Quote Originally Posted by zakalwe
Cheers Aymar, I’ve lurked on the EB threads for the past 6 months, but couldn’t seem to get an account working here at the org until now . I’ve had discussions over at .com, usually around people arguing about the lack of ‘civilisation’ of those north of the Mediterranean, and took part in a rather long thread with Pyscho about the bearded Britain leader

I’ll keep hanging about, but I’m afraid I’m rather sceptical about getting things historically accurate for this time period in Britain. In my job I often work with illustrators doing historical reconstructions and there is only so much you can say for sure without getting into speculation. Then you really just have to go with instinct. I think that while CA have made some screw-ups, that they are faced with a near impossible job portraying iron age Britain and Ireland. In archaeological papers, reconstructions and exhibition text, you can qualify things and say things like ‘this is an example of …’ , ‘some people may have worn …’ and ‘Archaeologists think that people may have …’ . You can also show the artefacts and say that ‘We found this at … , but no other … have ever been found, so was it rare or did no others survive?’

For CA developers and modders though, you have to take one find and give it to entire units. The object may have been a unique object or it may have been one of many, but you can’t qualify this. A single quotation like the German phalanx one becomes a huge argument, because it really affects the way the whole faction’s gameplay. But if I was writing an exhibition about the same thing, I could simply present the quote and translation, show some German spear- heads and say something along the lines of ‘Some people think that this method of fighting shows that the German tribes had a sophisticated method of warfare. Others disagree and … ‘

So I find it very difficult to comment on a lot of this, because a computer game can never accurately represent RL, and we do not have enough information to provide for iron age Britain

At the same time, that’s not to say that you can’t do some things correctly or show the most likely way things were done. Unfortunately, I usually end up saying ‘yeah, but …’ or ‘we can’t say for sure’ or ‘either way would be correct’ or ‘we only know that for a certain place at a certain time’ or 'it doesn't matter as it's incorrect either way'. So I’m unlikely to really be much help except for bitching at other people.
That is no problem for us. You're not making a doctoral thesis. Just helping out with your knowledge. Call it a fail-safe net. Like trapeze artists in the circus. Your contribution will avoid or reduce the possiblity of Historical mistakes.

Quote Originally Posted by zakalwe
But I’ll certainly be interested to see what you guys do. It’s all very interesting and enjoy discussing these issues with people who are both enthusiastic and knowledgeable .
Good. Then keep reading and posting. And checking the MOD development.

Quote Originally Posted by zakalwe
Provinces for Britain is very difficult. I don't think they can ever be historically correct for the game, but you'll be able to get something better at least. Barry Cunliffe's Iron Age Commuities might be able to help but even then you'd be left with regions just showing distributions of settlement types - no names and no personality. It is incorrect, but i think it's best to go for tribal names. Sadly you can't get them all, but at least you can get in some of the big names.
Preciselly. This phrase says it all:

I don't think they can ever be historically correct for the game, but you'll be able to get something better at least.

That is preciselly what we're trying to achieve. In a MOD for a game, there will always exist certain aproximations that don't correspond to real life and Historical fact, but we intend to reduce them to an almost invisible minimum. And we will prevail...