Rajputana

Rajputana have the Power of Resolve.

With their influence spanning the deserts of Rajasthan and the rich hills of Gurjarat, the Rajput dynasts who rule this region - called Rajputana in the collective - are the guardians of the old ways of sacred Bharat, with their influence stretching to lands as far away as the Deccan plateau to the south, or the lowest reaches of Gunga Maa, the mighty holy river that flows from the abodes of the gods in the Himalayas. 

It is the rulers of these lands, the Chaulukya Rajputs (also known as the Solanki to lesser men) who have thus far kept the Mussulman hordes from infiltrating any deeper into Bharat from the north. Part of their success has lain in the celerity at which the Rajputs adopted a new technique of warfare from the Ghaznavids and Ghorids of Mussulman-occupied Hindustan - namely, cavalry. In addition to the intrepid archers and fearsome war elephants of Bharat, the Chaulukyas of Rajputana have some of the finest horse-borne hosts on the Indian subcontinent, second to none save their foes to the far north in Hindustan. In addition, the Chaulukya have been blessed with a progeny of good rulers, most notably the beggar-king Kumarapala, whose shrewdness and valour in arms have won the Chaulukyas land and peace aplenty, leading to the continuation and continued blossoming of Hindu culture throughout Rajputana.

Thus, only a fool would imagine that the Chaulukya rulers of Rajputana are military pushovers. But times are changing. To the south, Narasimha, the leader of Hoysala, a petty kingdom, is said to have ambitions for independence and glory, which must certainly mean embroiling Dravidistan in turmoil. Most would consider him a weakling but for the vast sums that south India's most eminent merchant guild, the Five Hundred, are willing to pay to kill .... to grow their fortunes by acquisition of lands and the wealth they can bring. The north isn't any better, with the Ghorid rulers of Hindustan and the Yelü of Qara Khitai leering down at India from the distant mountains of the Hindu Kush. Yet these may seem like mere distractions: jyotishas furtively speak of a yet greater conqueror about to be born in lands far north and east well beyond the reach of civilization, who will one day conquer the known world. 

Yet even so, perhaps the greatest threat to Rajputana lies not in wars with foreigners - of these, the most dangerous and aggressive are Ghorid Hindustan and possibly the Qara Khitai - but rather with internal enemies: despite his illustrious reign, King Kumarapala is said to be ailing and whispers abound that his last days are upon him, stoking fears of palace intrigues and internecine feuds. Will the Chaulukya mandala prevail, or will it fall into ruin? I guess it is all up to you.

Faction overview

  • Confederacy: Governments at the Meeting House/Palace are free
  • Grand Mandala: First Wonder is built instantly if no other nation is building it too
  • Bastion of Culture: Receive a free Councillor with each new Assembly. Level 1 Science available at beginning
  • Manusmirti: Military ground units upgrade 25% cheaper
  • Tribal Clients: Receive +3 Food, Timber, Metal and Wealth for every Barracks unit while they are not garrisoned

Strengths

Strong mid-game, early game archer advantage thanks to Longbowmen.

Weaknesses

Poor siege equipment and naval units, very predictable and inflexible, thus being easy to anticipate and counter.

Like many south Asian civs, Rajputana continues to rely mainly on the dynamic duo of light infantry and war elephants - and perhaps, rightfully so given that Rajputana, like Islamic Hindustan to the far north, has access to two war elephant units - the Imperial Elephant, which functions as a heavy elephant archer, and Bakhtarband Hathy, which is essentially a form of super melee cavalry. 

The upshot however is that given the deficiencies in the design of south Asian armies - being dependent on two sets of slow-moving groups of units - it is often not difficult to discern the intentions of any south Asian civ - and get the proper countermeasures. Equally, Rajputana has the ability to generate income from infantry units milling around and not garrisoned: thus, although Rajput infantry, somewhat primitive as they be (with the exception of course, of Longbowmen) can still generate resources for you - even so, having no other innate economic bonuses means that Rajputana usually is best played as a turtler/boomer, especially since toward the late game, Rajputana has the ability to access Guard Towers and Citadels, which function as stronger point defences, albeit costlier ones if compared with Castles and Watchtowers.

