Preview: The Romani - (II)

[-Praetor-]

Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans.

Today, we are proud to present the mighty Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs. In this second preview for this faction, we will show you the new government system that has been designed for this faction by the Romani team. After that, we will show you some avatars based on our equites romani unit. Thirdly, we will display some in-game screenshots of the previously previewed strategy map settlements. And for the grand finale, we will show you images and descriptions of the fearsome legions of the Camillan period, plus a little video. Enjoy!

In this preview, released previously by Twitter, we introduce the one of the core gameplay mechanics of Europa Barbarorum II. This exciting new feature builds upon the Government system from Europa Barbarorum I, but goes much, much further. It introduces individualised Government buildings for each faction, and uses relationships with other buildings to create a detailed, complex and ultimately rewarding experience that throws the player into the reality of a divided and politically active province and its people. The enemy is no longer simply outside your borders, now you will need to deal with those who would seek to undermine you from within.

Click the Image above.

Following from the preview of the Authority buildings and details on how provinces will be represented in Europa Barbarorum II, we are proud to present the first of many faction-specific previews of this Authority system. As the Romani you will have the ability to expand your Empire as you see fit; will you focus on creating economic partners along the shores of the rich Mediterranean, or will you focus on expanding your military might through the subjugation of local political powers and the appropriation of their military traditions and manpower? In Europa Barbaroum II the choice is yours.

Listed below are all the Central Authority buildings available to the Roman faction in EB2. The buildings take their names from the political relationship that a region's people have to Rome.

Cives Romani

Cives Romani were full Roman citizens. They were obligated to serve in the legions and pay taxes. They enjoyed the right to seek election to public office, vote in elections, make contracts enforceable under Roman law, and to appeal the judgement of a Roman magistrate.

History: While a significant number of full Roman citizens were scattered throughout Roman-controlled Italy in 272 BC, they dominated only in Latium and its immediate neighborhood. Full Roman citizenship was granted to at least some Sabines in 268 BC and to the cities of Arpi, Fundi, and Formiae in 184 BC, but mass extension of full citizenship didn't occur again until the time of the Social War (91-88 BC). By the end of that conflict, all Italians living south of the Po became Cives Romani. In 49 BC Caesar gave full citizenship to the people of Gallia Transpadana, establishing the custom of granting full citizenship only to communities which had held Latin rights for several decades.

Game Effects: Only Latium begins the game with Cives Romani central authority. In the first half of our time period, only Cives sine suffragio central authority may be upgraded to Cives Romani. Later, it will also be available by upgrading Latini central authority. Regions with Cives Romani central authority have high replenishment rates for Roman troop types and receive a high public order bonus.


Latini

The Latini were Rome's most steadfast allies. Most Latini were descended from Roman colonists, or were colonists themselves. Latins were obligated to supply soldiers to the Roman army, exercised local political autonomy, and enjoyed most of the rights of Romans citizens; they were even allowed a limited right to vote in Roman elections.

History: The Latini were originally the citizens of the old Latin states. After most of these states were destroyed or absorbed by Rome after the Latin War, Latinitas became a purely political status. For example, the citizens of all but the smallest colonia founded in the 3rd C BC were Latini, even though most of the founding colonists were natives of Rome. In 272 BC, Latins were scattered throughout Italy, but were not predominant in any region. This remained the true until the Lex Pompeia of 89 BC gave Latinitas to the people of Gallia Transpadana. At this point, Latinitas became a stepping stone to full Roman citizenship. Later, Caesar extended Latinitas to Spanish communities that had helped him during the civil war and began the latinization of Narbonensis.

Game Effects: Latini central authority is only available in the latter half of the game, and then only in regions with a relatively high level of the city-state "religion". Latini central authority can eventually be upgraded to Cives Romani. Regions with Latini central authority have high replenishment rates for Roman troop types and receive a high public order bonus.


Cives Sine Suffragio

The Cives sine suffragio were Roman citizens who had most of the rights of the Cives Romani, but were unable to vote or seek election to Roman magistries. Like the Cives Romani, the Cives sine suffragio were obligated to serve in the legions and pay taxes.

