12th playable faction

[Jolt]

Pessimistic? *shrugs shoulders* The History is written by the winners.

That's why we all learn the Vietnamese War and its worldwide political implications through Vietnamese official history.

[ThePianist]

Portugal would be a clone of Spain, not to mention the extra language MP3's. So I doubt it'll be Portugal, and I hope it isn't. The Iroquois would be really interesting, but I wonder who still know a word of Iroquois. So probably Denmark-Norway, for the ease of historical research. Then maybe Safavids or the Mughals.

[Polemists]

Still no mention of the 11th faction, let alone the 12th.

Guess CA is late again, only two weeks until we get the entire game, think they could release factions on time at very least.

[General SupaCrunk]

Portugal would be a clone of Spain, not to mention the extra language MP3's. So I doubt it'll be Portugal, and I hope it isn't. The Iroquois would be really interesting, but I wonder who still know a word of Iroquois. So probably Denmark-Norway, for the ease of historical research. Then maybe Safavids or the Mughals.

In AOE3 Iroquois talked in their REAL language, so no problems would be to do the same with ETW.

[General SupaCrunk]

Still no mention of the 11th faction, let alone the 12th.

Guess CA is late again, only two weeks until we get the entire game, think they could release factions on time at very least.

The 11th Faction is Mughals or Marathas. (CA stated only one of them is playable, it was PM to one member of Yuku)

[Polemists]

Pm is a pm, to me it's not confirmed until I see a flag, and a two paragraph of historical text :P

[Fisherking]

Now you know and one to go!

Marathas

[Polemists]

Despite all the arguments I think next tuesday will come down to Portugal or 13 Colonies.

I know 13 colonies should not be a playable faction, I've heard the arguments, but not sure if CA is going to define them that way or not.

Next tuesday we find out, then the following tuesday it's game time :)

[ToeAndno]

Now where did I read that the 12th could possibly the 13 colonies once the RtI has been played through?

[General SupaCrunk]

Despite all the arguments I think next tuesday will come down to Portugal or 13 Colonies.

I know 13 colonies should not be a playable faction, I've heard the arguments, but not sure if CA is going to define them that way or not.

Next tuesday we find out, then the following tuesday it's game time :)

They have said (In the same PM message) the 12th faction is in North America.

[Polemists]

Well I don't see it being the iriquois so i guess 13 colonies it is.

[ToeAndno]

Unless it's something ultra-amazing like zombie pirates

[Lusitani]

Portugal would be a clone of Spain, not to mention the extra language MP3's. So I doubt it'll be Portugal, and I hope it isn't. The Iroquois would be really interesting, but I wonder who still know a word of Iroquois. So probably Denmark-Norway, for the ease of historical research. Then maybe Safavids or the Mughals.

Well considering the absence of Africa, most of Asia and South America(which is odd considering the scope of the game), theres really not much interest in making Portugal playable.
Otherwise it should be present for obvious reasons.

Dont know where you got that "clone" idea, its incorrect to say the least.

And yes i agree with the Iroquois, I would gladly play them. And as far as i know theres still a reasonable number of Iroquois speakers.

V.

[GMaximus]

Damn... If it's really the Thirteen Colonies, I'll feel disappointed. I mean, I can see how it makes sense from a marketing standpoint, and the USA could make for an interesting campaign... But I don't intend to play it myself. It's just a personal prefference, really, but I would've much rather had another middle-eastern empire in the final slot, either the Mughals or Sefevids. That'd make for three non-European main factions in total, not that much since there are three times as many European factions. Europeans are the main point of this game, yeah, but it'd be nice to have more different flavoured campaigns than just the Ottomans (big surprise...) and the Marathas (which are somewhat a surprise, as I definately wasn't thinking about them the first time I heard of ETW; their campaign is probably going to be a blast, slugging it out against the Mughal behemoth... reminds me of Hayasdan/Pontos in EB ).