Like Hindustan, Rajputana thus attempts to equalise the playing field, by bringing in some spoilers of her own. Like the Hoysala who have access to the same unit pools, the Rajputs - owing to their exposure to Turkic cavalry drills, courtesy of their Mussulman foes, most notably the Ghorids of Hindustan (again!) they can access Godeswari Shikkar ("horse mounted hunters"), if Level 2 Military is successfully researched. However that is not all - in addition to these horse archers, Rajputana can also convert local nobles into cavalry - Jagirdar Lancers - a Rajput riposte to Muslim ghilman or Christian knights, but only after sufficient research has been done: you will need to raise your Military research to Level 4 before these units can be made available.

Unique units and structures gallery

Jagirdar Lancer
Trained from the lesser nobility of rural and tribal folk (hence its name) this Rajput unique unit is meant to serve as fast shock cavalry, but may come into the game too late to be of use.


Imperial Elephant
A super-unit trained from the Meeting House or Palace, and commonly associated with most South Asian nations (excluding the Khmers). This is by far the most powerful ranged cavalry unit in all of Temüjin - and alas, the costliest and slowest, too.


Longbowmen
For centuries, the accuracy and rate of fire of Indian longbowmen were much dreaded by those who had to fight against them, such as the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. Indian princes - most prominently the Rajputs as well as the Hoysala - continue to use them, even in the face of the use of heavy armour and crossbows by Muslim foes.


Mercenary Swordsmen 
Swords were amongst some of the more popular weapons in the Middle Ages and enjoyed a level of importance akin to that of a revolver in our times, but the proficiency required to effectively use one as a tool of slaughter would take a long time to master, and thus most sword infantry were usually highly specialised warriors, skilled in the use of their weapon of choice. Unsurprisingly, many such armed men were often highly sought after as mercenaries by various warlords and rulers of various states all across the world with the single intent of bolstering their armies.


Priest
In more decentralised communities like Latin Europe and India, the priesthood often can be more prominent and sociopolitically active, as opposed to eastern Christianity or Asia where spiritual authorities are kept out of politics as much as possible. For places where this is not the case, Priests play a valuable role by healing improving Armour for nearby friendly units, as well as providing extensive LOS and subverting enemy units that stumble upon them.


Citadel
As in The Hellenistic Era, the Citadel (alongside its weaker counterpart, the Guard Tower) continues to be the most powerful form of point defence in this instalment in the Kings & Conquerors family of mods.   


Nobles' Court
Sumptuous and stately yet foreboding, the Nobles' Court is the ultimate expression of regnal power, consisting of a vast castellated estate around which the nobility of the land must rally around. It is not as cheap as a Mansion nor as easy to come by, but its ability to boost the size of your Territory around it, and the fact that it is immensely powerful as a point defence structure means that a Nobles' Court can be more than capable of defending your borders, whilst training some of the most powerful land units available in all of this mod.


Peasants' Hovel
Trains levy units for sedentary agrarian nations. Not available for Outremer, Qara Khitai, Khamag Mongol, or Polovtsy.   


AI leader names

  • Kumarapala 

  • Ajayapala

  • Mularaja

  • Bhima

  • Katukaraja

  • Alhanadeva

  • Kelhanadeva

  • Prithviraja

  • Mularaja

  • Jayachandra

  • Jayatasimha

  • Kirtipala

  • Samarasimha

  • Udayasimha

Settlement names

  • Jaipur
  • Jodhpur
  • Ajmer
  • Kota
  • Bikaner
  • Bhiwadi
  • Udaipur
  • Pratapgarh
  • Dungarpur
  • Dhaulpur
  • Tonk
  • Kishangarh
  • Hanumangarh
  • Banswara
  • Baran
  • Beawar
  • Sri Ganganagar
  • Pali
  • Bharatpur
  • Sikar
  • Alwar
  • Bhilwara

Downloads

KINGS & CONQUERORS
TEMÜJIN [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]


Other chapters: 

Wolf Among Lions [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold] Rise of the Barbarians [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Imperivm Invictvm
 [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold] Hammurabi: [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]

Other mods:

Rise of Kings: Chronicles [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
New World Empires: Swords of the Prophets [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Warbirth: The Crucible [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]

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