Politically correct

[MathiasOfAthens]

This is not a rant or complaint whatsoever. I only wish to put this out and see what the community has to say.

Recently I was playing the barebones mod as the julii faction. I began my compaign by building up an army or two to conquer northern italy and then proceded into southern Gaul. After I managed to take all of Gaul I proceded into Iberia, and about fifty years later Iberia succumb. I am still pacifying southwestern Gaul and Northwestern Iberia. After my first invasion of Gaul and before I moved into Iberia, I was met by the Brittanic faction at the channel. They managed to cross the sea and took the nearest city. Couple turns later they had struck as far south as Marseilles, Gaul was cut in half and there were frequent incursions by the Iberians into Narbo. Eventually I pushed the Brits back into the sea save a city in Belgium, they just simply won't give it up. Destroy one army and two more come from across the sea. Enough said that the AI sucks.

Now heres what bothers me. Rome total war takes place in the age of tribes, city-states, empires, and kingdoms. There were no nation-states. Thus the Factions in the game shouldn't portray Gaul as a united faction as they portray it as a civilization. Up to Julius Caesar the only times the factions united was in coalitions to resist the romans or the germans. In Gaul there were the celts and the gaels who were further seperated into further tribes that control cities or villages that were certainly no more than a couple miles of territory. In Briton the same can be said. Tribes in the north, tribes in the south. Brigantians, celts, and gaels. The strongest tribe was center at camulundum, northeast of London.

So... what does this come down to? Factions should represent a single tribe instead the who civilization. They should control one city on the vanilla map. For Gaul for instance, every other provine would be rebel owned and strong enough to resist several invasions in order to prevent ai from expanding too fast. The Factions in General game would be the individual tribe instead of the overarching ethnic group or civilization. The Romans have already been seperated. The Carthaginians were done well, they were an empire. The Greeks in several rtw mods portray the faction as an empire stretching across the mediterean. The Faction should instead focus on a city such as corinth, while the Greek colonies revolt to rebels with Greek units garrisoning them with Greek rebels names obviously. Barbarian factions in the north and in the east are done in the same way.

For the Modders keep in mind I love the mod and this is not a rant simply my thoughts. I enjoy using the larger europe version campaign. When another update is release could there be thoughts into changing the factions on the map. For INstance: The Brits given a tribal name and reduced to one city in brittania, it is a large island. Same for the Gaels, one city in Gaul. Iberians given a tribal name and one city in Iberia. Same for Germans, the Greeks, Sythians, Numidians, and the Thracians. For the Thracians, the Barstarnae perhaps they could be given the Faction title.

How this would work: The player would begin as the Gael Faction with their capital and only city at Alesia perhaps. Every other Gael province with ethnic links would be rebel inhabited and garrisson by Gael units. The same for the Greeks, and every other faction I mention. Ethnic regions share units but are rebel controlled. So if you start as the Greeks, perhaps the faction would be the strongest at the start of the game or any one for that matter in Greece, Corinth, Athens, or Sparta. Corinth resisted up to the Romans perhaps it would be their time to shine. The Greek Faction would be named the Corinthians and their starting city would be Corinth, and any colonies controlled at start of game if any.

What are your thoughts on this???

[The Flower King]

I'm thinking you should check out EB (a realism mod).