That’s a reasonable argument, but remember that AoE2 architecture tends to be generalized, for lack of a better word. Real-world vernacular architecture is typically not a consideration past the Feudal Age, at least for non-European architecture, relying on religious styles instead. Khmer houses would not look the way they do in the Castle Age in real life; they would more closely resemble the Feudal Age buildings. Same with Meso civs; their style is based on temple architecture.
The Hindustani Castle and Wonder are in Muslim styles, and the civ has clear Muslim influence, so because of the generalization and the Muslim conquerors’ influence on new Indian buildings, it’s more thematically appropriate for the civ to have Central Asian architecture.
As people have already said, Hindustanis represents the people and culture of the civilization, beyond the Turkic ruling class, and even that class eventually intermarried and blended their culture with that of India. The architecture of the Mughals and Delhi Sultanate reflects that syncretic culture, especially later on. Neither architecture set is fully accurate, but giving them the South Asian set at least highlights the fact that they were more than just a foreign occupation by the end.
This reminds me of the time I recounted on Twitter the time a couple of guys mistook my real favorite music artists as a joke…right to them. I had forgotten it was them (and that was how my Twitter best buds met me, funnily enough).
Anyway, thanks for the suggestion! It was a good one.
I don’t know about the Mongols, when they built their capital (Karakorum) the architecture style ended up looking quite similar to other East Asian peoples. The Cumans could probably share the Steppe building set with the Huns though, and maybe other future civs such as Kazars, Pechenegues, Avars or Alans.
Built by Ogedei. I guess this style’s imperial age buildings could have some east asian features. After all it’s not like if the Cumans and Huns had opportunities to build great cities from what would have been an imperial age (the Huns had a massive camp in Hungary that dissipated after Attila’s death, while the Cumans assimilated in Hungary and Bulgaria)
