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《Darius I》 Amidst political turmoil and rebellion, Darius the Great rises to power in the Persian Empire, facing challenges from outlaw rebels and Gaumata the Magus either disguising as Bardiya, the rightful heir who was killed by his brother Cambyses II, or seven nobles killing Bardiya himself, who has weakened the empire by not taxing for 3 years. Darius, along with six other nobles, navigates the complex political landscape to solidify his rule and defeat threats from the Scythians and Greeks. With strategic prowess and determination, Darius successfully establishes his dominance and ensures the empire's stability. Step into the sandals of Darius the Great, the ruler of the vast Achaemenid Empire, at the peak of its power. As you navigate the delicate balance between conquest and diplomacy, you must defend your empire from rebellious provinces, including the unruly Ionians and the fiercely Scythians, the nomad warriors of the steppe. Engage in epic battles against Greek city-states, including Athens and Sparta, who dare defy your rule. Expand your empire by outsmarting rival kings, quelling uprisings, and securing your place as the greatest ruler of the ancient world. Can you unite the vast Persian Empire and secure your legacy, or will the flames of rebellion consume all you’ve built? The fate of empire rests in your hands. Five days after the defeat of Gaumat the Magus, the Seven Lords of the Persian Empire, (Otanes, Ardumanish (possibly the same as Aspathines), Gobryas the father of Mardonius, Intaphrenes, Megabyzus I, Hydarnes, Darius I) each powerful in their own right, gathered in the grand chambers of the royal palace, where their decisions would determine the future course of the Achaemenid Empire.According to Herodotus, after the departure of Cambyses II for Egypt, the usurper Gaumata impersonated Bardiya (Smerdis), the younger brother of Cambyses, and became king. A group of seven Persian noblemen became suspicious of the false king and conspired to overthrow Gaumata. After defeating and killing Gaumata, in a negotiation to determine the form of government, Otanes (Hutan) recommended a democratic government, but his offer was not adopted, and monarchy continued in Iran. Darius I suggested continuing with monarchy, arguing that centralized leadership by a single capable ruler is far superior to other forms of government. He believed that democracy and oligarchy breed partiality, conspiracy, and treachery, as competing individuals or factions pursue personal interests over national welfare. In such systems, corruption flourishes, leading to division and unrest. Darius asserted that, eventually, these conflicts would culminate in the rise of a national hero who would emerge to restore order and suppress the factions. This hero would gain the admiration and support of the people pleading with him to take the reins of power, inevitably leading to a return to monarchy. He emphasized that the freedom and prosperity enjoyed by the people are due to the legacy of strong monarchs like Cyrus the Great. Darius warned that abandoning the established monarchical system would only result in chaos, as no other system could provide the stability and unity that monarchy does. 4 Players: 1. Darius the Great(Persians) 2. Miltiades(Athenians) 3. Scythians 4. Cleomenes I(Spartans) Revealed Map Unlimited Sources for all "Requirements" Installation of 0 A.D. alpha 26 + Millennium A.D Mod "File Paths" Mac: User/Application Support/0ad/mods/user/maps/scenarios Linux: Home/.local/share/0ad/mods/user/maps/scenarios Windows: Documents/My Games/0ad/mods/user/maps/scenarios -Mithra Shakiba Acheamanid Empire III.xmlAcheamanid Empire III.pmp

The Spartans Above: King Leonidas and his "Battle Frenzy" upgrade Above: General Brasidas (left), Admiral Lysander (right) Above: Unused hero Agis III (left), Cleomenes III (right) Note: I might add Agesilaus as a 5th selectable hero and use the left-hand portrait Above: Queen Gorgo (left), Spartan Female Citizen (right) Above: Priest-Healer (left), Helots/Slaves (right)

Hello all! i've made this topic to show some cuirasses i've done once when i had proper internet connection but didn't had a chance to post it. This are textures (cuirasses) done procedurally with blender. So we can have them with normal and specular maps included in any possible color whitout too much effort. Some are recreations of actual textures with specular, normal map. While others are new additions following a few references i could get. Everything was done using Blender and some meshes and procedural materials. Scratches could be included in case is needed but every texture ingame of cuirasses didn't had a single scratch so i guess not. In the current state, i could upload every texture seen in the screenshots if its necessary or if it has a good visual quality to be introduced, and post here the alpha layers. Texture Preview: Ingame screenshots:

The ones of you who have a close eye on the recent commits and patches in the queue will have noticed that there are efforts being made to further differentiate the current civs either by unique bonuses and/or buildings. I am assuming that I am not the only one seeing great potential for Spartans in that direction, especially since the removal of their pop penality leaves room for new things. I think it is time to share my ideas from a mod draft made several years ago, but never finished/published. See the following description and proposals as an inspiration for new/alternative/enhanced Spartan gameplay. The core idea is to really push the Spartan trademarks: the absolute crème de la crème regarding quality, especially in the defensive part, at the cost of reduced quantity and a lot of time and resources spent to bring their warriors to perfection. In lategame they should be near unstoppable - only the infamous man spam train should do the job - being among the strongest civs, preferably the strongest alone. A Spartiate phalanx (even more so with Leonidas) should feel like an immovable object similar to Carthaginian walls. Their offensive should be very slow, but deadly (cf. Teutonic knights in AoE II). They will fight like a beast to defend their home territory and shine the most in team games where they can occupy and block strategic positions. However, they should be especially vulnerable in early game / village phase and below average in mid game / town phase (careful, detailed and well-targeted balancing may be needed) in order to compensate for their incredible late game potential. They are characterized by the following unique features: tech "The Agoge": waaay more impactful than now - Spartiates cost around 2 times the resources of regular champions (including 2 population), optionally only one of them can be trained per house - they should be able to 1v2 regular champions, and with all other bonuses described below even 1v3 should be possible (at least under some circumstances) -> reduced quantity, better overall quality, slightly more cost efficient than other champions tech "Hippagretae": these were the guys electing the ~300 best Spartiates called Hippeis - Spartiates can upgrade to stronger Hippeis after collecting some XP (killing 2-3 enemies) (like citizen soldiers from basic -> advanced rank) - optionally Hippeis can further upgrade to some kind of semi-hero after collecting a huge amount of XP (killing 7 or 10 enemies), but that may be over the top (like citizen soldiers from advanced -> elite rank) -> better overall quality CC aura "Wall of Men": some Greek author used this term to explain why Sparta didn't need walls - +2 resistance for Spartiates in a 80 range around CCs - alternatively more concentrated: +4 resistance in a 30 range around CCs -> better defensive quality Leonidas hero aura "Thermopylae": replacing current offensive aura by a purely defensive one - +2 resistance and -10% speed for spearmen in his formation - alternatively +3 resistance and -15% speed for Spartiates in his formation -> better defensive quality better represent the role of Spartan women and Helote slaves - Helote slaves as most efficient gatherers (use slave actor from Athenians) - Spartan women have less than mediocre gather rates themselves, but a gather boost aura for Helotes (being their mistress) - Spartan women have a basic combat ability, suitable for creating an emergency home defence against citizen soldiers (but not against champions) and they are able to build all buildings including military ones -> more complex economy, slow development, but higher potential (for the huge amount of resources needed for unique techs and champions) -> slightly better defensive quality I hope you find at least some of these ideas inspiring and suitable as a basis for more patches to come! Feedback and further ideas welcome Best regards, Palaxin

Moved to its own topic for start the peltast shield Update.

Just made a corinthian helmet or at least something similar to give some love for the old 2010 helmets of the spartan units: