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Faction Specifics (Trying to make each faction more unique through historical attributes, part1/4) Athenians Athens as a faction with naval strength (especially mid-game), good tech/infantry/ranged units and an expand & protect focus. Reforms: - Iphicratian Reforms, instead of the (silly imo) "train units from ships" bonus, should give speed bonuses to infantry units. Iphicrates improved Hoplite mobility and focused on skirmishers. Makes sense for a Civ with weak cavalry that focuses on expanding and protecting it's colonies. Other: - Colonization (Civ Bonus): Civ Centers Cheaper or build faster - Athenian Empire (Civ Bonus): Civ Centers, Triremes or both provide a small tickle of metal. Athens' main strategy was founding colonies/allying coastal towns and protecting/taxing them. - Philosopher (Champion Healer): New unit that functions as a priest but also has an aura or empowerment skill increasing construction/train time/tech time. - Chorigoi (Sponsors): Dock tech reducing Trireme cost. Notice how the above proposals co-relate with the expand & protect focus. - Champion Hoplite "Logades": Historical elite Athenian unit with the same function instead of City Guards. I wouldn't like seeing an army of "City Guards" attacking a town. - Replace Cretan Archers with native/marine Athenian archers or with reasonably downgraded (non-champion) Scythian Archers. Alternatives: - If the reforms idea is not implemented an "Iphicratids" tech (the special boots he introduced) could add infantry unit speed. - If the Philosopher unit is not implemented, a "Philosophy" tech could make techs slightly cheaper or faster to research. Or increase unit line of sight. Britons: An offensive civ with weaker but faster to build structures and a relatively good all around army (somewhat lacking cavalry). Reforms: - Needs Research Other: - Crossbreeding: Kennel tech increasing War Dog attack/Hp - Woad: Temple tech adding a fear aura to melee infantry (decreasing the attack speed or damage of melee enemies in range). - Give them back their faster built but weaker structures (even with less differences than before). Could also be slightly cheaper. Forts, Towers and Civ Centers could stay at average stats. Carthaginians: Focusing on navy, trade, mercenaries and strong defenses. Reforms: - Barcid/Late Armies, increases melee infantry armor and reduces mercenary cost (Through alliances with tribes and city states). Other: - Colonization (Civ Bonus): (Like Athens) Cheaper or faster to build Civ Centers or add the existing tech as a default bonus - Add exploration (unit/ship line of sight) as default Civ Bonus - Mass Production: Fortress tech increasing siege weapon train speed. They often had huge numbers of them. - Give them back their wall bonuses even if lesser and/or a tech increasing tower, fortress, barracks and wall hp. They had massive walls with built-in barracks, stables and elephant stables. - If we want Carthage to be the ultimate naval faction, let's not handicap them by having naval architects only at/for the military dock. - Naval Shipyard could also garrison a number of ships and possibly get an attack. More coming soon

Some General Suggestions and Tech Proposals: - Move all cavalry units (besides the starting scout) to the town phase. That's what all major RTS do for fast units, they have them at tier2+. A village wouldn't have a cavalry force anyway. Fits nicely with my stronger and costlier cavalry proposal as well. - Make Trade Ships able to garrison 20-30 units. 15 is too little for the ship closer to/ment to function as transport. - Give every faction reform techs. I can provide detailed information on this for all factions besides Celt and Iberian ones (would need some research). More info at faction specific proposals. - Add back the rank-up techs, but make them per unit-type and place them in the middle line of structure interface bellow each unit. This way you can make some of your units harder drilled by default and keep others better as workers. Makes sense historically as well, like a choice of core army units and simple levy units. It also gives the equivalent of Age Of Empires, medium/heavy/champion style upgrades. Or: - Paired techs could work fine per unit, like Ekdromoi (Hoplite speed)/Bronze Cuirass (Hoplite armor). I can come up with such for most units if it's desired, - Naval Prestige: Tech for Hellenistic factions (Macedon, Seleucid, Egypt) related