ORIGINAL Age of Empires 2 Designer guesses expansion Civs!

[@thomrik]

"I guess there could be a whole expansion on indian civs" That aged well

[@ethantaillefer-meyn9772]

Just about to say that

[@MrFacu809]

Like fine wine

[@AEGISAOE]

there was before this video and was called rajas and dharma

[@vaximillian9460]

@@AEGISAOE Rise of the Rajas focused on Southeast Asia. No idea why it got its name.

[@AEGISAOE]

see dharma and rajas mods, they add way more civs

[@grantarmstrong9648]

"The Poles are cool, they have Winged Hussars." We got Poles and Winged Hussars in Dawn of the Dukes. "You could have a whole expansion just on Indian civs." We're now getting an upcoming expansion with Indian civs. Well Sandy I can definitely say that the current devs are listening to you.

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Cant believe it took me a year to find this. Amazing video, he knows his stuff

[@sgtpepper8581]

Me too man

[@tkzsfen]

it is really strange, as a matter of fact. usually all aoe stuff on my youtube page appears first, I guess same to you. I posted the video a week or two ago in the official forum in one of the topics and all of a sudden we all gathered here, sharing the same surprise how few people know of it :D btw, good luck with RB wololo 3 ;)

[@santypk5]

Hi Hera 👋

[@Bolt86]

Same for me! Watching aoe2 videos compulsively for years, and I get this one as recommended just one year later. Wtf youtube!

[@AokiZeto]

it took me 5 month more than here to found this, i'm ashame of my heresy but i'll make it up

[@yahm0n]

So this is the guy that designed the mameluke. We are in the presense of greatness.

[@michaeljackson8002]

It's so hilarious that they do that.

[@sgtpepper8581]

He made my favorite unit, my new Idol

[@Tpoleful]

@Ivar the Boneless And they ride central Asian Bactrian camels despite being Egyptians.

[@elvenatheart982]

Yas

[@tinkywinky1238]

Well they are Central Asian slaves in Egypt.

[@Vesdus]

This guy's knowledge of the history surrounding ancient civilizations is really impressive.

[@vladimirlagos2688]

It is to be expected, AoE2 couldn't possibly have been created by a history neophite.

[@yusuferenkaymak9877]

He seems to have ignored the Turkic civilizations as a whole. Calling them mongols, not knowing Cumans etc. ... Surprised me honestly.

[@vladimirlagos2688]

@@yusuferenkaymak9877 very true, but in all fairness, very few people would be able to define the Turkic groups without embarrassing misconceptions. After all, Turkic speaking, Turkic culture, and Turkic blood descent don't align all that well.

[@yusuferenkaymak9877]

@@vladimirlagos2688 I understand the variety and the abundance of cultural elements is not easy to grasp fully. Not even the whole of Turkic peoples are aware of the properties they share with others afterall. It just seems awkward that they act as if turkic civilizations are non existant. I hope I am not being too sensitive here.

[@vladimirlagos2688]

@@yusuferenkaymak9877 I don't think you are being too sensitive. Conversely, I also don't think they are intentionally trying to deny the millenial relevance of Turkic people in human history. It's just that its already a hard target to pinpoint for historians and anthropologists, let alone for game developers.

[@spooli7278]

I like this guy Also, Portuguese do get a unique ship unit in the Caravel, so he was right

[@St3v3NWL]

Indeed, that triggerd me a lot.

[@permafrost5229]

I was so triggered that he didn’t even mention the Caravel, even though the history guy guessed it correctly. Same as the Condottierro with Italians, it still counts as their unique unit. He could have also mentioned the unique feature of karambit warriors taking only a half population space while talking about Malay, because that’s a very unique thing. I’m not sure if he really overlooked these or if he actually doesn’t know the game very well.

[@SenselessUsername]

What about the very first question, "Bulgars" WRONG!!! But hey with AoE DE: They're renamed "Bulgarians".

[@SenselessUsername]

OK should have watched the video further!!

[@overlordmateus407]

sooo, the portuguese genitour got put in the civ they are used against?

[@T90Official]

Greatly enjoyed this video, thanks Legend!

[@ShakeNBakeChicken]

No, thank YOU!

[@mrkirby8622]

Thanks for sharing it on stream!

[@MrJacobhobbs]

get this guy on a vid

[@broosh41]

You should have this guy on stream to cast some games

[@bsh819]

@@broosh41 ^

[@DudeWatIsThis]

Dude I swear Sandy is the protagonist of this planet, and we are all NPCs. He made Lovecraft popular, made most levels in Doom I and II, and made Age of Empires II, and a crapload of other games (tabletop, RPG and videogames). It's crazy how much we owe to this man.

[@CrnaStrela]

Wait, he was the one who made lovecraft popular??

[@DudeWatIsThis]

@@CrnaStrela Yes

[@jwddwj9]

Kinda sucks this guy wasn't involved in the expansions.... He seems to really know the history

[@transsylvanian9100]

He wouldn't have done the Slavs and Indians, he would have picked a more specific group among those broad categories. I also suspect he wouldn't have done Tatars since they are essentially just another name for Mongols, commonly used in Eastern Europe.

