IGNPC: The new Asian civs make use of Wonders and Consulates. This not only helps the Indians build up a strong economy, it also opens up a lot of interesting early game strategies, since Indian players don't need to ship the Settler card in order to get started. So I might ship myself 700 Wood.and one Villager, or six Sepoys.and one Villager. Instead, almost every Indian card ships 1 Villager (the Asian civs have Villagers instead of Settlers) in addition to whatever else it ships. IGNPC: What about their home city? Can we expect the same types of shipments that the European countries get?Д«rian Reynolds: One of the interesting things about the Indian Home City is that it does not contain any 'Settler' cards, such as the '2 Settler' or '3 Settler' cards that players often ship at the beginning of the game. They're all big and scary though, and I think will make the Indians very very popular to play. IGNPC: What are some of the cool new units and buildings of the Indians? Do they have any particularly cool tricks up their sleeve?Д«rian Reynolds: The Indians mark the triumphant return of the elephant to the Age of Empires series! And not just one kind of elephant either.there are Siege Elephants, Flail Elephants, and more, all in different and interesting combat roles. Instead they can build a Sacred Field (their substitute for a Livestock Pen) where they can earn experience points for collecting sacred cows and other animals. One other fun detail.you may be aware that for religious reasons Indians do not consume cows and so forth, and so indeed they do not in the game.

It takes a bit of a paradigm shift to get used to the Indian economy after you've been playing other civs for so long, but there are some big rewards. That means you need a lot of wood early in the game, and you need to budget the wood you need to buy more Villagers against what you need for more Houses, not to mention other buildings and units. IGNPC: How would you describe the overall character of the Indians? How do they play? How do their strategies differ from those of the other civs?Д«rian Reynolds: The biggest economic difference for the Indians is the fact that their Villagers cost wood instead of food.

Likewise all of the new unit types are visually appealing as well as interesting in the new ways they function in the game - especially the elephant units!

Visually the Indian architecture is not only very appealing but also quite different from anything you've seen in the game before. IGNPC: What makes the Indians an attractive civilization from a game design standpoint? What do they allow you to do that you can't do with any other civilization?Д«rian Reynolds: India has a highly unique culture and history, and that gives us an opportunity to make a highly unique civilization for the game. This was also a time of greatly increased European contact - once Vasco de Gama discovered the route around Africa, European nations such as Portugal, France, and especially Britain soon arrived bringing opportunities for trade but also for conflict.

IGNPC: Give us a bit of history on the Indians and put them into the historical context of the game.Д«rian Reynolds: During most of the historical period covered by Age of Empires III, much of the territory covered by present-day India and Pakistan was controlled by the Mughal Empire. To find out more about the game, we recently chatted with Big Huge Games' big huge boss Brian Reynolds to find out what to expect from the new Indian civilization. Rise of Nations' developer Big Huge Games will be taking over from series' creator Ensemble Studios for this installment. Titled The Asian Dynasties, the new expansion will shift the focus from European imperialism in the New World to the wars and intrigues of the Far East. Later this year Microsoft will be releasing the second expansion for Age of Empires III.

Age of empires 2 indians