to constructing big warships faster/cheaper/stronger. Macedon could use a top tier ship. It had a very strong navy including huge ships for a while. - Expert Sailors: Dock tech for Carthage, Athens and Ptolemies increasing ship speed. - Fanaticism/Ritual Sacrifice/Afterlife: Temple tech slightly increasing all unit attack speed and/or gather rate (like 5%) - Coinage: Market tech providing a tickle of metal income per ally (could also be shared between researching player and allies) - Fire Arrows: Tech making arrow firing units/ships/structures more effective vs ships/siege and wooden or all structures) - Import Elephants: Market tech unlocking War Elephant Champions for some factions (maybe with a limit). Some factions like Macedon, Persia and Rome, especially the former, occasionally used War Elephants. - Elephant Bells: Fortress/Elephant Stable tech adding a fear aura to elephants (or increasing an existing one. A fear aura should reduce nearby enemy damage or attack speed. - Composite Bows: Barracks or Blacksmith tech increasing archer, horse archer (and possibly ship/structure) range for Persians, Seleucids, Mauryans (named longbows here) and maybe Ptolemies. Could also work for roman auxiliary archers if they get implemented. - God choice: Several linked techs at the temple. Choosing a patron god would provide bonuses linked to the culture their worship would develop and their supposed attributes. Like Poseidon (Ships and Cavalry), Vulcan (Weapons/Armor) upgrades, Demeter (Farming), Melquart (Trade) etc. A number from 3 to anything per temple would work and also be a nice base for a mythology mode. - Map based Auxiliaries/Mercenaries/Satrapal Levies. An option to set "region" per map during creation on the editor. So if the map is set in Gaul, Carthaginians would hire Gallic mercenaries (in a single embassy structure), Rome auxiliaries, Seleucids/Persians train Gallic levies instead of some of their non core units. I guess this one goes a bit too far:p More Coming Soon

Let's start by saying that I will not go in detail with the well deserved praise to the team and all contributors for the game's development so far, but rather focus on fixes and proposals, instead of mentioning what I like. After testing Alpha 17 a bit ( a few games on both single and multiplayer, as well as a quite deep examination of changes for all units, techs, civs etc), some fixes come to mind first. Mind that I'm not 100% sure on all of them, that would need extensive multiplayer testing which I haven't done. SOME MINOR STUFF: SOME STRANGE STAT ISSUES: OTHER: A BALANCING TEMPLATE UNIT CLASS ROLES GENERAL SUGGESTIONS AND TECH PROPOSALS: CAMPAIGN: FACTION SPECIFICS Trying to make each faction unique through historical attributes. Note that the unit lists I'm mentioning are chosen mostly from a historical perspective, balance and uniqueness for each faction on that field would need lengthy discussions. ATHENIANS The Athenians should have bonuses on navy, expansion, infantry mobility, economy and research, with an expand and defend playstyle. Faster built or cheaper Civ Centers will allow quick expansion (simulating colonization or vassalization of other's colonies) with mobile infantry forces and navies to protect them or raid enemy holdings. Later on, Philosopher units can help the colonies flurish enhancing construction, economy and research, to make up for a slightly weak late game military. BRITONS The Britons should be an offensive civ with relatively cheap and weak (in defense) early units and weaker, faster built (wooden) structures. This makes them a viable booming faction as well. More research needed. CARTHAGINIANS The Carthaginians should have bonuses on naval trade, navy, exploration, expansion, defenses and mercenaries. Locating (with bonused scouting) and securing (with fast built or tough structures) metal deposits, to help them make the most out of their mercenary armies, as well as maintaining naval and trade superiority could be their core direction. GAULS The Gauls should be an offensive civ with relatively cheap and weak (in defense) early units and weaker, faster built (wooden) structures. This makes them a viable booming faction as well. Later on they get access to tougher units and upgrades. IBERIANS The Iberians are the ultimate turtle civ with several defensive bonuses and also specialize at guerilla warfare. Their units are quite varied but their navy is one of the weakest. MACEDONIANS