Warning: The following post is long. If you would like a shorter and more succinct read, may I redirect you to Katsuni's post here.
Good evening,
As the AoCZone drama season goes into full swing again, I realise that I have been a bit inactive here recently. It's been a few months since I posted a topic. I've decided that his time I will do something different: I have always found it peculiar that my real life civilisation, the Celts, is perhaps the most historically inaccurate in the game. I know this game is not intended to be 100% historically accurate (nor can it be expected to be), but most of the civilisations in the game are grounded in a reasonable degree of credible history. What I will do instead is a reimagining of the Celts, based on what historical records tell us they were really like. I don't propose this as a manifesto for overhaul, but instead, as a thought experiment. In part, I am interested by the gameplay implications, but I also think the historical side is very important, as that is what binds the elements of this game together. Instead of a booming, infantry and siege civilisation, I have redesigned them to still be an infantry-based civilisation, but now within that to include foot soldiers more generally (including skirmishers). I also want to take into account the strong Celtic religious tradition, which was very influential in medieval Europe, in contrast to in-game, where the Celts have weak monks. I have tried to balance historical accuracy with gameplay balancing, but remember, this post is merely a what if, not a serious proposal!
At the outset, it's important to be clear who we mean when we say the Celts. First, there is some dispute over Celtic genealogy (which is another discussion for another day). In the first millenium B.C, the Celts spread all across Europe from Asia Minor and brought with them the Celtic languages to the regions to which they spread. Over time, the Romans drove them back until the main Celtic centres were Ireland and Britain. Of course, both Ireland and Britain were occupied before the Celts arrived, so I'm not sure to what extent modern Irish and British people are descended from these Celts, but what is clear is that Irish and British ancestors were culturally Celtic: they spoke Celtic languages and lived by Celtic ways of life. The first sense in which one uses the word Celt is to refer to descendants of the ancient people of Ireland and Britain.
However, there is a second degree of clarification needed, as the Celtic languages underwent a split (the precise time and type of which is not completely agreed upon). Somewhere along the line, we ended up with insular (as opposed to continental) Celtic languages divided along the Goidhelic and Brittonic branches. The Goidhelic branches were and are spoken by the Irish, the Scottish and the Manx, the Brittonic branches spoken by the Welsh, the Cornish and the Bretons. In a sense, the Britons of Age of Empires II can be said to be Celts, but of the British branch, as the Welsh were Britons every bit as much as the English were and still are. However, this is not the way the term Celt is colloquially used. What we (and the game) means by the Celts is to say the Irish and the Scottish (the latter of whom are closely related to the former - in fact, Scottish is a daughter language of middle Irish). The game leans more strongly towards the Scottish, and I accept that there were differences between the Irish and the Scottish, but I think it is only fair that a civilisation under the banner of the Celts draws upon inspiration from both nations, even if there were tangible differences between them.
The Celts
Infantry Civilisation - This is exactly as it says in-game - the bulk of Celtic armies was infantry. However, the broader usage of infantry covered foot soldiers in general, particularly skirmishers. Secondarily, the Celts are seen in game as a siege civilisation, but it would be more accurate to have them as a monk civilisation, for reasons that will become clear below.
Bonuses
Sheep not converted if in Celtic unit's line of sight - This actually is a historically accurate bonus: the Celts were frequent cattle raiders and often stole livestock from their enemies. In fact, when I was in school we learned about the Irish Epic, an Táin Bó Cuailigne, which was the story of cattle raids between Connacht and Ulster. The phrasing of the sheep bonus doesn't make it clear that cattle raiding is what it does; when a sheep is within a square three tiles out from a Celtic unit, no enemy unit (including other Celts) can steal that sheep, and if the sheep is possesed by a non-Celtic enemy, the sheep will be stolen. This is indeed a laming bonus! The problem is that this square within three tiles is not the bonus as advertised, so in practice the bonus should allow you to steal sheep from within the entirety of a unit(preferably a scout)'s line of sight. This has applications not only in most random maps, but especially on nomad (though there might be some rules about that). Normally I'm against laming, but Celtic sheep-stealing is legitimate and should be part of the Celtic meta-game!
