History behind every AoE2 Unique Unit - Part 1
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- Images taken from:
Longbowman - www.realmofhistory.com/2016/0...
Cataphract - www.peopleofar.com/2013/02/14...
Huskarl - deadliestblogpage.wordpress.c...
Samurai - tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Yari - www.rct.uk/collection/71661
Naginata - www.rct.uk/collection/71616
0:00 Intro
0:32 LONGBOWMAN
1:19 CATAPHRACT
2:08 WOAD RAIDER
3:58 CHU KO NU
4:58 THROWING AXEMAN
5:58 HUSKARL
8:32 SAMURAI
9:53 TIERLIST - Ігри
If we beat 1000 subs with this one, then the next video is gonna have a very "Friendly" intro
You have my sub
@@alejandrolievano5573 and my ..uh... sub also!
Sweeeeet we already made it! Now "Ill be there for you..."
we wait you champion
Damn 1.22k already.
So, you have 781 subscribers. This video was released 24 minutes ago. I got it as a suggestion on my YT front page. It looks like YT is doing something right. Good job. I suspect you'll have 5k subscribers by the end of the month.
Let's hope you're right!👍
@@martijn9568 I doubt it. Seemed to be a bit stuck with Subs recently. I just dont like when UA-camrs beg for subs in their videos, thus I avoided that so far
I just got recommended this and subbed
Bro same.
@@armchairsaurus Looks like the tables have turned, my friend. I do not think you can say anymore that you're stuck with subs. Your sub cound has doubled in two days. And again, rightfully so.
I think the Francisca axe-throwers held large axes so that they could be distinguished and differentiated easily (and quickly) by the player.
Just use characteristic shape of shield and they are easy to recognise.
samurai were originally going to be Calvary that could switch between melee and range, but this was drop do to technicaly problematic for the old 1999 engine. the idea was later revived for the Ratha.
Yep I also read that interview
Would be dope if Samurai were created as horse archers, able to fight with their naginata in melee, and if brought down to 0 hp they dismounted instead of dying and kept fighting on with their katana. But that would probably make them OP lol
At least Japanese have FU CA. A nod to history there
and atleast for a historic campaign, they brought back the unit; even if it's just a scenario only unit.
@@dirkauditore8413 it's probobly why they're experimenting with the Ratha's and Konikks
Let's be honest here. Even if the Chu Ko Nu wasn't as good in real life, there's few units that could have done justice to the romance that the ancient Qin and Han-era Chinese had with the crossbow.
Hahaha Romance to the crossbow
to be fair: there was some sort of rapid firing crossbow that is used in proper military background called Yuan Rong Nu, depicted in song dynasty's texts, it is much more simliar to the in game design.
This was very high quality. Looking forward to more, especially the infamous Mameluke.
Yeah the Mameluke in AoE is kinda comical
Some dried bint lobbed a scimitar at me.
If I'm not mistaken, they were slaves.
@@MrKhaos0001 Mamluk, also spelled Mameluke, slave soldier, a member of one of the armies of slaves established during the Abbasid era that later won political control of several Muslim states. Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Mamluk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517
- Google.
This stuff is the reason why I haven't quit AOE2. It was my first game I ever played. I'm still learning about stuff about it all these years later, thanks in large part to channels like this.
So, thank you! Looking forward to seeing your next project!
very encouraging to hear!
3:25 Celtic warriors fighting naked is described by Polybius, Livy and Diodorus among others. Celts might have invented the mail, but it was always very expensive thing, and especially in less populated and developed regions of Celtic world, it would mostly be chieftains who could afford coats of mail. Let alone some ceremonial bronze helmets and shields. So if one could, at most afford some primitive breastplate, he could just as well go naked for various reasons.
And woad riders are supposed to be raiders exactly, one of the cheapest unique units by gold cost.
Similarly, in actual medieval period, majority of Scottish infantrymen wouldn't be able to wear much or any armor either, and various lightly armed skirmishers would be popular too.
So while units is definitely gimmicky, and woad should go, it's not that bad.
Samurai is arguably about as problematic, with no horse, bow, polearm, just running around with sword. Guess they've just wanted another infantry UU.
Reports about Celtic warriors fighting naked are always - as far as I know - made about Gaul Celts (i.e. in France). But the game makes clear that the Celts in AoE are Scottish Celts around year 1300. I.e. around 1000 years later and 1000 km more up north. I strongly doubt that William Wallace & Co went into battle bare-chested.
its one of the problems with choosing "Celts" as a civ. It is just a veeery wide term
@@armchairsaurus There are accounts of Picts fighting naked, and obviously were famous for painting themselves and tattoos, whether their names comes from it or not.
