.
• Enemy Mine: Given the Aztecs' ample access to gold, they're able to ship in not only Mayan reinforcements, but also Renegade Spanish troops from the Home City, for a fee.
• Gathering Steam: The Calendar Ceremony continuously reduces the resources needed to age up the longer it is used. Assigning more Villagers or Warrior Priests to the Plaza also increases the effectiveness as with the other ceremonies.
• Historical In-Joke: Of all of their infinite-use Home City Cards, five of them send Coins. The whole reason the Spanish were interested in their civilization is because of their surplus of gold that the Spanish coveted.
• Living Distant Ancestor: As stated above, it is possible to pit the Aztecs against their Mexican descendants.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The Aztecs lack cavalry of any sort, and thus have to rely on more specialized infantry units to act not only as anti-cavalry but also act as the equivalents of European Hussars and Dragoons on foot.
• Pyramid Power: The Aztec War Hut and Nobles' Hut resemble pyramids, and through the "Oztuma Citadel" card they can ship an American Citadel.
• Reduced Resource Cost: By shipping the "Calendar Ceremony" card, the Aztecs can perform said ceremony at the Community Plaza to reduce the amount of resources needing to age up over time, freeing up their resources for other strategies such as aging up faster or training more military units.
• Resting Recovery: The Heal Ceremony slowly regenerates the hitpoints of their units when idle, allowing the Aztecs to conserve their numbers between attack waves without bringing Warrior Priests out of the Plaza.
• Shout-Out: The artwork for the "Ritual Gladiators" card references the iconic "Are you not entertained?" scene from Gladiator.
• War for Fun and Profit: The Aztec War Chief has an aura that doubles the Experience gain for killing enemy units, and the multiplier triples after researching "Founder" on the Community Plaza. This allows the Aztecs to gain shipments faster by simply fighting.

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois prior to Definitive Edition)

Home City: Caughnawaga
Unique Features:
Travois builds most buildings for free.
Trees last longer
War Chief aura increases the hitpoints of nearby friendly units.
Starts with a Travois.
Unique Units: Haudenosaunee War Chief^note explorer and leader of the tribe, provides an aura that increases hitpoints, Travois^note a unit which can build most buildings, Aenna^note cheap archer, Tomahawk^note anti-cavalry axe thrower, Forest Prowler^note long-ranged infantry with a stealth ability, Kanya Horseman^note ambush and raiding cavalry, Musket Rider^note anti-cavalry mounted musketman, Ram^note ram-carrying siege infantry, Mantlet^note warriors wielding a massive shield, Light Cannon^note anti-infantry and anti-artillery light artillery
Unique Buildings: Longhouse^note House that supports 15 population, Siege Workshop
Unique Fire Pit Dances/Community Plaza Ceremonies: Founder Ceremony^note spawns Travois, Earth Mother Ceremony^note increases population

For the minor "Iroquois" native civilization from the base game, check the Other Civilizations page.

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• Anti-Structure: Their War Chief can be excellent building destroyers as early as the second age by shipping the "Town Destroyer" card, further incentivizing rush strategies and complement their Tomahawks that aren't as effective against buildings as other Pikemen-equivalents.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Compared to the other Native Civilizations, the Haudenosaunee have more access to European firearms and artillery in the form of Light Cannons, and aren't afraid to use what they learned against them.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Nonakhee and Ká:nien, and Thayendanegea.
• Cold Sniper: Haudenosaunee Forest Prowlers are stealthy skirmishers who can take potshots from range before slipping away just as quickly.
• Combat Medic: Researching "Secret Society" at the Community Plaza allows the Haudenosaunee War Chief to heal units, a role usually done by Healers/Medicine Men.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Balanced: They are the only Native civilization with artillery and siege units turning their gameplay close to the vanilla European factions.
  • Industrialist: They can also spawn Travois (man-pulled carts without wheels, dragged on the ground) infinitely from the Fire Pit/Community Plaza and receive them as they age up.
  • Ranger: Their infantry are balanced and above average including Forest Prowlers and Skirmishers that can use stealth, but they have poor cavalry and a mediocre navy. Their siege units are unique (a battering ram, a portable wall for shielding, and one of the fastest cannon units). Their Kanya Horseman and the ram are their only melee unit.
• Crutch Character: They are extremely powerful in the Colonial/Commerce Age thanks to their excellent rush potential, but that advantage falls off dramatically in the Fortress Age since they can't build artillery yet (their Light Cannons only available by the Industrial Age), while most other civs can.
• Glass Cannon: The Haudenosaunee's best infantry units are excellent in ranged combat, but not much in melee. Given their speed, penchant for stealth, and access to Mantlets, this isn't too much of an issue.
• Historical In-Joke: The Haudenosaunee can ship in French and British colonial troops for a fee, reflecting their involvement and divisions during the French and Indian War.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Haudenosaunee Mantlet is a giant shield pushed around by their warriors. They deal siege damage and are highly resistant to ranged attacks.
• Sequence Breaking: Similar to the famous namesake of Zerg Rush, a recommended tactic for the Haudenosaunee is to build a war hut right next to the enemy base using a free travois and start spamming cheap units (Haudenosaunee units cost only food and wood in the Colonial/Commerce Age, allowing them to focus everything on two resources instead of three), ship unit cards and use the big button technology for their town hall to get 5 Tomahawks as soon as the Colonial/Commerce Age starts. Unless the Haudenosaunee is up against another rush-focused faction (like the Inca or the Indians), the other team is unlikely to have much of a defence by that point, making the game good as over barring a very good player or a very bad rusher. The fact that the Haudenosaunee also have a card that lets their explorer do massive damage against enemy buildings further compounds this tactic. This isn't foolproof, however, as many experienced players can see this coming and sacrifice their early-game economic cards for military ones to halt the rush.
• Skill Gate Characters: Among the Native American civilizations, they’re the easiest to learn due to playing similarly enough to European civs for newcomers while easing them into its unique characteristics.
• Taking the Bullet: Their Mantlets also serve as a useful meat shield, being highly resistant to ranged attacks.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Tomahawks carry throwable axes that are effective against cavalry, and more often than not, hit the mark.
• Uniqueness Decay: In the original game, the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee were notable for having artillery of any kind, be it the Mantlet or Light Cannon. By Definitive Edition, however, this is no longer the case, with Captured Mortars being available to all Native American civilizations, while the Inca can get Light Cannons through the "Thunderbolts of Illapa".

Incas (Definitive Edition)

Home City: Cuzco
Unique Features:
Kancha House can produce food.
Receives a free Chasqui upon advancing an Age. They can construct Tambos, Trading Posts that can attack and allow Villagers to garrison in.
Military units can garrison in Kallankas and Strongholds.
Priestesses can convert units.
Priestesses and Llamas can work at Community Plaza.
Unique Units: Inca War Chief^note explorer and leader of the tribe, providing an aura that increases native warrior hitpoints and attack, Priestess^note priest that can heal and convert, Chasqui^note fast scout, Jungle Bowman^note archer with poison-tipped arrows, Plumed Spearman^note anti-cavalry infantry, Chimu Runner^note fast shock infantry unit with a mace, Bolas Warrior^note ranged infantry unit which hurl projectiles in order to slow enemies, Huaraca^note anti-artillery and anti-building slinger, Maceman^note heavy infantry unit with a giant mace that deals splash damage, Chincha Raft^note naval raft which fires multiple projectiles
Unique Buildings: Kancha House^note House that supports 16 population and passively generates Food, Tambo^note Trading Post that supports 5 population and can garrison Villagers to improve its attack, Kallanka^note trains unique units and can be garrisoned by military units to reduce their population by 1, Stronghold^note Fort that trains all military units
Unique Community Plaza Ceremonies: Moon Ceremony^note generates wood, Supay Ceremony^note spawns Macemen

For the minor native civilization from the original game (renamed Quechua in Definitive Edition), check the Other Civilizations page.

