Countdown to Open Beta - Sauromatae

[Spendios]

Very informative and interesting preview with beautiful units as always.

[Cronos Impera]

Great job!
What will the next week's preview be?
Ideea: The Sarmatians could use some slaves as infantery to man siege equipment.

[Steppe Merc]

Doubtful. Few true slaves were ever used in battle field, the main exceptions being the Ghulams and Mamluks of Islam. They more likely used conscripts, or Sarmatians that were no longer nomads, or at least true nomads.

[Lief]

These look much better than the garish, orange Gaul-look-alikes that CA passed-off as the Scythians. I especially like the last two units. Now, let's keep up the cavalry-heavy previews with the Parthians next week.

[TheTank]

Nice update EB !!
Well worth the waiting
I especially like the Sauromatae Faction Icon.

Question(s):
How many unit's will this faction get and what is the cavalry/infantry ratio for this faction and will this faction get javalin cavalry?

[Steppe Merc]

Most steppe peoples used javilens, though obviously not as much as bows.

Question(s):
How many unit's will this faction get and what is the cavalry/infantry ratio for this faction and will this faction get javalin cavalry?

Sarmatians will be able to recruit horse javilen chuckers, and I believe foot javileneers. Most of the infantry would be ranged, since it suits there style of warfare more. As for ratio, not sure.

[TheTank]

Eadingas, told me a while ago that EB is busy creating a proto finnic, baltic and maybe a proto slavic unit.
Will the sauromatae's able to recrute these chaps and will the sauromatea's rely alot on non-iranian units for infantry?!

PS: are the baltic,finnic units done I want to see them

[Birka Viking]

Wow looks great again EB!!

[Angadil]

will the sauromatea's rely alot on non-iranian units for infantry?!

They will certainly use non-iranian infantry, but they will also recruit infantry from settled Iranian peoples, should they conquer the appropriate regions

[GoreBag]

Looks good. I wasn't expecting to see it, but here it is. Upon what is the signature pic's art based, if I may ask?

[Angadil]

Upon original Sarmatian art, of course Specifically a boar tusk carved in a Sarmatian variant of the "animal style" that was unearthed at Blumenfeld in the lower Volga region. Very representative of Sarmatian art. It could depict a dragon....

[TheTank]

Upon original Sarmatian art, of course Specifically a boar tusk carved in a Sarmatian variant of the "animal style" that was unearthed at Blumenfeld in the lower Volga region. Very representative of Sarmatian art. It could depict a dragon....

I read somewhere that sarmatian art and scytian art influenced germanic art highly.
I think the artwork on the faction icon resemble's Vendel art and Anglo-Saxon art but I am not an expert

[GoreBag]

Upon original Sarmatian art, of course Specifically a boar tusk carved in a Sarmatian variant of the "animal style" that was unearthed at Blumenfeld in the lower Volga region. Very representative of Sarmatian art. It could depict a dragon....

Fascinating. I don't suppose there are any pictures of this scattered conveniently around, are there?

[Angadil]

I read somewhere that sarmatian art and scytian art influenced germanic art highly.
I think the artwork on the faction icon resemble's Vendel art and Anglo-Saxon art but I am not an expert

The influence is true and that resemblance you mention is there as well, IMO. It was another "Sarmatian legacy" that I was considerin to bring up in the faction description, but thought it was already long enough. In any case, through the contact of the Sarmatians with the Germanic peoples the "animal style" of the steppe nomad became one of the influences shaping up European Medieval Art.

[Angadil]

Fascinating. I don't suppose there are any pictures of this scattered conveniently around, are there?

Sure:

[King of Atlantis]

cool. EB really does their homework.

[BobTheTerrible]

There will of course be some infantry that can be recruited, as well as mercanaries. But the Sauromatae are about cavalry thus about speed, the infantry is regulated to the very far background, as they are deserved to be.

I'm sorry, I thought I read somwhere on this thread that they would have to conquer more territory to be able to train infantry, which led me to believe that they would be all cavalry at the start. Hence my comment asking how they could capture cites.

[Mujalumbo]

Ahahrhmmr... Sarmatians. *drool*

I've enjoyed playing as the Sarmatians in that, ahem, other mod. Very challenging starting position. Will EB's Sarmatians have a similar difficulty (dirt poor lands, no place to go), or will there room to grow, so to speak?

[Mujalumbo]

I'm sorry, I thought I read somwhere on this thread that they would have to conquer more territory to be able to train infantry, which led me to believe that they would be all cavalry at the start. Hence my comment asking how they could capture cites.

