EB - Countdown to Open Beta: Baktria

Man, I love the fact that you decided to include Baktria in your mod! The pictures above made me want to perhaps play Baktria before I play the Sarmatians as I had planned... Apart from all the nice units, I also happened to notice that you'd done a great job on the terrain - much better terrain than in vanilla R:TW imo. The Baktrion Agema deserve extra credits :). The first in action screenshot, and the in action screenshot of all the archers who had just fired their arrows, really got me into the athmosphere.

The Baktrians are one of my favorites just because of their location... all those Greek colonies lost out in Transoxania and the Hindu Kush... just plain Romanticism!

And those Indo-Greeks... even though I saw them a good while before you guys did, I still ain't over them! They're amazing! That shield! OMG I'm gonna faint :fainting:



~Wiz

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Originally Posted by The Wizard

The Baktrians are one of my favorites just because of their location... all those Greek colonies lost out in Transoxania and the Hindu Kush... just plain Romanticism!
And those Indo-Greeks... even though I saw them a good while before you guys did, I still ain't over them! They're amazing! That shield! OMG I'm gonna faint :fainting:
~Wiz

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From Bactria he entered Sogdiana
Across the fertile pastures of Ferghana,
The hunting lands of arrow, spear and sabre,
Of Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane and Baber.
His Macedonian coins still come to hand
In Merv, Bukhara and in Samarkand.
V. Mersey, Alexander of Macedon

And here's a great story about the discovery of the largest gold coin ever minted in the ancient world - from Bactria of course ~;) :

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In fact, no single Bactrian coin has ever caused such a stir as his great gold masterpiece. This massive 20-stater coin is of the standard Eucratides type, with portrait of the king on the obverse wearing a commander's cloak, a royal diadem and a great plumed helmet decorated with the ears and horns of a bull. The reverse offers the king's usual type, two mounted horsemen—the heavenly twins, the Dioscuri of Greek legend—charging to the right. Eucratides's usual titles appear on the coin as well. It is not the style, exceptionally fine though it is, which makes this, in the words of one expert, "the rarest coin in the world"; it is the extraordinary size. At 63 millimeters in diameter (2½ inches) and more than 169 grams (six ounces) of Bactrian gold, it is the largest such coin ever minted in the ancient world, apparently to celebrate the king's conquest of Demetrius of India. There is only one specimen known in the world today—but that such a huge coin could escape the melting pot at all is amazing luck for us.

The unusual story of this coin's discovery can be tracked down through various newspaper accounts from over a century ago. In June of 1867, a French numismatist associated with the British Museum was dining with a group of collectors in London. One of the guests told about a strange encounter he had had that day with a shabby beggar trying to sell an ancient coin. He described a gold piece so large that all at the table agreed it must be a forgery. Yet, as the conversation drifted to other numismatic topics, the French expert could not get the gold coin out of his mind. Finally, in what he called "a fit of numismatic fever," he excused himself and set out to follow the trail of the beggar. When the two finally met late one night in a ramshackle London flat, the expert demanded to see the coin at once. The beggar explained that he had come all the way from Bukhara, where he and six others had found the coin. In a matter of minutes, he said, daggers were drawn and five of the men were dead. The two survivors agreed to smuggle the prize to Europe and share whatever price it brought. Then, his story told, the mysterious fellow took off his old coat, his shirt and his undershirt; he lifted his arm and pulled from his armpit a filthy, sweaty leather case with the gold coin sewn inside.

With an "electric shock," the numismatist held the coin and convinced himself that it was no forgery—but he knew that he must conceal his enthusiasm as he bargained down the price. The traveler from Bukhara insisted upon £5000 for the giant coin; the expert handed it back and wrote a check ... for £1000, adding coolly that this was his offer for the next 20 minutes. After that, he said, "I'll give you only £800, and so on until I get to £500. If you don't close the deal tonight, tomorrow I will not take the coin at any price."

They stared at each other for more than 19 minutes. Then the beggar snatched the check for £1000, and handed over the coin.' "This," reported the numismatist to the new papers, "is the rarest coin in the world, and the one for which the highest price has been paid. Since it cost the lives of five men, I do not think anything more was paid for it than it was really worth. It ought to have been saved for the delectation of numismatic amateurs in all times to come, even had fifty or one hundred lives been sacrificed."

If you have in mind some numismatic delectation of your own, however, do not ask to see the coin at the British Museum. Though associated with that great institution, the buyer was a Frenchman first of all. Through the special attentions of Emperor Louis-Napoléon, the 20-stater gold piece of Eucratides was immediately purchased by the Bibliothèque Impériale, now the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris.

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http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu...r.and.gold.htm

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Originally Posted by The Wizard

And those Indo-Greeks...

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yeah, that skin is ridiculous! i love the bears (?) on the breastplate and that patterned shirt and shield.. who did those? there are some skinning masters on this mod team. strange thing about that shirt, i hardly notice the "crotch"-stretching problem i've seen on other skins.

Ah, modifying factions is one thing, but creating another one altogether is a feat indeed. Good job! Now...what about the Indians? :-)

Holy crap those archers have spare bows! Cool

wow, great. really

about those Indohellenikoi Hoplitai there are both skirmishers and melee. but the discription reads that thureophoroi should be used to finish it off in melee. does this mean that the Indohellenikoi Hoplitai are inferior to thureophoroi?

the heavy assault units looks great, whats it called? lov ethe shield size.

wich reminds me. will al hoplite shield be that big? how big will pikemen shields be, like in the pic. or is it wip?