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• Badass Army: The "Tupac Rebellion" Home City card is basically a European Revolution on steroids. It turns all Villagers into Revolutionaries, Plumed Spearmen into Musketeers, Chimu Runners into Hussars, Jungle Bowmen into Skrimishers, Bolas Warriors into Dragoons, Huaracas into Grenadiers, and Macemen into Soldados. This can give any opponent quite the surprise as they see what were once tribal warriors transform into modernized soldiers.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: The Incas can turn the tables on European civilizations and other more technologically advanced foes not only through the "Thunderbolts of Illapa" big button tech (which grants them access to Light Cannons), but also through the "Tupac Rebellion" card, which radically modernizes them into a full-fledged Revolutionary army.
• Carry a Big Stick: The Chimu Runner and the Maceman are equipped with clubs, especially a massive mace for the Maceman.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Manco Inca, Tupac Amaru II, Coya, and Quechua Woman.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Turtle: The Inca possess excellent walls and unique building variants to make it easier to stake out territory, including large houses that passively generates food, armed trading posts that can garrison villagers, a fortress that can be built by the War Chief, and an elite barracks that can hold a garrison of military units without taking up population space.
  • Unit Specialist (Infantry): Like the Aztecs, their roster consists entirely of infantry. Many of their units have unique gimmicks, including a shock infantry unit immune to snares that can duck in and out of battle at will, an archer with a stacking poison damage-over-time effect, and a ranged unit whose thrown bolas deal area-damage and slow down whoever it hits.
  • Unconventional: Aside from the unique gimmicks of their infantry units, the Inca deck does have access to quite a few unique cards, most notably the "Tupac Rebellion" card which basically acts like a European Revolution by turning all of their units into a modernized European army.
• Death or Glory Attack: The "Tupac Rebellion" card transforms every Incan unit into a European-style Revolutionary army, instantly granting a modernized force at the cost of being very expensive and stopping your economy dead in its tracks.
• Elite Army: The Incas can gain access to their late-tier units, such as the Macemen and Huaracas, from the Kallanka building.
• Enemy Exchange Program: The Incan Priestesses can convert enemy units just like the monks in II.
• Enemy Mine: The Inca can pay off Renegade Spanish troops and Jesuit-backed conquistadors to fight for them, for a sum of gold.
• Garrisonable Structures: While garrisoning buildings exist like Town Centers and Outposts, the Incans have many garrisonable buildings with different purposes. Their Tambos are Trading Posts where villagers can garrison into, and can defend themselves from marauders, with more villagers improving their attack. Their Kallanka can train the Incan elite units and military units can garrison inside of them in order to reduce their population so more units can be produced. Their Strongholds are capable of defending themselves from armies, and garrisoning units inside of it improves their attack.
• Magikarp Power: Tambos are Trading Posts with a ranged attack that's pitifully weak against anything more powerful than an early game explorer. By the Industrial Age, however, they can gain significantly more firepower and hitpoints through an upgrade. This makes them far better at fending off raids and buying time for friendly reinforcements to arrive.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The Inca, like the Aztecs, lack access to cavalry and have to rely on various specialized infantry units to compensate, unless the "Tupac Rebellion" card is used.
• Mythology Gag: The Incan Warchief resembles the Aztec chieftain in the boxart of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.
• Poisoned Weapons: The Jungle Bowman is equipped with poison-tipped arrows. The poison effect can be improved by sending the "Curare" card.
• Stealthy Colossus: The "Cloud Fortresses" card allows War Huts and Strongholds to use stealth, allowing the Inca to hide their own massive fortifications from plain sight.
• Stone Wall: Among the Native American civilizations, the Inca excel at strong masonry and fortifications. In addition to their War Huts, they have access to Fortress-like Strongholds and Tambos, upgradable Trading Posts that can fire back on advancing enemies.
• Suffer the Slings: They can field two types of slinger units, the Bolas Warrior and the Huaraca. The former is effective against cavalry while the later serves as artillery and building destroyers.

Lakota (Sioux prior to Definitive Edition)

Home City: Hunkpapa (Great Council in the Definitive Edition)
Unique Features:
Always have population cap at max, but cannot build walls until Industrial Age.
War Chief aura increases the speed of nearby friendly units.
Tribal Marketplace can be built for free
Lakota infantry inflict 1.5x damage to walls, while Lakota cavalry inflict 0.5x damage to the same
Unique Units: Lakota War Chief^note explorer and leader of the tribe, providing an aura that increases speed, Cetan Bow^note anti-infantry archers, War Club (Club Warrior in DE)^note anti-cavalry clubmen, Wakina Rifle^note long-ranged skirmishers, Axe Rider^note powerful melee cavalry with low hitpoints, Bow Rider^note raid-based mounted archers, Rifle Rider^note anti-cavalry, anti-artillery and anti-infantry mounted musketman, Tashunke Prowler^note stealthy rider that grows stronger in numbers, Dog Soldier (Tokala Soldier in DE)^note strong cavalry summoned through War Song Dance
Unique Buildings: Teepee^note improves the maximum hitpoints and resource gather rate of nearby units
Unique Fire Pit Dances/Community Plaza Ceremonies: Fire Dance/Charging Ceremony^note increases all units' siege damage, War Song Dance/Tokala Ceremony^note spawns Dog/Tokala Soldiers

For the minor "Lakota" native civilization from the base game, check the Other Civilizations page.

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• Base on Wheels: Starting from the Colonial/Commerce Age, they can send the "Camp Movements" card, which allows the Lakota to adopt a more nomadic playstyle by allowing Town Centers, Community Plazas, Markets, Corrals, War Huts, Farms, Native Embassies, Estates, and Docks to turn into Travois in order to be rebuilt elsewhere.
• Born in the Saddle: As a civ that relies on horses, the Lakota possess very strong cavalry, with the Tokala Soldier and Rifle Riders being some of their strongest units.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Wise Woman, Chayton Black and Ogle Tanka Un.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Spammer: They don't need houses and start the game with a full population of 200, and they can send Admiralty (which raises naval unit limit) twice.
  • Ranger: Due to their rich history of rifle usage, half of their available units are long ranged.
  • Unit Specialist (Cavalry): Their strongest unit, the Dog/Tokala Soldier is the third strongest (second with all the upgrades) melee cavalry. Outside of Cavalry, they have some mediocre infantry units as support. Their War Chief boosts unit movement speed further, which benefits their cavalry the most. Their greatest weakness is their lack of artillery and their weak but numerous navy, though their "Fire Dance/Charging Ceremony" specialty gives them bonus points towards buildings and ships to make it up. The Lakota War Council Card deck is geared mainly towards reducing their resource dependency; which comes in handy when considering how costly their cavalry is.
• Crippling Overspecialization: As exceptional as Lakota cavalry can be, this comes at the expense of their infantry being comparatively more mediocre, relying much more on range and stealth to get the upper hand.
• The Engineer: The "Nomadic Expansion" card allows Lakota infantry to build Teepees and allows Teepees to boost military building work rate by 100%.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Thanks to their cavalry, the Lakota can quickly strike and take potshots at enemies where they least expect them, before pulling away just as swiftly towards another target.
• Home Field Advantage: Since they start with maximum population cap, the Teepee instead grants an aura that increases hitpoints. There are several cards that expand their capabilities such as "New Ways" (which grants them Arsenal improvements), "Friendly Territory" (which doubles their hitpoints and allows them to boost nearby units' attack speed and range), and "Nomadic Expansion". Since Knights of the Mediterranean, Teepees also boost the gather rate of villagers.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • Unlike other civs in the game, they start with the high population cap reached. This comes at the expense of them not being able to build walls until the Industrial Age, thus being more vulnerable to raids.
  • Lakota cavalry are not only powerful but also serve as powerful siege units in a pinch, given their lack of proper artillery (other than Captured Mortars).
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Zigzagged. Them starting at the max cap and their reliance on horses are reminiscent of the Age of Empires II version of the Huns. In turn, their "Camp Movements" card sets most of the template for Age of Empires IV's iteration of the Mongols.
• Tipis and Totem Poles: Well, one half of the trope, which is accurate to the Native American of the Plains.

Asian Civilizations

Civilizations introduced in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. For the Consulate alliances check the Other Civilizations page.

