@Indicus Where on earth are you getting your `history' from? Tipu was as much a looter as the Marathas, if not more. He looted Thanjavur so thoroughly in the Second Mysore War that revenues fell by 80-90% for the next several years, with widespread depopulation. In fact, both Tipu & his father are legendary for looting. They so thoroughly despoiled Malabar during the 30 years they held it that even today, Malabarese use the Mysorean rule as symbols of misrule. Same goes for Coorg. Tipu thoroughly depopulated Coorg, hunting down everyone there like animals & settling them into a state slavery elsewhere. The Brits didn't get a whole lot of allies in south India for no reason. Tipu & his father had become utterly hated in the south by nearly everyone, & not because of their success (Smaller kings didn't care whether they were ruled by Tipu, British, Nizam or Marathas. But Tipu being a total barbarian with them upset them all thoroughly). The idea that the Marathas were a bunch of looters, while Tipu was a model of modern rule is arrant nonsense at its best. Can I request you to read Michaud (if you can read French)? It will tell you what Tipu's own French allies (forget his British enemies) thought of him.
As for the rockets, it was a common feature of both western & south Indian warfare. The Marathas also used rockets aplenty at Panipat. Tipu didn't introduce it; his father also used the same rockets that Tipu used. In fact, almost all French officers of Tipu (either directly in their own writings, or via Michaud), are contemptuous of Tipu's artillery (belongs to the time of Machiavelli, according to Michaud). The first experience of the British was in the First Mysore War, which is why Mysore gets credited with the rocket artillery.
As for `modern Mysore' winning against the `pillaging Marathas', AFTER the Marathas lost at Panipat (where they lost their best troops), Haidar was so thoroughly crushed by them at Chinakurali in 1771 that Haidar had to agree to a humiliating peace (restoring all Maratha lands north of the Tungabhadra, & paying a huge indemnity to the Marathas). All Haidar had left when Madhava Rao was done with him was his capital & a ton of debts to everyone, including the Marathas.
As for the Marathas pillaging, it had nothing to do with their administration. Their administration was a continuation of the Mughal administration - they hardly made any real changes in it. In fact, they did cut down on the slave-taking & slave-trading for which the Mughals were notorious. Nor did they run out of lands to pillage. In fact, they had the rich Indo-Gangetic plains to pillage (which they hardly touched). No, their problems were that after the death of Madhava Rao, they were totally disunited with everyone & his grandmother vying for the thrones, putting up contending candidates in smaller neighbouring states, thus weakening their own allies with internecine warfare, etc.
@123456789blaaa
The Marathas can succeed if they remain united. You need Madhava Rao like Peshwas ruling for about 50 years. Then they can easily win. However, Maratha unity, given their essentially free chieftains, is hard to achieve, unless you have a strong Peshwa like Baji Rao or Madhava Rao on the throne.
As for the Afghans, Abdali won at Panipat but was so weakened in the bargain that he never posed a serious threat again. Even the disunited Sikhs were sufficient to beat him off again & again after 1761 (he did invade several times, but was beaten off by the Sikhs each time).