This is a collaborative post with @Blast9867, we have done it with great enthusiasm and we hope you like it. Personally, it’s the first time I’ve done it and I’m glad I did it with such a nice person.
In the south of India and the ancient kingdom rises a hegemonic sea power. The Chola kingdom dominates the east coast of the Indian subcontinent and part of the South East of Asia.
The Cola were characterized by their mastery of the waters, crucible steel, their trade routes, their beautiful architecture, and their import of Chinese technologies. They came to adapt mechanisms of Chinese machinery and to create quite efficient medical corps, thanks to these their armies had a greater capacity for survival and performance. Culturally, South India was dominated by the ethnic group of the Dravidians and dynasties that developed a lot of art, as in the case of poetry and sculpture.
CIVILIZATION BONUSES
- Technologies cost -20% gold.
- Trade ship charge +15% gold.
- Docks give 10 of the population.
- Trade ships can garrison 5 units.
- Barracks work 20% faster.
For The Elephants: In medieval Asia, the use of elephants in the war had some variations, some civs use armored elephants, and others no, so the first civs can have a civ bonus to give armor for these units or a technology. Chola elephants are unarmored.
UNIQUE BUILDING
Vimana: Replaces the temple, has more hit points, and heals nearby units.
LANDMARKS
To Age II
Gingee Fort: Defensive building, shoots three arrows.
To Age III
Airavateswarar Temple: Temple dedicated to Shiva. All of the melee infantry attacks 30% faster and the nearby barracks train 15% faster.
Nageswaraswamy Temple: All of the physicians cost -30%.
To Age IV
*Monumental Gateway of Brihadishvara Temple: All nearby vimanas work 20% faster and the physician gains 20% more HP.
Bhima Ratha: All stone buildings and vimanas gain 15% more hit points.
UNIQUE UNITS
- Physician: Replaces the usual priest and heals faster.
- D’honi (Dhoni): Replaces the fishing boat, and the archer ship, and fulfills both roles (only shoot arrows from age II and beyond).
- Urumi Warrior: Is a Man-At-Arms replace, fast and low HP that deals trample damage.
-
Eethi Spearmen: Indian fast spearmen, replaces the common spearmen.
[Eeleti Spearman]
- Cost: 50 Food and 15 Wood
- Training time: Same as Spearman
- Hitpoints: 60 (Regular), 80 (Hardened), 100 (Veteran), 120 (Elite)
- Melee Attack: Same as Spearman
- Fire Attack: Same as Spearman
- Attack bonus: Same as Spearman
- Rate of Fire: Same as Spearman
- Melee armor: Same as Spearman
- Pierce armor: Same as Spearman
- Speed: Same as Spearman
- Upgrade cost: Hardened and Elite upgrades remain the same as the Spearman while the Veteran upgrade costs 75 Food and 150 Gold
- Upgrade time: Same as Spearman
[Urumi Swordsman]
- Cost: Same as Man-At-Arms
- Training time: Same as Man-At-Arms
- Hitpoints: 125 (Regular), 150 (Elite)
- Attack: Same as Man-At-Arms but with trample damage featured
- Rate of Fire: Same as Man-At-Arms
- Melee armor: Same as Man-At-Arms
- Pierce armor: 1 (Regular), 2 (Elite)
- Speed: 1.40 tiles/second
- Upgrade cost: Same as Man-At-Arms
- Upgrade time: Same as Man-At-Arms
SHARED UNITS
- Djong Ship: Springald ship shared with the Mayapit Empire that is more resistant and shoots a little bit faster.
- Archer Elephant: Slow but high HP horse archer without armor.
-
War Elephant: Slow but powerful elephant (with less armor than the Deli Sultanate Elephant) shared with other Asian civs.
Barracks
- Eethi Spearmen: Age II.
- Urumi: Age III.
Archery Range
- Archer: Age II.
- Crossbowmen: Age III.
- Hand Cannoneer: Age IV.
- Archer Elephant: Age III.
Stable
- Scout: Age II.
- Horseman: Age II.
- Lancer: Age III.
- War Elephant: Aage III.
Siege Workshop
- Springald: Age III.
- Mangonel: Age III.
- Counterweight Trebuchet: Age III.
- Culverin: Age IV.
- Bombard: Age IV.
Dock
- D’honi (Dhoni): Age II.
- Djong Ship: Age III.
- Xebec: Age III.
- Explosive Dhow
UNIQUE TECHNOLOGIES
- Elephant Blades: Melee elephant +25% damage.
- Support Corps: Scouts and Horseman can heal units with low speed.
- Exported Engineers: +15% damage to Counterweight Trebuchet.
- Poombuhar Shipyards: Ships are trained 20% faster and cost -10%.
- Naval Expeditionary: All ships +1 line of sight and +10% of speed.
- Kodali/Parasu Axe: Lancers +1 of damage.
- Corps Organization: A group of 10 same units gains +1 / +1 armor when are nearby.
ARCHITECTURE
Words are not enough to do justice to how beautiful Chola architecture is, from the domes of vimanas to the columned halls of your palaces, simply a level of sophistication that has rarely been matched throughout history.
The use of stone and clay was common and many structures still until today, other ones need a reconstruction. They built many vimana temples (really a lot of them), almost all dedicated to a specific Hindi deity.