History: In the peace settlement following the Latin War (338 BC), the Campanians and the Volscian towns of Fundi and Formiae were given civitas sine suffragio. Formally, cives sine suffragio were Roman citizens. In practice, this status was inferior to that of the Latins, and in some ways suffered in comparison to the socii. The Latins could vote in Roman elections, while the cives sine suffragio could not. Both the Latins and the socii supplied allied cohorts to the Roman army, but were free to raise troops however they wished. In contrast, the cives sine suffragio could be conscripted into the legions according Roman custom and practise. Finally, the Campanians did not enjoy the same degree of local autonomy as the Latini and socii, but were subject to Roman prefects.

The Campanians revolted from Rome during the 2nd Punic War and were stripped of all political rights when the Romans regained control of the region. In 290 BC, some Sabine communities were made Cives sans suffragio, the last time the Romans granted this type of citizenship.

Game Effects: Cives sine suffragio central authority exists only in Campania at the beginning of the game and may be upgraded to Cives Romani, though this transition will have some negative consequences. While Campania is under Cives sans suffragio central authority, it has high replenishment rates for Roman troop types and receives a moderate public order bonus.


Socii Foederati

States or tribes submitting to the Romans under the terms of a foedus, or treaty, sometimes became Socii foederati: permanent, subordinate military allies. The terms of each foedus were unique, but generally the socii were required to cede land to Rome and to contribute manpower to the Roman armed forces. Some of the ceded land was given to Roman settlers and used to found colonies. In exchange, the socii received military protection and local autonomy.

History: As Rome conquered Italy, most Italians became socii. Even as Rome expanded into the Mediterranean world, the socii remained predominantly Italian. However, it's clear that the Aetolians became socii in 189 BC, and arguably, Syracuse in 263 BC. All Italian socii south of the Po became Cives Romani after the Social War ended in 88 BC and those in Gallia Transpadana became Latini.

Game Effects: In the first half of the game, Socii Foederati central authority is an upgrade of the Military Government type. It may be upgraded in the second half of the game to Cives Romani or Latini if the region has a sufficiently high city-state "religion" percentage. Regions with Socii Foederati central authority receive a moderate public order bonus, moderate replenishment rates for regional troop types, and permit construction of Roman colonies.


Provinciales

Provinciales were the inhabitants of provinciae, conquered states governed directly by a senior Roman magistrate: a praetor, propraetor, consul, or proconsul.

History: The earliest Roman conquests outside of Italy were usually governed as provinciae: Nearer and Further Spain, Sicily, and the single provincia of Sardinia and Corsica. Conquests in the east, such as Greece and Macedonia, were at first treated differently, but became provinciae later on. Colonies were not founded in provinciae until the end of the republican period. Provinciales paid a tax or tribute (usually collected by Roman publicani, or tax farmers) and might be required to raise troops, though normally only in cases of a local emergency.

Game Effects: The Provinciales central authority is an upgrade of the Military Government type. It may be upgraded to Latini in the latter part of the game if the region has a high city-state religion percentage. Regions with Provinciales central authority receive a moderate public order bonus, and low replenishment rates for regional troop types.


Civitates Liberae

Some conquered regions were made "free" in the sense that they were freed from the dominion a king or external power. No colonies were founded there, they were not placed under any military obligation, and Roman armies were removed from their territory. The civitates liberae retained local political autonomy, but Rome might first dictate extensive internal arrangements.

History: After the Third Macedonian War, the people of both Illyria and Macedonia were made free, but both states were partitioned into four self-governing districts and obligated to pay a tax. In Macedonia, the sale of property and intermarriage between inhabitants of different districts was forbidden and gold and silver mining was prohibited. One of the four districts was allowed no army, and none were allowed to cut timber for naval construction.

There was no formal alliance between the states of the civitates liberae and Rome, but it practice they functioned as Roman protectorates.

Game Effects: Civitates Liberae central authority is an upgrade of the Military Government type. Civitates Liberae central authority may not be upgraded; it must be destroyed in order to change the authority type. Regions under this type of authority receive a high public order bonus and very low replenishment for regional troops. Income from farming, trade and mining is limited.


Client State

A Client State is a state in which a local ruler received Roman backing in return for his support of Roman political interests.