The Macedonians field powerful cavalry, infantry and siege weapons and reliable missile units. A mostly offensive faction at early-mid game, that gets more staying power later on with reforms increasing the survivability of several units. MAURYANS The Mauryans could be an aggressive (rush) civ with weak, cheap and fast trained units, relatively weak and fast built (wooden) structures. This can also allow them to play with a booming playstyle, since cheap citizen-soldiers should give an early economic advantage. Their armies are rather weak with the exceptions of archery units and war elephants. PERSIANS The Persians excel at massing weak, cheap infantry units supported by equally cheap but formidable archers. But what really stands out is their cavalry arm, one of the strongest among all civs. Their structures are strong as well, although a little slower to build. PTOLEMIES The Ptolemies should have a well balanced military, with most troop types and better than average mercenaries, but that shouldn't be the core of their strength, somewhat lacking in champion units and military techs. Farming, research, naval and defense bonuses should make them a booming-defensive faction with a variety of secondary options. ROMANS The Romans might have somewhat weak cavalry, but make up for it with easy to mass tough infantry, strong siege weapons/structures and increasingly good technology as the game advances. SELEUCIDS The Seleucids probably have access to the largest troop variety of all civs, including several elite units and powerful reforms. Their other aspects could stay at average more or less for balance, even though historically they could have many other bonuses and their weaknesses don't translate well in RTS gameplay. SPARTANS The Spartans can be a very unique faction with early available, very limited, super-elite infantry supported by average to poor other units. Late game reforms can provide a reliable, massable unit in Cleomenian Pikemen and improve other troop classes through newly unlocked mercenaries, so that they can stand against other faction's now powerful armies. Helots can be used as a unique worker unit with the best default farming rate (even if slaves are added in general).

I like some of those tech proposals. I'm also thinking that an academy type building is missing, some of the techs I have in mind don't really fit elsewhere. I'm aware. I'll go in more detail when I touch the Roman specifics:)

My observations after last night's game with staff (mostly about economy). - Berries carry too little food. It is quickly gone (why even research wicker baskets (faster berry gathering speed)?) - the game relies too heavily on wood (buildings, upgrades, units...) Also, trees could carry some more wood.

For the three other posts : I won't comment on the stat changes, I'm not an expert on this. Most of the tech changes you propose are really interesting. I just have a few comments on them : I'm not really an expert on history, but It doesn't shock me that a village or a small city is able to use a citizen cavalry. Horses were used a lot more than now, and in a village you could always find men that would be able to ride a horse (I'm mostly thinking about celts when I say this, but this is maybe less true for greek or persians). Of course we're not talking about a heavy organised cavalry force here. Maybe it would be more realistic to make the light cavalry expensive at phase 1, and less expensive at phase 2, where proper cavalry training could be assimilated to "mass-production". And maybe this could depend on the faction. Didn't the romans have a cavalry force from the very early times of Rome ? Carthage should have a similar tech too. The french Wikipedia mentions that the Marsala punic shipwrecks have revealed that the carthaginians used a technology that allowed them to build warships, including big ones like quinqueremes, at a very fast rate. They already had this technology during the first punic war, which gave them a great advantage against the romans (but the romans were able to keep up because their politicians and upper-class citizen were constantly providing new ships and money for the war effort). If this has to be implemented we should be very careful to show that the bonuses are linked to the culture that the people developed, and not to the god itself. Otherwise it would indeed look like a mythology game, which is almost the opposite of the goal of the project.

