Faction 8: Egypt

[Myth]

It's a game, not a historical model, and as such, there should be features just for fun....even if they are not exactly historical. That's fine by me.

My only take is that the devs pay attention to detail on this one. Chariots cannot operate on rough, stony ground, nor can they be used on hilly or mountainous terrain. Historically, charioteers were the elite-of-the-elite, and should therefore be very expensive to train and maintain. The very last thing I would want to see are endless stacks of chariots rambling out of Egypt to overrun the known world.........

Or out of the British Isles for that matter.

[quadalpha]

Or out of the British Isles for that matter.

Initial efforts to follow the Charter of the Land were thwarted when it was quickly discovered that chariots are ill-suited to ruling the waves.

[Myth]

Initial efforts to follow the Charter of the Land were thwarted when it was quickly discovered that chariots are ill-suited to ruling the waves.

Tell that to the Britons in RTW who can go and take Rome itself with just their donkey carts

[Randal]

On the chariots:

The way my professor told it in university at least some of the successor kingdoms indeed did use weird innovations like scythed chariots in battle. They did so because their neighbours had identical armies to their own: everybody had big pike-armed phalanxes supported by heavy cavalry. This created a bit of a stalemate situation which they tried to resolve through tricks like this. They never seem to have achieved any success, though. Not when Darius used them against Alexander, not when the Seleucids used them and not when Pontus did.

I don't think there are records of the Ptolemies using them, but if there are no Seleucids I don't see a big problem with including them. It only requires a very little alternate-history thinking to assume that if one Hellenistic monarch gave them a go another might also give it a try.

(Or to put it in a total war context: even the Europa Barbarorum mod had scythed chariots in it, albeit only for the Pontics and the Seleucids.)

Edit: Here's a fun short write-up of the battles where Pontus used their scythed chariots. http://twincitiesfieldofglory.blogsp...-chariots.html Seems they actually did their job in one of them. Not so much against the Romans, though.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Again...it's not a matter of historical accuracy for me. If chariots are included, just use some common sense on where they can be used, and how much they cost.

Tell that to the Britons in RTW who can go and take Rome itself with just their donkey carts

Yep...and "pimped" donkey carts at that....imagine two horses towing a heavy wagon that can out-run a single rider on a horse

[Moros]

The real question is why does Ptolemaic Egypt control Petra? They never did, nor did any Hellenistic power. Only the Romans succeeded at that.
The Nabataeans even succesfully defended themselves from Makedonian conquest twice not such a long time before the start date of our game.

[Brennus]

Again...it's not a matter of historical accuracy for me. If chariots are included, just use some common sense on where they can be used, and how much they cost.



Yep...and "pimped" donkey carts at that....imagine two horses towing a heavy wagon that can out-run a single rider on a horse

Actually reconstructions of La Téne era chariots have proven to be rather light vehicles, although not as light as those of Bronze Age Egypt. It remains to be tested, however, if they could outrun a single horse.

[ReluctantSamurai]

It remains to be tested, however, if they could outrun a single horse

If you have any experience at riding horses, you would know the answer to that question