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This article is about the civilization in Age of Empires III. For other uses, see Indians.
Civilization Technology tree Strategy Home City Cards

ā€œThe Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire in South Asia. It was known as one of the largest empires in the history of South Asia.ā€

The Indians are one of three playable civilizations featured in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. The civilization is primarily based on the Mughal Empire that controlled the vast majority of present-day India and surrounding territories, led by the illustrious ruler Akbar the Great under whom the empire reached its greatest extent. They also have access to units, technologies, and cards which hail from other polities such as the Marathas, the Sikhs, the southern regions, as well as the East India Company/British India.

Home City[]

Homecity Indians DE
Default Brahmin names
Adi Shankara, Gosvami Tulsidas, Kanaka Dasa, Ramakrishna, Ramanuja, Sri Vedanta Desika, Surdas, Swami Dayananda, Swami Virjananda, Swami Vivekananda

  • India treasury1 Emperor's Treasury (original) - Default
  • India treasury2 Emperor's Treasury (white) - 2 points
  • India boats Fishing Boats - 2 points

  • India lightset Daytime Lighting - Default
  • India sunset lightset Sunset Lighting - 5 points
  • India night lightset Night Lighting - 10 points
  • India monsoon lightset Monosoon Lighting - 10 points
  • India fortress1 Fortress Tower (blue tint) - Default
  • India fortress2 Fortress Tower (brown) - 2 points

  • India imperial court1 Taj Mahal (original) - Default
  • India imperial court2 Taj Mahal (red) - 2 points

  • India merchants guild1 Merchants' Guild (red) - Default
  • India merchants guild2 Merchants' Guild (blue) - 2 points

  • India markets Market Day - 2 points
  • India customs house1 Customs House (original) - Default
  • India customs house2 Customs House (gold and white) - 2 points
  • India holi festival1 Holi Colour Festival Part 1 - 5 points
  • India holi festival2 Holi Colour Festival Part 2 - 10 points (requires Part 1)
  • India military elephants Elephant Parade - 5 points

Characteristics[]

Civilization bonuses[]

  • Starts with 200 food, 400 wood, 100 export, and six Hindu Villagers.
  • Receives a Villager with Home City shipments (except TEAM and INFINITE ones), but Home City shipments require +9% XP to be earned.
  • Villagers cost wood instead of food, cannot gather food from livestock which generates XP instead, and gather export as they gather resources.
  • Gets the first two wood upgrades for free automatically.
  • Build the Consulate to ally with a European civilization and get their units and technologies by spending export.
  • Build Wonders to advance in Age.

Shared Asian units[]

Sentry IN de Sentry: Quick-training, Pikeman who quickly loses hitpoints, becoming less effective over time.
Irregular IN de Irregular: Quick-training, musketeer who quickly loses hitpoints, becoming less effective over time.

Shared Asian buildings[]

China rice paddy icon aoe3de Rice Paddy: Slow, infinite source of Food or Coin. Limited to 10 gatherers.
Monastery aoe3de Monastery: Trains repentant outlaws and mercenaries. Provides Monk improvements.
Indian castle aoe3de Castle: A powerful defensive building that can also train and upgrade artillery.
Consulate icon aoe3de Consulate: Spend Export here to enter into relations with European powers and gain a powerful bonus. Also use Export to purchase European troops and technologies.

Unique units[]

BrahminDE Brahmin: Religious leader and healer with a Stomp area attack that can stun Treasure Guardians. Explores, fights, and builds Town Centers and Trading Posts.
Indian peasant aoe3de Hindu Villager: An Indian villager that does not eat livestock. Gathers all other resources.
Rajput de Rajput: Fast-moving sword gauntlet infantry. Good against cavalry and buildings.
Sepoy de Sepoy: Powerful Indian heavy infantry that has a slight bonus versus cavalry at range and a large bonus versus cavalry at melee.
Gurkha de Gurkha: Nepalese skirmisher that is accurate to a long range. Good against infantry.
Urumi de Urumi Swordsman: Uses a sword whip that does area damage. Good against heavy infantry. Available only from the Home City.
Sowar de Sowar: Indian hand cavalry that rides a camel. Good against archers, skirmishers, and artillery.
Zamburak de Zamburak: Ranged camel cavalry. Good against cavalry.
Mahout de Mahout Lancer: Heavy hand cavalry that inflicts wide-area damage. Exceptionally deadly against archers and skirmishers.
Howdah aoe3de Howdah: High-hitpoints ranged Elephant cavalry effective against cavalry and artillery.
Flail elephant de Flail Elephant: Powerful Elephant from India that swings a mace for area damage. Good against buildings.
Siege elephant de Siege Elephant: Elephant armed with a cannon. Good against artillery and buildings.

Unique buildings[]

SacredFieldDE Sacred Field: Livestock generate more experience points when tasked to a Sacred Field. Trains Cows.
MangoGroveDE Mango Grove: A grove of mango trees that can be harvested for Wood.
CaravanseraiDE Caravanserai: Trains and upgrades hand and ranged cavalry.

