New Civ Concept : The Sogdians

CivIcon-Sogdians3
As the transportation bridge of the ancient great civilizations,sogdians has left great imprint in history! Expand your city-state, let the trade business network spread all oases in Central Asia, and use Chaakar - a fast raiding anti-spearman Cavalry - defend your wealth.
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History
Sogdians (484 AD - 1388 AD)
The Sogdians are ancient peoples who is active among rich oasis in Central Asia , They are related to Persians by blood , The earliest records of them can be found in the Persian Achaemenid inscriptions dating from the 6th century BC .Alexander the Great (356 BC - 323 BC) conquered the Persian Empire and the Sogdians soon surrendered. In order to show his tolerance for multiculturalism, Alexander the Great spread get married the Sogdian princess Roxana in the largest city of sogdians , Samarkand, but Greek rule in Central Asia soon collapsed with the death of Alexander the Great.

The Sogdians who broke away from the rule of the Greeks and Persians is began to set up independent city-states one after another around Samarkand,The Sogdians have never formed a unified and powerful empire, and they have been attached to the great power for a lot of time in their history.Being at the center of the Silk Road that spanned the Old World,The Sogdians quickly used their strengths to become skilled merchants and mercenaries, using their strength to protect and profit from the operation of the Silk Road.Merchants from China and Persia brought their culture to a melting pot called Sogdiana, forming a unique Sogdian culture finally.

Although the powers around Sogdian have been experiencing ups and downs, the Sogdians can still maintain their own uniqueness in transoxiana with their own wisdom. During the period from the 3rd to the 8th century, the Sogdians continued to Nine relatively powerful city-state forces were formed in the region, forming the core part of the Sogdian state.and they are be called ā€œThe Hu People of Nine Clansā€ In Chinese Historical records.

In the late 7th century AD, the Saracens and the Turks rose. Although the Sogdians were nominally under the rule of the Chinese Tang Dynasty during this time,but the religions and nomadic cultures from the emerging powers began to change The Sogdians themselves, the Chinese and the Persians gradually became less influential over the Sogdians, and instead the Sogdians began to Islamize and Turkicize, and over the course of two centuries, the unique city-state of Sogdian gradually disappeared during this process.

Turkic slave commander Anushtigin became the governor of Khwarizm(former city-states of Sogdians) in 1077 AD and began to break away from the control of the Turkic Seljuk Dynasty,The kingdom of Khwarazmia launched many expansion wars in the next hundred years and finally defeating the Ghurids Dynasty in the south and expanding its territory to the limit, In their heyday they ruled the whole of Persia. However, the Prosperity of Khwarazmia did not last for too many years. After the demise of the Western Liao Dynasty in 1218, Khwarazmia became the next target of the greedy Mongolians. After more than ten years of hard battles the dynasty still perished. There were many Khwarazmians attempts to revive the country, but they was finally completely destroyed by Timur in 1388. The last descendants of the Sogdians eventually integrated into surrounding countries, and no longer appeared in history as a distinct people.

Civilization Bonuses

  • Caravan upgrades free
  • Bloodline and husbandry can be upgraded instantly
  • Trade cart replaced by Sogdian merchant
  • Knight-line replaced by Sogdian cataphract
  • Cavalry armor upgrades free
  • Receive +2/+3/+4/ Sogdian merchant per age in original town center

Team bonus: Market supports 10 population and build 100% faster

Unique Units
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Sogdian Merchant
w100 g50 t50s
Sogdianā€™s unique trade units can affect the market price through every successful business activity
Detail :Every Sogdian Merchant move 100 blocks in trade activity , they are considered to have finishing a buy / sell operation, and the price of the global market will change accordingly.Which recources you want to buy/sell can be controlled by your market bottom.