In General

Shared Features:
Villagers gather Export as they gather resources
Build a Consulate to ally with a European civilization and gain units and technology through Export
Build Wonders to advance to an Age
Shared Units: Sentry^note emergency Pikemen, Irregular^note emergency musketmen
Shared Buildings: Rice Paddy^note slow gathering Food or Coin source, Monastery^note trains outlaws and provide Monk upgrades, Castle^note defensive building that trains artillery units, Consulate^note forge an alliance for specific techs and shipments
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• The Atoner: Monasteries allow Asian civilizations to hire "Repentant" outlaws and mercenaries for a price.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Diplomatic: They can build a Consulate, which allow them to get units, buildings and techs from certain European civilizations.
  • Unconventional: In addition to having entirely unique unit rosters, they also have unique gameplay mechanics that cause them to play very differently from other civilizations. They all need to build Wonders to age up. Each Asian civ has five distinct Wonders, which each provide unique perks like unique active abilities, passive bonuses or even the capacity to raise units.
• Logical Weakness: Additional Export can be generated by allocating a greater percentage of your Villagers' resource-gathering rate but comes at the expense of making said resource-gathering significantly slower, sacrificing your civ's well-being for more foreign "assistance".
• Low-Tech Spears: Chinese and Japanese Sentries are emergency units that use sharpened bamboo sticks to repel invaders.
• Me's a Crowd: Due to the Indians and Japanese (as well as the Chinese should they send the "Walk the Rice Paper" card) having access to two monks, it means that any unique skin they use will be shared between the two of them. This means it is possible to have two Huangs, Nanibs, or Kichiros at once (when in their campaigns they all got an additional side character to fill the second monk's role).
• Mechanically Unusual Class: While these civilizations are closer to their European counterparts than the Native civilizations of The WarChiefs, they have also unique shared perks:
  • They can build up to seven Castles, which is a building that combines Outposts with Artillery Foundries. The amount of Castles an Asian civilization can build at a particular time depends on when the appropriate cards are shipped.
  • They can build a Consulate, which enables a new type of resource called Export. Consulates allow Asian civilizations to get new units and techs from specific European civilizations. Export is also generated over time.
  • In order to advance to the next age, they construct Wonders instead of using the Town Center, allowing them to train Villagers in the middle of aging up. Just like the Native American council members, the later each Wonder is constructed, the bigger the shipments they will provide.
  • A minor one, but unlike most of the other civilizations^note the only exceptions would be the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee (Fire), Sioux/Lakota (Shadow), Maltese (Blood), and United States (Steel/Fire/Shadow), and even then the former two don't have their Home City decks available to them, while the latter two were subjected to Early-Bird Cameo and had to wait nearly two decades to become playable, they actually have proper campaigns based around their civs, like previous Age games.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Compared to the multiplayer or skirmish modes, The Asian Dynasties campaigns modified the consulate options to better fit the specific time period of their respective campaigns:
  • Japan omits Spain and Isolationism, with the latter especially because the Isolationist period only occurs way after the campaign ended.
  • China's Consulate is completely revamped due to taking place in the 15th century long before the game's timeframe. The consulate instead functions more like another Saloon with access to either Chinese, Japanese, or Indian mercenaries.
  • India's Consulate replaces British with Russia, as they were already under Britain's rule and later fight against them throughout the campaign.
• Veganopia: Two of the three civilizations have bonuses to make up for their inability to hunt animals. The Japanese can build shrines to attract wild animals to them for XP and resource production, and the Indians can build Sacred Fields for XP generation.

Chinese

Home City: Beijing
Feature: Their population limit is 220
Villages function as both Houses and Livestock Pen
Trains Banner Armies, composed of two types of units with up to three units per type
Start with a Goat
Unique Units: Shaolin Master^note Monk that can deal critical strikes and stun guardians, Disciple^note light infantry trained by Shaolin Master, Chu Ko Nu^note crossbowman that fires a volley of arrows, Qiang Pikeman^note heavy infantry armed with a pike, Changdao Swordsman^note heavy infantry wielding a massive sword, Arquebusier^note cheap rifleman, Steppe Rider^note raid-based fast cavalry, Keshik^note Mongol ranged cavalry, Iron Flail^note heavy cavalry, Meteor Hammer^note Heavy cavalry with an extended melee range, Flamethrower^note light artillery that burns through infantry, Hand Mortar^note cheap artillery that excel in numbers, Flying Crow^note heavy rocket that excels against any number of infantry and buildings, Fire Junk^note boat loaded with explosives, War Junk^note Chinese war boat, Fuchuan^note heavy warship that trains troops
Unique Buildings: Village^note garrisonable building that supports 20 population and also functions as a Livestock Pen, War Academy^note trains Banner Armies
Wonders: Confucian Academy^note trains ranged infantry units and spawns Flying Crows, Porcelain Tower^note generates resources, Summer Palace^note generates food and banner armies, Temple of Heaven^note sends villagers and has the Transcendence ability which heals allies in the map, White Pagoda^note sends Disciples and improve Shaolin Masters and Disciples
Consulate Civilizations: British, Russians (start), French (Lv. 25), Germans (Lv. 40)

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• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Many Chinese Home City cards and upgrades encourage the use of their largely archaic unit roster, particularly the Chu Ko Nu and Changdao Swordsman.
• Automatic Crossbow: The Chu Ko Nu fires three arrows in succession before needing to reload.
• Badass Bystander: Normally, emergency units like Sentries and Irregulars have a weakness where their hitpoints drain over time until they die. However, the "Boxer Rebellion" Home City Card removes this handicap and gives their Town Center extra damage. Combined with the "Village Defenses" Home City Card (which gives villages the "Rural Sentry Uprising" and "Rural Defense" techs which creates more Sentries and Irregulars), it's possible to train an army as early as the Exploration Age.
• BFS: Changdao Swordsmen wield massive two-handed swords that are effective against cavalry and shock infantry.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Captain Huang and Lao Chen, and Zheng Yi Sao.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Spammer: Like the Russians, the Chinese train armies in batches with the added caveat that these "banner armies" are predetermined combinations of two units. While it's easy for the Chinese to quickly raise a large army, doing so can get expensive and the troops tend to be quite weaker than their European counterparts individually. The Chinese even get a higher population cap, at 220.
• Composite Character: The Chinese are an amalgamation of both the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Their naval roster is largely inspired by the Ming fleets commanded by Zheng He, while their unique "Banner Armies" recruiting mechanic is based on the titular military divisions used by the Manchus.
• Continuity Nod: In terms of aesthetics, bonuses and units (notably the Chu Ko Nu), the Chinese retain nods to their Age of Empires II incarnation.
• Discard and Draw:
  • The "Old Han Reform" Home City Card in the Industrial Age increases their Chu Ko Nu and Qiang Pikeman's hitpoints and attack at the cost of the Old Han Army and Standard Army's costs increasing. The Chinese, however, would rarely allow games to get so far as to make such a power spike necessary, since rushes featuring the Old Han troops often hit before the Fortress Age is even reached!
  • The "Dowager Empress" card exchanges all the current export for coin at a 1.6x rate.
  • The "New Army" card turns all Chu Ko Nu into Arquebusiers and Qiang Pikemen into Changdao Swordsmen by the Fortress Age.
• Epic Flail: They have access to two heavy cavalry units, the Meteor Hammer and Iron Flail, both of which wield flail-like weapons.
• Fatal Fireworks: The Chinese can deploy Flying Crow artillery. These are large gunpowder-tipped rocket launchers that could be automatically trained from the Confucian Academy as early as the Colonial/Commerce Age.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Flamethrower, which is based on the Pen Huo Qi design first recorded in 919 AD. It is a siege infantry that specializes in fighting infantry armies and buildings, but are just as weak against cavalry and other artillery units.
• Historical In-Joke: Their Consulate options are the British, Germans, French, and Russians, which are some the nations involved in the scramble for concessions in China, imposing unequal treaties, and later banded together as the "Eight-Nation Alliance" when Chinese rebels fought back against them.
• Infinite Supplies: The Porcelain Tower, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, can generate food, wood, coin, or the combination of all three as well as export and experience at an average rate. The trickle rate is also dependent on when it was built so it is beneficial to build it at the Imperial Age.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • In addition to their Asian civilization perks, they don't send villagers from their Home City, but instead their respective cards summon them from the villages, one per village. Thus, hitting the Village cap is a requirement for a Chinese player. Villages also double as Livestock Pens.
  • Unlike other Asian civilizations, they only have one monk rather than two. However, said monk is able to train multiple weaker Disciples to assist him. They can also send a second monk via the "Walk the Rice Paper" Home City card, though this additional monk must be retrained at the Town Center rather than laying on the battlefield when he is killed.
  • Rather than being able to train up to 5 soldiers in a queue, the Chinese War Academy (and Castle to an extent, albeit it can also train siege units individually) instead trains banner armies, composed of mixed troops. For example, the Old Han Army button trains 3 Chu Ko Nu and 3 Qiang Pikeman while the Forbidden Army trains 2 Iron Flails and 2 Meteor Hammers. Their Home City also has access to unique banner army cards that work like the European mercenary army cards such as the "Mandarin Duck Squad", "Beiyang Army", and "Ever Victorious Army".
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Steppe Riders start off weak and frail, but sending the "Mongolian Scourge" card increases their siege damage to that of Pikemen and also makes them more deadly against villagers.
• Suicide Attack: The Chinese can build Fire Junks from their docks, which are effectively floating bombs that can take down most enemy naval units in a single blast.
• We Have Reserves: Similarly to the Russians, the Chinese are able to field more units than most other civs, going beyond the standard 200 population cap with enough villages and Town Centers.
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men: In addition to their familiar Junks, the Chinese can deploy Fuchuans, which serve as their equivalent to both European Galleons and Frigates.
• Zerg Rush: The Chinese have lots of ways to produce cheap units at lighting speed.
  • The Imperial Court section of the Home City is full of cards that reduce the training time and cost of units and research time and cost of technologies:
    • "Native Learning" reduces the cost of Native techs by 50%.
    • "Native Warrior Attack" reduces the training time of Native warriors by 25%.
    • "TEAM Art of War" reduces the building cost of Barracks, War Academies, Stables, Corrals and Caravanserais by 30% and the cost of War Huts by 10%.
    • "Acupuncture" reduces the training time of all units by 20%.
    • "Banner School" reduces the training time of Banner Armies by 23%.
    • "TEAM Engineering School" reduces the training time of most Artillery units by 15%, and the training time of Heavy Cannons, Rockets, Great Bombards and Flying Crows by 5%.
    • "Confucius Gift" outright removes the research time for all techs and speeds up the Home City shipments by 33%.
    • "Holy Refuge" reduces the cost of Monastery techs by 50%.
    • "Advanced Rice Paddy" reduces the cost of Rice Paddies by 50%.
    • "Advanced Dock" reduces naval units' training time by 33%.
    • "Good Faith Agreements" reduces the Consulate armies' training time by 50%, their techs by 40% and their shipments arrive twice as fast.
    • "Diplomatic Intrigue" reduces the cost of Open Relations by 75%.
    • "Advanced Wonders" reduce the wonders' building time by 25%.
  • The Merchant's Guild section also contains training time and cost improvements for their economic units:
    • "Land Reforms" allows Villagers and Rickshaws to build buildings 50% faster.
    • "Land Grab" reduces the cost of Villages by 30% and Rice Paddies by 40%, and their building time by 75%.
    • "East Indiamen" reduces the cost of Fishing Boats by 30%.
  • The "Mercenary Loyalty" card from the Custom House reduces the shipment cost of Mercenaries up to 25%.
  • The Summer Palace wonder trains Banner Armies at a set pace.

