Two Questions

[Houmie]

I always was very fascinated by the Persian Empire and have read many book so far and not only sources from the typical western view i.e. Holy Greeks vs. Evil Persians.
Right now there is an excellent exhibition at the British Museum about "Ancient Persia: The Forgotten Empire".

I must say the accuracy of this project is unbelievable. The first mod ever that really cares about this important period of time.

I am really looking forward to see this project successfully done. BTW I always was a silent reader of this project. I am sure there are much more people like me looking forward to see this mod done.

Keep up your great work and good luck!

I have two questions:

1) It is a pity to see Faeghi leaving the project. What is happening now to the Expansion? Will there be the Sassanids / Arab conquest mod as planned? It would be a great challenge in stopping the Muslim conquest upon Persia. I haven't played yet the vanilla Barbarian Invasion Expansion yet, but as far as I know there is no Arab faction involved at all. So this is a huge gap to fill. Since the Muslims have pushed back Persians and East Romans whereby the Persians capitulated completely.

2) The aspect of religion; Will you include the ancient religions of that Time period BEFORE the Rise of Persia, like the Mithraism or DURING the Rise of Persia until the fall like Zoroastrism, Manichaeism, Mazdakism?

Thumbs up!
Houmie

[rez]

well i think i'll jump in for these, basically we want to get rise of persia done to the most extreme detail and with all our attention focused on it. Its not really a good idea to start thinking about other projects when we are neck deep in this one. However, that doe'snt mean there won't be anything in the future... Watch this space (you might be watching for a while but there might be something worth seeing.)

On the religion part of the mod, we are making our first version for rtw 1.2. So we can't really mod as much religion into the game as we would like. Persian religions in the game will revolve around zoarastrianism and the option to follow the daeva worship of pre - zoarastrian Persia. Manichaeism and mazdakism came into being during the Sassanian era and our mod will not cover that period of time. So unfortunately we can't include them.

Oh and on the accuracy, just wait untill the true persian preview is released. A little more freedom due to modellers and a desicion to utterly abandon gameplay for history have meant the Persians are re vamped and with MY unit descriptions as accurate as i can imagine!

Oh and houmie i do remeber you following this project a while back, we never forget a fan!

[Houmie]

Thanks Rez.

Indeed you have first to finish the Rise until you go to the Fall. Including the Daeva Worship is also very wise and historically accurate.

I really am looking forward to test this mod.

P.S. Regarding the Persian Axe Unit, it seems to me you have studied the new book on Greco-Persian Wars "The Persian Fire". I only read a part of it when it was mentioning it. Have you read this book? Is it one of this typical Persian-Bashing history books or is it neutral and worth reading?

Houmie

[rez]

Persian fire is better than most, tom holland does go to good lengths to be neutral. But in the end everyone has to tell the story from the perspective of the underdog because it is more exciting! I would read it if you get the chance, though it is quite expensive.

However i do have to say, we do not base any of our units on a single book, especially if that book is a modern historians work. We have done our best to stick to the primary sources such as rock reliefs and greek histories. Although a little outside reading never hurt anyone!