This is a project I’ve been working on for sometime that implements a 36th civilization into the game without replacing any of the current civilizations, altering the gameplay or causing major issues, such as with the AI. While it doesn’t seem like a lot to it, at the core it’s a simple choice between two technology buttons, there was a lot of trial and error involved to make sure in every possible setting and situation, each civilization does not conflict with each other or causes problems with the gameplay or AI. While Definitive Edition does not have true support for adding modded civilizations, I’m hoping that this mod will convince the developers to include support for the mod system allowing extra civilizations and inspire current civilization modders.
I decided to use the Tamils for this mod since a Southern Indian civilization is highly requested civilization currently and there is enough to work with in terms of current graphical data to make them stand out enough from the current roster. The core of the tech tree is from a concept I did for them months ago and adjusted for Definitive Edition’s current balance. I didn’t want to do anything too unorthodox with the civilization concept (ie. the Cumans), they’re fairly straightforward but I still made a large effort to make them stand out enough from the rest of the Civilization roster and to make their tech tree and gameplay true to the civilization.
Any feedback for either the Dataset Mod in general or about balance issues or suggestions for the Tamils civilization in this mod, no matter how minor or negative, is entirely welcome. Also please report any issues or bugs from this Dataset Mod in this thread.
You can rename the regular Indians into Bahmani since their descendants the Deccan Sultanates built the Gol Gumbaz and they were the biggest rival of Vijayanagar (Battle of Raichur was there last decisive battle)
As you know, it might be possible to add new Civs to DE in future patches as confirmed by dev StepS. I hope you will continue to develop this mod.
I do plan to create the following civs for AoE2, hope we can collaborate…
Here’s my idea for Civilizations. Each Architecture Set/Region will have 4 civilizations. All these empires coexisted on 1400s.
About AI, you should make techs to upgrade recruitable units to the UU. I mean for example make a tech that upgrades the Elephant archer line units to Asaan, and Camel to Elephant Line at starting dark age. Then the AI will recruit the new units for Tamils. You seem to have replaced Gothic and Japanese Relic which the AI does not recognise as military units
Also you can use this simple AI script to make AI build a specific unit line:
Dharani Unique Technology provides +1 Galleon range instead of +2 due to the addition of Bracer.
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Thanks for the feedback @Juggernaut8704, I’d be very interested in implementing the voice sounds. I have to get back to you about it until there is better civilization mod support since I don’t see any feasible option of implementing the sounds outside of outright replacing the current Indian voices, which I’ not going to do.
I actually have the same idea for a background emblem, using a layout from this mural.
But like I said, I probably will not implement it into the mod until there is more support. Anything I change in terms of UI Graphics, and text strings replacing current used text would replace it for the standard dataset until the Resources mod gets disabled. Also why I’m not too big on renaming the Indians to a specific dynasty / group. I mainly used the Gol Gumbaz primarily for extra flair and because the current wonder fits Southern India much better, while the Gol Gumbaz has more ties to the northern sultanates. But I’m not really a fan of the Gol Gumbaz, mainly because it was constructed in the middle of the 17th Century. I’m thinking about using the Sanchi Stupa instead, actually.
Some opinions of mine about the Tamil UU:
I didn’t knew about the term “Asaan”. Googling seems to tell me that it is a Tamil word meaning “Guru” i.e. Teacher. In my opinion the slow and heavy stats of the unit doesn’t quite fit the appearance of the unit sunda royal fighter. This model may fit better for Eastern Coast of India, orissa/andhra as they have a bit fairer skin and light armored as well.
I would recommend using the “Gidajan/Dagnajan” models for the Tamils with the name “Polygar”. It has a mounted and unmounted version you can add some interesting stats to it to make it quite unique. It will be heavy, slow and occupy pop 2 with the mounted version. Also the dravidians are darker skinned compared to north India. Archaic Indian armor had the gold plating similar to the model. The word Polygar will also be quite fitting. It is a tittle given to military governors in south india. This UU may serve better than the South East Asian Battle Elephant with the Indochinese Hat model.
About the Indian Wonder. Yeah Sanchi Stupa might be a better fit if you plan to make Hindu Rajputana. Though this wonder is a buddhist monastery built in Asoka period 3rd century BCE but it still is good enough to be used. Rajputana of North West have three major points, Udaipur, Kannauj and Ujjain and everything in-between this region.
Also can you please consider making a simple civilization replacement mod so that we can have some fun compstomping against AI Tamils as well. You can keep this suggestion in a lower priority.
