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Thread: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

  1. #1

    Default Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    It doesn't really make sense to have that many separate unit types in a Celtic or Germanic, because many of the variations should already be within the one unit. EBII continues it's predessesor's need to present each tribe having a government sponsored professional army, all with distinct specialty units and Delta Forces. Granted, some tribes had more trained warriors then others as well as some nicely equipped units, but the degree of that varied from tribe to tribe

    While historically accuracy is important, those 3-4 different units should have just been mixed into one. The swordsman should still function like swordsman, the difference being between heavier armored or lighter armored troops. The rest should basically be aesthetic or rated by a level of training or experience.

  2. #2
    Frtigern's Avatar Tiro
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    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    I for one like the variety of units in different tribes, it represents the region's diversity but when you compare the differences between them, they aren't much different between each other. It is mostly aesthetic and to me that adds to the immersion of the game, both in campaign and especially in battle. It makes it feel as though the Celtic tribes really were a confederation of different tribes coming together to fight for a common cause.

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  3. #3

    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tactics Mayers View Post
    It doesn't really make sense to have that many separate unit types in a Celtic or Germanic, because many of the variations should already be within the one unit. EBII continues it's predessesor's need to present each tribe having a government sponsored professional army, all with distinct specialty units and Delta Forces. Granted, some tribes had more trained warriors then others as well as some nicely equipped units, but the degree of that varied from tribe to tribe

    While historically accuracy is important, those 3-4 different units should have just been mixed into one. The swordsman should still function like swordsman, the difference being between heavier armored or lighter armored troops. The rest should basically be aesthetic or rated by a level of training or experience.
    As far as the game mechanics are concerned there may not be much difference, but the designs are based on what the archaeology says about the local variations in material culture between various peoples not an artificial creation of national armies. Celtic is a definition of language and not necessarily of material culture, although it might also be associated with La Tène finds as well.
    Resident Language Geek
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  4. #4

    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    Taken to any logical conclusion, that's an argument for removing every regional unit in the game. They don't represent tribes as such, but notable proponents of particular styles of fighting.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tactics Mayers View Post
    It doesn't really make sense to have that many separate unit types in a Celtic or Germanic, because many of the variations should already be within the one unit. EBII continues it's predessesor's need to present each tribe having a government sponsored professional army, all with distinct specialty units and Delta Forces. Granted, some tribes had more trained warriors then others as well as some nicely equipped units, but the degree of that varied from tribe to tribe

    While historically accuracy is important, those 3-4 different units should have just been mixed into one. The swordsman should still function like swordsman, the difference being between heavier armored or lighter armored troops. The rest should basically be aesthetic or rated by a level of training or experience.
    I totally disagree, diversity, immersion and respresentation of ancient people's are imho some of the most important features of EB2. I wish every ancient people could be represented by their own unique full roster with their unique characteristics, languages, fighting styles, customized towns, etc.. While being restricted by game engine and manpower limitations EB2 does an impressive work of being the closest thing to that! Also having a lot of different regional troops reinforces the idea of celtic, Germanic and other so called barbarians being affiliated by tribes and petty kingdoms that would gather when the need/opportunity to do so arrises instead of a centralised power raising it's "really army"
    Enought with having generic "barbarian swordsman" in vanilla RTW and other commercial games!

  6. #6

    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    I agree that it is a good way to represent and show different peoples, that would otherwise be relegated to obscurity - EB2 is about teaching history too. My only issue is that this criteria isn't applied universally, but is mostly focused on the celtic factions - which i guess it makes sense, given the amouint of specialists the EB team has in that area. Units like the iranian cavalry, pantodapoi phalangitai and others represent a conglomerate of different ethnicities. It is similar to the previous debate about cretan and syrian archers, they are similar in function and equipment, but they represent different people. IMO, the mod is trying to give a fair representation of each faction, but due to scarcity of sources or lack of specialists, some regions are limited to generalist units that represent many peoples on a single concept.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Why does every Celtic and Germanic tribe have their own unique units?

    Not the best of examples there. Kretans are used to represent not just the well-travelled mercs from that isle, but also settlers like the Neo-Kretai in Syria (in fact there might still be "Syrian" archers in the form if Iturean Brigands, but they're not well-armoured archers like the Kretans). Pantodapoi Phalangitai are quite intentionally a conglomeration of different ethnicities, since unlike regional units they represent, they're intentionally lots of different nationalities thrown together with an eye to volume rather than consistency. We do have quite a few Iranian units which some regional divisions in what is actually quite a standardised set of expressions, courtesy of the Persians mobilising them.

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