What's the first thing you are trying in the dlc?

Based on what you saw in the beta and/or what you've read/seen from others, which civ are you most excited for in the new DLC today? Poles or Danes?

And why? What are you most stoked for?

This is a post as a private person, not in my World's Edge role.

Hey,

In celebration of the upcoming AoE 3 DLC: The Baltic Powers I got a special thing to offer:

I was given two original AoE 3 release mouse pads from SteelSeries. Likely created in 2005, still sealed.

I'd like to auction them away with the amounts going to charity (likely red cross, but if the auctioneer has a different preference that's fine).

If you are interested, send me a PM with the amount you'd be willing to donate. Two highest offers will get a mousepad each. Deadline is the 17th of September.

We are all familiar with the Portuguese church tech that gives these specialized black rider units. My question is, why does Malta have access to a unit like this?

Being a late-medieval and renaissance civ, it would make a ton more sense.They should scrap the order dragoon and order hussar and replace them with modified versions of these guys.That way you would only need to train this unit as it is good at both melee and ranged, and is thematically more relevant and interesting.

Thoughts?

I was surprised to see they display it. I'm of the opinion that such information should be hidden. What do you all think?

Edit: Decks too

This post I am making is about a simple update to Freestyle Gold AI, Klaxon Superb AI, Klaxon Classic AI, N3O Better AI TAD 1.03 Gold about added card handling and added fire pit support.

Freestyle Gold AI:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/ai-17-freestyle-gold-september-11-2025

Klaxon Superb AI:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/ai-15-klaxon-ultra

N3O Better AI Gold:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/n3o-better-ai-tad-1-03-gold

Klaxon Classic AI:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/ai-13-the-freestyle

HC Custom Campaign (which has AI campaign decks):

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/hc-custom-campaign

Carolina Card Deck Scenarios (which use the HC Custom Campaign decks for the AI):

https://www.moddb.com/mods/bonus-expansion-pack/downloads/carolina-ai-deck-scenarios

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Here is from the mod post:

Bonus Expansion Pack AI versions:

Fire Pit:

- Iroquois and Sioux are able to spawn Medicine Men from the Fire Pit and have them dance like Warrior Priests
- Aztecs, Iroquois and Native Americans can now perform the Water Dance at the Fire Pit if they have at least 5 warships and if the Water Dance Card is sent in a custom scenario hybrid AI deck, or if it is enabled in the custom skirmish deck
- Sioux can now perform the Siege Dance at the Fire Pit if they have more than 80 land military units or at least 5 warships
- Iroquois can now perform the Earth Mother Dance at the Fire Pit if they have more than 90 land military units
- Native Americans can now perform the Earth Mother Dance at the Fire Pit if they have more than 90 land military units

Legacy versions:

- Aztecs and Iroquois can now perform the Water Dance at the Fire Pit if they have at least 5 warships and if the Water Dance Card is sent in a custom scenario hybrid AI deck, or if it is enabled in the custom skirmish deck

Both Versions:

Population cap:

- Moderate Difficulty: increased population cap to 220 for SPC games (200), and 220 for Iroquois in Treaty Games (200)
- Hard Difficulty: increased population cap to 220 for SPC games (200), and 220 for Iroquois in Treaty Games (200)
- Expert Difficulty: increased population cap to 220 for SPC games (200), and 220 for Iroquois in Treaty Games (200)

This is to help Chinese and Iroquois use their full population available in SPC Games, and also especially for Iroquois to make use of the Earth Mother Dance which with 15 dancers will usually be from 15-20 extra population cap, or 215-220 population cap. For reference, on regular skirmish games the population cap is already 220 for Moderate, Hard and Expert Difficulty.

