Faction List for EB2?

[Skullheadhq]

Atropatene'd be killed in 2 turns by either the Seleukids or the hay

[bobbin]

From my poll a while ago,

Arevaci - A celtiberian tribe
Érainn - A Goidelic (irish) tribe
Aquitanians/Vascones - Non Celtic speaking peoples of southwestern france and northeastern iberia, ancestors of the Basques.
Illegert - a heavily celticised iberian tribe from north eastern iberia (around emporion)
Nervii - A belgic tribe with germannic influences
Brigantes - Powerful british tribe residing in northern england.
Helvetii - Celtic tribe from the alps
Massalia - Greek city state in southern france (modern day marseille)
Ligures - A highly celticised italic people in north west italia
Syracuse - A greek city state in sicily
Boii - A Powerful celtic tribe in eastern central europe (modern day Bohemia)
Lugii - Germanic or slavic tribe in eastern central europe (modern day poland and germany)
Dalmatae - Illyrian tribe
Skordiskoi - Powerful celtic tribe in the balkans (modern day serbia and surrounding areas)
Rhaetians - Alpine tribe with either Celtic or Etruscan roots, or both
Tylis - Celtic kingdom ruling over majority thracian population in southeast balkans.
Bosporan Kingdom - Hellenic kingdom on the north coast of the black sea (modern day Crimea)
Galatia/Bythinia - Celtic kingdom in union with hellenic kingdom (modern day turkey)
Kappadoika - Persian sucessor kingdom, Rebelious satrap of the seleukids(eastern anatolia)
Kartli - Also know as Caucasian Iberia, main rival for the Hai, native Caucasus people, ancestors of modern day georgians.
Atropatene - Persian sucessor kingdom, eastern caucasuses (modern day Azerbaijan)
Nabateans - Semitic Arab Kingdom in the Sinai
Palmyrae - Arab kingdom in modern day syria
Massaesylians - Main rival of the Masaesyli and other major tribal power in numidia
Maures - African kingdom in modern day Mauritania. Ancestors of the Moors
Qataban - Southern arabian state in modern day yemen.
Hadrumaut - Another southern arabian state in modern day yemen.
Massagetae - powerful nomadic tribe in central asia, lie north of the Pahlava.
Kamboja's - Iranian people in northwestern india/hindu kush

One of the team members (Moros) said that five of these are factions in EBII, I've also crossed off other factions that were discounted in other threads.

If i was to hazard a guess the five from here would be: Arevaci, Boii, Bosporan Kingdom, Kartli and Nabataeans.

[WarpGhost]

My hopes would be Boii and Lugii, because some activity is badly needed east of Sweboz. Illegert would add some action between Gaul and Lusota/Carthage, whilst fusing Gallic and Iberian troops without requiring much unique. Bosphoron Kingdom would also add some interest to the north of the Black Sea. I'd prefer something more south-east in the Selucid region, but of all the choices there Atropatene sounds the most promising in that region.
I really dont like the look of any of the others; they're generally adding nothing to already crowded areas. The addition of Pergamon doesnt fill me with confidence on this point unfortunately; nations should only be added if they fill a genuinly useful game niche, not simply because they historically existed.

[Phalanx300]

The Boii and Lugii seems very possible, would like a Batavian unit though, seeing how specific units are mostly given to units who did or had something special they may be more worthy then a Chauci unit.

[bobbin]

I really dont like the look of any of the others; they're generally adding nothing to already crowded areas.

Yeah thats why Galatia or Kappadoika aren't very likely in my eyes as Anatolia is crowded enough as it is (5 factions, 6 if you count KH as well) Mind you the criteria for becoming a faction involves things such as expansionistic tendencies, good historical information etc which means we're unlikely to see factions in some of the more empty parts of the map (like the baltic region).

[lobf]

I know I talk about this all the time and I've brought it up before, but what is the reason for keeping the Casse? I really don't remember.

As far as I understand (and I may be wrong, feel free to correct me) but not only were the Isles not unified politically, but they didn't do much of anything off of their island.

