Friday Update: European civset news

Today's Friday Update is an AoM style "There are three things to remember when playing as the Norse" video. Except it's not a video, nor is it about AoM's Norse. What it is about is our European civset, and the following two weeks I'll be going through the other two civsets present in the Prologue as well.

The four revolution civs present in the Prologue; Bulgaria, Florence, Serbia and Sicily

There are three thing to remember when playing as a European civ:

1. all European civs have Revolutions, just like in unmodded AoE3. Revolutions in K&B work in much the same way, but their effects are somewhat more profound. There are revolution civs that simply send units, but there's also those that, for instance, activate techs that normally only become available in Age V. Upon revolting, all Peasants and Farmers will turn into Militia, which are a weaker version of the Spearman.
2. all European civs have the Town Square, which allows them to keep some control of XP production. Peasants tasked on the Town Square will gather XP, making it possible for European civs to use Home City shipments to greater effect. The Town Square also holds the Feudalism system, which gives European civs two powerful techs to aid a particular area of their choice, as each civ gets three different cities or regions to choose from, each with their own focus. The Italians for instance have Breschia, Verona and Ravenna, where the first aids building, the second aids the recruitment of mercenaries and the third aids coin gathering.
3. all European civs have Royal Guard upgrades, which allow them to give two predefined units (or, in the case of one particular civ, two units of choice) an extra stats boost with their Great upgrade. Royal Guard upgrades tend to add strength to a particular area of the civ. The Italians for instance receive RG upgrades for the Man-at-Arms and the Knight, adding to their general versatility, while the Byzantines receive RG upgrades for the Spearman and Cavalry Archer, adding to their anti-cavalry power.

The three Feudalism choices for the Italians; Verona, Breschia and Ravenna

In general, the European civset is very similar in playing style to most civs in unmodded AoE3, with the exception of the Town Square, which adds a new dimension to an otherwise quite predictable civset. This makes the European civs (and the Italians in particular) ideal for getting to know K&B without feeling completely left out from the start. I would certainly advice to make a European civ the first you play once the Prologue comes out.

Today's quote is from Fegelein, who manages to articulate perfectly what drives the K&B team to continue modding; tea!

Fegelein wrote: At least you got your tea. :P

K&B salutes... our own progress. The release of the Prologue really is very close now.
K&B refutes... steam burns. I burnt my hand on some steam this week, and it hurt really rather badly, not to mention it stopped me from texturing for a couple of days...

- Quoted from peugeot407