[@OljeiKhan]

@@transsylvanian9100 you are partially correct but the Tatars are a Turkic branch and their fighting style may seem similar from afar (like Frankish and Germanic medieval warfare would look extremely similar to an outsider but someone who knows a lot about them will know there are huge differences both in fighting style and culture)

[@robertharris6092]

@@transsylvanian9100 muscovites instead of slavs. Since thats basicaly what they are.

[@pablokattenberg6340]

@@transsylvanian9100 exactly, also the Cumians are a strange one along with these other names for steppe civilisations. Also, the game just neglected germany and northern europe and just has "teutons" and "vikings" .. and celts versus britons? thats way before the dark ages

[@pablokattenberg6340]

@@OljeiKhan I think he means that the Tatar civ is something that evolved out of the mongol invasions, theyre practically the same. As the mongol invasions progressed their army compositions included turkic steppe warriors, and the civilisations that they left behind became dominated by this "minority" turkic culture

[@okaytimeforplanb2868]

They gave the Mongols Steppe Lancers in an update :) anyway, this video is awesome for AoE fans, hope it get's more views!

[@johanzijderveld4942]

came here to say that 11

[@fluxbomb3376]

thanks for that comment :D

[@joshuagabrielcatindig7607]

Should Persians and Indians get Battle E's?

[@curlywhites]

Seeing this again after the Poles came out is pretty cool.

[@grantarmstrong9648]

Seeing this after the announcement of split up Indian civs makes it even better.

[@TriRemo]

As someone who gets to give feedback and and suggestions to Forgotten Empires for design and balance on the expansions, I absolutely love this video. Staying true to ES's original designs and concepts is something I really try to keep as much as possible. I'll be quoting this video to the devs in charge of design for the next few months :D (Funny story, your comment about Khmer ballistas on ships gave me the idea of expanding one of their unique techs, Double Crossbows (ballista elephants and scorpions fire two bolts) to their galleons as well. You might end up still having an impact on this game 20 years later, congratulations !)

[@SandyofCthulhu]

sweet, thanks. I don't imagine you need any feedback from me ever, but if by some chance you're interested, you can reach me at sandy at petersengames dot com

[@SM-bb4hx]

Thar's a very cool idea for Khmer.

[@SM-bb4hx]

An idea that someone mentioned - distinguish Deer and Boar hunters. Boar hunters will be renamed as Poachers and will work at the same rate while Deer hunters will work 10% faster than previous hunters. Then limit the Mongols 50% hunter bonus (40% now) only for deer and replace Goths extra carry capacity by 20% faster poacher (Boar Hunters). Goths infantry discount should start from Feudal age again. This idea really amazed me.

[@NeonLine]

I hope they still add Poles in a final expansion, since Slavs in game only really represent the Rus

[@arshiaaghaei]

I think they should change indians too. While that will add 7 civs, it will make more sense.

[@musikbox83]

So I'm 5 minutes in and I can see it on his face: "WTF are these guys doing to my game?" lol

[@paweborkowski98]

20:50 "Not the Poles?!" Thank you, dear Sir, you've earned my respect in 1 second :D

[@ericbonofacio4695]

Poles !

[@paweborkowski98]

@@ericbonofacio4695 Exactly! They. Should. Be. Included.

[@ericbonofacio4695]

@@paweborkowski98 I have been making noise on the steam gaming forums for Aoe2..log on to steam if you have it and add support.

[@paweborkowski98]

@@ericbonofacio4695 Will do. Always ready to give support to a noble cause :)

[@paweborkowski98]

@@ericbonofacio4695 14*: Add the Poles already!

[@ShinzuXTruth]

My only complaint is to the guy doing the interview..let the man talk...he starts to go indepth with his thoughts then is cut off to move on to the next question, let the man ramble.

[@vinnyfromvenus8188]

I guess he wanted to keep the video brief? But who cares I would've watched a whole hour if this! Hopefully he does more of this in the future, maybe with the new expansion that coming out? It would've also been cool to see him react to other aspects of the game, like the gameplay differences and bonuses of the different civs, the graphics (I bet he would be blown away by them lol), the music being orchestrated and the whole meta of online play. I personally would LOVE if he made a video of him playing the definitive edition and reacting to the myriad of changes compared to the OG game.

[@Katerspacedopwater]

I don't know who the guy is who does the interview, but boy he's not doing a good job. Even painful at times. However for what it is still a very cool interview. I just wish he let the man talk more, and ask more follow-up questions regarding what he is talking about.

[@ShinzuXTruth]

@@Katerspacedopwater welll hes the channel owner..and his son.

[@azenxhlaalu6338]

My thoughts as well

[@ShinzuXTruth]

Appearantly

[@marianxendor3974]

"Wich means you could have one expansion that is all Indian Civs" This aged like fine wine

[@piyalisenlaskar1907]

His words actually came true

[@ThePrangon]

Even though we got 4 new civs (counting the Hindustanis), there are so many more civs within the Indian Subcontinent, each with very unique styles and aesthetics, that can be added in the future. :)

[@liverpoolind]

Please have him react to current meta and pro player's games/clips

[@_legendarie]

This!

