East-Asia
Alright, so I would like to start this post by charting what lines we already have. Unlike West-Asia, which has a few bottlenecks, East Asia already has what I would call the beginnings of a fully rounded roster. I'd organize it like this:
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India and China have completed lines, as we all know. Mongolia provides an intermediate stage for the Chinese and Indian endpoints (Mughal and Qing), while India also have a secondary end: Nepal.
Conversely, the unreleased Silla are the only representation of Korea, while Japan only exist in the modern age as the Meiji empire.
In South-East Asia, Khmer, Dai Viet, Majapahit and Siam form a regional blob. While there is a lot of diversity in the amount of cultures represented it might be worth untangling some of them.
I personally believe, and feel free to disagree with me, that East Asia needs the following:
- Korea needs at minimum a second stage
- Japan needs a representative Civ in all three ages
- South East Asia needs to be reorganized.
Additionally, Mongolia needs a precursor Civ that isn't Persia or Assyria, but I've already addressed that in my previous big post - I suggest Scythia, which can stand in for the Huns, Kushans or Xiongu. (all three of which would also be acceptable alternatives to Scythia, if a wonder can be found for them - does anyone here know one?)
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I dont want to mess too much with the Indian or Chinese lines as they are complete across all three ages, though I will touch upon that the Indian Subcontinent probably deserves to be a six-Civ region, with an additional Civ in Antiquity and Exploration to balance out Maurya and Chola, and provide some breathing room for Ashoka and Lakshmibai once Gandhi is (inevitably) added to the game as a Leader. The Gupta and Gurjara look like the best choices for me, but I'm always interested in more options, like the Maratha (which are probably better suited for Modern).
Japan, like China and India, should be a straight-forward three stage line. Strictly from the perspective of Japan itself, the line should look like this:
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Whichever Antiquity Japan and Shogunate is chosen matters less to me, as long as the bonuses are interesting. If Firaxis are eyeing someone as a secondary Japanese leader though, it should affect the choice in Exploration: Hojo Tokimune or Hojo Masako should lead to Kamakura Japan, and Tokugawa, Hideyoshi or Nobunaga should lead to Edo Japan.
If we look at things from Himiko's perspective however, it's a little bit different. Himiko's native Civilization isn't Modern Japan, but whatever the choice in Antiquity is. Yamatai is the most correct choice there, but Yamatai itself is very poorly attested. Heian Japan is a better documented period of Japanese history and might be an acceptable native-by-proxy choice for Himiko, kind of how Songhai is an acceptable 'native' choice for Amina over the Zazzau Kingdom.
Himiko is particularly interesting because she's very well attested in Chinese records, which could make her a secondary leader of the Chinese line, alongside Confucius. So, a Himiko centric pathway could look like this:
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If a second Japanese leader were to be added, then mapping out Himiko's choices like this would allow her to lead the Chinese line in game where both she and the second Japanese leader are present.
What I've done next at this point is dabble a bit with the other lines near Japan: Korea and China, and came to the conclusion that having three Koreas might be a bit too difficult.
Of course, Korean posters here have made wonderful work outlining possible scenarios for a Silla => Goryeo => Joseon line. GDR_Willter has made three theorycrafts on the subject, which I'll link below:
Silla
Goryeo
Joseon
Which is honestly, fantastic work. But GDR_Willter is Korean himself, and its easier to create such designs for your native culture, which you're much more familiar with.
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However, I would like to propose an alternative idea. Personally, I don't like the idea of Modern Joseon. The Joseon dynasty reached its heights before Civ7's Modern Age, which would make the player play a Civilization in a state of decline, which I think goes against the philosophy of picking Civs. I would put Joseon in Exploration, the age that not only fits their gilded age, but also suits their prospective kit (which could include the Hwa'cha, Geobukseon and/or Seowon, depending on what the Silla get).
This however creates a problem because what Civ would be a natural transition for the Joseon? Not the Meiji Japanese, for obvious reasons. Not the Qing either, who descent from the Mongols and the Jurchens, two enemies of Korea.
If only we had a neutral option in East Asia for Modern that most lines could converge towards with little controversy.
And as it happens, we do have a candidate Civ for that. And they already have a leader in the game. What if we solved by making the Philippines an end point for Silla?
The Philippines can serve as a neutral end point for most East Asian lines, that don't want to combine with each other and gives Rizal his native Civ, instead of being awkwardly tied to Hawaii and Majapahit.
Note that I don't necessarily think the Civ it should should be called 'Philippines'. It can also be a Filipino faction, like the Sulu.
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The more I think about it, the more I believe the Philippines are a high priority modern inclusion for the region.
But I would love to hear feedback from both the Korean and Filipino users here.
With Rizal resolved, we can also now resolve Confucius's lines: I believe every leader should have two options available to them every age, except for the age that has their "native" Civ. For Kong, this is the Han, and his default line should go towards Ming and Qing.