I went with the Asaan because I was dead set of having an Infantry Unique Unit that was either going to have the statistics that it currently has right now or a Infantry Unique Unit that had a weak, rapid (1.0 Rate of Fire) attack with armour piercing and quick moving, but average HP and armour. This is because the original two Unique Units I originally concepted for the Tamils was either a unit that used Katars, which was the rapid attacking one, or an Urumi swordsman, which is what the Asaan currently has statistics wise. I decided on the Urumi because the statistical design I have in mind synergizes very well with the tech tree I currently have for them, the Urami is a very interesting and unique weapon that fits very well with AoE2’s “Hollywood history” feel that the gameplay has and if the unit ends up being either too weak or uninteresting, I can do much more with that unit, such as giving it splash damage.
Basically, the Asaan is pretty much a stop gap since there is only the current graphics to work with at the moment. That being said, I still think the Sunda Royal Fighter, out of the available graphics and not currently be used by the other civilizations, is what would fit best for a southern India unit, at least in my opinion. Gidajan is modeled to be an African soldier and even with your explanation, I just feel like I would have a very hard time explaining to other people why I would use the Gidajan unit, especially when I can’t really find any good examples on the armour appearance. I also don’t really have any interest in using the Dagnajan model since it’s basically an Elephant Archer with an extra rider. I don’t want to make an second Indian civilization that basically has more or less, the same UU and the Konnik idea has kind of been done.
The only other unit I heavily considered using was the Eastern Swordsman and that is because I did a lot of research on the Nayars / Nairs, and I found sources that does depicted them as being well armoured and wearing “armoured turbans”. But I decided not to because of two reasons. The Eastern Swordsman has a very arabic design to them, since it’s basically a generic islamic swordsman, so I didn’t think I could accurately portray them as a southern Indian unit, especially the Nairs. The other reason is that the Nairs often fought against the larger southern kingdoms, such as the Cholas and there seems to be a lot of debate on their true origins, which I figured would get myself into trouble as an outsider, even though it would still be for a stop gap unit and would be for a mod.
Anyways, the point I’m trying to make is that I will eventually get around replacing the unit and I have full intentions of creating a Urami unit in the future. It’ll probably be the next thing I do.
I guess it’s about all the bs that erupted because of the dude who claimed it was a political mod, and the modder has given up AoE2 for good. That would be sad but understandable.
Last time you PMed me not to troll you and you are now tagging me back. You just showed your true nature and proved me right that all this was just as I suspected. People aren’t fools you know. But I will refrain from engaging you again on this ugly subject. Do not tag me ever again.
Yeah because these forums and this game are your personal property. I may have made some trouble by trolling the other guy in unrelated posts but people like you are the troublemakers in real life. Deal with it.
On topic, I did PM my apology to this mod maker not because I was wrong about the other issues but since I believe in an individual’s rights to freedom of expression and being a modder myself (other games) I would never downvote a mod, political or otherwise, as I had said earlier jokingly. Now if the modder has indeed quit, which is rather unfortunate, it was not because of me, which is reason enough for a bit of introspection perhaps?
Ah, if you say so. But for people not aware of this, what you said looked quite brutal, especially knowing that not everyone is an expert in Indian political issues
Yet I received quite a few likes on the initial and subsequent posts. If you are Indian and if you are aware of the political issues involving separatism and fake propaganda in the country, like me you would do your best not to allow that toxic filth anywhere near the game you love. That latter part is one thing we all have in common don’t we?
I honestly don’t care what you think or do behind my back. Please go engage in that type of nonsense on your Twitter timeline not here. All I want is to stop people from ruining one of my favourite childhood games by injecting veiled politics into it. Again for the final time, stop engaging me. I have a bad habit of giving back as good as I get. So cease and desist. I honestly had forgotten all of this until you brought it up again.
Shame that you cannot apologize on the consequences (a modder’s hardwork ruined) of your actions (petty jokes)
Remember there is a fine line between history and politics. Every historian appreciates the diversity of Indian Culture. Be it Indian or from other country. The diversity is the result of India not being a single political entity in history. It contained as many languages, kingdoms and economy as Europe as a Continent in medieval era. This is not Separatism which your nationalist party BJP talks of, calling everyone a Tukde-tukde gang. Even intellectuals are separists for them. This is appreciating the rich diversity of the subcontinent. Don’t try to introduce politics into everything.
Ah finally the truth. And that too from a Dravidian stooge whose entire ideology is based on a lie propagated by the Colonial British rulers invoking the policy of Divide and Rule. Thank you for your honesty and for showing your true colours.
P.S. I am not a BJP supporter because I stay away from politics but I am a nationalist. Not an ultra-nationalist but a patriot. I’ll just leave it at that.
