Welcome! to this fan-based and unofficial mod compendium presenting the much anticipated M2TW-mod Europa Barbarorum II.
Please keep in mind, that EB2 is still under construction, so naturally all content presented or linked here is Work In Progress unless stated otherwise.
Below is an announcement from the EB2 team from October 2013 - so rest assured: EB2 Is Coming!:
"Today we have an incredibly exciting announcement to make: We are close to making an alpha release of our mod."
If you want to support the mod and the dev team, then grap an EB2 signature banner from here.
This is a free-to-use / open-source thread
To all TWC and EB2 team members: this thread is now "free-to-use / open source"!
March 10, 2013: I hereby declare and make this thread "open source". So from now on any TWC member or EB2 team member may use the contents of this thread or the thread itself - partially, moddified or fully as he/she/they see fit. Eg. you may use/copy-paste any section or the entire thread. The only conditions are:
[A] you don't use any of my work to make a profit/money
[B] post/state in this thread that you (= the TWC member or EB2 team member) are using and/or implementing parts or all of this thread
[C] give me credits in your thread and provide a link to this thread in your thread
November 29th, 2013
- added more images in section 2
- some minor changes, mostly cosmetic
November 28th, 2013
- added info on release in section 9 and intro
- added updated unofficial map plus tiny official mini-map (both with starting positions) in section 3
- added new images and links to new images in sections 2 and 4
- added official antique campaign map in section 4
- added link to interview with V.T.Marvin in section 7
- added info on scripted invasions playing as Taksashila in section 5
- general update stuff, to keep this thread up-to-date
- structural/cosmetic changes
- changed title from "[UNOFFICIAL] Mod Overview" to "Unofficial Mod Overview (date)"
Not all features have been revealed by the team, so this section only lists a portion of what you can expect to see in EB2. Please also keep in mind that EB2 is still WIP and that features listed here might be changed, totally revamped or perhaps even dumped; and that new features may or will be added for the initial release.
And also visit the EBII FAQ for the more basic stuff.
Some Specifics of Campaign Gameplay
Some Specifics of Campaign Gameplay
Information on EB2's campaing and strategical gameplay in general...
1.) Miscellaneous Features
Miscellaneous Features
Here are links to posts concerned with various other possible features or mechanics of EB2:
"Tribal mechanics; competition between tribe chieftains to become the next faction leader; competition between tribes for the supremacy within the same faction - from here
Tons of specific historical events, which will test the capability of the player to act in roleplay and not just in grabbing every region at hand - in some cases it will be far more profitable to handover the region to the rebel allies than keep it; etc. All this can be accomplished due to the scripting opportunitie that MTW2K brought about." - jmcr on August 2nd, 2012, from here
EB2's descriptions will feature custom, non-vanilla fonts using the CUF Tool described, from here
Here are some Various Features considered or ruled out by the team (WIP!):
4tpy - "Effects of seasons have been expanded greatly."
Late game to easy issue - "We are looking at ways to make the late game more challenging to prevent run away effects."
Many more yet unannounced features and game mechanics not mentioned in this overview. In future previews the EB2 team will reveal more of their excellent work, which will of course then be listed and linked here.
2.) Government System
Government System
EB2 will feature an elaborate Government System. There will be two different types of constructable government buildings, called Authority buildings. The Central Authority building represents what relationship the province has within the faction’s empire, whether the province is simply allied to the empire, or whether if forms part of the core provinces of the faction. Thus it is analogous to the Government buildings of EB1.
The Outlying Authority building represents the general relationship the controlling faction has with the outlying and autonomous regions in the province. More importantly this building controls the level of overall authority the player has in a province: the more influence the player has over outlying regions of a province, the more authority she/he has to pass policies and construct infrastructural buildings to the benefit of her/his faction.
A direct download link to the official pdf on the game mechanics of 'Provinces and Authority' is here.
A list of the Romani Central Authority buildings can be found in the second Romani preview here.
A list of the Carthaginian Central Authority buildings can be found in the Qarthadastim preview here, scroll to the section "Gameplay" near the end and open the spoiler there.
