posted 02-17-09 00:04 AM EDT (US)
Hi all,
I was thinking about making a new Civ for AOE relating to Sikhs. Sikhs which were practically next to Spartans. The Battle of Thermopylae can be equated with many Sikh battles, especially with the Battle of Saragarhi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saragarhi.
As you all know there is one specific Sikh unit in the game, the Chakram (Sepoys are not specifically Sikh), and even he is in the wrong place. Chakrams are Nihangs from the Nihang sect, but in AOE they are available from the Udasi sect!? Udasi's should have more cleric types but anyway, this sub civ is not an issue.
My plan is to gather other more skilled programmers to make this possible. I am a beginner but I am a great artist and can take care of textures and stuff. Maybe, later we can create scenarios that will take you through some parts of Sikh history.
So the Sikh Confedracy is basically the Sikh Empire. It not only consisted of Sikhs but Muslims, Hindus and Dogras. This mod will be about Sikhs from 1700s to 1800s, whereas the Empire came about in 1799.
I am going to skip political structures, etc, and get right to the good stuff - military.
So this empire had Misls lead by Misldars.
In the beginning, most of the army consisted of mostly cavalry, with little artillery.Infantry were uncommon.
Ranjit Singh who recognized the advantages in British and French army systems, later creates armies with dominant disciplined infantry and more artillery. Note: Bows were almost completely abandoned but some irregulars and/or Akalis still used them. Most were composite, some were steel. (I had to throw this in somewhere)
The early Sikh Empire was mostly cavalry who were very skilled. "Five hundred of Najaf Khan's horse dare not encounter fifty Sikh horsemen." Colonel A.L.H. Polier, a Swiss officer in the Mughal in Delhi, 1776
So the plan is to combine some of the early "hit and run" tactics of Sikh Cavalry with the latter "more artillery and infantry" tactics. Since there was no Sikh navy(they were pretty much landlocked), we could simply go with a mix of British and French, like the Indians. We could avoid it altogether but that would wouldn't work on all maps. (They did have boats though in rivers, etc)
Units we might want to consider when modding.
Sowar - India - Its got a turban, beard, all set.
Zamburak - India - Needs a beard but has a turban, all set.
Howdah - India - You can hardly see the guy in there...
Gurkha - India - These should look more like british infantry un der the Sikhs. Teh reason we mod Gurkhas is because they have a turban.
Spahi - Ottoman - This one is great, he's got a turban and beard already.
Janissary - Ottoman - Texture can be modded to make it look like a turban, and portrait can be painted over.
Imam - Ottoman - need to make his hat look like a turban. This will be the Sikh surgeon, since Sikh did not have a priest class.
Jat Lancer - Merc - All set.
Chakram - Merc - All set, perhaps a bow/ mmusket or sword can be equipped.
Falconet
Little bombard
Great Bombard
What we need? (Firstly, many Sikh soldiers would have a/another shield on their backs. They would turn aorund when attacked by a Dragoon Sabre, the moment that was given they would turn around, hamstring the horse and shoot/attack the attacker. This was part of their hit and run tactic. We will need to edit all textures to create a shield in the back. Perhaps, Sikhs will get a higher defence when fleeing.)
Akali (Immortal)- Picture Chakram but with muskets/bows and swords. All types of Akalis e.g. cavalry, howday, infantry. A versatile but deadly unit. They were incorrectly viewed as fanatics because they were strict to the Sikh faith. They were men of firm sexual restraint, meditation, penance, charity, and were a complete warrior.
Ghorchurra - A lancer/musketeer on horse. My initial thoughts were jat Lancer but some of these guys were heavily armoured, so Spahi is the ideal choice. This leaves Jat Lancer to Jagirdar.
The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Jagirdari Horseman (Feudal Chief) - An average horseman armed with a musket. They had infantry working under them. So these might give bonuses to infantry units around. or even train units at a slightly higher price than their normal.
Hakim (Surgeon) - Self explanatory. Ideally, every battalion had one. We can use Imam without many changes. Just going to fix his turban textures up a bit. The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Fauj-i-ain Sepoy - Resembles a Gurkha more than the Indian Sepoy.
Irregular infantryman - Will probably use the Janissaries as a base for this. The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Sikh Sowar - Lancers on horses and probably on camels as well. Indian Sowar edited to show a shield on the back.
Sikh Howdah - not much to say here, just like the Indian Howdah. These were pretty rare.
Sikhs have 3 types of artillery Heavy, light and swivels. They a few elephant drawn cannons as well (these were not like Siege Elephants of India), these came under the heavy artillery which were commonly drawn by buffalo or horses. Sikh artillery was more heavier and accurate than their british counterparts later on. (in the beginning they were garbage, so this piece of history can be shown using the upgrades. The player must upgrade to get decent artillery. Zamburaks were always good, they only got better.)
Interesting note: muslims dominated Sikh artillery ;. They were rare in cavalry and infantry.