Indians

Home City: Delhi
Feature: Receives a Villager upon Home City shipment
Villagers cost Wood instead of Food (unless you sent the Raj card), cannot gather meat from livestock (which generate XP)
Receives two Wood-gathering upgrade research for free
Unique Units: Brahmin^note elephant-riding monks, capable of stunning guardians, Rajput^note fast infantry wielding sword gauntlets, Sepoy^note heavy infantry units which counter cavalry from ranged and melee attacks, Gurkha^note long-ranged skirmishers, Urumi^note wielders of a sword whip which deals area damage; shipped from the Home City, Sowar^note melee camel rider, Zamburak^note ranged camel rider, Mahout Lancer^note heavy cavalry which deals area damage, Howdah^note elephant-mounted rifleman with melee siege attack, Flail Elephant^note anti-building elephant unit, Siege Elephant^note elephant armed with a cannon
Unique Units (DE onwards): Hindu Villager^note unique Villager that costs wood
Unique Buildings: Sacred Field^note heals nearby units and generates XP from adjacent livestock, Mango Grove^note Wood-gathering source, Caravanserai^note Stable that trains Camels and Elephants
Wonders: Agra Fort^note sends Sepoys or Gurkhas and functions as a Fort, Charminar Gate^note sends Sowars or Mahout Lancer and allows training of Mansabdar units, Karni Mata^note sends resources and increases gather rate of nearby units, Taj Mahal^note sends coins and grants the Cease Fire ability - stopping all aggression, Tower of Victory^note sends wood and grants the Inspiration ability, which improves unit stats
Consulate Civilizations: British, Portuguese (start), French (Lv. 25), Ottomans (Lv. 40)

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• Anachronism Stew: Downplayed. Compared to the other Asian civilizations, the Indians take much more from the 19th Century, specifically around the time of the Sepoy Mutiny. That said, they also have elephant-based siege units based off the Mughal Empire.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: The Indians have taken what they've learned from the colonial powers and turned it against them. This is especially evident in how Sepoys and Gurkhas look and function like European infantry while still retaining a distinct identity.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Lt. Nanib Sahir, and Armored Elephant.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Technical: Hindu Villagers cost wood instead of food, which can leave Indian players playing a delicate balancing act and expanding quickly to fuel their wood binge; as a counterbalance to this apparent weakness, they get free villagers with every Home City shipment. They cannot slaughter herdable animals for food, instead gaining experience from them in a Sacred Field. The Indian card deck lacks any Villager cards due to them being shipped with each shipment, but it still has a few tricks, like "The Raj" card which changes villager cost from wood to food, completely reworking the Indian economy and letting the civilization play more like a conventional European counterpart.
  • Unit Specialist (Cavalry): India has a well-balanced army with a diverse range of units, but the cornerstone of the Indian army is war elephants, of which they have multiple varieties.
• Composite Character: The Indians, while largely based around the Mughal Empire and British East India Company rule around the time of the Sepoy Mutiny, also incorporate elements from various Indian cultures prior to British colonial rule.
• Continuity Nod: The "Mughal Elephant Armors" Home City Card reuses the icon of the Siege Elephant from the Dynasties of India expansion pack for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
• Defector from Decadence: Sepoys and Gurkhas, in addition to functioning similarly to Musketeers and Skirmishers respectively, also don more European-influenced uniforms. This reflects both their colonial service and role in the Sepoy Mutiny.
• Elite Mooks: Through the Charminar Gate, the Indians can train Mansabdars, which are more stalwart (and wear more decorative attire) than their corresponding units. They also have a passive ability that increase the hit points and attack of all nearby similar units.
• Fatal Fireworks:
  • The Indians can send 2 Mysorean Rockets (which is a reskinned British Rocket unit) in the Industrial Age since the Definitive Edition. Historically the Mysorean army utilized rocket artillery against the British East India Company, which then inspired the latter to develop Congreve rockets which were the inspiration for said Rocket unit.
  • Sending "Rocketeers" grants a charged rocket attack to Arsonist mercenaries, in addition to making them trainable from Castles and the Agra Fort.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Their Taj Mahal has a special ability, "Cease Fire", which functions like Hermes' "Ceasefire" god power, allowing them to stop all fighting in the map for 20 seconds. It can be used offensively by allowing you to gather your army to the enemy's base and they can't do anything about it over the duration. It also doesn’t stop buildings from attacking, so it’s good to use to trap attackers that neglect to target your castles first.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • Unlike many other civilizations, their villagers cost wood instead of food (this can be reverted by sending the "The Raj" Home City Card), so during the early game they need to balance between creating villagers and building houses. They also can't harvest food from livestock. In order to offset these apparent disadvantages, Home City shipments grant a villager (unless the "Conscript Sepoys" card is played, which changes the shipment from one villager to two Sepoys), and the livestock generates XP over time, the effect being amplified if it's assigned to a Sacred Field.
  • They also use a standard European navy rather than having their own unique ships.
  • They likewise lack conventional artillery, in favor of deploying various War Elephants for such purposes, including cannon-mounted Siege Elephants.
• Necessary Drawback: Due to the powerful potential of the Taj Mahal's "Cease Fire" ability, the Definitive Edition added in a hotfix a -15% speed penalty for military units while the effects of the ability are in play.
• Stone Wall: Their Agra Fort, in addition to serving as a Fort equivalent, is exceptionally sturdy, and can be upgraded to have more resistance to siege weapons and additional defensive cannons.
• Veganopia: As their culture and religions prohibited eating certain meats, the Indians cannot gather food from herdable animals and must use Rice Paddy for food, though they can still fish and hunt. To offset having herdable animals around, they can gather experience by building Sacred Fields near the animals.
• War Elephants: The Indians uses many elephants as units, like the Brahmin monks, Mahout Lancers, Howdahs, and Flail and Siege Elephants.

Japanese

Home City: Edo
Feature: Most Home City cards can be sent twice
Villagers cannot gather meat, have a 75 train limit
Build Shrines to gather animals and generate resources
Starts with one (or two if no berry bushes are nearby) Orchard Rickshaw
Unique Units: Ikko-Ikki (Sohei Archer in DE)^note archer monk with the ability to stun guardians, Samurai^note swordsmen which inflicts area damage, Ashigaru Musketeer^note musketmen which excels against cavalry in melee combat, Yumi Archer^note archers who excel against infantry units, Naginata Rider^note heavy cavalry with a naginata, Yabusame^note mounted archers, Flaming Arrow^note anti-artillery and anti-infantry cannons which fire exploding arrows, Morutaru^note anti-building artillery units, Daimyo^note hero units which can train troops and receive shipments from the Home City, Shogun Tokugawa^note Hero Unit with similar abilities to Daimyos with a hitpoint-increasing aura, Yamabushi^note monks equipped with a mace, trainable from Isolation Consulate or Shogun Tokugawa, Shinobi^note ninja archer capable of stealth, trainable from Isolation Consulate or Shogun Tokugawa, Fune^note small fishing ships, Atakabune^note slow, powerful ships which can train troops, resistant to building attack, Tekkousen^note heavy warship
Unique Buildings: Cherry Orchard^note Food-gathering source, Shrine^note House that passively generates resources, with the rate increasing when near animals, Dojo^note passively generates free Infantry and Cavalry
Wonders: Toshogu Shrine^note sends export and increases trickle rate of shrines, Golden Pavilion^note sends Yumi Archers, provide advanced Arsenal techs, and can improve certain units' stats, Great Buddha^note sends Naginata Riders and grants the Informers ability, allowing Japanese players to see enemy positions for a time, The Shogunate^note sends experience and Daimyo Masamune, decreases cost and train time of land units, and allow Daimyos and Tokugawa to be re-trained should they fall in battle, Torii Gates^note send Samurai and Military Rickshaw and increases experience
Consulate Civilizations: Japanese Isolation^note Ignores foreign relations for more Japanese shipments and technologies, Portuguese (start), Dutch (Lv. 25), Spanish (Lv. 40)