For the second part I have several suggestions on mostly new things rather than needed fixes and current gameplay. A balancing template (stolen from here and adjusted accordingly): This system allows for easy balance changes and understanding of unit stats and attributes. With it each unit has it's stats adjusted according to it's level (L). Exact modifiers per stat can change, those suggested should be close to current gameplay balance. Say units prove too expensive, you can adjust the resource cost modifier to something lower universally. If kill rates make the game too fast, dps can also be reduced universally. Pop Cost: 1xL Resource Cost: 100xL Train Time: 10xL Hp: 100xL Dps: 10xL Armor: 5xL Movement: Average Range: Melee Skills: N/A Then each unit can have some of it's stats modified to give it a more specific role. It's easy to keep track on how much and in what fields a unit is changed. I'm not going to mess with armor and attack types to keep it relatively simple for now. For example: Spearman (level 1) Pop Cost: 1 Resource Cost: 100 Train Time: 10 sec Hp: 120 (100 +20% bonus for spearman class) Dps: 10 (20 attack with a 2 sec cooldown as spear is a big weapon) Armor: 7 (5 +40% bonus for spearman class) Movement: Average Range: Melee (could be slightly larger, and even more for pikemen. Pikemen could also have lower collision to work better in groups, at least until syntagma formation is properly implemented) Skills: N/A Then for each faction more specifics could be applied for more historical flavor and varied gameplay: Sparabara (Persian Spearman) (level 1) Pop Cost: 1 Resource Cost: 80 (100 -20% as an untrained levy) Train Time: 8 sec (10 -20% as an untrained levy) Hp: 120 (100 + 20% bonus) Dps: 8 (10 -20% as an untrained levy) Armor: 5 (Removed bonus as it's a light unit compared to most spearmen) Movement: Average Range: Melee Skills: N/A Now, to a Cavalry unit: Cavalry Spearman (level 2) Pop Cost: 2 (Cavalry units were more rare, stronger per unit and there's a need to maintain the mount as well) Resource Cost: 200 Train Time: 20 sec Hp: 200 Dps: 24 (20 + 20% - until charge is implemented, since it's an offensive unit it needs an attack boost) Armor: 10 Movement: Fast (As mounted) Range: Melee Skills: N/A I have ideas on balancing each unit type this way, but will avoid making this part any longer. *A note here, I think cavalry also need a transported size of 2 (even more for elephants/large siege). The Persian skill in transporting cavalry which is translated in a (silly imo) bonus of training cavalry from ships could then be shifted to persian cavalry units having a trasported size of 1. *Units with bigger collision size need slightly better stats since they can be attacked by more enemies at the same time. Also lowering costs and train times like in the Persian Spearman example isn't perfect with the "citizen soldiers as workers" concept since it gives some factions an early game economic bonus, but imo it's a nice flavor and should be balanced on other ways. It partly does with having weaker troops that will die easier by rushes giving stat-boosting ranks to tougher units. More coming soon

Here are some references. Most pictures are from a reconstruction in West Stow, England. Houses and halls: Blacksmith: Main Hall (candidate for Civil Center): Artistic reconstructions:

I saw Ayakashi's great post about the Tang Dynasty and think that the Chinese faction wouldn't be complete without Song Dynasty for part II of Millennium A.D. Here's my proposal: Song Dynasty (960 - 1279AD) Brief history After a period of upheaval and unrest that was the turbulent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song Dynasty rose up and reunite the Chinese people once again (to certain extent). A period of relative peace soon followed, and Chinese cultural, economic and scientific advancements were at all time heights during the Song Dynasty. Nevertheless, the Chinese have to constantly struggle with the even more powerful Khitan Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, the Tangut Western Xia Dynasty, and eventually, faced their demise at the hand of the Mongols. The Chinese would not endure their Mongol overlord for long, and quickly overthrow the Yuan Dynasty to form the Ming Dynasty. Gameplay Attrition warfare: Turtling and booming. With reform, Song player can adjust their military to focus on: * Gigantic swarms of cheap infantry unit. * Early access of expensive foreign