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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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Can you post a Timur Raze-o-Meter and Kill-o-Meter count from one of your playtest games? Want to see how high up does it go
We have planned a QA testing for Chagatai and Rise of Timur for next week, after merging some of the changes from today's feedback; I'll try to get it.
 
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Hopefully it's balanced by something that makes it harder to hold, especially if it's non-steppe. Heck, it was one of Genghis Khan's advisors (quoting an old Chinese source) who advised him that conquering was easy but administrating is hard.
For Timur it was the other way; he never tried to conquer into the Steppe.
 
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Is there any narrative content for the timurid decline after his death?there definitely should be a timurid IO where various governors become autonomous and their own tag,like the eu4 start date.
 
Yeah agree, but I meant before he becomes a ruler, like imagine if he dies as a 15 years old then there would be no rise of Timur
Oh I see your point in that case, though imo if the probability of Timur dying young is low enough (say <1%) I don't see the problem with that possibility existing. A fun part of EU4, at least for me, is being able to check the other side of the map every once in a while to see how much the world has diverged from the usual "expected outcomes" of a campaign (like checking if Spain managed to form, or if Ming collapsed etc), so I wouldn't be bothered at all if once in a blue moon I got to experience a game in which Central Asia, Persia and the Middle East never saw the rise of Timur, and are thus radically -but also plausibly- different from what one would expect.
 
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If we somehow manage to get one of the dynastys of post mongol empire to out country can we get legacy of genghis khan government reform too?
You need to be an Army Based Country, and either belong to the Mongolian culture group or have a ruler of the Borjigin dynasty.
 
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Can every country join the Ilkhanate if they move their capital in the region? What about other Mongol successor states? What about other empires?
Technically speaking, I think so.
 
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can you make this a decision and for all countries, after all, hordes werent the ones who pillaged Rome
This is for large-scale razing and something we only want for Hordes.
 
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Just replaced the infamous Conquistador advance in the main post with a proper Steppe Horde one:

View attachment 1276489
About Steppe Slave Raiding... Bit off-topic, but I think this is the perfect place to suggest an Akıncı Advance for the Ottomans—or anyone rolling with that kind of government.

I remember reading about them back in high school history class, and they were a major force until the late 16th century. They got officially disbanded in 1595 after taking heavy losses during the Ottoman-Wallachian wars, and their influence faded after that. But before then?

These guys were the ultimate Ottoman shock troops (not blitzkrieg, but they had some similar speed) — raiding deep into enemy lands, grabbing captives, and wrecking supply lines long before the main army even showed up.

They were different from Steppe-Horde Raiders

Steppe nomads, including Crimean Tatars, were also big into slave raiding, but the Akıncı weren’t just some rogue bandits—they were an organized military force under Ottoman command.
  • The Akıncı were state-backed, working directly with the empire’s expansion goals.
  • Steppe nomads raided more freely, usually for profit, revenge, or tribal power plays.

How they hit their targets? These guys weren’t just random raiders—they had tactics:

  • Two-Horse System – Each Akıncı had two horses—one for travel, one for the actual raid. This let them push deep into enemy land without tiring their mounts, keeping their speed up when it mattered most.
  • Swarm & Scatter Instead of attacking as one big group, they’d spread out, hit multiple places at once, and then regroup at a safe zone with their loot and prisoners. This kept defenders off balance and made counterattacks a nightmare.
  • Shock & AweThey’d hit fast, cause mass panic, and dip before the enemy could even react. No time to organize, no time to fight back. (Again, not blitzkrieg, but they had some similar speed)
  • Avoiding Fortifications Castles? They weren’t about that siege. We don't use horses for sieges in Total War Series, right? They focused on villages, supply lines, and weak points, crippling the enemy without wasting time on tough defensive buildings.
Yeah, steppe nomads had their own hit-and-run tactics, but the Akıncı were part of a structured military system, following direct orders from their commanders. They weren’t just raiders—they were a state-sponsored weapon designed to break enemy morale and wreck economies before the real army even arrived.

Honestly, I would love to see Akıncı Advance as a variant of steppe slave raiding.
 
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Do Ilkhanate claimants defend other members if they are attacked by outsider countries like the Emperor of the HRE? There could be a condition like becoming a subject of the claimant country that comes to help you
 
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Is there any narrative content for the timurid decline after his death?there definitely should be a timurid IO where various governors become autonomous and their own tag,like the eu4 start date.
Some. In total, we have 34 events associated with the Rise of Timur situation and 29 for Timur and the Timurids.
 
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Do Ilkhanate claimants defend other members if they are attacked by outsider countries like the Emperor of the HRE? There could be a condition like becoming a subject of the claimant country that comes to help you
No; think that the Ilkhanate is in a very severe crisis in 1337, and very close to its total collapse.
 
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