[PItalica] Preview 2!

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PREVIEW 2:

WELCOME to our second preview! As work is slowly drawing to a close on the PItalica mod, we can start to release more and more of the internal systems to you the user. Tonight we'll be previewing 2d graphical improvements, map teasers, an introduction to some of the core gaming systems you'll find in PItalica 1.0, along with unit screenshots. Faction-specific music will be rounding out this preview, to give the cultural flavor a fitting conclusion.


FACTIONS and ICONS:

Central Italy:



Rome is favorably situated in the middle of the peninsula, between the Etruscans to the north and the Samnites to the south. In the center they are sided by their ancient neighbors the Sabines, and the Sabellian tribes in the mountains.

Northern Italy:



High Etruscan civilization occupies a considerable chunk of northern Italy, under a whopping three faction slots, taking up most of the entire stretch of land between the Romans and the Alps. Needless to say that in tandem these factions possess by far the largest landmass of any cultural group in Italy, and if they unite the amount of power they can bring to bear is quite scary. Umbrians reside in the mountains, having an uneasy relationship with Etruscans and frequently in wars with them.

The Alps:



Semi-civilized and non-civilized factions occupy the Alps. Gallic culture possesses an enormous sway here, occupying not only four faction slots in the names of the four dominant tribes, but also in the presence of the Ligurians who possess three more factions on the north-western coast of Italy. Rounding out the list are the Veneti, hardy traders of north-eastern Italy centered around the city of Adria (which has given the sea its name, the Adriatic); and Rhaeti, a semi-civilized faction with Gallic and Etruscan influences.

The Oscans:



Between the Romans and the Greek cities to the South, lies a vast domain controlled by the Oscan tribes, chief of which are the Samnites. Any student of Roman history will be familiar with a 50-year series of titanic wars between them and the Romans, longest and one of the most difficult in Roman history. Lucanians and Brettians, the half-civilized Samnite kin, take up the Greeks as their prey and frequently raid the Greek cities in the south, eyeing their culture and wealth as a fair game for plunder.

Southern Italy:



Greek cities are the most advanced in all of Italy, each city distinguished by some noble pursuit of high culture practiced by Greece at this time: Croton with its athletes and a medical science on the level of Hippocrates; Metapontum with its Pythagoras; and Tarentum, a city of refined laxity, once established by the Spartans but now having slipped into festival pursuits and high arts. The nearby Apulian nation is greatly influenced by the powerful presence of this neighboring culture, and as a result is itself largely hellenic. Messapians, an unruly tribe possessing the very heel of the boot of Italy, are satisfied to sometimes trade with the Apulians or the Greeks, and sometimes to attempt a raid on their rich neighbors for plunder. AEpirus is an emergent faction that encapsulates Pyrrhus of Epirus and Alexander of Epirus, uncle to Alex the Great, great invaders bringing elephants and contemporary Greek army to bear on the Italian peninsula. Pyrrhus' wars with Rome are also the stuff of legend, were they not true.

Sicily:



Syracuse makes a powerful Greek inroad in Sicily, famous and probably even more devoted to the Greek pursuits than the cities of mainland Italy. Phoenicians of Carthage bring an powerful eastern counter-balance, rich with vast trade and wielding enormous mercenary armies into action. Trapped between these two cultural behemoths are the native inhabitants of Sicily, trying to maintain a tradition in face of the insurmountable cultural absorbtion and armies wielded by both sides.


THE MAP:

Tonight's screenshots will feature the Greeks, the latter screenshots zoomed out so you can gauge the distances involved:










As a teaser we included the situation in the Umbrian north, with a town perched up in the forested mountains:




CORE SYSTEMS:

It will be of the highest interest to us, after putting the utmost of effort into historical accuracy, to make the factions as diverse and as interesting to play as possible. Within the realm of historical accuracy there exists stylization of culture, and each of the our faction groups will be strongly distinguished by markedly unique traits and characteristics. That's what set them apart in history, and that's what will make a gaming experience unique as you go from faction to faction. The Greeks will be a largely outnumbered cultural group fielding its heavy hoplites, under constant siege from fierce native Italic tribes itching for some of that Greek plunder. Etruscans will have a similar hoplite structure, but a different underlying social system. They have a quite marked feudal society, so that underneath your glittering hoplite units you'll have a a very large servile army, which you must use effectively, and which will only be remain in battle through presence of their overlord hoplites on the field. Romans will be distinguished by a highly motivated republican legion, while their bitterest enemies the Samnites will be in no ways less powerful with a soldiery distinguished by an extremely high ambushing ability. Gaul will be very hard to conquer for a southern army; almost impossible. But this fact will be present without making Gallic factions themselves any more overpowered, so that they won't be able to cake-walk through the southern militaristic factions either. If you think Gaul will be difficult to conquer, you haven't seen nothing yet, as Liguria will be a complete nightmare for any army (even Gallic) to step into.

