Some Questions...

[Qawantaqari]

Hey all, I'm new here. I've yet to play this mod, but can't wait 'til I can.

I have a questions.

First, to the designers or anyone in the know, why were some cultural groups given faction playability (such as the Iberians, Sarmatians, etc), while some established kingdoms (such as Nubia, Ethiopia and Himyar [in Yemen]) were not? (I am VERY glad, however, about the inclusion of the Yuezhi).

Second, are there any plans for a mod expanded in scope? The Han dynasty was contemporaneous with the Roman empire, lasting from roughly 200BCE to 200CE (with a break from 9-25CE due to a usurpation by Wang Mang, a Confucian scholar and relative of Empress Wang). What are the issues involved in such an expansion-- is there a limit in # of factions? would a larger map decrease the speed of the game?

Relatedly, would any expanded mod wait for MTW II to come out?

I apologize if I should've of posted these elsewhere. This thing looks great.

Thanks,
Q

[-Praetor-]

(I am VERY glad, however, about the inclusion of the Yuezhi).

The Yuezhi are definitively out.

Sorry buddy.

[Laundreu]

The Yuezhi are definitively out.

Sorry buddy.

Being fair, they're out because they aren't a power on the scene until ~150 BC - some time around then; that area is not my area of focus or interest. But the mod starts 272 BC, so that's far too late for them to be viable as a polity for the mod's purposes.

As for Nubia and Ethiopia - well, the map doesn't go far enough south for Nubia's full territory, and Ethiopia's lock on the Red Sea trade is problematic when there's no trade happening there due to the map not going to India. With RTW's faction limit and province limit, they can't just say 'well, we'll make it bigger and roll with it' unfortunately. Otherwise I'd lead the Casse on the march from Hibernia to Gogoryeo.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Yeah, believe me - we wanted to keep the Yuezhi. We had done a fair amount of work on them already, but while we at first thought they were present in the edge of our map, further investigation (admittedly the sources for this period and this area are not very clear) convinced us that they just were not on the edge of the map yet. So we moved to another nearby faction that was, a group of the Sakai. We also have a very different system set up for the nomads in our next release too though, so playing as either of our two nomadic factions should be quite a different experience.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

As far as expanding: There is a 21 faction limit, and a 199 region limit, so all dreams of expanding to include large parts of the world would have to cut out close areas and nations that were important. The current scope EB incumpasses is streaching it. As you said there are several factions that should be included but regreatibly can not be.

Though I have always wondered what would have happened if Alexander or later Rome would have come in contact with the Chinese.

[Aut Nihil]

Though I have always wondered what would have happened if Alexander or later Rome would have come in contact with the Chinese.

Hehe interesting question, though in my opinion they'd probably be annihilated, maybe not alexander as he had pretty good logistics, but Rome definitely would be crushed in my humble opinion :D

And too bad about the yuezhi mate, but i have to agree with the dev team, they rarely do anything interesting, like expand and challenge bactria or AS for india for example, that and the historical flaw offcourse

[Qawantaqari]

Shucks. Well, I thank you for answering my questions. :)
As for Chinese vs. Romans, I'd be inclined to go for the Romans if the armies were of equal size. Chinese armies of the time were composed largely of peasant militia conscripts. Rome had standing, trained armies. But then the issue of numbers comes into play. China tended to field huge armies to simply crush the enemy or scare them into not fighting. China in 272BCE would require a few factions, too, as this was the Warring States period and Qin unification did not take place until 221BCE. So there's yet another nail in the coffin. Oh well.

Thanks again,
Q

[QwertyMIDX]

Himyar didn't exist in 272 BC either, it wasn't until about 100 BC that it became a player in South Arabian politics and wasn't the dominant kingdom until it conquer/merged with Saba between about 25BC and 50AD (it was a rather complex, erratic process it seems). Also, at the start of EB the civilization in Ethiopia wasn’t particularly advanced or unified. Culturally the coastal region was under the domination of Saba (on and off politically too) and it wasn’t until the late 1st century BC that we start to see any sort of advanced, unified state (this is the Aksumite Kingdom). Even then true height of Ethiopian power doesn’t really happen until the victory in the war with Himyar in 525AD. To be far this was an advanced Ethiopian state before EB time’s frame too, but that collapses in the 5th century BC.