Rise of the Mughals - Total War in India

[Copperknickers II]

Rise of the Mughals will focus on the rise to power of the Mughal Empire. It will feature a new map (of India and surrounding area) and aims to recreate an atmosphere that will immerse the player into the Indian world. The scope is Total Conversion with medium gameplay changes - we are aiming to make it as historical as possible while still keeping gameplay value, though not adding too many mechanical changes.

If interested in joining, PM me or post, if you have any info or sources at all, just post. Support messages are good too .

The Solṭanat Moġuli, better known as the Mughals or Moguls ruled India from the 16th to the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were an Islamic people from Persia who were led by many people - prominent among them the famous warlord Akbar 'the Great' - to conquer the subcontinent and rule it in a Dynasty that would last nearly 300 years. This is your chance to relive the epic war for supremacy over India, or your chance to stop the Muslim invaders in their tracks... if you can.

Trailer, courtesy of the History Channel

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Campaign: the campaign will start at 1530, when Akbar's father, Humayun came to the head of the fledgling empire. At this time, the empire was little more than Sindh, and a few other towns and cities in between there and the heavily contested over capital city Delhi. It will end at 1707, after the death of the last true Mughal emperor. This 200 year campaign will be 1.5 turns per year, so about 500-600 turns.




Historical battles:

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The mod will include a number of historical battle, based on the Mughal rise to power and any other battles from around the time.

First Battle of Panipat:

By the time Babur reached Panipat, north of Delhi, he only had 20,000 men. Ibrahim Lodhi had an army estimated to be 100,000 strong with 1000 elephants. This numerical advantage was partially offset by Babur's train of artillery and a contingent of 4000 musketeers. Babur needed to eliminate the numerical advantage of Lodhi's army. Babur achieved this by creating a narrow battlefront, which consisted of a barrier of gun carriages and carts. Babur placed his musketeers and archers who were protected by breastworks. However on 19th April,Babur launched a failed night attack on the Afghans. Two days later the Afghans walked into Babur's trap and were slaughtered. Babur estimated that between 15,000 and 16,000 Afghans died. Ibrahim Lodhi was among the dead.

Battle of Talikota

Fought in January 1565, Talikota was a confrontation between the forces of the Hindu Raja of Vijayanagar and the four Muslim sultans of Bijāpur, Bīdar, Ahmadnagar, and Golconda in the Indian Deccan. Both armies numbered several hundred thousand with large contingents of elephants. The battle was decided by the Muslim artillery and the capture and execution of the ruling Hindu minister Rāma Rāya, along with the vastly superior weaponry of the Sultanates. It is said that the powerful Vijayanagari cavalry was not put to good use due to their commanders being mounted on huge armoured elephants, making communication and fast tactical strikes difficult. The Vijayanagaris are not to be underestimated though, as it is a mark of how dangerous they were that the constantly warring sultanates formed an alliance to confront them.

Map:




Factions:

• The Safavid Empire

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The Safavids:

Shah Tahmasp with Humayun:



The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722. It covered all of Iran, and parts of Turkey and Georgia. The Empire's location on the trade routes made Iran a centre of art, architecture, poetry and philosophy.The Empire declined when it became complacent and corrupt.

• The Mughal Sultanate

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The Mughals



The Mughals were descendants of the Mongols; they were a Timmurid clan hailing from Turkistan. They were, however, quite distant from their original ancestors. The Mughals had become Islamic, for the Middle Eastern Mongol invaders had converted to Islam long before. They had also thoroughly absorbed Middle Eastern culture, especially Persian culture, and their wars of invasion spread Persian culture throughout India. Much of Persian culture was based on Shi'a Islam and its mystical doctrine of a Divine Light present in the earth in the form of the Imam, or religious guide on earth. It was equally influenced by Sufi mysticism, a branch of Islamic religion that stressed the mystical union of human with god.

The Mughals are remembered as the greatest of the Indian empires, ruling almost all of the subcontinent and advancing science, literature and religion further than at any time since the Mauryas. Even today, we have the English word, "mogul," meaning "successful tycoon", which stands a testament to one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen.

• The Mewar Rajputs

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The Rajputs (from the Sanskrit rājaputra, "son of a king") are a number of small kingdoms in northern India and Gujarat (Rajputana). In the Hindi and Gujarati languages, those belonging to the Kshatriya Varna Caste of Hindus are generally referred to as "Rajputs". The Rajputs claim descent from Hindu Legends like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, and are famed for their martial prowess throughout India.

