BI Demo!

[Dago]

Here are some screenshots http://www.totalwar.org.pl/?ShowGal=23 . The demo is in PC Gamer but there is possibility that it will be also in the internet. There are three battles tutorial,Chalons,Badon Hill.

[Smiley]

the equites can swim!?! what the hell!

[Shrapnel]

No, only light infantry can swim. Check out the post here.

http://rometotalrealism.com/ipb/inde...showtopic=3264

[Little Legioner]

Whoa! Battlefields looks much more bigger!

[monkian]

Nice to see the 'spirits lifted by the general' description in one of the screenshots, reminds me of good old Medieval.

[Dago]

Wow, this game rocks!! I love BI, thank you CA!! Especialy the schiltron formation looks great! (irony) Now seriously, look at the screen posted by Little Legioner, they`ve only changed the special ability icon but the formation is a PHALANX!!!

dont use profanity,
post edited
B.

[Birka Viking]

Lol

[Viking]

the equites can swim!?! what the hell!

If they could, what would be the problem? Horses can swim with a rider on top of them, so why not with an Equites?

only changed the special ability icon but the formation is a PHALANX!!!

Umm, can you say by only watching that screeenshot? Not saying that it looks better close-up.

It would be nice if someone could explain to me what exactly a schiltron was. I think the schiltron on the screenshot looks much denser formed than a phalanxs from RTW.

dont quote profanity
post edited
B.

[Kor Khan]

A schiltron isn't a phalanx!

a) It's immobile

b) It has the shape of a circle, thus presenting no flanks and creating an excellent protection against cavalry.

At least that's what I got from CA (and history)

Don't flame CA if you don't know if your complaint is valid (and even then, don't flame period).

[Viking]

Thanks KK

[Nightbringer.woc]

Also use your eyes, the schiltron formation isn't currently highlighted, meaning they aren't using it. What you thought was them in "phalanx" formation is just them marching forward in a standard formation. Say what you will about CA they are hardly just gonna fudge up some formation by using the phalanx formation and tell you its the same thing, are they?

[Dago]

Oh, yes i missed that, thank you, you`ve bring me hope back again.

[Mr Frost]

If they could, what would be the problem? Horses can swim with a rider on top of them, so why not with an Equites?



...

Epuites weren't actually light cavalry in real life . The riders were equiped in armour as heavy as a Princepe or even Triari in some cases ; they were rich men to begin with and bought there own equiptment which resulted in them being armoured like heavy cavalry {though they still managed to suck} . Were they to make a habbit of swimming accross rivers , assuming the small Roman horses {ponies by todays' standard} could support the extra weight of the riders' heavy armour when in deep water , the riders {whom were not good riders compared to most cavalry} would be at notable risk of falling off midstream {this was before the Romans adopted the Celtic four pomel saddle , they might as well have been riding completely bareback for all the use any saddle they knew how to make then would have been} whence they would have sunk like stones .
The risk would have been sufficiently significant to have ensured they never made a habbit of trying it as a common maneuver .



Edit : this is all assuming the Equites refered to was the origonal ... it just occured to me that were in a thread about BI , which should have no unit called only "Equites" , so I was assuming the origonal statement was made after some dev. post or such about how BI will expand the Vanilla RTW , which doesn't properly portray Equites , but bloody well should ! :p
Besides , I'm not with it today .

[bodidley]

A schiltron isn't a phalanx!

a) It's immobile

b) It has the shape of a circle, thus presenting no flanks and creating an excellent protection against cavalry.

At least that's what I got from CA (and history)

Aye, but I think they're about 800 years off

[Lief]

It's an ahistorical travesty. They could have at the very least copied their unit designs out of Osprey. But noooooo, they make ugly barbarians and give the late Romans lorica segmentata. Also, I hear that Chalons only has three of the armies that fought in the battle, as opposed to all 6. *sigh* Luckily, the Fall of Rome demo should be coming out soon.

[Chester]

I'm not paying 40 dollars to swim at night.

So far this is the only new addition that CA has come up with.

