Sogdians

Introduction[]

The Sogdians are an Iranian civilisation located in Central Asia, around the modern-day "Stan" countries. They are most culturally similar to the Tajiks, another Iranian people from the region. The Sogdians are most well known for being at the heart of the Silk Road trade between Europe and the Arab World, and China. As such, what would otherwise be a fairly remote nomadic tribe in Central Asia is transformed into an economic powerhouse. The Sogdian nation was centred on the cultural keystone of Samarkand, the most influential city in Central Asia. The name of the city even originates from the Sogdian language. They specialise in Camels and Monks. Their unique units are the Changovar, and the Sogdian Merchant. They are a civilisation focused on trading, as in reality they benefitted heavily from the Silk Road. This comes up in many ways. Their Market purchases and sales inflate/deflate the value of resources slower, allowing a better rate for longer without bottoming out as quickly as other civilisations do. They are benefitted further by being able to access Guilds in Castle Age. As well as this, the Sogdians also bring benefits to their trade units. They firstly have a team bonus making their trade units move faster, and alongside that, they get Caravan for free. They also have a unique trade unit called the Sogdian Merchant. This unit is more expensive than the Trade Cart, but has the ability to attack. It isn't really a combat unit, but the attack capabilities can defend it from raids, especially cavalry raids, due to its bonus damage against Cavalry as a camel unit. Since the Sogdians lie at the heart of the trade routes between China and the Arab World, they often experienced pressure from both sides that they had to sometimes defend themselves from. Their other unique unit is the Changovar. It's a relatively cheap, massable infantry unit that gets a large bonus from attacking from higher altitude. Since the Sogdians lived in the mountainous lands of the West Himalayas, this reflects their soldiers using the terrain to their advantage. The Sogdians also relied on camels a lot in their military and civilian life. This is reflected in their beginnings with starting with a Camel Scout instead of a standard Scout Cavalry. Their history of religion is an interesting one too. Earlier on in their timeline, the Sogdians most likely practiced Zoroastrianism, an early monotheistic religion, which likely influenced Judaism, and subsequently Christianity and Islam too. This is reflected with their Monks getting a "charged" conversion, which recharges after use. Finally, they get a discount on their Steppe Lancers with their Imperial Age unique technology, converting their gold cost into wood. The Sogdians were known for using cavalry often in their armies.

Overview[]

The Sogdians' greatest strength is their economic opportunities. Their Market bonus rivals the Saracens, and unlike the Saracens, they have better trade units too. They have the fastest Trade Carts in the game, which whilst not as economically strong as the Spanish's extra gold generation, does help them in survival and thus having to renew trade units less if the trade lines are raided. They have another more notable defence however, in the form of the Sogdian Merchant unit. This is a Camel mounted trade unit, capable of attacking. Whilst its base attack is weak, not much better than a Villager, it does have bonus damage against Cavalry due to being a Camel unit. For this reason, it can be good at protecting itself from late game Hussar raids, which is a common threat to trade in the late game. Attacking does slow down trade, so it's not flawless, and raids can still damage trade routes, but with the Sogdians, this will be mitigated quite well. At the start of the game, their Camel Scout, whilst slightly slower than a Scout Cavalry, still deals good bonus damage against them, and thus it deters scout wars. Unless you run your scout into the enemy's TC, you'll be sure to have it later into the game. They also can access this unit in Feudal Age, and here it becomes a faster, harder to evade cavalry counter. It is more expensive however. It is automatically upgraded to Camel once Castle Age is reached, so that could be a prospective rush in some cases. Speaking of rushes, they can do most of them well. The Market can help with balancing resources at this point too. Whilst not as good as the Saracen Market when starting, since it starts at the same place as other civilisations, since the values change less when buying and selling, this can start to balance out as it is used more. The unique unit from the Castle is the Changovar. It is on its face a weak, massable infantry unit, but has a strong bonus from attacking from higher altitude, giving a benefit to good micro when fighting on hills. It is produced quickly, like Castle units typically are. Good at defending if you build your castle on a good hill. Other than that, they're worse than the Barracks line in every way, so using them is about getting the most out of the hill bonus. On to the tech tree: Their infantry are average. They miss Champion and Blast Furnace, giving them less attack. Archers are similar, in that they miss Bracer. Cavalry is interesting, because whilst they get a very open tech tree, they miss Blast Furnace and Plate Barding Armour, making them fall off in late game. Still, they get Paladin and Hussar, alongside their trash unit Steppe Lancers, which are one of the more peculiar aspects of this civilisation. For this reason, it's hard to rank their Cavalry. Their Siege is pretty bad. They only get the last upgrade to their Scorpions, and miss Siege Engineers. Their Monks are high risk high reward. Their charged conversion makes them good at converting strong units quickly, but missing Sanctity makes them very brittle and easy to kill. Their passive defences are mediocre. They miss Keeps, Bombard Towers, Architecture and Hoardings, making their buildings less durable. On water they're also weak, missing Elite Cannon Galleon, Heavy Demo, Galleon, and Dry Dock. Their Economy is full however, getting every upgrade available. They can also research Guilds in Castle Age, which may be good if you have relied on heavy market abuse in the early game. Overall, the Sogdians are probably a better team civilisation than a single-player one. Many of their bonuses fit the role of a civilisation that is designed around trading, which except for some rare map types is not something that's possible in singleplayer 1v1 games.

Characteristics[]

Unique units[]

Changovar - Infantry unit that doubles its attack when attacking from higher altitude

Sogdian Merchant - Camel mounted trade unit capable of attacking. Producded from the market. More expensive than a Trade Cart. Due to being a camel, has bonus against cavalry

Unique technologies[]

Castle Age: Zoroastrian Teachings: Monks have an ability to convert twice as fast, although this ability must recharge after a conversion using it

Imperial Age: Aspdavoni: Steppe Lancer's gold cost turned into wood

Civilization bonuses[]

Start with a Camel Scout (Same stats as Scout Cavalry with bonus damage against cavalry)
Camel Scout available from Stable in Feudal Age
Market inflation/deflation is slower when buying/selling at the Market
Caravan free
Guilds available in Castle Age