The Abbasid Dynasty is a solid (if bugged) civ, there's no denying that. Yet, it seems that the Mamluk Sultanate period that they supposedly encompass alongside the Abbasid Caliphate itself is completely ignored gameplay wise: No "mamluk" units, the worst heavy cavalry in the game and an absurd focus on camel units that weren't actually a meaningful (if at all) part of any Arab army.
I don't even think a strong lancer would upset balance, as Abbasids are pretty much lacking any powerful cavalry unit, since the camel riders not only are bugged, but are only good against other cavalry and terrible against everything else. It seems kind of wasteful that so many cool unique techs are wasted on what's essentially a mounted spearmen (when the Abbasids already have the best spearmen in the game). I know "anti cavalry" is their thing, but they really don't need two versions of the same unit, specially when they counter and are countered by the exact same things.
I'm not even asking for a buff, they could easily nerf other thing to compensate, or find a non disruptive but flavorful way to include the Mamluk Sultanate aspect of the civ into the game, like in the form of a buff such as Boyar fortitude for the Rus. It just doesn't sit well with me that they represent an empire so notorious for their incredible heavy cavalry yet have the absolute worst knights in the game.
The Mamluks failed to fight Tunis and contest the Caliphate back in 1504. The current leader is
Sayf ad-Din Tumanbay, Al-Malik al-Ashraf of Egypt, Syria, the Hejaz, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Jerusalem, Medina, and Mecca. Rife with internal divisions, a continually weakening political climate, and a pretty horrible army, I will try my hand to make this hurt for my enemies before they take me.
In the little reading I've done, the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk state (which reached as far as Diyarbekir in modern Turkey) is dealt with rather matter-of-factly. However, for such a massive state with a long-standing military tradition to just collapse is an odd occurence. What gives?
I'm not asking about the high ranking royal mamluks who would eventually become power players or rulers. I'm asking about the rank and file of the mamluk corps that often numbered above 10,000 at a time.
What was life like for them, were they treated as expensive slaves or did they still have a chance at social mobility and true social life?
How would the lives of those Christian (or otherwise non-Mulsim) boys go after they're sold in the faraway lands of Egypt and the Levant as slave soldiers?
So I was looking at random things on the internet and found the Ayyubid sultanate in Egypt (1171-1341) and then the Mamluk sultanate of Egypt (1250-1517) I wonder why these dates would collide as they had the same territory.
Don't look their flag up though
