Age of Empires III: DE - The African Royals (DLC)

The African Royals is the first major expansion for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, released August 2021 from Tantalus Media and Forgotten Empires. It drops two genuinely new civilizations - the Ethiopians and the Hausa - each built from the ground up with distinct unit rosters, architecture sets, and mechanical hooks that feel nothing like the European civs already in the base game. That alone puts it ahead of typical DLC packs that recycle assets and call it a day. The headline mechanical addition is Influence, a fifth resource that runs parallel to food, wood, coin, and XP. You accumulate it by running cattle herds through a Livestock Market, stationing villagers at Ethiopian Mountain Monasteries, or building the Hausa-exclusive University. Influence is then spent at the Palace to unlock mercenaries, Alliance units, Imported Artillery, and the eye-catching Gatling Camel. Crucially, the age-up system is redesigned for both civs: instead of choosing a politician at the Town Center, you forge Alliances with neighboring powers at each age transition, which unlocks a different tech tree branch and pool of unique units per age. Ethiopia leans infantry-forward with Shotel Warriors crashing cavalry lines, Oromo Warriors countering charges, Neftenya picking off infantry at range, and the lumbering Sebastopol Mortar as a late-game siege option. Hausa plays faster and more economic - Griots buff building work rates and unit speed from Age I, Fulani Archers double as livestock gatherers, and Lifidi Knights bring heavy cavalry with dual resistances into the mix. These are two civs that genuinely reward different build priorities, and learning either one takes real session time. The content package also includes 15 new African skirmish and multiplayer maps, five new indigenous native settlement types to ally with at trade posts, and three Historical Battles covering the Battle of the Three Kings, the Fall of the Hausa, and the Era of the Princes. That last point needs a flag: these are standalone scenarios, not a linked campaign. If your AOE3 motivation comes from narrative campaigns in the vein of the original WarChiefs or Asian Dynasties, the Historical Battles will feel thin. The community sentiment on Steam has settled at roughly 68% positive with a 'Mixed' overall rating, and the main criticisms cluster around two things: the absence of a proper campaign, and the civs feeling overloaded with units and techs without enough differentiation from the existing European roster at the siege layer. Some players noted that certain artillery crew models visually reuse European assets, which is a reasonable gripe. From a depth-of-decision standpoint, though, the Alliance age-up system genuinely adds strategic branching that the base game's politician picks never quite delivered. Choosing which alliance to forge at Age II commits you to a specific military composition for the next several minutes - it is a real decision with downstream consequences, not just a stat buff selector. The Influence economy also means you are juggling resource priority earlier than usual, since cattle herd timing and University research slots compete with standard villager assignments. Players who already clock hours min-maxing Home City card decks will find the new systems rewarding once they click. One note for the long-term AOE3:DE player base: Forgotten Empires confirmed in early 2025 that no further expansions will be developed for the game, making The African Royals and the later Knights of the Mediterranean the permanent ceiling on new civ content. Buy it if you want two mechanically distinct civs and a broader map pool for ranked or skirmish sessions. Skip it if a campaign mode is your primary reason for opening AOE3.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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