I know it might be wishful thinking because the game doesn’t even currently allow mods that change the civ’s architecture sets from one to another in ranked (while changing trees into Minecraft cubes is perfectly fine apparently) but I’d love an option to not only customize the civ’s architecture set and unit skins in the settings, but also its religion (Monastery and Monk skins). You could pick if your Bengalis are Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist, your Persians Zoroastrian or Muslim, your Lithuanians Pagan, Orthodox, or Catholic, etc.
I’ll look for some Osprey books and other resources about warfare differences between medieval Muslim groups. I’m not vehemently opposed to the split but there’s no point to it if they all waged war in the same manner.
So far (no significant research done yet) I’m thinking in these lines:
- Arabs/Bedouins: current Saracens, they were apparently modelled after the armies of the early caliphates so it fits. The only change I’d apply would be to rename the UU into a something like “Bedouin Warrior” or “Bedouin Raider” .(Mamelukes were horse archers, not camel knife throwers).
- Egyptians: here we have a first major hurdle because local armies differed significantly throughout the ages, although there were some staples like the importance of the Mamluks (they were employed by local Abbasid governors as early as the 9th century). The navy, for example, was great during the Fatimids but ad hoc during the Mamluk Sultanate (I guess this can be solved by ships being good in Castle Age but underwhelming in Imperial). The Fatimids armies consisted mainly of infantrymen flanked by cavalry, while Ayyubid and Mamluk Sultanate armies put even more emphasis on cavalry (again using Age bonuses to reflect that? But switching from infantry to cavalry between Castle and Imperial is painful, unless cav upgrades were free?). Could have a bonus related to farming (Egypt as the breadbasket of the Mediterranean). The UU is easy, a Mamluk (proper one): [Just for fun] Unique unit gimmicks ideas - #33 by smiki5five
- Kurds: I’m tempted to “Khitangut” them together with the Daylamites (sometimes called “Kurds of Tabaristan” because of their similarities). Great Infantry and Skirms, decent Cavalry. The Ayyār as an UU?
As for the Fertile Crescent Arabs and their subjects, dunno yet, I’m yet to research whether they were significantly distinct (though giving them a separate civ might be good for campaign variety, otherwise Egyptians would be stuck with Saladin instead of getting a new one). Ghulams are already taken by the Hindustani. And what to call them? “Mashriqi” is an umbrella just barely more precise than “Saracens”. “Syrians” used to have a wider meaning than just the modern day country of Syria, but I’m not sure it ever reached Mesopotamia and the Abbasid core territories. “Iraqi” works for the Abbasids but not for the Saladin campaign. “Assyrians” sounds too anachronistic for the Muslim empires.