elite units. * Late game high tech units and champions. Song Dynasty is even more catered for turtle player than its predecessor, the Tang Dynasty. While Tang Dynasty was militarily strong, with a fierce contingent of light cavalry backed by very competent infantry, the same cannot be said for the Song Dynasty. At this period the Chinese were constantly troubled by severe lack of horse, so their army was almost entirely infantry-based. Low social status of soldiers and the tendency to distrust or even execute capable military commander certainly did not help matters. In stark contrast to their weak army, Chinese advanced tremendously in almost every field related to economy: Agriculture, metallurgy, as well as commerce and foreign trade. Major exports were silk, porcelain and tea. (The claim that Song Dynasty had 80% GDP share of the world is totally false, however). Also around this time we saw large-scale use of gunpowder weapons for the first time, both by the Chinese and their enemies. Due to their maritime trade, Song Chinese were very advanced in naval and navigation technology, inventing watertight compartment as well as utilizing paddle-wheel warships (and a blue water navy) on large scale. Civilization Traits * Imperial society - The Chinese did not live in a feudal society. Song civilization start with the usual civic center building instead of castle/fortress typical of Millennium A.D. * Forbidden army of eight hundred thousand - The Song Dynasty was able to maintain a truly mind-boggling amount of full-time professional troops, but not all of them combat worthy. Most Song infantry are cheap, train fast, and extremely tough for their price. However, they cannot perform economic task. * Defennd oriented - The Song Dynasty defensive strategy was heavily reliant on passive defense and developed superior defensive construction as a result. Civilization Bonuses Advanced Agriculture 1 History: Chinese mastery in agriculture was unsurpassed up until early modern period (don't quote me, but they were quite far ahead of the rest of world during our time frame AFAIK). They had farming treaties, multiple-tube seed drills and curved iron crankshaft plow, to name but a few. (And these are just the inventions of the previous dynasties) Effect: Increase farm yield. Silk & Porcelain Trade History: The main export of the Chinese since the Han Dynasty. Effect: 15% gain to both trader and merchant ship. Civilization Disadvantages * Overpriced cavalry: Cavalry of the Song Dynasty are massively overpriced, but only of moderate quality. * Slow infantry: Infantry of the Song Dynasty are weighted down by their extra-heavy armor. * Slow expansion: The general slowness of the Song army means that they also cannot expand effectively. However, their overwhelmingly powerful economic technologies ensure that they stay ahead of their opponents economically without expanding territory. Team Bonuses Tribute Mission History: The Chinese were no longer the dominant superpower of the Far East that could automatically attract tribute from the so-called 'lesser' countries. Tribute mission of this period was useful to put up the facade that Song Dynasty was still powerful and, more importantly, to maintain foreign relationship as (more or less) equals. Although Song Dynasty was the one that was receiving tribute, they tend to give more than they receive. Effect: Allied traders and merchant ships gain +60% trade profit when trading with the Song civilization. Not applicable to Song civilization itself. Researched Unique Technologies Odometer and South-Pointing Chariot History: The combination of odometer and compass makes charting map much easier. Effect: All Song building and land unit gain +25% vision range. Advanced Agriculture 2 History: During the Northern Song, introduction of foreign crop from Champa (modern day Vietnam), Korea, India and Middle East greatly improved food producton, while the invention of Yang Ma (秧馬) or 'Seedling Horse' made planting and harvesting crops faster and easier. Effect: Increase farm yield even more and reduce harvest intervals. Stack with Advanced Agriculture 1. Tea-Horse Trade History: The Chinese traded tea for horses. Effect: Reduce training cost of cavalry. (To other civilizations, this could be a borderline OP upgrade. To the Chinese, this only makes their cavalry somewhat more viable.) Gunpowder Formula History: The first detailed formula of gunpowder was recorded in the Northern