Kalan - The Sikh heavy artillery. Picture the little or great Bombard.
Khurd - Sikh light artillery. Field guns - Picture falconets.
Zamburak or Shutarnal (we will go with Shutarnal just because Indians have Zamburak , even though ZAmburak is a more common term) - Swivel gun mounted on a camel, this version of the Zamburak will fire slower but will fire more powerful rounds (the book I am using considers this artillery). It probably obvious that we will simply use the exiting zamburak with altered textures to show more of a beard.
Explorers will probably include a Mansabdar Howdah and Mansabdar Sowar. It IS likely that Sikhs had howdahs, but probably for rich generals like Akali Phula Singh or the king Ranjit Singh himself. this is why an explorer unit will be a howdah.
Perhaps Sikh Misldars can be like Japanese Damyos. They are able to train units and will be available from home city.
All buildings will be like india except the house and temple. I was thinking, we can have chinese villages, in place of Indian houses. chinese villages are able to raise goats if I am not mistaken, that will be perfect for jhatka (slaughter with one swift blow). Sikhs have Gurudwaras, these will looke like the Ottoman Mosque. Sikhs do not advance with wonders, they advance like the European Civs. Sikhs will have no sacred fields and will be allowed to kill and gather food from the cow.
I skipped navy just because Sikh were either landlocked or never needed it. but for the sake of teh game we will go with the Indian navy.
Phew, that took a while. Ok, so next step is to get pictures up so you guys can visualize. I will be using pictures from Osprey's The Sikh Army book and of course, I will get screens from the game itself, and show the units to be modded next to what they should look like.
Feel free to comment. Oh and here is my gallery, if you wish to see my art:www.prince911.deviantart.com
pictures from and copyright to Osprey's The Sikh Army
This picture shows a Ghorchurra with two Akalis in the front. As you can see chakram works well for Akali's. The Spahi resembles the Ghorchurra a bit, but works even better for a higher rank ghorchurra, Ghorchurra Sardar.
Shown here on the left:[JPEG, (148.73 KB)]
Notice, he has no turban. This means we can use a unit from another civ to create this unit.
janissary serves as the base for irregular infantry men shown above with Ghorchurra and below with jagirdari horseman (ones below are early infantry).
[JPEG, (141.84 KB)]
Although, the jat lancer does not have a matchlock, it still seems as a good base for Jagirdari horseman.
Gurkha is awesome when it comes to Fauj-i-Ain Sepoy.
More to come soon...
I was thinking about making a new Civ for AOE relating to Sikhs. Sikhs which were practically next to Spartans. The Battle of Thermopylae can be equated with many Sikh battles, especially with the Battle of Saragarhi (
As you all know there is one specific Sikh unit in the game, the Chakram (Sepoys are not specifically Sikh), and even he is in the wrong place. Chakrams are Nihangs from the Nihang sect, but in AOE they are available from the Udasi sect!? Udasi's should have more cleric types but anyway, this sub civ is not an issue.
My plan is to gather other more skilled programmers to make this possible. I am a beginner but I am a great artist and can take care of textures and stuff. Maybe, later we can create scenarios that will take you through some parts of Sikh history.
So the Sikh Confedracy is basically the Sikh Empire. It not only consisted of Sikhs but Muslims, Hindus and Dogras. This mod will be about Sikhs from 1700s to 1800s, whereas the Empire came about in 1799.
I am going to skip political structures, etc, and get right to the good stuff - military.
So this empire had Misls lead by Misldars.
In the beginning, most of the army consisted of mostly cavalry, with little artillery.Infantry were uncommon.
Ranjit Singh who recognized the advantages in British and French army systems, later creates armies with dominant disciplined infantry and more artillery. Note: Bows were almost completely abandoned but some irregulars and/or Akalis still used them. Most were composite, some were steel. (I had to throw this in somewhere)
The early Sikh Empire was mostly cavalry who were very skilled. "Five hundred of Najaf Khan's horse dare not encounter fifty Sikh horsemen." Colonel A.L.H. Polier, a Swiss officer in the Mughal in Delhi, 1776
So the plan is to combine some of the early "hit and run" tactics of Sikh Cavalry with the latter "more artillery and infantry" tactics. Since there was no Sikh navy(they were pretty much landlocked), we could simply go with a mix of British and French, like the Indians. We could avoid it altogether but that would wouldn't work on all maps. (They did have boats though in rivers, etc)
Units we might want to consider when modding.
Sowar - India - Its got a turban, beard, all set.
Zamburak - India - Needs a beard but has a turban, all set.
Howdah - India - You can hardly see the guy in there...
Gurkha - India - These should look more like british infantry un der the Sikhs. Teh reason we mod Gurkhas is because they have a turban.
Spahi - Ottoman - This one is great, he's got a turban and beard already.
Janissary - Ottoman - Texture can be modded to make it look like a turban, and portrait can be painted over.