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• Anachronism Stew: In terms of aesthetics and units, the Japanese function similarly to their appearance in Age of Empires II, being largely analogous to the Sengoku Jidai at best. Also justified, however, given the historical isolationism of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the game's time period.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Japanese Samurai, Yumi Archers, and Naginata Riders seemingly straight out of the Battle of Sekigahara can still hold their own against Napoleonic and Victorian-era units.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Sakuma Kichiro, Kunoichi and Nakano Takeko.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Economist: They have a different way of gathering resources, as they cannot hunt for food, instead gathering it from orchards, rice paddies, bushes and fishing, as well as their shrines if set to collect food or all resources.
  • Elitist: Japanese land units are expensive but powerful; their Samurai are among the best melee infantry units in the game. They also have the unique Daimyo Hero Unit, which is a capable fighter on his own but can also bestow bonuses and can even train units in the field and receive Home City shipments. Many of their Home City Cards can be sent twice, and the Japanese deck features a lot of mercenary shipments and unit upgrades to make their military an unstoppable juggernaut.
• Coup de Grâce: Sohei Archers have the unique "Divine Strike" ability, which gives them a chance for a One-Hit Kill through all of their attacks towards enemy units that are sufficiently damaged. Unlike other One-Hit Kill abilities in the game that heroes have like "Eye of the Assassin", "Divine Strike" is used more to finish off units and end a fight quicker.
• Call-Back: Its theme in the Definitive Edition is practically identical to its theme in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
• Continuity Nod: The Japanese retain nods to their Age of Empires II incarnation, from its aesthetics to emphasis on powerful melee infantry.
• Death or Glory Attack: The 25th Anniversary Update added the "The 47 Ronin" Home City Card for the Definitive Edition version of the civilization. It turns all their Villagers and Shrines into Masterless Samurai, Castles into Wokou Ronin, and Wonders and Town Centers into Ronin mercenaries. Unlike other Revolutions, which usually have some means for the player to recover from sacrificing their economy, this Home City Card all but permanently destroys their economy without giving them any means to rebuild it at all (the only way for the Japanese to rebuild their economy afterwards would be to either rescue Villagers from treasure guardians or have a Daimyo on hand to receive Villager/Rickshaw shipments).
• Elite Army: Japanese Samurai are fairly expensive melee infantry, but make up for it with their large hitpoints, armor, and sweeping attacks.
• Grenade Launcher: Shipping "TEAM Odzutsu Mortars" in Definitive Edition allows Samurai to attack buildings from range with hand mortars. It also unlocks "Incendiary Grenades" at the Golden Pavilion wonder, which increases grenade blast radius and damage to buildings.
• Historical In-Joke: Among the Consulate options are the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish, which were the Europeans the Japanese most frequently interacted with by the later years of the Sengoku Jidai. The Netherlands, specifically, was the only non-Asian country allowed to maintain a trading post in Nagasaki during the Tokugawa Shogunate's centuries-long isolation.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • In addition to their perks as an Asian civilization, the Japanese gather resources differently from other civilizations: they cannot hunt for food (only being able to gather food from Rice Paddies, Cherry Orchards, berry bushes and fishing), but they can build Shrines, which attract nearby animals and produce a trickle of resources over time. Resource gathering includes food, wood, coin, XP and Export, and can be improved with up to 10 animals feeding from it, as well as playing the "Heavenly Kami" and "Seven Lucky Gods" Home City Cards, and building the Toshogu Shrine Wonder. In turn, this makes Japanese economy fragile and, as a result, they cannot recover easily from a disaster.
  • Unlike the other Asian civilizations, they are also unique in being able to pursue an isolationist option in the Consulate, which unlocks unique Japanese units and bonuses, including a special Age-Up in "Meiji Restoration".
• Ninja: Ninja mercenaries can be sent through either the Home City or through the Isolation Consulate option. They also have the Shinobi, a bow-armed ninja.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Shogun Tokugawa is one of the AI players, and with the namesake Home City Card, he can be shipped onto the battlefield and be retrained at the Shogunate should he fall in battle.
• Samurai: Being Japan, inevitably most of their military units are this (not just the unit named Samurai).
• Stance System:
  • When put into melee, Ashigaru Musketeers in Definitive Edition switch to using yari spears, which are effective against cavalry.
  • The Golden Pavilion wonder can modify unit stats in four different ways depending on the player's current needs. The stats that can be improved are ranged attack, melee attack, hitpoints, or movement speed.
• Support Party Member: The Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa are unique heavy cavalry units that can train reinforcements of units, can be used as a drop-off point for Home City shipments, and has abilities called "Saburau Zeal" and "Sankin Kotai", which provides an aura that raises the unit's attack and hitpoints, respectively. Though they can be killed, they can be retrained from the Shogunate Wonder.
• Uniqueness Decay: Prior to the introduction of cosmetic hero skins for Explorers in the Definitive Edition, Tokugawa was the only AI personality who also participated in the battle as well.
• Veganopia: Due to their Buddhist religion and taboos until the Meiji Era, the Japanese cannot gather food from hunting or herdable animals and must use Rice Paddies for food, though they can still fish. To offset having animals around, their Shrines, the replacement of the House, can attract animals to them and provide resources.
• Warrior Monk: Aside from the Sohei Archer (unless certain skins are chosen), they can train Yamabushi (monks armed with kanabo clubs) and ship Zen Sohei (monks with naginatas, normally available from specific settlements) from the Home City.
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The Tekkousen, the Japanese equivalent to the European civilizations' Frigate, is less a heavy warship and more of a giant floating fortress loaded with armor and firearms.

Federal American Civilizations

In General

Shared Features: Federal States replace traditional politicians, and add unique cards to the Home City deck over the course of a match.
Shared Units: General^note explorer equivalent who builds Forts instead of Town Centers and can plant Inspiring Flags, Sloop^note small warships with a periodic ability to fire all guns at enemy ships/artillery, Steamer^note bulky, steam-powered ship that fishes, trains solders and builds docks at the coast, Ironclad^note heavily-armored warship
Shared Buildings: Saloon