Picts of course inhabited modern Scotland and are most likely one of major ancestors of modern Scots, so it was obvious inspiration.
Even if their body paint and nakedness is very anachronistic, if AoE 2 is supposed to take place after ~800 AD naturally.
Guess it's alternative timeline, with those customs surviving longer.
@@lscibor From what I found, it seemed that picts fighting naked (or being painted in the first place) really can not be taken as a fact. More like maybe-yes-maybe-no. There are many things, historians are debating so nobody (and especially not a UA-cam video) will every be undisputably correct about certain things
@@lscibor The naked warriors weren't from Scotland, they were gallic and were called gaesatae. Fun fact:they are an actual unit in age online but they use clothes.
Fun fact: The Visigoths did have a soldier called a Gardingo which functioned very similarly to Nordic and Saxon Huskarls. So, if you just changed the unit name to that...
simply renaming would actually fix a lot of units and in particular techs
I think the Woad raider isn't based upon historical accuracy, but is based upon the Celtic belief that they wanted their body to have as much contact with the earth when they died. The more of their skin contacted the earth, the more of their soul could escape to the afterlife. That's why the Romans noticed it and we picture savage barbarians almost naked. And what's more "I'm naked and going to war" than donning war paint? Make the color of the warpaint blue to symbolize Scotland and boom! You have the Woad Raider.
This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the video though, Armchairasaurus! Quite excited that UA-cam recommended this to me.
I'd love playing Celts with this historically accurate unique unit. Please someone make the mod!
celts shloud have some kind of war wagon probably too :D
Look at the rome at war mod
Someone made a mod ages ago, replacing the model with a gallowglass
It would be still ridiculously inaccurate since it has been hundreds of years since these celts had been decimated and so did most of their material culture, looks and armor
@@godoforder1828 lol no, its quite easily stated these Celts in AoE 2 represent Scots and Irish peoples, the same way the Sicilians are pretty much Normans. But even more direct, even if they were not the Celts were contemporaries to other civs in the game like goths, early Franks and the huns, it's plausible to have them
nice! many hidden jokes and subtle hints
That sarcasm when introducing the samurai was just... *chef's kiss*
kinda weird that the Samu is so well known in western society despite being so far away. In comparison for example to the cataphract
HAHA the horse head on the Cataphract was hilarious. Look forward to part 2!
The ‘Arrows vs Armory’ crew over on Tod’s Workshop channel will have something to say about the statement about English longbowmen prioritizing range over accuracy. Great video in general though. Generally solid facts here, and love the topic in general. Stoked for next part.
I'm happy to see you had less than 1000 subs 2 days ago and you gained 800 in no time. Amazing work, and can't wait for the full civilizations.
always excited to see your new uploads! the war wagon will be an interesting teardown
Love the visuals and audio you do!
Thanks for another cool upload! Keep ‘em coming.
I always love seeing videos about age of empires and medieval history. Glad to see someone sharing my interest, I will be watching your career with great interest
Subscribed! Excited to see the rest of the parts.
Such a treat of a video, nice job!
Love this kind of content! Looking forward to all future videos! 🤩
Hey! Nice to see another series, can't wait for the next one! About franciscas, I can confirm: I own a couple and practice throwing sometimes in summer out of fun, and occasionally it can bounce off a stupid distance! It can be dangerous if not properly thrown as it might bounce towards the thrower. Usually it bounces a large area in front of the thrower after hitting the ground. I can't imagine the psychological effect of having hundreds of axes coming at you in one volley and bouncing over and under shields, it must be horrible.
you are a real Frank
Haven't watched it yet but already know it's gonna be another banger. And digging the new channel branding mate!
Great you like th enew logo Robby
Amazing video, can't wait for more. Also adore the touch of using the aoe1 ost in the background. Very underrated ost
Hey, I've wanted to see an Age of Empires channel like this for awhile. Keep up the good work, and I'll keep watching.
Really enjoyed this, looking forward for next parts!
As always, excellent video. I can tell that a lot of effort has been put into just researching alone.
The thing about the woad raider in my opinion is that the Celts themselves seem like a confusing civilization. I guess the game is trying to make them represent medieval Scotland and maybe Ireland as well? I'm not sure if it is meant to represent the inhabitants of Gaul, Northern Italy, Britannia and Galacia in Antiquity, but if it is meant to I can see why the Woad raider has little clothes as the Gauls in the Battle of Telamon have been described as wearing no clothes at all. I'm not at all sure why they have good siege. I've never heard of the celts being good at anything of the sort. My only thought about the celts having good siege is maybe the fact that they managed to sack Rome in 390 BC (and perhaps balance wise too).