Infantry (including skirmishers) move 15% faster - As you can see, I have made a slight emendation to the already existing bonus. The developers were spot on with making Celtic infantry faster, as they relied on mobility to raid effectively. However, I would extend this to skirmishers, because the Celts did employ a skirmisher known as a ceithearnach (Kern in English). Ceithearnaigh were normally armed with darts, javelins or slings and went forward to harass enemy formations. If they managed to rout an enemy formation, they could quickly track them down, but if they didn't, they could easily retreat due to their mobility. I think this should be reflected in Celtic skirmishers, who can use this increase in speed to micromanage their way through feudal wars, peppering the enemy's army, chasing down feeling enemies, but withdrawing when the going gets tough. I consider this mobility to be a fair bonus, as Celtic skirmishers will be more dangerous against archers, but are still defeated when enemy troops get up close.
Monastery Technologies 20% cheaper - Medieval Ireland was very religious, with monasteries all over the country. The Irish monastic tradition led to the maintenance of a large collection of Christian literature (including the famous Book of Kells, which is housed a five minute walk from where I am typing this post now). Therefore, it stands to reason that the Celts should be able to easily tap into its clergy and have competent monks, up to date with all the relevant literature, in a short space of time. This would make the Celts very fast on arena, but would be a bonus that tapers out over the course of the game.
Towers 20% cheaper - Medieval Ireland had a large number of towers built around it. Over a thousand years ago, Irish people had to contend with the threat of Viking raids. As a result, my ancestors were terrified of Viper's ancestors! (And MbL's ancestors, for that matter...) The Irish country side has a number of round towers near religious sites, and their purpose is still not understood. It was speculated that they were used as protection against Viking raids, but they don't appear to have been designed for that purpose. However, this bonus doesn't go out the window just yet, as Ireland and Scotland both have a large number of tower houses, which were used as local strongholds. It only makes sense that the Celts are able to erect these tower houses quite easily and garrison them when necessary (though in-game gives you the additional option of going forward in the process).
Team Bonus - Monasteries work 20% faster. Team bonuses in this game are much more limited in scope than individual bonuses. They're meant to be minor so that they scale effectively with the number of players benefitting from them (which is why the Spanish trade bonus is ridiculous). Most of the reasonable team bonuses have already been taken, but faster monasteries hasn't so that would be a good one for the Celts, especially since the Celtic monastic tradition turned up in many places on the continent of Europe where other civilisations live. Monks train very slowly (from one source 51 seconds, but I haven't verified this), so 20% would reduce it to 40 or so, noticeably less time, but still a while.
Barracks - Nothing to change here, leaving out squires is fair considering the Celtic movement bonus.
Archery Range - It is true that the Celts (not counting the British Welsh) were not the most adapt at archery. Archers were used at various stages of Celtic warfare, but it was never specialised in, although Celtic archers were sometimes deployed in foreign armies. However, I would give the Celts hand cannoneers, as the Scottish at various times exchanged arms and soldiers with the French. The Irish also adapted to broader European trends of pike-and-shot fighting, which consisted of a defensive formation of pikemen backed up by gunmen. Hand cannoneers would give the Celts an option against infantry where their archers fail and would nullify the threat of infantry and hand cannoneers from other civilisations.
Stable - Nothing to change here again, the lack of bloodlines is fitting, because although the Irish and the Scottish did have good horses, they weren't a knight civilisation, so it would be inappropriate for them to go toe-to-toe with mainland European knights. The Celtic horse strength is reflected in hussars and paladins, as the Irish hobelars (as well as mounted Ceithearnaigh) were good at raiding, and French cavalry sometimes served in Scotland, which is why paladins appear in the technology tree.
Siege Workshop - This is where we turn everything on its head. Forget heavy scorpion, forget siege onager. Instead, we're going to have siege rams and bombard cannons. The Scottish frequently engaged in slighting, where they sent raiding forces into northern English settlements and dismantled any structures so they couldn't be used to defend with a garrison. This even extended to Robert the Bruce slighting Scottish castles, so the English wouldn't be able to use them if they penetrated into Scotland. The siege ram is a sufficiently good bulldozer to quickly destroy buildings without a massive investment of gold. As well as this, the Scottish imported bombard cannons from France and used them against the English (even to the extent that James II died when a cannon blew up in his face). Bombard cannons would also give the Celts a competent answer against siege, if their enemies decide to use some combination of heavy scorpions, siege onagers and hand cannoneers, a very troublesome army for even Celtic infantry to charge into it.