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• Anachronism Stew: Compared to many of the other civilizations, these factions are mostly based around the tail-end of the game's timeframe, roughly covering the late 18th Century to just after the American Civil War. This becomes especially pronounced by the Imperial Age, whether playing as the Mexicans or the United States.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Diplomatic: Their Federal States not only grant resources and technologies, but also two unique Federal cards that cannot be accessed by building a deck regularly (as a trade-off, their deck capacity is smaller than usual). They also have the Saloon instead of the Tavern, which can train unique outlaws specific to each civilization.
  • Turtle: The General can plant Inspiring Flags that bolster nearby units and builds Forts. These capabilities allow them to better hold positions once they have taken them.
  • Unconventional: Rather than aging up with Politicians like their European counterparts, they age up with Federal States. Instead of an Explorer, they have a General who is more combat focused, can plant Inspiring Flags to boost nearby units and buildings, and builds Forts that can be upgraded via unique cards to train specialty units they would normally not have access to, such as Grenadiers and Magyar Hussars for the United States or Cuirassiers and Lancers for Mexico.
• Cosmetically Different Sides: Downplayed. Aesthetically, the Federal American civilizations overlap with their European counterparts (the United States and Mexicans sharing the Western European and Mediterranean styles respectively). Their differences in other respects, however, are significantly more pronounced.
• Elite Mooks: Mexico's Soldados and the United States' Regulars are more expensive, robust and well-rounded not only compared to their European counterparts, but also in relation to their more ragtag and irregular infantry lineup.
• Expy Coexistence: Despite these civilizations being Promoted to Playable, their Revolutionary versions are still available to their respective civilizations. This means it is possible to pit both the playable and Revolutionary versions of these civilizations against each other. This is especially pronounced in Mexico's case, as it is possible to have playable Mexico, Revolutionary Mexico, and the Aztecs all in the same game.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: While resembling European civilizations on paper, they have several unique mechanics:
  • Rather than aging up with politicians, they age up with Federal States which grant them unique shipments. As a trade-off, their default deck capacity is smaller than a regular civilization.
  • They have limited access to Settler cards from the Home City. Mexico has only two dedicated Settler cards as well as the "Alhóndiga de Granaditas" card that sends an Hacienda Wagon and 2 Settlers. The United States has no dedicated Settler cards but instead has the "Irish Immigrants" which sends 2 Settlers plus an additional 2 for every 5 minutes that have passed in-game (like the Chinese "Migration" cards), and "French Immigrants", which improves Settler HP and ships 3 Coureur des Bois for a cost of 200 Wood. Also, the United States has a lower Settler build limit compared to other civilizations.
  • Rather than an Explorer, they have a General who builds Forts instead of Town Centers and can lay down Inspiring Flags which speed up building construction and cause nearby friendly troops to fight harder.
  • They have the Saloon instead of the Tavern, which trains unique versions of Outlaws.
  • They have a significantly different navy compared to the Europeans (barring the Frigate), including access to the normally Revolution-exclusive Ironclad.
  • They have access to unique cards that work similarly to the Swedes' "Contract" mercenary cards which not only send contingents of specialty units they cannot normally train, but also unlock them for recruitment at the Fort.
  • They also are almost entirely range-focused, with no access to archaic infantry units. Even the melee-only Mexican Insurgentes have the option of being equipped with firearms.
• Patriotic Fervor: Their hero units all have very patriotic voice lines and brandish Inspiring Flags that give bonuses to friendly units.
• Promoted to Playable: Both civilizations were originally Revolutionary Nations and were featured in the original campaigns (the United States being playable in some campaigns while Mexico featured as an opponent in some scenarios, both civilizations being repurposed from the British and Spanish respectively), but were eventually upgraded to fully-fledged civilizations.
• Settling the Frontier: Even more pronounced than the European civilizations. Many of their cards and upgrades are themed around expanding into uncharted territory and relying on either immigrants or limited Settlers from the Home City, which reflects the consolidation and growth of both Mexico and the United States in the 19th Century.

Mexicans

Home City: Mexico City
Features: Can revolt in the Commerce, Fortress and Industrial Ages, and (for some revolutionary nations) revert into Mexico without losing revolution bonuses and cards.
Unique Units: Padre^note unique priest hero, Desperado^note Pistolero upgrade with dual pistols, Bandido^note Renegado upgrade with the ability to throw dynamite, Cuatrero^note Comanchero upgrade with the ability to lasso enemy units, Insurgente^note cheap, fast, and quick-training melee infantry good against cavalry, Soldado^note expensive Musketeer that can also throw grenades, Salteador^note light infantry that can see damaged enemies through the fog of war, Chinaco^note mounted lancer with extended attack range
Unique Buildings: Cathedral^note Church that revives the Padre and repairs nearby buildings, Hacienda^note functions as a Mill, Livestock Pen, and Estate; can also generate Settlers
Royal Guard Units: Salteador (Vigilante), Chinaco (Charro)
Revolution Civilizations: Baja California or Central America (Commerce Age), Rio Grande or Yucatán (Fortress Age), California or Texas (Industrial Age), Maya (Yucatán Revolution).

For the Revolutionary option for the Spanish civilization and each of Mexico's revolutionary options, check the Other Civilizations page.

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• All Your Powers Combined: The Hacienda combines the Mill, Livestock Pen, and Estate into one building, and not only can garrison settlers but can later produce Cuatreros and Chinacos via special cards.
• Anachronism Stew: As Mexican military units are upgraded, they go from Spanish colonial attire roughly analogous to the period before Mexico's independence to dress uniforms from the Mexican-American War and downfall of the Second Mexican Empire.
• Badass Preacher: The Padre is a unique priest hero with far better combat capabilities, carrying a pistol and a saber. He can inspire nearby friendly units with the "Cry of Dolores" ability as well as pacify treasure guardians (and later enemy units once the "Guadapalanos" technology is researched at the Cathedral).
• Bandito: One of their unique outlaws, a Renegado replacement that can throw dynamite. Their other two unique Outlaws qualify as well.
• Cannon Fodder: In contrast to the powerful Soldados, the Insurgentes are essentially just peasants armed with little more than whatever they could grab. They make up for their weak health, however, by sheer numbers and being faster-moving. Certain Home City shipments and Revolution options, meanwhile, can make them considerably more powerful, such as equipping them with guns.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Tulancingo Officer, Calaca, Adelita and La Catrina.
• Charged Attack The "Presidial Lancers" card grants Chinacos the ability to charge enemies.
• Civil Warcraft: A two-way street with the Spanish. They can unlock deserting Spanish Musketeers and Lancers through the "Criollos" and "Spanish Sympathizers" cards respectively, which in turn they can pit against Mexican loyalist Soldados serving the Spanish unlocked through the "Viceroyalty of New Spain" card. In addition, the Mexicans do share a few cards with the Spanish such as "Caballeros" and "Liberation March".
• A Commander Is You:
  • Economist: They, on paper, are geared towards being a booming civilization, with their economy revolving around Haciendas and the Cathedral granting unique technologies that get more powerful as the game progresses.
  • Unit Specialist (Cavalry): Regardless of how they may change up their playstyle, the Mexican military boasts one of the best cavalry selections in the game. They have the Cuatrero and the Chinaco which can also later be trained at Haciendas, and through unique cards they can unlock Cuirassiers and Lancers - two of the strongest heavy cavalry units in the game - at the Fort.
  • Unconventional: They are one of the more unpredictable civilizations in the game, as not only can they revolt at any time, in most cases they can also revert back while keeping the bonuses from the revolution (or even revolt again in one particular instance). Their deck has access to a wide range of unorthodox cards that can alter their playstyle dramatically, such as the various "Plan" cards that allow them to change certain units into different units while bolstering their stats, but at the cost of lacking in conventional unit cards.
• Critical Hit: The "Mexican Standoff" card gives their Outlaws a chance to critical hit, but at the expense of damaging themselves.
• Defector from Decadence: The "Criollos" and "Spanish Sympathizers" cards unlock Spanish Musketeers and Lancers respectively at the Fort, who have deserted the Spanish crown and throw in their lot with the Mexican Revolution.
• Discard and Draw:
  • The Mexicans' ability to revolt and revert back allows them to mix and match abilities and cards from different Revolutionary Nations, though given the fact they age up each time they do this, there are a limited amount of combinations (e.g., it is impossible to combine the decks of both Baja California and Rio Grande because reverting back to Mexico from Baja California advances the Mexican player to the Industrial Age, skipping Rio Grande entirely).
  • A straighter yet temporary example are the "Plan" cards, which immediately convert all instances of a given unit into a different unit type while bolstering the stats of the latter unit type.
• Foil: In contrast to their American counterparts, who all have Charged Attacks, Mexican outlaws instead have additional weapons that alter how they function.
• Geo Effects: The "Ambuscade" card allows Salteadores to gain increased hitpoints based on each natural resource near them.
• Improbable Weapon User: Zigzagged with the Insurgentes. They're described as "armed with whatever they could find" and carry a variety of things as weapons from swords, knives, gunstock clubs, to improbable stuff like sledgehammers, pickaxes, and farming hoes. This is all for cosmetics; Insurgentes will deal the same amount of damage no matter what type of weapon they're equipped with. If they revolt into Yucatán, Insurgentes also gain the ability to use lassos. Cuatreros also have the ability to use lassos by default.
• Kid from the Future: It's possible to pit the Mexicans against the Aztecs in-game.
• Magikarp Power: Several of Mexico's unique cards and technologies provide better bonuses the later they are used. For example, the "Pinatas" card sends a random assortment of resources that gets larger by age, while the "Holy Mass" Cathedral tech grants 500 XP for every 10 minutes of the game time, up to 30 minutes.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Mexico is unique in that not only can it revolt starting in the Commerce Age, it has to option to reverse its revolution and revert back to Mexico. This can make Mexico an unpredictable opponent, since it can change up its whole playstyle at any moment.
• Magikarp Power: Insurgentes by the late-game can become much more formidable with enough Home City tech upgrades, with the "Reservistas" card allowing them to double as cheap musket infantry in a pinch.
• The Musketeer: Aside from the Soldado, which is a stronger Musketeer armed with grenades that cost two population, the Insurgente can be upgraded to carry muskets like a regular Musketeer via the "Reservistas" card.
• Revolving Door Revolution: Their gameplay gimmick, reflecting the tumultuous post-independence histories of not only Mexico but also Central America, which had been under the jurisdiction of New Spain. It's possible for the Mexicans to revolt in the Commerce Age, revert back to Mexico, then revolt again. They can also revolt twice via Yucatán into Maya.
• South of the Border: Their version of the Saloon grants them access to unique Mexican outlaws like Desperados and Bandidos.
• Spexico: Defied. Mexican units are not only generally distinct, but also speak with the appropriate dialect, in contrast to the Castilian Spanish spoken by their European counterparts.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Mexican infantry units such as the Soldado and Bandido have access to thrown explosives.
• Uniqueness Decay: Downplayed. While the Mexicans' mechanic of being able to revolt and revert back remains exclusive to them, they're no longer the only civ with access to substantially expanded Revolutionary Nations. Since the 25th Anniversary Update, the French are able to revolt into the similarly fleshed-out Revolutionary France. The July 2023 Update would go on to update the rest of the European Revolutionary Nations to have the same level of depth.
• Weapon Twirling: Chinacos will sometimes twirl their lance in the air when moving.
• Zerg Rush: Encouraged with the Insurgente units. Unlike other units, they are extremely cheap, and can be trained very quickly in batches of 10 instead of 5, allowing Mexican players to swarm their opponents with sheer numbers. Home City cards that ship them are also quite large, with one of their cards shipping 33 Insurgentes at once.