History: Particularly on the east, the Romans initially preferred to avoid direct rule of conquered territory. The Client State was one institution that permitted this. An early example of a Client state was most of "Roman" Illyria after the first Illyrian war, governed by Demetrios of Pharos. Later examples of client rulers quickly become too numerous to list, but include Eumenes II of Pergamon, Masinissa, and Prusias of Bithynia. Client states payed no tax or tribute, but might occasionally be expected to lend troops to Roman magistrates, as Deiotarus of Galatia did when M. Tullius Cicero was governor of Cilicia.

Game Effects: Client State central authority is an upgrade of the Military Government type. The Client State may not be upgraded; it must be destroyed in order to change the authority type. Regions under this type of authority can recruit a client ruler. They receive a high public order bonus and low replenishment for regional troop types. Income from taxation, farming, trade, and mining is limited.


Military Government

A Military Government is necessary to lay the foundation for any later political arrangement in a region.

History: Until Rome determined how to administer a conquered region, it was under military rule. This often required a treaty, often proposed by the consul commanding the occupying Roman army. However, it was necessary for the treaty provisions to be approved by the Senate and people of Rome. If there was any desire on the part of the Senate and people to modify the treaty, a commission of senators would be dispatched to the conquered region to investigate the matter and confer with the consul. Consequently, a year or more might pass before a treaty was agreed to by the the Roman government.

Game Effects: A region must have a Military Government central authority building before any other central authority building may be constructed. Military Government central authority confers a small public order bonus, unit recruitment isn't permitted, and income from taxation, farming, trade and mining is extremely limited.

Using the equites romani unit, Martelus Flavius created some customised avatars for you. Now, you can use these avatars in the TW fora.

In our last Romani preview, we revealed some strategy map city model renders for the Romani; now is a good occasion to show you some pictures of these strategy map models in game:

Village


Town


Large Town


City


Large City


Huge City

[-Praetor-]

The Organisation and Tactics of the Camillan Army

The Roman army of 272 BC is a late development of the Camillan army. The only description of the organisation of the Camillan army which has survived comes from Livy (8.8-10). His purpose is to help the reader better understand the action in his narration of battle of the Veseris, so his account is also useful for its description of the army's manipular tactics.

The Camillan army was composed of the equites, or cavalry, and six infantry classes: the triarii, principes, hastati, rorarii, leves, and accensi. These five infantry classes may correspond roughly to the six classes of the early Servian military system. If so, the triarii correspond to the first class, the principes to the second class, and so on, with the leves and accensi both corresponding the fifth class. This correspondence also suggests that the various classes of the Camillan infantry were based in part on wealth. Until the late 2nd C BC, Roman soldiers supplied their own arms and equipment. Consequently, the youngest soldiers may have been placed in the leves if they were poor, or the hastati if they were wealthier. Older soldiers may have taken their places in the rorarii, principes, or triarii depending on the equipment they could afford.

Except for the leves (meaning "light-armed"), each infantry class was organised into fifteen maniples. Each maniple was composed of two centuries, and each century had thirty men. Twenty leves were attached to each maniple of hastati. With a total of 300 leves and 900 of each of the other other five classes, there were a total of 4800 men in a Camillan legion. This is in close agreement with Livy's round figure of 5000. In addition, the legion had 300 equites.

The legion was deployed for battle with the leves - armed with a spear and javelins - in front of the rest of the army, prepared to skirmish with the enemy. Behind them, the hastati, principes, and triarii were arranged in three consecutive lines. The hastati formed a line with with wide gaps between neighboring maniples. The principes formed a similar line behind the hastati, but shifted to one side so that each maniple was positioned behind a gap between maniples of hastati. The triarii were positioned exactly as the hastati, but behind the principes. Maniples of the rorarii were stationed immediately behind the triarii, and the accensi immediately behind the rorarii. In fact, one maniple each of triarii, rorarii, and accensi is called an ordo. The dispostion of the equites isn't mentioned, but they were probably deployed on one of the army's flanks.

In battle, the leves would skirmish until they had exhausted their javelins or been driven back by an enemy advance. Then the hastati would attack. If they couldn't defeat the enemy, they would withdraw through the gaps between the maniples of the principes, and the principes would continue the battle. If the principes were also unsuccessful, they would withdraw through the gaps between the maniples of the triarii. The triarii would then close the gaps to form a continuous line, engage the enemy, and determine the outcome of the battle.

