Previews

[Old_King_Coal]

I will be featuring a number of units that have been completed in Strategos in this thread

as a starter check out these youtube videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O18fB1PE_bo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2n6l7ir0kE

Special thanks to Foot for allowing us to use Eb models.
And credit goes to King Louise Assurbanipal for hs models from Hannibal's Army mod and Hoplites v2

[Old_King_Coal]

hese are a number of syracusian units available to the faction of syracuse:

The Syracusian hoplite, will form the backbone of the Syracusian phalanx. They are well armoured, robust and effective.

The symbol on the shield is the triskelion that is still in use on the flag of Syracuse


the syracusian Hippeis are unique for the Greek cavalry because they were much more potent than the cavalry of many other cities. During the Athenian Expedition to Sicily the Syracusian cavalry were vital in keeping Syracuse independant.


Syracusian Epilektoi hoplites are also quite potent in comparison to the elites of other cities. The reason for this was that Syracuse was a wealthy city, and many of it's citizens also had a lot of wealth, meaning that they were able to afford excellent armor and weapons

their shield represents a lightingbolt characteristic of the Greek god Zeus


Syracusian Epibatai (marines) are good soldiers effective on both land and sea. Since many battles in the Classical world occur near water shipboard marines are able to land and support the hoplite phalanx on the field.




Sicilian Hoplites are available to recruit in all the cities in Sicily. Whereas Syracusian hoplites are available only in Syracuse itself Sicilian hoplites are available to all factions when they take any sicilian city.

[Old_King_Coal]

For team members (and any others who wish to try it) the latest version of Strategos (symbols not implemented I would appreciate it if somebody could get them working I tried and failed)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VLN8OCNJ

[Old_King_Coal]

Some of the Argive units:

The generic Hoplitai:


Sturdy soldiers but not at the level of the epilektoi of other polis, easlily able to defeat the enemy levies or cavalry, provided they aren't out-flanked!

relatively expensive hoplites, good morale

Epilektoi hoplitai


After a major defeat by Sparta in which Argos lost almost all it's military strength (Argive casualties were about 6000) the Argive Strategoi decided that they had to adapt to survive. They liberated a number of slaves to fight, but also had a number of social elites and aristocrats to form up the epiletoi. These men having being developed to fight the Spartans are an especially strong version of the epilektoi hoplitai.

Very expensive elite hoplites, very strong morale

Liberated Hoplitai


The major defeat by Sparta (aforementioned) demonstrted effectively that the current Argive phalanx and indeed the polis of Argos would soon fall if it didn't adapt. They created an elite, the epilekoi, but also liberated a number of slaves (or gymnesioi as the Argives called them). These 'liberated hoplites' were given some simple and cheap armor, rudimentary training and then forced onto the battlefield in large numbers. They will fight, but are less willing to do it than your other hoplites.

inexpensive, poorly-trained, weak morale

[Old_King_Coal]

These are the current units available to the Eastern Faction of Lydia:

Phrygian Skirmishers:


Light skirmishers, able, but not effective agains heavily armoured infantry

inexpensive, weak morale

Pathlagonian Cavalry:


Light cavalry carrying a number of javelins to harass the enemy from range and then close in with a xyston lance to break or rout enemy formations

relatively inexpensive, good morale
Lydian Heavy cavalry:


Excellent heavy cavalry capable of punchin through formations of infantry or driving off enemy cavalry. Their heavy armor makes them invaluable in the battle situation.

expensive, excellent morale, heavily armoured

Lydian Hoplitai:


The predominant infantry type of the ancient world was the hoplite, and it spread all over the world where Greeks had influence.

Lydian Chariots


Chariots were almost always in use in eastern armies. This made sense because the east is filled with flat plains and deserts where mobility and speed are vital to victory in battle. Lydian Chariots are effective agains modt infantry and cavalry types, but fall down agains spearmen and massed archer fire

relatively expensive, excellent moale, heavily armoured

Lydian Archers


Since soldiers had to supply their own weapons, most of the lowere class people had little or bo armour and nothing suited to heavy infantry. So they carry a weapon anybody can afford, the bow. Lydian archers are no more effecive than other archers, rather less so having limited training, so you shouldn't use them in a crucial point on the field.