You indicated that the Huskarl for the goths is a poor choice for a unique unit, out of curiosity what would you give them as a unique unit?
It should be more accurate to simply rename those unique units, in start, like: Huscarl to Gadrauht, Woad to Highlander Raider/Warrior/Gaisgeach (or Kern for Irish), etc (my previous comment up).
Nations should be given rightful names, instead of people groups like "umbrella term" Celts to Scots or Irish - Gaels, (and even split into more like Indian civ in DE), Franks tribe to French, Britons to English, ...
@@nenadtmn1739 couldnt agree more!
As the comment below already suggested, just renaming the Huskarl to "Gadrauhts". Gadrauhts was the term for Gothic standard soldiers. Alternatively they could have been getting any kind of raiding unit (e.g. a infantry with bonus against buildings/villagers)
well there sure is never another battle ever again after the battle of telamon where dudes fought completely naked
@@nenadtmn1739 you are 100% right! Celts definitely should be named Scots. Celts lived all over Europe back in the day.
I love that Celtic shield, it looks like something straight out of a fantasy
Absolutely loved this video, good job!
Its a good day when I see your videos in my feed
i hope you'll continue these videos, very good stuff
Fun educational video!can't wait for the rest
glad this is in my recommended. very good video: informative, fun, right length,
Informative and relaxing, thank you
I admire the effort you've put into making this
My man is doing god's work. I loved the video, was so informative and fun to watch. Really looking forward for the next part! 🤙🏼
1:24 you re-drew the horse head, ahahaha thats great! liked and subscribed
couldn't stand looking at this model without head
Looking forward to the next one. Just found your channel.
I like your sarcasm when talking about the samurai 🤣
This historical commentary and explanation is so nice. I love this video
thanks for the love
Really enjoyed this video !
Cool video, looking forward to the others :D
Thank you for this! Great content!
thank you for this kind feedback!
I thought this was an old video expecting to instantly watch the part 2, but it happens to be the opposite. Gotta thank the UA-cam algorithm.
I love these kind of videos and you narrate well, buddy. I'm looking into the next one. By the way, in my case, I'd watch it even if it was 30m+ long.
amazing feedback, thanks. I got similar comments a couple of times. thinking about going a bit mor ein detail for next videos
You should make more videos like this and more frequently and I am sure you would rapidly grow. Great content.
Well done. Love the content.
Great content. It was a good idea to build a video on this subject. Thanks for your efforts.
thank you for the positive feedback
You might already be aware of this, but Sandy Peterson did recognize that Samurai were primarily archers, and the original idea for them was a foot unit who could switch between melee and ranged combat, but they were unable to implement it back in 1999. The Bengali Ratha is a look at what we could have had :(
Japanese also get a nod to horse archery as they are one of five civilizations in the game to have fully upgraded heavy cavalry archers, alongside Turks, Saracens, Magyars, and Tatars. (Weird that Mongols aren't fully upgraded but do Mangudai need to be even better?)
yep i'm aware but skipped it to keep the video concise. Maybe should have mentioned it
Dropped a sub, nearly at 2k already
UA-cam actually doing its job for once and recommending something interesting
awesome to hear:)
Absolutely loved this video, man, well done. I've read about the celts and other things in the game, only to realize I know absolutely nothing about the Goths. They have quite an interesting history it seems
its one of the craziest sequence of events. really a rabbit hole to dig into
The samurai was intended to have a bow and a sword, and to switch from one to the other in a similar fashion to the Rathas. But they could not implemented because of limitations of the engine (Sandy Petersen, the original head developer of AoE2, mentioned it in an interview)
Yep I thought about covering this but removed it to keep the video concise and sexy
One of the most interest video about Aoe 2 and the history of civilazations
I love the video idea and execution! AOE among other things definitely got my brother and I into world military history.
I subbed, liked, wrote a comment and edited it as the the intro finished.
Subscribed because of the interestingly put Goth history lesson
When making this, it sparked the ideo to do a video dedicated about this only. The history of the goths is a true rollercoaster ride and deserves a Holiwood movie. But first ill focus on this series
I don't know why the algorithm sent me here, but I'm very grateful. Looking forward for the next video! Greetings from Mexico
Thanks to you and the Algorithm
Thank you so much for historical knowledge.
Very much welcome. You are very polite
@@armchairsaurus yes! Age of empire 2 is a historical infomation for study.
