Following design rules are up to us, but we consider the opportunity to expand AoEO a privilege so we take great care to try to reverse engineer the mindset of the original Devs so we can pick up where they left off and produce something that follows the game’s natural trajectory as best as possible. Certainly the more content we create the further we get from the original game and the more speculation is necessary and the larger the likely margin of error. Maybe we are 100 percent certain the Romans were next at civ 7. But it’s anybody’s guess who would have been 8 or 9.
If we were presented with an opportunity to continue development of new civs, we would have to choose very carefully. It’d be a discussion lots of players would be keenly interested in. So we would again want to be transparent and explain our reasoning.
We’d start by looking at the original six or seven civs and do our best to identify patterns in those civ selections. Are there patterns observable in the geography of those civs? In their eras they rose to power? In their neighboring rivals and allies? In their historical demographics? In their ingame Units and Buildings and Playstyles? If we can identify any patterns, can we follow them forward and predict what other civs match those answers? Would any make good candidates for new civs? In what ways would those both fit into our roster of civs but also bring new ideas to the game?
It’s a complex dance with perhaps multiple strong answers. I’d be lying if I suggested I haven’t worked out my own answers to many of these. But I’d love to see us all discuss them.
Candidly, much of what has made developing the Romans such a joy is our watching everyone's excitement boil over as we go. Almost everyone bought into the Romans immediately. They were hands down the most requested piece of content for years.
But there’s no close second. There’s probably 10-15 civs fighting for the 8th seat at the table. And if we ever announced one of them, that’s 14 fans who have to settle for something different than they hoped. So if we are going to knowingly disappoint, we would be wise to show you all our analysis. Just like when we cut popular units and blog about their obituaries (like the Veles and Numidian Horseman and Quinquereme), we owe people the respect of explaining how we arrived where we arrive. So hopefully even if some people disagree they at least understand how we decided and see we are doing our best.