New civlisations for the subcontinent

Age of Empires II: DE II - Modding
41

So here are my suggestions, obviously I haven’t thought out individual bonuses yet.

The current Indians becomes Rajput (second thoughts below), but also inherits properties of some proto-Rajput empires like the Pratihara Kingdom and loses some other features (like shore fishing rate).

  • Cavalry Civilisation
  • Knight Line reintroduced but no Cavalier.
  • No THS or Halberdier
  • UU: Rajput Lancer: Fast horseman with bonus against infantry units (medium cavalry, not too different in attack and armour compared to Keshik)
  • Castle Tech: Syrian Cavalry: Mounted units get either extra HP or extra speed
  • Imp Tech: Talwar: Mounted melée units do +3 pierce damage (On second thoughts, the idea is good but I think the real life impact in imperial age will be useless as most units have 3 or more pierce armour, so maybe a simple bonus damage of a new ‘Talwar’ armour class, or a much higher damage output, ideally +10 pierce damage, at a very high cost, might be situationally more useful)
  • Team bonus: Same as now
  • Wonder: Kirti Sthamba at Chittod fort
  • AI Players: Prithviraja, Harshavardhana, Nagabhata, Chandragupta, Bappa Rawal, Man Singh Tomar, Jayachandra, Rawal Jaisal

Vanga/Magadhi, encapsulating Pala and later Sena but also other eastern kingdoms including Kamarupa and Kalinga, perhaps

  • Elephant civilisation
  • No Camels, but Knights (potentially Cavalier? available)
  • Shore fish bonus of Indians transfers here
  • UU: Trunk-flailing Elephant, attacks all units upto 2 tiles in front + splash damage surrounding it, or something similar.
  • Castle Tech: Nalanda: Research techs at University, Blacksmith, Monastery, and Castle cost 60% lower resources
  • Imperial Tech: Airavata: Elephants can run (increase speed by a lot, maybe 100%?)
  • Team bonus: Monastery works 10% faster
  • Wonder: Somapura Mahavira
  • AI Players: Mahipala, Ramapala, Anantavarman Chodaganga, Narasimha Deva, Bhaskaravarma, Vijayasena, Yayati, Kumarapala

Tamils, for Chola, Chera, Pandya, Samudhiri, and Pallavas

  • Infantry and Naval Civilisation
  • Hussar, no camel, only knight
  • Ships have 10% more HP and speed; Fishing ships can fire low-attack arrows
  • UU1: Urumi, ranged infantry with long flexible sword attacking all units within range (sort of like scorpion bolt but with the sword instead) with bonus against foot archers
  • UU2: Imperial Fire Ship: Tankier Fast Fire upgrade in Imperial age
  • Castle Tech: Pandian Pearls: Fishtraps generate food and gold
  • Imperial Tech: Garrisons: Urumi can be made at barracks
  • Team bonus: Barracks are 10% cheaper to build
  • Wonder: Current Indian Wonder (Brihadeeshwara)
  • AI Players: Rajaraja I, Rajendra I, Kulothunga III, Mahendravarman I, Narasimhavarman I, Kadungon, Rama Kulasekara, Mana Vikrama

Karnata, for Chalukya, Rashtrakuta, Hoysala, Vijayanagara

  • Monk and Gunpowder Civilisation
  • Camel but no heavy, Cavalier, Hussar
  • Infantry Armour Upgrades Free
  • UU: Matchlock Shatagni, hand-cannoneer with bonus against siege and gunpowder units
  • Castle Tech: Advaita: Monks regain faith 80% faster
  • Imperial Tech: Shatagni transfers to here, renamed to “Portuguese Matchlocks”.
  • Wonder: Gomateshwara Bahubali Statue
  • Team Bonus: All military units cost -15% food
  • AI Players: Krishnadevaraya, Hakka I, Bukka I, Pulakeshin II, Someshwara, Amoghavarsha, Veera Ballala II

Elephant Archer: Moves to the Archery Range for all civilisations. Elite version renamed to “Ambari”, costs more to upgrade but fires arrows twice as quickly (ROF 1.0), and probably replace the unit model with Dagnajan.

Monks: Perhaps a new model with a bun on the head and a typical Indian priest Angavastra, also Sanskrit for all Monks.

Replacing Existing Campaign Civlisations

  • Bukhara: Khorasan = Tatars
  • Francisco de Almeida: All = Tamils
  • Gajah Mada: All = Tamils
  • Suryavarman: All = Tamils
  • Bayinnaung: All = Vanga
  • Tamerlane: Delhi = Rajput, Delhi Garrison = Rajput, Outlying Villages = Rajput, Shah Tughlaq = Persians
  • Prithviraj: Mostly Rajput; appropriate assignment to Persian or Vanga as needed

New Campaign Suggestions

  • Vijayanagara: Starting from forging the campaign under Hakka & Bukka through battles against the Sultanates and Kalinga and conquering the south, forging alliances with the Portuguese and other far-flung lands, to ending holding on to the last of the forces and defending Hampi after the king dies, his brother runs away, and half the army switches sides at Talikota and sacks the city. (sort of a Bari-style campaign across centuries).

Second thoughts about Rajputs: Of course, to also include the Sultanates of Lodis and Tughlaqs among others, we could rename them to Hindustani, and maybe give them a few gunpowder units too, while keeping the Rajput Lancer as the UU. I would probably favour this now.

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