Its quite practical when you notice that the Indian demographics with the most computer savvy populace and highest disposable incomes live in the deccan region of India. There are 5 major distinct linguistic variations such as Tamil, Telugu, Marati, Kannada and Malayalam. They are represented by an umbrella civ as Dravidians. If you want to gauge the potential of individual demographic, the best way to penetrate that market would be to first create a civ with the target identity. “Tamils as a civ” in the next release makes for a far better sell for the next expansion. As a pilot effort, it would require the least amount of development work as well.
Here is how the Tamil civ schema could look like:
Tamils: [Defensive and Naval civ]
- Age up needs 25% less food
- All unit production buildings are 20% cheaper [TC, castle and other military except docks]
- Research and Economy buildings including docks, farms and fish traps are built, repaired 50% faster
- Blacksmith and University upgrades for Galley line 50% cheaper.
- Units and buildings take -50% bonus damage from Siege weapons
Team bonus: Docks provide +5 pop space
Castle Unique unit: Monk type with conversion range of 11 and 100% faster conversion. Elite upgrade gives redemption, +2 range and 100% faster faith regaining. It does carry relics unlike missionary.
Siege Unique unit: Flame thrower at 10:33 min
Unique techs:
Castle age - Bhakthi movement - Monasteries are upgraded to temples which work 200% faster. They produce the same amount of stone as relic gold.
Imperial age - Poombuhar shipyards - Galley line and Elephant archers fire a second projectile that does half the damage
Weakness - NO Knight, No bombard cannon, No redemption in castle age, and no fervor. Basically, the regular monks are useless. However the special monk unit has amazing range. But no speed.
The age up bonus is thematical and suits the civ. Tamil like Chinese and Egyptian hieroglyphics was one among a handful of very few, very old written languages with a historical and geopolitical context. The Dravidian civ based on Tamils is testament to that fact. So an Age up bonus is thematically correct. The new tamil civ bonuses will be based on Tamilakam (the Abode of the Tamils) or Tamil country. Tamil country under the three tamil dynasties the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas had been an unconquerable fortress to invasions from the north throughout the middle ages till 13th century. The familial rule was handed down father to son and continued unbroken for more than a thousand years with Pandyas being the oldest and most successful lasting 1600 years. These three dynasties and the pallavas had a building spree that was unmatched by any other part of India.
Their weakness were relying on imported war horses and not innovating on cannons. However their amazing economy supported this. But ironically it was family squabbles which led to their downfall. Once their traditional capitals like Madurai fell to the Delhi sultans, it marked the beginning of the end of Tamil dominance of the peninsula.
The +200 wood bonus and dock bonus for pop space have been split to avoid a stack-up. In my opinion, a Sinhalese civ will be the apt one to get the +200 wood bonus. But the digital economy in sri lanka is not setup for a take-off in online role-playing RTS games and streaming.