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The Kingdom of Kush: Military The following post will aim to discuss some more aspects of the Kushite military and units. As in the previous posts, I will refrain from posting doubles, as many images on the subject are already highlighted here (towards the end of the 1st post), here and here, as well as other places throughout the thread. Coincidentally @Zophim sourced the exact same book I'm about to quote, as an introduction to the images: Osprey Military: Men-At-Arms Series, 243 Rome’s Enemies 5, The Desert Frontier David Nicolle PhD p. 9 – 12 The Nile Valley Following the Roman occupation of Egypt the Empire’s frontier reached Nubia, beyond which lay the Meroitic Kingdom of central Sudan. Between the two was the Dodekaschoenos, a region stretching from Aswan to Kosha (which has now been almost entirely flooded by the Aswan High Dam). This Rome also seized. The desert between the Nile and Red Sea was partly inhabited by Arabs in the north and Blemmye (the present –day Beja people) in the south, while deserts west of the Nile, but South of a chain of oases (now known as the Nile Valley) were virtually uninhabited. After an initial clash between Rome and Meroe, relations remained peaceful for several centuries, but by the 3rd century Meroe was in decline. The Blemmye nomads raided Nubia and southern Egypt; in reply Rome withdrew from the Dodekaschoenos and invited a new people to defend the area. These were the Noba (present-day Nubians), who probably came from Kordofan in Western Sudan, further isolating Meroe. The Kingdoms south of Roman Egypt were in some ways more highly developed than those of Berber North Africa, although iron-working had only reached Meroe in the 4th century BC. In other respects Meroe remained within the ancient Egyptian tradition, and the fall of Meroe spelled the real end of Pharaonic civilization. […] Armies of the Nile Valley states Meroe was an agricultural but urbanized state drawing great wealth from trade. Though occasionally involved in wars Meroe was generally peaceable, while it’s rulers were more interested in the African south than the Roman north. Many of its warriors still used bronze weapons, some perhaps imported from Egypt, and although swords appear in Meroitic art none have yet been found. Spears and bows were the preferred weapons, while Meroe’s archers used leather quivers, plus iron- and even stone-tipped arrows of wood or cane, often poisoned. Judging by other aspects of Meroitic administration the army was probably well organized, although a rare description of a late Meroitic army in action against Roman troops has them poorly marshaled behind large oxhide shields with axes, spears and the occasional sword. Many men were tattooed and also scarred their faces, as some Sudanese still do. Elephants were used ceremonially and occasionally in war. Such animals may have been of the now-extinct North African or Saharan type, as the true African elephant is regarded as untrainable. Meroitic fortifications could be built upon earlier Egyptian structures, as at Qasr Ibrim in Nubia, or could consist of massive three storey whitewashed mud-brick citadels as at Karanog. The warlike Blemmye (Beja) had generally lived in a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship with the peoples of the fertile river banks, their nomadic society being built around family groups, each with their herd of animals. Yet when the Blemmye eventually established their own organized kingdom they used the Meroitic model. Their formidable camel-mounted armies clad in wild animal skins, armed with spears and bows, joined Queen Zenobia of Palmyra’s invasion of Egypt in AD 270. Even in the 10th century Beja archers still used the poisoned arrows of their Blemmye and Meroitic predecessors. Blemmye raiders roamed the Red Sea, sometimes in captured Byzantine ships. One group hoped to attack Clysma (near modern Suez), but eventually settled for scaling the walls of a Christian monastery in Sinai using the trunks of Palm trees they had chopped down. "A-D: Graffiti of warriors & huntsmen, meroitic 2-4 cents AD in situ great enclosure at Musawwarat al Sufra", from "Rome's enemies 5, the desert frontier". Battle axe, Soba. "An axe of the very same type can be seen on a graffito on Musawwarat es-Sufra" Objects from a foundation deposit of King Harsiotef Napatan Period, about 404-369 BC From Nuri, pyramid Nu 13. "model blade of iron, copper dagger and arrowhead" @balduin Graffito of Meroitic cavalry men from the walls of Musawwarat es Sufra. Based on the historic descriptions, period depictions in graffiti and reliefs, as well as the occasional archaeological finds, a comprehensive and historic unit roster can be compiled. I will begin with contemporary depictions of 5 basic Kushite unit types, recruitable early in the game. From left to right: Nubian Spearman, Meroitic Noble Archer, Meroitic Swordsman, Meroitic Axeman, Nubian Bowmen. The Nubian Spearman is one of the earliest units available. With no armor, and only a simple oxhide shield and spear, this unit is quite weak. It's only redemptive qualities are the fact that they're very cheap, and very fast moving (can outrun any armored infantry unit) Nubian Bowmen, as with the Nubian Spearman, this is one of the earliest units available to the Kushite faction, and as with the Nubian Spearman, they are very basic. No Armor, armed only with a bow and arrow and a dagger for close quarter self defense, available after an upgrade. Their redemptive qualities are, once again, a very cheap cost, and being a fast moving infantry unit. What makes them special is their high accuracy and range, and the use of poisoned arrows. Meroitic Noble Archer, an elite archery unit. These units, recruited from the upper middle classes, are equipped with the best bows and arrows, basic cotton armor and a formidable short sword as well as a little bling. These might very well become the best archers in the game (high range and accuracy). Fast moving, good melee defense, relatively costly. Meroitic Swordsman, recruited from the upper middle classes, and equipped with a Greco-Romanesque short sword, rhinoceros hide round shield and basic cotton armor. Relatively costly, but fast-moving and good against spear units, and ranged infantry. Meroitic Axeman, a heavy and strong unit, designed to break enemy lines, and moral. Equipped with a large oval shield (I believe the shield depicted in the image is an anachronism) possibly made of finely woven wicker overspun with animal hide, an Egyptian style battle axe and simple cotton armor as well as a simple skullcap. Relatively strong against armored infantry (especially after an armor piercing battle axe upgrade) Work is being done by myself and another artist to illustrate every unit in the Kushite roster, as historically accurate as possible. Expect some dedicated artwork soon, including cavalry and champion units. And finally, as a cherry on the cake, an actual Kushite army in action against their traditional enemies/partners, Ptolemaic Egypt:

