They would be a fantastic mining civ, actually.
The problem with the Muisca is that they are regionally surrounded by so many other civs that have their respective supporters. People really want Simon Bolivar in the game, so they want Colombia. People really liked the Buccaneers in Battle Royale so they want the Taino/Arawak. We all still want the Mayans in. And honestly although the Muisca were substantially more organized, the Tupi covered the entire Brazilian coast which counts for just as much as the Mapuche.
I would like the Muisca over Colombia, from a purely mechanical standpoint. But I also want the Mayans, Tupi, and Taino roughly equally. And unfortunately I don't see them including Muisca, Tupi, or Taino until after they've included Columbia and/or Mexico. Purely to avoid criticism that they preferentially portray the Americas in a backwards, colonialists light. You'd need to basically overhaul how the Americas are represented in the Civ series to give the Muisca a chance at inclusion.
So, if I had full control and could consolidate:
- Mexico - combine with Aztecs, keep all uniques and Montezuma, add Agustin I.
- Yucatan - basically Maya, all Mayan uniques and Lady Six Sky or some Mayan leader.
- Colombia - combine with Muisca - derive uniques from Muisca mining culture, have both a Muisca leader and Simon Bolivar.
- Brazil - blob with Tupi, replace the Minas Geras with the Tupi class submarine, add Cunhambebe with a unique footsoldier unit.
- Peru - basically Inca.
- Carib - basically Taino, could throw in some pirate stuff too.
- Chile/Argentina/Araucania-Patagonia - basically Mapuche.
- Canada - just make Pontiac a second leader for the Cree to rep the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe. The mekewap and wigwam are basically cognates and I have to believe the scout could be renamed as well. A third actual Canada leader could be added as well.
- America - Navajo and Cherokee (Sioux? Shoshone?) leaders with unique units. This is the hardest one to actually implement without substantial overhauling since there is such a disparity between film studios and planes and native cultures.
Most of the other civs seem to be named after regions (Nubia, Scythia, Sumer), dominant cultures (Arabia, China, India) and modern national boundaries (Norway, Greece, Germany) rather than their historical names, so this actually fits with the that mentality. Not to mention it only requires the man power to add ONE new civ to the game and merely tweak a few existing ones. I would rename Scythia to Kazakhstan in a heartbeat if I could as well. This is also why I would support a Byzantine Roman alt leader, Atila as a Scythian alt leader, and Maori-and-Hawaii-as-Polynesia.
I'd also like to point out that, in most of these instances, this wouldn't be misrepresentation. Native and mestizo culture are extremely dominant in Mexico, Yucatan, and Brazil, and I actually think it is somewhat dishonest to portray any of these modern regions without acknowledging the native half of their heritage (and this is a lot easier than adding a separate Mexico and Tupi civ). Chile and Argentina have rather large Mapuche populations. Colombia would actually be extremely boring as a civ under Bolivar and would benefit substantially from incorporating the Muisca mining identity. Really, Canada and America are the only strong points of contention against consolidation, and the only reason why we may likely never see many of these civs in either form. Because as it stands, before the Muisca got their turn we're already looking at probably three more civs in Latin America alone that will eat up development time. And if all of the civs I listed were included separately, we're looking at somewhere around 9 new civs for the Americas. NINE. And that's not even including the mini-battle for representation that goes on between the Navajo/Apache/Shoshone/Sioux/Cherokee/Choctaw/Iroquois/Whatever.
I just don't see the Muisca happening without a major memetic movement. Something which hugely disappoints me because of how skewed public discourse is away from several extremely vibrant, unique, powerful American civs. No, instead everyone NEEDS Byzantium. They NEED Assyria and Akkadia so they can play out their tiny little wars with Babylon. They NEED Palmyria because women and Media because coinage. They NEED the Mughals and Timurids because apparently India and Iran STILL don't have enough representation. Ugh. Armchair historians, like armchair anythings, are largely a bunch of pop culture bunk.