The combat role of the rorarii isn't clear from Livy's description. He states that they were initially deployed near the rear of the army, and mentions them engaging in combat after the principes but before the triarii. At the same time, he seems to imply that they had also taken part in an earlier stage of the battle. The role of the accensi is also vague. They are positioned at the very rear of the army, and in Livy's battle description, they never engage in combat. Their only action is to fool the enemy into thinking the triarii had been committed to battle. This tends to indicate that the accensi were not combatants at all, but servants or unarmed replacements.

Leves

The leves (meaning "light-armed") are the light infantry of Roman legions and Latin cohorts. In battle, they are positioned in front of the rest of the army, where they skirmish with the enemy until their javelins are exhausted or an enemy advance drives them behind the heavy infantry. They may also be called upon to pursue a broken enemy.

The leves are armed with a spear and several light javelins. They wear no helmet or body armour, relying on speed and agility to preserve them from harm.

The leves are the youngest and poorest combatants in the army. Roman leves are recruited chiefly from Latium and its immediate vicinity, while Latin leves may be recruited from any region where a Latin colony is found.

Hastati

The hastati constitute a Roman army's first line of heavy infantry. A legion's hastati are organized into fifteen maniples of 60 men, and are the first to engage the enemy in close combat. In most cases their role is to wear down opposing troops. If they don't defeat the enemy before tiring, they withdraw behind the second line of heavy infantry, the principes, who carry on the battle.

Each hastatus is armed with two javelins, which he throws before engaging his opponent with a short sword, xiphos, or machaira. He carries a scutum (a large oblong shield) and wears a bronze helmet decorated with feathers or a plume. A few of the hastati may wear a bronze pectoral plate on their chests and a matching plate on their backs, He may also wear a greave or two to protect his lower legs.

The hastati are primarily younger men from farming families with enough wealth to afford the weapons and equipment described above. Roman hastati are recruited chiefly from Latium and its immediate vicinity, while Latin hastati may be recruited from any region where a Latin colony is found.

(Disclaimer: This unit is still work in progress in terms of its model and skin, and the legionary animations haven't been implemented yet)



Principes

The principes form a Roman army's second line of heavy infantry. A legions' principes are organised into fifteen maniples of 60 men, and the maniples are arranged in a line with gaps between them. They enter battle after the first line of infantry, the hastati, tire and withdraw through the gaps between maniples. If the principes are unable to defeat the enemy, they withdraw through the gaps in the third line of heavy infantry, the triarii, and the triarii finish the battle.

Each princeps is armed with two javelins, which he throws before engaging his opponent with a thrusting spear. He carries a scutum (a large oblong shield) and wears a bronze helmet decorated with feathers or a plume. All principes wear some form of body armor and a pair of greaves.

The principes are men in their mid-twenties from farming families with enough wealth to afford the weapons and equipment described above. Roman principes are recruited chiefly from Latium and its immediate vicinity, while Latin principes may be recruited from any region where a Latin colony is found.

Triarii

The triarii form a Roman army's last line of heavy infantry. Like the rest of the legion's heavy infantry, they are organised in to fifteen maniples of 60 men each. The maniples are arranged in a line with gaps between them and rest on one knee while the first two lines of heavy infantry engage the enemy. If the hastati and principes are unable to win the battle themselves, they retire through the gaps in the line of triarii. The triarii then close the gaps in their line and enter combat like a hoplite phalanx to decide the battle.

Each triarius is armed with a thrusting spear and a sword. He carries a large round shield and wears a bronze helmet decorated with feathers, a plume, or a crest. All triarii wear some form of body armor and a pair of greaves.

The triarii are experienced soldiers wealthy enough to afford a hoplite panoply. Roman triarii are recruited chiefly from Latium and its immediate vicinity, while Latin triarii may be recruited from any region where a Latin colony is found.

Equites romani

The equites are the cavalry of the Roman legions and cohorts of the Latin allies. Each legion had about 300 equites and a Latin cohort about 30. The equites would generally be deployed on the flanks of a Roman army.

The equites are armed with a spear and sword, carried a round cavalry shield, and wore a fine bronze helmet. Polybius was probably referring to the cavalry of the Camillan army when he wrote "in old times they had no cuirasses" and "were nearly naked". While this is almost certainly an exaggeration, the Roman and Latin cavalrymen of this period seem to be lightly armoured in the Italic tradition, some wearing large and small breastplates and linothorakes, but many wearing no body armour at all.