United States

Home City: Washington, DC
Features: Can levy Minutemen at regular intervals.
Unique Units: Minutemen^note unique Militiaman levied regularly and with reduced rate of HP loss, Gunslinger^note Pistolero upgrade which periodically fires several shots in succession, Owlhoot^note Renegado upgrade with a periodic short range area of effect attack, Cowboy^note Comanchero upgrade with periodic charged shot, State Militia^note unique Skirmisher with additional HP around additional State Militia, Regular^note unique Musketeer with greater range and damage, Sharpshooter^note unique Skirmisher with a long ranged attack but low HP, Carbine Cavalry^note unique Dragoon that counters cavalry and artillery, Gatling Gun^note replaces Falconet; artillery with automatic fire, effective against infantry, Quaker Gun^note decoy artillery that deals no damage; shipped from the Home City
Unique Buildings: Meeting House^note Church that trains Surgeons, State Capitol^note Capitol that trains Wagons
Royal Guard Units: State Militia (Volunteer)

For either the Revolutionary option for the British/Dutch/French/Italian/Swedish civilizations or the Home City for the Steel, Fire, and Shadow campaigns, check the Other Civilizations page.

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• Americans Are Cowboys: Their version of the Saloon gives unique upgrades for their outlaw units, as a nod to the American Wild West. Their sharpshooters, meanwhile, are more akin to rugged frontiersmen than standard military units.
• Anachronism Stew:
  • As they are upgraded, American units go from wearing uniforms of The American Revolution to that of the American Civil War and the ensuing Indian Wars by the Imperial Age. One unit that is the exception for this is the General, who wears the same Revolutionary War uniform all throughout. This also applies to the Gatling Gun, which is crewed by soldiers wearing uniforms from long before its invention up until its Imperial upgrade.
  • United States infantry units notably include black variant skins, which can lead to armies being remarkably mixed-race if the player is particularly inclined. While African-Americans have served almost from the onset, they often did so in all-black contingents during the period, and it wouldn't be until 1948 that the military formally dropped segregation.
• Badass Bystander: Their unique mechanic allows them to levy Minutemen more frequently, and Minutemen are not only stronger than regular Militiamen and last longer, but can eventually be upgraded into Marines and lose their timed lifespan.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Amelia Black, Uncle Sam and Astronaut.
• Charged Attack: American outlaws are differentiated from their regular counterparts in that they all have unique periodic attacks that deal additional damage.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Balanced: The United States is a highly adaptable civilization with unique capabilities that allow them to tailor their playstyle to match any opponent. They can train Wagons via the State Capitol while other civilizations must rely on sending them from the Home City, aging up, or researching technologies.
  • Diplomatic: They can supplement their forces via special cards that allow them to recruit specialty foreign units at the Fort, such as Polish Uhlans and Magyar Hussars. Instead of Settler cards, they instead get "Immigrant" cards that function similarly to the Consulate system used by the Asian civilizations by copying the abilities of other civilizations.
  • Ranger: They focus on gunpowder units like the Regular, Carbine Cavalry, and Gatling Gun that greatly outrange and outdamage their European counterparts.
• Cold Sniper: Sharpshooters act as the advanced light infantry for the United States and carry long rifles, granting them longer range than most infantry units.
• Covers Always Lie: The compendium entry for the United States' sharpshooter in earlier versions of the Definitive Edition more closely resembled a Confederate rifleman from the Civil War than the rugged frontierman seen in-game.
• Draw Extra Cards: Shipping the "Virginia Plan" card through the Virginia Federal State gives the player two shipment points.
• Gathering Steam: The United States can become a formidable powerhouse by the late-game thanks to its "Immigrant" and "Legion" cards, as well as the perks provided by the State Capitol among others. By that same token, however, this also leaves it relatively vulnerable early on, before those bonuses and upgrades can make themselves felt (especially given its lack of Settler cards).
• Gatling Good: The United States has access to the Gatling Gun, which was originally only available to all Revolutionary Nations but is now exclusive to only them and their Revolutionary version. By sending the "Coffee Mill Guns" card, their Gatling Guns can fire continuously rather than in bursts.
• Home Guard: In addition to the State Militia/Volunteers, the United States has access to more powerful Minutemen who can last longer on the battlefield. They could also be upgraded into Marines through Home City shipments.
• Language Drift: In contrast to the British, American units all speak in recognizably modern American English, reflecting the United States' growing divergence from its former colonial masters.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
  • The United States does not have Settler cards, instead having "Immigrant" cards that grant them different economic capabilities borrowed from other civilizations. They can train Wagons via the State Capitol while other civilizations must rely on sending them from the Home City, aging up, or researching technologies. They also have only one Royal Guard unit and cannot normally revolt unless they send the "Bear Flag Revolt" card attained via aging up with California (which just turns all Settlers into Revolutionaries).
  • The United States also has no access to archaic and melee infantry of any kind from the onset, instead having to rely on massed firepower before enemies could come close enough.
• More Dakka: Gatling Guns aside, the United States is heavily firearms-based and can overwhelm foes with a sheer mass of gunfire before they could close in.
• Multinational Team:
  • Their "Immigrant" cards allow them to take on the features of other civilizations. This dynamic is reinforced by their access to certain "Legion" cards that unlock certain foreign units from other nations, such as Polish Uhlans, French Dragoons, and Magyar Hussars, which can be trained at the Fort.
  • Certain Federal States also give access to foreign units, whether through Home City shipments or as unique techs.
• Odd Name Out: The only playable non-campaign civilization so far to be named after a state rather than the people or culture. This is due to a need to distinguish them from the Native American civilizations, as well as the fact that "Federal American" is being used to refer to their culture group along with the Mexicans^note While the term "Colonial" would have made sense given the culture group's origins as former European colonies, it has been a term that the developers have been avoiding using since the start of Definitive Edition due to its negative connotations.
• Power Copying: What the "Immigrant" cards allow them to do by having them borrow from other European civilizations (as well as the Chinese). For example, the "German Immigrants" card allows them to train Settler Wagons at the Mill, while the "British Immigrants" card allows them to train Settlers from Houses.
• Semper Fi: While not available as a traditional unique unit, the Marines are present in a form of a card that upgrades Minutemen to Marines, who have stronger combat capabilities, bonus damage against ships, artillery, and buildings, and most importantly do not lose health over time.
• Uniqueness Decay:
  • The United States was at the time of its introduction considered a heavily divergent form of a standard European civilization with all the new mechanics it introduced. Following the introduction of the Mexicans, who borrowed several mechanics from them such as Generals and Federal States, both civilizations were spun-off into their own distinct classification as Federal American civilizations.
  • Inverted with the Gatling Gun. In the original game and the launch of the Definitive Edition, this units were available to all Revolutionary civilizations. Gradually following the release of the United States, the Gatling Gun was removed from all other Revolutionary civilizations, leaving it exclusively available to just the United States and its Revolutionary variant.

