I prefer Tamils because civs in Age2 are not named after dynasties but peoples (vague term obviously, but I think they are identified by common (proto-) modern language, common history/realms and sometimes religion. So Cholas is too narrow (Tamils also encompass Pandyas, Cheras, Jaffnas) while Dravidians is too broad (a whole group of peoples including Kannadigas and Telugus who would be interesting civs in their own right with their own languages).
@UpmostRook9474: Welcome and thx for your thoughts. I see you focused on Pala empire so Dharmapala and the tripartite struggle could be the campaign then. Some great ideas, I will think about them.
Chola is also the empire name which is similar to romans mugals or byzantines.
Maybe for upcoming indian factions they can all have a third upgrade to a unit like the imperial camel.It can be the special feature for the indian civis.
They don’t have Bracer for Cav Archers tho ): War Eles are not really the as battle eles as they should be made at a Castle . Oh and they miss Steppe Lancers (practically useless anyways)
Chola was not necessarily a dynasty. The whole empire was named after this. So it will be similar to Byzantines I guess. Although the term “Tamils” is way more familiar than the term “Chola”.
Can Chola represent a bit of Sinhalese too?
Excellent idea. I’ll most definitely add Imperial BE for Bengals when I finish.
CA without TR is pretty useless tbh. Remove PT instead. Or maybe even BL. I have a design of Chola without BL but has a cavalry bonus to cover it up.
I think removing TR is very bad for CA. Even if Imperial CA has only +1 attack and +10 HP over HCA, just like HCA has over CA, it will still be fine. Magyars has +1 attack, +1 range and I bet 1 range is more powerful than 10 HP.
BTW, will it be historically accurate? I knew they had good cavalry but CA is different.
How about imperial Galleon? I was thinking about one when you said this
The below line is from the vijayanagar military wiki. cavalry teaching archery sounds like cavalry archery to me.
Deva Raya II, to counter the superior Bahmani cavalry, is believed to have enrolled 2000 Muslim cavalrymen to teach the art of archery to his Hindu soldiers and officers.[1] Vijayanagara military - Wikipedia
The current indians are shown as a camel civi so south indians having cavalry archers is not that far fetched.Also the hero skin for prithiviraj can be used for this unit.A galleon might not fit them as they could not really take out the portuguese navy.
My idea for indian factions is for darvidians castle age will be Chola and imperial Vijayanagar.Bengals castle age Pala and imperial bengal sultanate.
Civ suggestions updated: Imp Battle Elephant included, Tamils made more viable and some more. Thx for your ideas, the free villager bonus fits greatly!
Starting tomorrow, I cannot update OP anymore due to an annoying restriction of this forum, thus future civ balance updates will be in linked post
Tamils can represent Jaffnas which were on Lanka, but should not represent Sinhalese. They are a different civ on their own speaking a non-Dravidian, but Indo-Aryan language, being predominantly Buddhist and have had major clashes on Sri Lanka against Tamils in the 20th century. So that’s why I think Burmese may be the best civ in Age 2 to represent them for now.
Bengals would be the best fit to represent Sinhaleese or even the current indians,this is not a historical simulation so any civi is fine unless a proper civi is added.Im Srl lankan Sinhaleese so I would not be offended id we are under a chola umbrella civi.
Both I gave it to Tamils and let Bengalis keep the inital bonus. It could also be swapped, I have no clue what’s better gameplay- or history-wise.
Thanks for your insider perspective I am European so all the cultures of India are totally new for me which is why I think they should be featured more. The initial game was so eurocentric (already for commercial reasons) and now I am really happy that many addons and campaigns showcase other cultures
I guess, Vijayanagar would best be represented as Kannadigas civ. They could be a third new Indian civ and would represent Chalukyas, perhaps Rashtrakutas, Western Chalukyas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagar thus representing the full medieval and Renaissance time frame.
Someone made the suggestion for Krishnadevaraya as campaign for them (Telugus with Rudrama Devi are another interesting option):
Tbh Mughal being a camel civ makes sorta sense, but yeah most other civs not as much. Tbh at least northern Ibdians had some camels, Dradivians not really
I have almost finished my own design of Bengals and Cholas. Before that I need to know something.
What should be Cholas ideal UU? Infantry? CA? Or maybe another Elephant?
Can Bengals have a small naval bonus? The delta was full of river and therefore river was the major way of internal transportation. Pala Empire defended multiple Cholas invasion attempts and later Bengal Sultanate also had to maintain a big fleet to fight against both Burmese and Cholas (later Pandya). I personally want to give them a small defensive naval bonus.
I gave it to Tamils and let Bengalis keep the inital bonus. It could also be swapped, I have no clue what’s better gameplay- or history-wise.