Mauriyan Empire

[deeterrocks101]

Hello guys, excellent mod. I have a request. Do you think that you could put the Mauriyan Empire into the game? it would be historically accurate. They were considered a major power in India, and since alexander reached their with his macedonian empire, you could create units that have some greek influences even after the fall of the Macedonian empire. though what I said may not make much sense, please consider it... thanks. great job.

[svramj]

I don't see any historical reference of Macedonian influenced unit in India....auxiliary role in the Mauryan army was given to the subjugated tribes and the core battle line was formed by the Ksatriyas...I can help if any one is interested in adding them to this mod...just PM me..

svramj

[Webba]

Sadly there's not really any more room in XGM for more factions. Even now some factions are pulling double shift by representing multiple kingdoms. (Independent GCS, Eastern Kingdoms and Independent Gauls)
There are plans to add more indian units to the game, mostly for Baktria and the Indian AOR that would do a passable job of representing an Indian kingdom.

[LucretiusTC]

Like Webba said there is no free slots for more Factions in the XGM, and the current world map doesn´t give much room for the Mauryan Empire because the Indus Valley is located at the edge of the world. So you can´t try to conquer the whole Indian Peninsula in this game.

The more promising option was recently discussed here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=207792

If we develop the current non-playable Faction called the Eastern Kingdoms somehow, it might be possible to add the Tocharian invasion to bring some further action in the later game. Those Tocharians (aka Yuezhi) conquered the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and they also caused serious damages to the Parthian Empire, but the Parthians managed to survive and recover from those nomadic attacks.

Luc.

[Webba]

Yuezhi were ethnically the same group as Scythians, right? If we gave the Eastern Kingdoms an extended unique AOR with a couple of special units (edit: and maybe buildings?) for north eastern and steppe regions as a resurgent faction (emergent on the fall of the last EK territory - a pretty certain event) that could work well. I think that this is possible.

[LucretiusTC]

Yep, according to some other experts here might be possible to script the Tocharian invasion as a part of the Eastern Kingdoms and spawn the stack once the Eastern Kingdoms have lost all the provinces (=0) for the first time.

About those possible units:
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1981427

Tocharian/Yuezhi Nobles:
These mounted nobles represent a lightly armoured medium cavalry, able to skirmish with their bows and equipped with lances also able to mount a desperate charge. They wield their bows with skill, and are able to handle their lances; However their chief virtue lies in their supportive nature, as horse-archers but also as flankers, a diversionary force as well as nobles who may lead but also inspire their troops. They will not perform very well in melee due to their light defences, so care must be taken to use these nobles wisely. This is offset by their great skill in archery, allowing them to out-range their adversaries and to out-power other archers thanks to their asymmetrical bows.

Historically, these nobles represent the upper end cavalry of the Yuezhi or Tocharians before they came into contact with the “Haoma-drinking Scythians” (Sakâ Haomâvargâ) who fielded heavily armed and armoured horsemen. As such they are a far cry from the later feared Kushan cataphracts. Nevertheless the rationale of the Yuezhi nobles may merely have been authoritative, and “aristocratic”, in the sense of that their exquisite garments ordained them a rallying point in battle, far rather than being proven for battle themselves. As the Yuezhi began to interact with the Saka, Tocharian influences reached the Graeco-Bactrians and the Hellenistic colonies along the Indus river, the Indians and subsequently the Parthians who became their western nemesis during the height of the Kushan hegemony. The Yuezhi cavalry must have been numerous, for Chinese sources though possibly exaggerated mention herds of horses numbering upwards hundreds of thousands of animals of riding quality. The asymmetrical bow was most likely proliferated by them; A representation of Eros from the 1st century CE Gandhara (Back then firmly in Tocharian/Yuezhi rule) shows the deity wielding an asymmetrical bow, now lost from the eyes of scholars.

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Tocharian/Yuezhi Riders:
These horsemen make up the backbone of the Yuezhi cavalry, as horse-archers. As such they are armed with extremely powerful composite bows of the asymmetrical or otherwise known as the Hunnic style. Thus able to out-range other horsemen and fire off their missiles with greater power, they are at an advantage compared to other horse-archers; The greater penetrative power also make them valuable for taking out heavily armed horsemen though these bows also require greater skill to wield and to use due to their greater size and asymmetry compared to the more popular Scythian-style composite bow used by mounted archers to the west. Their qualities as archers is offset by their performance in melee as they are lightly armed and bear little to no armour. Used wisely, these mounted archers are a danger to any ill-prepared enemy.

Historically, Yuezhi or Tocharian horse-archers were often significant elements in the armies of the Parthians, Indo-Parthians, Saka and the later Indo-Scythians where the latter was a pivotal period in shaping the Kushan Empire in which Tocharians came to dominate the political and military scene of India for centuries. Nevertheless their historical presence in foreign armies, including that of the Seleucids as mercenaries during the campaign of Antiochus VII Sidetes against Parthian king Phraates II, was offset by their liability; As notorious as the case was in the aftermath of the Parthian victory at Ecbatana, the Tocharians (Popularly dubbed in the ethnically ambiguous term “Scythians”) demanded compensation for their services, an event which lead to the death of Phraates as he was handed over by his Hellenic captives. In another case at 124 BCE, the Tocharians had invaded the Parthians and succeeded to such a degree that during battle King Artabanus I of Parthia was mortally wounded. Mithradates II The Great of the Parthian empire however eliminated the Yuezhi threat which would only reappear by the rise of the Kushan hegemony, starting with Kujula Kadphises who succeeded in wresting Paropamisos and parts of Arachosia and Drangiana away from Parthian possession.

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Luc.