The equites are recruited from among the wealthiest and most influential members of Roman society. Typically, a young Roman aristocrat's career began with service in the equites. Many of the mounts (the equo publico) ridden by the equites were provided by the state with funds raised by a tax on widows and orphans. However, the equites also received the service of the less wealthy men who were able to provide themselves with a suitable mount. Roman equites are recruited chiefly from Latium and its immediate vicinity, while Latin equites may be recruited from any region where a Latin colony is found.

Hastati sabelli

"Sabellian" is a term meant to encompass most of the Oscan-speaking tribes of Italy, and includes the groupings known as the Samnites, Lucani, Bruttii, Campani, and Apuli. The Sabellians are a notably warlike people who frequently served as mercenaries with Greek armies in Italy and Sicily, and who fought a series of wars against the Romans over a period fifty years as Rome expanded into southern Italy. Even after Rome had conquered them, some Sabellians were always willing rebel, joining the armies of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal, and finally launching the Social War almost 200 years after Rome had conquered the Italian penninsula. When not in revolt, the Sabellians supplied roughly half of the manpower of Rome's Italian allies.

The Sabellian spearman represents the prototypical Sabellian warrior. He is armed with an oblong, spined shield, a pair of javelins, and a thrusting spear. He commonly wears an Attic helmet with a crest, plume, or several feather holders. Montefortino helmets are common too. Most have some form of chest protection: the triple disk cuirass, and both large and small pectorals, but some wear no armor at all. All wear a broad bronze belt, and most are equipped with a pair of greaves. Finally, they wear short tunics that drape apron-like in the front and back.

The Sabellian spearmen are recruited from all of the sabellian tribes of the Italian penninsula, from Picenum north of Rome, to Bruttium at the toe of the Italian boot.

Equites sabelli

"Sabellian" is a term meant to encompass most of the Oscan-speaking tribes of Italy, and includes the groupings known as the Samnites, Lucani, Bruttii, Campani, and Apuli. The Sabellians are a notably warlike people who frequently served as mercenaries with Greek armies in Italy and Sicily, and who fought a series of wars against the Romans over a period fifty years as Rome expanded into southern Italy. Even after Rome had conquered them, some Sabellians were always willing rebel, joining the armies of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal, and finally launching the Social War almost 200 years after Rome had conquered the Italian penninsula. When not in revolt, the Sabellians supplied roughly half of the manpower of Rome's Italian allies.

The equites sabelli were the most common type of cavalry employed by the Sabellians and enjoyed a high reputation. They probably made up at least one third of the cavalry strength of a typical consular army. These cavalrymen are armed with a spear, sword, and two javelins. A number of south Italian tomb paintings show Sabellian horsemen carrying round or oblong spined shields and wearing crested (and sometimes winged) Attic helmets with paired feather holders. Other striking helmets are also portrayed. None wear heavy body armour; the triple-disk cuirass and large muscled pectoral can be identified, but most wear no chest protection. All are girt with a broad bronze belt, and greaves are sometimes worn, even by cavalrymen who are otherwise unarmoured. Almost all are barefoot, and on these we observe ankle bands which may mount spurs. Finally, all wear very short tunics which frequently fail to make the rider's hindquarters any less evident than those of his horse.

The equites sabelli are recruited from all of the sabellian tribes of the Italian penninsula, from Picenum north of Rome, to Bruttium at the toe of the Italian boot.

And as a special gift for you friends, here it is: the current intro video of the Romani. Hope you like it.

Now you can show support for Europa Barbarorum with our signature banners, featuring the mighty Romani! Courtesy of Gustave.

We hope you have enjoyed this preview of some of this faction's features and graphic art. And stay tuned, for there are many other factions still to be previewed.

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures, names, and descriptions shown in our previews are works in progress. We continue to improve on all parts of EB II, and we will continue to do so long after our initial release.

Since some areas where these news items are posted cannot handle wide images, we appreciate your restraint from quoting full-size images.