3.) Complex Province Identity
Complex Province Identity
Every province will be equipped with one (or sometimes two or more) pre-constructed Populace buildings, that will represent the dominant native culture in that province. This building acts as a simple but effective way of controlling and limiting recruitment, placement of Government buildings and other core features of the Europa Barbarorum II mechanics. Working in partnership with the new Province building the Populace building will offer the game a level of detail that is better able to work with the complex mechanics in Europa Barbarorum II. By working together with the Province building, which will modifiy the effects of the Populace building depending on the region it is in, a more complex form of the province's identity will be formed.
More information on the Populace buildings can be found in the section "The People" of the People of North Africa preview here.
And a link to the Provinces preview featuring the Province building is here.
4.) Province and Settlement Development
Province and Settlement Developement
Q6: For all those who do not know anything about EB II(or EB I), can you explain what the differences will be between them? We would very much like to hear everything you want to disclose about Factions, scripts, provinces, new structures etc.
Now that is a question and a half! Where to start?
Europa Barbarorum started as a project to change how history was represented in total war games. We wanted to show people that not only was a finer appreciation of history as fun as the watered down version in Rome TW, but that it could inspire new and exciting gameplay - and so we saw EBIs Governments and our extensive trait system.
In EBI, however, it was not our goal to change how Total War games were played, and though changes were made, these were piecemeal and not wholly complete. You may notice that alongside our Government buildings, we also had plain old vanilla-style temples (which, while having some quite excellent descriptions, offered bonuses that were wildly exaggerated); that alongside our advanced AOR system, our recruitment was still based around vanilla-style barracks (even if we did try to expand their remit to include all military industries into one building). These areas of the mod were never fully explored because they were never part of our plan - with EB2 they are.
One of my problems with the Total War franchise is its lack of a consistent viewpoint for the player, and my favourite example of this is the Farm building in the Total War games - what is it trying to represent. The scope and scale of the gameplay suggests that it might refer to control of land in general, but the building description and name all suggest that it refers to the construction of actual farms. That is ridiculous, not least because the plausibility of suitably arable land, populated by a sedentary people, not being turned over to farming already is preposterous - you don’t need a king to decide when and where new farms are going to be established. Another example is that of the Blacksmith: again the description and name of the building suggests that, contrary to all reason, the player-as-king is somehow getting involved with the nitty-gritty of establishing a new blacksmithing enterprise. However, contrary to this perception, the Blacksmith actually has an affect that could not be the result of a single building, as it can equip entire armies with new armour and weapons.
In Europa Barbarorum II we want to deal with this issue head on, and for that reason we are developing different types of buildings, that maintain a consistent scope in their description and affect. You will still be able to build single buildings, known as Civic Buildings, which will represent Palaces, Theatres, Royal Stables, Temples, and other such awesome buildings commissioned by the Governor of that settlement. These Civic buildings will affect the acquisition of traits and ancillaries (for example, if you build a Temple, you will be more example to get traits and ancillaries for generals in that settlement relating to religion). These buildings will be limited in number for each settlement, and will be prohibitively expensive, so that you will be able to create unique identities for your settlements.
Following from this, the main building type with be the Infrastructure Buildings. These will represent the control and manipulation of industries and means of production that impact the economic assets of the province. These Infrastructure Buildings will cover a number of concepts, not simply the presence of a particular building, but the control of land, the appropriation of trade networks and storage for the benefit of the controlling faction. The Farm Infrastructure building, for example, will represent the control of food production and trade, and even the ownership of land. The latter is of particular interest as this also becomes a political tool, and can be used by the player to introduce foreign nobility and colonists into a province, altering recruitment and administrative options for that faction, but at a cost.
This clearer distinction between building types, which will also include the Populace and Authority building types, will, we hope, produce a clearer and more accurate campaign than EBI. Each building type has its own demarcated zones of influence: Populace buildings affect recruitment options, while Authority buildings represent government options, affecting Public Order. There will be cross-over between all four building types, but these more complex interactions can be ignored by the player should they not wish to be bogged down in the minutiae of the campaign.
As you can see, even just one of our responses to the vanilla campaign in the Total War campaigns is quite a hefty answer in and of itself. We are truly creating a total modification, where each area of the campaign and battles are being looked at and revised to ensure that we produce a consistent, engaging, historically accurate and enjoyable experience.
Many provinces will have pre-constructed wonders or unique buildings, with actuall gameplay effects such as public order, income or recruitment bonuses and underlaid with texts giving the player detailed background information regarding those special buildings. Possibly some wonders or unique buildings may be constructable by the player.
