So, you have 781 subscribers. This video was released 24 minutes ago. I got it as a suggestion on my YT front page. It looks like YT is doing something right. Good job. I suspect you'll have 5k subscribers by the end of the month.
@@martijn9568 I doubt it. Seemed to be a bit stuck with Subs recently. I just dont like when RU-vidrs beg for subs in their videos, thus I avoided that so far
@@armchairsaurus Looks like the tables have turned, my friend. I do not think you can say anymore that you're stuck with subs. Your sub cound has doubled in two days. And again, rightfully so.
samurai were originally going to be Calvary that could switch between melee and range, but this was drop do to technicaly problematic for the old 1999 engine. the idea was later revived for the Ratha.
Would be dope if Samurai were created as horse archers, able to fight with their naginata in melee, and if brought down to 0 hp they dismounted instead of dying and kept fighting on with their katana. But that would probably make them OP lol
Let's be honest here. Even if the Chu Ko Nu wasn't as good in real life, there's few units that could have done justice to the romance that the ancient Qin and Han-era Chinese had with the crossbow.
to be fair: there was some sort of rapid firing crossbow that is used in proper military background called Yuan Rong Nu, depicted in song dynasty's texts, it is much more simliar to the in game design.
3:25 Celtic warriors fighting naked is described by Polybius, Livy and Diodorus among others. Celts might have invented the mail, but it was always very expensive thing, and especially in less populated and developed regions of Celtic world, it would mostly be chieftains who could afford coats of mail. Let alone some ceremonial bronze helmets and shields. So if one could, at most afford some primitive breastplate, he could just as well go naked for various reasons. And woad riders are supposed to be raiders exactly, one of the cheapest unique units by gold cost. Similarly, in actual medieval period, majority of Scottish infantrymen wouldn't be able to wear much or any armor either, and various lightly armed skirmishers would be popular too. So while units is definitely gimmicky, and woad should go, it's not that bad. Samurai is arguably about as problematic, with no horse, bow, polearm, just running around with sword. Guess they've just wanted another infantry UU.
Reports about Celtic warriors fighting naked are always - as far as I know - made about Gaul Celts (i.e. in France). But the game makes clear that the Celts in AoE are Scottish Celts around year 1300. I.e. around 1000 years later and 1000 km more up north. I strongly doubt that William Wallace & Co went into battle bare-chested. its one of the problems with choosing "Celts" as a civ. It is just a veeery wide term
@@armchairsaurus There are accounts of Picts fighting naked, and obviously were famous for painting themselves and tattoos, whether their names comes from it or not. Picts of course inhabited modern Scotland and are most likely one of major ancestors of modern Scots, so it was obvious inspiration. Even if their body paint and nakedness is very anachronistic, if AoE 2 is supposed to take place after ~800 AD naturally. Guess it's alternative timeline, with those customs surviving longer.
@@lscibor From what I found, it seemed that picts fighting naked (or being painted in the first place) really can not be taken as a fact. More like maybe-yes-maybe-no. There are many things, historians are debating so nobody (and especially not a RU-vid video) will every be undisputably correct about certain things
@@lscibor The naked warriors weren't from Scotland, they were gallic and were called gaesatae. Fun fact:they are an actual unit in age online but they use clothes.
It would be still ridiculously inaccurate since it has been hundreds of years since these celts had been decimated and so did most of their material culture, looks and armor
@@godoforder1828 lol no, its quite easily stated these Celts in AoE 2 represent Scots and Irish peoples, the same way the Sicilians are pretty much Normans. But even more direct, even if they were not the Celts were contemporaries to other civs in the game like goths, early Franks and the huns, it's plausible to have them
@@MrKhaos0001 Mamluk, also spelled Mameluke, slave soldier, a member of one of the armies of slaves established during the Abbasid era that later won political control of several Muslim states. Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Mamluk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517 - Google.
Fun fact: The Visigoths did have a soldier called a Gardingo which functioned very similarly to Nordic and Saxon Huskarls. So, if you just changed the unit name to that...
I think the Woad raider isn't based upon historical accuracy, but is based upon the Celtic belief that they wanted their body to have as much contact with the earth when they died. The more of their skin contacted the earth, the more of their soul could escape to the afterlife. That's why the Romans noticed it and we picture savage barbarians almost naked. And what's more "I'm naked and going to war" than donning war paint? Make the color of the warpaint blue to symbolize Scotland and boom! You have the Woad Raider. This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the video though, Armchairasaurus! Quite excited that RU-vid recommended this to me.
This stuff is the reason why I haven't quit AOE2. It was my first game I ever played. I'm still learning about stuff about it all these years later, thanks in large part to channels like this. So, thank you! Looking forward to seeing your next project!
The ‘Arrows vs Armory’ crew over on Tod’s Workshop channel will have something to say about the statement about English longbowmen prioritizing range over accuracy. Great video in general though. Generally solid facts here, and love the topic in general. Stoked for next part.