Wonders[]

AgraFortDE Agra Fort: Powerful, defensive building that can also train units.
CharminarGateDE Charminar Gate: Trains mansabdars that increase attack and hitpoints of your troops.
KarniMataDE Karni Mata: Increases gather rate of nearby units.
TajMahalDE Taj Mahal: Casts the Cease Fire ability to stop combat.
TowerOfVictoryDE Tower of Victory: Casts the Inspiration ability, which greatly increases the attack, hitpoints, and speed of your land units.

Overview[]

The Indians' key economic distinction is that they require wood to train their Villagers. This requires an overhaul of the usual economic strategies used by most civilizations, making Indians essentially the "Dutch of the East". Instead of sending Villagers to forage berries or hunt animals, an Indian player focuses on chopping wood to accelerate their economy, leaving them somewhat vulnerable if they start on a map with few trees. However, the Indians receive the first two wood gathering upgrades (Water Wheel and Regenerative Forestry) for free automatically. Indian players also need to distribute gathered wood between building Houses or training Villagers early in the game. Fortunately, Indian players will receive free Villagers with every shipment, much like how Germans receive Uhlan with every shipment, although the Indians lack any Villager shipments. Due to this unique ability, Indian players are considered to be far too reliant on the Home City card deck; thus, a blockade would be devastating.

Note: Indian Villagers' cost can be changed from wood to food with the "The Raj" Home City Card.

The Indians are unable to slaughter Cows and other livestock, including Water Buffaloes, Yaks, Goats, Sheep, and Llamas, but this is viewed as a bonus rather than a handicap (they are also free to slaughter other animals for food). When a livestock is obtained, it generates experience over time, which can be increased by tasking them to a Sacred Field. The livestock XP generation rate varies depending on the animal in question; a Sacred Cow, for example, gathers 5 XP every 50 seconds if not tasked to a Sacred Field, while a Llama generates 5 XP every 40 seconds. This increases to 25 XP every 100 seconds and 80 seconds, respectively, when tasked on a Sacred Field.

Like the Spanish, the Indians' main advantage in battle is a wide and balanced selection of units. The Indians have one of the most well-balanced armies in the game. The Indians have a unit to fulfill every role in battle - their Sepoys fight well as Musketeers, the Gurkhas provide good Skirmisher support, and Rajputs help shield the long-range infantry and assault enemy lines. The Indian hand cavalry, the Sowar, is fast, even when compared to other cavalry, although fairly fragile. The Indians have another hand infantry unit, the Urumi, which can only be sent from the Home City, and is one of the most vital constituents of any Indian force. It has bonuses against heavy infantry and ranged cavalry, although it is a hand infantry unit. The Indian Dragoon is the Zamburak, equally quick-footed as the Sowar, though just as fragile. In order to re-balance the generally fragile camel units of the Indians, the Indians' primary shock troops are their mighty elephants - powerful cavalry units with incredibly high hit points, and siege and splash damage.

All Indian units are unique, although most are modeled after a particular European civilization's troops. The Mansabdar units can be visually identified easily during combat; protecting them is an important endeavor if they are trained.

Changelog[]

3ADIcon48px The Asian Dynasties[]

  • The Indian Home City cannot be customized.

Age3DE Icon The African Royals[]

  • With update 43871, the Indian Home City can be customized.
  • With update 15.30007, Indian Home City shipment XP penalty was changed from 10% to 9%.

Campaign appearances[]

The Indians are playable in their dedicated campaign Act III: India in The Asian Dynasties. They also appear in:

In-game dialogue[]

Indian units (including native warriors and mercenaries) speak Modern Hindi.

Common[]

Villager[]

Monk[]

History[]

ā€œThe fall of India's mighty Mughal Empire coincides with the rise of British rule in the subcontinent, occurring in the 18th century; yet even as the British established control, their arrival was little more than the last blow to an already struggling native dynasty. The Mughal Empire, bastion of high culture, geographic expansion, and military might, had fallen.

The Mughal Empire has its origins in neighboring Afghanistan and Turkestan, where descendents of the Mongol Empire had become Muslims and where the Muslim ruler Babur began forming the foundations of a new kingdom in 1504 with the seizure of Kabul, and territories leading east into the Indus River Valley. In 1526, he pushed further into India and defeated the last of the Delhi Sultans, Ibrahim Shah Lodi, at the First Battle of Panipat. Babur's son Humayun succeeded him in 1530, but quickly lost most of the newly won territory. For a time he ruled in exile, but eventually raised an army large enough to march back to Delhi in 1555 and conquer it a second time.

Next in the line of succession was Humayun's son Akbar, who succeeded his father on 14 February 1556, while in the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah for the reclamation of the Mughal throne. Akbar won his first victory at the age of 13 or 14, and quickly established himself as a confident ruler who had a vision for the future of his empire. He created fair taxes, built an efficient government, placed an emphasis on high culture, and encouraged radical religious tolerance. Because of his contributions, Akbar is considered the greatest of the Mughal rulers.

The Mughal Empire only lasted for another one hundred years. Its last great ruler was Aurangzeb Alangir, a zealous Muslim who abandoned the tolerance of his predecessors and began to crack down on other faiths, especially the Hindus. During his fifty-year reign, religious prejudice drove a wedge between the ruler and his subjects. Aurang's intentions were to force the Hindus to convert. Temples were despoiled and a tax for non-Muslims was introduced.

