Now that the term “Khazar” is no longer censored (thanks @DodoNotDoDo!), I felt comfortable posting my civ concept for them, since I don’t have to dance around the term anymore.
Like the Alans, this is yet another civ concept that I posted on the wiki, which is part of my Caucasus expansion concept. The Khazars represent the nomadic Khazars, the Khazar Khaganate, and other areas under Khazar control. They can also represent their predecessors the Gokturks, who are currently represented by the Tatars. The Khazars have the Central Asian architecture set, but have a unique Castle in the style of Sarkel, a ruined version of which is the Cuman Wonder. The Khazar Wonder is Mangup Fortress, a Crimean Goth structure that fell under Khazar control in the 8th century.
The Khazars are a cavalry archer and siege civilization, but the former is actually completely generic until the Imperial Age, aside from a garrison bonus and a cavalry archer unique unit. Siege weapons get much more focus in the earlier stages of the game, which makes the Khazars strong on maps like Arena.
Anyway, moving onto their bonuses.
Civilization Bonuses
- Unit upgrades cost -50% gold
This references how the Khazar khagan would take money from noblemen to help fund the growth of his army. The Khazars also had a lot of gold income due to access to the Silk Road.
- Mounted units can be garrisoned in Rams and Siege Towers
This references the combination of heavy cavalry and siege weaponry that was employed during the Third Perso-Turkic War. Tong Yabghu Khagan led an army of heavy cavalry to pillage Derbent after the Khazar siege weapons successfully broke through. In fact, the Gokturks weren’t good with siege weapons, so one Soviet historian credited the Khazars with the successful siege of Derbent’s fortress.
- Additional Castles cost -35%
The Khazars built quite a few fortresses all throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia, though none have managed to survive to this day. One notable example, Sarkel, is the Cuman Wonder, or, rather, a ruined version of it.
- Siege weapons created 50% faster
Once again, this references Khazar skill in siege weaponry, not only during the Third Perso-Turkic War, but also during the first Battle of Balanjar, where the Arabs and Khazars fought back and forth with catapults and ballistas. Notably, this applies to all siege weapons, including Trebuchets, so this adds a bit of historical depth, as during the Third Perso-Turkic War, the Byzantines, who were on the side of the Khazars, used traction trebuchets in sieges.
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Market technologies free
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Team bonus: Trade units +20% HP
These two bonuses reference the vast trade network that was safely present under the Pax Khazarica after the Khazars managed to take control of the Silk Road.
Unique Unit: Arsiyah
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This is a cavalry archer unit that gains +1 attack for every 25% of its HP taken. Since the final 25% would be death, that means the Arsiyah can have a total of +3 extra attack. Since the normal Arsiyah has 4 attack (with the Elite having 5), with the two archer attack upgrades researched and only 25% HP left, that gives the Arsiyah a total of 9 attack.
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Even with only a damage boost of 1, it still greatly impacts the Arsiyah’s effectiveness, because the extra 1 damage ignores armor. This makes the Arsiyah quite good against skirmishers or other high-pierce armor targets, because even a partially damaged Arsiyah does a guaranteed 2 damage.
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With an HP value of 60 (75 for Elite), and a pierce armor value of 1 (2 for Elite), the Arsiyah is actually quite tanky for a mounted archer and holds up well in sustained combat, which only makes its gimmick more effective. Its pierce armor value is actually the same as a Conquistador’s, and it has even more HP, so despite the low attack, they are quite comparable against ranged units. In fact, the Elite Arsiyah has the highest HP of any mounted archer designed for mobility (so not including the Elephant Archer, War Wagon, and Ratha).
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The Arsiyah were a group of Muslim mercenaries hired by the Khazars to protect the Khagan. Despite being in the employ of the Khazars, they often operated independently, sometimes even against the interest of their employers. However, they specifically prevented the Khazars from using them to fight other Muslims. Due to their name, some scholars believe that they have an Alanian origin. They were also known as Ursiyya, Lariçiyeh, or al-Larisiya.
Unique Techs
Balanjar Wagon Fort: Rams and Siege Towers gain +5 garrison space; rams cost -75% gold.
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Cost: 750 wood, 250 gold
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This technology, though situational, complements the Khazars’ innate bonus allowing mounted units to garrison in Rams and Siege Towers. The bonus combined with the tech allow for a surprise Siege Tower drop on maps like Arena, filling the Siege Towers with cavalry or cavalry archers, depositing them on the other side of a wall, and attacking the enemy base. This is especially effective if Arsiyah are involved, as they can hit and run effectively without retaliation.
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The other effect of the technology is to reduce the gold cost of the Ram line by 75%. This makes rams cost only 19 gold, which is significantly more affordable than 75 gold (it’s actually slightly less than a standard swordsman’s gold cost). This, combined with much faster production, makes massing rams much easier than before, though the wood cost remains the same. The tech’s gold cost actually pays itself back after approximately 3 rams, so the impact is quite massive.
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In 723, during the start of the Second Arab-Khazar War, the Khazar capital city of Balanjar was besieged. To defend the city, the residents tied 300 wagons together to form a makeshift wagon fort. Unfortunately, the defense was futile, the Arabs broke through, and a large number of the residents were slaughtered or enslaved.
Khagan Bek: Archery Ranges work 100% faster
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Cost: 850 food, 600 gold
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Many of the Khazars’ strongest units are Archery Range units, so this helps immensely with massing them. Although they aren’t any cheaper to train, they are cheaper to upgrade, which certainly helps. Cavalry Archers become especially attractive compared to the Arsiyah, which is trained from extra-cheap Castles.
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A khagan bek was the military commander of Khazaria. The term either refers to the divided power between the khagan and the bek or the title itself was “khagan bek.” Either way, the khagan ran the administrative, everyday section of the government, while the bek controlled the military. Some historians believe the khagan was simply a ceremonial leader with no real power, and the bek had all the authority. At any given time, the Khazar state had a relatively small army, but if extra troops were needed, they could be taken from the personal armies of nobles to multiply the size of the army two- or three-fold.
Tech Tree
Missing Units: Champion, Halberdier, Elephant Archer line, Hand Cannoneer, Paladin, Battle Elephant line, Steppe Lancer line, Siege Ram, Bombard Cannon, Fast Fire Ship, Cannon Galleon.
Missing Techs: Supplies, Redemption, Heresy, Sanctity, Block Printing, Hoardings, Scale Mail Armor, Keep, Treadmill Crane, Bombard Tower, Crop Rotation, Stone Shaft Mining, Dry Dock, Shipwright.