Monastery - In light of cheaper Celtic monastery technology, the Celts should actually be able to research these technologies in the first place! In-game, the Celts are deprived of redemption, atonement, herbal medicine, heresy, illumination and faith. I would grant all of these except heresy - the one thing a Celt would never be caught doing, especially during the rise of Protestantism in England! On a more practical level, the Celts would get enough savings from the other technlogies that this would stop them from running away with upgrades in the castle age, leaving faith to be the big upgrade accessed only upon advancing to the imperial age.
Castle - The Celts get all the castle technologies, but here I would change the Celtic unique unit. Although the woad raider is good for gameplay purposes, his inclusion is really somewhat out-of-date. The naked war-painted Celtic warrior was more a feature of ancient combat, when the Celts fought the Romans. Instead, I would introduce in his place an alternative Celtic unique unit in the form of the gallowglass (gallóglach in Irish). The Gallóglaigh were a class of mercenary swordsmen trained on the coasts of Scotland and normally wielded a two-handed sword. They were employed as mercenaries throughout the region, but were used most extensively in Irish armies.
Unique Unit - Gallowglass (Elite)
Hit Points - 60(80)
Attack - 10(13)
Armour - 1/1(1/1)
Cost - 30 food 55 gold
Speed - 1.1
Recruitment Speed - 15 seconds
Attack ignores base armour
What makes the gallowglass unique? Unlike other infantry, the gallowglass is gold rather than food intensive, so they don't require a boom to create in significant numbers. They are akin to mercenaries, quick to mass if you have the gold. Now, unlike any other unit in the game, the gallowglass' attack ignores base armour. What this means is that a gallowglass inflicts the same damage on all units, be he a spearman or a Teutonic knight. In order to prevent this bonus from becoming overpowered, the gallowglass does not ignore artificial armour (that is, armour upgraded at the blacksmith), so it is as if every unit's base armour is set back to 0. The reason such a bonus is interesting is because in most situations, nobody has any reason to go for longswordmen, because both knights and crossbowmen counter them. In particular, knights kill them in an efficient manner because of knight's base armour of two, preventing longswordsmen from doing much damage. Castle age gallowglasses would have no such problem against knights. Combined with more agile skirmishers, an elite skirmisher and gallowglass combination could be quite dangerous in the right hands. The downside to gallowglasses is they can't be sustained as cost-effectively as other infantry due to the gold cost, but should the Celts be against an enemy which uses less armoured troops, the champion line would have their use yet.
Unique Technology - Furor Celtica. I must hand it to them, the developers were very creative to translate the passion of Celtic soldiers into more durable siege weapons. However, this doesn't remove the fact that this bears no relation to reality. I thought about a variety of more appropriate ways to funnel the rage of Celts in a productive direction, and I decided to give all trash units plus one attack. Faster Celtic skirmishers is a good advantage in the early game, but later when patrolling becomes more important, it would be good for them to make that anger translate into a little more offensive pressure. This will make a minor difference to halberdiers (whose main function is to hold the line), but will be helpful to hussars, who will receive that extra bit of sting when raiding. They may not be the most durable, but that doesn't really matter when you can make a million more over the course of the rest of the game. I didn't extend it to Celtic swordsmen because I don't think they really need it. I think it gives regular Celtic light infantry an advantage that reflects their higher importance in Celtic war, but while not unduly altering the balance of a trash war.
Blacksmith - Here I would give the Celts bracer and ring archer armour, but not plate barding armour. The increased strength of Celtic skirmishers should be reflected in Celtic skirmishers remaining viable into the late game. This isn't possible without their final upgrades. I think it is justified to withhold plate barding armour because Celtic paladins should be a more situational option, imported rather than bred. Celtic light cavalry were historically used for raiding moreso than charging down enemy formations, so the final armour upgrade is expendible.
University - Nothing to change here. I considered giving the Celts bombard towers (as they did import cannons), but I don't think the Celtic military should be backed up by a bombard tower push. The tower bonus should be used more to enable the use of the standard tower line, from watch tower to keep. Celtic keeps would be a cheap way of consolidated ground while keeping play aggressive.
