[PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Media was one of a few factions in the mod that had a unique roster but did not have any reforms, still resembling an Achaemenid-like army composition. Unfortunately, little is known of the kingdom itself. At first allied with the Diadochi, it quickly broke off, being either independent or a vassal state of neighboring powers. At one point, Kings of Media were also granted the royal title and lands of Armenia.
List of known rulers:
Atropates - from 320s BC til an unknown date
Artabazanes - ruled in 221 BC or 220 BC, a contemporary of the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus III the Great. He is said to be a paternal grandson of the Persian King Darius II from his marriage to the daughter of Gobryas
Mithridates - ruled from 67 BC to c. 66 BC who was son-in-law of the Armenian King Tigranes the Great
Darius I - ruled c. 65 BC
Ariobarzanes I - ruled from 65 BC to 56 BC
Artavasdes I - ruled from 56 BC until 31 BC. Son of the above named Ariobarzanes and a son-in-law of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
Asinnalus - ruled from 30 BC to an unknown date in the 20s BC
Ariobarzanes II - ruled sometime from 28 BC to 20 BC until 4 AD and served as King of Armenia from 2 BC to 4 AD
Artavasdes II, who served as Artavasdes III - King of Media Atropatene and Armenia from 4 AD to 6 AD
Artabanus - grandson of Phraates IV, ruled from 6 until 10
Vonones II – brother of Artabanus and ruled from 11? until 51
Pacorus of Media Atropatene - son of the above named and ruled from 51 AD until 78 AD
Researching Media was a bit difficult on its own so I focused more on overall changes going through local cultures. This brings us to new unique features for this kingdom, their custom reforms. Late Achaemenid cavalry shifted more into the role of heavy mounted skirmishers. This soon started to drop after the conquest of Alexander the Great and the influence of Nomadic tribes. Horse armour became more and more heavy while bow and lance were now weapons of choice. Greek influence seemed to be small but we have evidence that even Parthians adopted thureos shields for their infantry. If that change was their native unit or some auxiliary force is not clear.
For a late reform I went with a sort of proto-Sassanid theme. Due to the speculative nature of this, we decided to postpone it to the very late game. A historical Sassanid revolt against the Parthians started in Parsa, with Media eventually being integrated into the new state. Both rulers of Parsa and Media claimed to be descendants of the Achaemenid dynasty. As a player, your goal is to bring back the glory of the old Persian empire and unite long lost lands. In order to trigger the final reform, you need to conquer Nisa, Persepolis and Seleukia (future Ctesiphon) and have a minimum of 200 turns passed. Once reached, the army goes through large changes, both for foot and cavalry units. One of the interesting things I was able to find was that eastern cataphracts were also using cuirasses on top of their armour, rather than typical depiction of them, wearing just mail or scale.
Iranian reform:
First of two reforms. Inspired by Nomadic and Greek armies, it brings back bows as a weapon of choice for light and medium cavalry. Nobles adopt early cataphract armour and deadly kontus lances, ready to break any opponent previously weakened by ranged fire. In terms of infantry, Thureophoroi are present in the form of a unit made mostly of lightly armoured Medians with Greek mercenaries being the best equipped soldiers in regiment.
Imperial reform:
The last reform and with largest amount of changes. While only available in the very late game, the unit quality justifies it. Fearsome Daylamites will be a tough opponent to any enemy of Media while super heavy Grivpanvar will ride over any opposition.
References:
Additional sources:
P. Skupniewicz - Sassanian Horse Armor
http://www.iranicaonline.org/article...Q3UvI6GYoH9gMI
http://www.iranicaonline.org/article...uhaEFUnjGYr8EU
Credits:
Dresden for creating new reforms and help with unit setup
Jake Armitage for creating unit cards and new faction logo
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
I knew it! I smelled it from the pictures :tongue: Awesome work, just the thing I was hoping for to be honest :laughter:
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
So the first one is tied up to thureos reforms? 120 turns?
Also, all those outdated (but so so sweet) archer-spearmen are phased out? Or still present in the roster?
Also, when it goes live?:whistling
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
A worthy opponent for imperial Rome.
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Good job . But there are some suggestions that I think you sould take serious .
The four striped Drafsh i_káviáni was a Holly standard and it was only used by general bodyguard units . There are other standards like Farr i_îzadi or khôrshid standards or farvahar , ātashkadéh and sénemo ( Sassanid simorgh ) banners that you can use for the units.
Another thing I noticed is that are you using 3th and 7th century Sassanid rock releifes to make atropatene units ? The cataphract you see on the rock relief , it's a Sassanid 7th century Sassanid asawaran tanurig ( clibianary ) from the Khosrow Parviz era . Some even say the the rider is an important general like shahrboraz or shahin , others say it's khosro paviz himself , but the resources say that khosro II used winged crown so we are 90% sure that it's not Khosrow the second who is riding the horse .