• The Suri Dynasty

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The Suri dynasty is the newly created realm of the Afghan warlord Sher Shah (the Tiger King). He rules the modern state of Bihar, and though small, could prove a large threat to the other fledgling empire, the Mughals. Historically, Sher Shah invaded Delhi and ousted the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb shortly after his coming to power. Sher Shah revolutionised the organisational system and laid the foundations for not only the Mughals, but the British Raj as well. Eventually, Humayun managed to regain his lands after Sher Shah died in battle, but the Suris came very close to replaving the Mughals as the great Muslim empire of India.

• The Vijayanagar Empire

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The Vijayanagara Empire was the 'forgotten empire' of India, the last bastion of the millenia-old Hindu empires. It was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara, whose impressive ruins surround modern Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in modern Karnataka, India. The writings of medieval European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz and Niccolò Da Conti and the literature in local vernaculars provide crucial information about its history. They were Hindu, and built many temples in their unique style of architecture, which gradually started to encompass a more Islamic style of domes and arches.



Physical exercises were popular with men and wrestling was an important male preoccupation for sport and entertainment. Even women wrestlers are mentioned in records. Gymnasiums have been discovered inside royal quarters and records speak of regular physical training for commanders and their armies during peace time. Royal palaces and market places had special arenas where royalty and common people alike amused themselves by watching matches such as cock fights, ram fights and wrestling between women.

• The Sultanate of Bijapur

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The Deccani sultanates were the five kingdoms ruling the Deccan plateau in central India. They were Shia Muslim kingdoms of Persian/Turkic roots, and as such were fierce warriors with heavy slave warrior cavalry. They had unique and innovative armies - they used crossbows and pikes where the Indians were still using spears and bows. However, they were always fighting with each other and never really had any power in the subcontinent. Nonetheless, they certainly had the potential: in the 16th Century they united against the Empire of Vijayanagar and dealt them a crushing defeat. Without a clear leader, their gains soon disintegrated into small nayak chiefdoms that were easy prey for the Mughals, but if a powerful chief could unite them, and their potential unleashed, they would prove a dangerous foe to all who opposed them.

• The Sultanate of Golconda

Click to view content: 

The Deccani sultanates were the five kingdoms ruling the Deccan plateau in central India. They were Shia Muslim kingdoms of Persian/Turkic roots, and as such were fierce warriors with heavy slave warrior cavalry. They had unique and innovative armies - they used crossbows and pikes where the Indians were still using spears and bows. However, they were always fighting with each other and never really had any power in the subcontinent. Nonetheless, they certainly had the potential: in the 16th Century they united against the Empire of Vijayanagar and dealt them a crushing defeat. Without a clear leader, their gains soon disintegrated into small nayak chiefdoms that were easy prey for the Mughals, but if a powerful chief could unite them, and their potential unleashed, they would prove a dangerous foe to all who opposed them.

• The Kingdom of Assam

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The Ahom kingdom, called Assam in mediaeval times, was established in 1228 when Sukaphaa entered the Brahmaputra valley. The kings (or 'Chao-Pha') adopted two names after converting to Hinduism, a Hindu name and a Tai name. The Kingdom was Multi-Ethnic, and was largely Buddhist as well as Hindu. The Assamese are fierce warriors, armed with huge two-handed swords and a courage in battle that makes up for their rather primitive armour.

• The Sultanate of Bengal

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Bengal was a small sultanate that had split off from the Sultanate of Delhi 200 years prior to the start date. It was conquered by the Sher Shah suri/Mughals (?) in the 16th century. However, Bengal was historically one of the most fertile and rich areas in all of India. From the Golden Age of India and the Empire of Maghada, to the British Bengali sepoys. Bengal has a reputation throughout history for producing poets, mathematicians and philosophers. Two of the world's oldest religions, Jainism and Buddhism, were founded in Bengal, and the region had a huge cultural impact on all of India.

• The Goa-Portuguese

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Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut in 1498 on the the west cost of India, several hundred miles south of Goa, and thus became the first person to find a sea route from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese were desperate to control the spice trade from India, then controlled by the Arabs, and needed a good port, so they settled in Goa. In 1510, the Portuguese fleet under Afonso Albuquerque landed in Goa, only to be driven out by Adil Shah (of Bijapur) a few months later. Finally, later that year, the Portuguese with reinforcements finally conquered Goa (Ilhas region) from Bijapur. In an apparent reprisal for his earlier defeat, Albuquerque ordered the massacare of its muslim inhabitants.By 1543, the Portuguese were able to extend their control over Salcette, Mormugao and Bardez, thus ending their first phase of expansion into Goa. With Portugal's command of the seas and its supremacy over the Arabs, Goa became the jewel of its eastern empire.