[@CodingZombie11]

Yes please! Set up a Kickstarter or Patreon for this I'd pay $20 to watch this

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@CodingZombie11 i'll tell my son y'all want this - he sets these up. Don't worry. It'll be free.

[@krzysztofpaszkiewicz1274]

What happened to this idea? I would watch that.

[@FirstNameLastName-tx6td]

@@SandyofCthulhu would still love this

[@no1ofconsequence936]

Okay, now that we've learned how definitive this edition really is, who wants to see Poles with two-handed axes that do area area damage?

[@namvo3013]

Walking cataphract

[@yohanbeck8172]

Finnish Hakkepeliitta. Forest people with tanky infantry let's go

[@criter96]

As a Pole I'm surprised to hear about 2h axemen. To be fair, hussars always steal the spotlight.

[@Shmandalf]

Plenty of RTS games have melee units that do areas, so totally something they could add.

[@no1ofconsequence936]

@@yohanbeck8172 , that sounds neat too.

[@bowinyem8249]

In case nobody knew, this is Sandy Petersen. In addition to working on AoE with Ensemble, he worked at Id to help create Doom and Quake. On top of that he also worked on the Call of Cthulhu table top rpg. An absolute legend.

[@OytheGreat]

Sandy, if you ever read this, thank you for your amazing work on a game that inspired millions and provided billions of hours of entertainment. It's thanks to Age of Empires II's phenomenal game balance that it became a timeless joy for so many of us that still holds up better than most other games of any genre in 2020. I don't know what other feats you've accomplished in your life that make you proud, but damn it if this isn't one of them, since it changed the lives of so many for the better.

[@OytheGreat]

And I don't mean to ramble on, but I feel so grateful for everything AoEII. It's thanks to the map editor's triggers that I first came into contact with programming. I was 12 and designed maps and scenarios and basically never stopped designing ever since. Now I've been working as a developer & consultant for about 10 years. My profound love for history (medieval history foremost) also stems from AoEII. Reading through the civ descriptions in the 'history' pane was basically my first real autodidactic course on history :) Thanks again to the whole team, I hope you realize what a great feat you guys realized; a game that transcended the purpose of entertainment.

[@EchoInTheKettle]

Him even considering Finns warmed my heart.

[@henriklasila7716]

I really hope they include Finns in the future!

[@dwarfbard6226]

To be honest Lithuania was an absolutely obvious choice to add in. The Finns as an EMPIRE would really, really be stretching it.

[@sauromatae9728]

@@dwarfbard6226 but the game still has celts, berbers and japanese. all small regional forces.

[@dwarfbard6226]

@Sauromatae Get real. The Celts once encompassed everything from iberia to northern italy to the tip of scotland. Berbers were the equivalent of vikings in the mediterranean and the Japanese history of making war is legendary. Comparing early medieval finnish culture to this is a lazy effort at foolish nationalism.

[@EchoInTheKettle]

To make my stance clear, I actually hope that the developers add smaller cultures to the game. While I think it is extremely unlikely they'd add Finns, were it to happen, I would welcome it.

[@HurricaneSmack]

I'm surprised this doesn't have more views, it was really fun! :D And you forgot to let your dad know that the Portuguese did get a unique ship, the Caravel :)

[@SandyofCthulhu]

oh well, a Caravel makes sense. I did manage to get Caravels into Age of Empires III, which is really the time period that Portugal was shining. They weren't much around in the middle ages.

[@ADCFproductions]

@@SandyofCthulhu We also shine nowadays thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo :D lmao

[@FaithfulOfBrigantia]

@@SandyofCthulhu I disagree with the statement that they weren't "much around" in the Medieval period. They have been around since the 9th century and fought in the entirety of the Reconquista which is the longest, bloodiest and arguably more important war in medieval European history. They also fought regularly with Castile, after their share of the Reconquista was done, and they even began conquering land in Africa in the early 15th century, before the fall of Constantinople, and well within a Medieval timeframe. They were not a "big" civilization in area, but they definitely experienced a significant amount of warfare and conflict for a civilization of their size. And more importantly, the Portuguese fought alongside or against half of the civs in the game, so its not like they were this isolated minor power who fought among themselves or against a single other civ, they were pretty involved along other civs. I'd rate the Portuguese civ as more significant than the Huns (who were already gone in the medieval timeframe) the Goths (who were also already gone in the medieval timeframe, sure you have the kingdom of the Visigoths, but they didn't survive part 711 which is like the Dark Age in game ages) or the Celts (who were also gone by the medieval age, unless you mean Scotland, Wales and Ireland, whose medieval history isn't remotely as relevant as the Portuguese one). My big grievance with the Portuguese civ, was giving them a completely Early Modern "Age of Empires 3" flavour, from their campaign to their unique units and even architecture (although this was innevitable because they share it with others, their wonder choice was straight out of the 16th century, instead of a proper Medieval building such as the Batalha Monastery, Alcobaça Monastery or the Convent of Christ). I would give them either Reconquista-period units such as Holy Order (Santiago or Aviz) knights or late middle age units such as the Conto Crossbowmen which composed the professional elite of the Portuguese armies in the wars against Castile. A look at medieval portuguese battles will then using mostly spear Infantry and crossbows, as opposed to the Castilian reliance on cavalry, so another option would be using some anti-cavalry spear unit and call it "Fossado" (The Medieval Portuguese name for the peasantry serving in mandatory military service) Jinetes/Genitours were used mostly by Castile and Aragon, they would do well as the Spanish unique unit instead of the Conquistador (an Age of Empires 3 unit as well), alternatively the Spanish should also have the Almogavares (skirmisher) as a allied-recruitable unique unit, like the Italian Condotieri. The Portuguese army never actually used Organ guns.