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Awesome! Ive been wanting to go back to atropatkan campaign for a long while now. Do you plan to revisit faction traits as well? When can we expect a playable beta or full release? Great work as always!
cheers :)
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Plush_Salmon
So the first one is tied up to thureos reforms? 120 turns?
Also, all those outdated (but so so sweet) archer-spearmen are phased out? Or still present in the roster?
Also, when it goes live?:whistling
First one is similar in time to thureos reform, you should get it around turn 55 that changes are coming and they should take effect 10 turns later. Archer-spearmen will still be there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shapur e Sassani
Good job . But there are some suggestions that I think you sould take serious .
The four striped Drafsh i_káviáni was a Holly standard and it was only used by general bodyguard units . There are other standards like Farr i_îzadi or khôrshid standards or farvahar , ātashkadéh and sénemo ( Sassanid simorgh ) banners .
Another thing I noticed is that are you using 3th and 7th century Sassanid rock releifes to make atropatene units ?
Standard is at the moment across all units but my goal is to make it late general bodyguard only, which will make them stand out even more. Late reform is inspired by late Parthian/early Sassanid so these units are from very end of DeI campaign timeframe, which is II AD. There aren't many fitting or good quality models for Eastern units in the game so I reached out a bit further to III AD for some stuff. This is one of the reasons why these units are locked for very late game so they are sort of reward for player for uniting Eranshahr. I also abstaned from adding stuff like wings to helmets or more typical Sassanid units like Zhayedan. For late reform your goal is to take role of Parsa, which is why in order to get it, you need to capture both Parthian and Parsa starting capitals, along with Seleukia, near which future Ctesiphon will be located.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nordling
Awesome! Ive been wanting to go back to atropatkan campaign for a long while now. Do you plan to revisit faction traits as well? When can we expect a playable beta or full release? Great work as always!
cheers :)
Yes, many factions will have updated faction traits. New Beta should go live in a day or two :)
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Quote:
Originally Posted by
KAM 2150
First one is similar in time to thureos reform, you should get it around turn 55 that changes are coming and they should take effect 10 turns later. Archer-spearmen will still be there.
Standard is at the moment across all units but my goal is to make it late general bodyguard only, which will make them stand out even more. Late reform is inspired by late Parthian/early Sassanid so these units are from very end of DeI campaign timeframe, which is II AD. There aren't many fitting or good quality models for Eastern units in the game so I reached out a bit further to III AD for some stuff. This is one of the reasons why these units are locked for very late game so they are sort of reward for player for uniting Eranshahr.
Yes, many factions will have updated faction traits. New Beta should go live in a day or two :)
The rock relief which has the armored cavalry on It is a late Sassanian cataphract ( 7th century AD )
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
I know, it is just one of many references, book by P. Skupniewicz has much more for Parthians ans Sassanids, it is available for free if you google it. Second link that shows on google should download you PDF.
Edit: Got it
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...bbNBCO8-p_uuCQ
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Quote:
Originally Posted by
KAM 2150
I know, it is just one of many references, book by P. Skupniewicz has much more for Parthians ans Sassanids, it is available for free if you google it.
I know my friend
Keep up your great work
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Quote:
Originally Posted by
skillfultree
A worthy opponent for Carthage.
There, I corrected your obvious typo. No need to thank me.
So, Sassanids are now making their way in the main campaign. Awesome. Maybe I'll try a campaign with them soon. Definitely getting on the list of 'To Do' campaigns after that preview.
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Hello team awesome work well done !!!
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Brilliant! KAM does it again :)
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Lots of hard work by KAM :)
Edit - Also forgot to say, stay tuned for a public beta of our new update coming very soon!
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
I love it. I think the Eastern Factions need a few new toys. Any chance that Parthia might get a Sassanids reform with some new cool units for a more diverse endgame? Or is that out of scope?
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
YES!
You are my heroes!!!
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Looking forward to the update DEI team.
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dead*Man*Wilson
Brilliant! KAM does it again :)
Oddly enough this is first faction I prepared "visually" myself :D Before I always just told more talented people how I want these units to look but I finally learned how to do it and after many less nice looking units, I made these :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Normanni
I love it. I think the Eastern Factions need a few new toys. Any chance that Parthia might get a Sassanids reform with some new cool units for a more diverse endgame? Or is that out of scope?
Considering Parthia got stomped by Sassanids, there are no plans for it though late Parthian units are already from period very close to what Media gets, like their late Cataphracts are already using II AD era equipment and stats wise they are already in highest tier of cataphracts. So what I want to say is that they would only get new units for sake of new units visually but stats wise they are already on top of the game.
Re: [PREVIEW] Media Atropatene Reforms