I fully agree with the modernization of Asian civs.
Japanese civ
I think the Japanese civ should have something in the form of a revolution when they choose Japanese isolation. Below is what it could look like:
- Selection of Japanese Isolotianism at the Consulate
- Opportunity to choose Meiji Restoration in Japanese Town Center (Big Button)
- After the Meiji Restoration is elected, the flag of the Japanese civ changes to Nisshōki (日章旗, ‘flag of the sun’).
- Archaic units change to modern Meiji era units.
- This is an irreversible process, but you can still select different nations at the Consulate (Japanese Isolationism provides a further opportunity to train archaic Japanese units).
Chinese civ
In the case of Chinese civ, i think the need to add a civilization to the game that would represent the mongols, so that all the Mongolian content will be moved there and replaced with Chinese content.
The Chinese could get a Home City Card that would allow training of the Boxer Insurgent’s (based on the Boxer Uprising in China in 1899-1901). It would be the Chinese equivalent of Revolutionary. This HC card would turn all Villagers into Boxer Insurgents, but Villager training would still be possible.
Indians civ
I am in favor of dividing umbrella civs such as Germans civ, Chinese civ (because they have a lot of Mongolian content - which is nomadic at the same time) and also Indians civ.
While Germans civ would be easy to convert to Austrians civ, Indians civ will be harder to rework. The Indians civ content is dominated by the Mughals as well as the British Raja. Below I will present the national-regional affiliation of Indian units, buildings and Wonders:
Northwestern India: Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Sikh Empire
- Rajput
- Agra Fort
- Karni Mata
- Taj Mahal
- Tower of Victory
Southern India: Vijayanagara Empire, Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Mysore
- Brahmin
- Urumi Swordsman
- Flail Elephant (Sri Lanka)
- Sacred Field
- Charminar Gate
Northeastern India: Bengalis
- Gurkha (Nepalese)
Area of modern India and British Raj
- Sepoy
- Mahout Lancer
- Howdah
- Siege Elephant
PERSIA !!!
- Sowar
- Zamburak
Caravanserai ???
As we can see there is a huge spread when it comes to the content of individual regions of India in Indian civ. 4 out of all 5 Indian Wonders come from Northwestern India which would ideally be represented by Mughals civ. But apart from the Wonders, the architecture and definitely the Mughal Home City, the Indian civ has only one typically Mughal unit. For this reason, it is difficult for me to determine whether, as part of breaking the Indian umbrella, the current Indian civ should become the Mughals civ.
From the Islamic Mughal Empire we go deep into India - the Hindu South. Certainly, the South Indian civ could be called Dravidians (since that’s the group most South Indian nations belong to. Besides, there is a civ with that name in AoE2). I think that Brahmin and Sacred Field should be in Dravidians civ, so that it would be a Hindu civilization. Urumi Swordsman, Flail Elephant (from Sri Lanka) and Charminar Gate would be attached to Dravidians civ.
The only thing that comes from Northeastern India is the Nepali Gurkha. I don’t know if this would be correct, but I think this unit could be implemented in the Bengali civ (if not, add it to the brand new Asian Minor civilization - Nepalese, which would appear on maps of the Himalayas and Northeast India).
The units I added to “Area of modern India and British Raj” are units that could be regional units for Indian civs. I don’t know if the British Raj should be reserved for Mughals civs only or for all Indian civs.
ATTENTION, PERSIAN CONTENT !!!
Sowar and Zamburak are Persian units. My compromise solution is to give both Mughals civ and Persians civ access to these units.
ATTENTION, MUSLIM CONTENT !!!
Caravanserai should be a regional building for Islamic civs like Ottomans, Persians, Arabians, Tatars and Mughals. The Caravanserai of course only trains units on camels and elephants, but: Can make an exception. At the moment, this is the only feature that distinguishes this building from the standard Stable - it’s not that much unique. Simply, each of the civs mentioned above would have their cavalry units in their Caravanserai (Ottomans civs would have the units they already have). The caravanserai should have a cavalry healing function and maybe some extra economic bonuses - maybe something related to trade.
So as we can see, the division of the Indian Umbrella is no small challenge. A good plan is needed for the least radical changes in the current Indian civ (which would most likely become Mughals civ) and a well-thought-out transport of units that are in this civ but would not fit into it after the changes.
An Indian DLC could add Bengalis and Dravidian civs and maybe quite a few Indian maps with Indian Minor Civilizations (which would be based on nations rather than religions). I think the brand new Indian maps (could be spun off from the Asian map pool and become the new Indian map pool) could be reserved for owners of this DLC, but the old Indian maps would still be available to all AoE 3 players - I think that would be fair. This DLC could also add one Historical Battle each for Mughals civ, Bengalis civ and Dravidians civ. Some will say that’s not enough for an India-centric DLC, but keep in mind that as part of such a DLC there would be a huge free rework of the existing civ in the game. I don’t know what people would think if the current indian civ would lose a lot of its current content in favor of something completely new after this change - there’s probably no other way.