[@olafweiske6132]

@@FaithfulOfBrigantia thank you, even though i'm not portuguese.

[@KomradeCPU]

@@FaithfulOfBrigantia You know you history dude, respect from Brazil and I love playing as portuguese, always looking for that orjan gun mastahpiece

[@618Delta]

- Indians and Slavs are a bit weird, I agree. I think they're the way they are because this was originally a fan mod for a game whose company had been dissolved. They didn't know it would get a resurgence, so they made very broad civs. - Magyar Huszars actually get a bonus against siege. Their unique tech Recurve Bow also makes their cavalry archers the best in the game. Funnily enough, these two things make them pretty good against the Mongols in the late game. - The Italians do have a very good navy (dock technologies cost -33% and fishing ships are 15% cheaper) and tech tree, they just don't have a unique unit for it. Condotierri also have extra resistance against gunpowder and, like the hand cannoneer, don't need upgrades like the milita line does to be effective so you or your allies can get them out quickly. - Mali do have the unique tech Farimba which gives their light cavalry (they don't get Hussar) +4 attack. Their civ bonuses also give their militia line ridiculous pierce armor, almost as much as Huskarls. - Portuguese do get a unique naval unit called the Caravel, and a unique building called the Feitoria which takes up 20 population space but continuously generates all 4 resource types. It is generally considered to make the Portuguese really strong on water maps, especially if the game goes long and resources become scarce. - The Khmer used to have a very solid navy, but they lost the Shipwright tech because it made them a bit too strong on certain game modes (I believe Death Match). It's still decent, but their real strength is that Khmer farmers don't need to drop off food, so they have the best farming eco in the game.

[@NerfHerdsman]

This is great. Would love long stories about the development of Age.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

Well I have started a series of videos which will be published over the next few weeks about my history in gaming. The first one (this week) is tales from the Dark Days of RPGs. Upcoming is my time at MicroProse Software, id Software, and of course Ensemble Studios.

[@LumberingJuggernaut]

The good thing is that not only do you guess most of the UUs correctly, but you also guess the specific characteristics of the civs whose UU you get wrong. Those characteristics end up as civ bonuses (mostly for balance reasons). So in the end, you did guess all the unique units/traits of each of the new civs. So inspiring to see a game dev so knowledgeable about history!

[@justinvanheerde4338]

His knowledge on history is wonderful

[@XanderWhite]

Hey, we did eventually get the Poles, with their Winged Hussars and big ax- (clawhammer-) swinging guys!

[@ThatGuanfranco]

We need more aoe 2 videos from this guy. This guy is like the patron saint of all aoe2 players. Come shepard your flock.

[@manix429]

You sir are a legend. AoE 2 has been one of my favourite games since its release, thanks for all the work you did for it!

[@OriginalMasterChafa]

In what is nowadays Mexico, the Toltec empire was contemporary of the Mayans and was also very big, so that's something you could also incluide.

[@ZSide33]

1:20 ‘What Eastern Europe ones?’ ‘The Bulgars’ Me, as a Bulgarian watching this: Happy Bulgarian noises

[@scintillam_dei]

I saw a Bulgarian in Miami once. She was tall and lady-like and she laughed at a joke I did, but didn't make eye contact with me. Sad noises.

[@99Teutons]

3:02 you could actually have an expansion just on the indian civs 2 years later:- AOE 2 DLC dyanasties of india is released

[@vladimiralexanderlagos1477]

Incredibly, they fixed the 'Indians' bit in AoE2 in 2022 by dividing it into four civs from the subcontinent. Actually, a pretty good rework they did on that btw.

[@nickfritsch3718]

Sandy, they added the Poles!!

[@aruan7sp]

He was right about Italians, they also have the Condottieri as an unique unit that their allies can also produce.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

in Age 3 the Condottieri were (quite properly) mercenaries.

[@permafrost5229]

@@SandyofCthulhu what? Condottierris does not exist in aoe3

[@Chungus581]

@@permafrost5229 It’s a cavalry unit

[@permafrost5229]

@@Chungus581 They are called Elmeti, not condottierri. What are you even saying?

[@tag180rotax]

@@SandyofCthulhu in DE they made them mercenary-like. All allies of the Italians can make them in Imperial Age 👍

[@87PLS]

It’s so funny watching this back 2 years later and seeing all of sandys great ideas that have since actually made it in to the game, like having an expansion with just all the different Indian civs being the most recent one, or adding in the poles as a civ and he even got amazingly close to guessing their unique unit right too, he just got the weapon wrong, as they went for an infantry unit with a war hammer that strips through enemy units armour over a giant 2 handed axeman that does splash damage to surrounding units.