Confucius however, can also lead the Korean Civs. Korean leaders in Civ are traditionally aligned with the Confucianism religion (Sejong and Wang Kon both had it as their default prefered religion), so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to have Confucius to lead the Korean line if a second Chinese leader were to be added (and I'd say that chance is fairly high).
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So with China, India, Japan, Korea and Mongolia all having been given suggestions, I'll now move on to South East Asia. SEA has been getting a lot of love with these updates, and that's a good thing. It's an overlooked part of the world that I'm not very knowledgable about, and I like learning more things about them.
The problem with SEA though is that it's current design is trying to shove several fairly distinct cultures into one line (one could argue the same of India, but India at least *exists* as a unified entity right now). One could argue whether the Khmer, Siamese, Vietnamese and Indonesians should be lumped into the same group.
Now, the way the game divides them is by making the Khmer the main 'Source' Civilization, which is anachronisitic but tolerable. It's not entirely clear where the timeline began for Vietnam (arguably in Antiquity, but the game HAS put them in Exploration), and Funan, which could be the predecessor Civ to Khmer is -as per Andrew Johnson- not well enough attested - it's unclear whether they were Khmer, south Chinese or some other culture in the region.
So Khmer I think is fine as an Antiquity Civ, but I would argue that SEA should have at least one other to facilitate the transition into the two Exploration civs, Majapahit and Dai Viet. The fact that the Chola are ALSO bouncing around in SEA doesn't make things easier. So I'd argue that SEA needs at least one more Antiquity and one more Modern Civ.
Antiquity has a few options that I (person with limited knowledge about the region) know of - the Champa and the Sri Vijaya. The Champa are the native inhabitants of central Vietnam and are contemporaneous with the Khmer, which makes them a prime candidate for the Antiquity Civ. The alternative I propose, is an entity from Sumatra, either the Melayu Kingdom or the Sri Vijaya Kingdom, both of which can facilitate a start for Majapahit and the Chola.
Then we get to the Modern age. Malaysia and Indonesia
immediately jump out as options, though both might be a tad too modern. However, the Civ itself doesn't have to be called that way - there are plenty of Islamic Sultanates in present-day Malaysia and Indonesia that lasted well into the 20th Century, including:
- Aceh
- Brunei
- Kelantan
- Mataram
- Ternate
- Tidore
One of them could do, provided there's enough material (two UUs, full Civics tree with Traditions, City List and a worth World Wonder). The Ubudiah Mosque, a new Wonder added in R2R, is also tied to Malaysia (specifically the Sultanate of Perak), which makes them the preferable choice imo. It would introduce a new Civ to the game, and one that would be an okay end point for the Indonesian lines.
Additionally, we of course also have the Filipino Civ that can serve as another end point for SEA.
On mainland SEA, there are also a few options. Burma (Taungoo) exists, but it really straddles the line between what should be Exploration or Modern, being that its peak was during the late half of the 16th century. Burma might be better off in Exploration as the Bagan Kingdom, if it's ever added. Laos, on the other hand could be in Modern, as the 'Luang Prabang' kingdom. The existence of Siam kind of makes it diffcult to go for other polities, as the Siamese controlled most of Burma and Cambodia. The only other options that I see is Modern Vietnam, but I wonder whether the game actually needs
two Vietnamese Civs...
So in sum, this is the expanded diagram with my suggestions:
View attachment 740235
Also in the subject of
Tibet: if included, goes in Exploration and leads towards Nepal. It will never be included for political reasons though, so I'm not sure who I am addressing with this (modders? :nods sagely: modders.)
In sum, I think the highest priorities are:
- Philippines, as a neutral end point for all regional lines + a native Civ for José Rizal
- The inclusion of Joseon in either Exploration or Modern
- The inclusion of Japan in both Antiquity and Exploration (Heian/Yamatai + Edo/Kamakura)
Suggested inclusions for the longterm would be:
- The introduction of two Antiquity Civs in SEA to make the Khmer less of a bottleneck Civ
- Burma and Laos to pad out the terrestial line in SEA.
- Malaysia to provide a historic endpoint for Majapahit
- The expansion of India by adding one more Antiquity and one more Exploration Civ for the subcontinent. (required once the game adds Gandhi)
Leader Suggestions:
- Anawrahta: founder of the Bagan Kingdom, considered the father of the Burmese state (include when Burma is included)
- Araniko: Kublai Khan's Nepali court painter, probably the best choice for a Nepali leader.
- Korean Leader: Sejong, Seondeok, ...
- Indonesian or Malay Leader: plenty of options there, but I go with Gajah Mada.
- Siamese leader: Taksin, Ramkhamhaeng,...
- Second Chinese leader: Liu Bang, Wu Zetian, Kangxi Emperor,...
- Second Japanese leader: Hojo Masako, Mutsuhito, Tokugawa,...
- The Chinese leader should be an Emperor
- The Japanese leader should be a warrior of some kind.
It's a more rambly post, but I'm less knowledgeable about this part of the world. Eager to learn more from you all!