Imam - Ottoman - need to make his hat look like a turban. This will be the Sikh surgeon, since Sikh did not have a priest class.
Jat Lancer - Merc - All set.
Chakram - Merc - All set, perhaps a bow/ mmusket or sword can be equipped.
Falconet
Little bombard
Great Bombard
What we need? (Firstly, many Sikh soldiers would have a/another shield on their backs. They would turn aorund when attacked by a Dragoon Sabre, the moment that was given they would turn around, hamstring the horse and shoot/attack the attacker. This was part of their hit and run tactic. We will need to edit all textures to create a shield in the back. Perhaps, Sikhs will get a higher defence when fleeing.)
Akali (Immortal)- Picture Chakram but with muskets/bows and swords. All types of Akalis e.g. cavalry, howday, infantry. A versatile but deadly unit. They were incorrectly viewed as fanatics because they were strict to the Sikh faith. They were men of firm sexual restraint, meditation, penance, charity, and were a complete warrior.
Ghorchurra - A lancer/musketeer on horse. My initial thoughts were jat Lancer but some of these guys were heavily armoured, so Spahi is the ideal choice. This leaves Jat Lancer to Jagirdar.
The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Jagirdari Horseman (Feudal Chief) - An average horseman armed with a musket. They had infantry working under them. So these might give bonuses to infantry units around. or even train units at a slightly higher price than their normal.
Hakim (Surgeon) - Self explanatory. Ideally, every battalion had one. We can use Imam without many changes. Just going to fix his turban textures up a bit. The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Fauj-i-ain Sepoy - Resembles a Gurkha more than the Indian Sepoy.
Irregular infantryman - Will probably use the Janissaries as a base for this. The ottoman units have to get the Indian voiceovers.
Sikh Sowar - Lancers on horses and probably on camels as well. Indian Sowar edited to show a shield on the back.
Sikh Howdah - not much to say here, just like the Indian Howdah. These were pretty rare.
Sikhs have 3 types of artillery Heavy, light and swivels. They a few elephant drawn cannons as well (these were not like Siege Elephants of India), these came under the heavy artillery which were commonly drawn by buffalo or horses. Sikh artillery was more heavier and accurate than their british counterparts later on. (in the beginning they were garbage, so this piece of history can be shown using the upgrades. The player must upgrade to get decent artillery. Zamburaks were always good, they only got better.)
Interesting note: muslims dominated Sikh artillery ;. They were rare in cavalry and infantry.
Kalan - The Sikh heavy artillery. Picture the little or great Bombard.
Khurd - Sikh light artillery. Field guns - Picture falconets.
Zamburak or Shutarnal (we will go with Shutarnal just because Indians have Zamburak , even though ZAmburak is a more common term) - Swivel gun mounted on a camel, this version of the Zamburak will fire slower but will fire more powerful rounds (the book I am using considers this artillery). It probably obvious that we will simply use the exiting zamburak with altered textures to show more of a beard.
Explorers will probably include a Mansabdar Howdah and Mansabdar Sowar. It IS likely that Sikhs had howdahs, but probably for rich generals like Akali Phula Singh or the king Ranjit Singh himself. this is why an explorer unit will be a howdah.
Perhaps Sikh Misldars can be like Japanese Damyos. They are able to train units and will be available from home city.
All buildings will be like india except the house and temple. I was thinking, we can have chinese villages, in place of Indian houses. chinese villages are able to raise goats if I am not mistaken, that will be perfect for jhatka (slaughter with one swift blow). Sikhs have Gurudwaras, these will looke like the Ottoman Mosque. Sikhs do not advance with wonders, they advance like the European Civs. Sikhs will have no sacred fields and will be allowed to kill and gather food from the cow.
I skipped navy just because Sikh were either landlocked or never needed it. but for the sake of teh game we will go with the Indian navy.
Phew, that took a while. Ok, so next step is to get pictures up so you guys can visualize. I will be using pictures from Osprey's The Sikh Army book and of course, I will get screens from the game itself, and show the units to be modded next to what they should look like.
Feel free to comment. Oh and here is my gallery, if you wish to see my art:
pictures from and copyright to Osprey's The Sikh Army
This picture shows a Ghorchurra with two Akalis in the front. As you can see chakram works well for Akali's. The Spahi resembles the Ghorchurra a bit, but works even better for a higher rank ghorchurra, Ghorchurra Sardar.
Shown here on the left:
Notice, he has no turban. This means we can use a unit from another civ to create this unit.
janissary serves as the base for irregular infantry men shown above with Ghorchurra and below with jagirdari horseman (ones below are early infantry).
Although, the jat lancer does not have a matchlock, it still seems as a good base for Jagirdari horseman.
Gurkha is awesome when it comes to Fauj-i-Ain Sepoy.
More to come soon...
[This message has been edited by jang_bahadur (edited 02-17-2009 @ 09:11 PM).]
I just need 2-3 experienced coders. I can do the textures.