Dock - Nothing to change here either, beyond the Celts receiving bracer. The Scottish maintained a naval presence of its coastline, but it wasn't the primary focus of the Scottish military.
Economic Upgrades - Once change here: to give the Celts crop rotation. I am in reality unsure if this method was used by Irish and Scottish farmers, but both were fundamentally agrarian economies. The Celts weren't as deforestation driven as the game implies, and from what I have read, Scotland even imported wood during different periods. Ireland contained a large deal of natural gold deposits in ancient times, and there was still plenty of gold during the monastic golden age (pun not intended), which is why Irish monasteries were a frequent target of Vikings. Stone was also extracted to a large extent for the many border fortresses and towers that were present. The second gold and stone mining upgrades are an appropriate way of reflecting this, as well as giving a mid-game boost to the Celtic economy, which lacks direct bonuses (the sheep-stealing bonus being indirect).
Strategy - Very obviously, this Celtic metagame would be very different from the kind practised now. There'll be no more booming into woad raiders and heavy siege, as this was never how Celtic warfare was practised. Instead, these Celts will be much more micromanagement intensive, with a diverse range of military options.
In the dark age, the Celts can use their sheep stealing bonus to lame how they were meant to lame, which means MbL and FeAge will love the sound of this civilisation. An early game raid can provide a good boost to the Celtic early game, but even if the sheep don't make it back to the base, it can at least delay the enemy, which the Celts were good at doing. Celtic militia still move faster, so they maintain a competent dark age rush.
Once the feudal age has been reached, Celtic men-at-arms still have the ability to catch up swiftly to ranged units. Celtic skirmishers can aid as an auxiliary brigade that fire from afar, pursue fleeing archers if the battle goes well and withdraw quickly if the odds turn against them. Tower rushing and tower defence are both viable here, so the lack of direct economic bonuses are compensated by broader military options.
As for the castle age, a Celtic fast castle can be followed by easily-deployed monks, who can either support, defend or monk rush. If there has been a feudal war, cheaper towers can give the Celts a fair bit of room to maintain a good economy. Alternatively, building a castle followed by gallowglasses provides interesting options. When paired with elite skirmishers, their speed can allow them to deal with archers and mangonels, while the gallowglass' anti-armour bonus helps them to go toe to toe with knights cost-effectively. Trash alone tends to come undone against a well-marshalled gold army, but these mercenaries can give trash the bulk they need to hold firm, if the money is there to pay for them.
Imperial age play provides new options with imported gunpowder and heavy cavalry, each with its own situational contexts. Hand cannoneers would help nullify the advantage of civilisations such as Japanese and Goths, who have both infantry and hand cannoneers of their own. Meanwhile, heavy siege is a big problem for any infantry civilisation, so bombard cannons would provide a response there. Celtic paladins may find their main usage in death match, but it helps the Celts not be left behind as other civilisations avail of the heaviest units. More generally, Celtic raiding would give the Celts a lifeline in the late game with a strong trash line.
Balance - Finally, I would ask how this revisioning of the Celts would compare to the other civilisations in the game. The Celts would definitely be at their strongest in 1v1, when they have a flexible military that can respond easily to knights or crossbowmen. In the long run, a Celt could very viably grind down an opponent through guerilla tactics and generate gold through relics collected by easily-upgraded monks. Where a Celt may struggle would be to deal the finishing blow through force of arms, but in return, they are themselves quite difficult to defeat. In team games, Celts might find it difficult to stay relevant in the face of a meta-game based on knights and archers, neither of which are their strongest point. On arena, meanwhile, I think the Celts would place rather highly, the way they do now, but for different reasons. I definitely would consider them to be a tricky civilisation, but very powerful in the right hands.
To conclude, I have had much fun playing the William Wallace learning campaign when I was younger and playing Celts when they came up as my random civilisation on multiplayer, but I don't think their in-game representation does them justice. This reimagining will never make it onto a patch, but that's not the point: I hope this historical reinterpretation will give a glimpse into what could have been if gameplay and history were balanced against each other in a different manner!
