Civ: Assyrians

[Lion.Kanzen]

Good idea, but how can be implemented? As aura? Or as abilities?

[Atenmeses52]

For a distance of a month and twenty-five days' journey I devastated the provinces of Elam. Salt and sihlu I scattered over them... The dust of Susa, Madaktu, Haltemash and the rest of the cities I gathered together and took to Assyria... The noise of people, the tread of cattle and sheep, the glad shouts of rejoicing, I banished from its fields. Wild asses, gazelles and all kinds of beasts of the plain I caused to lie down among them, as if at home.

-The Assyrian King Ashurbanipal

I think we could maybe give them a unique siege unit that is a "field salter" that prevents enemy farms from growing food, and also kills local animals (the goats and gazelles and camels etc... that often spawn near a city center)

We could do this in addition to a "deportation" bonus...

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire#Psychological_warfare

It is not known if the Assyrians were the first to deport people, although since none before had ruled the Fertile Crescent as they did it is likely that they were the first to practice it on a large scale. The Assyrians began to utilize mass-deportation as a punishment for rebellions since the 13th century BC.^[31] The purposes of deportation included, but were not limited to^{[citation needed]}:

1) Psychological warfare: the possibility of deportation would have terrorized the people;

2) Integration: a multiethnic population base in each region would have curbed nationalist sentiment, making the running of the Empire smoother;

3) Preservation of human resources: rather than being butchered, the people could serve as slave labor or as conscripts in the army.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Atenmeses52

[Lion.Kanzen]

-The Assyrian King Ashurbanipal

I think we could maybe give them a unique siege unit that is a "field salter" that prevents enemy farms from growing food, and also kills local animals (the goats and gazelles and camels etc... that often spawn near a city center)

We could do this in addition to a "deportation" bonus...

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire#Psychological_warfare

We need propose for the team a series if bonus, gameplay for this. And other mods.

[Zophim]

Possible civ emblems: Winged Bull and Star of Shamash

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Human_headed_winged_bull_facing.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Shamash-sun-symbol.svg

Map of the Assyrian empire:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Map_of_Assyria.png

Here I have a preliminary rough outline of the Assyrian civ profile.

ASSYRIAN CIVILISATION PROFILE (preliminary)

by Zophim

Timeframe: Neo-Assyrian Empire, c. 900-605 B.C.

Possible civ emblems:
Star of Shamash or Winged Bull

UNITS

INFANTRY
Shieldbearer (w/ spear)
Archer
Slinger
(not sure about other classes yet)

CAVALRY
Cavalry Archer
Cavalry Lancer
Chariot (can upgrade from 2 to 4 horses)

SUPPORT
Assyrian Woman
Priest
Merchant (Camel)

NAVY
Fishing Boat
Merchant Ship
Light Warship
Medium Warship

SIEGE
Siege Ram (basically the Persian unit: Assyrian Siege Ram)
Siege Tower

CHAMPIONS
Royal Bodyguard Cavalry (spear)
Infantry Guardsman (spear)

HEROES (possible choices from these six leading rulers)
Ashurnasirpal II
Shalmaneser III
Tiglath-Pileser III (definitely!)
Sargon II
Sennacherib
Ashurbanipal

FORBIDDEN CLASSES
(possibly some forbidden infantry classes)
Cavalry Swordsman
Cavalry Javelinist
Bolt Shooter
Ballista
Heavy Warship

CIV CENTRE UNITS
Shieldbearer
Archer
Cavalry Lancer


STRUCTURES

VILLAGE

TOWN

CITY
Fortress

SPECIAL STRUCTURES
Cavalry Stables
Assyrian Palace
Wonder: Temple of Nabu

CIV BONUSES

TECHNOLOGIES

SPECIAL TECHNOLOGIES

[Zophim]

Here is a pdf of my progress on the civ document so far:

Neo-Assyrians.pdf

[Zophim]

Next update for the Assyrians! The main additions are Akkadian unit and structure names, as well as some accompanying illustrations (good thing the Assyrians were skilled at crafting these incredibly detailed reliefs; it's making my job a lot easier).

Neo-Assyrians-0.3.pdf

[Zophim]

Here is a good read from the University of Helsinki website:

Assyrian Chariotry and Cavalry.pdf

[Zophim]

The design doc is still a work in progress, but I think it is coming along nicely.

[Lion.Kanzen]

The design doc is still a work in progress, but I think it is coming along nicely.

I need you join to conciliar of modder as reseach era and civ Planner. Talk with Romulus.

