Push for Siam

[shogan1979]

Hello all This is my first post even though I have been lurking here for quite sometime. I was reading the post about possible civs in the expansion pack and I was a little dissapointed that someone had the Khmer listed about Siam. So I have decided to make a case for Siam to be a Civ in the 1st expansion pack whenever it arrives. Now I am no historian but I have a small amount of knowledge about Asia because I was stationed in Japan for three years in the Navy and during that time I got to visit many countries in Asia, which in turn got me interested in the histories of these countries, but I ramble back to my point. I cannot understand how the Khmer could be included in an expansion and not Siam I know the Khmer built Angkor Wat (Although some Thai people refuse to believe that due to the Similarities between Angkor Wat and there own architecture, but for the point of this post we will assume that the Khmer indeed built it), but there would possibly not be a Cambodia or Laos today if it were not for the French. Both of these countries were paying a great deal of tribute to Siam (Although Cambodia was also paying tribute to Da Viet,Vietnam, which was becoming a serious source of tension right about the time the French decided to make their push for Indochina) also Siam had been practically choosing the Kings of Cambodia for quite a number of years and Laos was viewed as a part of Siam. In fact other then China I would say Siam was the major power in the region before the arrival of European imperialists. Now Someone will most likely make the point that Burma was always a thorn in the side of the Ayyuthayan and later Siamese empires, but starting with King Taksin and later the Chakri Dynasty in Siam, the Burmese problem had been taken care of and quite possibly had it not been for the arrival of the British in Burma it too may have because a "protecterate" of Siam. I honestly believe that Siam deserves to be in the game more then a few of the Civilizations in the game now I wont say which ones because I dont want to offend anyone and I hope this thread doesnt offent anyone either. Siam is practically the only country that Survived the European colonization of Asia withough becoming a part of any European empire, this was done with shrewd politics and although Siam lost its empire it kept its independence and it ofcourse survives today as Thailand. I am sure someone will point out some of the mistakes I made here and I didnt make all of the points I intended to because of the length of this post already, but I hope I have made a valid case for Siam as a civ. I mean most of the empires in Civ were empires of Great influence in there particular region and Siam "the land of the white elephant" answered to noone except China and well almost everyone in Asia answered to China. Just because they were not the dominant empire in there continent should not bare them from inclusion otherwise we would include only one European power right? Anyway Siam is in Southeast Asia and in that region I believe they were the dominant empire. Well I am ready to be ripped by responses if it happens, but I believe I have made a legitimate case for Siam, and in my opinion if it werent for European intereference most of Southeast Asia would be part of Thailand today.

 

[Ick of the East]

I would love to see Siam as well, having lived here for so long.

Elephant cavalry would make a beautiful special unit, and the Great Stupa at Nakhon Pathom would make a fine Wonder.

Nothing agains the Khmer, but after Angkor what have they got?

 

[Koelle]

Yeah, its difficult to choose between Siam, Khmer and a civiliazation in the region called Champa since they were same powerful/weak and never managed to beat anyone considered a power. What they had in common ist that they all got their asses kicked by the Vietnamese. The Champa was destroyed for being located to close to them while Cambodia had to give alot of land and paid tribute to survive.