And in some cases demolishing such a building for the sake of gaining a mundane (but large) amount of cash, may cause unexpected repercussions for the player as stated here.
Here's a link to the EB2 Wonders Project, where you can post suggestions for wonders and unique buildings.
6.) Nomad Camps replace Castles
Nomad Camps replace Castles
There will be no Castle settlements in EB2. The City/Castle dichotomy of M2TW will be used to represent nomad camps in provinces that were largely nomadic at game start for factions like the Saka Rauka (East Scythian steppe faction), Pahlava (Parthians) or Massylia (Numidians). To fully settle a province later in the game, the nomad faction will have to convert the nomad camp to a permanent settlement. This will open up an entirely new set of building options and change the appearance of the settlement both on the campaign map and on the battle map.
Some more information on this topic can be found in the "Nomads Camps" section of the Massylia preview here.
7.) Economy
Economy
As in EB1 we can also in EB2 expect a diverse and more realistic economy system, which will be none less than a total conversion of the all too simple vanilla ways; and most probably the construction costs and the turns to construct the economy buildings will be noticeably higher than in vanilla M2TW (this will most likely also apply to other building tiers such as barracks etc.).
8.) Agents
Agents
EB2 will be using modded versions of the vanilla diplomats, spies and assassins. If and how the other agents will be used is not yet clear. A post by a team member on this issue is here.
So far a Roman diplomat and a Makedonian Emissary have been announced (on twitter, late Feb 2012).
9.) 'Socio-political Types' replace Religion
'Socio-political Types' replace Religion
The M2TW Religion system will be repurposed for something different. It will most likely be used to represent the different socio-political types of ancient statehood, as this quote form the Gaza Campaign description seems to suggest:
You will also be introduced to the first of the four socio-political types, the city-state type, and how city-state factions spread their influence and culture into a province through the use of military or trade colonies.
Although the team might have new or different ideas by now.
10.) Cultures
Cultures
The seven cultures, controlling things like the user interface (UI), family member portraits, used campaign map models for settlements and so on, are not yet disclosed. But most likely they will be identic or at least similar to the ones in EB1 which are:
Roman
West Hellenic
East Hellenic
Semitic
Eastern
Nomad
Barbarian
From the FAQ:
We will use the religion mechanism to represent socio-political affinities, which are in competition in varying degrees in any given settlement. This competition may end up in civil unrest, if a culture gets closer in importance to the dominant one. Certain factions will need to evolve to another culture, which will certainly trigger unrest throughout the territory, and that transition will be harder if the player wants to do it too fast. The cultures are:
- Arid Nomadism
- Steppe Nomadism
- Eastern Imperial
- Eastern Tribal
- European Tribal
- Forest Tribal
- Western Mediterranean Polities
- Hellenistic Polities
- Indian Tribal
11.) Recruitment System
Recruitment System
EB2 will feature an area-of-recruitment (AOR) system that will be interlocked with the new government system with it's authority buildings. Of course also factors such as the player's faction, the actual province with it's province and populace buidlings, constructed military-industrial-complex (MIC) buildings, the M2TW-religion/culture levels (probably used to represent ancient statehood styles in EB2), occurred military reforms and maybe other factors will define what units can be recruited.
Some early, and perhaps out-dated, ideas by the team on recruitment in general can be found in Stele#2 here.
12.) Military Reforms
Military Reforms
As in EB1 also EB2 will feature at least rudimentary military reforms for all factions; and quite a few factions will even have unique and complex reforms with perhaps several stages. Possibly not all reforms (or all reform stages) will make it into the initial release. If so they will most likely be implemented in later, ensuing releases.
Romani Reforms: The Romans for example will get the Polybian and Marian (and possibly even the Imperial) military reforms.
Celtic Reforms:
As in EB1 there will be 3 reform periods that will take place for the Celtic factions. When these reforms happen certain units within the factional rosters will, in essence, upgrade to a more powerful and deadly (also more expensive) version. Among these chronological changes come new helmets for certain units (such as Montefortinos giving way to Port or Agen style helmets on some units), the amount of leather and chainmail armor they use, and even the bosses upon their shield will progresses from smaller bosses to large ones in the later La Tene period which is represented in the last reform. These sweeping changes, however, will be restricted to certain noble units and some widespread units from the middle class. Archers and other low end units will not change in appearance. In addition, during these reforms certain units will appear that were not encountered before within your kingdom, denoting changes within the inner workings of Celtic society as it transitions from chiefdoms and monarchies to semi-feudal societies governed by nobles and senators, the magistrates and constitutional law, and the mighty uergobretoi. These leading men, in turn, are supported by their ever increasing number of vassals and men-at-arms both on foot and on horseback which can signal the slow decline of the free middle class. - from the first Boii preview
13.) Campaign AI
Campaign AI
The team is working on a custom tailored EB2 CAI to ensure the best possible campaign gameplay.
