Hellenistic Elites.

[Elianus]

First of all, congrats! The mod is very impressive. I did notice something that seemed odd to me though. From what I have read, the Argyraspides fought as a proper macedonian phalanx unit armed with the sarissa. There is an account though according to which they either evolved to a thorakitai unit OR the corps was divided to two separate types to begin with. The peltastai would fight either in the macedonian manner or like mobile assault infantry armed with javs. I think that this applies to the other hellenistic powers as well but I am pretty sure about the argyraspides. What is the reason behind the decision to portray them as
hoplites with longer spears?
Edit: I would also like to point out that the formation that all these units use with the shorter pikes is EXTREMELY ineffective. They are
much, much weaker than their (certainly great) stats would imply. I suggest that you make the Argyraspides a proper macedonian phalanx unit (same goes for other hellenistic powers but I am pretty sure about them) Now for the peltastai, I did find some accounts according to which they MIGHT have used a shorter pike but it is not certain and it simply does not work well with the game mechanics. IMHO they should get sarissa as well.

[Iutland]

First of all, congrats! The mod is very impressive. I did notice something that seemed odd to me though. From what I have read, the Argyraspides fought as a proper macedonian phalanx unit armed with the sarissa. There is an account though according to which they either evolved to a thorakitai unit OR the corps was divided to two separate types to begin with. The peltastai would fight either in the macedonian manner or like mobile assault infantry armed with javs. I think that this applies to the other hellenistic powers as well but I am pretty sure about the argyraspides. What is the reason behind the decision to portray them as
hoplites with longer spears?
Edit: I would also like to point out that the formation that all these units use with the shorter pikes is EXTREMELY ineffective. They are
much, much weaker than their (certainly great) stats would imply. I suggest that you make the Argyraspides a proper macedonian phalanx unit (same goes for other hellenistic powers but I am pretty sure about them) Now for the peltastai, I did find some accounts according to which they MIGHT have used a shorter pike but it is not certain and it simply does not work well with the game mechanics. IMHO they should get sarissa as well.

Thank you Elianus

For the use of equipment etc. I will refer to il Pitta, since he designed the units. However, a month ago I discovered some serious errors in the melee weapon stats, actually making longspears/long Dorus (like the ones used by Argyraspides) and long Sarissas ineffective. This is now fixed in CAC 0.9 along with a BAI (kv_rules and other tables) update.
Regarding the formation, I selected Pike Phalanx instead of Hoplite Phalanx due to the length of the Dorus.

Cheers
iutland

[il Pitta]

Hi!
Sorry for replying so late.
Basically, the problem is caused by the fact that some names are recurrent in the Hellenistic armies, even if with different roles and meaning.
About the troops generally called "Hypaspistai" with Alexander, and "Peltasts" in the Hellenistic period (nothing to do with the greek or thracian light armed skirmisher called also "Peltast"), we can identify in almost all the Hellenistic armies two different distinct groups: a bigger one of Elite troops, equipped with bigger shields and shorter pykes than "normal" pezethairoi with the role of defending the flanks of the phalanx, and a smaller one of picked elite troops, that acted as bodyguard of the general or were used as stormtroops.
Abut the Argyraspides in the SELEUCID context, apparently while the Chalkaspides were the bulk of the army, the Argyraspides were an elite similar to the Hypaspistai Peltastai of Makedonia and Ptolemaike Basileia, with roots in Alexander's army (Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, VII, 11, 3).
Cfr. also "A Cavalry Unit in the Army of Antigonus Monophthalmos" Hammond - 1978 -

Here a scheme of comparison :-)

MAKEDONIA PTOLEMAIC SELEUCIDS
Hypaspistai Agema = Basilikon Agema = Hypaspistai
Hypaspistai Peltastai = Hypaspistai Peltastai = Argyraspides