Gavitron's Unit Packs - THRACE & ILLYRIA

[gavitron]

Illyria
Unit Pack and Reskin Mod
v0.1 w/ NUO compatibility

This time I decided to tackle the illustrious tribes of Illyria. I've added 5 new units for all three Illyrian factions, and another unique officer and 3 unique units for each faction. I chose the Illyrians because while they are clearly Greek, they have their own unique twist and a bit of Celtic influence. They also had some obvious gaps in the unit rosters.

I've also added a new dark leather cuirass that I made in Photoshop, as well as a scaled variation. Several of the new units have them.

Get it through the Steam Workshop, or download it directly.

Check out screenshots at the Steam Workshop.

New Units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

One unique thing about the Illyrians is that their hoplites don't have the phalanx ability. I'm not sure about the historical basis for this but I decided to go with it, and tried to think of the Illyrians as a more mobile variation of greek warfare.

Warriors - Based on Celtic warriors, these guys are a bread and butter melee unit.
Town Guard - Based on Celtic spear warriors, this is a solid defensive unit that can only be recruited in a major city.
Royal Guard - Based on Celtic Oathsworn, this is a devastating and well-rounded melee force composed of the most elite fighters in Illyrian culture.
Harriers - A basic horse archer unit.
Pursuers - A basic lancer unit.

As far as I can tell, the Ardiaei seem to be the most Greek of the Illyrian tribes featured in Rome II, and I gave them hoplites and more Hellenic gear accordingly.

Epidamnian Swordsmen - Based on the Iberian scutarii, these heavy swordsmen are reliable and well-rounded.
Riders - Based on Italian cavalry, this is a good heavy spear cavalry unit.
Chosen Hoplites - Based on thorax hoplites, these hoplites can't form a phalanx, but will pack a punch on the charge.

With their major city, I operated on a more urban theme when it came to the Daorsi. They have more defensive-oriented units than the other Illyrian tribes.

Archers - This is a basic archer unit, perfect for manning the city walls.
Wallguard - Just a basic levy pike unit, stick these guys in a choke point and they'll give a good account for themselves.
King's Guard - Based on Celtic noble spears, this is a powerful defensive unit that is perfect for holding your center or dealing with any cavalry problems you might run into.

Bordered by barbarian tribes to the north, the Delmatae have bred powerful warhorses and adopted a very mobile military convention.

Horse - Based on Iberian cavalry, this is a well-rounded melee cavalry unit.
Noble Horse - Based on Celtic noble horse, this is a hard-hitting spear cavalry unit.
Heavy Horse - Based on Greek aspis companion cav, these heavy melee horsemen will tear most units to shreds.

Thrace
Unit Pack and Reskin Mod
v0.5 w/ NUO compatibility

I added some units to the Odrysian Kingdom faction. I found their infantry lineup to be sparse. I tend to copy my units from existing ones in order to maintain balance on a unit-to-unit basis, but be aware that the selection of units may give the Odrysian Kingdom an advantage. I also modified the look of some of their existing troops. I'm not sure how historically accurate this mod is, as I've found little information describing the Thracian army beyond "lots of peltasts!" My understanding is that the Odrysian Kingdom adopted Hellenic military traditions so I've taken that into account. Most of my Thracian units have a mix of Greek and Spartan bodies, with Eastern, Spartan and some Dacian beards.

So far they are available in both the campaign and custom battles, but I haven't yet made naval versions or added custom historical text.

This mod is an ongoing project and I welcome feedback, particularly ideas for which units to add next.


New Units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Armoured Reavers
Clad in bronze but still relatively unprotected, this heavy shock cavalry pack a hell of a punch. They are based on the steppe armoured lancers.

Reavers
Lightly armoured but hard-hitting, these Thracian raiders are perfect for smashing your opponent in the flank or rear right at the moment of truth.

Liontamers
Based on bronze shield pikemen, this heavy phalanx should be able to stop any charge dead in its tracks.

Levy Pikes
Based on Greek levy pikes, this is a basic starter pike unit.

Pikes
Again based on Greek pikes.

Noble Peltasts
This elite sword unit is based on Greek royal peltasts and sports crested Chalcidian helms and one-handed rhomphaia.

Infantry
Based on Iberian swords, this is a basic all-round combat unit with Chalcidian helms and the small hoplon or aspis.

Heavy Bowmen
Based on Syrian heavy archers. I gave these guys Hellenic cuirasses and a mix of Chalcidian and Thracian helms. Don't let their kopis sidearms fool you into thinking that they're a competent melee unit.

Light Hoplites
These light hoplites have a mix of Hellenic, Iberian and Dacian tunics, Phrygian caps and helms, and plain hoplons. Their stats are based on the Greek light hoplites.

Hoplites
I gave the hoplites basic Thracian helms and Celtic chieftain cloaks. They are based on Greek hoplites.

Noble Hoplites
The noble hoplites have the crested Thracian helm, bronze cuirasses and Thracian cloaks. Based on Greek thorax hoplites.

Tribesmen
I based this unit on the Illyrian levy axemen, then doubled their javelins from 2 to 4 and made them default to missile troops. They are meant to throw a few volleys and then charge into combat, but handle like skirmishers, not infantry, and won't automatically throw before charging. I gave simple helms or hats and a wide variety of weapons, including axes, Celtic swords, clubs, rhomphaia and kopis. I tried to find the shorter version of the rhomphaia, as they vary significantly in length.

New Officer Types

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Light Officers
Clad in cloth for greater mobility, and armed with a variety of hand weapons, these officers wear crested helms to denote their rank.

