Preview: The People of North Africa

[SwissBarbar]

Cool

[Cartaphilus]

INCREDIBLE WORK!!!

EBII will be a masterpiece for sure.

[BeeSting]

Three things seem inaccurate from this review:

1. Where's the driver in the chariot?
2. Forest elephants were too small to mount a tower.
3. horses of antiquity were not as large.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

1. Where's the driver in the chariot?

He is in the front of the chariot.

[A Very Super Market]

He's a bit hard to see. If you aren't looking carefully, you might think the guy on the right has a really wide stance. And if you do see him, it looks like he's riding the driver.

[Tellos Athenaios]

3. horses of antiquity were not as large.

Depends, depends. But in general you are quite right, and AFAIK these are in fact Vanilla MTW2-K horses because our own haven't been created yet... You know the drill: unless stated otherwise all is WIP.

[APX]

2. Forest elephants were too small to mount a tower.

Same thing I was thinking. Shouldn't forest elephants be small? I'm nothing close to being a good historian, but I always believed the elephants used by Africans and Hannibal were smaller than regular elephants.

[Cyclops]

I am yet again gobsmacked by the quality of this mod.

There is so much excellent detail that even the criticisms are (generally) raised to a higher tone than on pretty much any site I have ever seen. Great to see honest opinions given and taken.

I wish more strength to the power of your arms.

[Taliferno]

Same thing I was thinking. Shouldn't forest elephants be small? I'm nothing close to being a good historian, but I always believed the elephants used by Africans and Hannibal were smaller than regular elephants.

They were smaller than eastern elephants but I'm not to sure how much smaller. In any case I believe that there is depictions of west african elephants with towers on them.

[Tux]

Three things seem inaccurate from this review:

1. Where's the driver in the chariot?

Yeah he's in the front and to add some ropes for him to be more visible would be too complicated with the current engine.

3. horses of antiquity were not as large.

As it states in the preview all you see is WIP, if you would have checked the twiter discusions you would have seen that a new animation skeleton was done for ponies which wasn't used here.

[Leão magno]

Impressive and awesome as usual!!!!!

[Moros]

3. horses of antiquity were not as large.

We'll have many different horses in EBII. Small Ponies for the Celts, Arabs for the Arabians,... So don't worry about that. We don't have them yet, but there's just a lot still to make for EBII.

[Christianus]

After all this complicated and beautiful work; lets hope EBII aint gonna be obsolete like one might feel with RTR 7.0 Cause it takes to many years to finish, and the engine becomes obsolete.

[Meneldil]

Since EBII will blow away ETW (which is currently mostly unmoddable), I doubt it will feel obsolete.
Heck, I just reinstalled RTW+BI to play some RTW mods (Arthurian TW mostly). The difference between RTW and M2TW is hardly noticable if the mod is a blast.

[bobbin]

We'll have many different horses in EBII. Small Ponies for the Celts, Arabs for the Arabians,... So don't worry about that. We don't have them yet, but there's just a lot still to make for EBII.

Woo! Cataphracts are going to be even more impressive with their huge Nisean mounts.

[Apraxiteles]

I'm curious, will the population buildings have any influence on the ethnicity of recruited generals, or even family members somehow? It would be nifty to have a client ruler or mercenary general who actually is one of his own people.

[Megas Methuselah]

I'm curious, will the population buildings have any influence on the ethnicity of recruited generals, or even family members somehow? It would be nifty to have a client ruler or mercenary general who actually is one of his own people.

That would be neat. I think an expansion/overhaul of the ethnicity traits system would be cool.

[Ca Putt]

I agree, I always feel silly when my governors in Italy turn out to be Pontians :/ .

[Wasntmenl]

Awesome update love to see that the afrikan people get so much attention. Hope this also will be the case with the other factions. I'm most suprised by the speed of this update since it normally takes longer before we get an update.

Keep up the good work guys

[Ibrahim]

They were smaller than eastern elephants but I'm not to sure how much smaller. In any case I believe that there is depictions of west african elephants with towers on them.

its not that small-the males are up to 8ft in height, or about the size of a smallish Asian elephant. I estimate 3-5 tons tops-more than enough to carry the howdah and 3-4 idiots on board (mahout included). though I imagine that only the largest and most aggressive elephants would be used, so expect some surprisingly big (8ft) forest elephants.

[JMRC]

2. Forest elephants were too small to mount a tower.

There's no evidence that african forest elephants couldn't carry a one-man tower. There's proof that the african bush elephant was not used in war, which means that carthaginian elephants were mostly north-african forest elephants (now extinct). There are references to african elephants in Hannibal's army with towers, and they were north-african forest elephants.

The other 2 issues have been answered already.

[Maeran]

With this talk of different sized horses- does this mean that different sized men is also possible?

[Cyclops]

There's no evidence that african forest elephants couldn't carry a one-man tower. There's proof that the african bush elephant was not used in war, which means that carthaginian elephants were mostly north-african forest elephants (now extinct). There are references to african elephants in Hannibal's army with towers, and they were north-african forest elephants.

The other 2 issues have been answered already.

I am interested in this point.

I love the Bush Elephants on the Carthi roster, I am shipping 2 of them to India in my current campaign.

I have read in the past (sources escape me) that Bush elephants are too wild to be tamed, unlike Inidan (and the now extinct Forest) Elephants.

Is the Bush elephant the same as the current Elephants one sees in sub saharan Africa?

[A Very Super Market]

Yes. They were the biggest species of Elephant, and lived fairly far South, so I'm guessing they were usually too much trouble to get ahold of.

[JMRC]

I am interested in this point.
I love the Bush Elephants on the Carthi roster, I am shipping 2 of them to India in my current campaign.

I have read in the past (sources escape me) that Bush elephants are too wild to be tamed, unlike Inidan (and the now extinct Forest) Elephants.

Is the Bush elephant the same as the current Elephants one sees in sub saharan Africa?

Yes it is. The forest elephant is not extinct; it's the north-african forest elephant (the one used by Numidia and Carthage) that became extinct due to the roman's hunt for circus spectacles. These elephants had 2,5 meters of height at the shoulder.

Read this book: War Elephants, by John M. Kistler

EDIT: this article is also interesting about numidian/carthaginian elephants with towers, since it names the sources.

[Tux]

With this talk of different sized horses- does this mean that different sized men is also possible?

Yes it is but at a certain the degree, all soldiers in a unit are scaled at the same degree as it was in EB1 but we're tyring to look for the best way to do this as it's not the same like in RTW.

[Belisarius II]

I can already imagine how long this is going to take to download... Great work guys

[waihin]

huzzah this is so great

[Skullheadhq]

Luckeley I've got a fast Internet Connection so I can handle all sizes, so make it as BIG as you guys want

[Belisarius II]

So I'm assuming that we are going to get these 'regions' previews for quite a while.