Humankind - Aksumites discussion thread

[Eagle Pursuit]

Here are the Aksumites

https://twitter.com/humankindgame/status/1229809102836183042?s=19

Emblematic Unit: Shotelai

Emblematic Quarter: Great Obelisk

Classification: Merchant

 

[ehecatzin]

Awesome! was hoping for Aksum myself.

 

[Catoninetales_Amplitude]

Culture context from the tweet:

By dominating the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea shores, the Aksumite kingdom became a commercial crossroads between the Mediterranean, African and Indian markets.

 

[Siptah]

Yes, hoped for exactly that today. Very nice touch making them merchants. Can‘t wait.

AoE2 vibes with the Shotel are also welcome ;-)

 

[mitsho]

Duh, why didn't I think of that alphabetically...

Already looks like a favourite for me, Merchants seems very versatile and peaceful.

 

[Siptah]

We need more general info on the game so that we can speculate what the obelisk is actually for in-game...
I like the idea of shotel being an armor piercing unit.

 

[conorbebe]

Would stele not be a more appropriate term to use here?

Nevertheless, very pleased to see the Aksumites make the cut!

 

[Matthias Corvinus]

Would stele not be a more appropriate term to use here?

Nevertheless, very pleased to see the Aksumites make the cut!

More people are likely familiar with the term obelisk as opposed to stele

 

[Ondolindë]

Its looking good. I'm excited as well.

And I would have liked stele, but understand why they are naming it obelisk; it's the balancing act they have to do which @Catoninetales_Amplitude mentioned in the general thread.

 

[Krajzen]

Maybe we should make a general thread for new civs being revealed? There is not much to discuss about Aksumites here, or any civ really, if we don't know anything about the gameplay mechanics. Or anything really, just their existence, choice of unit and choice of quarter.
Such thread being separated from general discussion thread would also bring some order.

Anyway, I have correctly predicted that civ for second era - not that there were many well known possibilities from Subsaharan Africa before 500AD (the only rivals would be still terribly excavated Nok in Nigeria and Punt in Somalia, or second iteration of Nubia).

It is worth noting that they are named not ETHIOPIANS but AKSUMITES.
That means Ethiopia civ on later eras is still probable. Actually I am almost sure it will come back either in modern era or especially industrial era, seeing how it was the only uncolonized African country.

Fun fact, despite still being very very poor, Ethiopia IRL had incredibly fast growth over last 20 years in real GDP PPP per capita, amount of scientific publications, increase in HDI and gender parity index and many other meters. It is also almost the best African nation in reducing dramatic birth rate. It also has very high proportion of women in parliament (40%!) and very low income inequality.
Give it some time and the oldest African nation may be the king of Africa once again.

 

[Matthias Corvinus]

Maybe we should make a general thread for new civs being revealed? There is not much to discuss about Aksumites here, or any civ really, if we don't know anything about the gameplay mechanics. Or anything really, just their existence, choice of unit and choice of quarter.
Such thread being separated from general discussion thread would also bring some order.

Anyway, I have correctly predicted that civ for second era - not that there were many well known possibilities from Subsaharan Africa before 500AD (the only rivals would be still terribly excavated Nok in Nigeria and Punt in Somalia, or second iteration of Nubia).

It is worth noting that they are named not ETHIOPIANS but AKSUMITES.
That means Ethiopia civ on later eras is still probable. Actually I am almost sure it will come back either in modern era or especially industrial era, seeing how it was the only uncolonized African country.

Fun fact, despite still being very very poor, Ethiopia IRL had incredibly fast growth over last 20 years in real GDP PPP per capita, amount of scientific publications, increase in HDI and gender parity index and many other meters. It is also almost the best African nation in reducing dramatic birth rate. It also has very high proportion of women in parliament (40%!) and very low income inequality.
Give it some time and the oldest African nation may be the king of Africa once again.

If Ethiopia was to come back in any shape or form then the best era would be medieval/renaissance. Not only did the country go through a period of rapid expansion and prosperity, but it also was one of the few remaining christian kingdoms during that time to successfully resist Muslim expansion, which was a feat in of itself alongside the fact that the country stabilized itself for several hundred years after several internal conflicts.

Also, something interesting to note that I had not learned before was that the Ethiopians resisted Ottoman expansion near the red sea, and Zara Yaqob, one of the medieval Ethiopian kings, was featured in Civilization 4. The more you know!

 

[mitsho]

@Krajzen there's nothing much to discuss... but then you write 4 paragraphs, so I guess there is. Threads will spring up and not everything will be ordered nicely. Later on, newcomers will open up new threads and the chaos will ensure... Just let it be, we will find the info we need.

And I don't think anyone wants to open up threads for the ten bronze era cultures ex post now.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

@Krajzen there's nothing much to discuss... but then you write 4 paragraphs, so I guess there is. Threads will spring up and not everything will be ordered nicely. Later on, newcomers will open up new threads and the chaos will ensure... Just let it be, we will find the info we need.

And I don't think anyone wants to open up threads for the ten bronze era cultures ex post now.

Right now, the state of our total knowledge is such that most Threads will necessarily be Speculation or Background Commentary on what little has been released so far. Once we get some examples of actual game play the released Factions, Emblematic Units, Quarters and other information can be put into context.
But examples of Game Play will require that all the Unit Factors, Combat Factors, Terrain Effects, and possibly Religion, Civics, Trade, etc. have to be finalized, and that takes loads of testing and tweaking: stuff that take lots of time to do right. I wouldn't hold my breath expecting anything Soon.

 

[Jkchart]

I'm loving that both Horn of Africa cultures are merchants. If you count the Phoenicians, there are three cultures so far affiliated with the African continent that are merchants so far.

 

[ehecatzin]

I'm loving that both Horn of Africa cultures are merchants. If you count the Phoenicians, there are three cultures so far affiliated with the African continent that are merchants so far.

Don't forget about Egypt, so we've got a Builder one as well.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I'm loving that both Horn of Africa cultures are merchants. If you count the Phoenicians, there are three cultures so far affiliated with the African continent that are merchants so far.

Sort of beside the Aksumite point, but Africa always seemed to me to be historically a good case for very alternate Development from the 'standard' European-Middle Eastern-East Asian model.
As for instances, merchants from the Horn were using the monsoons to sail to and trade with India across open ocean long before anybody other than the ancestors of the Polynesians would venture out of sight of land, and in central Africa they went straight to the Iron Age - even including primitive Steel - without ever exploiting Bronze: a very different "Tech Tree" from what is usually considered normal.

So far, the African Factions revealed are all Horn or North Africa, and all the cultures/civilizations that grew up along the northern fringe of the Sahara (once it became the Sahara after about 3600 BCE) had heavy contact with the Mediterranean and Middle East rather than south into central or western Africa - until the domesticated camel appeared in North Africa after the "Arab Conquests" and opened up regular cross-Sahara trade routes. That means potentially several different and distinct types of African Factions or Civilizations, some of which don't really become significant until the Medieval Era.

It is very, very encouraging, though, that both North Africa and Horn of Africa are already represented in the first two Eras of the new game.