Vijayanagar could be a second Indian civilisation.
They are more early in the AoE3 time line which would be an opportunity to design them very different from the Mughal + British India inspired nation we have now.
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I also wish they’d replace the Asian civs’ monk explorers with actual military. What they have now looks so out of place.
Vijayanagar is way too early. Mughals, Mysore, and Maratha would be the most realistic contenders for an India split.
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It seems to me like a really cool DLC. Maybe Persia will come in the future, but if the theme of the DLC is the Mediterrane sea then the two chosen civs are prety ok. I just had an idea here. Now we could have Morroco as a gift civ for the ones who have bougth the African Royals and KotM, as they are from Africa and the Mediterrane.
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Vijayanagar lasted until the 17th century, though it had already been crippled in mid-16th. Even then, it happened after the end of the Aztec Empire, which is already in game.
However, I think both Vijayanagar and Mysore could be represented together as the Kannada civ.
Aztecs already don’t fit in the game and there shouldn’t more anachronisms.
There isn’t really a reason to generalize them. Mysore could cover everything. They were a vassal of Vijayanagar early on and later conquered much of their territory so it could be mainly Mysorean but with plenty of Vijayanagar and South Indian influences.
Ah yes, let’s have the devs decide between adding Canada, and Kannada. 
But really, I think it is time that the Indians get the Dynasties of India treatment, where the civilization split between Mysore, the Marathas, and the Mughals/Safavids.
It could be called “Indian Empires”. 
Maybe someday Asia and South America will get some love from FE, but I’m not holding my breath.
I really don’t think the Indians of AoE3 need to be “split”, especially the regional powers such as the Danes, Persians, Siamese, etc. that are more worthy of being introduced.
In the subcontinent, the Mughals were indeed the most powerful and representative empires, so there is nothing wrong with them being the main ingredient of the Indian civilization. Although they did not completely conquer the whole of India, they still had covered the most territory before British rule, and the only native regime that could possibly compete with it was the Maratha Empire. For now, I still think that introducing these regional competitors of existing civilizations as mercenaries or minor civilizations is the smartest and most efficient way. In order to avoid a drop in the criteria for judging eligibility for independent Asian faction, the number of Asian factions may be hopelessly skyrocketed.
Just like the reason why the developers thought the Germans should not “split”, as long as they still maintain this principle (which actually convinced me), the Indians should also maintain a civilization.
If people feel that the current Indians are under-represented of non-Mughals, we can try to update them, as they have recently done with European civilization, such as adding Rocketeers at Castles, and adding horse riding units and more. I can understand that this would definitely require more changes than other civilizations, but still more efficient than creating new factions.
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The thing is, Indians are VERY weird
Why do they not get cavalry outside of mercenaries? Why is their stable replacement named after what was basically a hotel?
And why do Asian civs get monks as explorer replacements instead of military?
Many of these problems are common to the design of Asian civilizations. I also stated
I also hope that Asian civilization can be updated.
But the problem of the design of Asian civilizations and whether civilizations need to be split are two different issues.
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Asian civs are basically “Hollywood tropes + exoticism”.
Monk hero is an odd choice. Japanese monk warriors at least have weapons like they did in history. Shaolin monks with bare fists…And Indian Brahmins ramming with elephants…
Monestaries are basically the result of “let’s roll the dice to find two buildings to combine”.
I do like wonders though, and they are not likely to remove this mechanic entirely.
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I have given advice.
Some obsolete buildings can be removed while retaining the essential effect of the wonder mechanic.
Although I guess the devs will put Asia on hold for a while to finish other regions first, as the high complexity of Asian histories, ethnicities and cultures makes solving problems expensive.
Spain, Germany and Italy are designed around the Renaissance till 30 years war time. And even Japan is entirely before the Edo era that started in 1603, a time where the Netherlands still fought for independence.
I think they would fit well into the game because they are that early.
They contrast against the Mughals not only culturally and geographically but also by being from a different time period.
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I’d say the probability of this happening in the coming months is pretty small. The contracts are probably year based and include both aoe2 and aoe3, so if that were to happen, it will happen next year.
Yeah I think there’s a lower chance for that to happen sadly, even if Dynasties of India opened that can of worms…
I never regard that Dynasties of India should have any influence on aoe3.
aoe3 should not follow the roadmap of aoe2.
Different games, different ways.
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AOE2 civs are already saturated in terms of geography so they can start splitting civs.
Eastern Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Oceania are still missing in AOE3. South America is very underrepresented. So it would be a very distant future.
It’s pointless to be hysterical. Many fans know Iran was a massive empire and civilization, top-notch AoE material. Yea we need to make it very public, but please keep collected and composed.
Ball is on Microsoft’s court now. We got our eyes on the ball.
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I’m curious, for those of you that have good working knowledge of the Persians/Safavids around this time, what would you envision to be the strengths and weaknesses of this civ relative to those already in the game?
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