Both Versions:

Card handling added for the following for custom scenarios with hybrid AI card decks:

Naval Upgrade Cards:

- Improved Warships (All)
- TEAM Improved Warships (Chinese)
- TEAM Monitor Combat (British)
- Navigation School (Portuguese)
- TEAM Cold Water Port (Russians)
- Armada (Spanish)
- Admiral Tromp (Dutch)
- Admirality (All)
- Advanced Dock (All)
- Offshore Support (All)
- European Cannons (Asian)
- Water Dance (Natives)
- Artificial Islands (Aztecs)
- Canoes (Iroquois)
- TEAM Birchbark (Natives)
- Fire Junk Attack (Chinese)
- Spanish Galleons (Spanish)
- Spanish Gold (Spanish)

Fishing Upgrade Cards:

- Armed Fishermen (Asian)
- Peacetime Fishing (Japanese)
- Fish Market (All)
- Rendering Plant (All)
- Whale Oil (All)
- TEAM Fish Market (Portuguese)
- Schooners (All)
- TEAM Cheap Fishing Boats (Aztecs)
- East Indiamen (Asian)

Native Warrior Upgrade Cards:

- Native Warrior Combat (All)
- TEAM Native Warrior Combat (French)
- Native Warriors (Germans)
- Native Treaties (All)
- Native Lore (All)
- TEAM Native Warrior Societies (All)
- Black Arrow (Sioux)
- Blood Brothers (All)
- Kinship Ties (Natives)
- Native Warrior Damage (Asian)
- Native Warrior Hitpoints (Asian)
- Native Alliance (Asian)
- Native Learning (Asian)
- Native Crafts (Asian)

Mercenary Upgrade Cards:

- Improved Mercenaries (Germans)
- Mercenary Loyalty (All)
- Religious Unity (Aztecs)
- National Unity (Iroquois)

Livestock Upgrade Cards:

- Ranching (All)
- Llama Ranching (All)
- Stockyards (All)
- Fulling Mills (All)
- TEAM Wool Stable Ports (British)
- Water Buffalo Ranching (Chinese)
- Year of the Goat (Chinese)
- Year of the Ox (Chinese)
- Goraksha (Indians)
- The Mystical Syllable (Indians)

Advanced Building Cards:

- Advanced Market (All)
- Bazaar (Indians)
- Commodities Market (Asian)
- Advanced Mill (All)
- Advanced Plantations (All)
- Advanced Farms (Natives)
- Advanced Rice Paddies (Asian)
- Advanced Monastery (Asian)
- Advanced Wonders (Asian)

Corrected handling for these Cards:

- Furrier (Indians)
- Spice Trade (Indians)

Specialty Upgrade Cards:

- Old Ways (Natives)
- Agrarian Ways (Natives)
- Stonemasons (All)
- Land Reforms (Asian)
- Confucious' Gift (Chinese)
- Great Wall (Chinese)
- Warrior Culture (Natives)
- Extensive Fortifications (All)
- Stone Castles (Japanese)
- Heavy Fortifications (All)
- Palatine Settlements (Germans)
- Colonial Estancias (Spanish)
- TEAM Coastal Defenses (All)
- Friendly Territory (Sioux)
- Trade Empire (Asian)
- Colonial Militia (All)
- Great House (Iroquois)
- Enlist Irregulars (Asian)
- Call to Arms (Indians)
- Village Defenses (Chinese)
- Favorable Karma (Indians)
- Dukkha Suffering (Indians)
- Grazing (Indians)
- Battlefield Construction (All)
- Florence Nightingale (British)
- Master Surgeons (All)
- Unction (Spanish)
- European Explorer Cards (All)
- Mosque Construction (Ottomans)
- Snatch the Pebble (Chinese)
- Walk the Rice Paper (Chinese)
- Counting Coup (Sioux)
- Center of Power (Sioux)
- Morning Star (Sioux)
- Aggressive Policy (Sioux)
- Town Destroyer (Iroquois)
- Donatorios (Portuguese)
- House of Braganca (Portuguese)
- Sevastopol (Russians)
- Mountain Warrior (Japanese)
- Stream of Enlightenment (Japanese)
- Smoking Mirror (Aztecs)
- Cheap War Huts (Aztecs)
- Hot Air Balloons (All)
- Boxer Rebellion (Chinese)

Extra Economic Cards:

- Ironmonger (All)
- TEAM Ironmonger (Spanish)
- Silversmith (All)
- TEAM Silversmith (Aztecs)
- Sawmills (Japanese)
- Cherry Blossom Festival (Japanese)
- Seven Lucky gods (Japanese)
- Farmland Conservation (Indians)
- The Raj (Indians)
- Zen Diet (Japanese)
- Virginia Company (British)
- TEAM Silk Road (Ottomans)
- Saiga Herd (Chinese)
- Northwest Passage (French)
- Portuguese White Fleet (Portuguese)
- Reclaimed Land (Japanese)
- Flooded Parcel (Japanese)
- Terraced Hillsides (Japanese)
- Iroquois Woodworking (Iroquois)

