Genava55

A question, the system with the different shield bosses, shield shapes and decorative art chosen randomly will be generalized to all factions?

Alcibiades used Iberians mercenaries, even when he was still serving Athens, it could be a replacement although a bit exceptional. Or the Thracians mercenaries could be simply generic swordsmen with sika-like sword. Neither the Spartans then, if this reasoning is valid (which it is).

Actual the convention is very strict because each building = one specific function (or a very few). This is a legacy of AoE with each faction being a clone from the others. But the convention and the template applied are not mandatory to follow this logic of 1 building = 1 function. The template could be based only on functions directly and be more adaptive to the particularities of each culture. For example a basic military production function and a basic defensive structure at the stage 1 could result to barracks and towers for the Greeks and to an unique building for the Celts like a fortified farm doing the job of both a barrack and a tower (this is just an idea to illustrate my point, not necessarily the right thing to do).

I am not questioning the whole thing. There is totally the necessity to tweak the reality to put it in a game. I am questioning the use of a strict template in which each factions must fit in, a template that is very restrictive in comparison from other RTS games. This template never have been thought to fit most of the ancient cultures. There was a huge dose of cynicism when I said that the game needed a lot of factions to bring diversity.

There is little differences between the different nomads in the art. It depends only from which perspective the Huns will be built as a faction. Especially since there is the Xiongnu planned in the mod, a 100% nomadic faction representing the core origin of the Huns. Although the actual Huns in Europe were probably a mixture of people, with a lot of permeability in the side of the nomads as it seen in multiple findings http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol11/SilkRoad_11_2013_giumliamair.pdf So if the Huns represents the generic nomads in the beginning of the 4th century AD as reported by Sogdians, then a purely nomadic symbol will make sense. But if the Huns as a faction will be centered on the European Huns from Balamber to Attila and his sons, maybe it will make more sense to use a "bâtard" symbol from cultural transfers.

Technically this is something that have been found in the Altai and is dated to the 5th century BC. But it is possible that the Huns liked a similar symbol that evolved among the Germans. Else, the art of the Avar and of the Hepthalites Huns can be helpful (for the pleasure, admire the Samarkand/Afrosiab Wall paintings).

Which is mostly copy-pasted from AoE in our case. Which is itself a convention not based on historical facts but on a legacy from Dune II and Warcraft 1. I am not saying it is bad, this is a practical design that stood the test of time, but it is important to highlight the background of this convention. My point is that looking exclusively to the unique buildings/tech/units of the game to nitpick what is correct or not is equivalent to focusing on the tree hiding the forest. I am impatient to see the day when a nomadic faction will be added to the game. It will challenge both the coherence of this convention and the historical accuracy.

Some plankton are dropping, other are increasing, the trend is difficult to assess currently, most scientists are unsure of this publication and remain unconvinced because there is a sampling issue from the data. Most of the monitoring data are not continuous in time and in space. If you are interested, the impact of an afforestation of the Sahara is discussed here: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10584-009-9626-y.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46443

But the problem is the same. Do you really think that the Aztec and the Mayans built windmills and treadwheel crane? Do you think they built siege workshops? Do you think that the unique tech of the Aztecs, Garland Wars, is historically accurate to give a +4 attack bonus to the infantry? These problems with historical accuracies is inherent to the core gameplay of the game. This is the same with 0AD, barracks are not something very common in ancient times.

A lot of things do not make sense in Aoe2 and they still maintain these things (and people are approving) because it will break the balance if removed or altered.

I agree. Adding civilization only to add civilization, without having a minimum of documentation about them can be problematic if a nitpicker like me appears. Joke aside, faction like the early Germans are tough to document correctly. But I think one day they need to be include to make the transition to the part II. Currently we should focus on those with enough documentation and on the current factions that are in an upgrading process (thanks to people like you). Anyway I don't see why it should be a problem. Most of the differences are cosmetics/esthetics. All the factions follows the same basis for the buildings and the units, so clearly to bring enough diversity, the game need to include a lot of factions.

Ok. Weird. I did an update but I have still the issue, both in the editor and in solo matches. The current very dark one for the Celts is excessive I think. This is making the faction weird in comparison of the others. But no problem with using the other shades currently in use in other factions.

I use the SVN version but I have this that is appearing, is it normal ? The healers are very nice by the way There is still the wooden scabbard on the fanatics Edit: and do you want to keep the different shades for the bronze helmets? Because currently there is this issue only with the Celts and I am not sure it will be appreciated by the players:

Housebarns, an unique building or a bonus of population for the barn/corral?

https://www.docdroid.net/mBT66vo/gauls-architecture.pdf

Column of Marcus Aurelius

The Rosetta stone displays the word "Khopesh" (ḫpš) in Demotic Egyptian but the translations are inconsistent with "sword" in English and "Sichelschwert" in German. Sadly the Greek part is not helpful since they had translated it as ΟΠΛΟΝ (silly Greeks lol). Since the text is very religious and mythological, it is difficult to know if there are some outdated legacies inside. So it is not helpful. However, it seems on the wikitionary that the Greek word ξίφος (xíphos) could comes from the Egyptian zefet (zft), which has continued in Demotic Egyptian as sefy (sfy), which designate both a knife and a straight sword.

Arminius (*Herminaz?) could have Roman equipment from his past (Arminius is actually Cherusci but I think everybody wants him to be a playable hero, the other possibility is Maroboduus which is more accurate and more interesting). Ariovistus (*Harjafristaz? or a Celtic, Ariouistos?) could have Gallic equipment. Ballomar could wear a 100% Germanic outfit and carrying only Germanic weapons. Edit: Maroboduus could increase the experience gained by his troops as a reflection of the regular training he ordered. Ariovistus could give a territory extension bonus or a capture bonus as a reflection of his conquest in Gaul and his skills in politics. Ballomar could give a bonus in looting.

Sadly, there is absolutely no such thing as common armor for the Suebians. Neither helmets or chainmail were common, even in noble burials. Scale armor are only found in Roman auxiliary tombstone gravure. For the 3rd century AD, there is a chain mail found in Vimose https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-early-iron-age/the-weapon-deposit-from-vimose/the-chain-mail-from-vimose/

A mod for M2TW

More: https://imgur.com/a/3bG69

Totally right.

That's a problem. I wonder if anyone did a comparative analysis of the civilizations before to design the factions. Clearly, the Celts are not economically better than the Greeks, the Romans or the Persians.

For me, indeed the butt-spike looks more like a sarissa-type than a dory-type. However, I found suspicious that nobody clearly expressed their use of the phalanx. Maybe it is only a long spear like in the case of the Cherusci. Since the Kushite faction has already a very diverse roster, maybe the pikemen can be moved to a champion unit or to a reform to research by the player as suggested by Sundiata.