[OLD DEV THREAD] FACTION: The Eastern Roman Empire

[Miraj]

Units
ALL UNITS MODELED AND SKINNED BY Strelac

Barracks

• Tier 1 - Levy Spearmen
  
  

• Tier 3 - Skoutatoi
  

• Tier 3 - Medium Swordsmen
  

• Tier 4 - Byzantine Heavy Swordsmen
  

• Tier 5 Dismounted emperor's guard
  
  
  

• Varangoi
  

Archery Range

• Tier X - Light Javs
  

• Tier X - Anti Horse Jav
  
  

Stables

• Tier 2 - Byzantine Light Cavalry
  

• Tier 4 - Kataphracts
  

• Tier 5 - Klibrantoi
  

• Early Era Bodyguard
  

• Late era Bodyguard & Tier 5 Kataphracts
  

Names

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Male names(some can be also surnames)

_{Acindynus
Agapetus
Alyattes
Amirrutzes
Anastasius
Anatolicus
Anatolius
Andronicus
Anthemius
Anthimus
Arcadius
Arsaphius
Asbadus
Asterius
Babylas
Bacauda
Baduaruis
Basiliakos
Batzas
Boethius
Bryennius
Butlilinus
Calopodius
Carellus
Charegiselus
Chilbudius
Christophorus
Chroniates
Colluthus
Comentas
Comentiolus
Cometas
Comitiolus
Constantine
Corippus
Cosmas
Cresconius
Cyricus
Cyril
Damianus
Didymus
Diosconis
Domnitziolus
Dorotheus
Droserius
Eudaemon
Eudokimos
Eudoxius
Eulalius
Eupatarius
Euphemius
Euphratas
Euphronius
Eusebius
Eustathius
Eustochius
Eutychianus
Eutychius
Formosos
Gabrielius
Gennadius
Georgius
Gerontius
Glycerius
Gregoras
Helladius
Heraclius
Hydatius
Ignatius
Ionnacius
Ionnes
Isaaces
Isaacius
Isidorus
Leontius
Laskaris
Lecapenus
Maruthus
Megistus
Meletius
Melminius
Menas
Methodius
Michaelius
Narzeses
Nicephorus
Nicetas
Nicetius
Origen
Pachymeres
Palamas
Pamphilus
Pancratius
Pantagathus
Pardus
Pelagius
Perigenes
Philagrius
Philaretus
Philippicus
Phillippus
Philoxenus
Phoebammon
Photinus
Plutinus
Senuthius
Simocatta
Sittas
Stauracius
Stilicho
Strategius
Syagrius
Symeon
Symeonius
Tarchaniotes
Theocharistus
Theoctistus
Theodoracius
Theodore
Theodoretus
Theodoricus
Theodorus
Theogenius
Theophilius
Theophilus
Theophylact
Theophylactus
Theotimus
Trasaric
Trasaricus
Tzimisas
Tzittas
Vaanes
Varazes
Vasacius
Zemarchus
Zeno
Zenobius}


Female names:
_{Aetheria
Alexandria
Anna
Antonina
Antipatra
Appa
Athanasia
Basilia
Basilina
Basina
Byzantia
Charito
Chrysomalo
Comito
Cyra
Damiane
Destasia
Didyma
Domentzia
Epiphania
Erchantrudis
Eudocia
Eudoxia
Eugenia
Euphemia
Euphrasia
Eusebia
Evantia
Gabrielia
Georgia
Helena
Hesychia
Irene
Ionna
Ionnia
Ionnina
Leocadia
Macedonia
Marozia
Megaris
Megethia
Nicasia
Pasara
Pateria
Pericleia
Theocharista
Theodora
Theodosia
Theognosia
Veneranda}

Surnames: (and some of male names above)
_{Bryennius
Cerularius
Comnenus
Dragases
Ducas
Laskaris
Palaeologus
Simocatta
Tarchaniotes
Tzimiakes
Vatatzis}

[lordyu]

what do you plan for the byzantines. i feel that the only thing that needs to be done is to add Pronoiars and a heavy spearman that can act like to main backbone of there army.

[The Mongol]

I think they're staying the same for now and will be redone justice in the future when a mesh editor is available.