Lol dude units pop out the front of buildings after being "trained" for 10 seconds. Magic!!! Lol

ya lo estoy haciendo xD

One can easily foresee a mechanic where if the reinforcement is automatic then it happens up til pop cap is reached.

No tengo wifi, lo que seria un problema, tendría que llevar mi pc que es estorbosa a algún lugar que tenga wifi, talves lo haga mañana looks good, better that my noob models xD

:v Ya no tengo los archivos, pero puedo comenzar de nuevo, ahora ya mejore en mi forma de modelar y tambien se programar, yo creo que deveria fucionarce vere que puedo hacer

Contrary to countless other design topics, this one had a number of team members agreeing to proposals. So it sounds like someone who is still active on the project could implement it or at least write a ticket linking to this thread and generally describing what the design requirements are. In case of being able to state how it should be implemented, we might even be able to tag it as a simple ticket and let newcomers implement it, so that we only have to do the reviewing part.

@wowgetoffyourcellphoneIt's not about satisfying individual it's about having a real and justifiable intent to do better. You train battalion, you lost unit/units in a battalion then you garrison or heal it and the units came back alive is that real?! Another magic game? What is your intent? Well you can Mod it but I hope the developers won't go this way. The game has a very strong fundamentals already in terms of military. Only little tweaks are needed in military like barracks produce only in "battalion batches", stable(horses) and unit balancing. The game IMO needs more civic, economic and structural mechanics improvement.

That's basically what the citizens are.

IMHO, a gameplay design that tries to make every player happy will likely fail to be a coherent gameplay design.

Celts and Germans definitely had slaves. Iberians is the only one I am not sure of their status on this item. Some sources claim Persians don't have slavery, others do. The ones that say they don't have slavery seems like semantics to me, kind of like saying the Spartans didn't have slavery, they had helots, which are almost identical to slaves in most respects... But they don't have to be called a "Slave" genericly in the game. "Laborer" is fine for the generic name, while for most their specific name would be "Slave" in their specific language. "Thrall" works too. But we can just say, "this is the Helot, the Spartan slave class of unit," and it still works fine. /The exact word does not matter to me one bit, though I tend to prefer to call something what it is: slavery.

Looks good, maybe should be posted in the announcements forum though if we want people to comment and suggest things

At least for my part, I want to have something released that not only has a bunch of bugfixes but is notably different from the predecessor and makes players happy when seeing the new features. There are still some proposals for this release which have to be polished and some critical bugfixes which might take also one or the other week to fixup. Agreeing with the others, it's done when it's done. Hoping it will be rather something in summer than in winter. Could post some screenshots, but that would just spoil. Last release was november and someone said on christmas evening that the 'game is the perfect christmas gift', which is exactly how I want our players to feel and therefore willing to let em wait to accomplish that.

Wow, "weak countryside, strong core"this is the kind of mechanics I always wanted to see in age of empire or in any RTS actually. Nice to see im not the only one.In think it would be more coherent if all building that can be build in the neutral zone would cast at least a small territory. There would be a line for the national border, and another for the city-limits(that could appear only when you want to construct a building that as to be built within a city limits) So that way, you’ll have to build an Outpost or Dock that cast territory before you build a Storehouses and Farmsteads. Maybe you could also build wooden walls and wooden defences to protect those small outposts. it would go into the direction of = Outpost settlement - weak settlement for gathering ressources, conquer new shores or to take strategic point on the map City settlement - Strong settlement to expand dramatically territory, enable trading, build more buildings, armies and better defences SMALL DESIGN THOUGHT - I definitely think that civic center should look more like a camp at first and grows up as a real city center as the city changes phase. It would be the same for new City settlements. Something like that image (i like the idea around the well)

I've always thought of DE as "0 A.D. on Steroids" with features waiting to be implemented on Vanilla. It's only now that I realized it's becoming its own game. I love that Cav Limit part. It's my favorite part. I'm willing to argue for the barracks, arch range, and stables. How about making the Special Buildings an Upgrade-able Entity from those Normal Buildings... just like the Sentry Towers? The only difference is that they can't be built. Only upgraded. It kinda looks cool having a Normal Archery Range get upgraded to a Champion Archery Range.