Mirror civi doesn't work anymore... BF 1V1, enemy is host with all expansions, and he picked Mongols, I don't have expansions, I could not pick Mongols because they restrict even AoC civis (very unfair), so I picked MIRROR... Guess what, I got Italians (which was on the pool). Very unfair.
It's worse on 1v1 Arabia if you don't have the expas... Look the civi they introduced:
Ethiopians:
Archers fire +15% faster
Receive +100 gold, +100 food when advancing to the next Age
Pikeman and Halberdier upgrades free
Team Bonus: Towers and Outposts +3 LOS
Anyone with half a brain knows these bonuses are too strong for certain rush strats... Archers fire 15% faster makes them extremely better, it's not a minor bonus, if you know how to micro archers. This +200 resources when you go to dark to feudal needs no explanation why it's op...
Well, it is a basic marketing strategy to get players to buy African Kingdoms. You cant blame them for doing this. Mirror civ will work even in expansion if both of you choose mirror. But you can always play without expansion, join or host on your own.
This. Seriously, you are able to play the expansions *despite not owning them*, and yet you still complain about that?
There is a lot of stuff wrong with HD, but this is one of the things they got right.