The Rise & Fall of The Mughals ~ v2 ~

Thank you for this exotic scenario with a lot of wonderful ideas. :goodjob:
 
I got in sixtyish turns as Vijayanagara tonight.

Taking a calculated risk, I attacked the VOC early on, and managed to kick them off the southern tip, and secure the Iron resource there. (The resource eventually depleted, but only after I had got access to musketmen, so the loss was then bearable.) However, I lost a city in the north to the Dutchmen's Bengali allies, and had to pay Sher Shah Suri a hefty tribute to stop his elephants from ravaging further.

I then pursued a policy of peaceful expansion and consolidation, while the various European factions fought a series of wars in and around my territory. Eventually, when my gunpowder corps had grown strong enough, I accepted an invitation from the Portuguese to join the fight against the EIC, and seized Fort St David, but only after building a road their so-that I could get my artillery there - man, are those fusiliers tough! :eek:

The EIC are currently leading on points, but their position doesn't look good - I've driven them out of the south, their attacks on Goa and Cannanore failed miserably, and the Portuguese are now besieging Calcutta after seizing another city the English had built in Bengal. To make it even worse, the French are attacking their shipping.

In the north, the Safavids, Mughals, and Bengalis are big and strong, but keeping peaceful for now. The Delhi Sultanates are looking rather vulnerable between these northern powers and a Vijayanagara that's grown quite strong ...

The Ceylonese have taking to piracy, attacking my ships and the euros' with equal glee. I think I'll be doing something about that soon ...

The Brahmin's death animation makes Baby Newton cry.

I sold Ranged Expertise to the Nepalis in return for Militarism. Is that supposed to be possible?

There appears to be a transparency issue with the Akbar LH. Damn. I'll be looking at that tomorrow.
 
Looking at the SS, I can't help but yell: gosh, this scenario is really getting incredibly beautiful. I still have to try it out, once I have found more space for Civ on my poor laptop...
 
Downloadin' and looking forward to this one. Also, I only just realised that the Omar Khayyam of the poetry is identical with Omar Khayyam the mathematician - I once proof-read a book about him - stupid of me not to see this before!

Diplomacy text editing is actually pretty easy, although horribly time-consuming. I'll add something about it to my scenario design tutorial.
 
Civinator: Thanks for the kind words. They mean a lot when you've slaved for so many hours and sacrificed so much. Thanks a lot and also for the Fluyt help there, I didn't know about that fix being available.

FYI and Everyone else's - I tend not to be in favour of constant and immediate upgrades for every little thing as it raises its head. I prefer to confine and contain modding sprees, so that one doesn't totally lose sight of everything else in life. I also find constantly changing versions of scenarios to be a bit confusing, annoying and messy as a player. So, like before, I will gather up all the notes and points which come up and do a full scale upgrade in one swoop later on.
 
TLC: Cheers for the game report. You know we all like them. I think you made a wise move kicking the Dutch out (and the Brits later). With those auto-producing improvements, the Europeans cannot be trusted to sit quietly in their little trading bases.

- Don't worry about losing the northern city - there are a max of 9 to lose now and not many test games saw me getting near that, the ejection of culture flipping from the rules helps the blood pressure here too.

- The EIC will always be up there on the Victory points, but they also will be up there on the city elimination and hate list because they such belligerent mofos now. The Puppetmaster screenie on page one is a nice nod to ways of dealing with that. Basically, get rid of them so they can't realise that VP victory.

- I'm glad to hear you've established a strong southern rival to those powers in the north. Can't wait to hear how the showdown goes down.

- Remember, if you control that southern tip and a have a handful of rocketwalas handy, you can rocket those Pirate ships to the sea bed without a navy.

- The Brahmin's death is another thing I had to compromise on. Yes the tecch trading was meant to happen, else locals fall far too far behind.

