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Originally Posted by SpartanGlory198
I know your Turan preview is coming up soon (and am still looking forward to it),but I was wondering if maybe you'd let me know what kingdoms you're focusing on and what each's historical model(s) will be? That way,we can both be on the same page as to what types of units you want for said faction,and I don't drop you unit ideas that flow against the current,so to speak,and end up useless. :book:
Certainly, here's a rough model of the factions for the first release:
Aquilonia = Medieval France / Imperial Rome
Nemedia = Holy Roman Empire / Imperial Rome
Koth = The Byzantines
Argos = Argos / Medieval Italy
Zingara = Medieval Spain / Classical Iberians
Corinthia = Corinth / Carinthia
Ophir = Medieval Italy / Ptolemaic Egypt
Brythunia = Medieval Poland / Dark Age Britain and Classical Galatia
Hyperborea = Medieval Russia / Medieval Finland
The Border Kingdom = Medieval Anglo-Scottish Border country
The Cimmerians = Dark Age Gaels
The Æsir = Dark Age Norse
The Vanir = Dark Age Norse
The Picts = Cavemen / East-coast Native Americans
Pelishtia = Ancient Mesopotamia
The Zuagir = Pre-Islamic Arabia / Moors
Zamora = The Roma people, particularly the Gitanos of Iberia and the Kalderash of the Balkans / Pre-Columbian South American civilizations
Stygia = Ancient Egypt :egypt:
Turan = Ottoman Turks / Timurid Empire
When two inspirations are listed, the first is the dominant one, the second being either complementary or superficial.
I'm not entirely sure of Zamora yet, the scholars I'm chatting to haven't gotten back to me on it, but they're definitely Roma. I'm tentatively giving them a gleaning of the Moche culture due to their worship of a Spider God, but it's not permanent.
Also, don't worry about suggesting units that wouldn't fit with my own outlook: just because they wouldn't fit for one faction doesn't mean they wouldn't be great for another. The only soldiers that wouldn't really fit in the Hyborian Age are those with guns, and even they might make it in if replaced with a crossbow.:beam:
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How about including King Kull and the Atlantean Sword as a couple types of ancilliaries? King Kull could be considered a type of "legendary hero" trait that appears in,for example,King Conan's retinue list that gives a massive morale or attack boost,and the Atlantean Sword could have a somewhat similar effect that Excalibur had in Barbarian Invasion (but I can't quite remember what it is at the moment,because I've only attained it once a long time ago and haven't gotten it since,but it seems like it might have been some sort of heroic trait or battle skill).
Aspects of Kull and Kull's Thurian Age will definitely be in the mod, since there are plenty of such things in the Conan stories (the Aquilonian city of Shamar is believed to have been built before Atlantis sank, for example), so a few trinkets of the Thurian Age might make their way into the game. "Legendary Ancestor" is a really neat idea actually, and ties in well with the ideas of bloodlines: although I'm not sure Conan is a direct descendent of Kull, there's nothing stopping him boasting of descent once he learns about him. :beam:
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Barachan Pirate Mercenaries - Unarmored light infantry that uses a missile weapon,maybe a harpoon,before charging. Though their defense rating would be low,they could either have high hitpoints or be dirt cheap to hire and maintain as a balance.
The Barachans are surprisingly well equipped - there are pikemen with cuirasses and burgonets, longbowmen with leather jerkins and helms, and the usual unarmoured sword-swinging pirates one would expect. Your description fits the latter nicely (I even have them hurling harpoons!), and the two others would be specialist troops you only get by conquering Tortage (or if you're Argos, who use them as privateers)
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Argossean Gladiator Units - If my memory serves me correctly,a few of REH's stories mention Argos having Roman-esque gladiatorial games. Maybe a gladiator unit or two would compliment Argos' unit roster? This is one of my areas of expertise,so if you think it feels appropriate for the culture,let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.
Howard doesn't explicitly mention any gladiators in Argos, but they do fit quite well with the polyglot swarthiness and brutality I had in mind for Argos' more rugged and ungentlemanly units. Since Argos has somewhat relaxed laws regarding trade with pirates, I can certainly imagine pit-fights or deathmatches being quite popular in the darker corners of Messantia.
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Mercenary Warships - This is somewhat of a wildcard,because I'm not sure how the mechanics would work,if possible at all. I've always played Total War with the somewhat frusterating aspect of balancing out production of ground and naval forces,and always wished I could hire pirate ships or something as an interim navy.
I think Mercenary warships are a must for landlocked nations, since constructing a fleet to confront even a smaller maritime power would take time: hiring out pirate or Free Company fleets would give them a leg-up.
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Edit: Just out of curiousity,what's your stance on non-REH characters like Janissa the warrior-woman,Karela the Red Hawk,and Red Sonja (yeah,I know Sonja's copyrighted - just an example)?I'm not saying they should or shouldn't be included,but I'm only curious of your stance,mod-wise,toward them.
I've decided to take a hard-line stance on non-REH characters and chose not to include them. This just keeps things simple, so that the only characters, soldiers, places and events are either REH's own, or ones I made up. This keeps things simple copyright wise and also maintains a sense of integrity when I disagree with a certain pastiche's views on a nation or character. So no Red Sonja, Janissa, Karela or other characters, sorry to say. There are some characters I really liked though - Fafnir Demonhand is one of my favourite Conan characters not written by Howard - but it would be unfair to "pick and choose", so there it is.