Crowd-sourced Civ: Mauryan Indians

[MishFTW]

@Sankrant, Prakrit comes from Sanskrit and more closely related to Sanskrit than Hindi because its a "middle" Indo-Aryan language, while Hindi is a "new" Indo Aryan language that evolved after Mogul/Persian elelments were added (Urdu). Think of it as a sandwich with Sanskrit being the bread, Prakrit being the meat, and Hindi being the last bread. I'd rather keep the Mogul influences out because they haven't come to India yet (in the time frame of 500BCE and 1CE). Don't take my word for, I'm not a linguist; I just did research

[sankrant.chaubey]

@geek377: I am sure I have not missed anything... but Chandragupta Maurya as a commoner spoke Prakrit... http://controversialhistory.blogspot.in/2007/09/myth-of-mother-sanskrit-theory.html

Also at the peak of mauryan empire (look, Porus was not a Mauryan), King Ashoka delivered his messages in Prakrit because it was the most widely spoken and thus could reach larger crowd. Now think about it, castes other than Brahmins were not allowed to speak or practice Sanskit. As I belong to Brahmins' creed myself, I can tell you with my own experiances of History.....

[MishFTW]

By all means use Prakrit. My point was if there is no Prakrit, then the next language in line would be Sanskrit (as Prakrit originated from there).

[Pureon]

We need someone to begin the Mauryan Indians civ profile. It's structure can be similar to this one:

http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13562&st=0&p=211287entry211287

Follow Michael's rundown here:

http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16056&st=0&p=239945entry239945

Is anyone interested in helping us collate this type of information?

[MishFTW]

I was gonna create a wiki page for it but when I looked at all the other profiles, my mind changed quickly. I don't have either significant knowledge of units or buildings let alone the ability to write a neat and detailed outline

However, I've created the page

[Pureon]

That's a good start Geek!

Rather than going into too much detail, we can limit it to only the 'Generic Name' and 'Class' fields for now. Any additional info can be added later if it's not immediately obvious/accessible. Don't get put off by the amount of detail for each unit/building.

Anyone interested in giving the profile a go?

[Mythos_Ruler]

That's a good start Geek!

Rather than going into too much detail, we can limit it to only the 'Generic Name' and 'Class' fields for now. Any additional info can be added later if it's not immediately obvious/accessible. Don't get put off by the amount of detail for each unit/building.

Anyone interested in giving the profile a go?

Agreed. The civ profile doesn't have to look stunning at first. It can be amended and expanded as time goes along.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Here's what I made over the past hour and a half or so. See if you guys can pick it apart and add more information:

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Civ%3A_Mauryans

[sankrant.chaubey]

Great mythos, I was expecting that....

I would also like you to ammend somethings,

Ashoka the tyrant was actually a master horse cavalry and an accomplished yoddha.

I would say that, just like the celtic frantics, indian factions too had unarmoured but accomplished sword martial artists called yoddha.

Also the Brahmins coul fight too..

The dynasty which overthew the Mauryans was basically Brahmin. Also search for purshuram, dronacharya, etc

[MishFTW]

Dronacharya came ages before the Mauryans. Or are you referring to the just a generic title?

Another side note: the Mauryans (Ashoka) had a neat formation with 5 cavalry around an elephant with 6 infantry around each cavalry. Source: documentary.

[TheDarkJedi]

I have few suggestions for the profile:

1. I did not get the reason behind Champion unit's name "Indram Gaja" if it is like " The Elephant of King of Gods", it could be "Airavata" (which is the name of that elephant)..may be I don't know but in sanskrit "Indram Gaja" translates for "Elephant to Indra(King of Gods)", A clever name could be "Gajendra", which would mean "King of Elephants".

2. Chariots can have very fast speeds, thereby eliminating the effect of enemy formations.

3. Name of Fortress should be "Durg" instead of "Pura" as "Pura" generally refers to Palace...while "Durg" is the correct translation of Fortress.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Thanks for the suggestions/fixes.

[Zeta1127]

This is a little off topic, but I wonder how the bamboo longbow stacks up against the English longbow.

[sankrant.chaubey]

The mauryan army was the largest and arguably the most powerfull army in the ancient world...

I would recommend another class of special units called yoddha. An armourless sword martial artist available in the last city age. He would have been weak with low hitpoints, but the attack points should be high.

I would also add up to siege elephant, customized for siege only.

I would also like to force the fact that Indian Brahmins could also fight, in trivial situations.

