After trying 7 or 8 times to achieve Malaysia's UHV I just gave up. Wanted to share my experience and the things that could change to make it more doable and fun. Playing on regent/normal.
The good things
First, I want to start by listing the things I liked. The goals are diversified enough and feels like a mix between India (religion and infraestructure) and Dravidia (commerce) with the focus being on diplomacy. There sure is potential for a fun experience. I really liked whipping my way to things with cities that have next to no production but a lot of room to grow.
UP, UB and UU
The UP is great. One of the best from the entire mod even. The UB is good. Both have great synergy with UHV1. I never found much use of the UU though. It seems to be an anti pirate unit but no pirate ships spawned in my territory. Heavy galleys and war galleys were more than enough to do the only two things I needed from a fleet: sinking Java's navy and mantaining contact with other civs.
The problem with UHV2
UHV2 requires you to aquire 14 different happiness resources by 1300 AD. There are six in your historical territory: ivory, gold, spices, dye, incense and gems. Pearls are nearby in Indonesia and the Philippines and there's also silver in Australia. So that's eight. You need another six from trade with the AI. Here's where my biggest issue begins. For that to happen you need:
- Cotton: Dravidia to stay alive (happened in every single one of my games) or India to stay alive (never happened).
- Jade, silk and tea: China to stay alive and survive the Mongols (never happened) or Mongolia to conquer most of China (never happened). For jade Burma can also control two of them and be willing to trade it (never happened).
- Wines: Persia to stay alive (never happened) or the Turks to conquer most of the Middle East and survive the Mongols (happened once) or the Mongols to conquer most of the Middle East (happened twice) or Byzantium to stay alive and still hold Khalpe (happened once).
- With opium is the same as wines with the added possibilty of Burma controling two and be willing to trade it (happened once).
Other than that, I can only think of teching fast enough to conquer the Aztecs or the Incas for Cocoa or conquering the Chinese and Middle East cities yourself. But you only have war elephants and trebuchets against crossbow and walls.
The problem ends up being that a succesful game relies too much on something out of your control. I don't mind that certain goals require some luck. But at least there is something I'm doing. Here I'm just sitting praying that the AI will conquer what I need them to. Is not that fun, specially when you are nailing a great game and everything goes to waste because Mongols refuse to conquer cities that have two crossbows.
The problem with UHV3
UHV3 requires you to build a Hindu Kshetra, a Buddist Chaitya and a Islamic Grande Mosque in a Malayan city by 1500 AD. It took me a while to realise this means you need the three buildings in a single city. But it appeares to be bugged, as it only tracks Singapura or whatever city you have first settled in West Malaysia. Or is it intended to build them in Singapura? Also, it says
by, but the goal is only accomplished
in 1500 AD, no matter if you manage to do it before.
I don't mind the bugs as I guess those will be solved eventually. My problem with this goal is that having to build the Kshetra, the Chaitya and the Grande Mosque in the same city adds a layer of difficulty that seems a bit off. Specially considering how late Islam spreads and how luck-dependant is which city gets it first. Sometimes is a city with barely no production that delays too much building a missionary and you are just too late. Singapura isn't your most productive city either.
Suggestions
I think the civ is well thought and has the potential to deliver a fun experience. Maybe some other players have succesfuly done the UHV without much issue. But I still think there's room for improvement. My suggestions would be:
- Make some pirate ships spawn in your territory. It would make the UU useful and would give you a reason to keep a fleet after you conquered Java and finished UHV2.
- Reduce the number of required resources in UHV2 from 14 to 12. 1300 AD is just a really transitional moment for China, India and the Middle East in the mod. I think 12 resources is doable and makes the dependancy on how the world turns out a little more bearable. Or maybe we just need a little more balancing so Mongolia and the Turks can succesfuly conquer what they are supposed to conquer.
- Rephrase UHV3 to Build a Hindu Kshetra, a Buddist Chaitya and a Islamic Mosque in a single city in West Malaysia by 1500 AD so it is clear what you need to do. I'd still prefer it if you just had to build them anywhere.
... Of course, sometimes Portugal is a vassal of Spain, but we already have a rule that vassals don't have to give up the first ring to the masters, unless normal culture rules make it possible. One of those rules states that the core tile of civ A can only be flipped with 2 (or 3?) times more culture from civ B. I guess, this does not apply to a Coast tiles? Can we fix it please?
with the Market in Vanilla and back in 1.17, but now they just give 
with the Harbor. IMO, Whales are too magnificent a creature to be lumped in with fish, crab and clam as a regular ocean health resource; They deserve to be a luxury!
