Native Americans

The **Native Americans**, or Natives for short, are a culture group in *Wars of Liberty*. Two of the civilizations that were introduced in *Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs* are now combined under **North American Natives** and were kept mostly the same with a few tweaks, while three new tribes were introduced as the **South American Natives**. As a general guideline, Native Americans shouldn't be used to play in the late game.

## NAN Culture Overview

Representing the Mesoamericans, the Woodland people, & the Bison herding tribes of the American Plains, the North American Native (NAN) culture was originally introduced with the first expansion for the *Age of Empires III* franchise, *The WarChiefs*. Living in harmony for centuries and with no contact with the outside world until Columbus’ historical journey, the dynamics and lifestyle of the tribes changed drastically with their introduction to the European Colonists. Slowly they adapted to the culture and customs of their European invaders, but this was not without the loss of blood.

As a whole, they play quite differently from Europeans, having unique perks and each civilization varies greatly from each other despite being in the same culture. Each civilization provides different strengths and challenges and has unique units and building sets. The Haudenosaunee were known for leveraging European technology, and the Lakota for developing superior horsemanship. Reflecting this in game, the Haudenosaunee is the only NAN civilization to have access to artillery units while the Lakota can field powerful armies of cavalry units.

They also have much fewer buildings, with the War Hut combining the Barracks and Outpost, which trains and upgrades infantry while also firing arrows at enemies, and the Farm combining the Mill and Livestock Pen. The Corral replaces the Stable, and the Siege Workshop replaces the Artillery Foundry, but they work the same way.

Their strong adherence to their beliefs is represented by their unique building: the Fire Pit, which villagers can be tasked on to dance. As you Age up you will unlock more dances, the dances provide strong bonuses and can train special units; the more villagers that dance at a Fire Pit, the more effective the effect will be. Most buildings of the NANs typically have one Big Button tech, which is related in some way to what the building accomplishes, and these provide powerful military or economic upgrades.

They upgrade their units the same way as Europeans, and are called Elite, Champion, and Legendary.

As of update 1.0.15, the developers decided to remove the Aztecs from the game due to timeline concerns (the game's timeline is 1789-1914). Older plans involved replacing them with a Nahuas civilization, but that seems to no longer be happening based on their responses on Discord when asked about the Aztec replacement.

## SAN Culture Overview

The South American Natives (SAN) were introduced in *Wars of Liberty*, taking over from their respective minor tribes in the original game. They share most of their buildings with the NANs, but their War Chiefs can't convert treasure guardians and each of the three SAN civilizations has a unique playstyle: The Inca use gold for nearly everything and have emphasis on speed, the Mapuche have their Tribal Council as units from which they can send shipments and have strong cavalry, and the Tupi don't use coin for anything and have three different villagers.

The SANs don't have access to the Fire Pit; instead, they have the Monument. Villagers can be tasked to it to pray, generating  Faith, and it can be used to call upon the Powers of Nature, abilities that can either weaken the enemy's economy or boost yours, or damage units and buildings in targeted areas.

They upgrade their units the same way as Europeans and NANs, except for the Inca, and are called Experienced, Heroic, and Chosen.

## Features

* **War Chiefs**: The Native Americans lack Explorers, and instead have War Chiefs who are generally more powerful than Explorers and have special abilities and special auras which vary according to the civilization. The War Chiefs of the North American Natives all have the **Nature Friendship** ability which allows them to convert treasure guardians to their side. The War Chiefs of the South American Natives are more unique, including from each other. The Tupi Chief is the only one that can convert guardians like the NANs and has the *Poison Arrow* power, the Sapa Inca heals units, cannot attack and instead trains Envoy-like units to fight for him, and the Mapuche have their entire Tribal Council as units, ultimately having 5 Explorers but without any abilities or auras.

* **Big Button Techs**: Most Native American buildings have a unique Big Button Technology which provides powerful improvements, units, or resources.

* Unique Buildings:
	+ **Fire Pit**: The Fire Pit is the unique building of the North American Natives. The Fire Pit is where a player’s villagers perform different ceremonial dances, each providing its own specific benefit. If one directs a villager to the Fire Pit, the villager will automatically begin a ceremonial dance. For example, a Gift dance increases the rate at which your civilization accumulates Experience. The more villagers you have dancing, the more effective the dance. Some dances spawn military units over time. The Alarm dance spawns Warriors — a militia-like unit that slowly degrades. The Lakota has a dance to spawn Dog Soldiers, while the Haudenosaunee can spawn Travois to build with.
	+ **Monument**: The Monument is the unique building of the South American Natives. It's a large totem from which a religion can be chosen and where villagers can be tasked to pray, much like the Temple. In addition to religious improvements, the Monument grants Powers of Nature. These Powers are similar to the abilities the Asians obtain from Wonders, and these powers can be used to affect your or your enemy's economy or military. The SANs get access to one Power of Nature per Age, each SAN civilization has access to three unique powers as well as two additional powers that are shared across all the civilizations.

* **Aging-up**: The Age-up of Native Americans is slightly different from that of other cultures. Instead of choosing different politicians for different ages, they get to choose from a 5-member Tribal Council. A Council member can be selected once only, and thus with each Age-up the choice of Council members decreases. With each Age-up, the cost and the bonus provided by the Council member also increases, for instance a Council member could offer a 5% bonus if selected for Age II and if you wait to choose them in Age III or later the bonus would be bigger.

## Portals

* Civilizations
* Minor Allies
* Religions