As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:

Europa Barbarorum ORG forum

Europa Barbarorum TWC forum

Credits are due to the Romani team for this preview. We give special thanks to Atilius for the text work on the "Government System" chapter; []Aba for the strat map settlements skins and models; Tux, JMRC and Martelus Flavius for the unit models; Martelus Flavius, Gustave and JMRC for the unit skins; -Praetor- for the video; Teleklos Archelaou and Oudysseos for this preview's artwork; and I Am Herenow for spelling and grammar correction.

We give special thanks to Imagehost, that provides us with a simple, foolproof, free and secure way to show you all these pictures.

Have a great day!

Regards,

The Europa Barbarorum team.

[anubis88]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OOOOOO MYYYY GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!!!



Now... to read it all... :D:D:D

You made my day/week/month/year

EDIT: How can i use the new avatars?
thanx

[stratigos vasilios]

Oh wow! This looks amazing!

[Horatius Flaccus]

Ah, amazing! I'm going to read it right away!

[micko]

O.o OMG! Incredible............ gr8 job once again EB team !

EDIT : The animathions are so smooth and clean... gj!
I have a few questions : When u inplant the legionary animation will it have a death animation and are those vanila horses or the new ones you`ve made?

Congratulations once again!

[mountaingoat]

excellent , very nice video

[Lvcretivs]

As always, an brilliant preview by the EBII team - marvellous research, game implementation and artwork! Excellent skins and unit models - just look at those hastati/equites sabelli, right out of the frescoes! - really amazing work!

[Julianus]

Oh great, gotta love the government system especially.

[Apázlinemjó]

The second Romani preview, none guessed that lol. When EB2 comes out, a few historical RTS will lose the playerbase.

[SwissBarbar]

Awesome ^^

[mlc82]

That video made me nerdgasm. I cannot wait for EBII, I haven't been this excited about a game in years.

[echolot]

Wow! Great video. Amazing

[Bucefalo]

Awesome preview, and the video was just epic with the music. Amazing work in all aspects. After reading all the information (i appreciate making it easy to read) i got some questions thought.

-If i read correclty, the accensi will no longer be a unit, based about what i read on the preview about the only source of them in battle having them as not being combatants. But what about the rorarii, will they also be removed? It seems like it is not very clear what their purpose was on the roman manipular formation, and with all the existing units i think the formation is quite well represented with no need to add more units to it. I don´t think they fulfilled a particularly important role on the formation anyway, otherwise there might have been more sources speaking about them.

-I´ve never read the word "sabellians" to refer to the italian tribes like samnites, campanians, etc. but i appreciate the explanation, you learn something new everyday. I wonder if there will be other units representing specific tribes (for example say campanian cavalry), or if the sabellians units are meant to represent these italian allies/enemies of rome in a general way. So basically what i am asking is if these sabellian units will be restricted to the romans, or if these may appear as mercenaries for other factions. And if the units available in the area will follow this general terminology "sabelli" or there may be some specific units like the campanian cavalry i mentioned before.

-Lastly, i don´t think this have much to do with this preview, but more with the romans as showed in EBI (and probably in EBI as well). If i remember correctly, both the hastati and principes were armed with pilum, scutum, sword and spear. I understand the limitations of the engine, and that no unit can have more than 2 weapons (pilum + sword or pilum + spear). What i wonder is why the principes use thrusting spears, while the hastati use swords. I can see the reasoning behind the triarii using mainly their spears, as they fight in a hoplite formation after all, but if i understand correctly (and please correct me if i am wrong) back in antiquity swords were much rarer and expensive to come by than spears, so i imagined that the richer principes would be equiped with swords. IIRC this was the case in EBI as well, and with the Polybian reforms the principes changed their weaponry to swords. I would appreciate any insight of what made you choose which weapon to give these units.

Thanks in advance, and also thanks for taking the time to make this preview.

[bobbin]

-I´ve never read the word "sabellians" to refer to the italian tribes like samnites, campanians, etc. but i appreciate the explanation, you learn something new everyday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabellians

What i wonder is why the principes use thrusting spears, while the hastati use swords.

I can't answer you fully on this but I recall there being a mention by Plutarch of the Hastati using swords against Pyrrhos's troops.

[Atilius]

If i read correclty, the accensi will no longer be a unit, ... But what about the rorarii, will they also be removed?

You're correct about the accensi. We believe that we have a suitable interpretation of the Rorarii, so they will appear eventually. We just felt that they weren't necessary for our initial release.