Edit: The monastery technology bonus should be 20%, not 40%. This was a typo on my end.
Good evening,
As the AoCZone drama season goes into full swing again, I realise that I have been a bit inactive here recently. It's been a few months since I posted a topic. I've decided that his time I will do something different: I have always found it peculiar that my real life civilisation, the Celts, is perhaps the most historically inaccurate in the game. I know this game is not intended to be 100% historically accurate (nor can it be expected to be), but most of the civilisations in the game are grounded in a reasonable degree of credible history. What I will do instead is a reimagining of the Celts, based on what historical records tell us they were really like. I don't propose this as a manifesto for overhaul, but instead, as a thought experiment. In part, I am interested by the gameplay implications, but I also think the historical side is very important, as that is what binds the elements of this game together. Instead of a booming, infantry and siege civilisation, I have redesigned them to still be an infantry-based civilisation, but now within that to include foot soldiers more generally (including skirmishers). I also want to take into account the strong Celtic religious tradition, which was very influential in medieval Europe, in contrast to in-game, where the Celts have weak monks. I have tried to balance historical accuracy with gameplay balancing, but remember, this post is merely a what if, not a serious proposal!
At the outset, it's important to be clear who we mean when we say the Celts. First, there is some dispute over Celtic genealogy (which is another discussion for another day). In the first millenium B.C, the Celts spread all across Europe from Asia Minor and brought with them the Celtic languages to the regions to which they spread. Over time, the Romans drove them back until the main Celtic centres were Ireland and Britain. Of course, both Ireland and Britain were occupied before the Celts arrived, so I'm not sure to what extent modern Irish and British people are descended from these Celts, but what is clear is that Irish and British ancestors were culturally Celtic: they spoke Celtic languages and lived by Celtic ways of life. The first sense in which one uses the word Celt is to refer to descendants of the ancient people of Ireland and Britain.
However, there is a second degree of clarification needed, as the Celtic languages underwent a split (the precise time and type of which is not completely agreed upon). Somewhere along the line, we ended up with insular (as opposed to continental) Celtic languages divided along the Goidhelic and Brittonic branches. The Goidhelic branches were and are spoken by the Irish, the Scottish and the Manx, the Brittonic branches spoken by the Welsh, the Cornish and the Bretons. In a sense, the Britons of Age of Empires II can be said to be Celts, but of the British branch, as the Welsh were Britons every bit as much as the English were and still are. However, this is not the way the term Celt is colloquially used. What we (and the game) means by the Celts is to say the Irish and the Scottish (the latter of whom are closely related to the former - in fact, Scottish is a daughter language of middle Irish). The game leans more strongly towards the Scottish, and I accept that there were differences between the Irish and the Scottish, but I think it is only fair that a civilisation under the banner of the Celts draws upon inspiration from both nations, even if there were tangible differences between them.
The Celts
Infantry Civilisation - This is exactly as it says in-game - the bulk of Celtic armies was infantry. However, the broader usage of infantry covered foot soldiers in general, particularly skirmishers. Secondarily, the Celts are seen in game as a siege civilisation, but it would be more accurate to have them as a monk civilisation, for reasons that will become clear below.
Bonuses
Sheep not converted if in Celtic unit's line of sight - This actually is a historically accurate bonus: the Celts were frequent cattle raiders and often stole livestock from their enemies. In fact, when I was in school we learned about the Irish Epic, an Táin Bó Cuailigne, which was the story of cattle raids between Connacht and Ulster. The phrasing of the sheep bonus doesn't make it clear that cattle raiding is what it does; when a sheep is within a square three tiles out from a Celtic unit, no enemy unit (including other Celts) can steal that sheep, and if the sheep is possesed by a non-Celtic enemy, the sheep will be stolen. This is indeed a laming bonus! The problem is that this square within three tiles is not the bonus as advertised, so in practice the bonus should allow you to steal sheep from within the entirety of a unit(preferably a scout)'s line of sight. This has applications not only in most random maps, but especially on nomad (though there might be some rules about that). Normally I'm against laming, but Celtic sheep-stealing is legitimate and should be part of the Celtic meta-game!