It's possible to capture cities with all-horse armies.

It takes a bunch of turns and you have to fend off wave after wave of enemy reinforcements, but it's possible. ;)

I've read somewhere that Greek cities employed Scythian archers as some sort of town-watch (?!), and I believe the Sarmatians were thought to incorporate the remnants of the Scythians (?). So, there's definately a tradition of having infantry in the Sarmatian's predecessors.
Whether it will be good infantry is another matter. Hopefully, we can still raise Greek hoplite mercenaries.

[Steppe Merc]

Nah, they'll be able to expand well, in many directions. There is a lot of steppe without any factions controlling it, though the rebels will be tough. But evantaully, they'll bump up against the civilized factions, as they really did. And the steppe was hardly poor. It had great trade potential, though civilized lands were far richer, which is a large reason why nomads conquered them.

I'm sorry, I thought I read somwhere on this thread that they would have to conquer more territory to be able to train infantry, which led me to believe that they would be all cavalry at the start. Hence my comment asking how they could capture cites.

Sorry, didn't mean to bite your head off.
Well, they will be able to recruit foot archers. And nomads weren't always the best at sieges, though once they got their hands on civilized siege engineers, they faired well (Mongols with the Chinese, Parthians with Greeks/Persians). So it will be hard at first, but there will be some infantry available in order to besiege cities.

edit:

It's possible to capture cities with all-horse armies.

It takes a bunch of turns and you have to fend off wave after wave of enemy reinforcements, but it's possible. ;)

I've read somewhere that Greek cities employed Scythian archers as some sort of town-watch (?!), and I believe the Sarmatians were thought to incorporate the remnants of the Scythians (?). So, there's definately a tradition of having infantry in the Sarmatian's predecessors.
Whether it will be good infantry is another matter. Hopefully, we can still raise Greek hoplite mercenaries.

Yes, I often don't bother trying to assault the city, just wait it out. Or just leave the cities for later.
Greeks did indeed employ Scythians as mercanaries. Sarmatians did absorb some Scythians, who at this time were far more settled then the Sarmatians (which is a reason why they fell), and they will be able to recruit some Scythians, as will other factions.
And Sarmatians will be able to recruit foriegn mercs, including Greeks, I believe. Though they won't be very common in the Pontic steppe.

[King of Atlantis]

I think it will be very fun to play as the sauromatae and hire greek hoplite mercenaries. That will make for a very cool army.

[Mujalumbo]

I agree, I like using mercs. They can really add colour to one's armies, or fulfill a role that may be missing from your bog-standard unit lineup (mercenary hoplites, anyone?).

I'm also looking forward to this zone of recruitment or area of recruitment or whatever the heck it is. Sounds as though as you push further away from your homelands, the nature of your armies will change dramatically. Sounds very cool.

I wish something similar was done in MTW.

[King of Atlantis]

I wish something similar was done in MTW.

It was, check out wes mod. It introduced the homelands concpet.

[Mujalumbo]

Are the lancers going to have a decent charge? Are we gonna be able to rout a herd of ramping armoured elephants with a SINGLE CHARGE?! I want a charge value so high they can just charge through epic stone walls.

That would be cool.

[eadingas]

They will charge through stone walls, if you put them on a catapult :)

[Loinnreach]

It is quit astonishing to see so many enthusiasts, working on this mod for so long. All the credits for your time you have spent at the mod, but I would just like to give you advice.

I'm not impatient. Far from that. My focus is MP thought, so I'm not even interested in SP.
As mentioned befor, you shall recive all the credit for your work, but if you will be working on this too long till BI expansion is out, mod will lost effect.
I belive that you realize this.

VorCid

[khelvan]

I just have one question for all those who give us advice like "release before BI or people won't care!"

Does anyone think we WANT to wait this long?

Honestly, think about it. Does anyone think we actually have chosen not to release the open beta now, when we thought it would be ready two months ago?

[Steppe Merc]

Khelvan hit it on the head. Besides, why does it matter when it is released? I never understood that...

[Big_John]

Honestly, think about it. Does anyone think we actually have chosen not to release the open beta now, when we thought it would be ready two months ago?

yes, i think EB has been ready for months now, but you guys are keeping it all to yourselves. why? because you all delight in crushing the hopes and dreams of us little folk.

[Mujalumbo]

I can understand why some people are be impatient for the release; I'm one of them! We're interested in new and exciting content, and particularily with projects that focus more on historical accuracy.

The people who anticipate EB for the effort that the team has put in making the project historically accurate most likely won't be swayed by what Barbarian Invasion has to offer.