Frankly, I'm going to keep my men far from water as possible. And even if swimming is an advantage, I'll still kepp my men far from water as possible. I'd rather have them killed then wet and killed.

Night Battles are cute, this is something that could have definately been in RTW. I'm sure they did originally have it, but then later took it out. Can't use up quality ideas, like fighting at night in, in the first game!

I can see the 2nd expansion now.

Climbing trees at dawn.

[Dux Corvanus]

I think the title is just accurate: Barbarian Invasion.

Barbarians have invaded CA.

[BobTheTerrible]

I'm not paying 40 dollars to swim at night.

So far this is the only new addition that CA has come up with.

Besides emerging factions, civil wars, religions, Schiltron , shield wall, and the horde ability.

[Kor Khan]

And don't forget more modability and a much better AI. Oh and... lots of fixed bugs.

At least that's according to Jerome Grasdyke.

[bodidley]

I'd hold your horses on modability, RTW promised to be more moddable than it turned out to be, we'll just have to wait and see. As for bug fixes, I don't see why I should pay an extra $40 just to get a finished product.

[RandyKapp]

How accurate is the presance of Sarmatian cavalry in Britain around 400AD?

[blz]

ekhm...well, no thank you

[hoom]

How accurate is the presance of Sarmatian cavalry in Britain around 400AD?

The Romans had a big fort full of em somewhere along Hadrians wall at some point...

edit:
http://www.totalwar.org.pl/gallery/bi-demo54.jpg that aint a phalanx

[Productivity]

Oh and... lots of fixed bugs.

Yes - lets all pay to fix bugs .

[Kor Khan]

You won't have to pay for them with patch 1.3 for vanilla being released at the same time. You might just miss out on some good features that are in the expansion.

[bodidley]

We'll see how good their non-expansion patch is, hopefully it'll be play-tested. When I tried the latest patch for Shogun (non-expansion) it crashed every time I began to assault a castle.

[Samurai Waki]

Sarmatian Cavalry were used virtually everywhere in the Empire, being the best Auxiliary Horsemen the Romans had available! I'm not quite sure how many there were, but Sarmatian Cavalry, as well as Sarmatian Drillmasters definantly had to be there.

[Angadil]

How accurate is the presance of Sarmatian cavalry in Britain around 400AD?

The Romans had a big fort full of em somewhere along Hadrians wall at some point...

That "some point" with the "big fort full of em" would have been more than two centuries earlier. 5.500 Sarmatian horsemen probably arrived in Britain in 176 or 177 AD. No further, later arrivals are known. The Notitia Dignitatum is a document dating probably from 405 AD that records all the military units of the Eastern and Western portions of the Empire and it only mentions a "Cuneus Sarmatarum Bremetemnaco" = "Wedge" of the Sarmatians at Bremetmnacum (= modern Ribchester) in Britain. The use of the term "Cuneus" seems to indicate a small unit, maybe around 200 men, probably less than 500. Apparently that's all that was left. And it's plausible that, by then, those guys were "Sarmatian" in little more than their unit's name, after having had almost 225 years to mix with the natives. As I said, apparently no more Sarmatians "fresh from the steppe" were sent again to Britain after 177 AD.

Also, it seems likely that the original 5.500 Sarmatians were not kept together. Normal Roman practice with that type of troops (auxilia cavalry) would lead us to expect them to be distributed into 500-men alae that would then be posted to different sections of Hadrian's Wall, for example. There might be also some chance for 1.000 men groups, if units of the Ala Milliaria type were created.

For those curious, there's a historical novel Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw about the Sarmatians in Britain. Haven't read it myself, but have seen some positive reviews, FWIW...

[jerby]

The Romans had a big fort full of em somewhere along Hadrians wall at some point...

edit:
http://www.totalwar.org.pl/gallery/bi-demo54.jpg that aint a phalanx

THAT's a schiltron? why teh big hole in the middle? with that hole, and CA's archers. that formation will get eaten alive: 25% will be shot in the back...
but it's a nice addition.

[Dux Corvanus]

dont use profanity dont quote profanity

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!