Infantry (including skirmishers) move 15% faster - As you can see, I have made a slight emendation to the already existing bonus. The developers were spot on with making Celtic infantry faster, as they relied on mobility to raid effectively. However, I would extend this to skirmishers, because the Celts did employ a skirmisher known as a ceithearnach (Kern in English). Ceithearnaigh were normally armed with darts, javelins or slings and went forward to harass enemy formations. If they managed to rout an enemy formation, they could quickly track them down, but if they didn't, they could easily retreat due to their mobility. I think this should be reflected in Celtic skirmishers, who can use this increase in speed to micromanage their way through feudal wars, peppering the enemy's army, chasing down feeling enemies, but withdrawing when the going gets tough. I consider this mobility to be a fair bonus, as Celtic skirmishers will be more dangerous against archers, but are still defeated when enemy troops get up close.
Monastery Technologies 20% cheaper - Medieval Ireland was very religious, with monasteries all over the country. The Irish monastic tradition led to the maintenance of a large collection of Christian literature (including the famous Book of Kells, which is housed a five minute walk from where I am typing this post now). Therefore, it stands to reason that the Celts should be able to easily tap into its clergy and have competent monks, up to date with all the relevant literature, in a short space of time. This would make the Celts very fast on arena, but would be a bonus that tapers out over the course of the game.
Towers 20% cheaper - Medieval Ireland had a large number of towers built around it. Over a thousand years ago, Irish people had to contend with the threat of Viking raids. As a result, my ancestors were terrified of Viper's ancestors! (And MbL's ancestors, for that matter...) The Irish country side has a number of round towers near religious sites, and their purpose is still not understood. It was speculated that they were used as protection against Viking raids, but they don't appear to have been designed for that purpose. However, this bonus doesn't go out the window just yet, as Ireland and Scotland both have a large number of tower houses, which were used as local strongholds. It only makes sense that the Celts are able to erect these tower houses quite easily and garrison them when necessary (though in-game gives you the additional option of going forward in the process).
Team Bonus - Monasteries work 20% faster. Team bonuses in this game are much more limited in scope than individual bonuses. They're meant to be minor so that they scale effectively with the number of players benefitting from them (which is why the Spanish trade bonus is ridiculous). Most of the reasonable team bonuses have already been taken, but faster monasteries hasn't so that would be a good one for the Celts, especially since the Celtic monastic tradition turned up in many places on the continent of Europe where other civilisations live. Monks train very slowly (from one source 51 seconds, but I haven't verified this), so 20% would reduce it to 40 or so, noticeably less time, but still a while.
Barracks - Nothing to change here, leaving out squires is fair considering the Celtic movement bonus.
Archery Range - It is true that the Celts (not counting the British Welsh) were not the most adapt at archery. Archers were used at various stages of Celtic warfare, but it was never specialised in, although Celtic archers were sometimes deployed in foreign armies. However, I would give the Celts hand cannoneers, as the Scottish at various times exchanged arms and soldiers with the French. The Irish also adapted to broader European trends of pike-and-shot fighting, which consisted of a defensive formation of pikemen backed up by gunmen. Hand cannoneers would give the Celts an option against infantry where their archers fail and would nullify the threat of infantry and hand cannoneers from other civilisations.
Stable - Nothing to change here again, the lack of bloodlines is fitting, because although the Irish and the Scottish did have good horses, they weren't a knight civilisation, so it would be inappropriate for them to go toe-to-toe with mainland European knights. The Celtic horse strength is reflected in hussars and paladins, as the Irish hobelars (as well as mounted Ceithearnaigh) were good at raiding, and French cavalry sometimes served in Scotland, which is why paladins appear in the technology tree.
Siege Workshop - This is where we turn everything on its head. Forget heavy scorpion, forget siege onager. Instead, we're going to have siege rams and bombard cannons. The Scottish frequently engaged in slighting, where they sent raiding forces into northern English settlements and dismantled any structures so they couldn't be used to defend with a garrison. This even extended to Robert the Bruce slighting Scottish castles, so the English wouldn't be able to use them if they penetrated into Scotland. The siege ram is a sufficiently good bulldozer to quickly destroy buildings without a massive investment of gold. As well as this, the Scottish imported bombard cannons from France and used them against the English (even to the extent that James II died when a cannon blew up in his face). Bombard cannons would also give the Celts a competent answer against siege, if their enemies decide to use some combination of heavy scorpions, siege onagers and hand cannoneers, a very troublesome army for even Celtic infantry to charge into it.