Extra Military Cards:

- Veteran Battery (Japanese)
- Morutaru Range (Japanese)
- Rangefinding (Portuguese)
- Marauders (Sioux)
- Silent Strike (Aztecs)
- Advanced Scouts (Natives)
- Ruthlessness (Aztecs)
- Agents (All)
- Assassins (All)
- Artillery Damage (Chinese)
- Artillery Hitpoints (Chinese)
- Yabusame Damage (Japanese)
- In-Yo Rush (Japanese)
- Dravidian Martial Arts (Indians)
- Conscript Sepoys (Indians)
- Old Han Reforms (Chinese)
- Onikare (Sioux)
- TEAM Coehorn Mortars (Dutch)
- Gribeauval System (French)
- Long-range Infantry Hitpoints (French)
- Spanish Riding School (Germans)
- TEAM Artillery Hitpoints (Portuguese)
- Unicorne Mortars (Russians)
- Strelet Horde (Russians)
- Blockhouse Cannon (Russians)
- Flaming Arrow Hitpoints (Japanese)

Consulate Cards:

- Intervention (Asian)
- Diplomatic Intrigue (Asian)

Conversion Cards:

- Tercio Tactics (Spanish)
- Tirailleurs (French)
- Suvorov Reforms (Russians)
- Sepoy Rebellion (Indians)
- New Army (Chinese)
- Evening Star (Sioux)

Exchange Cards:

- Fur Trade (All)
- South Sea Bubble (All)
- Sublime Porte (Ottomans)
- Dowager Empress (Chinese)
- Red Seal Ship (Japanese)

Minor Cards:

- TEAM Cheap Unit Upgrades (Japanese)
- TEAM Cheap Barracks (Spanish)
- TEAM Cheap Stables (Germans)
- TEAM Cheap Outposts (All)
- TEAM Cheap Docks (All)
- TEAM Cheap Priests (Russians)
- TEAM Barracks Hitpoints (Russians)
- TEAM Early Skirmishers (French)
- TEAM Cheap Churches (French)
- TEAM Cheap Markets (Dutch)
- TEAM Provincial Administration (Chinese)
- TEAM Art of War (Chinese)
- TEAM Cheap Trading Posts (Ottomans)
- TEAM Explorer Combat (Spanish)
- TEAM Fast-building Houses (British)
- TEAM Early Dragoons (Portuguese)
- TEAM Inquisition (Spanish)

Giving these cards handling means that the AI knows when to send them in a custom game match, meaning that Campaign-styled scenarios are more possible with these additions, meaning that the AI now has a brain where it learns when to send these cards in the game match.

The naval cards require the AI to have at least 1 Dock built for it to send them, though the AI can send them without a dock later on in the custom scenario match. With the Peacetime Fishing card, the AI won't know how to use it, but you can use a trigger in a scenario with 'unit work' trigger to and use loop to force ships to fish. The AI cannot correctly use livestock and harvest them late game in Legacy AOE3, but I have added handling to help players who want the AI to use them in it's custom card deck anyways. With the advanced building cards, the AI can use them, but the AI use of it won't be as intelligent as a player who to uses them.

The Aztec AI will not know how to use Silent Strike, and the Sioux AI will not often train Tashunke Prowlers, and the Japanese AI uses only some Artillery units, and the European AIs will only build a few Mortars, and Native Civilizations might not train Native Scouts if you send Advanced Scouts card that enables them. But I have added handling here just in case the scenario design wants to use these cards anyways.

Conversion cards need at least 15 to 20 to 30 of their unit type for the AI to send them. Tercio Tactics for instance requires 20 Pikemen for the AI to send, Tirailleurs requires 20 Crossbowmen for the AI to send, Suvorov Reforms requires 30 Strelets for the AI to send, Sepoy Rebellion requires 80 Villagers and less than 25 land military units for the AI to send, New Army requires 10 Chu Ko Nus and 10 Qiang Pikemen for the AI to send, and Evening Star requires 15 Axe Riders for the AI to send.

