New Unit: Macedonian Companion Horseman

Suggested stats: attack 3, defence 1, move 2, cost 40, requires horses, and becomes available with Monarchy.
(NOTE: Later Edit: Oops! The original was was not centred right in the terrain tile....but it is now.
Sorry for any inconvenience)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/Companion_Horseman_recentred.zip (915Kb)

Here is the civilopeadia entry:-
"Although Macedon had a long tradition of aristocratic cavalrymen, the Companions were first organised and regimented in the mid 4th century BC by Philip II, and used to very good effect by his son, Alexander the Great. Formed into 200 man units called ‘ilai’, Alexander had some 3,300 of these horsemen, 1,500 of which were left as a garrison in Macedon while the other 1,800 formed the spearhead of his campaign against the last Achaemenid King, Darius of Persia.
As good as the Companions undoubtedly were, heavy cavalry armed with long two-handed lances but lacking shields and heavy armour were not adopted by any other ancient nation. The peoples of the west such as the Romans, Carthaginians, Celts and Germans for example, all preferred shielded horsemen armed with several duel purpose thrusting/throwing spears. This was probably because a lance, although good for the initial charge, was too long and unwieldy to be effective in a close quarter melee, especially by unshielded horsemen. In the east the Seleucid Persians (named after the Macedonian general who took control of this region following the death of Alexander), eventually upgraded the Companions by adding very heavy armour for both man and horse, thus creating the first cataphracts in about 200BC.
Nonetheless, the Companions remained in use in Macedon itself until conquered by the Romans in 168BC."

Just for a bit of fun, I have composed a chart which may help people to decide when and where to put the above unit. This chart requires no tech tree alterations, and tries to keep within the spirit of Civ3 by maintaining the relative game balance of the various unit strengths.

The main characteristics of a Civ3 Greek army is that the best defensive unit has strength of 3 (i.e. the Hoplite), while the best attacking unit also has a strength of 3 (i.e. the Swordsman).
But the fact is that the Greeks didn’t use Swordsmen!
A sword was considered to be a reserve weapon, and only used if the main spear was broken, or while climbing scaling ladder, or if all heavy equipment was to be left behind on a rapid forced march. So I substituted various other Hoplites for the Swordsmen, but still kept within the boundaries of best attack 3, and best defence 3.



Some Notes About The Above Stats
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Allied Hoplites = if there is no iron available, then these ‘allies’ can be built instead, although they cost more.
Elite Units = these are expensive in order to discourage the building of too many of them.
Wheeled Land Units = I suggest that these troops, who were historically vulnerable to disorder, should not be allow in to mountains/forests/jungles.
Wheeled Sea Units = by making oceans & seas impassable to wheeled units, you can stop world colonization in the ancient period.
Trading Ships = the Greeks, and Carthaginians, were great colonizers, so this unit which is NOT wheeled CAN cross seas….but risks sinking (consider it a new ‘unique unit’).
Oh, and I also suggest reducing the Galley’s cost from 30 to 20, in order to try and encourage a little bit of ancient naval action (which as we all know, is a bit weak in Civ3).

About The Republic
------------------
You will notice that I have not made any units available with the Republic advancement.
This is because I am firmly convinced that mrtn’s suggestion of moving the Republic out of the ancient period is correct, for the following reasons:-
1) It helps play balance, by slowing down the ‘tech race’ (tanks by the end of the Middle Ages? .This part of the game is definitely flawed!).
2) The Republic is as unique to the Romans as the Legionary is (we don’t expect every civ to build Legionaries, so why do we expect them all to be Republics?).
3) Why does everybody automatically assume that a Republic is superior to a Monarchy? Is it because Civ3 says it is?
The truth is that the ancient Roman Republic was designed to rule A SINGLE CITY!.
Rome was a representative Republic from 510 BC to about 50BC, when the system simply fell apart and Rome ended up under the dictatorship of the emperors until the end of the western empire in about 500AD.
4) Every nation, ALL of them, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, was a Monarchy of some sort or another at the beginning of the Medieval period.
(I would sooner have 31 civs right and one half wrong than 31 wrong and one half right! )

A more fuller explanation can be found in the 11th post of this thread:-
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57545&pagenumber=1

Unbelievable, I have been waiting for this one for a long time, and it was worth every minute !

I know AtG is on the back of your mind I am sure (Now it's always on the back of my mind to ! I have completed most of the buildings, I'll post a preview on the CFC thread soon, and sorry it took so long.

Great job by the way, the way you give points on where to add the unit is really admirable.

Kryten!

Very nice!

finally...