Noble Officers
Heavily armoured with bronze scale or plate, these seasoned Thracian officers wield massive rhomphaia and wear elaborate Thracian helms.

Modified Units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Bowmen
Nothing major, just a little variety to bring them in line with the rest of the army.

Warriors
The warriors now exclusively wear Phrygian helms, and have a simpler cloak than the nobles.

Nobles
The nobles sport crested Phrygian helms and bronze scale cuirasses, which actually matches their unit card.

Modified Officer Types

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thracian Officers
I gave the basic Thracian officers a makeover, with new weapons, hoplon shields, more ornate helms and mixed in some lighter linothorax.

If you experience issues while running another mod that modifies Thracian files, you can try the New Units Only version, which has all modifications to vanilla units removed.

Get it through the Steam Workshop, or download it directly.

[crawe1]

Really great work. I'm glad they now have some hoplites. I think between your mod and Agent2P's, the Thracians now have a very interesting unit roster.

[crawe1]

By the way, are they balanced for both vanilla and Radious mod? It would be great if you could balance it for both ;-)

[Lt.Chris]

very impressive, nice job

[Murfmurf]

Nice work

[kazuma]

Nice

[gavitron]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. When the mod is more completed, I might look at tailoring it for mod overhauls. I'm kind of waiting for the base game to settle down and finish changing every week before I start messing with gameplay overhauls and whatnot.

What other units would people like to see in the Thracian army?

[crawe1]

How about maybe a pike unit with a short rhomphaia as a secondary weapon, and maybe a heavy cavalry melee unit wielding a long rhomphaia?

[webstermeister]

Awesome, I'm a big fan of the Thracian culture.
A more varied navy would be nice. The only issue I found with the Odryssian kingdom is that it had absolutely no spearmen, so fighting cavalry was a pain, not to mention the low defense most Thracian warriors have. A nice additon would be a general purpose sword infantry unit and porting dacian falxmem.

[gavitron]

Just added a new unit of heavy bowmen, with Hellenic cuirasses and kopis. More pics and download link in original post.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How about maybe a pike unit with a short rhomphaia as a secondary weapon, and maybe a heavy cavalry melee unit wielding a long rhomphaia?

A pike unit or two and a unit of rhomphaia-wielding cavalry are on my list.

Awesome, I'm a big fan of the Thracian culture.
A more varied navy would be nice. The only issue I found with the Odryssian kingdom is that it had absolutely no spearmen, so fighting cavalry was a pain, not to mention the low defense most Thracian warriors have. A nice additon would be a general purpose sword infantry unit and porting dacian falxmem.

So far I've added three units of hoplites, which helps with the spearmen issue. I might add some thureos spears as well. I recently added a basic sword unit, and a more elite sword unit is on my list. I'm not sure about importing the falx - it's a signature Dacian weapon, and the Thracians already have their rhomphaia, which is similar. What I might do is look into making some kind of auxiliary falx unit available once the Dacia province is captured, for example.

Navy is... not my favourite, so it's a little lower on the list, but I do plan to get to it.



I had another thought which was a bit ridiculous, but fun. I enjoyed watching Spartacus, regardless of historical accuracy, and am thinking about giving the Thracians a Thraex gladiator unit based on the Roman gladiator. If I do make something so silly, it will be in a separate mod. What do people think about this idea?

[gavitron]

I've updated the mod to v0.2. I'll put it in the main post as soon as I can figure out how to edit it, for now download it here: http://gmillar.com/Thrace_v0_2.zip

I made it on patch 3, it may or not be compatible with the latest beta.

It should now be compatible with Agent2P's Dacian and Thracian Unit Pack.

I added a basic Thracian swordsmen unit, based on the Iberian swordsmen. I'll post screenshots soon.

(Edit: main post is updated)

[crawe1]

Great stuff. I particularly like the new swordsman - good utility unit, which I'm always a fan of. Are you planning to make a slightly more armoured version for the late game (same level of protection as say your heavy bowmen, which I also really like by the way)?

How about a berserker style unit, like the original Bastarnae unit in RTW? Very high attack & health, but virtually no armour. Could be devastating in the early game, then ends up becoming more of a glass cannon later on.

[Hrobatos]

This look great! Looking forward to the cavalary units too.

[crawe1]

@gavitron, Just noticed your mention of the Thraex gladiator. Definitely! I for one would certainly use it. I think so long as it is a separate mod/add-on, no one can have a problem with it. Are you planning it as something to be recruited by the Romans or the Thracians? If the latter, maybe make it region specific if that is possible in Rome 2 (i.e. Italy & parts of Greece)?

[kazuma]

Thracians adore, adore this mod

[Mr. Os]

Good work!

[Achilles Lacedaemon]

Idk why swords are invisible;

[gavitron]

Idk why swords are invisible;

Which unit?

[Achilles Lacedaemon]

Which unit?

the unit:

Swords
Based on Iberian swords, this is a basic all-round combat unit with Chalcidian helms and the small hoplon or aspis.

[gavitron]

Just released version 0.4 with 3 types of pikemen, new elite swordsmen, 2 new officer types and a reskin of the current Thracian officers. Check my original post for screenshots and the download link.

Liontamer heavy pike

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Noble peltasts

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

the unit:

Swords
Based on Iberian swords, this is a basic all-round combat unit with Chalcidian helms and the small hoplon or aspis.

Not sure what's causing this as they show up fine on my end. What situation is it happening in? Campaign, custom battle, etc. Any other mods installed?