Countdown to Open Beta - Tabula Orbis Terrae

[The Wizard]

Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans!

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, this is a different kind of preview. As of late, EB has been concentrating more on scripting and other matters which never have gotten a lot of the limelight when a preview came around. Therefore, we decided to show you some of this in stead of the usual faction highlight.

Thanks go out to Stormy and Eadingas for taking and uploading the screenshots. Big thanks once again go out to Teleklos Archelaou, this time for making the antiquated map, complete with ancient monsters et cetera. And, of course, props and kudos are due to the map making team, which has done a wonderful job.

Still, EB is a team effort and this preview is a product of all our efforts.

This week, the EB team is proud to present:

To the left is a smaller in size map, to the right is a larger one.

Please take into account that this is a work in progress. We are very close to completion of the map, but this map is subject to changed nevertheless.

A comment on the mountain ranges. As some of you have probably noticed, mountain passes are not accurately depicted in Rome Total War. We cannot accurately depict them completely either: we must cut a relatively flat path through a mountain range. That is also why we cannot make as many passes as there are in real life, to keep a homogenous mountain range. We need to have roads go through, but they can’t go through without a relatively flat space. So that is why the map has fractured mountain ranges.

Now, here are some pictures of the varied terrain of the world that is Europa Barbarorum:

Here we’ll compare the landscapes of Europa Barbarorum to the real thing over two thousand years later:

















We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s update!

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures shown in our previews are of works in progress. We continue to improve on all parts of EB, and we will continue to do so long after our initial release.

Since some areas where these news items are posted cannot handle wide images, we appreciate your restraint from quoting full-size images.

As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=70

Or here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=31


We give special thanks to http://www.imageshack.us and https://www.photobucket.com that provide us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

The Europa Barbarorum team

[Region]

Sweet! This is so great... I think I shed a tear...

[Superbus]

For pete's sake, you latin scholars, you: noun before modifier.

Sinus Adriaticus and Pontus Euxinus are correct.

Mediterraneum Mare, Germanicum Mare, Persicus Sinus and all the rest are not .
"removed baiting attempt - barocca".

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Well, those are the exact names the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (by far and away the best and most accurate map of the ancient world) uses. Sorry you don't like them.

[Superbus]

It's not that I don't like them. They're not correct.

I'm not about to make any great claims for my latin, but latin and every language descended from it puts the noun first and its modifier second. The inversion happens in english and probably german I think. Perhaps someone on your team has the latin expertise to come up with the appropriate term.

And anyway, at the very least the terms on the map should be consistent with one another, and they're not. That suggests one set is incorrect, no?

Of course, if this is part of EB's new emphasis on the barbarian element, that's different. But you should also put the "R"'s backward.

As for Barrington, I like the map fine. Better than fine.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

It's not that I don't like them. They're not correct.

I'm not about to make any great claims for my latin, but latin and every language descended from it puts the noun first and its modifier second. The inversion happens in english and probably german I think. Perhaps someone on your team has the latin expertise to come up with the appropriate term.

And anyway, at the very least the terms on the map should be consistent with one another, and they're not. That suggests one set is incorrect, no?

Of course, if this is part of EB's new emphasis on the barbarian element, that's different. But you should also put the "R"'s backward.

As for Barrington, I like the map fine. Better than fine.

Good choice of a name to register here under as it is very fitting; kudos on that part. If you want to say that "the most important and most complicated project to be undertaken in classical studies this generation" is "ignint", then I think the "haughty" part is incredibly fitting. (Here are more reviews in case you're interested) As I said, the names for the bodies of water come straight from the Barrington (the only change is noted below), making no attempt to name them in the languages of the local peoples since they really don't affect the game itself, just this map.

The name Mediterraneum Mare is used instead of Internum Mare, but the same adj.-noun order of Internum Mare is kept and the Barrington reference for the form and origin and correctness of name is to V. Burr, Nostrum Mare. Ursprung und Geschichte der Namen des Mittelmeeres und seiner Teilmeere im Altertum, Stuttgart, 1932.
Their name of the Germanicum Mare is referenced by the BA in Ptol. 2.3.4 (but Latin used as it is for all of these) and further referenced in the Der Kleine Pauly, Lexikon der Antike, 5 vols., Stuttgart, 1964-1975 under the entry "Nordsee".
Also, they give the reference of the form Persicus Sinus as being the Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Stuttgart, 1893-1978, as well as in F. Vallat, Les noms geographiques de sources suso-elamites, Beihefte zum TAVO Reihe B Repertoire Geographique des Textes Cuneiformes, Tubingen, 1993: 8, 227.

I don't feel like listing all the rest, but I hope that my point is taken.

[The Wizard]

For pete's sake, you latin scholars, you: noun before modifier.

Sinus Adriaticus and Pontus Euxinus are correct.

Mediterraneum Mare, Germanicum Mare, Persicus Sinus and all the rest are not .

What iz ye, ignint?

In Latin it does not matter where you put what word. In our language it does, but with Latin it does not. Take a good look at your Ovidius or Vergilius again.



~Wiz

[Superbus]

In Latin it does not matter where you put what word. In our language it does, but with Latin it does not. Take a good look at your Ovidius or Vergilius again.

