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Tinto Flavour #12 - 4th of April 2025 - Ilkhanate & Persia & Chagatai & Rise of Timur

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Flavour, the happy Fridays in which we take a look at the flavour content of the super secret Project Caesar!

Today will be an interesting day since we will be taking a look at the content we have for the Persian/Iranian region, including the Ilkhanate IO, and also at the content related to the Rise of Timur situation, which includes the flavour for the Chagatai Khanate.

Let’s start a bit differently today by first looking at the Īlkhānān, the in-game flavour name of the most commonly used Ilkhanate IO:

As usual, take all UI, 2D and 3D Art as WIP.

Ilkhanate Tooltip.png
All IOs have a quick-access button, a feature we call control groups, with their own icon (which, in the case of unique IOs, is unique, as you may see). This is the overview tooltip of the Ilkhanate.

Ilkhanate Panel.png

This is the Ilkhanate IO panel, where you can see its status, members, and possible actions.

Ilkhanate Map.png

And this is the starting situation of the Ilkhanate, with the three main contenders (Jalayirids, Hüleguids, and Gurgan) in blue, and all its members in green color.

The reign and death of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, last Ilkhan of the Borjigin dynasty, led to a power vacuum in the Ilkhanate, with several contenders trying to claim the title of Ilkhan for themselves while also trying to restore the old order over the lands ruled by the Ilkhans.

We’re portraying this convoluted political situation through different mechanics.

In order to be able to restore the Ilkhanate in its full glory, you need to be one of the Claimants to the Īlkhānān, a ‘Special Status’ (a feature available for all IOs; more about this next week, in the HRE TT):
Ilkhanate Claimants1.png

Ilkhanate Claimants2.png

Ilkhanate Special Status.png

This is a good example of our lovely nested tooltips. The yellow texts are hoverable features, while the blue texts are game concepts. I took the screenshots in the same sequence, but you could go even deeper, and hover over the International Organization game concept, for a further explanation.

There is a way to become a Claimant to the Īlkhānān, through IO action Claim the Īlkhānān:
Ilkhanate Claim the Ilkhanan.png

By being Claimant to the Īlkhānān, you will get access to this special CB, which can be used against other members of the Ilkhanate, making it easier and more straight-forward to conquer them:
Ilkhanate CB Unify Ilkhanate.png

All members of the Ilkhanate also have access to this other CB, that in case of victory, allows to remove the Claimant to the Īlkhānān to the status from the objective country:
Ilkhanate CB Refuse False Claimant.png

If you end up being the only Claimant to the Īlkhānān, you will automatically become its leader (this is something that we want to change, so it becomes an action in the Main Actions panel, to make it more clear for the player). By becoming Leader of the Īlkhānān, you may be able to unify the IO into a proper country once again:
Ilkhanan Form Ilkhanan1.png

Ilkhanate Oldschool.png

There’s a broken tooltip there, which has already been reported as a bug; the second condition is that there aren’t any countries with the status Claimant to the Īlkhānān. You also need to control 75% of the locations owned by all the members of Ilkhanate IO in order to form the country; the IO will disappear the moment you form it, too.

On a different track, ff you are a Persian member of the Ilkhanate, you also have the opportunity to fight your way towards unifying the region in a completely different way, with this CB:
Ilkhanate CB Shed the Shackles.png

The Ilkhanate may cease to exist if:
  1. All its members are conquered by a country not a member of the IO.
  2. There aren’t a Leader or Claimants of the Ilkhanate.

These are the main contenders for the Ilkhanate at the start of the game:
Country Selection Jalayirids.png

Country Selection Huleguids.png

Country Selection Gurgan.png

The Persian/Iranian countries that are part of the Ilkhanate have their own flavour content available:

The lands of Persia have always been situated in a privileged position, serving as a point of contact between the West and the East and on the path of many trade routes. These lands have thus also served as a hub for exchange of ideas, cultures, and faiths, with Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity, and even Buddhism permeating among its population.

The Iranian peoples are thus world people, and Persia has also been the birthplace of many great empires in the past, from the Achaemenids to the Sasanians. The recent Mongolian invasion and the establishment of the Īlkhānān have imposed on them foreign rule, but the Iranian peoples are ready to rise once again.

For instance, you have advances like these:
Advance Sasanian Heritage.png

Advance Silk Road.png

There are in total 21 different advances for the Persian countries.

There are also special buildings like the Ṣafawiyya Order Hall and the Ḡilmān Barracks, and special units like the Kızılbaş Skirmisher and the Ḡilmān.

This is the formable for Persia, and how it would look like:
Persia.png

Persia2.png

Let’s now take a look at one of the main contenders in Central Asia, the Chagatai Horde:

The great Činggis Khān managed to forge a great empire for all Mongolian peoples, bringing into his fold great swathes of land from Europe to China. All people learned to fear the sound of the Mongolian armies galloping and the might and power of the Great Khān.

As heirs of his legacy, the dream of bringing back the glory of the greatest Mongolian Horde is still alive.

Country Selection Chagatai.png

Mongolian countries (which also include countries involved in the Ilkhanate IO, such as the Jalayirids or the Hüleguids) have a ton of content available, both for being Steppe Hordes, and also specific Mongolian content. We aren’t going to reveal today most of it, since this is already a meaty Tinto Flavour, and we still have to take a look in the future to the Golden Horde, which also has unique content; but this is an overview of it:
Government Type Content.png

These are some of the most relevant features for the early game:
Advance Steppe Slave Raiding.png

Reform Legacy of Cinggis Khan.png

Advance Horse Lords.png

Unit Horse Archers.png

Unit A Urughs.png

Let’s now take a look at the content for the Situation The Rise of Timur. It can happen to you if you start the game with Chagatai or any of its subjects. But if you start the game with Barlas, one of these subjects, you will find this lovely baby in your court:
Bay Timur1.png

Baby Timur2.png

Trait Prodigy.png

Apparently this baby might be a Prodigy!

There are some events about the childhood and adolescence of Temür, and if he gets to the adult age, this event will trigger:
Rise of Temur.png

This event can fire initially not only for Barlas, but for Chagatai or any of its subjects, firing then a follow-up information event for all the rest, in which the player will get the chance to choose to change into the Timurids country if there were not initially playing the chosen country and the Timurids is AI. This gives a bit of variation on the starting situation of Timur while also ensuring that the player can always follow the Timurid path if they are playing in the area.

Temür has several traits, but this is the most important:
The Scourge from Central Asia.png

The chosen country will change, becoming the Timurid Horde:
Timurid Horde.png

And the Situation itself will appear:
Rise of Temur Panel.png

The counters for enemies kills and cities razed are there just for flavour, they don’t have any mechanical purpose.

The End Requirements make the situation likely to last for the entire life of Temür:
Rise of Temur End Requirements.png


These are the requirements to form Mongolia, BTW:
Form Mongolia.png

The first of the actions, Plan Invasion, has this effect:
Plan Invasion.png

Plan Invasion2.png

Rise of Temur CB.png

If you are able to unify a region, the second action, ‘Select Core Region’, will appear:
Rise of Timur Select Core Region.png

Rise of Temur Select Core Region2.png

Rise of Temur Select Core Region3.png

After having selected a Core Region, a third action will unlock:
Rise of Temur Reform into Monarchy.png

Which, in case of being selected, will make you a Settled Country, with the Monarchy Government type, and the Rank of Empire. This might potentially be the result:
Timurid Empire.png

A successful Timurid Empire, across Central Asia and Persia!

There is more content and events triggering during the situation, but these are its core features. From here, there’s also more flavour content for the Timurids, related to the historical events and situation that happened to the Empire. This is probably the most important event for them:
Event Integration Iranians.png

Event Integration Iranians2.png

Which unlocks this Major Reform:
Timurid Diwan.png

The Governorship is a unique mechanic of the Timurids, that allows them to have a unique type of subject, for members of the ruling dynasty. This may have its cons, as there might several claimants to the Timurid throne…

…And much more, but that’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed it! Next week will be intense, since on Monday we will have the Tinto Maps Feedback for the Horn of Africa, on Wednesday we will have the Tinto Talks for the Holy Roman Empire, and on Friday we will have the Tinto Flavour for Saxony! Cheers!
 
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Don't like to see positive and negative constructs mixed with this confirmation/contradiction option.

Cannot become an empire yes
Can invite new members yes

Why not just use the positive and negative construct so you don't need the confirmation/contradiction or state everything with the positive construct so the confirmation/contradiction determines the actual state.

Cannot become an empire
Can invite new members

Or
Can become empire no
Can invite new members yes
 
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By the way, how do the Chobanids show up for the struggle for the Ilkhanate? Historically they became basically the strongest contender only 1.5 years into the game period.