• The Maratha Confederacy

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The Marathas (emerging)

The Maratha Empire (Marathi: मराठा साम्राज्य Marāṭhā Sāmrājya) or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in India. It was founded by Shivaji in 1674. At its peak, the empire's territories covered 250 million acresm, or one-third of South Asia. They were finally defeated by the British in 1818.




Ingame - The Marathas, given some conditions, will emerge at around 1684 in the Bijapur region.

• The Europeans

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The Europeans

The Europeans will be 'guild' type ideas like in Med2, so although they won't be a visible faction they will have trade buildings, 'pirates' in the sea, events etc so they will be there.



Units: They will be available as mercenaries and you will encounter them a lot in the sea.


Notes:
"There is no reason to have most Europeans as real factions. Effectively they weren't on the scene then when it comes to territory. However, the British and the Dutch did posess large trading/pirate fleets.

The Portuguese and later the Dutch controlled Sri Lanka for most of the time period.

The indian ocean in the 16th century was a continual battle for domination between the English, Dutch, Portugese, Ottomans, Gujarat, and Vijayanagar. A game all by itself!"

Recruitment:

We need:

• 2D artists, whether on a computer or a piece of paper.
• Skinners and modelers
• Coders and scripters (even simple values and names that will make things quicker)

Any past experience in modding welcome.


Contact: PM me or Email me




Team:

Copperknickers- Mod leader and artist

Chinghhis Khan- Lead historian (researcher)

Aslanamca- Safavid historian/researcher

Shogun144- Historian for the Deccani sultanates and Suri Dynasty

Kublai101- 2D artist

Gigantus- Mapper

Parashar - Researcher

Alexius Comnenus- Scripter and Researcher

Big Pacha- Coder and Researcher

Azim- Coder

Sabot- Musician




Screenshots:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Signatures:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

by Copperknickers




by Nakharar

The Modding Empire - Hosted Mod

[Mythic_Commodore]

Interesting concept and setting, I'd love to hear more about this mod!

[AnthoniusII]

Interesting concept and setting, I'd love to hear more about this mod!

Interesting indeed...
Almost unknown factions and cultures to most of us...
It will be a very good adition ....

[Druvatar De Bodemloze]

great idea! but too many moslem factions they should be pagan and have a small Hindi population but great Idea I want to do something like this but based strictly on the Rajput battles but good luck!~

[Copperknickers II]

great idea! but too many moslem factions they should be pagan and have a small Hindi population but great Idea I want to do something like this but based strictly on the Rajput battles but good luck!~

Thanks. The mod (obviously) focuses on the Mughals, and in 1530 there weren't that many Hindu dynasties left. The north had been taken over by the Afghan and Mughals, the deccan by the Bahmanis, so that really only left Vijayanagar, the Rajputs and Assam. And of course the Marathas.

[Killerbee]

Nice map there

[Nakharar]

Yea great stuff maybe for first version you should either cut down amount of factions or make some of them more basic

[sumskilz]

Could be a very interesting mod, but Copperknickers, I didn't know you could skin. Is that what the "hopefully" part is about?

[Copperknickers II]

Yes. I need to delete that part really, my skinning is atrocious and it must take people like you years to get up to a reasonable level.

[IVIarkI2I]

Interesting idea cant w8 to see some units

[Copperknickers II]

Neither can i :/

Yea great stuff maybe for first version you should either cut down amount of factions or make some of them more basic

Why?

[Nakharar]

Cause each faction takes time and at the moment it seems you need a skinner or modeller and I doubt 1 modeller or skinner would join if he would have to do 12 factions...

[absinthia]

here you are.
indo-persian Dhal shields



they have not been battle tested in-game.

[Copperknickers II]

Thanks! Amazing quality!

[absinthia]

of course i use images of real shields to make textures and it can not get more realistic than reality...
a round shield model is simply a deformed sphere, so there is not much to it.

[Babur]

nice shields

[Akhil_The_Great]

any word on the release date of the mod?

[Copperknickers II]

No, and don't get your hopes up, i am very busy with other things so not much progress i'm afraid.

[Meng]

Wow very good idea i can help you for the research if you want !! Since i believe i will have M2TW before Empire i think i will add this mod soon well i hope it will be finish soon too haha

By the way i have 2 questions : All factions will be playable ?? Or only the Mughals ??

And i think the Deccan normally should be a little more aride like savanna and not that green in the map ^^...

Anyway there is my msn: ommarseille1@hotmail.com

I will be please to help

[Copperknickers II]

We don't really need researchers, we need coders and mechanicals, until then, no mod .