- I know about the Akbar transparency issue, forgot to mention it in the face of so many other things. Noted for the next spree though. Cheers!

pinktilapia: How nice of you to drop in and comment. This scenario is getting as beautiful as I can make it. Like I say, I've only just learned a lot of these techniques, so I've done what I know to date (thanks to all for the tutorials). As I learn more about areas of modding, those areas will be made more beautiful also. I've mentioned those in the 'What's Left?' post previously.

Also worth mentioning, I was made aware of your Immobiles technique by TLC. It works a treat! Nice little brainwave of yours there. :goodjob:
 
Ares de Borg: :lol: I spent quite a bit of time on those 'pedia entries and you declined the opportunity to benefit from the strategy tips I added for each civ. You should be able to read up on every civ in the "Tribes" or "Description" link below the leaderhead before you load up as a civ. The basic messages in the strategy tips for Ceylon are: Drop it a difficulty level or five and lose all ambitions of winning the game. Then you might have some fun. As the pedia entry for Ceylon also mentions, they were invaded and conquered by two different bunches during this time period (Dutch and Portuguese).

Glad you like the soundtrack too, that's been carefully put together to unfold over time with the game, growing more and more dramatic. Some of the best songs are actually in the diplomacy btw, you just have to spend long enough in those screens - many tracks in there change in their course moving to some quite surprising styles.

Plotinus: Omar Khayyam is quite a geezer, in every sense of the word. His poetry (and related Sufi mysticism) has made a large impact across the Persian and Islamic worlds (larger than is often recognised in western studies of Islam). He indeed lived during one the very heydays of Persian and Arabic middle ages and I've mentioned to you before how liberal and decadent these Muslims were.

The impact of his poetic work was also significant during the Victorian age as Britain decided it needed to learn more about foreign cultures if they were to be mastered. I've mentioned a fair bit about this in the "Orientalism" pedia entry. Anyway, Khayyam was another very fine generalist, dabbling in an array of subject matter and linking them all together seamlessly.

I also like the nod I've made to his coining the phrase of "Wine, Women and Song".

I look forward to learning about the Diplomacy chat so that can be reworked later. Needless to say, there is a truck load of lines I'd like to put in here.
 
Rambuchan said:
I also like the nod I've made to his coining the phrase of "Wine, Women and Song".
Click to expand...
I hope you don't mind if I quote an appropriate piece of Roman graffiti:

Balnea vina Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra
sed vitam faciunt balnea vina Venus

("Baths, wine, and sex corrupt our bodies,
but baths, wine, and sex constitute life!")
 
Continuing my Vijayanagara report ...

Having grown weary of the depredations of the Ceylonese pirates, I hired a pirate fleet of my own, and shipped an army over the Sri Lanka. Fielding clubs and spears against rockets and muskets, the Sinhalas didn't stand a chance.

I then attacked Pondicherry, which the French did a surprisingly poor job of defending. I thought about following up with an invasion of the Maldives, but my pirates-for-hire told me they were much more strongly defended, so I dropped the idea.

Instead, I signed a peace treaty with the batrachophages*, and launched a surprise attack on Coimbatore, the city the Bengalis took from me early on, and seized the city. Sher Shah Suri launched a terrible counterattack with his elephants - I don't think I've ever seen so many pachyderms on the board before - but after the first wave got repelled in a hail of rockets, he apparently got cold feet, and sued for peace.

I think the time has come to deal with those abominable Bijapuris now ...

The Rajputs, in a fit of deathwish, declared war on the Mughals during my Ceylonese war, and are now busy getting beaten up - they've lost two cities this far. The Safavids are keeping quiet, and the Deccan Sultanates appear to be doing their best to keep under everyones radar, except for the Ahmadnagaris, who have somehow conquered the EIC's Iranian foothold (but not Surat Line). The French have taken at least one city from the Malaccans, but the later are nonetheless starting to turn up in numbers around my coasts. Time to hire more pirates of my own.