Since we've featured the Greek regional and map situation, let me delve into their unique characteristics a little bit. Greeks have an extremely powerful tradition of hoplite infantry, the same infantry that won the Persian wars on mainland Greece, and which had been unopposed by any army it has met with. Yet with Alexander the Great running rampant in Greece and Persia, Greece's own civic structure has been rather thrown on the ground, and the hoplite warfare has slowly went along with it. However it remains strong and vibrant among the Greek cities in Italy, which maintain the structure and the hoplite ethos despite those vast changes towards mercenary and non-hoplite warfare on mainland Greece. The disadvantage that you'll have to deal with, as a Greek in PItalica, is that you'll be largely outnumbered by all factions around you. Carthage in Sicily will be able to recruit simply as large a mercenary army as its purse strings allow, provided they can afford to pay for it. The rather savage Italic Lucianians and Bruttians besieging your cities on mainland Italy will have many well-farmed settlements, and a large and bellicose population with your rich cities in their crosshairs, which your hoplites will have to deal with through a greatly outnumbered situation.

In addition to your heavy-armored civic infantry as your one main advantage, you'll have something else, something that draws largely on the medical school of Croton. Starting from Alcmaeon forward (or perhaps from as early as Pythagoras), Croton has had an extremely innovative and ever-increasingly scientific medical school. Not only did Herodotus report that in the 500s BC it was the best school in all of Greece, but by all reports, parts of the Hippocratic corpus are actually Crotonite medical works. "Hippocrates" is really just a shorthand for the Greek medical school generally, and the immense science of that body of literature is just as greatly fed in by Crotonite doctors as by anything happening in Athens. Science, as in real history, will be a very practical boon to your heavily outnumbered soldiers, and your generals will have far more soldiers survive after a battle, than any factions. Plus the generals themselves will be much more likely to live another day themselves. It will not be easy to recruit your hoplite soldier, but they'll be clad in heaviest armor, and latest science will be put at their disposal.

I won't mention the powerful siege machines, which only the Greeks will have access to, or the armies shipped in from time to time as aid from mainland Greece, of which the Spartans above will be just one example, arrived in with the Spartan general Cleonymus to help even the Greek odds out. That'll have to wait for another preview. And yes, they'll arrive as faction events from mainland Greece, and you'll have options for accepting their help or refusing it. Choices will bear significant consequences, as Pyrrhus will bring his enormously successful armies to help against Italic invaders, but being deeply steeped in Hellenistic warfare, may not look kindly on your cities still training in hoplite warfare rather than employing the Macedonian phalanx...






Ligurians are a fitting counterbalance to Greek eulogies, possessing absolutely none of the comforts or boons of Greek society, but marked with such bellicosity and inhospitality of their native region, that it will be as rare to see a faction (foolishly) step into Ligurian territory, as seeing a Ligurian army outside of it. Ligurian military ambitions will have to be of limited scope, on account of the region being marked with poverty and barrenness of farming or cultivation. The most primitive form of herding will be a strain to find in Ligurian land, but their armies will be something to be reckoned with. While not very heavily armed or armored, the sheer ferocity of Ligurian soldiery will make even the nearby Gauls wary of entering the region. But, protecting as the land does its inhabitants from greedy raiders on account of its poverty, it also gives little allowance to any Ligurian military ambitions outside its borders. The region will be marked with passionate in-fighting for every scrap of resource, and piracy and banditry will be rampant. Playing with any of the three Ligurian factions you will have to invest immense effort just to reach the point where other factions begin at the start of the game. Not being easily besieged by outsiders, you'll not have an easy time making outward expeditions either, at least at first. Be prepared for a lot of in-fighting, and for Liguria to be one of the most challenging and demanding factions to play.








MUSIC:

Once again Garve has provided for us a flavor of each of the cultures we'll be dealing with.

To continue with the Gallic mood sense above, here's Celtic battle music: click. (it's entitled "Brennus is coming"...)

And campaign music for the Greeks: click.

Finally as a teaser, martial Roman music: click