I still have a small sparkle of hope that instead CA will go for something else as the final official factions. The Thirteen Colonies got their own campaign; shoving someone else onto the spotlight would be nice, be it Portugal, Mughals, or the odd Crimean Khanate. Hell, I'd play the Iroquois and be glad they're playable - now that'd be different flavor.

[Sir Beane]

The 12th faction is almost certainly the US or Portugal. The Iroquois just wouldn't make sense. How can you build an overseas Empire when your biggest ship is a canoe? And if they correct that by giving them SOL's won't it be a little odd seeing a First Rater crewed by Native American Warriors? It's bad enough that the Maratha liely won't have very unique ships.

Either they have an extremely historically innacurate Iroquois faction, or an extremely unbalanced one. I'd rather not see either as the 12th faction. At least the US or Portugal could conciveably compete with the other 11 playable factions.

Just my two cents.

[General SupaCrunk]

Pm is a pm, to me it's not confirmed until I see a flag, and a two paragraph of historical text :P

linderasses PM him for the pic.

[Lucidus]

Well considering the absence of Africa, most of Asia and South America(which is odd considering the scope of the game), theres really not much interest in making Portugal playable.

Indeed. "Because Portugal is not a world power at the moment, historians feel free to give it scant attention. It is a case of history belonging to the victors.The greatest obstacle to gaining a true understanding of the past is our human tendency to read the present into it", says Norman Fiering, founder of the Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction.

That's why we all learn the Vietnamese War and its worldwide political implications through Vietnamese official history

Well, the 12th century faction is almost certainly the US. Which is (historical) odd. I will say it again, history will always be written by the winners.

Portugal ,... a clone of Spain

According to Russel-Wood (Johns Hopkins University), "such statements testify to the ignorance concerning the Portuguese Empire"

[Sir Beane]

People seem to be assuming Portugal will be a clone of Spain because they are geographically close. Which is a really silly way of judging a faction. Prussia is next to Poland-Lithuania, yet no one has claimed they will be identical.

At this point in history there was very little to differentiate world powers. Most factions will have near identical unit rosters, as they did at the time. Portugal will be as similar to Spain as Spain will be to France, or Britain will be to Prussia. Very similar units with different uniforms, maybe different stats and one or two special units for flavor.

The only way to truly differentiate factions would be to start making things up. And we know where that leads (flaming pigs and Roman ninja).

People suggest Portugal shouldn't be in because they were on the decline. But the US didn't even exist. I know who I'd pick to be more likely to win in a fight .

[Lucidus]

People seem to be assuming Portugal will be a clone of Spain because they are geographically close. Which is a really silly way of judging a faction. Prussia is next to Poland-Lithuania, yet no one has claimed they will be identical.

At this point in history there was very little to differentiate world powers. Most factions will have near identical unit rosters, as they did at the time. Portugal will be as similar to Spain as Spain will be to France, or Britain will be to Prussia. Very similar units with different uniforms, maybe different stats and one or two special units for flavor.

The only way to truly differentiate factions would be to start making things up. And we know where that leads (flaming pigs and Roman ninja).

Absolutely.

People suggest Portugal shouldn't be in because they were on the decline

Not exactly...not at all.

Session abstract, next August 4, XVth World Economic Historic Congress, 2009:

The Iberian Transatlantic Commercial World in an era of Reform and War, 1750-1821

Over the course of the eighteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese colonial commerce expanded rapidly with far reaching effects on the region's economies and societies. In the second half of the century, agents of the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns introduced political and economic reforms designed to "modernize" their commercial systems. The Bourbon and Pombaline reforms attacked vested interests, dismantled long-standing institutions, and lifted barriers to trade, all with the goal of boosting Crown revenues, expanding imperial commerce, and reducing territorial and economic encroachments by foreign powers. The resulting "golden era" was abruptly interrupted by the outbreak of the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon and ultimately paved the way for independence of most of the Latin American colonies. This panel explores and assesses the wide ranging social, political and economic economic effects of trade expansion, commercial reform and international war on the Iberian transatlantic world of the late eighteenth century.