As always, excellent video. I can tell that a lot of effort has been put into just researching alone. The thing about the woad raider in my opinion is that the Celts themselves seem like a confusing civilization. I guess the game is trying to make them represent medieval Scotland and maybe Ireland as well? I'm not sure if it is meant to represent the inhabitants of Gaul, Northern Italy, Britannia and Galacia in Antiquity, but if it is meant to I can see why the Woad raider has little clothes as the Gauls in the Battle of Telamon have been described as wearing no clothes at all. I'm not at all sure why they have good siege. I've never heard of the celts being good at anything of the sort. My only thought about the celts having good siege is maybe the fact that they managed to sack Rome in 390 BC (and perhaps balance wise too). You indicated that the Huskarl for the goths is a poor choice for a unique unit, out of curiosity what would you give them as a unique unit?
It should be more accurate to simply rename those unique units, in start, like: Huscarl to Gadrauht, Woad to Highlander Raider/Warrior/Gaisgeach (or Kern for Irish), etc (my previous comment up). Nations should be given rightful names, instead of people groups like "umbrella term" Celts to Scots or Irish - Gaels, (and even split into more like Indian civ in DE), Franks tribe to French, Britons to English, ...
As the comment below already suggested, just renaming the Huskarl to "Gadrauhts". Gadrauhts was the term for Gothic standard soldiers. Alternatively they could have been getting any kind of raiding unit (e.g. a infantry with bonus against buildings/villagers)
I would really recommend looking into bronze age ceremonial arms and armor, as well as hittite, minoan, and other pre-classical cultures, they had some straight up bonkers styles going on. Trey the Explainer has compared minoan fashion as something out of JoJo.
The samurai was intended to have a bow and a sword, and to switch from one to the other in a similar fashion to the Rathas. But they could not implemented because of limitations of the engine (Sandy Petersen, the original head developer of AoE2, mentioned it in an interview)
According to Sandy Peterson (one of lead designers of AoE 2). The team had originally planned for samurai to be able to switch between a bow and sword but they ran into many technical issues which made them scrap the idea. They managed to use it in the definitive editon's latest expansion with the ratha chariots.
yep there are many inaccuracies. to go into all would make each unit a 10 min video. So ill cover the major items. And im generous to give 5 stars, after all its a game not a history simulator
Hey! Nice to see another series, can't wait for the next one! About franciscas, I can confirm: I own a couple and practice throwing sometimes in summer out of fun, and occasionally it can bounce off a stupid distance! It can be dangerous if not properly thrown as it might bounce towards the thrower. Usually it bounces a large area in front of the thrower after hitting the ground. I can't imagine the psychological effect of having hundreds of axes coming at you in one volley and bouncing over and under shields, it must be horrible.
I thought this was an old video expecting to instantly watch the part 2, but it happens to be the opposite. Gotta thank the RU-vid algorithm. I love these kind of videos and you narrate well, buddy. I'm looking into the next one. By the way, in my case, I'd watch it even if it was 30m+ long.
Absolutely loved this video, man, well done. I've read about the celts and other things in the game, only to realize I know absolutely nothing about the Goths. They have quite an interesting history it seems
You might already be aware of this, but Sandy Peterson did recognize that Samurai were primarily archers, and the original idea for them was a foot unit who could switch between melee and ranged combat, but they were unable to implement it back in 1999. The Bengali Ratha is a look at what we could have had :( Japanese also get a nod to horse archery as they are one of five civilizations in the game to have fully upgraded heavy cavalry archers, alongside Turks, Saracens, Magyars, and Tatars. (Weird that Mongols aren't fully upgraded but do Mangudai need to be even better?)
Knight is also a word that goes back to something like a servant, someone who worked for a land or house owner, then later to a more complex liege system. Modern German still has “Knecht“ which is usually describing a farm hand.
@@armchairsaurus genau, wenn ich mich recht erinnere an meine “old english“ vorlesungen, dann wurde das wort “knight“ ursprünglich sowas wie “knicht“ (in deutsch) ausgesprochen. Mir ist auch noch durch den kopf gegangen, dass huscarl vermutlich auch mit dem wort “kerl“ verwandt ist, also ein “hauskerl“ oder halt “mann des hauses“
Quality research delivered in an entertaining way. The rest of the AoE channels should look at this as a maxim for delivering AoE content 😉! Also very much looking forward to the SEA-civs‘ unique units🎉
I always love seeing videos about age of empires and medieval history. Glad to see someone sharing my interest, I will be watching your career with great interest
I can understand that feedback and was a bit expecting that it could happen. Nevertheless, I made the decision consciously to not mention them explicitly because I wanted to put the narration about the unit in focus and the ranking in the background. I think it makes the video just a bit more boring when I spend time justifying why I gave it x stars
When making this, it sparked the ideo to do a video dedicated about this only. The history of the goths is a true rollercoaster ride and deserves a Holiwood movie. But first ill focus on this series
There WERE examples of celts fighting baked, but they were the exception, not the rule, and they were ACTUALLY naked, though they did use actual shields.