14.) FMs and the Traits & Ancillaries System
FMs and the Traits & Ancillaries System
FAMILY MEMBERS:
The Teutonic family system will perhaps represent the Romans and some of the other factions, as stated here.
The player will be able to choose the faction heir, as stated here.
TRAITS & ANCILLARIES SYSTEM:
As known from EB1 there will be an interactive and highly sophisticated Traits and Ancillaries System. Here's a statement from Foot on certain buildings influencing FM's traits and ancillaries:
These Civic buildings will affect the acquisition of traits and ancillaries (for example, if you build a Temple, you will be more example to get traits and ancillaries for generals in that settlement relating to religion).
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quotes from the team's twitter account concerned with religion and generals:
Working on the temple system and associated traits for the governors. Worshipping the Gods may sometimes give bad traits... ~JMRC
Just finished a major overhaul of the generals' religious beliefs, which give pos and neg effects and produce greater immersion. ~JMRC
A carthaginian FM became worshipper of a lusitanian deity. He gets a penalty VS barbarians and now is losing loyalty and getting bad traits.
A hint on one specific trait can be found in this post by team member bobbin here.
As reference a link to information and files on EB1's traits and ancillaries system is here.
15.) Roman Office System
Roman Office System
A compelx office system for the Romani (Rome), with offices such as Tribunus Militum, Quaestor, Tribunus Plebis… Consul etc. will be implemented in EB2. Read more on this topic in the first Romani preview here.
16.) Voicemods
Voicemods
EB2 will have voicemods for a variety of factions. A recent post by a team member on this issues is here*. And a short notice can he found in old Stele#4 here.
17.) Permanent Stone Forts
Permanent Stone Forts
The PSFs, permanent stone forts, will be used to...
"represent other important settlements in a region, which will generate small amounts of money for whoever controls them, (...) we intend them to [be] just as hard to capture as the main settlements are (...). They just plans right now though, and probably won't be in our first release." - from the post here
18.) Scripted Invasions
Scripted Invasions
Playing as Taksashila and declaring independence from the Mauryan Empire will trigger scripted invasions of strong Mauryan forces, as stated here and here in the team's twitter.
Speculative!: Players occupying the most eastern provinces of the EB2 campaign map may face scripted invasions by e.g. the Indo-European Yuezhi. A vague hint on this feature by a team member can be found here.
And iirc a team member once stated, that there won't be any scripted "invasions" or the like for events that start off within the EB2 campaign map (e.g. Cimbrii & Teutones, Hannibal Barca's invasion...). Probably because, in 99.9% of all EB2 campaings, their historical preconditions would not be meet.
19.) Settlement Renaming Feature
Settlement Renaming Feature
Maybe there will be a kind of automatic settlement-renaming feature for some factions, that changes the starting/default names of conquered settlements to the version a specific settlement historically had under the rule of the conquering faction; for more information see here (the comment of a team member is further down)
20.) Re-emerging Factions
Re-emerging Factions
There will probably be a script for re-emerging factions, as stated here by bobbin.
Some Specifics of Battle-Map Gameplay & Units
Some Specifics of Battle-Map Gameplay & Units
Information on EB2's real-time battles and tactical gameplay in general...
1.) Battle Gameplay
Battle Gameplay
Here's a selection of features that you can expect to see in EB2:
The team is working on it's own unit animations for Slingers, Phalangitai, Hoplites, Horses etc. to ensure an authentic battle feeling.
The team is planning to implement the Germanicus BAI.
The mod will offer well-balanced and thoroughly tested unit stats.
The various types of units will have destinctive capabilities. Expect mobile and hard-running skirmishers, steadfast spearmen, hard-hitting shock infantry, flexible medium peltasts, fast and hard-charging light lancers, barely to heavily armoured missle cavalry, powerful but less mobile heavy cavalry and catapharcts etc.