~Wiz

Thanks for the civil answer, Wiz. Is there something to be said for consistency in the map labels, though? As it stands, they come both ways.

[Narayanese]

Is there something to be said for consistency in the map labels, though?

In Ptolemy's not-so-antique atlas it sometimes come first, like in .Mare larmantuũ. (southern baltic sea), sometimes after, as in .Gottuũ mare. (called sarmaticus oceanus in the EB map).
My 3 cents.

[The Wizard]

Thanks for the civil answer, Wiz. Is there something to be said for consistency in the map labels, though? As it stands, they come both ways.

It doesn't really matter, both in RTW as in linguistics. The seas won't have names anyways. And the matter of where to put what kind of word is aesthetic when you're not talking about poetry, so what you like is up to you -- or in this case, our map-makers.

Besides, ancient maps were not held up to a universal standard, just like most (if not all) other works of science in the ancient world. Therefore it was entirely up to the map maker to decide what to call what. For instance, the North Sea was called, on and off, both 'Germanicum Mare' and 'Frisium Mare', since the Frisii were great seafarers. Both these terms were entirely interchangeable, as is the way their nouns and adjectives are put.



~Wiz

[Marinakis]

HOLY &$% GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


..... this brings tears of joy to my eyes!!

EB just took the lead ahead of RTR


AMAZING JOB WITH THE NATIVE NAMES!!!!

[Quietus]

Woot! You guys are really swell!

Quick questions:

How many provinces are there again?

and

Are those forest passable?

[ScionTheWorm]

marvellous. the scenarios are really beautiful and the campaign world map is just amazing. really like what you've done with the south there

[thrashaholic]

Could I inquire as to the lack of rivers in Britain? Everywhere else on your fine map seems well endowed with rivers, but Britain does not. From what I can tell none of the major waterways in Britain, such as the Severn, the Thames and the Trent, have been included.

They may not be as long or globally significant as mainland rivers, but they were of tactical and strategic importance here, and since you are going for accuracy, I'd have thought you'd have included them. Since this is a work in progress (and a very good one at that) I hope you can fix this little 'error'.

[eadingas]

Could I inquire as to the lack of rivers in Britain? Everywhere else on your fine map seems well endowed with rivers, but Britain does not. From what I can tell none of the major waterways in Britain, such as the Severn, the Thames and the Trent, have been included.

They're all there, they're just obscured by the writing :)

[Birka Viking]

Great work.....This is marvellous...Keep up the good work EB.......

[Dago]

Will you implement this map into the game?It looks realy nice.Ar those forrests passable?

[Copperhaired Berserker!]

awesome stuff, but one thing. the baktrian capital ( by the looks of it ) is spelled wrong. you need a "i" in the middle of "r" and "a" .

[Teleklos Archelaou]

awesome stuff, but one thing. the baktrian capital ( by the looks of it ) is spelled wrong. you need a "i" in the middle of "r" and "a" .

The transliteration of the greek word would be Baktra. This is the capital we are talking about, not the satrapy/province/kingdom, which is still Baktria. But Baktra was the city itself, and it doesn't have an iota. Check a little more out on it here:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin...ut=&loc=bactra

You can see the word in parentheses after the initial (Latin) "Bactra" is "ta Baktra" which is the greek. It's a great website by the way! Hope this helps; I honestly am thrilled that there is a difference between the two - it has made referring to them a little easier than having both be the exact same.

[The Stranger]

no need for me to check.

[Freeze]

I agree with Superbus on the names, it is Mare Nostrum just like it is Pontus Euxinus. This is how I've always seen it in my 5 years of Latin. Next year will be my 6th year I do Latin so i'm pretty sure Superbus has a point.

[KingOfTheIsles]

Wasn't the term "Mare mediterraneum" first coined by Saint Isidore of Seville in the 7th century, in any case? I've seen it referred to as mare mediterraneum more often than mediterraneum mare, but it seems somehow inappropriate to use this term in any case. Still, it's up to the team to decide on the correct terminology used.

[Pycckuu]

Awesome looking landscapes!

[Big_John]

well i, for one, accept your explanation and respect your impeccable source, teleklos.

[Big_John]

those "M"s are supposed to be "o"s, i think. if you look at http://img7.echo.cx/my.php?image=image94ve.jpg you'll see those same cities have "o"s in place, and some of the "a"s lose their accents. it makes it a little easier. i'm guessing the "M"s come from a non-english version of the game or something? oddly, if you compare that first image i linked to this one http://img206.echo.cx/my.php?image=forests9bp.jpg, "gáwjám silengoz" becomes "limios alsos".. hm...

[alman7272]

To tell you the truth, I don't think it really matters if the modifier comes before or after the noun in most cases. I've seen it both ways.

[Spendios]

Amazing job on the map ! Your work is very impressive.

[Ano2]

Most importantly, did you see in one of the screenshots, 3 factions have been destroyed? This could mean that EB have gone for a unified Rome.

[Duncan_Hardy]

It doesn't necessarily mean that 3 factions have been destroyed; lots of other messages are received in that manner, and it could just be a coincidence that there are three.

Anyway, looking good, can't wait!

[Bouchious]

niice, is the map at the top being used as the radaresque map in the bottom left of the screen during the game