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===[TASK]=== Kushite Units, Unit Textures, and Unit Props


wowgetoffyourcellphone
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@wackyserious

I'll just quote @wowgetoffyourcellphone, because he's spot on! He understands the macro-ethnic composition of Kush...

So Of the 3 skin colors in my PSDs I was going:

Dark: Meroitic, Nuba

Medium: Nubian

Light: Blemmye/Beja

Mind you, "Light" here is still way darker than the other skin colors in the game.

 I assumed the Swordsmen would be Meroitic, along with pikemen, so I made those dark. The infantry spearmen are specifically Nubian as are the archers, so I made those medium. Then there are other units which are specific ethnicities, which are basically already right there in their unit names, such as Blemmye Camelry, light, and Nuba Hunter, dark with lots of ash/paint.

Female citizens I created _light, _medium, and _dark variations since they weren't a specific ethnicity.

 

Edited by Sundiata
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Forgive me for posting some criticisms :)

10 hours ago, stanislas69 said:

@Sundiata With the armor :)

Captur6e.PNG

The hand should hold the weapon at the end. Holding it half-way significantly reduces the weapon's swing, range, and impact.

Also, shouldn't the ancient epsilon axe head be attached to the stick at the three points? E.g.:

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/show_picture.pl?l=english&rais=1&oiu=http%3A%2F%2Fbaidun.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2FWP_EG_1001bw-900x598.jpg&sp=94a22a6c5f322922527f5dad2abaf8e6

 

6 hours ago, wackyserious said:

@Sundiata

Would this work as a texture for the other Kush hero?

5a640b5fbe170_012118-KushHero(2).thumb.jpg.0d544e62b3d179e72d6775b1200a3bd6.jpg

VS.

5a6396ac841bb_012118-KushHero.thumb.jpg.75916264771e3625eff55cb2e514113a.jpg

The blade seems too long. Let's assume an average male was 1.6m; ancient swords seldom had a blade longer than about 60 cm (please correct me if the khopesh was indeed much longer); therefore the blade ought to be less than a third of the unit's length. Currently it looks more like two-thirds, appropiate for Early Modern (European Renaissance) swords, but not really for Antiquity.

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@Sundiata So no one will be slightly lighter in skin tone? I'm worried because value or the the transition from light to dark plays a role in harmonizing a composition in art

As you can see, even the player color varies in tone, some are darker and the rest are lighter, maybe this just complicates the files but it has subtle effect in general visualization. :) This thing can be compromised and not brought forward though, just the creativity inside me being a little worried.

  • First guy's texture has the darkest skin tone while the rest uses the medium one.
  • 1st guy and 2nd guy uses the meroitic head by wowgetoffyourcellphone.

In your opinion, do they break away from the macro-ethnic composition of the army? Should all Meroitic troops be dark?

5a645d024a991_012118-KushInfantry.jpg.f5f56edc3977b41a3c9acc90e0061d18.jpg

By the way, I fixed the bronze strap, oversaturation seems minor, you can check it in the game, if it is very noticeable for you guys, then I'll fix it.

5a646c7e343b3_012118-Kushites.thumb.jpg.81971833039e4e3ee3f38224e0d7f561.jpg

 

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@wackyserious

[Disclaimer], these are very generalist approximations. In reality there is strong overlap between the different groups:

 

Nubian: in this context purely geographic, people from the area between the 1st cataract to the 4th cataract. Mixed with Egyptians. Medium skin

Nuba: tribal semi-nomads in the Western desert, sedentary population in Kordofan and Nuba mountains to the South and West of the Kushite heartlands. Dark skin

Meroitic: people from the area's around Meroë, and the surrounding Butana steppe. From 4th cataract to the area's beyond the 6th cataract. Dark skin

Blemmye: Beja people, nomadic Eastern desert dwellers, camel riders "light" skin, but still pretty dark

So:

Kush_camel_javelinist  "light" skin

Kush_cavalry_javelinist Medium skin

Kush_cavalry_spearman Medium skin

Kush_champion cavalry Dark skin

Kush_champion_elephant Dark skin

Kush_champion_infantry Who is this guy?