Battles will last longer compared to vanilla M2TW, as units will not get killed or rout as quickly.
Hoplites and quite a few other units will get the shieldwall ability and/or overhead spear animations.
Phalanx units will of course get the phalanx formation, although their secondary weapon will most likely have to be removed due to limitations of the M2TW engine.
Low-tier 'barbarian' units will not be represented by the horde formation.
The EB2 units will to a certain degree be comparable to the units of EB1. A link to EB1's unit descriptions is here.
Some information on the features of EB2's battle maps:
The team is working on new generic customized battled map settlements. More on this topic in this Settlement Mini Preview (post #8 of the Areuakoi preview). You can already view some images in the "2 - Screenshots & Images" section in this post.
There will be no unique custom battle-maps for cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, Persepolis, Babylon, Alexandria etc. for the reasons mentioned in this post.
The team is working on new water, soil and grass textures, as mentioned here and here.
Also there's the optional EB2 Graphic Enhancement side-mod aiming at giving the battle map a more realistic look and feel, here.
Here you can find all EB2 videos that were made and presented by the team - in order of their release. Please keep in mind that EB2 is still WIP and that these videos don't necessarily represent the units, animations etc. of the initial release. Many issues - as holding shields incorrect etc. - have already been fixed!
Watch the Videos here and now
Watch the Videos here and now
EBII - Phalangitai (2:21) -- September 2008
The armies of Makedonia and the Ptolemaioi meet on the field in EB2. This video showcases the great new work being made for EB2.
EBII - Helmets (1:07) -- October 2008
An upclose look at the models and textures of some of the hellenic helmets, and the reasearch that informed them. Part of Stele #7.
EBII - Shields (1:22) -- October 2008
A look at the some of the evidence used to create the hellenic shield designs in EB2. Part of Stele #7.
EBII - Linthorax (1:07) -- October 2008
An upclose look at the models and textures of some of the hellenic linothorax. Part of Stele #7.
EBII - Animation (2:16) -- October 2008
A closer look at the new animations for archers, slingers, hoplitai and phalangitai appearing in EB2. Part of Stele #7.
The Hoplite (2:04) -- February 2009
Video showing the description and various renders of the Hoplite infantry unit. Part of the February Preview.
The Thureophoroi (1:54) -- February 2009
Video showing the description and various renders of the Thureophoroi infantry unit. Part of the February Preview.
The Peltastai Makedonikoi (2:00) -- February 2009
Video showing the description and various renders of the Peltastai Makedonikoi infantry unit. Part of the February Preview.
The Oxybeles (2:13) -- February 2009
Video showing descriptions, renders and animations of the first siege engine for Europa Barbarorum II: The Oxybeles. Part of the February Preview.
EBII - The People of North Africa (3:17) -- July 2009
A closer look at some of the new North African units appearing in EB2. Part of The People of North Africa Preview.
Boii vs Getai on EBII (9:27) -- March 2010
More than nine minutes of battlefield action featuring some of the Boii (Celtic) and Getai (Thracian) units. [No audio]
The Getai in Battle (7:11) -- March 2010
Featuring the Getai battling against the Boii, two of the more than 25 factions in Europa Barbarorum II. [No audio]
Boii Units Preview (2:06) -- April 2010
This video shows 4 Boii military units that will appear in Europa Barbarorum II, two of which have 3 different stages concerning their equipment. [No Audio] Cast (in oder of appearance):
- Acus Eporedoi Late (Medium Cavalry)
- Acus Eporedoi Middle
- Acus Eporedoi Early
- Londo Epatoi (Light Cavalry)
- Kombaragoes Early (Heavy Infantry)
- Kombaragoes Middle
- Kombaragoes Late
- Klappagnetoi (Slingers)
The Boii in Battle (9:01) -- April 2010
A further video featuring the Boii battling against the Getai. The units showcased on this video are the Klappagnetoi (Slingers), Eponados (Light Cavalry), Acus Eporedoi (Medium Cavalry), and the Kombaraguones (Heavy Infantry). [No Audio]
The Romani (2:01) -- June 2010
Intro video of the Romani faction, that shows the Roman legions of the camillan period (272-200 BC aprox) against a group of invading celts.
