After thinking about the strange name change for the Savaran to the Sogdian Cataphract in the DoI DLC, I spontaneously thought of ideas for a potential Sogdian civ and so here it is.
Who are the Sogdians?
Sogdians are a Central Asian peoples that formed various important polities between the 6th and 11th Centuries, and were prominent during Antiquity as well. Their territory covered what is now Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
A lot of their activity in this time period revolved around trading, forming an intricate and essential part of the Silk Road. But they still had formidable armies.
Cavalry and Trade Civilization
Architecture set: Central Asian
Language: Sogdian
Trade Cart: Middle Eastern
Wonder: Varaksha Palace
Civ Bonuses:
- Steppe Lancer upgrades cost -50%
- Trade Carts affected by Cavalry armor upgrades
- Can create Ox Carts instead of Mills, Lumber Camps or Mining Camps
- Camel Rider-line has +1/+2 Melee Armor in Castle/Imperial Age
Team Bonus:
Trade Carts generate 1 additional Food, Wood and Stone
Unique Unit:
Bactrian Rider - Cavalry unit with a lot of HP and does bonus damage to cavalry. 85 Food 65 Gold
HP: 175, 200 (Elite)
Attack: 11, 13 (Elite) melee
Rate of Fire: 1.8
Melee Armor: 1
Pierce Armor: 2
Armor Classes: Cavalry, Camel, Unique Unit
Speed: 1.2
Line of Sight: 6
Creation Time: 18 Seconds
Unique Unit 2:
Sogdian Cataphract
Upgrade for the Elite Steppe Lancer, for 650 Food & 375 Gold (after civ bonus). Has the same stats as the scenario editor unit, but with 1 range.
Unique Building:
Ox Cart
The Ox Cart acts as a drop-off site for all resources. It can move, research all eco upgrades for the buildings it replaces and is built like a building, but is treated as a cavalry unit in terms of bonus damage and upgrades.
Cost: 100 Wood
HP: 300
Melee Armor: 0
Pierce Armor: 7
Armor Classes: Cavalry, Unique Unit
Speed: 1.0
Line of Sight: 6
Build Time: 35s
Unique Techs:
(Castle Age) - Farmland Clearance : 200 Food 200 Gold
Lumberjacks slowly generate food in addition to wood.
(Imperial Age) - Menagerie : 400 Food 200 Gold
Camel Riders and Elephant Archers are created 50% faster.
Missing Techs Tree:
Barracks:
Eagle Scout, Champion, Halberdier
Archery Range:
Arbalester, Cavalry Archer, Hand Cannoneer
Stable:
Paladin, Battle Elephant
Siege Workshop:
Armored Elephant, Bombard Cannon
Castle:
Dock:
Galleon, Cannon Galleon, Heavy Demolition Ship, Shipwright
Monastery:
Redemption, Atonement, Heresy, Illumination
Blacksmith:
Plate Mail Armor
University:
Siege Engineers, Bombard Tower
Economy:
Mill, Lumber Camp, Mining Camp, Gold Shaft Mining, Stone Shaft Mining
Thoughts:
Sogdians, like other Central Asian civs, are focused around cavalry, but here the Sogdians are more focused around trade and their economy being mobile.
Onto the latter; for the Age of Mythology fans reading, yes this is the Norse Ox Cart with some AoE2 tweaks. But I didn’t just throw it in only for fun, here it makes sense, as the Sogdians moved around a lot. Here the Ox Cart helps in not only requiring fewer drop-off sites to be built, as it can move up to retreating woodlines, follow vills to new mining deposits or huntables and can retreat from attacking units towards defensive fortifications.
For the trading aspect, Sogdians give all allies a small trickle of all resources while trading. This makes their trading more efficient, and players wouldn’t need to spend as much gold buying stone in the late game for example. Their trade carts are also harder to raid, due to them gaining cavalry armour upgrades.
Religiously Sogdians had a mix of Zoroastrian and Chinese beliefs, so I made their monastery a mix of both. I didn’t intend them to be a good monk civ, so this is just pure flavour, and not letting them have Heresy due to their UU and Elephant Archers.
The Bactrian Rider is their ultimate late-game unit. Think of it as the ########## of a knight and a battle elephant, with stats between both. It’s a tanky melee unit that has the usual camel anti-cav bonuses, and is something to plow into the action while ranged units stand behind. The idea initially came from just how big Bactrian Camels are.
Onto their Lancers. Sogdians get the Steppe Lancer upgrades at a reduced price, to help them access each stage easier. Not only that, they get a third stage to the line, making their Lancers much more archer resistant.
Their final civ bonus is extra melee armor on their camels, to give them a bit of an extra edge, as the Sogdians did use them a lot and they should feature in their ingame army.
For the unique techs, I will say that I have no idea what they should cost. But my first port of call was for them to be more about flexibility than outright power. To this end, I used Sogdians wide variety of animal mounts as inspiration for their Imperial Age tech, making their non-horse mounts created faster. Castle Age took longer, but I eventually landed on lumberjacks producing food, to show them clearing area for farmland.
Overall, they get a lot of options; their archery range has most of the basics, with fully upgraded faster created Elephant Archers. Their siege is fine outside the lack of BBC. They do not miss any defenses. Their stable is a highlight, with plenty of options and above average Camels, and easier access to Elite Steppe Lancers and Sogdian Cataphracts in the late game. Lastly their infantry is…not great, but is usable in a pinch.