Kush_champion_infantry_Amun  Medium skin

Kush_champion_infantry_apedemak Dark skin

Kush_hero_amanirenas Dark skin

Kush_hero_arakamani Dark skin

Kush_hero_nastasen Medium skin

kush_infantry archer Medium skin

Kush_infantry_clubman Dark skin

Kush_infantry_merc_javelinist Dark skin

Kush_infantry_pikeman Dark skin

Kush_infantry_spearman Medium skin

Kush_infantry_swordsman Dark skin

Kush_support_female_citizen all skintones

Kush_support_healer Medium skin

 

@Nescio That's not an epsilon axe (which is kind of archaic for this period), it's a Meroitic period Kushite axe (actually Mauryan...)

5a646a85b71ce_Kushiteaxe.jpg.1d50e8ae35ef8a9ff197f3c3cec52af5.jpg

 

Kushite not holding an axe at the end :P 

5a646b20b3933_Kingdomofkushkushitereliefmeroiticmeroetemple250suntemplebattleaxeman.thumb.jpg.b8ed4a3e58cc0ebcd3e8b40ef7c2914b.jpg

 

Khopesh comes in different sizes. Ours is indeed rather large. I'm not too bothered by it though :P 

19 minutes ago, Nescio said:

Let's assume an average male was 1.6m

Dinka are sometimes noted for their height. With the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. Roberts and Bainbridge reported the average height of 182.6 cm (5 ft 11.9 in) in a sample of 52 Dinka Ageir and 181.3 cm (5 ft 11.4 in) in 227 Dinka Ruweng measured in 1953–1954 -wikipedia-

South Sudanese men can easily surpass 2 meters!

"The Ethiopians to whom Cambyses sent these gifts are reputed to be the tallest and most beautiful of all peoples.” -Herodotus-

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Just now, wackyserious said:

So no one will be slightly lighter in skin tone?

 

Just now, wackyserious said:

In your opinion, do they break away from the macro-ethnic composition of the army? Should all Meroitic troops be dark?

 

Please, feel free to play around with skin tones! I'd love to see different tones for the same units. We're just talking generalities here.

 

Just now, Sundiata said:

[Disclaimer], these are very generalist approximations. In reality there is strong overlap between the different groups:

 

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36 minutes ago, Nescio said:

The blade seems too long. Let's assume an average male was 1.6m; ancient swords seldom had a blade longer than about 60 cm (please correct me if the khopesh was indeed much longer); therefore the blade ought to be less than a third of the unit's length. Currently it looks more like two-thirds, appropiate for Early Modern (European Renaissance) swords, but not really for Antiquity.

Yeah, I think the khopesh should be redone too. It has no thickness either, so edge-on it disappears.

 

Kush_champion_infantry Who is this guy?

That's the Noble/Royal Archer. Probably rename to Kush_champion_infantry_archer

Edited by wowgetoffyourcellphone
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5 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

@Nescio That's not an epsilon axe (which is kind of archaic for this period), it's a Meroitic period Kushite axe (actually Mauryan...)

That explains it, thanks for the clarification.

6 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Kushite not holding an axe at the end :P

Not at the end, but not half-way either; it looks more like at 20%. Anyway, try it yourself, grap some kind of stick and swing it, trying for different positions, half-way, at a quarter, at the end. You'll notice a significant improvement if you hold it lower.

9 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Dinka are sometimes noted for their height. With the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. Roberts and Bainbridge reported the average height of 182.6 cm (5 ft 11.9 in) in a sample of 52 Dinka Ageir and 181.3 cm (5 ft 11.4 in) in 227 Dinka Ruweng measured in 1953–1954 -wikipedia-

South Sudanese men can easily surpass 2 meters!

"The Ethiopians to whom Cambyses sent these gifts are reputed to be the tallest and most beautiful of all peoples.” -Herodotus-

Yes, nowadays. Currently European males are 20-30 cm longer on average than their counter-parts of three centuries ago. While I won't deny individuals could occassionally exceed two metres (e.g. Goliath), I do believe the average length in Antiquity was clearly shorter than it is today.