African Civilizations

In General

Shared Features:
Can trade livestock in the Livestock Market for Wood, Coin, or Influence
Choose Alliances to advance in Age
Shared Units: Levied Spearman, Levied Bowman, Levied Gunner, Desert Warrior^note anti-cavalry infantry whose armor type changes depending on combat stance, Desert Archer ^note archer that shoots fast at close range, Desert Raider^note anti-building cavalry, Javelin Rider^note ranged cavalry good against other cavalry, Fishing Canoe, Battle Canoe^note agile warship that can train units, Cannon Boat^note Siege warship good against other ships and buildings
Shared buildings: Hut^note Houses that can train emergency Levied units, Livestock Market^note combines Market and Livestock Pen; trade livestock for other resources, Granary^note improves food and Field gather rate, lures nearby huntables over time, Field^note slow gathering Food or Coin source, War Camp^note trains military units, Port, Watch Tower^note Outposts that can train desert mercenaries, Palace^note Fort that trains Alliance units
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• A Commander Is You:
  • Diplomatic: Much like the American civilizations, they select a different Alliance to age up, and the selection remains the same throughout the game. Each alliance grants unique units and technologies that cost Influence, their unique resource, of which both civilizations have different ways of attaining. These units make up for the fact that on their own, the African civilizations have minimal unit rosters.
  • Economist: They do share the ability to gain Influence at the Livestock Market and can build Granaries (which work like the Japanese Shrine) to increase food output.
• Desert Warfare: African civilizations can hire Desert Warriors, Desert Raiders, and Desert Archers from Watch Towers, all of which are skilled Berber tribesmen who can fend off raiding attempts.
• Hate Plague: Their explorer equivalents have access to the "Chaos" ability, which causes treasure guardians to fight each other. The Ethiopian version can be upgraded to affect enemy units via the "Era of Chaos" card.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: There are several differences between them and their counterparts from other regions:
  • Their explorer equivalents are cavalry units and multiples can be sent via shipment. They have the "Chaos" (see above) and "Aura of Fealty" (increases own combat capabilities based on how many friendly units are nearby) abilities.
  • Similar to the Asian civilizations, they have a new resource called Influence which is used to obtain allied units and technologies. Units and techs obtained from natives on the map also cost Influence. Influence is primarily attained through assigning livestock to the Livestock Market or through sending Tokens of Influence from the Home City. There are also unique buildings that generate Influence, mainly the Ethiopian Mountain Monastery and the Hausa University, and these buildings research any technologies gained from Alliances.
  • Their age-up system is very similar to that of the American civilizations; they select a different Alliance to age up which grants them unique technologies and units.
  • Their defensive structures have special production capabilities; their Watch Towers can produce outlaws while their Fortress equivalent - the Palace - trains allied units and mercenaries. Meanwhile, their Huts can train militia units.
• Multinational Team: Their unique Alliances mechanic allows African civilizations to train foreign units from a wide range of nations at their Palaces
• Zerg Rush: African civs can overwhelm enemies with masses of cheap Levied units, with their mainline troops stepping in for the killing blow.

Ethiopians

Home City: Gondar
Features: Receives a Mountain Monastery Builder upon advancing to the next Age
Mountain Monasteries can gather Coin and Influence when built atop mines
Unique Units: Ras^note mounted explorer, Zebu Cattle, Abun^note priest who can gather at Mountain Monasteries, Gascenya^note heavy infantry who excel against cavalry in melee, Shotel Warrior^note fast moving shock infantry good against light infantry, Neftenya^note skirmisher with high hitpoints good against both heavy infantry and light cavalry, Oromo Warrior^note heavy cavalry with a charged musket attack, Sebastopol Mortar^note massive mortar that annihilates anything that it hits, War Dhow ^note powerful heavy warship with high hitpoints
Unique Buildings: Mountain Monastery^note trains Abuns, researches Alliance techs, and increases hit points of nearby buildings and units; can be put on top of mines to gather Coin or Influence
Alliances: Somalis, Habesha, Jesuits, Portuguese, Sudanese (Commerce Age), Indians (Fortress Age), Oromo (Industrial Age), Arabs (Imperial Age)

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• Battle Cry: The "King of Kings" card unlocks the "Roar of the Lion" ability for the Ras, which increases the movement and reload speed of nearby units.
• BFG: The Sebastopol Mortar, which is capable of leveling both fixed structures and units alike.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default and Emperor Tewodros.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Unit Specialist (Infantry): The Ethiopians are primarily an infantry focused civilization, though they do have access to some specialty units such as the Oromo Warrior and the powerful Sebastopol Mortar.
• Discard and Draw: The "Book of Axum" card increases Abun healing range and build limit, but removes their ability to gather at Mountain Monasteries.
• Gatling Good: By allying with the Arabs, they can recruit Gatling Camel Mercenaries.
• Historical In-Joke: The Ethiopians being able to ally with the Portuguese and Indians are a nod to their own involvement in the Ottoman-Portuguese conflicts over hegemony in the Indian Ocean.
• The Musketeer: Ethiopian Neftenyas are European-style skirmishers who not only have excellent firepower, but also have strong hitpoints and could hold their own against light cavalry.
• Must Have Caffeine: Their "Coffee Consumption" card increases the speed of their ranged infantry, as well as their allies' ranged infantry.
• Not the Intended Use: Mountain Monasteries, in addition to serving as the Ethiopians' Church equivalent, are built over mines to gather Coin automatically over time or convert part of the Coin gathered into Influence. The building is normally just for economic purposes but crafty players will build the Mountain Monasteries near mines on an enemy's town just to deny their villagers use of the mine, as Mountain Monasteries prevent enemy units from gathering coin from the mine until it is destroyed.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Being the last free Christians in Africa, the Ethiopians have a more pronounced religious angle to their bonuses, which extends to their Mountain Monasteries.
• Skill Gate Characters: Among the African civs, the Ethiopians play the most conventionally and have more European-style units at their disposal, making them easier to learn for newcomers.
• War Elephants: By allying with the Indians, they can recruit Mahout Lancers and Howdahs. They can further reduce their cost and population space by researching the "Good Will Agreements" Alliance technology.
• War for Fun and Profit: Not only can the Ethiopians research "Solomonic Dynasty" which lets them earn Influence for every unit killed, they can also send the "Cartridge Currency" card from the Home City, which lets them earn Coin equal to a fraction of the amount of Experience earned from defeating units. This lets Ethiopia get a boost on their economy simply by fighting.

Hausa

Home City: Kano
Features: Receives a Sanga Cattle upon Home City shipment
Build Universities to generate influence and research unique technologies
Unique Units: Emir^note camel-riding explorer, Sanga Cattle, Griot^note musician and storyteller who can increase the work rate of buildings, the speed of nearby units, or slow the attack speed of enemies, Maigadi^note ranged infantry with a powerful attack, Fulani Archer^note archer who excels against heavy infantry and ranged cavalry and can also gather from livestock, Raider^note hand cavalry strong against villagers, light infantry, and buildings with 1 population cost, Lifidi Knight^note heavy cavalry with a lot of hitpoints, Xebec ^note powerful yet agile warship that fires faster at close range
Unique Buildings: University^note trains Griots, research Alliance techs, and can generate either XP or Influence
Alliances: Berbers, Hausa, Moroccans, Songhai, Akan (Commerce Age), Fulani (Fortress Age), Yoruba (Industrial Age), British (Imperial Age)

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• Born in the Saddle: Downplayed compared to the Lakota as the Hausa have the ability to gain more diverse units as they age up with their alliances. However, they are only able to train a whopping two types of infantry unit by themselves (and the Maigadi is only available at the Palace rather than the War Camp). The rest are all cavalry, and Hausa armies will end up being composed primarily of their unique cavalry units.
• Call to Agriculture: Fulani Archers are able to gather Food from livestock. If the "Fulani Migrations" Alliance technology has been researched, they can also gather Wood.
• Character Customization: The available skins are Default, Usman dan Fodio and Queen Amina.
• A Commander Is You:
  • Industrial: The Hausa gain Influence through the University, and said Influence output can be improved through placing Town Centers, Trading Posts, and Palaces in its proximity.
  • Unit Specialist (Cavalry): Their military roster primarily focuses on cavalry with limited access to infantry outside of Alliances.
• Composite Character: The Hausa also incorporate influences from the other peoples that make up modern Nigeria, such as the Akan, Yoruba, and Igbo.
• Historical In-Joke: By allying with the British, the Hausa can gain access to Heavy Cannons and Frigates. This calls to mind the “Gunboat Diplomacy” that helped European colonial powers secure West Africa historically, only this time the Hausa themselves can do it.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Lifidi Knights are cavalry with special armor that gives them resistance to both melee AND ranged attacks. Certain cards also improve their combat abilities, including giving them trample damage, making Lifidi Knights nimble, hard hitting, and extremely durable all at the same time.
• Magic Music: Griots are storytellers who act as the Hausa's priest equivalent. Their music can make their buildings or units work faster while slowing down their enemies.
• Plague Master: The Emir has access to the "Tsetse Sabotage" ability, which slows down the target enemy's buildings.
• Sixth Ranger: While usually only available from alliances or certain maps, the Hausa can train Akan Ankobias like regular units at the War Camp ^note Palace Ankobias still cost Influence by shipping the "Gaananci" card. Akan Ankobias fill the gunpowder infantry role that the Hausa generally lacks (Maigadis cost a lot of Influence).
• Unskilled, but Strong: The Maigadi is unusual in that it lacks any positive multipliers to most of its attacks, even melee. It makes up for this by having a very powerful base damage on its own with all of its attacks.

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