[@Seth9809]

I watch the videos three times and I think I watch it every year. It's such a joy to watch.

[@nickosc88]

ITs sad that so many game makers these days know nothing about history. We need giants like this guy back

[@bogdkhan1669]

I mean, it seems like Forgotten Empires know a lot of history, their in-game campaigns are a lot more historical than the original ones.

[@Destroyer2150]

Age of Empires always managed to awake my curiosity for history as a child, specially the second game. Hell, they had a special section is some brief explanation about the civilizations. I learned how Saladin was much more an artist and poet then a warrior, how Joan of Arc inspired and helped end the 100 years war, the progress of the Holy Roman Empire... I would go to the History class and ask my teacher to tell me about these events. I still love History to this day and I have to thank Age of Empires 2 for it

[@emperorofthegreatunknown4394]

This dude has so much knowledge he would be an awesome history teacher.

[@alexeyshu3318]

Cool! Can we get second part? Where Sandy actually see the new design for the new cigs! It would be exiting!

[@specificgod]

Upvote this

[@theadxy]

Mongols get Steppe Lancers now

[@limonbattery]

8 months later Indians still don't have Battle Elephants.

[@FirstNameLastName-tx6td]

@@limonbattery that would actually be a good balance idea

[@TheBikeOnTheMoon]

@@limonbattery battle elephant for indian would be great,

[@tomieilamo]

I would consider Caravel a unique unit so Portuguese do have a unique unit ship. Also, Condottiero is one of the Italian unique units. Many of the newer civs get multiple unique units, it would have been interesting to include them all rather than just the Castle units. Also it would have been interesting to hear his thoughts on unique techs since they are also often rooted in history and he is very into the real history.

[@calebrands4912]

We're finally getting an Indian expansion! Hope they take more advice from Sandy in the future.

[@grantarmstrong9648]

I mean to be fair it isn't just Sandy the fans have been begging for Indians to be split for a long time but it's nice seeing the devs actually listening to their community and delivering them what they want.

[@NeonLine]

Him criticizing how simply Italians/Indians/Slavs (instead of e.g. Venetians/Mughals/Rus) were implemented in the game who didn't exist back then as nations or tribes, shows his knowledge and understanding of historical backgrounds of the Aoe2 civs which the current devs seem to be missing, same as the effort to do research.

[@lucapiacun9054]

Agreed, that's putting it nicely though. The historical inaccuracies in the current game are pretty lazy if I'm honest.

[@IconEnjoyer]

Huh?? Bro the Saracens are a generic collection of middle eastern civs, Ensemble did the same thing.

[@leopoldkoppen9081]

Come off your high horse, look at the original games having "Chinese" as one civ. Also giving the American civs trebuchets or making the Vikings an economically based civ. There was so much inaccuracy from the start, but it was necessary in order to have a balanced game. Same thing today, historical accuracy will suffer for the sake of balance and interesting gameplay.

[@leetcoding1]

@@leopoldkoppen9081 What's the matter with having Chinese as one civ? They are indeed a clearly defined civilization

[@tasse0599]

@@IconEnjoyer Same with the Teutons representing the entirety of the holy roman empire, a loose confederation of states

[@vagabondsoul1286]

Closest to perfection we've ever come to, in the RTS genre. Thank you for your valuable contribution!

[@jurgnobs1308]

Konnik is by the way just the bulgarian word for "rider" or "horseman"

[@Shmandalf]

That makes sense. Why the flail, though? Seems tough to use on horseback without knocking you, or the horse, out lol

[@jurgnobs1308]

@@Shmandalf no idea, to be honest

[@DeNamETae]

@@Shmandalf Was supposedly a weapon that they used. It was apparently a common weapon in eastern europe during the early feudal and medieval.

[@dwarfbard6226]

@@Shmandalf "Archaeologically, however, a type of military flail known as a kisten, with a non-spiked head and a leather, rather than chain, connection to the haft is attested in the 10th century in the territories of the Rus, probably being adopted from either the Avars or Khazars. This weapon had spread into central and eastern Europe in the 11th-13th centuries and may be considered an ancestor of the ball-and-chain flail." Quoted from wikipedia article of the Flail. Hits the same perioid and the same geographical area as the Bulghars.

[@Shmandalf]

@@dwarfbard6226 Ooh okay, thanks. It just seemed kind of dangerous for the rider since you could smack the horse riding around with it, so I was curious

[@abdul5310x]

The great thing about this video Legend also predicted some unique techs. Magyars - horse archers, Malians- fierce horseman and etc. Enjoyed the video very much :)

[@Menos510]

Hey thanks for all your work with Age! I played it so much growing up and I specifically remember knowing how to spell Tenochtitlan on one of my tests due to AOE II. It's been great playing it on definitive edition as well it's great that people are still playing it like crazy!

[@joserubenuribe9165]

He was right about the poles, they are awesome

[@ankf8281]

Condos are unique units as well, they have 'unique unit' tag so samurais do bonus damage against them

[@marcinwitkowski217]

21:50 whoa! This is so wholesome, i didn't even knew this guy before, and after watching this video it makes me feel so good that one of the creators of the game that influenced me for many years and embraced my interests in history also speaks so good about my civ, greetings from Poland my man!

