New Unit: Industrial Swordsman

Kinboat

Conan the Librarian
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Apr 18, 2002
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I'm home, where are you?
Made based on an idea from Sween32. The idea is to use this unit as an upgrade to the ancient age swordsman, available sometime around the late middle ages. I've been sitting on the rendered animations for almost a month now and I don't know if I would ever have found the time or energy to actually cut and paste them... it comes out to about 146 frames for each direction totaling 1168 times I would have to press that infernal ctrl+v... So I cannot stress enough my gratitude to Steph and his wonderful storyboard creation tool... Which even in a semi finished form works wonders. So thanks to him and all those that make utilities to make my job (and every other creator out there) so much easier.

Unit... No sounds included, I've set it up to use the original Swordsman sounds (no copying needed usually). They fit reasonably well.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Industrial_Swordsman.zip

Preview:
 

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DUDE! YOU ARE THE FREAKIN MAN!!!! THANK YOU!!!
It looks absolutely awesome! Anothe fine piece of work, Kinboat. :D
Now it won't be wierd having Swordsmen in my scenario ;)
 
Originally posted by Plexus
You rule, Kinboat, you absolutely rule!
Indeed he does. Do you have another name than Industrial Swordsman? And what will be your next projekt, have you seen the POser models Kal-el posted?
 
Lovely Unit... Is it modeled after a "Matador" Bull fighter?
 
Originally posted by Kinboat
So I cannot stress enough my gratitude to Steph and his wonderful storyboard creation tool... Which even in a semi finished form works wonders. So thanks to him and all those that make utilities to make my job (and every other creator out there) so much easier.

I have absolutly no art skill, 2D or 3D. But I can program a bit. So this is only a good exemple of cooperation. So if you wan to pay me back, continue to make your wonderful animation!

For instance, finish your chinese spearman (and make other chinese), or make the units I'm missing for my mod, like an early dragoon. If you miss ideas, I have plenty, with a lot of illustrations to go with ;)
 
Actually he is wearing a Matador outfit... and if you look at the FLC's I named them MatadorDefault.flc etc... I just called it Industrial Swordsman for a generic descriptive name. You could almost call it Fencer (as AttackC was animated using my sister in a fencing lunge as a model). I don't have PTW so I can't help you with placement there. Yes Next I'm working on a chinese spearman unit... I also have a futuristic warrior in the works (if anyone has ever read 'The Parafaith War' by L. E. Modesitt it's sort of based off of that.)
 
i'd use it as a 4/4/1 (or 5/3/1) at Nationalism, upgraded from Medieval Infantry, upgrades to Guerilla, cheaper then rifleman, and no resources.
 
Soon Kal-el... I'll keep you drooling a little first :) Actually I'm still working on the model design stage.
 
Actually it was going to be one of the 'Angels' (female shock troops)... But I could do him as well.
 
Hi Kinboat. And anyone else reading this nearly two-year-old thread.
No, this is not a bump. Well, ... if it is its a pretty big one.
My reasons for defibulating this dead thread are thrice:
1. !
2. !
3. !
(in case you're wondering, those "!" are a new type of punctuation I've recently invented; its called an Explanation Mark. They should explain away any justifications I need for posting here.)
Now, onto the matter at hand!
I never knew you made this unit, Kinboat, until quite recently. Marvelously animated, and exquisitely detailed. No other units fills its shoes, or well, attempts too. There's almost a total lack of swordsman units from the Renaissance. But there seems to have been some confusion as to the role of sword wielding foot soldiers during this period. I thought maybe I could clear that up, and then make a request of you, Kinboat. So...
Although he does look the part of a Spanish matador, I don't think their contributions to the military climate of the Middle Ages are significant, with the exception of their notable assistance in the suppression of the great Spanish Bull Rebellion of 1544.
In actuality, the last sword to see martial use was the "cut and thrust" sword, the predecessor of the rapier. Exceeding 40 inches in length, the cut and thrust sword had a narrow straight blade, tapering to a sharp point ideal for stabbing. Its development was the solution to articulated plate armor, which had previously made its wearer resistant, if not impervious, to most other swords of the day. It became very popular due to its light weight and speed, and evolved into many other forms; the rapier, the estoc, and later, strictly for civil purposes, the epee. These later swords were born into the world too late to be of practical use on the battlefield; guns had already become dominant by the time of their conception.
So, it makes the most sense for this swordsman to be wielding a cut and thrust sword, as he is not wearing any protection. But who is our warrior? At the same time of the sword's development, swordsmanship was emerging over Europe as an art form, and Italy and Spain were home to the most prestigious "schools of fence". Its here in the 1500's that such masters as Achille Marozzo, di Grassi, and Capo Ferro taught and published their techniques and methods of defense. Therefore, I'd propose that this graceful unit be a Renaissance swordmaster, possibly called something generic, like "Fencer", to leave it up to the player to decide whether he's a teacher or pupil. He would probably belong beside the longbowman in the tech tree, buildable with the discovery of Invention, just before the musket makes its appearance. I’d also choose to make him civ specific to the Spanish and Romans.
Now ideally, I would suggest the stats slightly improved over the medieval infantry, say, 5/3/1, however, due to his inordinate size in game (about ten feet tall when compared to other infantry), I have no choice but to make him 10/6/2, so as to accurately represent his gargantuan proportions.
Although many, well most, homegrown units are on the big side, this one happens to be a personal favorite. I not exactly sure what shrinking Gigantor to a normal size entails, but if it is at all a reasonably easy process, I implore you Kinboat, that's right; IMPLORE you, to help make one of the best lookin' talented mother _s' and most talented units OF ALL TIME to scale, so he can fit in with the rest of the bunch.

Gracias, Bungus
 
Knowledgeable text, Bungus. I'd like to, however, make a small point concerning the naming of the "cut and thrust sword" that you mentioned. Whereas it did develop into the sword that we nowadays know as rapier, this cut and thrust sword was actually often called rapier in its day as well - as can be seen in many period fencing books (i.e. Frederico Ghisliero, 1587). Therefore, I'd like to propose that we also call it rapier, although it here refers to the early form of that sword. As I see it, we should call these swords 'early rapiers' (for cutting and thrusting) and 'late rapiers' (almost solely for thrusting) and not invent new names for them, although I know that some present writers tend to do so.

For anyone interested in academic research of period swords and martial arts, I'd recommend the book The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe by Sydney Anglo.

EDIT: I love the unit as well. I used to have it in my vanilla civ mod, but have not yet added it to my C3C mod, mainly because of its size, but also because I'd need similar units for other cultural groups as well.
 
How cute: SPAM! :twitch:

edit: the discussion for this unit has been dead for over 21 months now...
edit2: You can shrink units fairly easily by using Steph's SBB Tool to be found in the Utility forum and or ask Steph or Aluminium about its features.
edit3: Welcome to Civfanatics, Bungus!
 
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