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Ah, modifying factions is one thing, but creating another one altogether is a feat indeed. Good job! Now...what about the Indians? :-)

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They won't be their own faction. Not enough of our map includes them to warrant an entire faction.

They can't add factions, they had to axe numida.

But it was worth it ~:)

numidia sucked anyway. hated them. only had like 9 units.

Well if the EB crew did Numidia they'd no doubt have about a million ideas for Numidian units.

I'll make this first posting of mine a salute to the EB team.
May your lives be long and prosperous ones, may your Hondas never break down in traffic and may you always be accompanied by 'appreciative camp followers'.

Baktria really does look astonishing..guess it'll be Baktria first for me, once EB is all done and ready to go. Whooo-hooo!

By the by, the Baktrion Agemata's 'duck' helmets, aren't they what the Hetairoi also wore in real life? Looks familiar.

Wow first real look at EB and it is truley as awsome as people have said ! Might even take this and not bother with BI when its out.

BI? whats that?

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Originally Posted by jerby

BI? whats that?

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The RTW expansion, Barbarian Invasion.

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Originally Posted by tibilicus

Wow first real look at EB and it is truley as awsome as people have said ! Might even take this and not bother with BI when its out.

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i think it's safe to say that EB will be the reason i buy the expansion, if it enables EB to improve their mod.

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Originally Posted by Big_John

i think it's safe to say that EB will be the reason i buy the expansion, if it enables EB to improve their mod.

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Fo' sho'

Ya, im looking forward to what the modders will do with the expansion more so than what creative will do. Heh, they dont care as long as I fork over the dough.

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Originally Posted by Big_John

i think it's safe to say that EB will be the reason i buy the expansion, if it enables EB to improve their mod.

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You're not the only one.~:cheers:

Hey Sfwartir, welcome to the org!

You're right, the Agemata helmets were a common Alexandrian accessory, possibly second only to the Phrygian-style helmets. 'Duck' helmets, though, completely eludes. They don't look so much like ducks as curtains draped across the temples.

Just to say hello. This is my first message in this forum. As far as I can see from the posts, most of you are from the US, and very few people come from the Roman Empire (Hispania, Galia, Italia, Britania, etc). This is curious, at least. By the way, your mod looks fantastic, much better than RTR which I am playing now. Many greetings from Barcino, Tarraconense (today Barcelona ~:)

What makes you say that? Most of EB team is, IIRC, from Europe, or of European descent...
and where do you all Iberians come from, honestly! another one!

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Originally Posted by LegVIIGemina-Tarraconense

Just to say hello. This is my first message in this forum. As far as I can see from the posts, most of you are from the US, and very few people come from the Roman Empire (Hispania, Galia, Italia, Britania, etc). This is curious, at least. By the way, your mod looks fantastic, much better than RTR which I am playing now. Many greetings from Barcino, Tarraconense (today Barcelona ~:)

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In fact, there are 5 Iberians on the team (I am one of them) and most of the team is from Europe, although we have quite a few citizens of the USA.

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Originally Posted by Aymar de Bois Mauri

In fact, there are 5 Iberians on the team (I am one of them) and most of the team is from Europe, although we have quite a few citizens of the USA.

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Sarcasm, Angadil, Aymar and me... Who's the fifth? ~:confused:

BTW, Tarraconense, greetings from Gadir/Gades... ~:wave:

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Originally Posted by Dux Corvanus

Sarcasm, Angadil, Aymar and me... Who's the fifth? ~:confused:

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Well, then I was wrong. There are 6 Iberians in EB. To that list you have to add [cF]Hanbaal and Deadrunner, both Portuguese.

and isn't there one American of iberian descent?

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Originally Posted by Aymar de Bois Mauri

Well, then I was wrong. There are 6 Iberians in EB. To that list you have to add [cF]Hanbaal and Deadrunner, both Portuguese.

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Lusitania 4, Celtiberia 2...

Pedro, bring the muskets! :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by eadingas

and isn't there one American of iberian descent?

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In fact, many American EB members are also somehow represented in the game... ~;)

extremely interesting story, Teleklos. Though the site where it is seems a little... overinterested in mythical places. It does beg the question wether there are no Indian sources on Bactria? Apparently they've bashed at least the north west of India quite and should've left some impression. White colored, powerful troops from such a backward place as Bactria would have been noticed, I think, by the Indians.

never would have guessed sarcasm is iberian. where is khevlan is american isnt he?

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Originally Posted by Ellesthyan

extremely interesting story, Teleklos. Though the site where it is seems a little... overinterested in mythical places. It does beg the question wether there are no Indian sources on Bactria? Apparently they've bashed at least the north west of India quite and should've left some impression. White colored, powerful troops from such a backward place as Bactria would have been noticed, I think, by the Indians.

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Frank Holt, the guy who wrote the article, is the most trustworthy source that has yet written on Baktria (IMHO). He's done a lot to break down the myths of Baktria without constructing something else that's imaginary. Mostly a numismatist. The part about India and their impression there is very interesting, but virtually nothing survives in the climate (stone being an exception) and outside of oral history that was later transcribed and word of mouth that reached the greeks (Plutarch knew of Menander-the great Baktrian-Indian king, but didn't write a history of his life), there is little to go on. Maybe some archaeology will help clear it up one day, but it will always remain obscure. A century or so after arriving, the Baktrians were mostly absorbed into Indian culture as a whole. Art historians have had a blast with stone sculptures though and some big controversies have occurred over greek influence on early indian sculptures of Buddha and other religious themes. I highly recommend Holt's book "Thundering Zeus", even Tarn's or Sidky's histories of Baktria if you can't get Holt.