[@unfairadvantagefilms]

I don't know if this will ever get to you, but as a kid I got into AOE2 quite a bit, super young. My house was really poor and I didn't have many opportunities, but I used to spend my time playing through the historical campaigns learning stories that, at like 7-8, I thought were fictional. When we started doing history lessons at school I could almost recite the history section of the game for certain civs from memory. Whoever decided to write or put that into the game genuinely changed my life. As I kept going to school I learned that these stories that were so fun in this game and so involving were real, and in history class I was able to get amazing grades from the only experience I really had with history which was this game. This game led to me reading books and studying hard in school and I'm now in university for history all these years later, and I genuinely mean it that if you had not made this game so accessible and educational, if your passion for history that bleeds through every pixel of this game had not been there I do not think I would be where I am today. It might not mean much but the work you did on this game genuinely changed my life and made the life I have now possible. Listening to the person that did a great deal of the work on the history side of things was like hearing a teacher I never knew existed. Thank you for it all.

[@CHWired]

Such a cheerful and knowledgeable guy, I'm sure they had a lot of those working on the original game to make something so magical!

[@liquidink2413]

This was really fun!

[@SandyofCthulhu]

thanks!

[@savic1984]

Should add a update video to this. We got poles now. I wonder if he knows how loved this game is still. We have huge tournaments.

[@twinsen1949]

I wonder what he thinks of "Burgundians" and "Sicilians" now, lmfao

[@ReddoFreddo]

The Burgundians and Sicilians are cool, and it's good they're still adding civs, the more the merrier, as long as it's balanced.

[@namvo3013]

He want the Polish, that was cool

[@tomaszsmol3920]

@@ReddoFreddo I don't think adding more civs now is a good idea, they should focus on balancing what we have and fixing current issues. Also the more civs the more difficult the game becomes if you want to play competitively

[@criter96]

@@tomaszsmol3920 I must admit as a polish person I'm surprised to know Poland is somehow known for two handed axemen. Hussars always steal the spotlight.

[@tomaszsmol3920]

@@criter96 Yeah, I'm not a history expert but was surprised to hear that too

[@PurpleBraveGiraffe]

This was so nice, I enjoyed every seconds of it ! I mean this is exactly what I want to watch ! - maybe you could talk about aborted ideas/mecanics - Tell us about how developement went, what was the biggest focus, the biggest challenges. How was it like to make this legendary f***ing game ?!! - what would you change ? what do you like and dislike from DE version ? - reaction videos: about, pro player clips, unintended game mecanics - talk about intended meta vs what pro players do today - play DE ! Men you are the coolest guy ever ! thanks for this video really made my day :)

[@BewegteBilderrahmen]

I mean, swordsmen, men-at-arms, pikemen, crossbowmen, archer, arbaleste, halberdiers, spearmen, and handcannonier are also all named after the weapon they use.

[@buildinasentry1046]

Yeah legit

[@brightestlight9462]

tbf those are meant to represent the different titles of units from those civs--generic units that cover a wide range of different things historically speaking

[@BewegteBilderrahmen]

@@brightestlight9462 yes but also no. We very often call “units“ by their weapon or alternatively by their function (skirmisher), and that is something many languages do because it makes sense

[@mrgaudy1954]

@@BewegteBilderrahmen If you think about it why wouldn't you call a military unit something that doesn't relate to their equipment and/or function, would be needlessly confusing otherwise!

[@ParlonsAstronomie]

That was awesome ! You can see his passion about history, this is heartwarming. And I like how he deal with the choices that was made after his work.

[@toastybatch565]

Love how uncomfortable he got with the sweeping generalization civs like Slavs and Indians.

[@hasamikun]

@Umut Ahmet Çetin I really dont understand the people that want every little part of the world covered by a specific civ in this game. generalizations are needed because otherwise, you would need 50 civs to cover europe alone. its simply not possible for many different reasons.

[@annaairahala9462]

@@hasamikun because "Indians" isn't just a generalization, but a major generalization. The Chinese were at least unified for periods within aoe2 timeframe, India wasn't. It is like having goths, byzantines, franks, and spanish as all one civ as there was major different groups within the Indian subcontinent (a higher population too) That's not just a simple generalization

[@hasamikun]

@@annaairahala9462 I never doubted that but point still stands. If the game makes equal reprensentation of all "major" civilizations during the medieval age, we would be talking about a hundred civs. Thats not doable so there have to be compromises.

[@darkale658]

@@hasamikun the issue is that having one civ called the "indians" in this time period is similar to having a civ called "western europeans" or "americans". You could at least pick one of the major civs in the region to represent them.