I'd suggest trying to get WhiteWolf's permission to use his quality Byzantine skins to tide us over until a mesh editor is available.

[Erwin Rommel]

Me thinks they should change the lance to become more like a really long spear

[AlphaDelta]

I think some heavy spearmen is a good idea.

Cheers

[Zenith Darksea]

I think that CA made a total pig's ear of the Byzantine faction. Certainly many of the models, while not exactly ideal, are ok, but the units themselves are almost completely ahistorical. Here are my broad and very general suggestions for Byzantine units:

Infantry

Varangiai
Varangian Guardsmen

Kontaratoi
Heavy Spearmen

Skoutatoi
Medium Spearmen

Psiloi
Lightly-armoured javelin-throwing axemen.

Missiles

Akontistai
Javeliniers

Toxotai
Archers

Pyrophoroi
Naphtha throwers. I'm not sure that this is 100% historical, but why not?

Mourtartoi
Elite archers

Cavalry

Kataphraktoi
Heavily armoured mounted archers/macemen. Note that CA mispelt the name.

Pronoiarioi
Armoured (though nowhere near as heavily as Kataphraktoi) lancers.

Latinikoi
Latin mercenary knights. Note again that CA mispelt the name.

Skythikoi
Cuman mercenary horse archers from North of the Danube.

Tourkopouloi
Light horse-archers from mixed Turkish/Greek families.

Like I say, these are just broad suggestions.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

I thought I'd bump this instead of making another thread. In my opinion, Whitewolf's reskin really helps the Byzantine faction. I think this should definately be included if you can get permission. I would also say make the Byzantine spearmens' stats the same as Sergent Spearmen or a little better since their spears suck.

The rest can wait for a later version since you want to focus on the new factions, but I think the reskin is neccessary atleast.

[Ahiga]

We should contact whitewolf soon about his skins, though we can always do that at any time.

If he won't give it to us, then the byzantines will have to wait. Egypt and the Turks both need reskins, and I'd really think 1.0 should release with those two and byzantium 'as is'. Alpha will need a break from working almost non stop on these guys, and since they are functoning with their units, they can wait off on a fix.

I'd like to see that if we get more people to help with the weight of the Mod, if our skinners/modelers would be interested in doing a bit of work on the Byzantines. One thought would be to work with whitewolf and sharing the product. God knows from how much they are loved here that if we had Alpha or Strelec's master touch, it would attract an exponential amount of people.

But we have a lot of factions that need to be built from the ground up, so the three from Vanilla are far far on the horizon.

[The Mongol]

Agreed, get the mod unique factions up and working before the vanilla ones.

Cross our fingers that WhiteWolf will let us use his beautiful skins

[Giorgos]

I surely hope so. Whitewolf has done a tremendous job.

[CelticPagan]

More history stuff

Byzantine Empire (native Greek name: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων - Basileia tōn Rōmaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered around its capital of Constantinople.

Flag of the later period of the Empire -


Byzantine double- headed eagle on minature from 12th century manuscript.



Restored section of the fortifications that protected Constantinople during the medieval period.



Emperor John II Komnenos. During his reign (1118-1143) he earned near universal respect, even from the Crusaders, for his courage, dedication and piety.


Komnenian army

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



The Komnenian army was the force established by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos during the late eleventh/early twelfth century, and perfected by his successors John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos during the twelfth century. Alexios constructed a new army from the ground up, completely replacing previous forms of the Byzantine army. The Komnenian army was instrumental in the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine empire during the period of its existence, and was deployed in the Balkans, Italy, Hungary, Asia Minor, the Holy Land and Egypt.

Contents

• <LI class=toclevel-1>1 Introduction <LI class=toclevel-1>2 Development <LI class=toclevel-1>3 Evolution
• 4 Bibliography

