First of all, thanks for acknowledging my comment.
I´ve tried the Fatimids, Abbasids, Seljuks, Sindh, Makuria (didn´t know that name, by the way,
almost got all 3 UHVs), Jerusalem, Antioch, Yemen (I gathered from the Coffee description that the other Coffee might be in Ethiopia), Oman (
very frustrating, I´ve no idea how to counter the Portuguese yet, as they took the 4 biggest cities in under 10 turns), Byzantium, Georgia (very fun challenge, lost 2 cities to the Mongol barbs, but Armenia collapsed, and after that it was a cakewalk, even though I totally failed the UHVs), and I may have forgotten 1 more.
I tried all on Emir difficulty (nice touch that, as well as the accurate historians´ names in the mod) to see how they´d go. I must say the outlying civs are a bit tedious (on Emir difficulty at least), probably because they are on the fringe, so they don´t face expansion challenges - especially Makuria, which was a long wait to see if they´d meet the UHV requirements (I missed the luxury goods requirement by a couple of turns, but figured that the easiest way to get a Mediterranean port would be via the Palestine coast, and it turned out as I thought).
I appreciate that the Mamluks, because of their relatively late start, are at an advantage until the inflation event hits. I also have no problem with inflation itself, I was just suggesting that a permanent 100 % inflation might be a tad bit on the extreme (especially since the Portuguese-ship-sinking UHV requires them to research specific techs). I admit that trying the Mamluks was the most frustrating first time of them all, precisely because I didn´t know about the event. But even if I had known, I only completed the Levant UHV because Jerusalem had already collapsed when I started, and Antioch collapsed at the exact point when I´d ran out of units to defend Damascus (I pulled the last defending unit out, because I didn´t want to loose it to the expected next turn assault, and POOF, Antioch was gone, so lucky me). After that it got really frustrating, because I couldn´t get research to go as fast as was needed to be able to sink those Portuguese Carracks - which I wouldn´t be able to anyway if they collapsed, as they were on the way to -, so I was building Great Galleys and Caravels, thinking they
might sink a few if they attacked them in numbers. I finally gave up on it, as it was just no fun trying. (I
might try them again, now that I know about the inflation event - but it would be far more fun if inflation wasn´t at a permanent 100 % - combined with the plague that results in a less than fun civ to play, and I can´t see it getting more fun at a higher difficulty setting.) I also realize that from the design perspective the inflation event itself is a perfect way to simulate low research capability for the Mamluks, in accordance with historical accuracy - which I always appreciate. (I don´t know if the Mamluks ever sank any Portuguese vessels, but again, in itself that´s a fun challenge.)
Finally, I´d just like to say that this is a great modmod, so:
EDIT 1: I´d like to suggest to add the Mongols a a playable civ (or even 2). They conquered much of the SoI map (only to be stopped by those darn Mamluks); the
Il-Khans took over all of Persia and Iraq, and the
Chagatai Khanate most of the northeast of the map, as I recall.
EDIT 2: Is there some way to simulate the shortlived Timurid expansion? Especially Timur himself led armies all across the map (even stopping Ottoman expansion in Anatolia temporarily). Perhaps something like the Mongol barb spawns?