• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to Receive Extensive Rework of Persian Civilization

T0@st

News Editor
Joined
Mar 7, 2023
Messages
2,077 (3.38/day)
Location
South East, UK
Accompanying The Mountain Royals expansion will be an update including a massive rework of the Persian civilization! This update will be available to everyone who owns the base game of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, whether you have purchased the upcoming The Mountain Royals expansion or not. Prepare to embark on a legendary journey in "The Mountain Royals" DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Unlock the rich history and untold stories of two remarkable civilizations, the Armenians and Georgians, and immerse yourself in three captivating new campaigns: Tamar, Thoros the Great, and Ismail.

The Persian Civilization Identity
As more civilizations were released through additional expansions, we found the Persian civilization was slowly becoming less unique and their primary identity as a Knight civilization had become less meaningful. We strived for the way the Persians are represented in-game to incorporate additional design, while representing their rich history, creating more unique tools for the Persian civilization's toolbox. We wanted to provide you with more interesting strategic choices, and ways for you to engage your opponents, all while representing them from the early Middle Ages to late empire.




In this update, our goal was to make the Persians feel special - the way we want each civilization to feel in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. We believe we've accomplished that by making the Persians a true cavalry civilization with this rework.

With that said, here are some expanded information on a few of our favorite changes!

The Savar - A New Unique Unit
Persia's use of heavily armored cavalry has always been represented in-game, yet having the more European-style Paladin always felt unfaithful to the civilization. With this update, the Persians have received a unique upgrade to the Cavalier; the Savar.



Though the Savar looks similar to the Paladin, it is highly specialized in defeating enemy ranged units. Its additional ranged armor makes it more resilient, and their damage bonus stacks with the Persian Team Bonus, making them extremely effective at countering enemy Archers and general ranged units.

However, the increased survivability against ranged units does come at the cost of a lower Hit Point total when compared to the Paladin, making the Savar more susceptible to melee and cavalry counters.

The War Elephant
With the introduction of the Battle Elephant, we found it made the War Elephant feel less unique, and for a unit that already requires a significant investment to field, we want to ensure the War Elephant gets the respect it deserves.

The goal of these changes is to make the War Elephant more prevalent in the Persian unit roster. The Mahouts Unique Technology has been removed, but the base movement speed of the War Elephant has increased 33% by default. No longer will you have to wait as your War Elephants slowly lumber towards the enemy; charge them down!



Continuing the additional improvements, the War Elephant has gained a significant boost to its damage bonus against buildings, now highly capable of ripping through your opponent's base, a great way to add additional pressure. We've also reduced the cost for the Elite War Elephant upgrade, making it significantly easier for you to realize the full potential of these behemoth units.

We always want to ensure each unit has their place in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. With these changes, we hope we've given you plenty of reasons to start training more War Elephants!

Parthian Tactics Available in the Castle Age
Having access to Parthian Tactics in the Castle Age adds an entirely new layer to the strategies available to the Persian civilization within Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, making them significantly less predictable while also representing a part of history we're excited to pay homage to.

The Sasanian Persian Empire that continued the Parthian legacy is an important part of how the Persian civilization is represented in-game. The Parthian Shot dates at least back to the Battle of Carrhae, where the Parthians used it to great effect against a Roman army. Sasanian armies employed similar tactics in the following centuries well into the early medieval period.



Now that the Persians are able to research Parthian Tactics in the Castle Age, it provides a large spike to the strength of their Cavalry Archers, which has incredible synergy with their new civilization bonus, providing extra gold for each military unit they defeat.

This is perfect to help you dictate the pace of the match with early pressure, providing a new way for you to surprise and engage your opponents.

Full Rework Change List
The above were some of our personal highlights we wanted to provide some additional background on. Please see the full list of changes to the Persian civilization below.

Civilization Bonuses:
  • Start the game with +50 food, +50 wood.
  • Town Centers and Docks have 2x hit points and work +5%/+10%/+15%/+20% faster in Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
  • Cavalry generate 5 gold when killing enemy military units.
  • Parthian Tactics available in Castle Age.
  • Can build Caravanserai in Imperial Age.

Unique Units:
  • War Elephant (Very Big Elephant, enjoys scenic trips down the river in a transport ship).
  • Savar (Unique upgrade to the Cavalier, powerful all-purpose cavalry with attack bonus vs. Archers).

