Least Interesting Faction

[Romanized Spartan]

So from what you seen which faction just looks very bland or just doesn't live up to the other previews.

For me it would have to be Macedonia, there units aren't as beautiful or impressive looking as other factions that have been presented.

 

[Racer X]

The Macedonian units were made a long time ago, I think they have probably been updated.

I think they all seem interesting, I suppose I'm concerned about the ones with fewer units, but I'm sure they'll still be fun to play.

 

[Sparabara]

Sparta of course !!!

 

[Racer X]

... and why, may I ask - is so uninteresting about Sparta? Seems like they don't provoke complete indifference to you...

 

[Snevets]

This seems like a topic without hope of positive purpose to me- we have tried to make all the factions interesting to play. Factions like Macedon and Illyria may not have particularly flashy units since they weren't big on flashy dress historically, but we have other means of making them interesting. Besides I don't think you can say we didn't bring some imagination into the Macedonian units, the pre-hoplite and the royal guard are a bit of a stretch for this period.

 

[Romanized Spartan]

I'm not saying that the Macedonians are ugly and actually the have a unit or two that look quite nice, I'm just saying that I'm not a big fan of there appearance but like you said(the two previous posters) they're an older preview and the Macedonians historically weren't flashy.

 

[Snevets]

Well a couple of them have been updated but for the most part they're a stock infantry sort of faction. I'll have a look at the preview and find out just how old the units you're looking at are.

 

[Romanized Spartan]

After considering the previous posts in this thread and a second viewing of the Macedonians I've decided that this thread is pointless and insulting to the makers of this mod and wish for the moderators to close it.

 

[Angmar_nite]

This is a perfectly fair topic. "Least favorite faction" topics pop up in M2TW all the time. Are they meant to insult CA? Are the least fav faction topics in totalrealism forums meant to insult RTR? Of course not.

This is just a curious question on peoples opinions not meant to insult in any way.

 

[Romanized Spartan]

You have a point as long as it doesn't turn in to flame war, although this thread probable won't get many post after this one.

 

[icydawgfish]

yes it will, it got 1 mroe post (at least) after yours

 

[Sparton Matticus]

I suppose this is much better then a "when is the mod coming out" post! lol.

But hey you cant pick the cathaginians as the worst! They kick ass!

 

[Snevets]

The Carthaginians have the best mercenaries in the game. They have loads of money, an easily defensible homeland, and cool cities.

 

[Korinther]

The tribes of the Thraces and Illyrians. I don't like nations/factions with barbaric elements and they would only be interesting enemies for me.

 

[Snevets]

The Thracians are certainly barbaric. But you won't find berserkers anywhere else and they have the best horse archers and skirmishers; virtually every melee unit can throw something at its enemies. They are not civilized, but they can call upon more direct benefits in religious buildings; bonuses to troops and crops aren't tempered with civilization (law bonuses and hapiness), like they are in most other cultures in the game. Unlike the civilized nations, the Thracians don't need as complicated a support structure to build and grow- no artistans or courts are required to raise the city tier, which means you may very well get your better units before other factions. The Thracians are the raw power, which means you either like love or hate them as a faction, but you always have to respect them as enemies.

Personally I'll definately be testing the fast paced style of this faction- right after I finish with a couple Greek ones .

As for the Illyrians they have a cool mix of barbaric and civilized troops, and an excellent starting location poised to conquer Macedon, Epirus and Thessaly under a determined commander. Not as extreme as the Thracians but definately the more civilized of the barbarian factions. They also can recruit pirate ships to serve in their navy, which considering that they have higher attack than a pentekontors', can constitute one of the most cost-effective navies on the map.

 

[Korinther]

Thanks, sounds really good to me. But I will use them as enemies with which I can fight till the total destruction.

 

[Argyri]

@ Snevets

But don´t you think it would be easier to believe that in addition to a military dominance or as a consequence the Thracians would develope or at least start to develope institutions like that?

 

[Opeth_Oz]

I was hoping for a bit more face paint on my thracians...like the one in the banner?,maybe this thread is just a sign that people are still hanging for it to come out!........am hanging!

 

[Snevets]

@Opeth_Oz: The one in the banner is a unit in the game, machaiphoroi. Plenty of face paint to go around. Some of the units for the Thracians have already been redone. No one is more anxious to play this game than us, the developers are the original fans.