Song military encyclopedia Wujing Zongyao. Effect: Song Dynasty siege weapons gain explosive ammunition. Double-piston Flamethrower History: The Chinese invented a variant of the Greek Fire that can spill out continuous flame. Effect: Song Dynasty defensive tower gains a devastating flame attack. Reform Technologies <Reform 1> New Policies/Wang Anshi Reform (王安石變法) History: A massive centralization project conducted by Northern Song minister Wang Anshi. Effect: * Reduce cost of farm plot. * Increase house capacity. * Increase trade efficiency. * Reduce cost of all military unit. * Reduce cost of military research. * Civic center, house and defensive tower gain additional arrow attack. <Reform 2> Alliance of the Sea (海上之盟) History: Northern Song Dynasty formed an alliance with the Jin Dynasty in order to destroy the Liao. Effect: Access to powerful but expensive Jin Dynasty units. (Ironically, this has nothing to do with navy) <Reform 3> Jian Yan Exodus (建炎南渡) History: Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, only to be replaced by Southern Song Dynasty. Effect: Drastic restructuring of the entire army and access to many new weapon, technologies and upgrades. Unlock technology: Advanced Agriculture 3 Unlock technology: Coke Fuel Unlock technology: Watertight Compartment Proposed Unit Roster Support Unit Female Citizen Military Laborer (廂兵) - Only unit in the entire civilization that can build military building. Trader Merchant Ship Fishing Boat Healer - (Personally I oppose to the "religious personnel as healer" approach. While this is somewhat true for Christian faith, Chinese medicine for the most part was very secularized.) Forbidden Army (禁軍) * Forbidden Army units cannot gather resource or construct building. Spearman (槍手) - General purpose infantry. Counter cavalry. Glaiveman (刀斧手) - Fragile (by Chinese standard, they are still heavily armored infantry) anti-everything heavy hitter. Vulnerable to ranged unit. Javelin Pavisier (鏢牌手) - Very tough meatshield/tarpit infanty. Counter ranged unit. Archer (弓手) Crossbowman (弩手) Cavalry (馬軍) Siege Weapon Whirlwind Trebuchet (旋風車砲) Siege Crossbow (床子弩) Warship Paddle Wheel Tower Ship Hero Unit Di Qing (狄青) Yue Fei (岳飛) *Third Hero TBD <Reform 2 Unit> Jurchen "Iron Pagoda" Superheavy Cataphract (鐵浮屠) Jurchen Dismounted "Iron Pagoda" Cataphract Jurchen Medium Cavalry (拐子馬) <Reform 3 Unit> Bamboo Gunner (突火槍) War Wagon (如意戰車) Counterweight Trebuchet (回回砲) Heavy War Junk (尖底海船) Ironclad Rammer Warship (鐵壁鏵嘴船)

I think that armor and attack types do the job now, without artificial bonuses. Like spearman's high pierce damage and high armor help him beat cavalry. Can't get into accurate detail though.

Eyecandy Only the horseman is accurate though. Other soldiers are dressed in armour from other period. This is a concept art for a WIP Skyrim (and Mount and Blade, I think) mod called Cangloong City, but could serves as useful reference for standard Song Dynasty soldier load out. The left guy would be a Advanced level unit, the middle guy is a Elite level unit (or Champion), and the right guy is a Hero unit. Basic unit would be unarmored, but otherwise identical to the left guy. Note the felt hat, scarf and waist cloth, especially that felt hat, which is one of the most distinct equipment of Song troops. An animated feature film base on the Northern Song painted scroll 《清明上河圖》 or "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". It is a very good reference on the urban life during the Song Dynasty, and contains many reference on Song period architecture, civilian clothing, civilian boat design, city walls, and miscellaneous things like umbrellas or lanterns.

Scrapped Civilization Proposal Non-Combat Unit Woman Healer (Taoism, Buddhism, or Neo-Confucianism) Trader Fishing Boat Trading Junk Civic Center Unit / Citizen Soldier xiang bing （廂兵）- The only citizen soldier for this faction. Armed with a spear, this unit is extremely weak but also very cheap and train fast. * This unit is removed if reform tech 2 is researched. Barrack Unit / Champion Unit Spearman （槍牌手） - Anti cavalry and meat shield unit. Armed with spear or halberd, as well as heavy pavise. Highly resistant to missile damage. Heavy Axeman （劍斧手）- Shock troops that use not only axes, but also glaives. Have no shield. Archer （弓箭手） Crossbowman （硬弩手） Heavy Cavalry（馬軍）- Become Cataphract on Elite status. <Reform 1> Bamboo Gunner（突火槍） <Reform 2> Pikeman （長槍手） - Replace spearman. <Reform 