New factions?

[Brennus]

Like an Irish deerhound on the trail of a stag one mention of Iron Age Britain and oudysseos follows the scent to the thread.

With regards to SLickNiga I likewise see little point in the Saba, they were not terribly expansionist and I would prefer to see them replaced by a Celtic faction in Europe, however, I would support their inclusion as they do represent a long lasting cultural and political force in Arabia and their removal would prompt people to call for the removal of the Casse, a faction who barely interact with the rest of the game. Thus I would rather see the Saba stay in, if only to give credibility to the Casse inclusion. Also, why on earth meld the Averni and Aedui into a single "Celt" faction but leave the Allobroges as a seperate faction. If the Belgae were included (OH GOD PLEASE!) it wouldn't be a bad idea to balance out the Aedui-Belgae alliance (forgive me if I have interpreted the political situation in Gaul incorrectly) with that of the Arverni-Allobroges.

On another note what about the Aetolians?

[B-Wing]

On another note what about the Aetolians?

This was posted on the Faction Speculation Thread over at TWCenter.

We've certainly considered adding the Aitolians as a faction. We could do them up a nice unit roster, it would work fairly well. Except that they wouldn't even touch a rebel region. They would be entirely sandwiched between other factions. So we're doing something slightly different instead, only I can't tell you yet what we're doing...

I have no idea how to interpret that, but it seems to be pretty clear in implicating that the Aitolian League will not be a playable faction.

I can't say that I'd miss Saba, mainly because it seems that the entire south third of the campaign map exists solely to fit them into the game. Leaving them out would mean that a good portion of the map could be cut and allow for a few more provinces in the eastern section. I know that's not going to happen, but I can certainly sympathize with those who would like it to. Since Saba's going to remain, I'd really like to have a Nubian faction as well. They (like Saba) would have a very unique roster and feel to them. And they'd give both Saba and the Ptolemaioi much needed competitors. Main problem is that they would necesitate their own culture slot, which isn't really an option. Oh well.

[anubis88]

This was posted on the Faction Speculation Thread over at TWCenter.



I have no idea how to interpret that, but it seems to be pretty clear in implicating that the Aitolian League will not be a playable faction.

I can't say that I'd miss Saba, mainly because it seems that the entire south third of the campaign map exists solely to fit them into the game. Leaving them out would mean that a good portion of the map could be cut and allow for a few more provinces in the eastern section. I know that's not going to happen, but I can certainly sympathize with those who would like it to. Since Saba's going to remain, I'd really like to have a Nubian faction as well. They (like Saba) would have a very unique roster and feel to them. And they'd give both Saba and the Ptolemaioi much needed competitors. Main problem is that they would necesitate their own culture slot, which isn't really an option. Oh well.

Well the EB team told us a lot of times they found a new way to interpret the Koinon, so my guess would be one of the options will be to "evolve" into an alliance simmilar to the Aetolian league. They've said many times you won't be able to conquer much with this faction without giving something up, so it could mean that the you form some sort of league... I dunno :)

[Horatius Flaccus]

Regarding Kartli: I think you could represent them moving into the Colchis region by giving them the PSF of that province.

[Captain Trek]

I can't say that I'd miss Saba, mainly because it seems that the entire south third of the campaign map exists solely to fit them into the game. Leaving them out would mean that a good portion of the map could be cut and allow for a few more provinces in the eastern section.

(emphasis mine)

I'm sorry, but that is just plain old wrong and you should probably double-check just how far south the Ptolemaioi go... Because they have Triakontaschoinos and Erythraia, at most you could get rid of three provinces: Saba, Qataban and Dt'amat, before you'd have start doing some serious fiddling with those two Ptolemaioi territories (along with the rebel territories of Ma'in and Zufar), which would all have to inflate and change shape in order to get rid of Kush and Hadramaut without leaving "gaps" in the campaign map...

That's only five territories (again, any further north than that and you start shaving off the southern end of the Ptolemaioi) and quite a hell of a lot of work for very little gain I would think...

Also, your claim that this represents the "southern third" of the campaign map is just absurd... The image of the EB campaign map I have open right now is 1546 pixels tall. A third of this is 1030 pixels and running a line across the map at that point I discover that you've just cut away almost the entireity of the Ptolemaioi and one Karthadastim province, the line sitting right on top of the mouth of the Nile and slicing away most of the Kart province of Syrthim...