Inexpensive, weak morale, poorly armoured

[Old_King_Coal]

These are the units currently availabel to the faction of Sparta, Not including the helots yet)



Skiritai

The sciritai were a greoup of peoples living around the polis of Sparta who were not full citizens but wer allowed to stay in exchange for verious services, notably the sciritai served as light troops that attacked the enemy phalanx from the left side while they were advancing towards the Spartan phalanx. Their main use is that they are effective javelineers, but they can also serve as effective wordsmen should they be required.

relatively inexpensive, good morale, effective in melee



Tegean Hoplitai

Sparta when it had acheived Hegemony was able to all on a larger number of allies and auxiliaries than ever before. This enabled it to maintain it's dominance for a very long time. Tegea was one of the mian benefactors to Sparta's allied hoplites, they are well armoed and armoured, but they do not like that they are fighting for an enemy king's hegemony...

Decent morale, well armoured, expensive



Perioikoi Hoplitai

the Perioikoi were another group of peoples living around Sparta that weren't full citizens. The perioikoi contributed to Sparta's military in the form of a body of excellent hoplites. These men are more well armoured than the core Spartans themselves, but are less skilled, even so they will form a rock-hard piece of the powereful Spartan Shield-wall

Good morale, well-armoured, expensive



Ekdromoi

Ekdromoi (meaning outrunner) hoplites were an invention that came into play late in the Classical era. They were armed with less armour than the other hoplites, carrying either their own clothing or a suit of light iphicratean armor. Their lightness made them ale to lash out before the main battle and strike quickly at a piece of the enemy phalanx in order to disrupt it to let the main battle line break the enemy there

good morale, lightly armoured, fast, relatively inexpensive



Hippeis

Greek cavalry were armed very lightly and often only carried a number of javelins and a short lance or sword for melee. Greek cavalry were also known to have been able to break an enemy formation of hoplites if they were able to wrap around behind them and strike at a flank.

Good morale, lightly armoured, fast, expensive



Hippeis hoplites

The Spartan kings picked for their bodyguard the best of the best. 300 hand-picked warriors from within the ranks of Spartiati. They are not much different from other Spartans except for their excellent armor, which only comes to them because of their position in the aristocracy or nobility. On the field they are an awesome force and always belong on the frontline.

Unbreakable morale, heavily armoured, exceedingly expensive



Lochagos and Musician



Strategos

[Old_King_Coal]

he Megaupload file has been updated, C: July 22

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6D6W28FV

PS. is anbody interested in trying a multiplayer with it?

[Skullheadhq]

I'm fine with it, just have to download it.

[Beren Erchamion]

Very good work!

[Skullheadhq]

Yay our first fan

[Old_King_Coal]

and hopefully more to come ;)

[Alsatia]

Nice. Not bad.

[Old_King_Coal]

thanks, if anybody can offer me any advice or suggestions I will consider them, and I can redo entire units, I have done it more than once

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Nice looking units!

[Old_King_Coal]

I think I'll have a full faction preview sometime soon, any suggestions for the faction? I can do, athens, Sparta or Thebes with a little more improving and tweaking

[Old_King_Coal]

Well I've updated the Tegean Hoplitai, but I'm still working on the cuirass:

[Old_King_Coal]

and here are some Persians:

[falcon]

This is a pretty cool project - to remake RTW in the image of the heroic age of Greece..

Ok my take on this is

They look a bit too Romanesque. This is by far the main problem.. You might just want to keep the original Greek units - with the behavior (encoding) of militia hoplites or other hoplites except shorter spears, and variations in skin (clothes and shield patterns) and helmet for the various city states...

You might want to have your hoplites keep their helmets on during battle.. the pics on the vases with the helmets pushed up are after battle..