Monastery - In light of cheaper Celtic monastery technology, the Celts should actually be able to research these technologies in the first place! In-game, the Celts are deprived of redemption, atonement, herbal medicine, heresy, illumination and faith. I would grant all of these except heresy - the one thing a Celt would never be caught doing, especially during the rise of Protestantism in England! On a more practical level, the Celts would get enough savings from the other technlogies that this would stop them from running away with upgrades in the castle age, leaving faith to be the big upgrade accessed only upon advancing to the imperial age.
Castle - The Celts get all the castle technologies, but here I would change the Celtic unique unit. Although the woad raider is good for gameplay purposes, his inclusion is really somewhat out-of-date. The naked war-painted Celtic warrior was more a feature of ancient combat, when the Celts fought the Romans. Instead, I would introduce in his place an alternative Celtic unique unit in the form of the gallowglass (gallóglach in Irish). The Gallóglaigh were a class of mercenary swordsmen trained on the coasts of Scotland and normally wielded a two-handed sword. They were employed as mercenaries throughout the region, but were used most extensively in Irish armies.
Unique Unit - Gallowglass (Elite)
Hit Points - 60(80)
Attack - 10(13)
Armour - 1/1(1/1)
Cost - 30 food 55 gold
Speed - 1.1
Recruitment Speed - 15 seconds
Attack ignores base armour
What makes the gallowglass unique? Unlike other infantry, the gallowglass is gold rather than food intensive, so they don't require a boom to create in significant numbers. They are akin to mercenaries, quick to mass if you have the gold. Now, unlike any other unit in the game, the gallowglass' attack ignores base armour. What this means is that a gallowglass inflicts the same damage on all units, be he a spearman or a Teutonic knight. In order to prevent this bonus from becoming overpowered, the gallowglass does not ignore artificial armour (that is, armour upgraded at the blacksmith), so it is as if every unit's base armour is set back to 0. The reason such a bonus is interesting is because in most situations, nobody has any reason to go for longswordmen, because both knights and crossbowmen counter them. In particular, knights kill them in an efficient manner because of knight's base armour of two, preventing longswordsmen from doing much damage. Castle age gallowglasses would have no such problem against knights. Combined with more agile skirmishers, an elite skirmisher and gallowglass combination could be quite dangerous in the right hands. The downside to gallowglasses is they can't be sustained as cost-effectively as other infantry due to the gold cost, but should the Celts be against an enemy which uses less armoured troops, the champion line would have their use yet.
Unique Technology - Furor Celtica. I must hand it to them, the developers were very creative to translate the passion of Celtic soldiers into more durable siege weapons. However, this doesn't remove the fact that this bears no relation to reality. I thought about a variety of more appropriate ways to funnel the rage of Celts in a productive direction, and I decided to give all trash units plus one attack. Faster Celtic skirmishers is a good advantage in the early game, but later when patrolling becomes more important, it would be good for them to make that anger translate into a little more offensive pressure. This will make a minor difference to halberdiers (whose main function is to hold the line), but will be helpful to hussars, who will receive that extra bit of sting when raiding. They may not be the most durable, but that doesn't really matter when you can make a million more over the course of the rest of the game. I didn't extend it to Celtic swordsmen because I don't think they really need it. I think it gives regular Celtic light infantry an advantage that reflects their higher importance in Celtic war, but while not unduly altering the balance of a trash war.
Blacksmith - Here I would give the Celts bracer and ring archer armour, but not plate barding armour. The increased strength of Celtic skirmishers should be reflected in Celtic skirmishers remaining viable into the late game. This isn't possible without their final upgrades. I think it is justified to withhold plate barding armour because Celtic paladins should be a more situational option, imported rather than bred. Celtic light cavalry were historically used for raiding moreso than charging down enemy formations, so the final armour upgrade is expendible.
University - Nothing to change here. I considered giving the Celts bombard towers (as they did import cannons), but I don't think the Celtic military should be backed up by a bombard tower push. The tower bonus should be used more to enable the use of the standard tower line, from watch tower to keep. Celtic keeps would be a cheap way of consolidated ground while keeping play aggressive.
