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- Culture groups and subcultures
Culture groups and subcultures
Four culture groups decide how you fight; sixteen subcultures show who you are.
On this page
The development build already has the four culture groups with their special units, prices and rates; see Choosing a culture. The special commands and formations, subcultures, Great Works and the groups' own art are not in it yet.
Four culture groups#
| Culture group | How it fights | Special | Special units | Great Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin Kingdoms | Hold and smash: castles, heavy infantry, crossbows and shock cavalry | Lance Charge | Knight Retinue, Arbalester | Grand Cathedral |
| Eastern Realms | Form and endure: discipline, combined arms and positional warfare | Shield Wall | Cataphract, Shield Guard | Imperial Sanctuary |
| Sultanate Realms | Trade and maneuver: roads, markets, long-distance trade and flexible forces | Harass | Guard Cavalry, Composite Archer | Grand Foundation |
| Steppe Confederacies | Raid and outmaneuver: mobility, scouting, raiding and pillage; weakest at static defense | Feigned Retreat | Horse Archer, Steppe Lancer | Great Ordu |
Each group has its own architecture through the four ages, its own music and one narrow partner bonus in trade.
Sixteen subcultures#
| Culture group | Subcultures |
|---|---|
| Latin Kingdoms | Frankish, English, Imperial German, Nordic |
| Eastern Realms | Byzantine, Rus', Georgian, Bulgarian |
| Sultanate Realms | Andalusi, Maghrebi, Levantine-Egyptian, Persianate |
| Steppe Confederacies | Mongol, Cuman-Kipchak, Oghuz, Khitan |
A subculture changes clothing, heraldry, voices, decorative architecture, its variation of the group's music and the model of its Great Work. It plays exactly like the rest of its group, so choosing Frankish instead of English never means learning another build order.
In a match, the culture group tells you how an opponent broadly fights, the subculture tells you who they are, and their doctrines tell you what they are doing this time.
See Choosing a culture for how the four groups differ in the current development build.