Introduction

At the beginning of the Komnenian period in 1081, the Byzantine Empire had been reduced to the smallest territorial extent in its history. Surrounded by enemies, and financially ruined by a long period of civil war, the empire's prospects had looked grim. Yet, through a combination of skill, determination and years of campaigning, Alexios, John and Manuel Komnenos managed to restore the power of the Byzantine Empire by constructing a new army from the ground up. The new force was both professional and disciplined. It contained formidable guards units such as the Varangian Guard, the 'Immortals' (a unit of heavy cavalry) stationed in Constantinople and the Archontopouloi, recruited by Alexios from the sons of dead Byzantine officers, and also levies from the provinces. These levies included Kataphraktoi cavalry from Macedonia, Thessaly and Thrace, and various other provincial forces such as Trebizond Archers from the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor and the Vardariots, a cavalry unit recruited from Christianised Turks from the Vardar valley . Alongside troops raised and paid for directly by the state the Komnenian army included the armed followers of members of the wider imperial family and its extensive connections. In this can be seen the beginings of the feudalisation of the Byzantine military. The granting of pronoia holdings, where land was held in return for military obligations, was beginning to become a notable element in the military infrastucture towards the end of the Komnenian period, though it became much more important subsequently. In the year 1097, the Byzantine Army numbered around 70,000 men altogether. By the closing years of the era- 1180, and the death of Manuel Komnenos, whose frequent campaigns had been on a grand scale the army was probably considerably larger.

Development

Under John II, a Macedonian division was maintained, and new native Byzantine troops were recruited from the provinces. As Byzantine Asia Minor began to prosper under John and Manuel, more soldiers were raised from the Asiatic provinces of Neokastra, Paphlagonia and even Seleucia (in the south east). Soldiers were also drawn from defeated peoples, such as the Pechenegs (cavalry archers), and the Serbs, who were used as settlers stationed at Nicomedia. Native troops were organised into regular units and stationed in both the Asian and European provinces. Komnenian armies were also often reinforced by allied contingents from Antioch, Serbia and Hungary, yet even so they generally consisted of about two-thirds Byzantine troops to one-third foreigners. Units of archers, infantry and cavalry were grouped together so as to provide combined arms support to each other. The emperor Manuel I was heavily influenced by Westerners (both of his queens were 'Franks') and at the beginning of his reign he re-equipped and retrained his native Byzantine heavy cavalry along Western lines. It is inferred that Manuel introduced the couched lance technique, the close order charge and increased the use of heavier armour. Manuel personally took part in 'knightly' tournaments in the Western fashion, where his considerable prowess impressed Western observers. Permanent military camps were established in the Balkans and in Anatolia, these are first described during the reign of John II. The main Anatolian camp was near Lopadion on the Rhyndakos River near the Sea of Marmora, the European equivalent was at Kypsella in Thrace, others were at Sofia (Serdica) and at Pelagonia, west of Thessalonica. These great military camps seem to have been an innovation of the Komnenian emperors and may have played an important part in the improvement in the effectiveness of the Byzantine forces seen in the period. The camps were used as transit stations for the movement of troops, as concentration points for field armies, for the training of troops and for the preparation of armies for the rigours of campaign.


Evolution

When the Komnenian dynasty came to an end in 1185, the Komnenian army did not immediately disappear. However, under the Angeloi, the Byzantine empire declined rapidly, and the result was a dimunition of the fighting power of the army. When Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Byzantine successor states established at Epirus, Trebizond and especially Nicaea based their military systems on the Komnenian army. The success of the empire of Nicaea in particular in reconquering former Byzantine territories (including Constantinople) after 1204 may be seen as evidence of the strengths of the Komnenian army model. However, properly speaking the Komnenian army belongs to the period of the Komnenian emperors, and for this reason the Byzantine army after the recovery of Constantinople in 1261 is no longer termed 'Komnenian'.

Bibliography

• J. Birkenmeier - The development of the Komnenian army, 1081-1180
• John Haldon - The Byzantine wars
• Angus Konstam - Historical Atlas of the Crusades
• Michael Angold - The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204, Longman, Harlow Essex (1984).
• John Kinnamos - The Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, Trans. Charles M. Brand, Columbia University Press New York (1976)
• Anna Comnena - The Alexiad, Trans. ERA Sewter, Penguin Classics (1969)

New Book coming out:

Byzantine Warfare

Edited by

John Haldon, Princeton University

The International Library of Essays on Military History

Contents

: Introduction. Part I: Ideas and Attitudes
to Warfare: Introduction, T.S. Miller; On just war in
Byzantium, A. Laiou; Fighting for Christianity. Holy war
in the Byzantine empire, T.M. Kolbaba; Defenders of the
Christian people: holy war in Byzantium, G.T. Dennis.