[Zophim]

Sure!

[Zophim]

ATTENTION: Any further civ profile revisions that I make will be uploaded to a specific post in the "[Collection] Design Docs" topic in the Aristeia forum.

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

I try to work in colorful textures.

[Radagast.]

Which of the spearmen might be more advanced? The first in my opinion but I might be wrong?

Or is each one a separate unit? We could then upgrade by changing from silver to a golden armour + helmet but I wonder if that was realistic. It could well be as the generals at least might have worn golden armour.

[Radagast.]

As a start I will create the XML tomorrow using Zophim's Design Document. I wanted to automate it but I must admit I failed to put the last pieces of the jigsaw together because I thought it would be no longer useful as civs have too different buildings et alia. Somehow I regret it currently and might add the last missing piece but I'm not certain until Mod Configurator + Artwork is sorted out.

I must give in, my motivation is not too high for a brutal civilization like this, but well, which civilization wasn't brutal in some sense, especially in wartimes.

[Usac]

Assyrians could travel across water using some inflated skins. I forget how, but there's something here that could be used.

[Radagast.]

No bad idea. Makes them special. Though they should be very vulnerable to ships and die immediately if colliding with one?

As the sea + deep river has units as forbidden class I htink it might be somewhat difficult to get them to swim.

Nevertheless your idea is just in time as I (originally) planned to continue the transformation component draft tomorrow which seems as the ideal candidate for this swimming transformation too (as for transforming tanks into swimming tanks et alia, though I still am not entirely certain if unpack- pack mechanism of siege units should also get into this component now too.).

[Usac]

It's a shame that Assyria is seen as just a bunch of evil ruthless killers. I mean, they were ruthless killers, but they earned it! They didn't go all barbarian, they innovated warfare with siege, battle formations to protect frail archers and I think they were one of the first to transition to mounted horseback with a two horseman team to help the archer maintain balance... unless I'm thinking of something else.

[Radagast.]

Indeed it looks like they specialized on military + expansion. Nevertheless every such supressing civilization (that just needed the other people for their immense irrigation system + new military campaign as cannon fudder) is quite unsympathic. Though this other-peoples-exploiting property is of course not limited to the Assyrians.

--

@Zophim: Are you okay with using the real Neo-Hittite actor for e.g. the basic rank (1) Neo-Hittite Spearman of the Assyrian civilization?

We don't necessarily have to hack the rank-up functionality. Instead we can give the Assyrian Neo-Hittite Spearman an own template (as stats might be different if they are force-fighting in a foreign army anyway and the weapons to use might also have differed).

[Radagast.]

And definitely there is a huge difference as of treatment of slaves between Rome and the Assyrians. It's known slaves were part of the family.

In Assyria things were different, they were painfully sewed together to not flee and civilians were deported in masses ... among others. see:

From: The Seven Great Monarchies: Assyria by George Rawlingson.

[Radagast.]

I wonder what the animals did there:

We can't use decals for all shields. Some Assyrian shields had spikes:

[Thorfinn the Shallow Minded]

One question: why have the first level units be Neo-Hittites when the Assyrians were in fact a separate ethnic culture and were arguably existent before what is commonly identified as the Hittite Empire came into existence?

[Radagast.]

That's because they forced them/this region into military service according to our Assyrian book (link above). The spearmen were 2nd most numerous and had to build the main battle line, thus suffered the highest losses.

@Zophim: The spearmen also were the sword units ?

[Zophim]

@ Hephaestion:

I apologize if I do not fully understand your first question. Are you suggesting that we re-use the basic spearman actor from the Aristeia Hittite civilization? What illustration(s) are we going to work from? I envisioned the basic unit having a bronze circular chest plate with criss-cross straps, a round shield, and a crested helmet (as I laid forth in the design doc).

As far as your second question: Assyrian spearmen (at least later on in the empire) were also equipped with short swords (which would ideally be cosmetically depicted on the game's spearmen). However, in the Assyrian design doc, the swordsman class is represented in the siege units section by an Assyrian Raider, who has a torch in hand, and a sword in another.

[Radagast.]

Thank you Zophim, it's exactly what I meant. reusing Hittite Spearman (the basic). This also means you have less work in the Hittite Design Document as the basic Hittite spearman is already described in the Assyrian document.

I realised that there is the Assyrian Raider and already created the xml for it. Once other WIPs are settled (e.g. the Mod Configurator) I'll start creating those units with Lion. Modelling buildings also is easy due to the many reference images in the book you recommended in the design doc. Excellent work.