Warning: this is a very long post.

​​The Ramayana and Mahabharata are two Hindu epics in a similar manner to the Iliad and Odyssey. The title comes from the town of kurukshetra where the climatic battle, the battle of the ten kings, took place. The epics provide a relatively detailed army organization and what equipment was like, and given it's prominence and the interesting ways of Indian Warfare, I feel like it could be a very good total war title.

The timing of the events is in debates among scholars however the most realistic time period is between the 1200 BC and 600 BC, roughly the same time as the Bronze Age Collapse. It should be noted however that by this time India's Iron Age is in full swing, almost 600 years before Egypt and 400 before Greece reached their Iron Ages. The Map would involve India, modern day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

I apologize in advance if the image is of awful quality. This is the Map of India's geography during the Ramayana and Mahabharata, made by Jijith Nadumuri Ravi. A legend is on the Top Right.

India's landmass is roughly a third of Europe, and as expected will have a lot of factions to play with, although the main focus is primarily through two kingdoms, the Pandavas and Kauravas. Factions in Kurukshetra Total War take after Three Kingdoms Total War Factions, with a unique mechanic, units, and buildings. Below are a couple examples of factions that I have come up with (all examples are in the epics).

Kauravas: led by King Dhritarashtra, The Kauravas were the antagonists of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Their focus is in Dhritarashtra's 100 sons (yes this is lore accurate), which he can use for anything, such as missions, generals or governors. However the 100 sons are finite (they are still human after all) and wasting lives too soon could be catastrophic.

Pandavas: Led by the 5 blessed brothers, the Pandavas were the protagonists of the epics. All 5 of them (Arjuna, Yudishthira, Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva) were sired by different gods and as such can utilize blessings from their fathers.

Pragjyotisha: led by the aging Bhagadatta, Pragjyotisha is an enticing faction to newcomers. He has no special abilities, but heavily specializes in elephants in buildings and units. Also, unlike most other generals who command from chariots, he commands from an elephant.

Armies

Being in the high time of the Iron Age, India has reached an odd place in army composition and equipment, especially when paired with their ethos. On one hand, India is renowned for it's metalworking with Iron and Steel, and make razor sharp blades for both their soldiers and their elephants. On the other hand, the more agricultural economy and the majority of the wealth belonging to nobles who feel no need to equip their own armies on their dime, Armies are particularly lacking in armor, in most cases even lacking helmets. Though heavy armor is available, only the Kshatriya caste can access these. As a result, a majority of units are very high in attack stats and very low in armor and defensive skill stats. This is compensated with larger unit sizes and tough but sometimes small shields. This dynamic was for several reasons: the climate, the emphasis on archery and the warrior ethos of dying = heaven and that armor was considered impractical and a shield and some skill was more than enough.

Infantrymen of all kinds were normally of the Shudra Caste, or worker/peasant class in Hinduism. Similar to the serfs of Medieval Europe, they were treated as an expendable but necessary caste, below the merchant caste or Vaishyas. Shudras were conscripted as either slave soldiers meant to be meat shields for the Kshatriya, or as disorganized citizen soldiers who did their labor as a side job. Kshatriya, while mostly sticking to chariots and elephants (horsemen are not common in pre-Gupta India), could and often would fight on foot as an elite core of infantrymen.

Armor was typically just tightly woven cotton or Scale armor made of iron or pangolin armor. Chain Maille would not appear until the Muslim invasions of the 12th century AD

Shields could've been tower shields made of animal hide (usually deer, boar, elephant or rhino) or a small "Dhal" shield, Which looks like a domed round shield with 4 shield bosses as opposed to the usual 1.

The most common sword was possibly the Khanda or a predecessor to the Khanda. Khandas are double edged straight "sabers" with a restrictive hilt.

Axes of India were usually Fenestrated, having one or two holes through the middle for weight saving.

maces or "gada" were often smooth and could both be one handed or two handed.

Spears were constructed of Cane sugar and had relatively simple tips. Some spears called "vita" could've had a small scarf used to tie the wrist to the spear preventing the wielder from being disarmed..

     Spearmen were almost purely Shudra. They lacked armor and training, but had effective shields in blocking arrows from archers. 

     Swordsmen, Mace men and Axe men were commonly Shudra, but Kshatriya could sometimes be a part of this as well.

     Missile troops consisted of two parts: the purely Shudra javelin troops and the mostly Shudra archers. Archery was considered the highest form of warfare, and as such Kshatriya were more inclined to serve as elite archers. Archer infantry wielded a Dhanush, a cane longbow that was as long as the wielder was tall and using solid metal arrows.

Horsemen are rare, serving as either javelin armed skirmishers or sword armed melee cav. Neither of which were heavily armored, and the concept of shock cavalry was not around in India until the 400s Ad to 500s Ad with the Hunnic invasions.

Rath Chariots was the common mount of Kshatriya, serving more as mobile command centers than tanks like Hittites or mobile skirmishers like Egyptians. The design of the Chariot varied from time to time, but consistently resembling Egyptian chariots but box like and well built like Hittites. The amount of horses pulled varied, the common choice being 2 or 4 but some going as much as 8.

Elephants are the breakthrough tanks of the army. They have heavy armor and can shatter frontlines, but are slow and require considerable amounts of rest between runs. Javelins and bows and arrows are the most consistent weapons. And while howdahs (towers mounted on elephants) and armor were available, some opted to just have some archers on the back and go in unarmored.

Siege warfare is even more of a bloodbath, as there is no defensive weapons other than arrow towers and no siege equipment other than ladders and the ram often being replaced by siege elephants (though they were still built). Without artillery, sieges must be conducted the hard way.

Creative Assembly can rejoice in no naval warfare.

In terms of campaign, India, Geographically speaking, has 4 seasons: Winter, Pre-monsoon, Monsoon, and Post-monsoon. Traditional sources however only mention a Monsoon season between June and September and a Dry Season between October and May. Players must plan accordingly to avoid their armies being lost in the brutal monsoons. There are a couple new resources to the Total War Franchise.

A new Mechanic for this game would be made: Dharma. Dharma is the actions people take that could decide their fate. Dharma works differently for all Generals, faction leaders and governors.

For faction leaders, it affects the loyalty of generals and governors and diplomatic relations

For generals, it affects morale and upkeep

For governors it affects Happiness and corruption values

Elephant Tamers are, well, elephant tamers. Not only do they provide a major trade resource of elephants, they also provide bonuses, such as experience and discounts on elephant units. These resources are dotted across the map, but are most common in Bengal (northeast India and Bangladesh) and Carnatica (Southeast India and Sri Lanka)

Grand Trunk Road Outposts: The Grand Trunk Road is an Indian counterpart to the Silk Road of China, although not related to each other. All Resources from India go to Persia and beyond through the Grand Trunk Road, and holding outposts along this road can decide how the player can control trade throughout all of India.

I hope Creative Assembly will consider this concept as I put in some serious thought into this concept. And thank you for reading this massive essay, and I would like to hear what the people have to say on this as well..