[espiesior]

In case of mods or expansion beyond civilizations around Rome:

I think this idea has been suggested before actually... an Eastern 0 A.D. with everything form Buddha (non-violence?) in the 400s BC to the Song dynasty.

I can imagine the involved factions to be:

Sarmatians, Scythians, Tocharians, Indians (Northern, Southern), Yuezhi,
Early Mongols, China, Korean kingdoms (Three Kingdoms of Korea), Early Japan,
heck even give the mod a regular 0 A.D. flair with the inclusion of the various Persian factions (with new an modified units for the various new terrains).

What do you guys think?

-SR

[espiesior]

There is one difficulty of course:

The Eastern Civilizations had hardly any contact with the more Western ones.

That is: the Indo-Eurasian factions (Scythians, Indians, etc.) were politically disjoint from the Eastern cultures (due to Himalayas, Pamirs, Tien Shan, but mostly the Himalayas). Culturally, the story was otherwise...

So how is this for another idea:

"0 A.D.: Silk Road" - This will be everything Indo-Eurasian: Persians, Near-East, Scythians, Indians, Sarmatians, everyone.

"0 A.D.: Far East" - The Far East. Not only developmental warfare, but even intra-cultural warfare (Han against Han, political wars, etc.)

[Caesar]

Interesting idea. I think this mod would be quite good. Though I cannot speak for the historical aspects as I tend to focus more on western history.

[Paal_101]

Sweet ideas espiesior! Indeed, we've been throwing around the idea of Scythians and Indians after Part I is completed.

[Cassador_Chris]

I like the idea. I used some of my historical resources to try and organize the groups into playable civilizations, with possible subfactions. Confusingly, the ‘subfactions’ below range from dynasties to terms used to describe certain ethnicities/cultures. Obviously, we’ll have to sort this out, but for now we have all options on the table. And, obviously, some of the civs won’t have near the number of subfactions as I list. 2-3 is all you need for good diversity.

Here’s an example: Indians could be divided into the Aryans, Dravidians, and Munda subfactions (if you go the ethnicity route). Another possibility is the Guptas, Pandya, Chola, Chera/Kerala. Or you could go yet another route, by groups somewhat defined by regions; Guptas (northern indian empire/dynasty), Andhra/Satavahana/Satakani (dynasty that ruled the Deccan in central India), and Dravidians (southern, fracturous, ethnically distinct indians). You could even go by lauguage groups, and so on and so forth.

For 500-0 BCE Timeframe

Indians (Maurya, Sunga Dynasties)
Chinese (Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Jin, (and 3 subsets of Jin -Han, Zhao, & Wei)
Koreans (Choson, Puyo, Koguryo, Chin)
Japanese (Jomon, Yayoi culture/Yamato state)
Central Asians (Parthians, Bactria, Xiongnu)
Africans (Meroe)

For 0-500 CE Timeframe

Central Asians (Parthians, Kushan, Sassanids, Xiongnu/Huns)
Indians (Gupta, Andhra, Pandya, Chola, Chera/Kerala, Traikutaka Dynasty/Abhira tribe, Pallava, Chalukyas of Vatapi, Rashtrakutas of Malkhed, Chalukyas of Vengi, Vakatakas, Chutu branch of Satakani/Andhrabhrityas, Kadamba, Ganga, Iksvaku, Vishnukundins)
[note: A confusing jumble above about possible Indian subfactions. Many are dynasties, but the Pandya, Chola, Chera, and Gupta (ruled by Gupta dynasty), seem to have been sovereign nations/regions ruled by different dynasties at different times. At any rate, its quite confusing, so I’m gonna see if I can get a better picture of this part of Indian history.]
Chinese (Han, Wei, Shu-Han, Wu, Jin, Zhao, Lui-Song, Qi)
Koreans (Koguryo, Paekche, Silla, Kaya, Chin/Samhan Confed. (Mahan, Chinhan, Pyonhan))
Japanese (Yayoi culture/Yamato state/Kofun era)
Africans (Meroe, Axum)

EDIT: The Japanese and Korean might not be good choices at all, as there seems to be very little on them during this time frame. The developers would have to dive into the world of mythology if they wanted to make the Koreans and Japanese militarily distinct from the Chinese, as in real life their armed forces were more or less the same. Anyway, that leaves you with four groups that are distinct enough from each other to allow the player to not feel cheated. Anyway, just thought I'd lay them out: Central Asia (cavalry/mobility focus), India (elephant/infantry focus), Africa (archer/? focus), and China (well-rounded?)

EDIT 2: Just another thought for those of you who can't stand the thought of leaving out Japan and Korea.... How about a "Orient" faction with Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese as sub factions? This would of course guarantee that the sub factions have some diversity. After all, three sub factions of China would be pretty much the same, unless certain units available to all historically were made available to only specific sub factions. But then again, we don't have much military insight into this period anyway.

EDIT 3: oops. Forgot to include the Sarmatians and Scythians. At any rate, they'd be Central Asians.

This post has been edited by Cassador_Chris: 08 September 2008 - 07:32 PM