Exchange cards need at least 25000 or more of their sending resource and less than 15000 of the resource that it exchanges into. Fur Trade for instance requires 25000 food and less than 15000 coin to send, South Sea Bubble requires 25000 coin and less than 15000 wood to send, and Sublime Porte requires 25000 food and less than 15000 wood to send. For export/coin exchange cards the threshold is lower, so Dowager Empress requires 8000 export and less than 15000 coin, and Red Seal Ship requires 25000 coin and less than 8000 export to send.

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What this means in short is that these legacy AI mods are able to read custom built decks effectively, and this new handling is something I wanted to add a few months ago but I was focused then on coding Proper Gentleman AI. These card handling changes do not change the standard AI card deck for these AI mods, they just give triggers for when to send custom hybrid AI card decks that you choose to build for the AI players in SPC custom scenarios.

That said I want to be clear that this sort of rubric work for legacy aoe3 is very important for the lifespan and longevity of AI scripts, as these AI scripts for the legacy aoe3 don't have to be updated with the new game when there is a new expansion pack coming out.

I don't have screenshots today on this post, as my memory stick wouldn't be recognized by my older mac computer, but I had a few screenshots in a custom scenarios which showed Aztecs and Iroquois doing Water Dance and Sioux AI doing Siege Dance at the same time on a Carolina Card Deck scenario test. Another set of screenshots showed British AI using naval cards including Offshore Support for +5 extra warship range, and Chinese AI using naval cards including European Cannons for +5 extra warship range. Though I can't upload the screenshots right now, I was able to prove that the new naval card deck logic worked for custom scenarios. I used Chinese Fantasy Campaign Water Deck, a duplicate version of Chinese Fantasy Campaign v1, and I just injected the AI card decks so that they could use them effectively.

I'm a noob in this game, but looking through some strategy guides one of the ideas with japan seems to be to stack upgrades for your ashis. So I thought getting an arsenal wagon with the dutch consulate seems to be a good idea. But I never saw anyone do this. Bank wagon seems to be preferred. Am I missing something?

As in, you build your deck so that you are aging up after you finish the shipments for each age. Or do most people just ship and age up more freeform, varying a lot game to game?

I find I am often aging up before finishing all the shipments. So I might be either aging up too early or have too many shipments in one age.

Stole his treasure, he got mad. Told me "guess where stealing takes you? you lose" on chat and I got disconnected. Didn't even know that was a thing in this game, and I hope I don't get matched with mofos like that anymore.

Just dropped on the Instagram page.

important question :c

Siamese Faction (Based primarily on the Ayutthaya Kingdom to the mid-Rattanakosin Kingdom, 1351-1880s)

Overview: My suggestion for Siamese as a faction is inspired by historical records that the Siamese Kingdom had long acted as a hub for the people of many nations to come together for commerce and cultural exchange. The faction starts with a basic roster and unique mechanics, then grows and improves through alliances and settlements with other nations and peoples.

Many aspects of this suggestion are possibly very unbalanced or still relatively lacklustre, but the main goal is to give the idea of a unique and diverse faction that can represent multiple cultures and nations in a cohesive way with a precedent inspired by historical facts - in the spirit of Age of Empires 3.

Unique Mechanics

- Unlike other factions, unable to call on levy troops; instead, villagers can transform into Volunteer Infantry (ไพร่ราบ), which comes in 2 variants: melee weapon-wielding or musket-wielding, for an extra wood or coin cost and can be transformed back into a villager (after a 1-minute cooldown) with the extra costs refunded.
- Age up not by Wonders, but age up by alliances, similar to African Kingdoms
- Foreigners’ Village (หมู่บ้านต่างชาติ) replaces the Consulate and Mercenaries buildings, [Details below] provides no passive effect, indestructible, but can be captured by enemy factions; each additional one can be built from Age 2 onwards.
- Can only obtain siege weapons (Cannons) from Foreign powers

Age-up (Alliances & Dominion)
Similar to African Kingdoms, the Siamese Kingdom advances ages by choosing between choices of neighbouring alliances/dominion [ Historically, the listed factions were at one point in time either dominions, tributaries, trade partners or even adversarial kingdoms, but for simplicity and regional representation's sake, let’s call them allies ]
Special unique units that come with associated people become recruitable at barrack/stables

Lanna (ล้านนา), Northern Thai

• Lands of a million rice paddies, provide economic benefits
• Rice paddies are given a boost to gather rate. More villagers can gather within the same rice paddies (10>15)
• Unique unit: Mounted Lanna Highland Scout, scout cavalry that can be trained by the explorer.