I know Hasan Kuchak is basically forming his ragtag army at the moment as he moves East from Karahisar in Anatolia, but would be cool to know how they would be represented ingame and their jumpstart to power.
There are a couple of events that make the Chobanids appear as a country early in the game.
 
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IMG_2062.jpeg


So would you mind adding a modifier that make it so as temur conquer a nation he get 1 point in each adm,diplo,mil skill. This would be to show that he is ever more brutal the more he conquers, I just don’t think it’s immersive to have a terrible temur but having him conquer all of Persia
 
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This is how the Situation Panel looks like. Some situations have more actions and stuff to show than others, so we need that space since they all use the same UI block. In any case, take it as non-final since we keep making adjustments (e.g., we could put all the situation counters in the main panel block and not around the illustration).
For vanilla future-proofing and modding scalability, having their own section would be nice
 
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It should be noted that non-Borjigids absolutely cannot be Khans. Even Timur could not claim that title.

The Jalayirids and Chobanids should only be able to claim/unify the Ilkhanate through a Borjigid puppet/character, or suffer a crippling blow to legitimacy.


Timur was descended from the Borjigin line, just not from Genghis, which is why he couldn't claim the title.

Imo there should be a distinction between the "Borjigin" and "Chinggisid" dynasty, but I guess dynasty branches aren't really a thing from what we've seen
 
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Does the Timur tag hasany flavour regarding a Mughal formable in India? And can the ilkhanate claimants integrate into Persian culture and form Persia too?
1. Yes, the Mughal Empire can be created, and it already has flavour.
2. Yes, you can be or change your culture to Persian as a claimant with the regular game mechanics; however, you have to decide either for the Īlkhānān or for Persia as a possible Empire rank formable.
 
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1743774183774.png

This event looks fantastic visually, very nice work by the GFX guys!

Minor nitpick though, the event image has the black and red Timurid flag, which doesn’t seem to be used anymore?
 
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Tons of content comming, every weeek is Christmas week with Tinto!
 
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Not all the territories between the Syr Darya and Amu Darya were deserts, there was the Zhana Darya River, which is now dry. In the 14th century, tribes of the Kipchak group roamed here. And in the 16th-18th centuries, the Karakalpaks. The route along the Zhanadrya River was an important route for connecting Khorezm and the lower reaches of the Syr Darya cities. A screenshot from a Google map shows the bed of the dried-up river between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya.
1743774265931.png
 
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According to his claims, he was descendent of a common ancestor of the Borgijin dynasty. But we could create an event so when Temür becomes a ruler, the Gurkahni dynasty could be created from him.
He married into it, not claiming descent from it. That was also the whole point why he still appointed puppet khans and never took the title of "khan" for himself.
1743774270284.png

Which, again, I want to make abundantly clear: he was never a Khan. Never took the title, never could take the title. That was kinda the whole thing.
 
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Curiously, this makes me wonder if a fallen Timurid Empire would allow for a situation for a rise of one of his descendants to invade India in a similar manner *coughbaburcough*? I feel like the ganges campaigns of any persian/turkic/mongol invader from the north-west of the subcontinent will require some situation-related mechanic, preferrably like the one for the Timurids, to actually succeeded in realistic timescales cuz the ganges plain is way too large.

Further, does Timur himself get to create his own House/Dynasty - the Gurkanis?
 
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Can you lead the Ilkhanate IO without forming the counry and expanding by inviting other countries in ?
1. Yes.
2. The Īlkhānān can be expanded to any country with a capital in the regions of Persia, the Crescent, the Caucasus, and Anatolia.
 
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2. The Īlkhānān can be expanded to any country with a capital in the regions of Persia, the Crescent, the Caucasus, and Anatolia.
What about Khorosan? Also maybe you should rename the crescent to Mashriq(the east) since there's a region called Maghreb(the west)
 
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Timur was descended from the Borjigin line, just not from Genghis, which is why he couldn't claim the title.

Imo there should be a distinction between the "Borjigin" and "Chinggisid" dynasty, but I guess dynasty branches aren't really a thing from what we've seen

Including his brothers, as Togha Temür is a descendant of Qasar, not Chinggis, but he was still accepted as a Khan.

Only those of the Golden Family could be khans, IE, Chinggis' immediate family and their descendants.
 
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