Sparta very rarely trusted it's non citizens with arms - as a matter of fact during the Peloponesian war (between the Athenian and Spartan leagues) the threat of rebellion by the helots was a threat used against them. The Perioikoi were relatively few in number (as was the spartan nobility itself) and they were generally kept away from weapons.

Yes when threatened by foreign - non greek - enemies they including the Helots may have taken up arms to prevent a worse fate (maybe far worse) than being ruled by Sparta (which was merely opression with the occasional brutal murder during the krypteria or the graduation of Spartan youths..) invaders were known to do far worse things to entire populations..

For the greek world the main units were the Hoplites. Supported by skirmishers. Cavalry was rare. (and probably very expensive)


The good news is the peoples outside Greece were fairly unsophisticated, fighting with spearmen, swordsmen, or chariots, sometimes archers - so cutting down units to 2-3 fighting unit types will do the trick for most of their neighbors.. Also at the time city states were prevalent so factions will have to be restirceted to city states..

The bare chest and pin stripes look for northern barbarians could also be replaced perhaps by a general model dressed in leather. maybe some armor for some units (which was as common for northern barbarians at the time as the toga was for mediterranean peoples, or the shirt and jeans is for pretty much the entire world today..)

For the Iranians the infantry and skirmishers in the regular game is pretty much accurate for an earlyer age too..

The Carthiginians could be replaced by the Phoenicians their direct ancestors..

[falcon]

some useful links..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_formation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltast
http://www.livius.org/pha-phd/phalanx/phalanx.html
http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~mreames/Al...hoplite_sm.jpg

[falcon]

Archers were also used sporadically but tended to be frowned upon as "cowardly" in greek warfare..

[falcon]

For the most part it looks good..

[Old_King_Coal]

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't get how it is far too 'romanesque', perhaps you can enlighten us? And i felt that having the helmets up makes it a bit more attractive since you'd get tired of seeing the same helmet over and over and over and over etc.

[Old_King_Coal]

Well i've done some improvement on the Syracusian cavalry, it uss an EB model that TOne has graciously allowed the use of and has an attractive skin.



he wields a spear and carries a long xiphos as a secondary weapon

[falcon]

Ok - I'm not trying to piss on your parade - I just want to make sure the mod does not dissapoint a lot of people. You did a good job on most units - but some.. (If you're gonna make all this effort - you might as well do it 100%)

Generally - Romanesque - one word HELMETS - especially the ones with the mass-produced looking roman "forehead" piece - and the Roman style red tuss on top.. Grieves also varied..

Unit by unit..

Syracusian hoplite - the skin, and shields are all very good - except you might want them to keep their helmets on..

The new Syracusian cavalry is much improved - (shield graphic and helmet detail are excellent) - but if you wanted to make it even better you might want to remove or mod the horsehair tuss on the helmet - it still looks like the roman one does.. (or at least change the color to white)

Syracusian Epilektoi - ok - but the helmet could use more detail to make it look better - and the shield graphic most definitely should be improved..

Syracusian Epibatai (marines) - roman helmets.. forehead piece, could use better shield graphics..

Sicilian Hoplites - good - almost perfect - once again helmet forehead piece - you could keep the forehead piece in this case if you added alot of vertical lines to it sort of like Ulysses' / Sean Beans' helmet in Troy..


Argive units - all very good.. Argive - generic Hoplitai - could use forehead piece/helmet graphic improvement - ie. remove or add vertical "artful" lines to forehead portion..

Phrygian Skirmishers, Pathlagonian Cavalry - good - I like the hat/helmet - in the future it will have to be improved but it looks good..

Lydian Chariots - the red roman tuss- helmet decioration is ok on the Lydian Heavy cavalry especialy with the forehead thingy fitfully removed - but it doesn't look good on the charioteeers - at least change the vcolor to black or white or something.. (and the yellow on the chariot horses is not too great either..)