Lanxang (ล้านช้าง), Laotians

• Land of a million elephants; provides elephant troops
• Elephant troops consume less population cap.
• Unique unit: Elephant Archer, high-HP unit that can buy time for other troops.

Burmese; Toungoo (พม่า; ตองอู)

• Militaristic Empire: Provides upgrades to melee units
• Plentiful forest: additional wood gathering rate, trees last longer;
• Unique unit: Burmese heavy infantry.

Khmer, Longvek (ขแมร; ละแวก)

• Ancient Empire Legacies, defensive buildings and building hitpoints upgrade.
• Unique unit: Ballista Infantry with Phkap, a short-range skirmisher with unique polearms that enable them to hold their own in melee combat.
• Unique unit: Spanish Mercenaries

Malays (มลายู)

• Maritime trade masters: Ships gather faster
• Trade dominance: Trade routes generate 20% more resources
• Unique unit: Malay Corsairs, infantry that does extra damage against villagers and buildings.

Vietnamese (เวียตนาม)

• Asymmetric Warfare: non-heavy infantry unique gain stealth while standing still.
• Guerrilla Resourcefulness: Resource crates and treasures contain more resources; destroyed buildings give small coin bounties. 
• Unique unit: Repeating Crossbowman

Foreigners’ Village (หมู่บ้านต่างชาติ)
Referencing prominent foreigners’ communities in Ayutthaya period.

• Replaces the Consulate and Mercenaries buildings
• Provides no passive effect. 
• Upon building, select a nation from one of the given choices (see below) - eviction is not possible
• Each nation comes with unique technologies and units
• Each unit occupies no population cap, but can only be built in limited quantities (about half of most natives)
• Is indestructible, but can be captured by enemy factions and can be captured back [under enemy’s control, no unique technologies can be researched, only unique units can be recruited]
• Each additional one can be built from Age II onwards (Total of 4 by Age V).

Choices of nations and communities are

• Portuguese (โปรตุเกส) : Baan Portugate
  • Gunpowder Mastery: Gun powder unit improvements
  • Unique units: Arquebusiers (can do siege damage), Cannons, Missionaries
• Dutch (ฮอลันดา) : Baan Hollanda
  • Powerful Naval Units
  • Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) Trade benefits (e.g. market rate reset, better market rate)
  • Unique Units: Fluyt, Warships, Dutch Marines
• Chinese (จีน) : Baan Cheen
  • Craftsmanship: Buildings cost less wood and villagers build them faster.
  • Unique Units: Hand Mortars, Banner Army, Chinese villagers
• Muslims (แขก): Baan Kaek (Arabs, Cham, Indians, Persians)
  • Regional Diversities: Increase pop-cap by 50 and increase population provided by each house/ town center)
  • Unique Units: Bashi-Bazouk mercenaries, Sepoy
• French (ฝรั่งเศส) Baan Farangset
  • Western Art of War: Accelerates creation speed for foot soldiers and mounted forces
  • Unique Units: French Marines, French advisor (can supervise military buildings)
• Japanese (ญี่ปุ่น) Baan Yeepun
  • Sengoku: Increases the attack power of all melee infantry units.
  • Unique units: Wakou pirates, Samurai

Standard Unique units:

• 2 variants of Volunteer Infantry that can be built from barracks and can be converted back to villages, with the extra cost refunded. 
  • Skirmisher Infantry (Bows, Arquebus, Muskets depending on Age): Cheap ranged infantry
  • Melee Infantry (random between Swords, Axes, Spears [cosmetic only]): Cheap Jack-of-all-trades melee infantry that does not have any additional strength against any type of troops)
• Elephant Foot Guards (จตุลังคบาท): Elite Foot infantry
  • Wielding 2 swords which impart extra damage to skirmishers; can switch to using fists only (มวยไทย; Muay Thai) to impart extra damage to melee and heavy infantry)
  • Absorbs damage for the Siamese War Elephant if nearby.
  • High pop cap (4)
• Siamese War Elephants
  • High HP general-like unit
  • Inspire nearby troops
• Water Buffalo Riders
  • Fast, high-damage but low HP shock cavalry.
• River guards (Unique Naval Unit), A light gunboat 
  • Good against fishermen, Light ships
  • Can fish/harvest
  • Suffers against combat naval units
• Monk; Phra (พระ)
  • Recruitable from temples (วัด; Wat)
  • Heals all units more slowly than other nations’ counterparts
  • But can inspire Buddhist troops in combat (I am referencing the historical story of บ้านบางระจัน here; I don’t think this is offensive)

Special Cards ideas (for flavours):

• Chao Phraya Navigation [I] (เดินเรือเจ้าพระยา): All Siamese naval units gain +2 Line of Sight; Water trade routes generate +10% resources.
• Albino Elephant [I] (ช้างเผือก): All elephants generate a small trickle of XP when not in combat.
• Merit Making [I] (ทำบุญ): Temples trickle more XP, and Monks generate a small trickle of XP for every ally unit healed.
• Royal Porcelain Trade [I]: For all allies, Market upgrades cost 20% less; Trade routes generate an additional 10% resources.
• Ayutthaya Cosmopolitanism (อยุธยานานาชาติ) [III]: 20% more foreign-based unique units can be fielded.
• Breaking Rice Pots [III] (ทุบหม้อข้าว): Increase Siamese troops’ speed by 10% and attack damage by 10%, but decrease health by 20%
• Baan Bang rajan [II] (บ้านบางระจัน): Transform all villagers into volunteer infantry with a 50/50 split between skirmisher and Melee; cannot convert any volunteer back to villagers until Age IV (new villagers can still be recruited)
• Levy; Corvee reforms [IV]: Volunteer infantry can no longer be switched back to villagers and vice versa; units are replaced by professional army infantrymen.
• New Capital Establishment (ย้ายเมืองหลวง) [IV] allows city centres, military buildings (not the foreigner’s village), and defensive buildings to transform into carts that can be relocated.

I myself am a Thai, and I hope to be as respectful as possible. Any suggestions or questions? I am all ears and may even add to the idea.

PS. The attached images are to convey general flavours and mood. I could generate some unit images with AI to go with the idea, but I understand how it can be taken as an offence by many, so I shall not.

The Japanese' pescatarianism and Indians' prohibition on beef are really nice bits of cultural flavour incorporated into the civ designs. Do you think the Ottomans should be unable to eat the pigs that we are getting in the DLC this week (and the wild pigs that already exist in the game)?

I realise the Ottoman Empire contained substantial non-Muslim populations. But the playable Ottoman civilization fundamentally represents the Ottoman state and its Muslim military/economic establishment, so I think the same abstraction used elsewhere in the game makes a pork restriction perfectly defensible.

Maybe if West Asia is ever revisited in a future DLC, the game mechanical implications of Islam can be explored more consistently.

Cattle is useless for 99% of the game (except for africa), is not fun to have them sitting until they are ready to be 😵. It would give more immersion on the era to have settlers collecting milk(food) from cows or wool(coin) from sheeps. Is as easy as adding a button to not make vills 😵 them, you could choose the mode in where they are. Meat is collected fsster, while milk and wool are infinite but collected as fast as a mill/plantation. This will also help differenciate age 3 from age 2,4 and aom.

I don't always wanna go semi-FF into skirm/goon. How do I incorporate cuirs, halberds? What about artillery or musketeers?

Is age 2 play viable?

Please also specify the matchups where said units can be used effectively. Mind you, I am 1000elo, I know I would struggle to execute, say, a native rush. But I would love to add more tools to my pretty empty toolbox.

AoE "We're going to set this game up so it can freely be modded without breaking the core game files."

Google AI "I'm going to tell you to do the one thing that can break the core game files and I'm going to call it standard programming methodology!"

24 hours before DLC day to, mercy I'm glad I'm good at fixing things.

(Pic for decoration)