Great video!
Fuck son you get my legit historian seal of approval, you knocked this one outta the park! HUZZAH first fave and like of the year!
splendid! what an honour:)
Finally found a good channel from the start of it
Awesome video. The aoe1 music is the cherry on the top
I knew about Huskarls thanks to the Age of Empires wiki
I also knew Woad Raiders were way outside the time period (so are throwing axemen, by the way)
yep there are many inaccuracies. to go into all would make each unit a 10 min video. So ill cover the major items. And im generous to give 5 stars, after all its a game not a history simulator
Please keep making more content like this👍👍
Just discovered this channel, and greatly enjoying the content. Happy to see that at least 1.7 thousand others agree :)
Im looking forward to seeing my favorite Civs in the next video
The Woad Raider have some pretty stylish pants ya gotta give them that.
Looking forward to part 2.
in spanish history a gothic equivalent to Huskarls is known from the visigothic period, but they were called 'Gardingos'
if the Goth UU was called like that, I would have had much less reason to complain
As someone who's Dad is into Axe/Knife throwing and has tried it a good bit, lmfao at the size of that Francesca in game. Even an incredible strong person would barely be able to throw something that big a few feet
You got a new subscriber 👏
Quality research delivered in an entertaining way. The rest of the AoE channels should look at this as a maxim for delivering AoE content 😉! Also very much looking forward to the SEA-civs‘ unique units🎉
thanks for the high praise
Great editing
Excelente video. Greetings from Perú. Looking forward for parte 2
Greetings back to Perú
Great video! Out of curiosity, what units would you recommend for the Goths, Chinese and the Celts? I would rename the later as "Gaels" and give the Gallowglass ad unique unit
Goths: Gadrauhts
Celts: Gaisgeach or Gallowglass
Chinese: I think the Chu Ko Nu is a good choice to be honest and I can understand why the unit is designed as it is. With my videos I dont want to say that the Units should be different. I just want to give a bit context and satsify curiosity (also my own)
Patiently waiting for the "very friendly intro" :)
thanks for the patience:)
Nice video! Hope for more. Bye bye tarkan
AMAZING VIDEO, PLEASE PLEASE CONTINUE THIS SERIES. 💞💞💞
I will. already did quite some reseach on the next 7
Your videos are so good
Interesting and fun analyses as always, well done!
About those unique units, I find it more accurate to simple rename them in the proper (mother language / native) names, like: Cataphract to Kataphraktos, Wood to Highlander Raider/Warrior/Gaisgeach (or Kern for Irish), Gothic "Huscarl" to Gadrauth, Throwing to Francisca Hache Axeman, etc.
And for your next review: "Saracens" are not good presented... They should be reworked and split into more peoples (just like with Indians in more groups). Mamluk is a heavy cavalry for Egyptians - Mɑsˤr / Ayyubids / Mamluk Sultanate, while Syrians and Arabs can use Camel unit Knife Thrower...
Best Regards and keep up the good work!👍
Completely agree with the renaming.
Yes "Saracens" is not a name for a specific tribe or empire. It is a umbrella term. In my next video I will however not go into this deeply (as the videos are about the units themselves, and not the civs) and only point out the Mamlukes were everything else than what is shown in the game
"I'm a big fan of Celtic woad...how else will centuwions march?" - Bigguth Dickuth, c.43AD
"Unless you are a scholar of Japanese history, you must have never heard of Samurai before"
My Hordes of Weebs! Awaken!
Missed opportunity to call them "Woad Warriors." 😉
I loled so hard at Tarkan. Everyone looked at me in the office.
I... I just couldn't explain it.
yep thats a tough one to explain...where to even start?
I'm surprised that the Samurai being exclusively a swordsman didn't cost any points, were sword-only Samurai common later on?
From my understanding yes, later on. But others have pointed this out before and I agree I should have given 4 only. Just forgot to revise
According to Sandy Peterson (one of lead designers of AoE 2). The team had originally planned for samurai to be able to switch between a bow and sword but they ran into many technical issues which made them scrap the idea.
They managed to use it in the definitive editon's latest expansion with the ratha chariots.
