Update and New Civilization Information news - Age of Empires III: Wars of Liberty mod for Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

So as you may have noticed this page has been abandoned for some good two months at the least. I've gotta admit it, it's my fault, got a new computer, forgot about ModDB, forgot my account, until now.
Hopefully it won't happen again, as next time, the mod will actually be released!

Anyways, this summer's work has been focused on hammering down the last few details for the mod, the last few civs got their gameplay settled, various missing technologies had been coded in, loads of images and eye candy additions to the mod and, most importantly for me at least, new Random Map coding has begun in Earnest, fight all the Way from the Australian Outback to the Sudwala caves in Africa. From the Verdun Gorge in France to the scalding desert of Dallol. All these will be featured in the Wars of Liberty mod.

Regardless of those features however something that caught my attention in the comments section of this mod is so many people asking for this or that civilization to be added to the mod.

As you can see from our civilization cards, we really put lots of thought into the civilizations we add, we want to make them fun, regardless of whether you have an attachment with that Nation in particular, that's why even if we do add many civilizations (which we do) we really are very hesitant to simply add new civilizations due to a simple whim of a person. We don't want to have something that'd be boring, we want to bring a new gameplay experience with each civilization we add and as such we expect not only a good historical background, but a new and exciting gameplay concept to go along a new civilization idea so we can implement it ingame.

While I must insist that most civilization requests shall go ignored, that doesn't mean I don't have some fun on hearing on odd, new concepts, as they always bring a new interesting idea, or at least some food for thought, that's why I'm gonna post here the guide I wrote more than a year ago to, at least, have a better chance of having your request heard:

1. Name: Easy enough, Provide the name of your civ: it's a country? A dynasty? An Empire?

2. Homecity: Once again, quite straightforward in explanation.

3. Leader: Bear in mind that we always choose, whenever possible, someone from the 19th century, mid 19th century most precisely.

4. Religions: Always 2, and have to make sure that they don't conflict with other options already present, but that can be fixed in development, No Religion is always assumed to be available.

5. Flag: Not necessary, but it's always nice to have a good reference as to how it'd look.

6. Language: The soundset it will use, if not present ingame, should come with an explanation of how you mean to get it ingame,

7. Buildingset: Easy enough, what buildingset will it use?

8. Culture: Related to above, what culture it will belong to, depending on culture, it may need some additional features to be explained too (Asians need wonders, Latin Americans an Unique Building, etc...)

9. Unique units and buildings: Should give a brief explanation of what they do as well as an explanation of the historical counterpart, with sources if possible, the need for these will vary depending on culture, Europeans and Latin Americans can perfectly make do with 2 UUs or less, other like asians or native americans need an exclusive rooster of them, NAs always need 8, etc...

10. Bonuses: And this is the important part, as this is what WoL focuses on above everything. It should be something significantly different from anything any other civ does, something that gives this civ a completly unique gameplay. It cannot be something simple as

more LOS or better units or higher gather rates or larger buildlimits

since these bonuses are rarely noticed (ever realized the argentine cavalry is faster?) it must be something that has a huge impact on the game and that can be noticed from early on. Units and buildings rarely do bonuses make, this can happen of course (Paraguay is a good example) but that's when the buildings do make the gameplay differ, not simply an addition that can easily be ignored.

This is a quick guideline to better suggestions, it won't mean anything put through this guide will be accepted instantly, but it'll help. Remember though that if you suggest a civ, we'll most probably expect you to work on it.