I wonder if there will be other units representing specific tribes ... or if the sabellians units are meant to represent these italian allies/enemies of rome in a general way. So basically what i am asking is if these sabellian units will be restricted to the romans, or if these may appear as mercenaries for other factions.

We will have at least one more Sabellian unit, and one or two "tribal" units. In addition, we'll have a couple more Italian units. All Sabellian units will be available as mercenaries, and while we haven't finished our recruitment system, I would like them to be available for normal recruitment to any faction controlling one of the relevant provinces.

What i wonder is why the principes use thrusting spears, while the hastati use swords. I can see the reasoning behind the triarii using mainly their spears, as they fight in a hoplite formation after all, but if i understand correctly (and please correct me if i am wrong) back in antiquity swords were much rarer and expensive to come by than spears, so i imagined that the richer principes would be equiped with swords.

The principes do have swords, but because they also have pila, they can't use them. At least for the Romans, swords do not seem to have been very rare, though perhaps many were of questionable quality. Even under the earlier Servian census system (Dion. Hal. 4.16) all soldiers of the 1st through 4th classes were required to arm themselves with spear and sword. This in spite of the fact that the 4th class (roughly the equivalent of the rorarii) had no body armor or helmet. And of course every single soldier in the later Polybian army had one.

[Cadwalader]

Mmm, that's good preview!

Frankly I don't know how to thank you. If only forum balloons were real and made of money.

[Noble Wrath]

It seems the Gallic naked dudes have finally found their match: the half naked (bellow the waist) Sabelli dudes!

Instead of saying again how awesome your work is, I'll tell you that a while ago I was in a cafe with my girlfriend and I suddenly realised that I had been explaining to her for a quarter of an hour or so, the reasoning behind the introduction of thureophoroi and thorakitai in the hellenistic armies. Yeah, your work is THAT awesome.

[-Praetor-]

It seems the Gallic naked dudes have finally found their match: the half naked (bellow the waist) Sabelli dudes!

Instead of saying again how awesome your work is, I'll tell you that a while ago I was in a cafe with my girlfriend and I suddenly realised that I had been explaining to her for a quarter of an hour or so, the reasoning behind the introduction of thureophoroi and thorakitai in the hellenistic armies. Yeah, your work is THAT awesome.

You're kidding, right? You should be reasoning the introduction of other things, but oh well...

At least an old saying is true. Play EB: It gets you laid.

[Mulceber]

Just...wow...I can't wait to conquer the world...again! -M

[DaciaJC]

This is quite possibly the best preview yet. The EB Team never ceases to astound me. Really, my jaw dropped when I saw the hastati and the Romani intro video.

I have just one suggestion/question: would it not make more sense for the text to read "For it is not permitted for the Romani people, whom the gods wanted to rule over all peoples, to be in servitude"? As it is, it's a little confusing. Just a minor detail, nothing more.

Can we look forward to intro videos for all of the factions?

[Atilius]

would it not make more sense for the text to read "For it is not permitted for the Romani people, whom the gods wanted to rule over all peoples, to be in servitude"?

This is just the translation of a passage from Cicero's Philippicae (6.19): "populum Romanum servire fas non est, quem di immortales omnibus gentibus imperare voluerunt." I don't have the name of the translator to hand.

[Arjos]

Amazing!
I love those sabelli, but barefoot on the battlefield seems painful...
Very interesting the new government system ^^
BTW the triplex acies in the video is awesome, too bad the celts are getting pwned XD

[Phalanx300]

An great preview! The Camillan army looks great, always liked it more in EBI then the Polybian army. Especially the Triarii look great! Nice to read that Rorarrii isn't out.

Video looked impressive. Great when you see the manipular formation taking shape in the beginning. Does this mean though that each faction will have an intro?

[BerkeleyBoi]

Wow... that was awesome...

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Awesome

[HFox]

Another winter
Has suddenly now ended
The sun brightening

[Ptolemaios]

Too good to be true. I can´t wait to see more.

[KLAssurbanipal]

Excellent as always!!!! :D

[antisocialmunky]

Great Preview Guys!

I have an idea for the video. When you start the text on the video. Why not have the '100 years ago' in latin that then turns into English? That would be a ++ nice touch in my book :)