Ultimate Aurelian

I think the transition for unarmored to fully armored is a bit jarring. Elite foot archers could have only helmets with perhaps a small chance of armor; Horse archers would get some helmets at advanced rank and be armored at elite. My understanding is that Steppe infantry was poorer and often levied from neighbouring peoples.

What i meant to say was not that they'd cover the back; just that the armor could have ties on the back of the leg to hold it in place. At most some of the Elite ones could have a helmet (I think the elite persian foot archer has a helmet). Also some Dahae Units from EB (Screenshots are a bit old):

For bonuses i am thinking Heavenly Horses (Faster cavalry, maybe make them able to round up horses like with elephants) and Hill Country (Something like losing less territory, or buildings being harder to capture). Team bonus could be the same as the Persians (Silk Road, benefits trade). For special techs, Elephant Roundup, and Greco Buddhism (The later makes temples and healers heal faster, perhaps it could also make temples cheaper ?).

Late Egyptians fought Cyrus the Great, the Lydians fought the Persians and neighbouring greek colonies; but i can see why these would be low priority. I am interested in the Neo Assyrians but they don't fit neither bronze age or classical antiquity; there are Assyrians in Aristeia using Persian assets as placeholders (work in that mod seems to have stopped).

Should we extend the part 1 timeline backwards too and include civs like Assyrians, pre-ptolemy egypt, Judah, Lydia and Etruscans ? And make Part 2 pre bronze age collapse ? Centurions and other higher ranking troops would try to stand out for sure. On another note, alongside with the current champion sword cavalry; perhaps a champion ''proto cataphract'' spear cavalry with masked helmet and limb protection ? Some Principate cataphracts from Osprey:

That Italo-Corinthian is cool, i like how your mod avoids the standardized view of Romans. I found some interesting links on the Manica, perhaps a bit old: http://www.romanarmy.net/manica.shtml https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/showthread.php?tid=11197 It was riveted and covered the upper half of the arm; there is some debate on which direction it overlapped.

Perhaps the scale leggings should have lacing on the back ? Like in medieval mail chausses.

A higher res image of the statue: Legs and neck have similar patterns so it may be creases on the skin; it may be possible that they focused on the lower leg due to being easier to reach but not very likely in my opinion. You could easily reach the uncovered parts with a spear; as discussed on the thread i posted there is alsoso the issue of how to attach the defenses and if they hinder movement. This picture depicts the pattern on the neck as a throat protection: Also does not make much sense; scale elephant armor is know to have existed but the elephant in the sculpture has none (Why cover the neck but expose the sides and belly ? The later are easier targets than the throat).

I wonder if those pictures of elephants with armored legs are accurate; it seems the source is this statue: They are limited to the lower leg and cover less than most modern depiction, maybe the artist was trying to depict the folds on elephant's knees ? Mughal examples cover almost the whole body but not the legs: Interesting discussion on another forum: http://theminiaturespage.com/news/talk/msg.mv?id=708758

Yes, scale is more appropriate than thorax; although some may have adopted it from hellenic neighbours.

They were influenced by Greeks and used Chalcidian helmets, they also used other more eastern helmets but those are not in game yet:

Not sure if Syrian archers should use shields, i think it was more of a Cretan thing (At most they could have some wicker shields).

Found a model of a Boeotian shield in an older thread, may be useful for Thespians.

Cant answer 1 and 3, but i can provide some advice. You click ''choose files'' near the paperclip icon to upload, you can also link images from other sites by pasting the link. It's good to use spoiler tags for posting multiple images. There is a Thracians mod that requires alpha 24.

I was actually thinking of posting something similar before i saw this thread (I was going to suggest a wicker shield for the basic Nabatean). They should have the cretan bull:

For mercenary one variant could be a simpler chain armor with no shoulderpads or pteryges: Also can Ptolemies train mercenary heavy swordsman, or does the Galatian swordsman replace it ?

From what i can find in a quick search the first Romphaia finds are from 400-300 B.C. For such a famous weapon, it is a bit hard to find detailed information on.

Here it is (Only units): For a wonder i think one of the palace or temple buildings at Al Khanoum could be used.

The text says it was a leather cuirass with a cardiophylax rather than a solid cuirass; might be a reference for Viridomarus ? Some examples: Etruscans and Romans: E EB Picenian warriors with leather armor: Illyrian:

@Genava55 A Gallic statue of unclear date, depicting a cuirass with a distinct pattern (Bronze age holdover ? Import from Romans ?) : https://www.ancient.eu/image/10811/warrior-of-grezan/

Perhaps Demetrius should have the iron armor, and Craterus the bronze scale one ? From Plutarch's lives: Mail in this translation is a old fashioned term for armor (Not chainmail).

Silver plated iron helmet from Prodromi, hard to classify: Could be used for Epirote Hero Alexander II (At the moment using Phillip II as a placeholder).

Cimbrians might be possible in the future, but not really Norse (They were a Celto-Germanic tribe from Jutland); and most reference would have to be drawn from Celts or later Germanics. Iron age Scandinavia before the Vikings does not have much material and was quite isolated. If he wants a African civ, he might be interested in the Kushites who are already in game.

Circlular shape around the shield, might be a depiction of a shield rim:

Purple is from Alcibiades. I find the Hoplons with Boeotian shield painted on interesting; the coins i found are a bit unclear on whetever they are depicting a pattern on a round shield, or if actual Boeotian shields were still in use.