Byzantines need an a/p ranged unit...

[rvg]

And no, Ballistas and Catapults do not count. Jav or Xbow, or even Naptha will do fine. Mounted if possible, but even a foot unit would be acceptable.

[Quillan]

I'm less worried about them not having an AP missile unit than I am about their total lack of gunpowder. If the Empire hadn't been on the ropes by the time gunpowder was developed, I'm certain they would have made effective and probably innovative use of it. From the start, the Empire of Rome was the leading western power in military science. Many people wrote things down, but they were the ones who collected it, studied it, and improved it.

[JCoyote]

Not to mention that Byzantium made extensive and innovative use of incendiary weapons before that. They wouldn't have avoided developing firearms... they probably would have come up with a few improvements over what other nations were using.

You could have seen things like rockets mixed with greek fire. Or perhaps the small naptha grenades fired together in large bundles from a trebuchet... like a medieval cluster bomb.

There might need to be something sort of like a fantasy unit in there, but along with the Moors there probably should be some... if the nations had stayed in the fight til later I doubt they would have just sat around and ignored new developments. That's a bit more unrealistic than giving them something they weren't around long enough to have.

[Carl]

Imagine Greek ire and gunpowder mixed together, it would probably be somthing like Napalm, nasty idea if you ask me. or imagine a cannon filled with a half a dozen small calibre cannon balls filled with thats stuff, exploding flaming grape shot, that would probably be the most scary sea weapon developed prior to rifled, explosive shell lobbing cannon.

[JCoyote]

Imagine Greek ire and gunpowder mixed together, it would probably be somthing like Napalm, nasty idea if you ask me. or imagine a cannon filled with a half a dozen small calibre cannon balls filled with thats stuff, exploding flaming grape shot, that would probably be the most scary sea weapon developed prior to rifled, explosive shell lobbing cannon.

I thought about that, but really, the pots would have been too fragile for that.

However I think the rocket idea could have been possible. Create a decent size rocket. String greek fire bottles over its surface with fuse to hold them on. Fire it over the enemy army. When it's launched the fuse is lit, as the fuse burns far enough it starts releasing the bottles. It would have been possible and something feels like it would have fit the Byzantine style.

[Rollon]

Yes, Byzantium definetely needs some good Late Era units, it's just not fair the way it is now.
I hope that'll be fixed in some mod. Definetely my favorite faction, not for the units roster but for the whole historic flavour.

[Slyspy]

You can imagine all the fantasical Greek gunpowder weapons you like, but the sad fact is that even cannon were in their infancy when Constantinople fell. Although one might argue that a surviving or andvanced Byzantium would have used gunpowder weapons (as they did in that last siege) the idea of some kind of "wonder weapon" is far fetched. The Empire was broke and broken well before the final assault by the Ottoman armies. By all means let them have the "standard" gunpowder weapons if they survive long enough, but "flaming grape" and "medieval cluster bombs" are rather unlikely!

[Whacker]

I couldn't find the link with a short search, but Musashi and a few others did some great work making some mounted gunpowder units for our Eastern Roman friends. I think the thread was in the modding forum. Hopefully he'll see this and can provide a link or some insight.