A Gentle Introduction of AOE3 Features into AOE2

[Realife_Brahmin]

SOTL video describing the units and techs of the three new 'Indian' civs and the major overhaul of the previous 'Indian' civ into 'Hindustani' civ.

Now one may spam Urumis, Chakrams and Siege Elephants (elite version of Armoured elephants which are battering rams with a different aesthetic) in Age of Kings too!

But what I really wanted to showcase are some of the new mechanics/bonuses the new DLC will bring. These are divided (not shared) among the four Indian civs*:

1. 2 Free vills upon every age up / 200 wood upon every age up. *
2. Mills have livestock garrison mechanic to generate passive food income.
3. Docks can garrison fishing ships.
4. Finally! Chariot unit (Rathas) which can switch between melee and ranged attack stance.
5. Not even in AOE 3! A melee cav which has a 'dodge' mechanic against ranged attacks (no specific details regarding how this works have been provided as of now). *
6. An Age IV 'Caravanserai' building which can be used to speed up nearby trade carts.

Based on the initial reaction on the YT video, people seem to be raving about this 'game-changing' DLC which can increase the limits of what this game can do.

My thoughts upon seeing this DLC: Since the devs are so eager to shove new civs down our mouths, they should just simply retweak existing civs with minor, easy to digest variations instead of introducing new broken civs every month. This way we may get geographically and historically accurate civs but at the same time won't have to dedicate a full-time job's equivalent of time to figuring out what the new civs do. Say, they make Prussia or Italians by creating minor, nilla-level variations from Germany and divide China and India into historically more accurate empires which play almost the same.

* @robo has pointed out that Ethiopia has had a similar mechanic (100 + 100 every age up) since much earlier.
* Hero units (but also other units, including USA Ironclads by sending the Hulks homecity shipment: pointed out by @callentournies) do have 'dodge' ability in aoe 3 too. But afaik units with such 'dodge' ability which can, in theory, be endlessly spammed from regular military buildings are unprecedented.
* The four Indian civs are called Hindustanis (previously simply known as the Indians), Bengalis, Dravidians and Gurjaras.

[callentournies]

[*] Not even in AOE 3! A melee cav which has a 'dodge' mechanic against ranged attacks (no specific details regarding how this works have been provided as of now).

AoE3 has dodge. USA has a card that gives monitors a 25% chance to "block" all incoming damage. It's just a hardcoded x% chance of dodging, can't see how it'd be any different

[DragonFruit]

Also the Japanese monk can dodge with the monastery upgrade.

I agree it would be nice if the next civ has more subtle variations. I'm getting kinda tired having to spend hours just to learn half of what a civ is capable of.

[helln00]

also i think dodging was always a thing in aoe 2 due to range attack not having 100% accuracy

[jonasnee]

i cant seriously see them making a split china.

i also dont think you should expect to see prussia.

[robo]

1. 200 wood upon every age up.

This already existed since 2015 with the Ethiopians getting 100 food + 100 gold every age up.

[helln00]

i cant seriously see them making a split china.

i also dont think you should expect to see prussia.

they dont need to split china, they can just add some kingdoms like Xia & Jin