@Argyri: Do I think that the upper tiers of the Thracian building chain should be Greek influenced to represent the diffusion of Greek culture into Thrace? I can't see a reason for it to. Historically the Thracians always had an extremely distinctive culture of their own, they never adopted Greek building styles like the people of Sicily or Greek warfare and culture like some Italian peoples. As for conquest, conquerors require an extremely weak and backward culture to adopt the culture of a conquered people, and even when they do incorporate some of the more civilized ideas, it always takes a while for a strong culture to really make something foreign their own. The Thracians had the same type of exposure the Etruscans and Sicilians had to the Greeks, and yet they never really adopted Greek culture.

 

[Locky]

The Thracians weren't Barbaric, maybe to the Greeks. But they were Hellenised to a degree.

I like all the factions.

 

[Sir Francis]

Actually a lot of the Thracians were very Hellenised.

This is a common error, because when people think Thracians, they think of the large tribal groupings - Triballi, Dii, Odrysians, Bessi, etc - but there were a lot of Thracian towns in coastal areas (Aegean and to a lesser extent Euxine) that were quite Hellenised, preferring trade and city life.

Also many of the Thracians in the Chalkidiki and the Chersonesus were Hellenised types.

Generally speaking, the Greeks certainly thought of the Thracians as barbaric (but no less formidable for that!)

Argyri - yes, you're right, it would make sense to allow the Thracians to build 'Hellenic' buildings, but only in coastal cities.

 

[Korinther]

The Thracians weren't Barbaric, maybe to the Greeks. But they were Hellenised to a degree.

I like all the factions.

I'm like a Greece, all nations without the hole package of Greece culture are barbarians for me.

 

[Dannath]

To me the least interesting faction is probably Illyria.

 

[Snevets]

On the Thracians near the coast being Hellanized, that's a big generalization; it depends on the time period, the specific area (the Hellespont maybe), and most importantly the degree to which we're talking about Hellanization. Did the Thracians adopt the Greek gods in place of their old ones, adopt Greek warfare, or build cities in a Thracian style? Everything is true to an extent but in the mid 6th century BC the Thracians certainly weren't Greek and when the Athenian expeditions went there a century and a half later the Greeks still portrayed them as hopeless barbarians.

Overall you can't give a faction that include the Agrianes and the Dii any Greek temples and theaters, so I don't see how Hellanization could be represented.

 

[chernorizec]

Speaking of the Thracians, I would like to add that it's not correct to say that they didn't have a solid amount of Greek influence in their culture. Someone mentioned they were not like the Etruscans regarding the Hellenistic impact. Actually, it's quite the opposite: they, like the Etruscans, had their own language, which very much differed from Greek, and they too had vast tribal differences and varieties. Also, they maintained solid economic bounds to Greek city-states in northern Greece. As for their Pantheon, they had numerous deities, which they had directly transferred from their Greek counterparts (f.i. Athena Pallada who was worshiped by several Thracian kings) and who played central role in Thracian social life. There are many other parallels to make between these two cultures. As you can see, Thracian culture was influenced by Greek in many ways. And whereas some Greeks might have considered Thracians barbaric, there were numerous other Greeks, who, having a better estimate of how Thracians actually lived, thought of them as they did of, let's say, Etruscans.

 

[Snevets]

In terms of representation for the mod, I'd argue against that chiefly with the example of warfare. Etruscan warfare adopted major elements of Greek warfare, from armor styles to phalanx tactics to ship building. I hope that no one will argue that the Thracians had hoplites, and although they did adopt some Hellenic armor, it was mostly done by chieftains for show.

 

[chernorizec]

You're right, of course. Still, IMO the Thracians shouldn't be underrated as being a barbarian culture. They might have had a little different warfare than the Greeks, but the developers of the mod should try to compensate for the lack of integrity in their army with concentrating on, let's say, the interesting city development opportunities. This, on the other hand, could stimulate to amass huge armies of armored soldiers against the Greeks. That way, players will have some diversity in each stage of the game. Anyway, that's only my suggestion. Otherwise, keep up the good work. Waiting with great anticipation for the upcoming mod release.

 

[Kleomenis]

all the factions that we have seen seem very interesting. i guess the illyrians would be my last choice as a faction to play. i would like to mention that the problem must not be the appearance of the units, but the way to defeat them in battlefield each battle will be a better challenge and more hard than the previous. am i right snevets? i do not think that after we have a successfull battle the a.i. will give up the fight and let us conquer the cities so simple.

 

[Dannath]

The reason why Illyria is my least favorite has nothing to do with them, its just that they are far away from the southern Greek states, well and their name starts with an "I", WTF!

 

[deadcell87]

The reason why Illyria is my least favorite has nothing to do with them, its just that they are far away from the southern Greek states, well and their name starts with an "I", WTF!

Does it really matter that their name starts with an "I"?

That such a horrible and stupid reason.....

Wow....