P

art II : Financing Warfare, Recruitment: Military service,
military lands and the status of soldiers: current
problems and interpretations, J.F. Haldon; Middle
Byzantine provincial recruits: salary and armament,

N. Oikonomidès

; The Byzantine army and the land: from
stratiotikon ktema to military pronoia, P. Magdalino.

P

art III : Organisa tion, Tactics and Strategy: The
Byzantines in battle, G.T. Dennis; The contribution
of archery to the conquest of Anatolia, W.E. Kaegi; Some
thoughts on Byzantine military strategy, W.E. Kaegi, Jr.;

The frontier: barrier or bridge?,

W.E. Kaegi, Jr.; The
Balkans in the 9th century: barrier or bridge?,

D. Obolensky;

The defense of Byzantine Anatolia during
the reign of Irene (780–802), J.A. Arvites; Infantry versus
cavalry: the Byzantine response, E. McGeer; The battles
of Dorostolon (971). Rhetoric and reality, S. McGrath.

P

art IV: Weapons and Armour: Some aspects of early
Byzantine arms and armour, J.F. Haldon; Suntagma
hoplôn: the equipment of regular Byzantine troops,
c. 950 to c. 1204, T. Dawson. Part V: Logistics: Byzantine
logistics: problems and perspectives, W.E. Kaegi; The
organisation and support of an expeditionary force:
manpower and logistics in the middle Byzantine period,

J.F. Haldon.

Part VI: Fortifications and Siege Warfare:
10th-century Byzantine offensive siege warfare:
instructional prescriptions and historical practice,

D. Sullivan;

Byzantine siege warfare in theory and
practice, E. McGeer. Part VII : Spies and Prisoners of War:

Diplomacy and espionage: their role in Byzantine
foreign relations, 8th–10th centuries,

N. Koutrakou;
Unofficial exchanges, purchases and emancipations of
Byzantine and Arab war captives, R.A. Khouri al-Odetallah;

In the depths of tenth-century Byzantine ceremonial: the
treatment of Arab prisoners of war at imperial banquets,

L. Simeonova.

Index.

February 2007 978-0-7546-2484-4 c. 550 pages

Hardback 0 7546 2484 6 c. $225.00/c. £120.00

[lordyu]

does anyone know how I can replace weapons on unit.
ex. replacing byz infantrys sword with a spear

[Miraj]

Good news:

WhiteWolf of the Byzantine Armour Progression mod has given us full permission to use his skins.

Big thanks to WhiteWolf and you all can expect to see a good looking non-purplish Byzantine Empire.

[The Mongol]

Good news indeed, WhiteWolf is doing some amazing work with Byzantium.

[PartyElite]

wow thats great stuff!

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Great news, I can't stand vanilla's Byzantium.

[mr.blonde]

maybe a rename of the byzantine units to the proper and not the vanilla it is planned?

[Ahiga]

Well, renaming them a little will be fine, but we want to make sure that players don't get stuck with units they don't even know the identity of. They need to be anglicized, I think is the term.

Skoutatoi Spearmen, instead of Skoutatoi [Insert Byzantine term] or Kataphraktoi Lances and Kataphraktoi Bowmen, instead of Kataphraktoi [Insert byzantine term for lances and bow].

[PartyElite]

yeah Ahiga's right.
i had the same problem with wanting the Rajput names to be purely indian. I may understand the words, but others won't... and it'd be plain irritating to have to wonder or read the unit description everytime just to make sure ur recruiting the type of unit that u want. [or ull end up with only peasants on the field in place of the elite noblemen u though "[blablabla]" was].
but the type of naming being used already is good, so the slight renames [like ahiga's examples' would be a nice touch... i'm sure that was the plan anyways?

cheers
-indian_boy

[mr.blonde]

I agree to the goal of gameplay, but my personal view of total war series except the fun is to learn something from military history or geography so probably i would prefer to have for example Indian names for units from a description like "indian town miltia".Especially from a mod like this. Anyway i dont want to sound unpolite or to feel like an intruder, you should do what do you think best for this mod.

ps. Off topic:May i use the Broken Crescent sig as a fan?