February Preview!

[Antinous]

THE GATES TO HEAVEN HAVE OPENED!!!!!!!!!! (Fainting and having a heart attack from exitement)

[bobbin]

nice.

[Novellus]

Hooray!

Hmm....I think Alin was pulling my leg when he said that the miniature pictures of the Oxybelai were "just crosses". And he said that the next preview wouldn't be until April 1st. I have a feeling that he's a part of the EB Official Disinformation team.

By the way, I am guessing that the Hoplitai do not have swords due to engine limitations like in the RTW engine?

[antisocialmunky]

Yippee. Here's to the Gaza campaign for the next preview! Hey, I can dream can't I?

PS. Those Hoplitae must have really great dental plans. :-D

[a completely inoffensive name]

Yes! Seeing those awesome new units pumped me up! Why is it that every time I start to wander from the EB2 forums, a new preview is released? (Rhetorical question)

[Tux]

Hmm....I think Alin was pulling my leg when he said that the miniature pictures of the Oxybelai were "just crosses". And he said that the next preview wouldn't be until April 1st. I have a feeling that he's a part of the EB Official Disinformation team.

Hehe I would have ruin the surprise or better said surprises if i would said something else.

[machinor]

Great preview! Those units look fantastic, especially the Peltastai Makedonikoi (I think it's quite interesting, that the Ptolemaioi will have them too in EB2)!!

Those Hoplitai got me thinking though... how distinguishable will each factions units be with all this variation? I mean, sure, the Peltastai Makedonikoi seem to have some kind of recurring colors but the Hoplitai...? I couldn't distinguish the Macedonian from the Ptolemaioi ones. Please don't get this wrong! I love the variation in the panoplia which gives the overall visual experience a whole new level. But still, I'm a bit concerned.

Keep it up!

[mlc82]

*faints*

[penguinking]

Amazing! All three units are absolutely gorgeous.

[Martelus Flavius]

Those Hoplitai got me thinking though... how distinguishable will each factions units be with all this variation? I mean, sure, the Peltastai Makedonikoi seem to have some kind of recurring colors but the Hoplitai...? I couldn't distinguish the Macedonian from the Ptolemaioi ones. Please don't get this wrong! I love the variation in the panoplia which gives the overall visual experience a whole new level. But still, I'm a bit concerned.

Well actually Hoplitai have none recurring colors, they are not equipped by state! Their regional appartenance appears on the shield, each symbol corresponding to a region or city, but certain are simply used in the whole hellenic world...

Actually the better way to distinguish yours from the ennemies ones is : Ennemy's direction facing Hoplite are yours, and those whose slaughter your soldiers are not yours!!!

Regards

Martel

[Matinius Brutus]

Everything is so beautiful! And the voicemod commands sound awsome!!! Actually they are the ones that made me realise how complex and time-consuming this is. Thanx EB team!

[ray243]

Well actually Hoplitai have none recurring colors, they are not equipped by state! Their regional appartenance appears on the shield, each symbol corresponding to a region or city, but certain are simply used in the whole hellenic world...

Actually the better way to distinguish yours from the ennemies ones is : Ennemy's direction facing Hoplite are yours, and those whose slaughter your soldiers are not yours!!!

Regards

Martel

Then how did the Hoplites distinguish friends from foe? The ancient problem of 'friendly fire'.

[Subedei]

Oh gods! Awesome work gentlemen! The beauty, the possibilities, the joy! Really loooooooking forward to this release...now off to play Hay in EBI to stop thinking about EBII....

[theoldbelgian]

ok this is great great great great etc

I am only confused with the A on the makedons shield or was sparta not the only ones who used it

I am very certain that I am completely wrong because the gods cannot make mistakes
[searches for a virgin to slaughter on the holy altar of EB]

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Sparta used the lambda (and "A" without a "cross"). An "A" doesn't represent Sparta.

[theoldbelgian]

ah ok

I never had a course greek (some basic latin but not greek)
see I was right that I was wrong

[Ludens]

EDIT: will there be a hellenic or hellenic inspired faction, based on the Occultus?

What do you mean with "based on the Occultus"? Occultus just means hidden. In the past, the EB team used the term for factions that had yet to be revealed.

[Ibrahim]

What do you mean with "based on the Occultus"? Occultus just means hidden. In the past, the EB team used the term for factions that had yet to be revealed.

I know what it means-moros explained this in detail. I was guessing that it (the mystery faction) was a hellenistic faction or influenced from hellenistic factions, though I could be wrong, and that it is just a faction that just happened to have used hellenistic style soldiers (thureophoroi).

[V.T. Marvin]

I am only confused with the A on the makedons shield or was sparta not the only ones who used it?


[searches for a virgin to slaughter on the holy altar of EB]

As MAA already explained, the sign on Spartan shield is actually L - for Lakedaimon (i.e. Sparta).

All sorts of abbreviations were used throughout the hellenic world and usually refered to deities. Therefore A, could stand Athena, Aftrodita or Artemis, depending on which one was the most favourite deity of the owner.
To disambiguate between various possible interpretations other forms were used regularly, like ATHA for Athena...

[-Praetor-]

Therefore A, could stand Athena, Aftrodita or Artemis, depending on which one was the most favourite deity of the owner.

Or Argos, Anfiction, Akraiphia, Aigys, Askra... basically any polis that starts with an A could be the reference of that shield...

[paullus]

and most of the hoplitai in Makedonian armies would have been Hellenes, not Makedonians, thus we used shield devices from those regions and city-states which most often contributed troops to their armies.

as for IFF difficulties, the "royal" units will probably end up being more uniform than they are now (single color or shades of a single color on all their shields, for example) which will help to some extent, though the colors may actually be very similar between Hellenistic kingdoms. Just remember, we'll have men carrying banners, that'll help.

[machinor]

Just remember, we'll have men carrying banners, that'll help.

SWEET!!

[soibean]

gorgeous units... I love the diversity of the units' appearances, thank you for the update

[Cyrus]

Yeah great preview guys!
get to work Eb team!
JK

[eddy_purpus]

This has to be the best Skins ever made in a TW Game and any other video game...
For realz
Theyre Fd-Au GORGEOUS :D

[Megas Methuselah]

Yeah, those hoplites and thureophoroi really turn me on.

[KLAssurbanipal]

Very nice models!

[Reno Melitensis]

There are no words to describe your work, keep up the good work.

Cheers.

[Decimus]

Awesome keep em coming

[geala]

It's really fantastic what you made of the models. I will patiently wait for the best TW mod ever.

But, I think you got already bored of all the praises.
So let me make a critical remark, or better, a critical question: I still think that a thoureophoros usually had no body armor. A thoureophoros with armor was then a thorakitai imho. Or not? For games sake it's surely ok to give armor to more units than in reality. And a thoureophoros is not one of the cheap and simple units in the game. But: are there really sources from which we can distinct armored thoureophoroi and thorakitai (which you depict as more heavily armored with mail instead of linen)?