Here's the link to the thread All the Previews in one Thread.... All as yet released previews and interviews in order of release date; plus other posts or articles with preview-like character:
You can find signature banners, and partly wallpapers, for specific factions in the respective previews. For convenience all banners, wallpapers and other fan paraphernalia are gathered together in a single thread here.
This is an official announcement from the EB2 team - so rest assured: EB2 Is Coming!
October 2013: "Today we have an incredibly exciting announcement to make: We are close to making an alpha release of our mod."
But just for all impatient fans... as the team often stated the mod "is done when it’s done". Questions about the release date have been brought up quite often in this forum and are a continung nuisance for the team… so please don’t ask for one. The team is diligently working on the mod - as far as families, friends, pets, jobs etc. allow - and is eager to get it done!
If you're bothered about the release taking too long or want the mod to be released as soon as possible, please consider offering your services in the EBII Recruitment thread.
Keeping Up To Date
Besides reading any new previews, checking some of the other threads and looking into the FAQ now and then... the best way to keep an ear on the ground, is to visit the following threads on a regular basis:
EB2 on Twitter - with the newest information on EB2 and it's progress plus some images EB2 Sneek Peeks - with regular updates containing lots of images plus some information on progress of the mod EB2 Dev Blog - with updates from time to time containing detailed information on some of the developments and mod features
corrections in the factions list: it's Pahlava not Partha, Makedonia, and Lusotannan. also, you could order them alphabetically for ease of access. Baktra could be Indo-Greeks. spelling error: "The Gaza Campaing". suggestion time!: you could put in the parentheses for the diadochi factions something like Ptolemaioi (Successor state: Egypt) etc...
anyway, good job
Last edited by raest; June 25, 2011 at 07:05 AM.
"Name none of the fallen, for they stood in our place, and stand there still in each moment of our lives. Let my death hold no glory, and let me die forgotten and unknown. Let it not be said that I was one among the dead to accuse the living."
This is a stylized campaign map of Europa Barabarorum (RTW), but most likely the EBII map will be very similar.
I have just one note,you must make better map(more precise coasts and borders)from campaign map of first EB,for example Roma Surrectum 2 campaign map is far more precise than RS 1...so i hope that the map will be not too much "similar" ,the other thing are great
Re: Europa Barbarorum II General Overview (Unofficial)
Originally Posted by Casual Tactician
How to link a specific (informative/useful) post:
Go to the post and memorise it's date and time -> then click on the poster's name to the left of the post -> then click "View Public Profil" -> then click tab "Statistics" -> under "Total Posts" click "Find all Posts by xx" -> scroll to the post (using the memorised date & time of the post) and then click the smaller italic post name inside the frame -> this should be the specific post; now copy the address in your internet browser and you can use/post it. - Maybe it can be done easier, but this works anyway.
If it is on the TWC then people can just quote the post like I am doing now, quoted posts have a link to the original by default (it's the little green arrow). For stuff from other forums (ie: the .org) they can just click on the post number, this will provide a direct link to the post in your address bar which can then be copied, it can also be done for the TWC as well.
Re: Europa Barbarorum II General Overview (Unofficial)
Originally Posted by bobbin
Indeed, now you have to keep it up to date or I'll unsticky it.
It's like being the orderly secretary of chaotic but ingenious modders.
Will keep it up to date - but (as time goes on) probably only once a week or every second week; unless there is a major announcement by the team.
Included your mini-guide on quoting/using posts btw - thx for that.
@ all:
Oh... nearly forgot -- I did another overhaul of the preview with some new stuff in it.
Will leave away a link to the recruitment thread as it is stickyed and I don't want the overview to become too crowded.
[EDIT2: Actually a good idea; if it forwards one or two future team members/helpers it's worth it already. And as I did a special link-section it won't make the overview to crowded.]
Added the video link - thx.
EDIT:
Can anyone tell me what the default font (is it Verdana?) and the default font colour for editing posts is? And is size 2 the default size?
Last edited by Casual Tactician; June 30, 2011 at 02:53 PM.
Re: Europa Barbarorum II General Overview (Unofficial)
Nice work man!
Culture System
EBII will be using the culture system of the Kingdoms expansion and not the Religion system. The seven cultures are: Barbarian, Roman, Western Greek, Eastern Greek, Semitic, Eastern and Nomadic/Steppe.
Have they already said something about this? I thought I read something about city-state vs. nomadic "religion" or something similar somewhere, but I can't recall where.