Vantha

Yeah, why not? I like the idea. We will focus on finishing all the articles for now (which will probably take a few months), and after we have finished the entire base encyclopedia we can expand it.

Athenian Marine Champion Swordsman https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/58/files

Athenian slinger https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/57/files I did not write about slingers specifically, but rather about the skirmisher militia units of Athens in general.

Thracian peltast https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/56 We can reuse parts of this text (if not the whole text) for other peltast units.

For those that don't know, Ekdromoi were hoplites lightlier armored than the others. They could break away from the slow phalanx formation for example to attack skirmishers. They wore hardly any body armor in order to increase their speed and mobility. From the research I have done, Ekdromoi champions seem to have been in the game a long, long time ago (as javelineers for some reason even though they definitely weren't javelineers). What happened to them? I can't find them in the game files. Did I miss them? I know that the SpecificName of the Skiritai is 'Ekdromos Skiritis'. But (from the research I've done for the encyclopedia) the Skiritai's role in battle still unclear to this day. It's not proven they fought as Ekdromoi. Plus, the Skiritai are swordsmen. While, of course, like the other Hoplites, Ekdromoi also carried swords, it was not their main weapon. And they are not faster than hoplites. Actual Ekdromoi should do the same damage as hoplites, have weaker armor and a higher speed.

So they're slingers because Athens can't have two javelinist units? I understand, that makes sense. They represent skirmishers in general, that's why they are named 'Psilos' (light infantry/skirmisher) rather than 'Sphendonetes' (actual word for slinger)?

Yes. All the Athenian skirmisher troops were drawn from the lowest class of Athenian society. But why slingers? For gameplay reasons?

What historical units are the Athenian slingers supposed to be? I am writing the text for the encyclopedia and couldn't find any information about specific slingers fighting for Athens. Do they just represent Athenian skirmishers in general or am I missing something?

PR for Cretan Mercenary Archers https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/52

Scythian Archers https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/51 And I'm almost done with the Cretan Archers

No, not you, I did not refer to anyone specific. This was meant as a general statement.

You've cleary done something wrong, when you make someone with this enthusiasm want to quit.

Hi, I'm still comparably new to 0ad. I'm usually not joining discussions of other people that don't affect me. But I do want to point out something (I think is) important: 0ad has a comparably small player base, some even say it's shrinking. Either way, 0ad is a great game, it deserves a much bigger playerbase. Having more players would benefit everyone. We definitely need new players. We should take every new player that we can get, and avoid new players from quitting right away after playing the game just a few times. The first impression of the game counts. It is impossible for old players who have played the game for years to actually reproduce the experience you get when first playing the game. That is why we need new players that share their thoughts and make suggestions. Of course, some of these suggestions will be bad. But this information is way more valuable than many players understand. To state that a new player's ideas and impressions are wrong, jidt because experienced players think otherwise is a very very weak argument. And even if all thoughts and suggestions are rubbish (which is definitely not the case), then why not just explain and help them (without offending them)? Please be more welcoming to new players. That is a sign a sign of maturity and responsibility. That being said, I fully agree with @krt0143 here, 0ad desperately needs a good tutorial, it would help new players A LOT. And no, YouTube videos and any other guides don't come close to what completely new players, that have never played a single game, need to know. I can confidently say this, because I had many problems myself when first starting out. Pressing random keys and buttons on the screen is not how learning to play a game is supposed to work. I hope you understand what I mean.

I wrote the text for the Athenian Cavalry Javelineer, as well as reworked the Spartan stable and the Spartan Spear Cavalry. https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/49 I will write Athens' infantry units next, starting with the archers.

This is wrong. Athenian cavalry were almost always used for skirmishing, scouting, and chasing down routing enemy troops. Athenian cavalry was never used a shock troops in pitched battle. Oh, that's embarrassing. Thanks for pointing that out, I will correct it.

New Pr for the Athenian sword cavalry https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/48 I also edited one of the Spartan cavalry units, as I felt the text was too short and lacking information. I will write Athenian cavalry javelineer next and probably also improve texts of the Spartan stable and the Spartan spear cavalry.

Could be. They were depicted on pottery dressed the traditional Scythian way. Maybe Scythian clothing, especially the hat, was their "police uniform".

