I vote for the
Majapahit Empire which existed in Indonesia mainly during the 13th and 14th Centuries. The games have never had an Indonesian civ and these guys are awesome. Who would have thought such a powerful and advanced empire existed in Indonesia? A previous Empire called
Srivijaya would also be a good candidate.
Wikipedia said:
Majapahit was a vast archipelagic empire based on the island of Java from 1293 to around 1500. Majapahit reached its peak of glory during the era of Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked by conquest which extended through Southeast Asia, including the present day Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand, the Philippines, and East Timor.
Mongolia, Spain, Vikings, Inca, Carthage, Zulu are tier one important.
Portugal, Mayans, Sioux (rather than generic Native Americans), Ethiopia, Korea, Khmer are tier two important.
I
guess you could put the Netherlands in there.
Mali may not be distinct enough from Songhai but are maybe worth putting in anyway because Africa has plenty of space for them.
Celts, Sumeria, Hittites, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantines would crowd already crowded areas of the world imo and should be focused on last. Even then, Sumeria and Hittites are pretty similar to other Mesopotamian empires like Babylon and no one is around today who culturally identifies with them to get offended.
I'm all for having more diversity - less European civs and more civs from other areas of the world. Earth maps with accurate starting locations tend to have super crowded europe and vast empty spaces in asia africa and some parts of the americas.
Same as jagdtigerciv I can't believe Mongolia wasn't in the vanilla game.
Majapahit stuff:
