The civilization of Turkmen, Karluks/Uyghurs would look cool in Age of Empires 2. Imgur: The magic of the Internet - Pictures accompanying the topic
Karluks - their modern descendants - Uzbeks. It is possible to implement a plot campaign of the Karakhanid Khanate, where they had a dynastic crisis and the collapse of the state in the 11th century (western, eastern Karakhanid khanates against the Khitans and Seljuks)
As a focus, it would be possible to implement trade and horse archers (or cavalry).
As an improvement in the castle, I would add a bonus to trade (they were on the Silk Road ),
As a second bonus, I would add a bonus to defense for horse archers (a very vulnerable combat unit from pikes and skirmishers)
This could display their geographical location, as well as the fact that they are still nomads and had features typical of the Turkic states.
The voice acting would be in Uyghur or Uzbek, since the state was dominated by the Karakhanids-Uyghurs and Karluks (Uzbeks speak mainly the Karluk language)
Unique units
Dzhigit - Horse archer, who has a reload for a powerful shot (A similar theme is in one of the Indian civilizations with their swordsman). Dzhigits are brave horse warriors distinguished by courage, endurance, steadfastness, the art of controlling a horse and wielding weapons.
Botyrbasy / Bahadurbashi (Chagatai) - the same as a bogatyr, batyr. Heavy horse rider, an analogue of a paladin, serving as a tank and having protection to the bonus from pikemen
As a Wonder of the World of civilization, I would choose Minorai Kalon (Kalyan minaret, Bukhara minaret)
As a flag I would choose a circle stylized as Shanyrak (a very important Turkic symbol of the hearth, shamanism, family), and inside it there would be a Muslim crescent. The circle is brown with a black outline, and the crescent is yellow
The Karluk languages are a combination of two historically and spatially adjacent, but possibly different in origin, Turkic language groups: the eastern Karluk-Uyghur and the western Karluk-Khwarezm (Chagatai).
After this topic I will release more information about the following civilizations in the comments
The Turks are already in the game, as well as your posted units such as steppe lancers, tarkans, sogdian (cataphracts), even qizilbash. Bonus points for other five different turkic civs (huns, tatars, cumans, bulgarians, hindustani) and closely related (persians, mongols).
So I don’t think it’s happening, although purely judging by aesthetics a heavy armoured camel would be a cool unique unit.
Tbh I think an eastern Turk (Uyghurs, Gokturks, Kirghiz) civ I think is needed. Theres nothing which represents pre Momgol eastern Turks well.
Tatars are already a Karluk civ so adding Karluks seems pointless
But I think it would make more sense to add them in a DLC focused on a region further east. And Turcomans could have worked for mountain royals, but should have been added with the Safavid campaign. Now its too late honestly
The Qizilbash being the only scenario unit with upgrades and how so commonly used in the Ismail campaign makes me think that at some point they probably considered a Turcoman civ for the DLC.
Why do you say its too late for some form of Turcoman civ? I agree that there needs to be some form of pre-Mongol eastern Turks, the current Turks civ is very Ottoman/gunpowder focused. The Cav archer bonuses seem like they were almost an afterthought, and don’t end up really being relevant in game because of how hard you’re pushed to gunpowder.
I think having some manner of of eastern Turks (whether calling them Turcomans or maybe Oghuz (with that name they could also represent Pechnegs and the player in the Seljuk V&V scenerio)) or even Gokturks would be great, just something to represent central Asia in the early medieval period. And on your point with the Safavid campaign, they can update that campaign in post, there are plenty of instances where this has been done.
Gokturks are a very diferent kind of Turk. They are barely related to the Oghuz
The problem to me is that the Safavids were Turcomans and built their powerbase on the Turcomans as showed in the campaign. Including the Turcomans after a Persian Safavid campaign is just really weird
The more i’m thinking on it, Oghuz is growing on me. It doesn’t pose a risk of players confusing Turks and Turcomans, the Turcomans themselves, from what I can see, are tied to the Oghuz, the Oghuz are tied in to (and can represent) the Pechnegs which show up in some scenerios, they can represent the Seljuks in their scenerio because they were tied in with the Oghuz confederation. It’s a nice versatile option for campaigns in general and can represent that earlier group of Turks quite well almost across the board.
Scythians is a bit too early, they were already on the severe downturn and in the process of disappearing/being absorbed by other barbarian groups by the time the Huns rolled through. Cumans already basically is that geographic concept but more in scope for the game’s time setting.
The Scythians are basically an Iron Age culture, they were already almost gone even before the Roman Empire. There’s like a 1500-year gap.
Anyway, these Turcoman/Oghuz people were more of a Middle Eastern civ than Central Asian, as most of their conquests were in Iran, the Caucasus and Mesopotamia
They started and spent a lot of time in Central Asia, and some of them also went north around the Black Sea.
Saying Turcomans are Middle Eastern because that’s a lot of where their conquests were is like saying Spanish are an American civ because that’s a lot of where their conquests were…
I think it’s different, as the Spanish Empire started in Spain, these Turcoman states directly appeared in the Middle East. I think a more apt comparison would be the postcolonial states like Mexico or the USA. They were already very different from their ancestors and had already been quite influenced by other local cultures like Persians, Arabs, among others.
Besides, I think the empires the created in the Middle East, like Aq Qoyunlu or the Safavid empire, were far more important than those in Central Asia
The Turkmens are a Central Asian people. Those who went to the Caucasus, Iran, and the Middle East became known as the Turks and Azerbajans. Some of the Oghuz tribes also went to Eastern Europe. The Pechenegs, whose descendants are now the Gagauz. And some of the Oghuz entered significantly into the Bashkir ethnic group, mixing with the Kipchak Bashkirs. Among the Uzbeks, some of the dialects are not of Karluk origin, but Oghuz, which indicates the assimilation of the Oghuz by the Karluks. The influence of the Oghuz tribes on the Kipchaks and other Turkic tribes is great. However, for European countries, only the Middle Eastern Oghuz are more known.
But this discussion literally started because of the Qizilbash, which were related to Middle East Oghuz, who were called back then Turcomans.
The other peoples you mentioned had different fates and as such I don’t think should be covered by the same civ.