There WERE examples of celts fighting baked, but they were the exception, not the rule, and they were ACTUALLY naked, though they did use actual shields.
baked from smoking too much woad?:)
Hello, I think the thinking now is that longbowmen actually prioritized accuracy and a flat trajectory over range. Archery test using realistic longbows with 160lb draw, and French armor showed that they easily defeated arrows shot at them. The only way to defeat an armored warrior was aiming for a vulnerable area like eyes, neck, and places not covered by plate armor. Below is a link to the armor test I mentioned. ua-cam.com/video/DBxdTkddHaE/v-deo.html
I know that video. Have seen it a while ago. The test is great but I think the conclusion that longbowmen prioritized accuracy is the wrong conclusion. Because even when shot flat and not in an ark, arrows cant pierce plate armor. And aiming at eye-slits is just not realistic in a battle scenario. When longbows were fighting against knights, I think the primal goal was to injure the horses. There are accounts from the first crusade, which imply that the knights -when under arrowfire- were mainly concerned about their horses
Yeah, I'm sure they did both as needed in reality. However in large scale battles they would literally fire millions (that they brought with them on carts!) of arrows at around 200 to 300 yards out and just shower the enemy. Think 5000 longbows firing 6 arrows a minute.. 30000 arrows per minute. It's gotta be decimating and demoralizing. They also didn't care if they hit horses or whatever either.
I like the 武士道Japanese part ;) sehr interessant 👏
Also looking forward to you covering the Thirisadai, a unique unit that's so wrong in just about every way humanly possible.
Yep. The Woad on Water
How long does it take to make these videos? The combination of research and something like the thumb ring showcase last video seems like a lot of work you deserve way more subscribers
well you can tell from my upload pattern how long it takes. But if I count the hours I think approx 75-100h per video
@@armchairsaurus dang that’s a lot of dedication
What is interesting is that "woad" warrior comes from the "woad" flower used in blue-painting the faces (also clothes, etc and also having healing effect on wounds) which word is related to weed - which in turn seems like a version of Hungarian / Scythian term "vad" just meaning "wild" as in those are not "cultivated" plants.
Unpopular opinion:
The knight-line should be a regional unit for those civs who actually had knights or a similar warrior class in the high and late middle ages. That would be mostly the european and middle east civs. The knight-line could then be replaced by the Cataphract as regional unit for the civs as mentioned in this video. And it could be replaced by the battle elefant for the south east asia civs too.
...and step lancer by some other civs
YES! I don't get why saracens get knights, or burmese...
I didn’t know why the stars were mentioned so late. I didn’t heard the stars until Huskarls got involved. Good quality overall.
I can understand that feedback and was a bit expecting that it could happen. Nevertheless, I made the decision consciously to not mention them explicitly because I wanted to put the narration about the unit in focus and the ranking in the background. I think it makes the video just a bit more boring when I spend time justifying why I gave it x stars
A powerful new furry, eh? Subscribed.
I wish we got the original samurai unit they had planned, who could switch between melee and ranged.
love the aoe 1 music at beginning
Good video, only wish it were longer and more detailed.
Thanks:) There are 52 unique units. It took me now 2 months and a 10 min video to just cover the first 7. If I go more into detail it will take literally years to finish the series:) But glad you are interested in more
@@armchairsaurus Yes I see your point, your videos are high quality but the updating speed is slow as a result.
Unfortunately, it seems that to get a lot of subscribers one has to upload at a certain frequency or the youtube viewers tend to get bored and leave. I'm not talking about myself, but that seems to be the general mentality of you tube subscribers.
@@Thanatos833 when looking at my sub count, it doesnt go that much down in the time between videos. Unfortunately with recent videos it also hardly increased. But lets just see how it goes. Thanks for the sub, Mr Death
how did I never see your content before?! love it man!! mostly do meme strats myself maybe we can do a colab at some point
didnt know your channel either (and I thoguht all AoE2 stuff already gets recommended to me anyways). will check your channel out after work
@@armchairsaurus cool :)
I should point out the "Woad Raider" is in reference to Pictish raiders, who had other ways of Tattooing their bodies (Namely Charcoal), though whether they did this is again debatable. However, it should be remembered that the Picts and the Iron-Age Britains living around England were part of the same culture group, the Brittonic Celts. This doesn't mean Woad Raiders existed, but it does make their existence much more credible- though it likely wasn't really woad. The Picts, notably, wouldn't last until the end of the medieval period. The Gaelic Celts would move in and totally subsume the culture there, forming the Kingdom of Alba, while Wales and Cornwall would become the only Brittonic representatives left.
The Goths may have had Huskarls early on, seeing as they emerged from Scandinavia and didn't actually leave- there were many groups of Goths, you must remember. However- the unit depicted clearly isn't one. I've always thought they should be renamed Gedriht- the correct term for Gothic footmen.
I guess you can say when the devs were designing the Celts, they ended up- taking the wrong WOAD!!! 🥁🦗
made me laugh