Yes, the dream of Timur could be realized in this mod - to capture the whole world.
Each city has a city center building and a flag pole. To capture the city, you need to cut down the flag pole and kill all the enemy army in city. Then the flag pole and the city become yours.
There are 6 kind of maps:
East Asian( with rivers across a big continent )
West Asian( desert and grass land with little water )
East Eu( forests and cliffs appear somewhere )
West Eu( coast map and have many resources )
Steppe( grassland everywhere )
Mediterranean( haven't decided yet )
Villages are native settlements, but they are playing a much more important role in this game. Every village has a military advance or economy advance. The offer unit training or provide a kind of resource. Especially, WARRIOR can only be provided by villages! Without it, you can't build any elite units.