I highly recommend this book:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8285.html
"Sovereign and Revolution in the Iberian Atlantic", Jeremy Adelman; it shows how the Portuguese and Spanish empires responded to the pressure of rival states and merchant capitalism in the 18th century.

[USS Providence 1972]

The gamestop review led me to believe America would be the 12th faction in the campaign.

[pyradyn]

Well I do not really mind what it is. Even in the G4 interview he stated what has been true since the dawn. We will like always make every existing faction from game playable. It has always been 1 .pdf file and CA usually even wrote Faction Descriptions for them. Since CA commented on this I am sure they have not changed it. As for Emerging actions well leave that to modders and give them a little more time

[Polemists]

Yes, I mean if anyone is in decline, it's Spain...that's what I find ironic. I mean spain is a major player of this era so you can't not include them but I think Portugal has a easier time coming out of the 18th century then Spain, who has debts, lands they can't keep, and no loans to buisness owners :P

[Jolt]

People seem to be assuming Portugal will be a clone of Spain because they are geographically close. Which is a really silly way of judging a faction. Prussia is next to Poland-Lithuania, yet no one has claimed they will be identical.

At this point in history there was very little to differentiate world powers. Most factions will have near identical unit rosters, as they did at the time. Portugal will be as similar to Spain as Spain will be to France, or Britain will be to Prussia. Very similar units with different uniforms, maybe different stats and one or two special units for flavor.

The only way to truly differentiate factions would be to start making things up. And we know where that leads (flaming pigs and Roman ninja).

People suggest Portugal shouldn't be in because they were on the decline. But the US didn't even exist. I know who I'd pick to be more likely to win in a fight .

Indeed. If anything it is the Thirteen Colonies which are a clone of the UK. They speak the same language, use the same currency, share the same culture; Things which do not happen in two countries which had been apart (by then) for 600 years.

[ljperreira]

Hmmm....so I think theyre done announcing factions (after Marathas). And of course, its been said that Portugal is definately not on that list. Im very disapointed. I mean, Portugal wasnt even included in MTW, in MTWII they were just added as an extra Kingdom to steamroll (Spanish accents, and Conquistadores??!!). Now it seems Portugal is being swept under the rug again...just another nation to steamroll, again. Im actually a bit offended. I know I shouldnt take it personally, but you know....

[ArtillerySmoke]

I voted for the Persian Empire and then got to thinking about conducting guerilla warfare with a native american faction and changed my mind.

That's just too cool to pass up.

I see some of the objections to this, but I think the solution would be giving that faction unique victory conditions. Yes Beane, I'm looking at you lol. You're right, it would be ridiculous to see SOL's full of Native Americans.

[Polemists]

Well clearly there is no 12th faction, (Unless you consider the 13 colonies)

A native american faction would be interesting, but will have to be a mod it looks like.

[Sir Beane]

Well clearly there is no 12th faction, (Unless you consider the 13 colonies)

A native american faction would be interesting, but will have to be a mod it looks like.

Check out the screenshots here http://uk.media.pc.ign.com/media/958/958390/imgs_1.html. Under the 'Major Nations' tab in the Diplomacy menu screenshot it lists the 11 factions we know so far plus the Mughal Empire. Which is interesting.

[Fisherking]

Not quite what you meant to show!

Try this one instead.


http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/958...page=mediaFull

[Lucidus]

. Im actually a bit offended. I know I shouldnt take it personally, but you know....

Well, Portugal was a Minor nation during the 18th century, and Poland-Lithuania and the Mughals Major empires.

[Sir Beane]

Well, Portugal was a Minor nation during the 18th century, and Poland-Lithuania and the Mughals Major empires.

Portugal were much, much less minor than the US though. In fact at the start of the game they have one of largest overseas Empires and were quite powerful.