2> Swordsman （刀牌手）- Swift anti archer unit that is highly resistant to missile damage. Replace axeman. <Reform 2> Archer （弓箭手）- Replace original archer. <Reform 2> Hand Gunner （铳手） - Replace crossbowman. <Reform 2> Rocket Infantry （九龍筒）- Shoots nine rockets per salvo. Wildly inaccurate. <Reform 2> Cavalry Lancer （驍騎） - Replace heavy cavalry <Reform 2> Horse Archer （輕騎） *Although considered Champion unit (thus cannot perform gathering or construction), they are only on par with Citizen Soldiers of other factions, and generally lose to 'true' Champion units. However, they are available very early in the game, and can gain promotions. ** If reform tech 2 is researched, they become Citizen Soldier. Fortress Unit / Elite Champion Unit<Reform 1> Bei Wei Cavalry（背嵬馬軍）*- Elite personal guard of Yue Fei. Heavy Cataphract armed with glaive and axe.<Reform 1> Bei Wei Infantry （背嵬步軍）*- Infantry version of the Bei Wei Cavalry. <Reform 2> Divine Engine Battalion （神機營）- Elite Hand Gunner that shoots poisoned arrow instead of bullet, with extended range.<Reform 2> Five Armies Battalion （五軍營）- Elite Cavalry Lancer.<Reform 2> Three Thousand Battalion （三千營） - Elite Mongolian Horse Archer<Reform 2> Jinyiwei（錦衣衛） - Special agent specialized in espionage and assassination. Siege Weapon War cart （如意戰車）*- A cheaper and slightly faster "siege tower lite". Can form into special "laager formation" that encircle other ranged siege unit. Garrisonable to up to three troops. Highly resistant to arrow and cavalry attack. Mobile Whirwind Trebuchet （旋風車砲） Siege Crossbow （弩車）*- A carroballista. Basic unit has one bow, Advanced unit has double bows, Elite unit has triple bows. Fairly tough for a siege unit. <Reform 1> Counterweight Trebuchet （回回炮）*- Need to deploy to shoot. <Reform 2> Rocket Cart （火箭車）*- Replace war cart. Cannot be garrisoned anymore. <Reform 2> Siege Tower （臨衝呂公車） - Use RoTE siege tower model. <Reform 2> Bombard （大銃）- Replace whirlwind trebuchet. Warship Superheavy War Junk （尖底海船） - Giant 2000 liao (Gross tonnage 450 tons, displacement 600 tons) warship, larger than the famous Flor de la Mar. Heavy War Junk （巡船） - Heavy warship of 1000 liao displacement.Ironclad Rammer（鐵壁鏵嘴船）* - Heavily armored hybrid oar & paddle wheel war boat designed for ramming attack. <Reform 2> Heavy War Junk （戰座船）- 400 liao (166 tons), similar to most carrack.<Reform 2> War Junk （戰船）- 200 liao (83 tons) light warship.<Reform 2> Camouflaged Fire Ship （火船）- It looked like a normal fishing junk. * Song Dynasty had a riverine navy, a coastal navy, and a blue water navy, AND some hybrid riverine-coastal warships, so it is really hard to decide which ship to put in. I chose mainly junk-type warships to represent the Song Dynasty lineup so that it will not differ too much from the Ming-era warships. This also means the Chinese will have access to Carrack sized heavy warships armed with gunpowder weaponry (albeit without effective broadside cannons like the 16th century carracks and galleons), while everyone else are still using galleys and cogs. Heroes<Reform 1> Di Qing 狄青 (Horse archer/Horse flailman) - Northern Song general who always wear a bronze mask and keep his hair unkempt during battle.<Reform 1> Yue Fei 岳飛 (Cataphract) - Famous Southern Song general and national hero of China.<Reform 1> Yang Miao Zhen 楊妙真 (Fire lance cavalry) - Female Southern Song general famed for her fire lance. <Reform 2> Chang Yu Chun 常遇春 (Horse Archer) - Fierce warrior from early Ming Dynasty. Closest thing we have to a Romance of Three Kingdom-esque ‘superhuman’ in real life.<Reform 2> Zhu Di 朱棣 (Spear Cavalry) - The King of Yan, and later Yongle Emperor. One of the rare and fiercest martial emperor of China that fought his way to the throne, and then continue to led his army at the front line. <Reform 2> Treasure Ship 寶船 - Gigantic Trade-Warship Hybrid. It has poor firepower relative to its size, and functions more like a fire magnet or troop transport than real warship. Special Building <Reform 2> Land mine （地雷）- Explode when stepped on (duh). Proposed Wonder <Reform 1> Su Song's Astronomical Clock Tower OR <Reform 2> Porcelain Tower of Nanjing Misc Skirmisher （標牌手）- Armed with large pavise and shield. <Reform 2> Cluster Rocket （一窩蜂）- After checking Wu Bei Zhi, I found that Nest of Bees is in fact a wagon-mounted rocket....Cavalry Crossbowman Battering Ram （撞車） Mobile Double-piston Flamethrower （猛火油櫃） Song Dynasty horse archer and Ming Dynasty crossbowman.