Anyway, if the man in question was indeed 1.8 m, then the blade is even more in need of a length reduction (2/3 of 1.8m is 1.2m, while 2/3 of 1.6m is 1.06m).

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Just now, Nescio said:

Not at the end, but not half-way either; it looks more like at 20%. Anyway, try it yourself, grap some kind of stick and swing it, trying for different positions, half-way, at a quarter, at the end. You'll notice a significant improvement if you hold it lower.

You're right, I just love teasing you :P 

 

Just now, Nescio said:

Yes, nowadays. Currently European males are 20-30 cm longer on average than their counter-parts of three centuries ago. While I won't deny individuals could occassionally exceed two metres (e.g. Goliath), I do believe the average length in Antiquity was clearly shorter than it is today.

These are Africans... Some are pygmies, some are giants. In Sudan, they've been tall since the dawn of history. There were Neolithic Saharan populations that easily reached 1.90m... The Dinka that were measured in the study didn't experience significant cultural changes, and no dietary changes for thousands of years... They are the same people. Europeans in general experienced dramatic environmental, dietary, cultural and ethnic changes through the same period which account for the changes in height.

 

4 minutes ago, Nescio said:

Anyway, if the man in question was indeed 1.8 m, then the blade is even more in need of a length reduction

Hmmm, then I won't oppose a (small) length-reduction. Just a little though :unsure: 

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44 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

The Dinka that were measured in the study didn't experience significant cultural changes, and no dietary changes for thousands of years...

Hard to prove for a people with no written history :)

44 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Hmmm, then I won't oppose a (small) length-reduction. Just a little though :unsure: 

33 minutes ago, stanislas69 said:

Do you have an idea of the ratio ? .9 .8 etc ?

Man 1.8 m, sword 0.8 m, blade 0.6 m, handle 0.2 m, works out at a ratio of 9:4:3:1. Axe I don't know, probably something similar.

I think it's realistic if the total weapon length is about half the total man length. So assuming the sword is currently about 70% the unit's length, then multiply the sword length by 0.7 (because .7^2=.49).

Edited by Nescio
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7 minutes ago, Nescio said:

Hard to prove for a people with no written history :)

Why do you think written history (or the lack thereof) proves anything? I rely mostly on the archaeological record. Written history is a nice extra, but it becomes most valuable when it's backed by something tangible. The written history describing the ancestors of Dinka and related populations corroborate the archaeological record. No major changes for thousands of years... They're a stone-age Neolithic holdover, to be blunt, but they are ethnically closely related to the much more advanced Meroites, and recruited/incorporated in significant numbers.

 

Just now, wackyserious said:

@Sundiata One more thing, the one I asked on PM

Quote

What type of hero would Nastasen and Arakamani be? Cavalry? Infantry? Elephant?

Currently they are using Ptolemaic Kingdom placeholders, one Hannibal's elephant and a Royal Agema Cavalry

Sorry, I can't keep up :P 

  • Nastasen: horse
  • Arakamani: elephant
  • Amanirenas: chariot (just kidding :P(not really), or infantry
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10 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Why do you think written history (or the lack thereof) proves anything?

Actually I do not think historical records necessarily prove anything, however:

10 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

I rely mostly on the archaeological record.

Archaeology can only provide evidence for what can be found, not for what can't be found or is lost. Or for something intangible, such as no “significant cultural changes”, which to me sounds either arrogant or ignorant.

11 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Written history is a nice extra, but it becomes most valuable when it's backed by something tangible.

I fully agree. Archaeology, historical records, comparative linguistics, and genetic sequencing can show indicate something individually, but only in combination with each other they become really valuable.

 

4 minutes ago, stanislas69 said:

Reduced the size a bit, tilted the lion head @wowgetoffyourcellphone @Sundiata @Nescio

The sword blade seems still longer than the man's leg, so perhaps you could shorten it a bit more?

The axe is partially obscured by the rotation of the unit, however, the axe head shown about a dozen posts earlier was less than 15 cm, so perhaps use that as an indication for the total axe length.

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