Indeed, running a line across at 1400 pixels (the southern tip of the Ptolemaioi's southernmost province of Erythraia) and dividing 1400 by 1545 and multiplying by 100 to see what percentage of the map this represents, it actually comes to 90.6% of the map (or 88.9% of the map measuring from the southernmost tip of Ptolemaioi's second-southernmost province of Triakontaschoinos... So it's actually the southern tenth of the map that is solely inhabited by Saba, not the botton third... Quite exaggeration on your part if I may say so...

[bobbin]

I can't say that I'd miss Saba, mainly because it seems that the entire south third of the campaign map exists solely to fit them into the game. Leaving them out would mean that a good portion of the map could be cut and allow for a few more provinces in the eastern section. I know that's not going to happen, but I can certainly sympathize with those who would like it to. Since Saba's going to remain, I'd really like to have a Nubian faction as well. They (like Saba) would have a very unique roster and feel to them. And they'd give both Saba and the Ptolemaioi much needed competitors. Main problem is that they would necesitate their own culture slot, which isn't really an option. Oh well.

The map was made long before the Saba were a faction in EB. In fact the opposite is actually true, one of the reasons Saba was chosen as a faction was to fill the gap down there in the map, which before just turned into a warzone between the AS and Ptolemaioi.

[Captain Trek]

The map was made long before the Saba were a faction in EB. In fact the opposite is actually true, one of the reasons Saba was chosen as a faction was to fill the gap down there in the map, which before just turned into a warzone between the AS and Ptolemaioi.

(emphasis mine)

Huh... really? Hmm, I suppose AS must've been blitzing down the right side of the Eremos, following the Persian Gulf, while the 'tollies went down the left, following the Red Sea... Eventually the two would meet in the middle (probably right around where Saba is now) and start duking it out... is that right?

[Ca Putt]

imo the map size is very good and realisic to that point that while sailing around africa was possible but seldom practiced, sailing around arabia was far less seldom, which I find the most important thing about the map size^^

-someone who does not play Ptolemies or Saba(but is not in favor of kicking saba)

[bobbin]

imo the map size is very good and realisic to that point that while sailing around africa was possible but seldom practiced, sailing around arabia was far less seldom, which I find the most important thing about the map size^^

Sailing around africa? As far as we know no one accomplished that before the middle ages, sailing round arabia was practiced regularly.

Huh... really? Hmm, I suppose AS must've been blitzing down the right side of the Eremos, following the Persian Gulf, while the 'tollies went down the left, following the Red Sea... Eventually the two would meet in the middle (probably right around where Saba is now) and start duking it out... is that right?

Yeah pretty much, in older versions of the map Eremos in Arabia was a seprate province that could be captured, so you just ended up with a load of stacks fighting it out in the middle of the desert.

[Loverartis]

I can't say that I'd miss Saba, mainly because it seems that the entire south third of the campaign map exists solely to fit them into the game. Leaving them out would mean that a good portion of the map could be cut and allow for a few more provinces in the eastern section. I know that's not going to happen, but I can certainly sympathize with those who would like it to. Since Saba's going to remain, I'd really like to have a Nubian faction as well. They (like Saba) would have a very unique roster and feel to them. And they'd give both Saba and the Ptolemaioi much needed competitors. Main problem is that they would necesitate their own culture slot, which isn't really an option. Oh well.

In my opinion the creation of a faction in Nubia might be interesting; I don't know the historical events that happened there, but I read that in IIIrd BC Strabo report a Nobatae faction controlled the territory, after the Meroe Kingdom...
I find very curious the Axum Kingdom, in Ethiopia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksumite

[Moros]

Won't work with the limited culture slots

[Ca Putt]

wasent there this Phonecian or carthagian guy who (barely) managed to get arround africa?

afterall I meant to emphasise that that whereas not beeing able to sail around Africa is not a big loss ingame not having a path around arabia would indeed be sad.

[Foot]

The map was made long before the Saba were a faction in EB. In fact the opposite is actually true, one of the reasons Saba was chosen as a faction was to fill the gap down there in the map, which before just turned into a warzone between the AS and Ptolemaioi.

Not exactly correct. It was also chosen, apart from its importance in trade in that part of the world, as otherwise Arabia would rebel to Pahlava (which it did often), which created a purple menace on both sides of the AS. It wasn't pretty, and Saba plays a very important role providing a creator faction for that entire region.

Foot