[@LumenP1023]

@@annaairahala9462 I am Han Chinese, and what I can tell you is that the Chinese lived on the same lands for thousands of years without any major/forced incursions by other peoples except perhaps the Mongols. Contrary to what modern day China would tell you, the Chinese are not one ethnicity or one culture. China like Europe is made of many different lands and most of them have very different cultures from each other. All these cultures and ethnic peoples in China have retained their exclusive identities during the "Bronze Age" right up until the Qin dynasty. Thats when cultural washing first started, and history for the Chinese becomes rather convoluted. Indeed, the Chinese government would love nothing more than for everyone to believe the Chinese are one people one culture. In solidarity, yes i do believe the Chinese are one people. but we are one people made of many. Many different cultures, many different backgrounds. Some of the most recognized ethnicities by the world include the Uyghurs, the Manchu, the Hui, and perhaps the Zhuang people. But there are many many more. Ancient history tells us that back then, all these people were as distinct to each other as Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Vietnam are to us today.

[@TekkenFighter1904]

12:08 the Portuguese have 2 unique units (like the vikings and Koreans) they also have a ship unique unit 'Caravel'.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

so I have been told. I still think having medieval Portuguese is a little odd.

[@TekkenFighter1904]

@@SandyofCthulhu Update: They heard you and mongols have been given Steppe Lancers in an update patch. :P

[@Isul78]

LOL, reminds me of the long-winded rants about this on the old AOK forums 🥳

[@Jombo1]

Really interesting to see someone who knows a lot about AoE2 but at the same time knows very little about the expansions.

[@hendriklobe577]

3:03 - Well now there will be / is an Expansion called "Dynasties of India" that adds 3 more Cives based on Cultures of the sub-continent =)

[@humblebrag]

Behold... KZbin algorithm! Prepare to be noticed.

[@ADCFproductions]

about damn time!!

[@TireFill]

Raiding party

[@radiantav]

This is amazing, Sandy is awesome and it's super impressive how much knowledge he has about medieval history and warfare.

[@martoncsepregi7099]

9:45 I love how whilst he didnt guess the unique unit, with ferocsious horsemen, he actually guessed the unique tech

[@philippeporto5893]

Ive played AoE since the Conquerors Expansion came out, play a lot of DE and watch quite some KZbin and Twitch content. This interview os GOLD. Thanks a lot!!!

[@Yesnog05]

Oh man...I'd love to hear his reaction to hear that the Indian civ is split to the Bengalis, Dravidians, Gurjaras, and Hindustanis, the Sicilians and Burgundians, split from the Italians, and the Poles and Bohemians.

[@Seth9809]

How are Burgundians from the Italians? They're like the middle place between France and Germany.

[@Axehilt]

Definitely echo the groans about civ names. Personally I worked on Conqueror's back in the day (playtester at Microsoft) and also Asian Dynasties (AOE3 expansion), and kinda surprised I never ended up working with Sandy (directly) over the years.

[@v1k1ng43]

“You could have a whole expansion on Indian civs” and that’s what they did with the dynasties of India dlc

[@pangoprime8674]

lol this was great. Thanks for this video. I am in Canada but from Portugal originally, I laughed so much when he talked about them and Sandy is right! You should let your son pick more topics to talk about, this was fantastic. AoE was always so much fun.

[@bookedroomer]

You could’ve asked about unique techs as well although unique techs felt a bit more disconnected from civs than unique units but he seems knowledgeable enough to make good guesses

[@KaspisVids]

It was joined lithuanian and polish forces that won the battle of Tannenberg, not just polish. And Poland and the time (and in the later years) was ruled by lithuanian - Jagiellonian dynasty.

[@Alkhalim]

And the Lithuanian Leitis is basically the Anti-Teutonic Knight, which is cool.

[@Slanderbot]

Thanks so much for your time and contribution to the community!

[@chrisnachname6651]

eventhough for me balancing aspects of the game are more important than historic acuracy its very cool to see how much insights go into the civs of aoe awesome video I really engoyed watching!

[@ginsan0078]

Wholesome content, one question though, how are Indians middle eastern exactly?

[@sinomirneja771]

the same with Berbers! They are literally under Spain!

[@ubelmensch]

The other guy doesn't know anything. He ignored Caravels completely when the former dev mentioned a portuguese ship, and he called the cumans the same as khazars

[@annaairahala9462]

The guy asking questions isn't very knowledgable it seems. They should have done some more research before going into this

[@SB-wz8lb]

Agreed, the guy asking the questions didn't know much about geography. I was even more surprised, when the dev said there were no Turks in AOE II, but they made it to AOE III. I was facepalming, they even appear in two of the Conquerors scenarios, lol. Interviewer mentioning Olmecs in AOE II timeline was even more bizarre.

[@nemou4985]

@@SB-wz8lb He was thinking about Tlaxaltecs

[@Lawd_Kolya]

First of all, thank you for this video! Secondly, thank you for all the original work you put into Age of Empires 2 (and the expansion). It is even more clear now where all the well-done research, passion and knowledge came from to make the game so amazing and long lasting - creating the basis for the DE version and still draws new and old players to game. THANK YOU!

[@tunch90]

The Karambit warriors are essentially the zergling of AoE2DE

[@Dave-nz4iu]

I could listen to this guy talk about which civs should be in aoe all day

[@Mexico013]

I appreciate his honesty

[@ahmedkhadher2125]

This legend can see the future (the Indian civs part)

[@greatcornholio]

When you program in between your history lessons. This needs more views!