[sankrant.chaubey]

@geek I was reffering to generic term... Kautilya was the one who taught baby chandragupta, how to fight.. And at some point of time, during the nanda period, acted as a point man.

Getting of the topic a little bit,

If there's any idea of unique formation in Indian faction I vote for Chakravhiew formation....

[Shield Bearer]

If you guys can handle the units, I think I shall do the building descriptions Already got some basic things listed down.

[Shield Bearer]

Are you sure we should be naming these guys:

• Generic Name: Indian Swordsman.
  
• Specific Name: Kshatriyas.
  
  • Class: Swordsman.
    

Kshatriyas? Kshatriyas is the warrior caste, if I'm not mistaken so any warrior should be named a Kshatriya. We'll need another name for this I think.

The mauryan army was the largest and arguably the most powerfull army in the ancient world...

I would recommend another class of special units called yoddha. An armourless sword martial artist available in the last city age. He would have been weak with low hitpoints, but the attack points should be high.

I would also add up to siege elephant, customized for siege only.

I would also like to force the fact that Indian Brahmins could also fight, in trivial situations.

Thats a good idea, they could be trained from the fortress or something.

Okay, so your saying that the Brahmin Priest should have an attack?

[Pureon]

Really happy to see things moving with the civ profile

Thanks for your input Michael!

[sankrant.chaubey]

yup, shield bearer...

Brahmins can only fight when situation i trivial, somthing like-

1. No more healing aura is left

2. Health is very low

3. Death of a hero

4. Distruction of more than 2 buildings in single attack

These are themselves small things.

I am looking for a class called yoddha, appearing :bare chested and a dhoti, one or two handed short scimitar, low hit points, and very high attack rate. If possible, can be the substitute of kshatriya.

Kshatria is not a unit but a clan which fights war as said earlier.

[Shield Bearer]

yup, shield bearer...

Brahmins can only fight when situation i trivial, somthing like-

1. No more healing aura is left

2. Health is very low

3. Death of a hero

4. Distruction of more than 2 buildings in single attack

These are themselves small things.

I am looking for a class called yoddha, appearing :bare chested and a dhoti, one or two handed short scimitar, low hit points, and very high attack rate. If possible, can be the substitute of kshatriya.

Kshatria is not a unit but a clan which fights war as said earlier.

You mean when the situation calls for it? So they wouldn't fight usually, only if there is great need?

Yes, we heard you I think the Yoddha will be an interesting unit. Why don't we make the chariot a generic unit and the Yoddha the champion? I don't think it should replace the Swordsman though, we just need another name for the swordsman

[sankrant.chaubey]

The sanskrit word for sword is khadag or asi...

So the best word for swordsman should be 'khadagdhari' (the one who wields a sword)

It is as accurate as I get....

[MishFTW]

If there's any idea of unique formation in Indian faction I vote for Chakravhiew formation....

That would give them too much of an advantage over the others I thing. But cool nonetheless; we should so do it! (But is there any historical reference suggesting the Mauryans used them? It wouldn't be cool to just copy from the Mahabharata.) Also, the priests shouldn't be able to attack (after all they aren't the warrior class and aren't trained in that way). It would give the Mauryans healers a significant over the others.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I think it would be okay for Brahmin priests to defend themselves instead of running away like most other healers, but not be able to attack directly. Celtic Druides get direct-attack ability after a special technology research. Should keep that unique.

I think it's perfectly okay for the Mauryans to have 3 "champion" units, since they have a relatively low number of units to choose from. Perhaps use a civ bonus slot for it to balance. An Indian dude with a huge two-handed sword would be awesome. Should include a Bagh Nakh assassin as an Easter Egg unit (even though they would be apocryphal).

The champion War Elephant is basically their siege weapon already.

EDIT: What is the name of the epic where Yoddhas are first mentioned? That can be the specific name of the Civ Bonus giving them 3 champs instead of 2.

EDIT2: Kshatriyas can be the name of one of their Special Techs if we're not going to use it for a unit.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Added many of the ideas and addressed many of the concerns raised:

http://trac.wildfire...Civ%3A_Mauryans

Another thing to address is the proper accents and such for the specific names. The game's UI supports most characters.

[TheDarkJedi]

@Mythos_Ruler:

Yoddha means Warrior in Sanskrit.

In Civic Bonus 1 , I think the term you are looking for is "Chakravarti Samrāt " for "Emperor of Emperors"

In special structures,

The Edict pillars of Ashoka can provide a boost to all the units working in the surrounding areas, increasing the speed/efficiency of civil/military units and provide an ever increasing line of sight.