Following Aurang, the Mughal Empire suffered from a lack of powerful authority, causing regional nawabs, or governors, to split and found their own kingdoms, such as the Marathas in the south and the Sikhs in the north. The next 27 years of the Mughal Empire were spent in clashes with its neighbors, and in 1739, invading Persian and Afghan armies invaded Delhi.

The greatest empire in India had crumbled and individual kingdoms rushed to gobble up the pieces. The stage was set for the British, who would overpower the smaller weakened kingdoms and in doing so would gain control the country.
ā€
—In-game history section

Trivia[]

  • The Indian flag in The Asian Dynasties appears to be a combination of the Mughal Empire (sun and lion over green field) and Maratha Empire (plain pale orange field) flags. For the Definitive Edition, this was changed to the war flag of the Mughal Empire (1526ā€“1540 and 1555ā€“1857).
    • However - as this design is non-rectangular - the Home City shipment icon, civilization selection screen, and post-game leaderboards all use a flag that resembles the war flag of the Mughal Empire, featuring the lion and the sun surrounded by stars to make it rectangular.

Gallery[]

Civilizations in Age of Empires III
AfricanFlag Ethiopian aoe3de Ethiopians Ā· Flag Hausa Hausa
AmericanFederal American: Flag MexicanDE Mexicans Ā· Flag American act3 aoe3de United States
Native American: Flag AztecDE Aztecs Ā· Flag IroquoisDE Haudenosaunee (formerly Iroquois) Ā· Flag IncanDE Inca Ā· Flag SiouxDE Lakota (formerly Sioux)
AsianFlag ChineseDE Chinese Ā· Flag IndianDE Indians Ā· Flag JapaneseDE Japanese
EuropeanFlag BritishDE British Ā· Flag DutchDE Dutch Ā· Flag FrenchDE French Ā· Flag GermanDE Germans Ā· Flag ItalianDE Italians Ā· Flag MalteseDE Maltese Ā· Flag OttomanDE Ottomans Ā· Flag PortugueseDE Portuguese Ā· Flag RussianDE Russians Ā· Flag SpanishDE Spanish Ā· Flag SwedishDE Swedes Ā· Polish Ā· Danes
Minor
AfricanAkan Settlement Icon Akan Ā· Berber Settlement Portrait Berbers Ā· Somali Settlement Portrait Somalis Ā· Sudanese settlement portrait Sudanese Ā· Yoruba settlement portait Yoruba
AsianBhakti aoe3de Bhakti Temple Ā· Jesuit aoe3de Jesuit Mission Ā· Native shaolin site icon portrait Shaolin Temple Ā· Sufi aoe3de Sufi Mosque Ā· AOE3DE Tengri Tengri Shrine Ā· Udasi aoe3de Udasi Temple Ā· Zen aoe3de Zen Temple
EuropeanBourbon icon portrait-1 House of Bourbon Ā· Habsburg icon portrait-1 House of Habsburg Ā· Hanover icon portrait-1 House of Hanover Ā· Jagiellon icon portrait-1 House of Jagiellon Ā· Oldenburg icon portrait-1 House of Oldenburg Ā· Phanar icon portrait-1 House of Phanar Ā· Vasa icon portrait-1 House of Vasa Ā· Wettin icon portrait-1 House of Wettin Ā· Wittelsbach icon portrait-1 House of Wittelsbach
Native AmericanApache aoe3de Apache Ā· Aztec native icon aoe3de Aztecs Ā· Carib aoe3de Carib Ā· Cherokee aoe3de Cherokee Ā· Cheyenne aoe3de pre update Cheyenne Ā· Comanche icon aoe3de Comanche Ā· Cree aoe3de Cree Ā· Iroquois aoe3de Haudenosaunee Ā· Huron aoe3de Huron Ā· Klamath settlement portrait Klamath Ā· Sioux aoe3de Lakota Ā· Lenape warrior portrait Lenape Ā· Mapuche icon aoe3de Mapuche Ā· Maya aoe3de Maya Ā· Navajo aoe3de Navajo Ā· Nootka aoe3de Nootka Ā· Inca native icon aoe3de Quechua (formerly Incas) Ā· Seminole aoe3de Seminole Ā· Tupi aoe3de Tupi Ā· Zapotec icon aoe3de Zapotec
Other
CampaignUnited States flag revolt DE Black Family Estate Ā· EIC Flag AoE3DE British Ā· Circle of ossus Circle of Ossus Ā· Flag John Black's Mercenaries DE John Black's Mercenaries Ā· Flag Maltese Cross Knights of St. John Ā· Flag American act3 aoe3de United States
Historical BattlesBarbary States flag revolt Barbary Pirates Ā· Flag CanadianDE Canadians Ā· Flag Ethiopian aoe3de Ethiopians Ā· Flag Moroccan Moroccans Ā· Flag Somali aoe3de Somalians Ā· Flag Tatars aoe3de Tatars Ā· Flag American act3 aoe3de United States
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