Deccan is a map in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties based on the Indian subcontinent. It provides three native temples: the Bhakti Temple, the Udasi Temple, and the Sufi Mosque. When playing as the Indians, the player will start out with resources, even before the Town Center is built. Water Buffalo will be scattered around the plateau in groups of one or two and can be tamed for food as livestock or tasked to sacred fields or shrines.
There is a river that divides the map in half, and there are certain places where the river may be swampy, and therefore can be walked through, but, unlike the Bayou map, not all of it is a swamp, so Walls can be built at those points. Herds of Nilgai and wild elephants are found in different parts of the map.
Outline
โ | Players start on opposite sides of a central plateau that contains thick forests and abundant wildlife. Resources are plentiful, as mines, small herds, and sparse forests ring the surrounding lowlands. Your Home City has prepared well for this expedition, so your first Shipment will be available quickly. East India Company Trade Sites are situated at the edge of the map. The plateau is not present in free-for-all games. | โ |
History
โ | The Deccan, also called The Great Country, is the central portion of the Indian peninsula south of the Narmada River. Bordered by the Western and Eastern Ghats mountain ranges, the Deccan encompasses eight states and a range of ecosystems. The name โDeccanโ is an anglicized form of the Prakit word โdakkhin,โ derived from the Sanskrit โdaksina,โ meaning โsouth.โ The Deccan is a plateau with an average elevation of 2,000 feet. Its central rivers - the Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri - flow east from the Western Ghats Mountains and empty into to the Bay of Bengal. Despite its rocky appearance, the underlying soil is volcanic and therefore extremely rich, ideal for the production of cotton and other crops. The height of the Western Ghats Mountains prevents regular rainfall, resulting in arid scrub forests in the west; the moist highlands to the east contain deciduous forests, home to wolves, sloth bears, gaurs, and Asian elephants. Largely untouched by early Aryan invasions of the second century BCE, the Deccan was ruled by Mauryan and Gupta dynasties for centuries until it became an independent Muslim nation in 1347. It was later split into five sultanates. Although the Mughals largely conquered the Deccan in the seventeenth century, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb exhausted his resources and military power in his attempts to absorb the region. In the following years the region fell under the power of the Maratha confederacy. Much later, the plateau hosted a rivalry between France and Britain until the British won control of the Deccan, which they eventually relinquished in the Indian independence of 1947. | โ |