Thorfinn the Shallow Minded

This is a counterpart thread to the special buildings thread. In 0 A.D. there are plenty of neat units out there, but it would be handy to feature some others that were more exotic such as the Spartan Pitanate or a cool hero such as Philip the V. When you suggest a unit, please give a brief introduction to who or what they were, how they were special, and how they could even be incorporated into the game.

I would recommend having Etruscans somehow incorporated into the mercenary ranks.

One thing that could be done is to make the blacksmith a feasible drop off site for metal ores.

Possibly the Satrapy's Court building could be used for this very purpose.

Just thinking, wouldn't it be neat to have a cheat could which converts catapults into these?

Merely because Plato was from Greece should not affect the choice. Plato was the forerunner of Aristotle, one of the most important figures in western philosophy. Support for multiple languages is certainly nice, but should not justify selecting outlandish name simply because of that. I would personally suggest Polybius, a truly significant contributor to our understanding of the past through his histories.

As far as micro with different terrains is concerned, one can simply queue up appropriate paths for the way the units should go. That shouldn't be very difficult.

Adding under-arm animations seems unnecessary. Ancient Greek pottery represents hoplites with their weapons in a raised position while in formation, the ideal position they would be in. I do agree that there should be variations, there should be little reason to have hoplites wielding their spears in any unorthodox manner.

Roman women used lead to make their skin look paler, so that could have caused all sorts of behavioral disorders and other problems. Prettiness for sanity not the best trade-off. I would prefer an brawny Spartan woman to a lead poisoned Roman woman myself.

Since British chariots were used for speedy transport, maybe they could be garrisoned with infantry to allow for fast attacks and retreats, but only with one unit.

The overall plan is for units to not be able to destroy buildings and instead capture them. Hopefully this will be implemented soon.

While the idea may be good, you do not give reasons to back up your thoughts. Why have Athenian cavalry expensive and powerful, for instance, and Cretan Archers cheap and powerful for instance?

The reason I determined that buildings cannot be (with a few exceptions) is due to logistical limitations. Fortresses are difficult to erect, after all, when you have to first quarry all the available resources first. Maybe if supply lines were implemented as a way of connecting buildings as an alternative to natural territorial expansion. That is naturally another subject though.

Until support has been added, we can simply assume that the units have gephyrophobia.

@book{History of the Peloponnesian War, author={Thucydides}, editor={Rex Warner} sortname={Thucydides}, title={History of the Peloponnesian War}, publisher={Penguin Classics}, year={1972}, location={United States of America}, edition={2.} } There is the citation for the Thucydides source. The other will be a bit trickier since I used an online copy, as I possess none, and it lacks the necessary material I need for it. On another note, I feel a bit ignored in this thread, hearing little praise or criticism for my work and only one of them has been published in the history section. Even though some of the articles may be brief, I have gone to great lengths to recover information from ancient sources and if really only 33.333% of my work is going to be published, I have very little motivation to continue. Thanks for all your past feedback though.

Peloponnese: The peninsula which contained Sparta, Corinth, Argos, Elis, and others. And is used today to refer to the the league Sparta led. It would be nice to use that as we have not actually named anything specifically after the Spartans. Anyway, the Peloponnesian war ushered forth the Hellenistic era of the Ptolemies, Seluecids, and so on; so having this name would be rather appropriate.

Maybe the only units that should contribute to the ranged attacks should be ranged units. In that way it would be unnecessary to depict Spartan hoplites firing bows on the ramparts.

Much better. Perhaps the picture could use heavier contrast though. (Spear head, face, and basically anything metal for that matter especially.)

I would like to point out that having spies capable of assassinating heroes would be overpowered without some balancing.

Here is an article on Skiritae. Skiritae were some of the most reliable alien soldiers serving in the Spartan military. They always had the honor of remaining on the left flank of a Spartan phalanx and (Thucydides 5.67) were deployed to face the any problem which could come to bear the army. (Xenophon 4.2.1-4) The source material for Thucydides is from his work The History of the Peloponnesian War and the one by Xenophon is from his work, The Education of Cyrus. I will write up citations when I find the time if they are considered necessary. Sorry for the delay. Maybe I will tackle Iphikrates later.

Realize that huscarls were more or less associated with the Anglo-Saxons, not Northmen. As far as horsemen went, the Normans (who were Norse to some extent) are shown in period pictures to field knights.

I just downloaded the next alpha and it looks great! The only issue is that it is completely unplayable; I assume this is due to my having a retina display. Is there any chance of that being supported anytime soon? Realize that I don't want to sound ungrateful. You all have done a fantastic job with implementing the Ptolemies and the multiplier. Keep up the good work.

As Alpha XV Osiris has been released, tis the season to commence discussing the potential titles for the upcoming alpha release. The next will have a name starting with the letter 'P' so post your thoughts and the rational behind such a name.

Currently cannot all units can walk through forests? Perhaps the Gauls and Britons could have a slightly weaker ambush system in which they can hide while motionless but not when they move.

With that point made, what about in the next part of 0 A.D. with pristine cathedrals being demolished. Christians will be outraged! (there may be a certain amount of sarcasm to the last sentence) Seriously, the temple was destroyed in history. How could having the possibility of destroying a currently nonexistent structure offend Jews that much? One could infer that since you do not include the miraculous deeds of Yahweh during the time of Moses, Joshua, and other Israelites, that would be completely heretical. I understand the concern over frustrating people, but I think that the problem is being taken a bit too seriously.