Dock - Nothing to change here either, beyond the Celts receiving bracer. The Scottish maintained a naval presence of its coastline, but it wasn't the primary focus of the Scottish military.
Economic Upgrades - Once change here: to give the Celts crop rotation. I am in reality unsure if this method was used by Irish and Scottish farmers, but both were fundamentally agrarian economies. The Celts weren't as deforestation driven as the game implies, and from what I have read, Scotland even imported wood during different periods. Ireland contained a large deal of natural gold deposits in ancient times, and there was still plenty of gold during the monastic golden age (pun not intended), which is why Irish monasteries were a frequent target of Vikings. Stone was also extracted to a large extent for the many border fortresses and towers that were present. The second gold and stone mining upgrades are an appropriate way of reflecting this, as well as giving a mid-game boost to the Celtic economy, which lacks direct bonuses (the sheep-stealing bonus being indirect).
Strategy - Very obviously, this Celtic metagame would be very different from the kind practised now. There'll be no more booming into woad raiders and heavy siege, as this was never how Celtic warfare was practised. Instead, these Celts will be much more micromanagement intensive, with a diverse range of military options.
In the dark age, the Celts can use their sheep stealing bonus to lame how they were meant to lame, which means MbL and FeAge will love the sound of this civilisation. An early game raid can provide a good boost to the Celtic early game, but even if the sheep don't make it back to the base, it can at least delay the enemy, which the Celts were good at doing. Celtic militia still move faster, so they maintain a competent dark age rush.
Once the feudal age has been reached, Celtic men-at-arms still have the ability to catch up swiftly to ranged units. Celtic skirmishers can aid as an auxiliary brigade that fire from afar, pursue fleeing archers if the battle goes well and withdraw quickly if the odds turn against them. Tower rushing and tower defence are both viable here, so the lack of direct economic bonuses are compensated by broader military options.
As for the castle age, a Celtic fast castle can be followed by easily-deployed monks, who can either support, defend or monk rush. If there has been a feudal war, cheaper towers can give the Celts a fair bit of room to maintain a good economy. Alternatively, building a castle followed by gallowglasses provides interesting options. When paired with elite skirmishers, their speed can allow them to deal with archers and mangonels, while the gallowglass' anti-armour bonus helps them to go toe to toe with knights cost-effectively. Trash alone tends to come undone against a well-marshalled gold army, but these mercenaries can give trash the bulk they need to hold firm, if the money is there to pay for them.
Imperial age play provides new options with imported gunpowder and heavy cavalry, each with its own situational contexts. Hand cannoneers would help nullify the advantage of civilisations such as Japanese and Goths, who have both infantry and hand cannoneers of their own. Meanwhile, heavy siege is a big problem for any infantry civilisation, so bombard cannons would provide a response there. Celtic paladins may find their main usage in death match, but it helps the Celts not be left behind as other civilisations avail of the heaviest units. More generally, Celtic raiding would give the Celts a lifeline in the late game with a strong trash line.
Balance - Finally, I would ask how this revisioning of the Celts would compare to the other civilisations in the game. The Celts would definitely be at their strongest in 1v1, when they have a flexible military that can respond easily to knights or crossbowmen. In the long run, a Celt could very viably grind down an opponent through guerilla tactics and generate gold through relics collected by easily-upgraded monks. Where a Celt may struggle would be to deal the finishing blow through force of arms, but in return, they are themselves quite difficult to defeat. In team games, Celts might find it difficult to stay relevant in the face of a meta-game based on knights and archers, neither of which are their strongest point. On arena, meanwhile, I think the Celts would place rather highly, the way they do now, but for different reasons. I definitely would consider them to be a tricky civilisation, but very powerful in the right hands.
To conclude, I have had much fun playing the William Wallace learning campaign when I was younger and playing Celts when they came up as my random civilisation on multiplayer, but I don't think their in-game representation does them justice. This reimagining will never make it onto a patch, but that's not the point: I hope this historical reinterpretation will give a glimpse into what could have been if gameplay and history were balanced against each other in a different manner!
Edit: The monastery technology bonus should be 20%, not 40%. This was a typo on my end.