Quote Originally Posted by CirdanDharix
... If you're supposed to be helping the Romans kill Gauls, odds are the people yelling in what seems to be Latin are on your side, and the guys yelling in some Gallic language are on the other side. ...during the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians had trouble distinguishing their Dorian allies from their Dorian enemies, because they both sung their battle hymns in Dorian.
Yes, that's plausible enough--up to a point. In playing RTW/XGM and EB, units shouting in Greek and those in Latin sound very much the same to me. I can't distinguish one tongue from the other because I don't speak either of them. Now, if I am Celtic or something, allied to the Latins and fighting Greeks, I would just slash any foreign-sounding warrior near me, just to be on the safe side. So I think it's both the language thing and something else--like your commander and unit standard keeping you in one solid group and slash, stab, or shoot anything and anybody in front of you. And, of course, your side must also have distinctive plumes, sashes, ribbons, shield emblems, etc. Don't count on knowing how your friends' faces look like--they'd likely to be covered by their helmets anyway. And maybe your side dresses differently than the other side's people. Hawooh.