Faction Specifics (Trying to make each faction more unique through historical attributes, part 2/4) Gauls: An offensive civ with weaker but faster to build structures and a relatively good all around army (similar to Britons). Reforms: - Needs research, possibly around heavier melee units. Other: - Trimarcisia: Barracks tech increasing cavalry hit point regeneration (or later on stamina regeneration). A special tactic they used involving extra mounts and auxiliary servants for horsemen. - Give them back their faster but weaker structures (even with less differences than before). Could also be slightly cheaper. Forts, Towers and Civ Centers could stay at average stats. - A civ bonus or tech representing mass migrations and raids, adding infantry speed or stealing/gaining resources by attacking structures. Iberians: Defensive and raiding/ambushing civ. Reforms: - Needs research. Other: - I don't like the default wall bonus. It's imbalanced, looks strange and prevents desired city-building unless you start deleting the walls. An extra Civ Center default arrow and increase in Civ Center hp would work as maintaining their anti-rush attribute, and coupled with their stronger towers and forts make a good defensive civ. - I thought of a way of implementing their ambush attribute. Iberian units could be detectable at a reduced percentage of enemy unit line of sight instead of the full of it. This could also work for selected units of other civs as well with good ambush abilities. - When building capturing/loyalty is implemented (although I don't really like the concept having experimented with something similar in WC3) Iberian structures could be harder to capture to simulate their fierce resistance to Roman expansionism. Macedonians: Balanced civ with a focus on military. Reforms: - Early Antigonid Reforms: Adds Hetairoi Aspidophoroi champion cavalry skirmisher with a focus on resilience (or replaces Hetairoi with them). The remaining macedonian nobility became more conservative with glorious cavalry charges after decades of constant warfare and a majority of them migrating to the east. - Late Antigonid Reforms: Increases pikeman (hack) armor. Increased focus on infantry and an attempt to counter roman expansion resulted in more numerous and heavier pikemen. Other: - Kestros Slings: Tech greatly increasing slinger attack. Could be included on the late reform or be made an extra champion unit for flavor (there's not any champion slinger unit). - They could use a heavy warship, they at times had strong navies including huge ships. - Royal Peltasts: Champion unit that replaced the hypaspists. Fought as skirmishers, pikemen and shock infantry. Could be tied to the early reform. - They started to heavily use Thracians (even implementing them in the pike phalanx as macedonian numbers went down) and merceneries in general in an attempt to let their population recover. Could work as: An extra thracian unit, a mercenary thureophoros unit, a tech increasing pikeman training speed. Could be tied to the early or late reform depending on what's chosen. - Sarissophoroi light pike-bearing cavalry is an interesting unit left out, I don't know if it could fit in the rooster without a change on how auxiliary/allied/mercenary units are handled. Such a change could bring them to the core rooster and have thessalian cav and other units at a mercenary barracks limited to 1 (excluding carthage and maybe ptolemies who would be able to build more) if something like that is desired for all factions. More coming soon

Just looking at the design doc the Marian Reforms replaces all soldiers with Marian Legionnaires. From the design document:

In fact, there is a Marian reforms tech but it is disabled (not researchable). Gaius Marius was alive during part 1, no reason to push his reforms to part 2, IMO. Those Reforms technologies are the most interesting to me. It is however required to be able to disable the training of units by tech research (so you could for example swap one unit type for another)