Celtic Warrior Women

[shipteas]

So, I think it's great that this game features Boudicca as a Celtic hero(ine!), however, Boudicca was not the only female warrior (though of course she is the most well known for her days of kicking Roman @#$% and for refusing to submit to them even in defeat).

The Celts, unlike the sexist Romans, did not see women as subservient to men and they would go into battle together. So perhaps instead of the Celtic female citizens being merely worker/gatherers they could be armed (and dangerous!) just like the male citizen-soldiers. Also, Celtic druids were not exclusively male so maybe there could be female druids in game, not as a seperate unit but maybe just as a model variation so when you train a druid it'll either be male or female.

Here's some quotes from the Roman invaders about Celtic Women.

“…a whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope with one [Gaul] in a fight, if he calls in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashing eyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge white arms, begins to rain blows mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the twisted cords of a catapult.” -Ammianus Marcellinus

“Here the women met them holding swords and axes in their hands. With hideous shrieks of rage they tried to drive back the hunted and the hunters. The fugitives as deserters, the pursuers as foes. With bare hands the women tore away the shields of the Romans or grasped their swords, enduring mutilating wounds." -Plutarch

PS: (wrong forum I expect but) I'm getting to know Atlas by working on a scenario of the famous Iceni and Trinovantes sacking of Camoludunum led by Boudicca. Trying to at least nod in the direction of historical accuracy, so if anyone has ideas or info on the subject that could be really helpful. I'll make a thread in the apporpriate forum when it's complete.

Cheers folks

[alkazar-ipse]

<- celtic woman

"flashing eyes" "her teeth" "huge [] arms"

Edited September 14, 2012 by alkazar-ipse

[idanwin]

The Celtic women being able to fight seems like an interesting idea, horribly difficult to balance though. We should at least have some Celtic women in Atlas, that's a must imho. We could also have Celtic fighter units be randomly male/female.

[alkazar-ipse]

I'd say there do be ways of balancing it... i mean, whats the point of citizen wemen? :

cheaper -can't fight

better at farming (and foreaging) - encourage men to work harder.

All you need to do is to give them less HP then to men, make them cheaper and a li'l better at other gathering, and men a li'l less good gatheres...

Edit, actually it's not thaaat simple, but i think it's feasable.

Edited September 14, 2012 by alkazar-ipse

[shipteas]

The Celtic women being able to fight seems like an interesting idea, horribly difficult to balance though. We should at least have some Celtic women in Atlas, that's a must imho. We could also have Celtic fighter units be randomly male/female.

Having randomly male/female fighter units seems like a good idea, presumably that would mean that just a few new models would be incorporated into existing units, rather than a whole new unit?

With regards to female units having less HP than males, I can't think of any reason why that should be the case: I don't think it's fair or correct! I do understand that civs need to be balanced though

[Wijitmaker]

In early design documents - the female citizens of the celts were the only females capable of fighting to defend themselves vs the behavior of the other civs. Celtic females were also not capturable. The other civ's female citizens would automatically flee to the nearest civil center and garrison themselves when an enemy came within their LOS. If a female citizen could be isolated to where no other male units were in their capture aura, their capture timer would begin and if the enemy was persistent their allegiance would change after X number of seconds.

[Mythos_Ruler]

As Wijit mentions, I'd probably just give the Celtic (and Spartan) women the ability to fight back against attackers (instead of fleeing, which is the normal behavior). I wouldn't necessary make them offensive though, just defensive.

[Patricius]

A celtic witch unit might be an idea. When reducing Mona Insula, later Anglesey, the great druidic shrine, Suetonius Paulinus founds the cries of the celtic witches initially hurt the morale of his superstitious men. Only when some plucked up the courage to attack the priests and the screeching woman, was that averted.