The VOC appear to be busy in SE Asia, and the Golcondans have 'stablished a foothold in the Himalayan foothills. I'm leading in population and VPs, whereas the Safavids hold first place in territory. I've not managed to catch up with the northerners and euros in tech, and I suppose I'll soon have to start looking out for people starting to build the Trade Mastery.

* "Frogeaters". :D
 
Today's session of subcontinental carnage was almost entirely devoted to the conquest of Bijapur. A look on the map would've suggested that should've been an easy affair, since Vijayanagara was about trice the size of Bijapur. However, it turned into a long and gruelling campaign with many setbacks and shifts of fortune, partly because the Bijapuri army was huge, including dozens of Bowmen (who had a strange habit of killing Sikhs when attacking), and partly because they were joined in their struggle by Ahmadnagar and the Safavids. The later's landing in Kerala was way too half-hearted to achieve anything (particularly since one of their horse artillery units died attacking a Hindu Guard :D), but the former kept sending wave after wave of Sardars and Heroics into the main battlegrounds along the Krishna river (they kept attacking out from Golcondan territory, which was kinda annoying) and in the Bijapur-Talikor area. They also used some Rocket Walas they captured from me to good effect, but in typical AI fashion failed to bring along any from home.

My attack on Bijapur triggered a flurry of wars across the board, but most have been rather inconsequential, with the chief exception being a Safavid-Ahmadnagari-Bengali alliance against the Mughals, who've this far lost one city in Bengal to the Persians(!), and one each in Rajahstan to the Persians and the Rajputs, who thusly appear to've been saved from Mughal annexation.

Golconda has colonized the Himalayan foothills north of Bengal, whereas the Bengalis don't seem to've expanded at all. There's also a Pirate city in NE Bengal, bizarrely enough. The VOC have started sending Ships-o'-the-Line to kill off pirates around the Indian coasts - incidentally, the way the animations are made, this one apparently should not have the rotate before attack ability. Nonetheless, quite a few Malaccan ships are sneaking around outside my coasts.

With wars and trade embargoes hither and thither, it seems nobody has been able to start building the Trade Mastery, despite all the major civs having entered the next era (which seems a tad early, since only a bit more than a hundred turns have passed).
 
TLC: Firstly, congrats on playing a very shrewd game. Sounds like you're doing well. Here's some feedback to your feedback and some general advice.....

The Southern Tip: Kicking out any pests from the southern tip was a good idea. It is totally possible to catch the Europeans on the hop, but if they are 'off the hop' so to speak, they can be a bugger to dislodge. Ceylon is there for the kicking, glad you grabbed that too. Anyway, action on the southern tip for Vijaya can tend to be an unwanted distraction from efforts in the north, where you need to be progressing. So all round good job on that. Are the Dutch and Brits still about though? If not, have they tried returning?

Great to hear that the Safavids mustered a landing on the south. That hasn't happened often and they've never managed much success with those. However, I've had landings from the EIC and Mughals playing as Vijaya and lost cities that I had foolishly thought were safe.

Bengal: Now you say they haven't expanded much, that's largely because I took away their previously preferred expansion options to the east (which were not historically accurate). So that's good in my book. But you've seen them on the rampage already, earlier on. They do play a peaceful game mostly, with a tendancy to take on the Mughals if they let their guard down. That's entirely historical for it was these fellows who kicked out the fledgling Mughals (Humayun was the unlucky one) only for them to return later with Safavid assistance, to re-conquer the North of India.

Bijapur: Yes, this kingdom is deceptively tough. They are industrious, on productive land and have cheap military at their disposal. This means they will turn any intended quick war into a sluggish war of attrition. But their military is slightly inferior and this means they can be ground down over time. Their Safavid alliance is good to hear about for historical accuracy, the Pedia entries for those two tribes will tell you why.

Golconda: This kingdom is much like Bijapur, seemingly small but rich, productive and tough. They too were an extension of Persian and Muslim influence in the Deccan. They do tend to settle up north, which ain't quite right but then you can just take those off them to redress things.

Rajputs: They were lucky, often they get wiped off the map by the Mughals. Now that they've stuck around, they may come in handy for you.

VOC: Yes, they should be busy in SE Asia, Indonesia was where their attentions lay mostly. It's really in human hands that they can pose a threat to mainland India. And you can fashion a subcontinental empire with them almost as easily as the EIC if you wanted to.

Naval Action: This sounds like it's playing pretty well. The Europeans do end up dominating here, the Indians simply have better, more immediate things to do. Anyway, all that piracy and big bad ship-o'-the-line stuff is just the ticket! (I've noted the animation comment here, cheers).

Rocket Walas: I hear what your saying and you're a very good modder to look out for the AI so much. But I designed these units for human use! So just have fun with them.

Trade Mastery and Techs: You're still a bit early for that victory condition to raise its head, but it will. And the speedy tech time is largely down to the moaning of folk like your good self. But play it out and it should be ok. There will still be civs that fall behind, owing to earlier defeats or a lack of crucial resources. The playing field remains unequal for some good punch ups, cultural victories and trade monopolies. Anyway, the whole thing should play much shorter now, so that should be alright.
 
The Dutch have made no attempt to return to the subcontinent. The British have had their hands full holding on to Calcutta and Surat Line, altho that may change now, since their long war with Ahmadnagar is finally over.
 
Time to wrap up the report. :)

After a period of consolidation after the Bijapuri campaign, I turned onto Golconda. They didn't have the kind of surprise strength the Bijapuris had, but instead something even more terrible - Safavid allies. I easily took Golconda itself as well as a city on the coast SE thereof, but then I had to divert much of my army to prevent a series of Safavid assaults from overwhelming Bijapur. I finally managed to remove the Safavids from the equation by bribing the Mughals to attack them (the previous Safavid-Mughal war had ended fairly inconsequentially), but before my now undivided attention on the Golcondans could start to tell seriously, I hit the VP limit.

The Golcondan army was a rather amusing mixture of state-of-art Local Cav and Sikhs alongside a motley collection of Hindu Guards, Musketmen, Golconda Guards, Elephants, and Arab Archers.

A great many inter-AI wars were fought. Some of the more notable ones include:

The Mughals finally put down the Rajputs.

The Nepalis got swamped by everyone and their grandmother, after launching an ill-advised attack on Mughals. Most of their territory went to the Mughals and Bengalis.

The Portuguese trekked thru my lands to attack Ahmadnagar, but got defeated on the plains south of the city. However, they somehow did manage to seize a French city in the Himalayan foothills that the Ahmadnagars had taken. The other euros did nothing of note.

The Bengalis were getting into wars with everybody (Mughals, Safavids, Burmans, Ahmadnagaris, Nepalis), but actually managed to expand their territory at the expense of Nepal and the Safavids.


The Malacca Menace seems to have the same problem as the Ship of the Line.

At the end, the Mughals' city elimination count stood at seven - they'd probably not lasted too much longer. The only civs to actually hit the limit, however, were Bijapur and Rajputs.
 
After playing this map as the British all I can say is wow. There is so much detail in the scenario from the units to the civilopedia. This is definitely one of my favorite maps. Good Job!!

Stretch
 
Stretch23: Thanks a lot for dropping in to comment. Much appreciated. Glad you're enjoying all the details. :)

TLC: Congrats and thanks for the feedback.

Ares: I don't know if you tried a different Civ after loading up as Ceylon (and getting your butt whipped :lol: ) but if you're interested in playing as one of the Local Culture Group, you may well find that the Malacca Pirates are pretty good fun. Their ships and units have things like amphibious attack and lethal bombardment to make up for other weaknesses. It's a quirky civ to play, with some getting used to the ships' abillities but you can fashion a bit of an empire around the resources in the Malacca Straits. Victory may not be yours but you'll have bloody good fun wrecking those European Trader's plans toward monopoly.
 
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