If you have a Casse faction, the first thing the player will do is unify the island, probably conquer Ireland. Then we're left with essentially a colonial-era Great Britain, earning piles of dough, and sending military excursions over the channel to conquer Europe. Doesn't that seem weird/wrong to anyone else?

I don't understand how you can consider any political institution in Britain at the time significant enough to warrant a faction. Anyone want to clear this up for me? (again...?)

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Atropatene'd be killed in 2 turns by either the Seleukids or the hay

You could argue the same thing for Hay or Baktria. Both stuck between Seleucids and another faction. (Sauromatae and Saka respectively)

I suppose Atropatene would have less room to expand however.

Oops I forogot to mention Bosporans in my first post. Oh well, maybe scratching Atropatene wouldnt be such a bad idea.

In terms of keeping the Casse, it ensures that Britain is not a joke to take as the Sweboz or Gallic factions. Historically, you are correct, no tribe united the isle before the Romans arrived. However its addition imo is merited both to make the isle harder to take and also because British tribes did lend money and possibly troops to help their Gallic and Belgic allies during Caesars wars in Gaul.

Also, remember the game is about presenting the situation at 272 and letting everything go from there. What did or didn't happen makes no difference.

[ziegenpeter]

In terms of keeping the Casse, it ensures that Britain is not a joke to take as the Sweboz or Gallic factions. Historically, you are correct, no tribe united the isle before the Romans arrived. However its addition imo is merited both to make the isle harder to take and also because British tribes did lend money and possibly troops to help their Gallic and Belgic allies during Caesars wars in Gaul.

Well then cut britain out? Leaves more provinces for the rest.
And

Also, remember the game is about presenting the situation at 272 and letting everything go from there. What did or didn't happen makes no difference.

is not entirely true. The importance of a faction after 272 does influence the consideration wether a faction is included or not.

[Skullheadhq]

Well then cut britain out? Leaves more provinces for the rest.
And
is not entirely true. The importance of a faction after 272 does influence the consideration wether a faction is included or not.

Well, Epeiros was largely gone after 272BC....

[bobbin]

Eh? The Aiakid line lasted until 231bc, then the Eproite League until 167bc thats hardly "largely gone"

[-Praetor-]

Well then cut britain out?

The EB team won't cut a single province off of the British Isles. That has been already decided.

[ziegenpeter]

The EB team won't cut a single province off of the British Isles. That has been already decided.

Ok I was a bit polemic there. What
What I meant is "The fact that the British Isles are on the map shouldn't be the single or a major reason for keeping casse as a faction in game because you could cut them out"
And don't get me wrong, I don't raise the plea that Casse should be kicked out.

[WarpGhost]

I'm inclined to agree on the Casse analysis; my heart says keep them in, but my head points out that, especially with the game having the restrictions on units/factions/provinces it does, it does make a lot more sense to invest the potential savings elsewhere, where they can be more consistantly useful. Dont get me wrong, one of my favourite things about EB was that it included factions like Baktria and Epeiros; but because of both geography and AI limitations, this is one of the cases (like with Pergamon and many of the potentials on the list) I would argue the other way.

[ziegenpeter]

The questions are: How many other potential factions we know enough about that they could be included as a facion? Did they expand/were a miltary power? And would they add variety to the game? I think the last point is also important since I'd rather let Casse and/or Saba in than having a gazillion of exchangeable hellenic factions. Finally we should consider the starting point of a potential replacement for a "peripherical" faction, because replacing Casse by another faction on the outer rims of the map would't make any sense, right?

[lobf]

You could argue the same thing for Hay or Baktria. Both

In terms of keeping the Casse, it ensures that Britain is not a joke to take as the Sweboz or Gallic factions. Historically, you are correct, no tribe united the isle before the Romans arrived. However its addition imo is merited both to make the isle harder to take and also because British tribes did lend money and possibly troops to help their Gallic and Belgic allies during Caesars wars in Gaul.

Also, remember the game is about presenting the situation at 272 and letting everything go from there. What did or didn't happen makes no difference.

But these are gameplay considerations rather than historical ones, which the EB team constantly distinguishes as criteria for inclusion.