Thanks:) There are 52 unique units. It took me now 2 months and a 10 min video to just cover the first 7. If I go more into detail it will take literally years to finish the series:) But glad you are interested in more
@@armchairsaurus Yes I see your point, your videos are high quality but the updating speed is slow as a result. Unfortunately, it seems that to get a lot of subscribers one has to upload at a certain frequency or the youtube viewers tend to get bored and leave. I'm not talking about myself, but that seems to be the general mentality of you tube subscribers.
@@Thanatos833 when looking at my sub count, it doesnt go that much down in the time between videos. Unfortunately with recent videos it also hardly increased. But lets just see how it goes. Thanks for the sub, Mr Death
@@armchairsaurusthe longbowman's tilted arrow bag reminded me of the same concept they did for the Rogue which i thought was a neat presentation. cuse the two other characters in Diablo shoot very slow in comparison.
Woad Raiders are supposed to be Picts but the Celts in Britain would have been far behind their continental brethren. (Also worth noting that the Celts also were more antiquity than middle ages and the Britons were also Celtic)
Interesting and fun analyses as always, well done! About those unique units, I find it more accurate to simple rename them in the proper (mother language / native) names, like: Cataphract to Kataphraktos, Wood to Highlander Raider/Warrior/Gaisgeach (or Kern for Irish), Gothic "Huscarl" to Gadrauth, Throwing to Francisca Hache Axeman, etc. And for your next review: "Saracens" are not good presented... They should be reworked and split into more peoples (just like with Indians in more groups). Mamluk is a heavy cavalry for Egyptians - Mɑsˤr / Ayyubids / Mamluk Sultanate, while Syrians and Arabs can use Camel unit Knife Thrower... Best Regards and keep up the good work!👍
Completely agree with the renaming. Yes "Saracens" is not a name for a specific tribe or empire. It is a umbrella term. In my next video I will however not go into this deeply (as the videos are about the units themselves, and not the civs) and only point out the Mamlukes were everything else than what is shown in the game
Great video! Out of curiosity, what units would you recommend for the Goths, Chinese and the Celts? I would rename the later as "Gaels" and give the Gallowglass ad unique unit
Goths: Gadrauhts Celts: Gaisgeach or Gallowglass Chinese: I think the Chu Ko Nu is a good choice to be honest and I can understand why the unit is designed as it is. With my videos I dont want to say that the Units should be different. I just want to give a bit context and satsify curiosity (also my own)
What is interesting is that "woad" warrior comes from the "woad" flower used in blue-painting the faces (also clothes, etc and also having healing effect on wounds) which word is related to weed - which in turn seems like a version of Hungarian / Scythian term "vad" just meaning "wild" as in those are not "cultivated" plants.
I should point out the "Woad Raider" is in reference to Pictish raiders, who had other ways of Tattooing their bodies (Namely Charcoal), though whether they did this is again debatable. However, it should be remembered that the Picts and the Iron-Age Britains living around England were part of the same culture group, the Brittonic Celts. This doesn't mean Woad Raiders existed, but it does make their existence much more credible- though it likely wasn't really woad. The Picts, notably, wouldn't last until the end of the medieval period. The Gaelic Celts would move in and totally subsume the culture there, forming the Kingdom of Alba, while Wales and Cornwall would become the only Brittonic representatives left. The Goths may have had Huskarls early on, seeing as they emerged from Scandinavia and didn't actually leave- there were many groups of Goths, you must remember. However- the unit depicted clearly isn't one. I've always thought they should be renamed Gedriht- the correct term for Gothic footmen.
I feel like the woad raider isn't *that* bad. The shape of the shield seems common, afaik axes became pretty popular in medieval Irish warfare (gotta confirm that though), and it is sort of showcasing the raiding culture that was definitely a thing in early medieval Ireland at least (I'm assuming that the Celts are meant to represent the Gaels mostly). Although still, a few things could definitely be a lot more realistic.
nerd here🤓! Actually, the Cho Ku Nu is a weapon for civilians and special missions like assassinations (because of the low power of the Cho Ku Nu they used poisoned arrows), not for actual warfare. So, in my opinion, the Cho Ku Nu would have lower historical accuracy.
Hi nerd, I thought I sayd exactly that in the video? that it is for civillian self defense (at least I researched sth like that). In any case, it is also not true that the Zhugenu was only a self defense weapon. The categorizaton as such comes from the imperial encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng, which is a 18th century work. That means that by this time, the Zhugenu was primarily a self defense weapon. However, before that, it had more of a battlefield role. Also in sieges it was used. There are illustration of larger Zhugenu used during sieges
