Etruscan

The Etruscans are a minor faction in the game and one of the earlier enemies of Rome.
They were presented at 33. Etruscan Mini Faction, Roman Capital City Vanity development blog in Project Celeste forum.
==Development==
:When Robot Entertainment was originally building AoEO, the plan was for every Building to have a separate model in each Age. They ultimately abandoned this approach (perhaps because of the additional strain on development). In fact, a number of those early drafts of Greek and Egyptian Buildings found their way into the game in the form of the existing factions. But we discovered that many others are unused and hiding in the files.
:Now these hidden Buildings are all slightly unfinished, but it really did not take the lads much time to reskin a couple of them and repurpose them for our new faction, the Etruscans.
:As you can see, one of the first things that had to be done to these models was changing their Wood color to match that of the Romans' existing Wooden constructs and machinery.
:Historically, the Etruscans were a civilization that predated the Romans and occupied northern Italy (near modern Tuscany -- thus the name). Rome grew up in the shadow of the Etruscans. While the Romans would later conquer them, the Etruscans dominated the Romans for several centuries. When they finally conquered the Etruscans, in true Roman fashion, the Romans did almost everything in their power to wipe them off the map. They burned Etruscan libraries, shattered Etruscan art, and subjugated Etruscan people (very similar to how the Romans would later treat the Carthaginians, the Celts, and many other civilizations who found themselves on the sharp ends of Rome's swords). Though the Romans absorbed much of their culture and some of it still pervades to this day. We know precious little about the Etruscans but enough to make a decent faction.
:Our Etruscans will have the standard four Buildings. The Etruscans were said to have originated as a Greek colony and overlapped a bit with Greek culture, so it makes a bit of sense for their architecture to mimic the Greeks.
:They will also have three units: Notably, they will have their own version of a Hoplite, which appears to be something all historians agree they borrowed from the Greeks. The Etruscans will also have a Spearman and a Bowman.
:These three units about match the design of the other nonplayable factions in the game and gives the Romans a balanced opponent for low-level quests.
:As far as the Unit models, we also plan on liberally borrowing from existing assets. The Hoplite is a recommissioned Pezhetairos with a new shield (designed by PF2K) and a romanesque helmet that hints at their influence on the Romans and makes them feel a little more of a blend between the Greeks and Romans.
Category:Non-playable factions