Cataprachts?

[IamOdysseus]

Hi! Your mod is perfect but are cataprachts with the byzantines? If there are I don't know where, when and what do I need to train them

Thanks

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Yes they are there, they are called "Scholarii" i beloeve, they are one of their late units, so dont expect to get them soon, i think you get a few units of them in the beginning of the early campaign.

Also you might want to try this submod, i havent used it because im on a campaign atm and dont want to start a new one http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=521033

[IamOdysseus]

Yes they are there, they are called "Scholarii" i beloeve, they are one of their late units, so dont expect to get them soon, i think you get a few units of them in the beginning of the early campaign.

Also you might want to try this submod, i havent used it because im on a campaign atm and dont want to start a new one http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=521033

Does it work with SS 6.4?

[ksenagos]

They are named schollarii.They are available only in Constantinople after 1220.They are they are the heaviest cavalry available until late in the game (after the gothic plate event).If you start an early campaign with the Byz you start with 2 units of them stationed in Constantinople but at the time you can only retrain them. Also the Greek bodyguards "Athanatoi" aka the absolute badass could be considered catafracts(armored horses and staff).

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Oh yes, the bodyguard of Byzzies is prob one of the most badass units in the game, its just like the cataprachts, but it regrows by itself, so you can use a single unit of bodyguard to take down tons of rebels and get great traits for your general.

[ksenagos]

Oh yes, the bodyguard of Byzzies is prob one of the most badass units in the game, its just like the cataprachts, but it regrows by itself, so you can use a single unit of bodyguard to take down tons of rebels and get great traits for your general.

In fact...An early campaign with the byz is quite simple.Choose your bodyguards...Siege any rebel settlement in sight.Just one unit of bodyguards will do(do not use anything else).End turn....
The rebels sally out.Rebels???Peasants with sticks vs your 30 defense skill => heroic victory.4-6 settlements in the first 5 turns

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

In fact...An early campaign with the byz is quite simple.Choose your bodyguards...Siege any rebel settlement in sight.Just one unit of bodyguards will do(do not use anything else).End turn....
The rebels sally out.Rebels???Peasants with sticks vs your 30 defense skill => heroic victory.4-6 settlements in the first 5 turns

lol, havent ever tried that, should hive it a try tough, but there are little/none rebel lands around Byzzies.

[ksenagos]

lol, havent ever tried that, should hive it a try tough, but there are little/none rebel lands around Byzzies.

Try Bari and Ancona...and watch Sicily cry(be carefull cause they may have mailed knights). Just send the general from Arta, Corinth or Durazo to italy...I usually also sent my heir residing in Thessaloniki to a small campaign to the north..to Sofia(you can recruit some really nice Magyar cavalry there) and you can even reach Belgrade in time.
Let them sally out and wait for them at the end of the map.Missile units will reach you first as they move a bit faster...take them out easily with a well timed charge.When spears and other infantry reaches you charge their general's unit first kill the general and watch the enemy army (exhausted by the sprint to reach you) to rout.

Lots of 800vs 30 heroic victories

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Dont know, it should trough, best if you read the first post, im sure its mentioned there somewhere.

[IamOdysseus]

Thanks for your all responses. By the way I think it's weird playing Byzantines without a unit called cataphract

[ksenagos]

Just a tip...never reveal your name...Change it to no one.Cyclops lurk around the corners

[IamOdysseus]

Just a tip...never reveal your name...Change it to no one.Cyclops lurk around the corners

What?

[ksenagos]

What?

A failed joke apparently...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You are Odysseus....Well Odysseus according to the legend managed to escape the wrath of the cyclops because when he was asked by the cyclop Polifimos that had captured him he replied that his name was No-one(or Nobody).So when he blinded the cyclop the cyclop started crying"My eye my eye!help me No-one blinded me...And the other cyclops replied "since no-one blinded you stop screaming"

[Gnostiko]

Thanks for your all responses. By the way I think it's weird playing Byzantines without a unit called cataphract

Any medium-heavy cavalry in a Roman army would be called kataphraktoi. Since at least the 10th century, the word had lost it's technical meaning and had come to simply mean 'heavy cavalry'. What you (and far too many other people) think of as 'cataphracts' are klivanophoroi, best represented in-game by the Scholarioi unit.

[DC53]

Any medium-heavy cavalry in a Roman army would be called kataphraktoi. Since at least the 10th century, the word had lost it's technical meaning and had come to simply mean 'heavy cavalry'. What you (and far too many other people) think of as 'cataphracts' are klivanophoroi, best represented in-game by the Scholarioi unit.

So would the Stratioe(sp) be Kataphraktoi?

[Gnostiko]

So would the Stratioe(sp) be Kataphraktoi?

Kind of a tricky one; yes and no. If you'd gone back in time to a Roman army camp and asked to see the stratiotai, you'd be met with a puzzled look and a sweep of the arm in the direction of the whole army as stratiotai simply means 'soldiers'
I guess the short answer would be; only after their first armour upgrade.

[DC53]

Ha that's funny I pictured that whole thing in my head. I had another question, when I look at the Scholarii in-game they seem to be just wearing tunics? What's under that?

[Gnostiko]

A lot

The first layer of armour is the zava or kavadion, essentially quilted armour. On top of this goes the lorikion alysidoton, chain mail. Over that is a lamellar corslet (armour covering the torso) the klivanion. Next, we have the kremesmata, a chainmail-lined quilted 'skirt' to protect the the hips, thighs, and legs. Podopsella are tubular or splinted metal armour for the lower legs. Manikellia are the equivalent for the shoulders/arms, cheiropsella the equivalent of vambraces. Next, we have up to 3 layers of chainmail protecting the face and neck, topped with a kassidion - helmet. The final piece of armour is the epilorikion; another layer of quilted armour that covers everything underneath it. This the red or blue tunic you see.

There you go, 4 layers of armour. Hope that helps

[DC53]

WOW. Is there any battlefield account of these guys? Must've been terrifying when you stab him, then he doesn't even flinch.

[Gnostiko]

WOW. Is there any battlefield account of these guys? Must've been terrifying when you stab him, then he doesn't even flinch.

Leo the Deacon makes some references to them breaking Russian cavalry in the war against Sviatoslav I.
Funny you should say that about not flinching; at the battle of Dyrrakhion in 1081, Alexios I was armoured as described above, a charge from 3 Norman knights struck home but none of the lances penetrated his armour, he was almost unhorsed but getting caught in his riding gear. A charge from another direction simply pushed him back into his saddle and he was able to escape the carnage.

That little snippet from the Alexiad was considered poetic license by earlier historians until modern tests demonstrated the truth of it.