Sparta - Skiritai, and Perioikoi Hoplitai are very good - but you don't need that many units for sparta - sparta pretty much had just one simple type of hoplite - without too much decoration and just a scary red cape.. For sparta maybe one type of hoplite, skirmishers, and "peasants" who would take up arms in self defense.. you could also have light spearman - youth - drafted in an emergency to defend Laconia.

Beides these two units could be used as mainstay units for other city-states..


Tegean Hoplitai - good except for shiled graphics - the greek alphabet is not the same as the roman one we use today.. and they woukld deserve better than just a letter on their shields - you could just leave their shields plain - and little more subdued bronze..


Ekdromoi - roman helmet.. not too convincing, bad shield graphics - and the checkerboard design on the helmets....

Hippeis - helmets could use imnprovement - the black cape is somehow too contrasting with the horseman, and the red cloth on the horses.. shield graphics definitely need improvement..


Hippeis hoplites - units themselves are very good - shield graphics could use improvement - especially the officer's hypnotic shield, and the musician's checkerboard helmet decoration.. (maybe you could use the panther from the shield except on white or grey background, or a horse head, or some mediterranean looking white-grey desing)

"Well I've updated the Tegean Hoplitai, but I'm still working on the cuirass"

My opinion the old variant of the units themselves was very good - except for the shields..



Other things - you don't need that many units - greeks did not have a great variety of troops - and very few horsemen - so some spartan units could be used for other states..

Skiritai with different shield graphics, and clothes coukld be used as marines for many states..

Some skirmishers - from the regular game could be used and recycled as support infantry - so you only have to do the hoplites..

Also since th greekl world is small you might want to think about neighboring peoples too - but like I said warfare back than was simple so many units can be "recycled' from the regular game (with minor changes maybe..)..

[Old_King_Coal]

thanks for the tips falcon I'll take it all into consideration,

I've been doing a lot of work on the previously uploaded hoplites but I haven't uploaded any images yet, probably this weekend sometime.

And as for the 'romanesque' helmets on the syracusian marines, they are attican style helmets, not the montefortino or imparial gallic or any other roman helmet, I'm afraid I ca't see how it could be mistaken for Roman.

Also the Tegean hoplite is one I'm having a lot of difficulty getting just right, probably a while before it's quite done.

and the horses still use the old BI textures (so it'll have the ugly bright color saddles still, I'm going to fix that)

I'd appreciate further recomendations

[Spartan198]

I like what I'm seeing. Is it modfoldered? And what .exe is it for? RTW, BI, or Alex?

[Old_King_Coal]

It's for BI, and I haven't sorted out an extra exe yet,

I'm not sure what Alex is tho...........

[Spartan198]

I'm not sure what Alex is tho...........

The Alexander expansion.

Another question... this is for BI 1.6, right?

Edit: Okay, I put all the files into the BI folder, then sent the shortcut to the desktop and clicked on it to run, but got this.



I tried replacing my unmodified BI data folder (I always keep zipped copies of the data folders on a CD so I don't have to uninstall and reinstall repeatedly) and reinstalling Strategos several times, but I keep getting the same error when I click the Strategos shortcut to run it.

Edit: Also, I recommend bringing this mod to Total War Center, too. It'll help get you more coverage.

[Old_King_Coal]

well I don't know hat the problem is, but I think if you just move the strategos folder into the rome total war folder? I dunno i never saw that problem,

and ya going to the twc sounds like a good idea

[Old_King_Coal]

Sorry about the delay uploading some more stuff, I'll probably upload new stuff about every week.

Well I've improved some of the spartans, and at Phalanx 300's urging I made a new 'Neodamodeis' hoplite who was a helot given the gear of a hoplite and sent to fight in the phalanx.



improved spartiati, better textures on linothorax and helmet



perioikoi, uses an xgm model so I'll be going to the xgm leaders for permission sometime soon



the neodamodeis



improved hippeis guards

well, hope you liked it, pm me with any suggestions :)