Chaakar
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1321424
f70 g20 t30s
Light Cavalry with Charge Attack Can Deal Bonus Damage to Spearman
atk:9 def:0/5
Charge Timeļ¼š10s
Charge Bonus Damageļ¼š+10 vs Spearman
+12 vs Spearman(Elite)



about chaakarļ¼šÄŒÄ€KAR ā€“ Encyclopaedia Iranica

The Sogdian Cataphract
sogdian catapract
sogdian uu
f60 g60 t30s
atk:12 def:2/2
replaces Knight-line, which has a high pieces armor and an addition damage vs. archers, and elite upgraded unlock in the imperial age


图ē‰‡7

Unique Tech
Sartapao : each different building within 30 squares within the influence range of the town center will slowly produce the corresponding gold
Ferghana horse : cavalry movement speed +5%, HP +10%; Sogdian Cataphract can slowly regenerate health

Unique Castle prototype : Kyzyl Kala
图ē‰‡8
图ē‰‡9

Wonder: Varkhsha Palace

AI players name

  • Varkhuman, ikhshid of Samarkand, 650-670
  • Tarkhun: ikhshid of Samarkand, 700-710
  • Gurak/Ghurak: ikhshid of Samarkand, 710-738.
  • Turgar/Thurgar: last ikhshid of Samarkand before the Arab conquest, 738-755
  • Divashtich / Devashtich: king of panjikant, 706-722.
  • Bidun of Bukhara, Bukhar Khudah (king of Bukhara), ?- 681.
  • Tughshada, Bukhar khudah (King of Bukhara), 681-739.
  • Nezak Tarkhan, Hepthalite ruler of Badghis, 651-709.
  • An Lushan, general in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion,703 ā€“ 757
  • Shi Sugan, General in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion,703 ā€“ 761
  • Cao Yijin , Lord of Guiyi,?-942
  • Shi Wansui, general in the Sui dynasty,549-600
  • Mahmud of Khwarezmia, the Shah of the Khwarazmian Empire 1169- 1220
  • Jalal din Minghurnu, the last Khwarazmshah of the Anushtegin dynasty,1199 ā€”1231

Tech tree:
Barrack
Full tech
Stable
Can be updated to hussa/heavy camel rider
Knight- linereplaced by Sogdian cataphract
Archery range
Can be update to crossbowman/elite skirmersher
No hand cannoner
Siege workshop
No siege onager and heavy scorpion, bombard cannon
Blacksmith
No Ring Archer Armor
University
No heated shoot, no keep, no siege engineer, no bombard tower
Castle
No sappers
Monastery
No redemption, no atonement, no illumination, no theocracy
market
Full tech
Dock
No shipwright, no cannon galleon
Economic technology
No Two-man saw, no Stone Shaft Mining

Campaign : Sogdian Cities

  • The first level: Nezak tarkhan resisted Qutaybah ibn Muslim and was finally defeated.
  • The second level: The siege of samarqan, Gurak of samarqan resisted Qutaybah (and finally negotiate and surrender).
  • The third level : Day of Thirst: a battle fought in 724 between the Suluk Khan and the sogdian army and the Umayyad Caliphate on the banks of the Syr Darya river
  • The fourth level : Battle of the Defile: fought in the Takhtakaracha Pass between a large army of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Suluk Khan and the sogdian army over three days in July 731 CE
  • Fifth level: The Battle of Kharistan: fought between the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Turkic TĆ¼rgesh in December 737 near the town of Kharistan in Juzjan, Suluk khan lose his sogdian ally and been defeated.
  • Sixth level: An lushan Rebellion: including the siege of Changā€™an.
12 Likes

Cool idea,

Looks like a very strong cav civ with this, instant bloodlines/husbandry, and a cav UU available at the stable. Possibly too strong depending on how the eco bonus works and what the UU stats are, but canā€™t say for sure. Also not really sure how the Sogdian Merchant works though, or how strong of a bonus that ends up beingā€¦it kind of looks like the old AoE1 form of trade, where you would pick a resource to sell for gold, and the ship would make the trip.

Seems fairly strong for something that doesnā€™t cost pop. What would the rate/building be, and does this apply to all TCs, or just one?

The big thing missing is the stat list/cost of the ČāKar and Sogdian Cataphract, both of which seem quite strong, and seem to counter each othersā€™ weaknesses too powerfully (between the two of them they look quite strong against both spear and archer lines.)

Other that that, looks promising so far.

The Sogdians are already represented by the Persians, Iā€™d rather not use up civ slots on provinces when there are more important civs to add.

I agree, but I also have to acknowledge the non-existent chance of the devs seeing this thread and then scrapping their plans for an African DLC to make a Persians split :sweat_smile:. So Iā€™ll judge this based on the effort put in as a civ design, and not for being legitimate competition for scarce design slots which have probably already been apportioned.

