Playing as the Aztecs is fun

[Zarky]

About the tech limitations of the aztecs : they could of course have diplomats and mines. But then, where do you draw the line ? What about them looking at dead conquistadors after a battle and going "Hmm, maybe we could take those steel swords and use them ? Or the shiny armour, we could try fitting in, looks kinda cool. And maybe those prisoners we captured know a thing or two about how to make them.". They were primitive, not retarded - I bet they could easily figure out that if they put a stallion and a mare together they'd get lots of little horsies to ride...

Well... How many battles Aztecs and Mayans won against Spanish?
And they all were like totally scared about those men combined with this big four legged creatures they thought were gods, So using horse would mean they want to be gods and their original gods would be pissed off.
EDIT: Forgot to mention they werent used to anykind of armour other than leather or clothes, so why start now?
Specially because all the armor Spaniards had were sooo heavy.

[Ars Moriendi]

Well... How many battles Aztecs and Mayans won against Spanish?

la noche triste
Not many, it's true, but how many they needed to get their hands on some armour and swords plus a few prisoners ?

EDIT: Forgot to mention they werent used to anykind of armour other than leather or clothes, so why start now?

Getting their arses kicked by the Spanish seems a pretty good reason.

Anyway, we're derailing from our game context. If we talk history, then it should be noted that the technological advantage of the Spanish wasn't the major factor for their success. Both Cortez and Pizzaro only had a handful of men and no matter how good their weapons and scary their horse were, they would have not succeeded if it were not for their cunning tactics, their american allies (outnumbering them 10-to-1), the aztecs and inca naivety regarding the spanish methods. And of course the diseases they brought with them, which was the final cause for the downfall of the meso-american empires.

In M2TW context - if one european nation could adopt other nation's technology (things like plate armour, horse archery or gunpowder), there's no reason for the americans not to be able to do the same in the hundreds of years that the game covers. The only reasons I can see not to implement this in the game is balance and diversity. And I think I like it better this way.