RTR - Removing the Britons?

[Simetrical]

So, your intent is to replace civilizations that got steamrolled with other civilizations that got steamrolled? How is this not arbitrary?

Because while neither Illyria nor Britain got steamrolled, precisely, Illyria was more militarily significant. Britain just sat around and did nothing whatsoever militarily for most of RTR's timeframe, until it got invaded, when it still did nothing whatsoever except fight back. Illyria actually got into wars.

I feel that to discuss the nature or significance of one civilization in relation to another is pointless, racist, and even offensive.

Let me just clarify: you think it's racist to say something like "the Romans had more influence on Eurasian politics in 280-1 BCE than the Britons did"?

The game is not about what happened. It is about what could of have happened, it is about what might have been. This is a problem for a lot of history sim modders. Nobody wants a history book, we want to rewrite the book ourselves.

This is, I will grant, more of a philosophical decision than an objective reality-based one. In theory, there's no reason the Iberians couldn't have suddenly decided to build Roman-style aqueducts and adopt the Macedonian phalanx as their method of warfare. But a game that doesn't differentiate between the various factions and allows each one to freely choose its path is, while not inherently boring, not something that the RTW engine is suited for, and not something that many RTW fans would enjoy.

Therefore, we've chosen to basically restrict certain aspects of the game to what did historically happen rather than what could have historically happened. You as the player are allowed to attack anyone you choose in direct contravention of history, as well as making various minor tactical choices that history doesn't bother to record, but you aren't able to do things like decide your faction's troop list.

Our ideal is that, barring player interference, the course of the game should tend to play out as much like the course of history did as possible, albeit of course with substantial randomness. Is this the only way to make a realism mod? No, I don't think so. But I do think it's the only real way to make a mod for RTW that RTW fans will want to play.

Because maybe people enjoyed playing them?

You think that people will automatically dislike playing as the Illyrians or Greco-Bactrians? You will, perhaps, but you're one of few. Most people are willing to play any one of a variety of factions, even if they have favorites.

I discount and do not accept your reasoning for replacing one minor faction with another. Therefore you have chosen to remove a faction that a lot of people liked to replace it with a faction of your own arbitrary choosing.

What people like doesn't matter to us. What matters to us is our own vision of the game. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other mods for you to play. And since RTR has by an overwhelming margin the largest fan base of any substantial RTW modification, I'm not too concerned regardless.

-Simetrical