[@temphandle01a]

I'm rewatching this 2+ years after it was published. As mentioned in comments, pretty cool how you predicted things here that would be added a year or two after this video was published. Now in mid 2022 we have the Poles and the Polish/Lithuanian shared unique unit Winged Hussar (final upgrade to the Scout Cavalry line) along with the Indians now being split up into 4 new unique civilizations, just to mention some of it. Sadly still no Kyivan Rus nor any additional sub-Saharan African civilizations.

[@grantarmstrong9648]

I mean for African civs we have Mali and Ethiopia as well as the top parts of Africa with the Berbers but yeah they should add more civs like Ghana, Zimbabwe and even Benin would also be a good choice.

[@Seth9809]

@@grantarmstrong9648 They did add them to Age of Empires 3 though!

[@grantarmstrong9648]

@@Seth9809 When? The only African civs in Age 3 are Ethiopians and Hausa.

[@Robert-vk7je]

12:31 You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Berbers, not join them.

[@ZacharyBlue]

I watched this a few years ago. Now I am back after a few more expansions - it was interesting to see the difference, last viewing he got a few things "wrong" but are actually "right" now.

[@ZacharyBlue]

Also, him saying he heard bad news earlier that day is tough to watch, he looks like the grief is hitting him.

[@Yesnog05]

He reminds me of my history teacher that got me and my older brother into AOE2 and history/military history. I love how he got almost all his predictions right! He should definitely be the go-to guy when making the next AOE2 expansion. I would love to hear his reaction to the Sicilians and the Burgundians are in the upcoming expansion! The Filipinos, Ryukyus, and the Inuits should definitely be next!

[@safuwanfauzi5014]

Filipino are you kidding me, Filipino are European name from King Philipe II of Spain. no native Filipino name Philippine , imagine India name after King or Queen of England, India become Victorian or Georgian. the only high culture are Sulu archipelago people like Sulu sultanate or Tausug people. they have own roof style, architecture, fort, concept of Nusantara 'kota', example cotabato = Kota Bato, same in Malaysia and Indonesia have Kota Kinabalu, Kota bharu, Kota Tinggi, Kota Gowa. Filipino do not have wonder can be used, wooden house as wonder, there are thousand temple, stupa, palace, city hall, city wall, gate[Gapura, Paduraksa and candi bentar], Canal, Dam, fort, castle[only in java, watercastle tamansari], and royal fountain. Indonesia and Malaysia did have ancient temple and many native architecture royal palace. none in Philippine have. even the country name is totally colonial, do not have culture, identity, history, architecture have nothing. that why Indonesia and Malaysia in Age of Empire II, and others games not the 'filipino' or native name do not exist, because they just tribal people do not nothing, so european help give they name, unlike Indonesia-Malaysia have native country Nusantara[INDONESIA-malaysia archipelago. or malay archipelago] , Tanah Melayu=Malaya or Semenanjung Melayu=Peninsular Malay. even Maluku[European;Moluccos] group of island have their native name because they are advance civilization but not Filipino. just like australia give by european. imagine age of empires ii put australian aboriginal, papua and filipino in games. filipino dont have medieval histroy like china, japan, korea, mongolia, bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam, Filipino are isolated asia who are like mexico, peru, colomboia and others latin america and spain

[@jpdst29]

I could listen to this guy talk about ancient civilizations and history all day. Very informative.

[@MrAllmightyCornholioz]

For a guy who is such a boomer of the AOE universe he is pretty good at guessing.

[@ubelmensch]

most of aoe fanbase is pretty boomer kek

[@TotalWarChronicles]

Good to see he had some much fun being interviewed!!! Really made it all the more enjoyable!

[@GloriousDeeJay]

Finally this gets the attention it should. You're a great guy!

[@EresirThe1st]

I would love to see a sequel to this video with expansions that have come out after

[@IconEnjoyer]

In a recent updates the Mongols got steppe Lancers, so there ya go!

[@ericofire]

This is awesome! Not sure how I missed it this long. He’d probably think the 2 new civ choices are hilarious.

[@sergejgleithmann1119]

3:04 that aged like fine wine lmao

[@McLerristarr]

Really cool to hear the perspective of a creative talking about someone else updating their work. I suppose you never had full control over it, but it still must be strange to see something you helped make taking on new life with other people two decades later. And you were actually right with your guess on the Portuguese - their second unit unique is a ship: the Caravel.

[@natethorngate-rein4344]

A whole expansion based on Indian civs you say?

[@thertsfan]

Would be cool to see a update on this video since the Indian expansion came out for aoe 2

[@Addictive_me]

This was really cool, it's so interesting to hear about the behind the scenes of age 2 dev times. Do you ever go back and play some of it?

[@SandyofCthulhu]

with my granddaughter some times.

[@andyidsoe]

What a cool guy! I could listen to him talking about history and games for hours!

[@thegreenpianist7683]

3:04 welp...they did it!

[@Luchoasdf]

3:45 i think do you mean the mapuche? they outlived incas, and figth the spanish and even now still figthing again the chilean goverment hahah ! what a gem of channel i just found cheers legend!