4 Likes

Berber split when

(Possible sarcasm)

1 Like

Iā€™m going to ignore the (possible) sarcasm, and just ask, what into? Moors or something like that for the interactions with Spain and stuff?

Not really a playable civilization after allļ¼ŒSo a lot of design only takes into account the fun and does not take into account the balanceļ¼ŒThis is valid for all TCs (but the limit is 3)

I donā€™t know tbh

Maybe they could be renamed to Amazigh since thatā€™s what they call themselves

Edit: Maybe Andalusians and Moroccans/Saadis?

1 Like

Thatā€™s fair, but if it were to be made in a scenario or mod, or any playable form, it should ideally be in ballpark of other civā€™s power levels, unless other civs were modified as well. Even if something is just hypothetical, the best way we have of judging it is to see how it stacks up to existing civs. But if its just as an idea, thatā€™s cool too.

Thatā€™s an Amazigh idea!

1 Like

:man_facepalming:
I just wanted to post that as my reaction.

1 Like

Of course the sogdians are deeply effect by persian culture,but not important? they also have great influence in the central asian ,even turkish character are created by them. I donā€˜t know what is ā€œImportantā€ in your concepts,but in this forum,many American or African civ concept canā€™t find 10 AI player name is ā€œimportantā€ and ā€œworth a civ slotā€,but this important civ deserve " represented by the Persians",LMAO

Sincere adviceļ¼šread The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia or History of Civilizations of Central Asiaļ¼Œthen return and say it again:ā€œThe Sogdians are already represented by the Persiansā€

2 Likes

Ok, represented isnā€™t quite the right term. Admittedly most of my knowledge regarding this is pre-medieval largely, but wasnā€™t Sogdia a province of Persia and itā€™s successors? With regards to importance, I donā€™t really have a very clear metric, but the fact that this is the first time Iā€™ve ever seen a Sogdian suggestion (and Iā€™ve read a lot of civ suggestions), would imply that the community doesnā€™t really consider them much of a priority civ.

Sogdians included their Medieval descendants such as Turkification Khwarazmsļ¼Œthis game has always lacked civilizations related to Central Asia,such as Turkmen,The Tatars appeared in various battles as part-timers, but they are inappropriate
actually some others had mentioned Sogdians in their concepts or polls before this.

1 Like

You missed tureg and libiyan.

Make a concept for the uus to make it complete.
Im assuming building will be the tatar set?

yes ļ¼Œcentral asian buildings

I have posted the Sogdian civilization I imagined on other threads before.

The Sogdians are an Eastern Iranic peoples, same as the Scythians, and the Persian civ is mainly representing the Western Iranic peoples, at least they already have a quite difference here. At their most powerful in the fourth to eighth centuries AD., they had a series of small principalities which were independent, cooperating and attacking each others. Those city-states sit in the middle of the Silk Road, with the Gokturks in the north, the Persians in the south, the Chinese in the east, and the Byzantines and the Muslims who would conquer them in the future in the west.

As far as I know, Muslims have almost destroyed their traditional culture and beliefs, which makes modern people generally unfamiliar with them. However, for Central Asia and even the whole of Asia, their existence is very meaningful. If we are eager to dig more Central Asian or early medieval elements in the game, they the Sogdians are the one of rough jades that are already in sight.

Not deny the communityā€™s fascination with African civilizations, but I must also say in good conscience that Sogdians are pretty better compared to some potential African candidates in terms of the richness of historical materials and their impact on the world history.

You can find solid, good quality knowledge about the Sogdians on this site if you want.
https://sogdians.si.edu/

7 Likes

Sogdians/Saka are a really cool civilization and could also stand in for their cousins on the Ponto-Caspian steppe and in Europe for the Hun scenarios, particularly the Scythians and Alans. Itā€™s a far better choice than using Mongols or Huns in those scenarios.

I did say I donā€™t know much about Berbers

Technically the Hindustanis are already a split of Persians as much as they were of the Indian mega-civ from HD. Still doesnā€™t mean that Sogdians canā€™t reflect another facet of the Iranian cultures of this region, and would pair well with other mountain culture split-offs in a bundled DLC, including Tibetans from Chinese/Mongols/Burmese, as well as Armenians from Byzantines/Persians.

1 Like