The Crooked Philosopher

Another question, if there's no Parthia then where did we get the Sassanid Persia?

Agree.

There's evidence that Pathian recruit Median infantry and Cadusii infantry against Marcus Antonius invasion. So why don't just create special urbanization phase for them to unlock these units. By giving the Parthians a special urbanization phase, we could turn a horse archer based civilization into a balanced civilization which incorporate both Medians, Persians and other ethnics in Persia. I am fan like who have always anticipated the day when the Sassanid become a playable civilization in both campaign and custom battle. i mean no ill will against your hope to make Sassanid as a playable faction but i hope both of us could see our long anticipated faction could become playable. As a new member of the forum, i hope i could see the game become a success that no other game could match, but after all, i am not the one who made the decision. Anyway i wish you good luck.

Well, why don't just make them both (Parthians and Sassanids) as major faction because there's long journey before Sassanids and the Early Eastern Roman Empire would appear in the Part 2. Since this game principal was what if these civilization confronted each other in a battlefield, it would be fun for these civilization face each other in the custom battle. Anyway, we should not stray too far from our original topic.

I have some suggestions for the Parthians, by giving the Parthians a sandbox scenario like Romans have in the "We are Legion" scenario against certain civilization for player to understand the Parthian tactics and strategies. Meanwhile players could develop their own countermeasures against the Parthians.

Speaking about the mini factions, i think Parthians should receive more attention than any other mini factions because some faction like Pontus, Galatia, Numidians, Jews and the rebels have little potential to become a major factions in 0 AD. Personally i would like to see the Parthians appear in 0 AD's expansion.

Sorry for the interruption, there's some severe error on your period list about the Mongols. Gokturk and Khitan Liao belongs to a different race despite being a nomad people and the Mongol army lists was a little bit inaccurate.

Sorry to interrupt the discussion, no scholar could really confirm that Kardakes are Kurds but they are certainly recruited by the Seleucids.

I have some photos from TW Center, it seems the Europa Barbarorum II team have some clues about the Mauryan army, here's some examples: Kauntikas (Indian Spearmen) Cāpadhara Yoddhṛ (Indian Longbowmen) Kṣatriya Khaḍgacarmadharas (Indian Swordsmen) Kṣatriya Gadāhasta Yoddhṛ (Indian Macemen) Kṣatriya Ᾱrya Rathas (Indian Chariot Archers) (Indian Elephants) Laghu Aśvānīka (Indian Light Cavalry)

I've heard Europa Barbarorum II have create their own Indian faction called Taksashila or Mauryan satrapy and they have done a lot of research about the Indian military and other Mauryan Indian related subjects. http://www.twcenter....php?t=466774%29 I've found a helpful site which will aid your cause: http://www.bharatadesam.com/literature/kautilya_arthashastra/arthashastra.php