"It is doubtful that the Scythians were equipped with bows in the narrow and crowded streets of Athens. Moreover, both the terms “Scythians” and “archers” might have been generic labels for any exotic foreigners. Referring to any, as the Greeks called them, “barbaroi” (meaning exactly what it sounds like), not necessarily to actual Scythians or archers. Therefore, the Scythian Archers might very well neither have actually been Scythians nor archers." (part of my text for the encyclopedia about Scythian archers) Since they maybe were neither Scythians nor archers, it seems unlikely that the Speusinioi were called actually called 'Toxótēs (archer) Skythikós (Scythian)'. "Both the terms “Scythians” and “archers” might have been generic labels for any exotic foreigners." They were (besides 'Speusinioi') either called 'the archers' (meaning 'the barbarians') or 'the Scythians' (also meaning 'the barbarians') but probably not both, as that would mean 'barbaric barbarians'.

New PR for the forge https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/46 This is the very last unit/building for Sparta. Once @ShadowOfHassen has finished the overview text, we've fully completed the very first civ. I will write the Athenian soldiers next, starting with the cavalry units.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_archers: The Scythian archers were called toxotai (τοξόται, literally "[the] archers"), Skythai (Σκύθαι, literally "[the] Scythians"), and Speusinioi (Σπευσίνιοι), which was named after a certain Speusinos, the alleged founder of the force. https://www.thecollector.com/scythian-archers-ancient-athens/: Much later in the 2nd century CE, the Greek scholar Julius Pollux wrote: “Those public slaves before the law course and other gatherings, to whom they gave the task of restraining those who behaved inappropriately and those who said what should not be said, were called “Scythians” and “archers” and “Speusinioi” after the man who organized their service. (Julius Pollux 8.131-2) Of the politician Speusis, nothing is known, though the name is corroborated by the (undated and unnamed) scholiast for Aristophanes’ play The Acharnians: “The Archers are public slaves, guards of the city, 1,000 in number, who first dwelt in tents pitched in the middle of the agora, but then moved to the Areopagus. These were called “Scythians” and “Peusinoi”. A certain Peusis – one of the Politicians of old – having organized their activities.” (Scholiast On Aristophanes, Acharnians 54) /https://www.stoa.org/demos/article_scythian_archers@page=all&greekEncoding=UnicodeC.html: Archers: The public slaves, guards of the city, in number 1000, who formerly lived in the Agora, camping out in the middle, but later moved to the Areopagus. These were called ‘Scythians’ and ‘Speusinioi,’ from a certain Speusinos, one of the ancient politicians, who organized their affairs” (Τοξόται· οἱ δημόσιοι ὑπηρέται, φύλακες τοῦ ἄστεος, τὸν ἀριθμὸν χίλιοι, οἵτινες πρότερον μὲν ᾤκουν τὴν ἀγορὰν μέσην σκηνοποιησάμενοι, ὕστερον δὲ μετέβησαν εἰς Ἄρειον Πάγον, ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ οὗτοι καὶ Σκύθαι καὶ Σπευσίνιοι; ἀπὸ Σπευσίνου τινὸς τῶν πάλαι πολιτευομένων συντάξαντος τὰ περὶ αὐτούς) (Suda tau,772; see also Schol. In Aristoph. Ach. 54, which is almost identical except for saying “Peusinioi” and “Peusinus” instead of “Speuninioi” (That's a typo, it should be “Speusinioi”) and “Speusinos”; also Hescythius, 1137; Schol. In Aristoph. Ach. 54; Schol. In Aristoph. Ach. 707; Schol. In Aristoph. Lys. 184; Suda omega,243; Suda tau,771).

I know that might be a bit too extreme, but what do you all think of moving the theatre not just to p2, but to p1?

Currently the Scythian Archer's SpecificName is just a word for word translation into Greek: Toxótēs (archer) Skythikós (Scythian) I have done a lot of research about the Scythian Archers for the encyclopedia and I couldn't find any sources backing up this name (if you search it on Google, literally all results will be related to 0ad) And yes, I am aware that for most units the SpecificName is just a direct word by word translation of the Generic name. But if there is another name backed up by historical evidence, why not use that one? That's why I suggest to rename them to Speusinioi (that's plural, singular is Speusinos?). The Scythian archers are in several pieces of ancient Greek literature called Speusinioi, named after a certain Speusinos or Speusis, the person who allegedly established the Scythian Archer force in Athens.

Second to last PR for Sparta. https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/45 I wrote the arsenal text and put it in the arsenal template. Generally, is it better to create a mixin or to just paste the text in the existing template (if there is one)? Also, there's a lot texts I've started working on that will be coming in the next couple days or few weeks. We are one text away from finishing the Spartans, the Athenians will be next.

Pull request 42: Spartan barracks https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/42 I wrote about the Agoge. It's one of the longest text of me so far, because there's just so much to talk about and I really wanted to convey the essence of what the Agoge really was.

The error message has changed, now it's: Failed to create a Vulkan window: Installed Vulkan doesn't implement VK_KHR_surface extension