Unique units theoretically for Dravidians (reference to gunpowder use since Vijayanagara Empire), or a future Thai/Siamese civ.
Bombard Elephant
Cost: 120w, 85g
HP: 230
Base Attack: 50
Base Range: 7,8(E)
Base Melee Armor: 1
Base Pierce Armor: 2
Benefits from Blacksmith and University upgrades.
Details:
Bombard cannon mounted on top of an elephant that deals splash damage at close range with 100% accuracy. Strong vs: a mass of units, and siege weapons. Weak vs: monks. They are better for a small group of units and siege weapons, rather than destroying buildings.
Elephant Arquebusier
Cost: 80f, 80g
HP: 220
Base Attack: Same as for Hand cannoneer.
Base Range: Same as for Hand cannoneer.
Base Melee Armor: 1
Base Pierce Armor: 2
Details:
Slow and heavily-mounted Hand Cannoneer that is also weak to Monks.
Reload time are same for Bombard Cannons and Hand Cannoneers.
A bombard might be too much for an elephant. I would try a culverin first.
There is also the question of when such weapons started being used on elephants. Proper arquebuses were created in the later half of the 15th century in the Ottoman Empire and Europe that were leading the curve of gunpowder weapons, while India and SEA were lagging behind technologically. Gunpowder was introduced in India by Babur in the early 16th century and Akbar used a large number of elephants, maybe the Hindustani should have such units but I don’t see other Indian civ having that in the AOE2 timeframe.
Weapons are often oversized on the unit models to be more visible, the obuch is also a severe offender, one might think he borrowed his warhammer from some fantasy setting I forgot the name of.
The axe thrown by throwing axemen is indeed far too large but frankish warriors did throw axes, a dedicated light throwing axe called the francisca. Fun fact, 1000 later in the Americas, some were remade and sold to Native Americans who appreciated the upgrade over their stone tomahawks.
As for the Mameluke, I do not know (except that Mamelukes were Cuman slaves that took over Egypt in the 13th century until being conquered by the Ottomans some centuries later)
Yeah I am not sure how they goofed up that badly. We learn the difference between the two in school when we’re like…8 here.
And throwing scimitars might be a fun thing to do in spare time, but it’s not even a martial art, let alone a way to fight. Mameluke’s would have been equipped with lances, bows or hand-to-hand swords.
The unit was made 25 years ago and I guess they wanted an unit that looked more stereotypically oriental. Maybe a mounted archer would have been too close from the mangudai ?
The bactrian camel then, probably to look different than the regular camel. Throwing scimitars… having watched on loop that Indiana Jones sabre vs revolver duel scene ?
