Best nations to unify India with?

[bengast]

So in 1.23 and actually earlier I decided I wanted to play an Indian game but so far I don't have really an idea what I should and shouldn't do, well apart from allying the Timurids as they'll call me into a gazillion wars.

Should I take Delhi? Or Bengal? I could really use some in-depth advise. Currently have a Jaunpur run going that was purely luck I got this far (Game gave me 3 stab + god general).

 

[sebas379]

I struggled when I tried Bengal due to Jaunpur, Orissa and Aytthyaya allying and surrounding me. But it went like a breeze when playing Vijayanagar. Mainly because they only face enemies to their north so you cannot really get surrounded.
Another good option might be Bahmanis because they have several cores on neighbours that you can use to expand quickly.

And then its a case of allying the enemy of your enemy to help you take them down. Conider all alliances temporary agreements until its their turn to get absorbed.

 

[PhoenixG]

Pretty much every big countries has it quite easy. The most important thing fighting in India is focussing on one religion at the time so the AE is controlable.

If you play Bengal you also for being Ming's tributary.

 

[ShahanShah]

Bahmanis also starts with the Golcanda mine and Shia with the jafari school(10% shock damage school) so they are really strong this patch

 

[Lord Zsinj]

Bengal. They have a bunch of minors around them that can be eaten quick and easy, they quickly dominate their trade node, and Ming will ask for Tributary status from you, giving you a 800lb panda protecting you. You start Muslim but can flip Hindu quickly if you do choose.

 

[Orkonkel]

I just did Bengal Tiger and it was a fairly smooth playthrough after you win the first war against Orissa.

 

[Rabid]

If you don't mind start scumming for a strong ruler, Delhi is very good. Once you reconquer your cores you're completely unmatched in North India.

 

[makaramus]

viji is strong too. they got good ideas for mercs + very high army quality!

 

[I_am_Nemo]

Nepal.

Ok, so it's not one of the easier starts, but that idea set is Prussia on a budget, making it fun to stack mil ideas with them. Can definitely go Ming tributary route. Can usually get Jaunpur to help you eat Bengal to get a start (Bengal will throw some guarantees around, catch them guaranteeing somebody Jaunpur wants to eat and promise land. You can be cheesy and eat 100% of Bengal, then white peace, or try to play it legit). Bahmanis will be a real thorn, but with careful planning you can bring them down (their morale is scary early, so consider defensive as an early pick). Then Ming, Ottos, France, HRE coalitions... all will melt before the wrath of your 135% disc Nepali super soldiers.

 

[Zohtun]

viji is strong too. they got good ideas for mercs + very high army quality!

Just remember that you're going to have a bad time with the Tamils. It doesn't really matter what you do, the Tamils are going to be a thorn in your side until Chellappa appears. Once you got him, you decide how to address him and it's finally over.

Spoiling the next so those who wish to play blind can do so.

Spoiler

If you make him a general he'll try to overthrow your dynasty, but you get about 10 years of a 3-pip general first so you can use that time to kick around your enemies and use the gained land to become strong enough to put down his inevitable revolve. If you don't feel like doing this, you have two other options.
For 1 stab he'll revolt with a tiny little army which can be squished like a bug. Alternatively, you can send him out into the countryside. Doing so will risk you suffering the stabhit later...unless you manage to somehow drop all Tamil provinces to 5% or lower. If you do this, he'll actually dispel without anything interesting. It's the only peaceful solution. That said, making all Tamil provinces 5% or less is unbelievably difficult without either spending years at peace or by force-reducing their autonomy and dealing with the resulting rebels from THAT. And of course trying to suppress the Tamils from gaining themselves tons of autonomy from the prior events.

Really the Tamils are the WORST when playing as Vij and the fact that there's fairly little gain from all the suffering they put you through almost makes them a dealbreaker for playing as the unpronounceable nation. Almost.

 

[Tufto]

Bahmanis also starts with the Golcanda mine and Shia with the jafari school(10% shock damage school) so they are really strong this patch

Seconding this; even before the patch, the Bahmanis were very strong (and a lot of fun to play with).

 

[TenshiN]

Besides the obvious Vijayanagar that has the strongest position and the best ideas in India, i'd recommend Malwa. Even though its ideas are pretty crap (a rare case when it had better ones back when it just shared the "Indian Sultanate" ideagroup ), it has an interesting position right in the middle, 2 vassals, some unique flavor events... and a young God-King. Seriously, the starting ruler of Malwa is perhaps the second best starting ruler in that game after Mehmet.

 

[Roki_09]

I did it with Orissa, but I would say Vijan. and Bahmanis should have the best chance to do it...

 

[DanubianCossak]

Delhi is probably my personal favorite.

 

[Rabid]

Besides the obvious Vijayanagar that has the strongest position and the best ideas in India, i'd recommend Malwa. Even though its ideas are pretty crap (a rare case when it had better ones back when it just shared the "Indian Sultanate" ideagroup ), it has an interesting position right in the middle, 2 vassals, some unique flavor events... and a young God-King. Seriously, the starting ruler of Malwa is perhaps the second best starting ruler after Mehmet.

Yeah it's a real shame that Malwa has such poor ideas, their starting position is very interesting.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

England.

 

[AnssiA]

Orissa is pretty fun. Starts with godking and the ideas form great base for trade empire. As for the actual best nation to unify India: Timurids -> Mughals. ~By 1465 you can get permanent claims over all India while starting as one of the largest nations to boot.

 

[ElGranCapitan]

Orissa is pretty fun. Starts with godking and the ideas form great base for trade empire. As for the actual best nation to unify India: Timurids -> Mughals. ~By 1465 you can get permanent claims over all India while starting as one of the largest nations to boot.

With Orissa you have to be careful, if you conquer Andra while Bahmanis is still around (or something like that) your godking will die and half your country will be annexed by Bahmanis

So go for Bahmanis first