Unique Technologies
  • Kamandaran (Archer-line gold cost is replaced by additional wood cost).
  • Citadels (Castles receive -25% bonus damage, arrows replaced with bullets which deal +4 attack, +3 attack vs. infantry, and +3 attack vs. rams).

Team Bonus
  • Knights +2 attack vs. Archers.

Other Changes:
  • (Elite) War Elephant attack bonus vs. standard buildings and stone buildings increased from 7 (10) ▶ 30.
  • (Elite) War Elephant base movement speed increased from 0.6 ▶8.
  • Elite War Elephant upgrade cost reduced from 1600 food 1200 gold ▶ 1350 food 800 gold.


We understand with this update a lot of changes have been made to the Persian civilization. We look forward to hearing your feedback, and plan to continue to iterate as needed. Start the game already!

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
18,584 (2.70/day)
System Name AlderLake
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MT/s CL36
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
I think I've played this game in 2003 on my first laptop, is this possible?...IIRC
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2023
Messages
830 (1.24/day)
System Name Asus G16
Processor i9 13980HX
Motherboard Asus motherboard
Cooling 2 fans
Memory 32gb 4800mhz
Video Card(s) 4080 laptop
Storage 16tb, x2 8tb SSD
Display(s) QHD+ 16in 16:10 (2560x1600, WQXGA) 240hz
Power Supply 330w psu
I think I've played this game in 2003 on my first laptop, is this possible?...IIRC
That was the old game, I dont think you can play it with the modern one. I ran the old game on a pentium 3 550mhz
 
Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
39 (0.02/day)
Location
Delaware
System Name Typhon
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi
Cooling Deepcool Castle 360EX Push Top Mount
Memory G.Skill Trident Z NEO Series 64GB - F4-3600C16Q-64GTZNC
Video Card(s) EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming
Storage 1TB Samsung 970 PRO, 1TB Addlink S20, 2TB MX500
Display(s) Acer Predator X34 34" Curved + 27" ASUS ROG PG279Q
Case Antec DF700 FLUX
Audio Device(s) ROG SupremeFX8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
Power Supply Corsair HX1000i (2023)
Mouse Logitech G604 Hero 25k
Keyboard EVGA Z20 Linear
Software Win10 22H2 / Mint 21.1
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/ac31ky https://www.3dmark.com/fs/27840834 https://www.3dmark.com/spy/28533826
I'm waiting for AoE II Definitive Final Edition - For Real This Time Edition before I spend any more money on this game.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2012
Messages
3,849 (0.89/day)
System Name Skunkworks 3.0
Processor 5800x3d
Motherboard x570 unify
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A
Memory 32GB 3600 mhz
Video Card(s) asrock 6800xt challenger D
Storage Sabarent rocket 4.0 2TB, MX 500 2TB
Display(s) Asus 1440p144 27"
Case Old arse cooler master 932
Power Supply Corsair 1200w platinum
Mouse *squeak*
Keyboard Some old office thing
Software Manjaro
I'm waiting for AoE II Definitive Final Edition - For Real This Time Edition before I spend any more money on this game.
Same. I have AoE II HD. Definitive brings me nothing new to the table except more integration with MS services.... :barf:
 

Space Lynx

Astronaut
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
17,096 (4.65/day)
Location
Kepler-186f
I love playing these old RTS games for the campaigns and history lesson. My teachers were always impressed with the terminology I knew, and it was thanks to these old RTS games.

:)
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Messages
3,890 (0.83/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK
Cooling AMD Wraith Prism
Memory Team Group Dark Pro 8Pack Edition 3600Mhz CL16
Video Card(s) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 FE
Storage Kingston A2000 1TB + Seagate HDD workhorse
Display(s) Samsung 50" QN94A Neo QLED
Case Antec 1200
Power Supply Seasonic Focus GX-850
Mouse Razer Deathadder Chroma
Keyboard Logitech UltraX
Software Windows 11

Space Lynx

Astronaut
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
17,096 (4.65/day)
Location
Kepler-186f

so if I do a battle with English longbowmen and Persian bowmen, will the first wave of arrows from the English Longbowmen take out a good chunk of the Persians before they get in range? this is the only question I have from that video... cause of age of empires 2 :D
 
Top