About the Varangians (only one r, BTW) I suggest that they be flagged as defensive units as they where the Emperors bodyguard. Another idea is to flag them immobile, so that they stay in the city they're built in. You could also have them require the resource "Russian Rivers" (this is all on a real world map, in some scenario, obviously), thus Cherson becomes even more important. And it takes a while before you can build them. The Berserker graphics from PTW could be used (they look a bit untidy, but the axes are correct at least ).

Oh, and shouldn't the Hoplites require Bronze Working at least?

Good ideas about the Varangrians mrtn.

Originally posted by mrtn
....and shouldn't the Hoplites require Bronze Working at least?

Click to expand...

Ah....they do.....it's just that the Greeks start with Bronze Working, so Hoplites are available to them from turn one.

A question:

Why does archers and shortbowmen have exactly the same stats?

Originally posted by Kryten
...Ah....they do.....it's just that the Greeks start with Bronze Working, so Hoplites are available to them from turn one.

Click to expand...

In an unmodded game yes, but whoever said we're talking unmodded games here? (And I couldn't miss the chance to be a pain in the derriere )
I wonder the same thing as aaglo (just forgot to post it).

KRYTEN is the BEST ANCIENT UNIT CREATOR in the entire Civ III World!

Wonderful work again buddy!

Great unit, as usual. I've been thinking of a list of second UU's for my mod and this will probably go in. As a slightly related question, is the mounted javeliner you've been showing teasers of still in the works or were you just pulling our legs?

Edit: Just checked the Peltast thread and noticed that the Light Numidian Cavalry is due next week. So ignore the above query. I'll wait happily, gotta love your units.

Lovely! Simply lovely!

Great Job Kryten ...and very complete, ready to add/use unit. Thanks

At last! Quick quick quick copy it in Steph's mod [dance]

Originally posted by aaglo
Why does archers and shortbowmen have exactly the same stats?

Click to expand...

Hmmm....well, to answer both aaglo & mrtn, the reason is as follows:-

I noticed that there is a bit of a 'unit gap' between the ancient Archer and the Medieval Crossbowman/Longbowman.
The missing animation is the "Shortbowman", as used by Saxons, Franks, Vikings and Normans during the Dark Ages and the early Middle Ages.
The Civ3 Archer has bare legs for example, and would be laughed at in any feudal society as he should be wearing 'tights'....like every other full blooded male of this period.
So a figure with padded or quilted chest protection, or even mail armour, and an iron helmet, plus some sort of trouser or hose, would be ideal.
However, I am not sure what stats to give them.

There is a ‘stat-gap’ between the ancient Archer (2-1-1, with a defensive bombardment of say 3), and the Medieval Crossbow/Longbowman (4-1-1, with a defensive bombardment of say 3, 4 or even 5 for the Longbow).
3-1-1 with a bombardment of 3 or 4 sounds ideal....but I am worried that a cheap unit with an attack of 3 will be preferred over slightly more expensive 3-2-1 or 3-3-1 heavy infantry.
(I like to have specialist light skirmishers with less attack, but the best defensive bombardment & ZOC, than the heavy infantry in each period)
I just added it as a visual new unit, so that the old Archers would gradually disappear as these new Shortbowmen were built instead and replaced them.

To Drift,
Yes, I am still working on the Numidian Horseman, but it may take a bit longer than one week.
(I have NEVER been able to keep to my promised dates I’m afraid!)

To my old pal nonnob (love that name),
Watcha matey
So, the rumours were untrue....
....there was no alien abduction and the coffin was empty!
(You have just reminded me: I have forgotten about those Wehrmacht multi-figure units that I had promised you.
I’ll knock them out this weekend....I promise. )

Really appreciate this unit. I was greatly involved with the game Great Battles of Alexander by IMagic. Seeing this unit brings back memories. Thanks!

Kryten, I disagree on you statemnt on republics, I think that Spartas government is/was closest to that of a republic, as well as the Createn cities, and I know that Carthage was a republic too (which has had me wondering if, after conquests come out, i should assemble a crack team of people to aid me a a punic war scenario dubbed "The Dueling Republics"...ah well, tis just a dream....

also, shouldent the Cataphractii be considerd the elite? i know that they were the most prestigius component of the army, even more so then the emperors personal guard, and often had some of the best equipment in the entire world (which is not saying much to tell the truth)

But, i must add, its a BEAUTIFUL unit, another kryten masterpeice may it fall to my legions gracefully

I would be arguing for the 3-1-1 archer, if it wasn't for the fact that I'd rather argue for the 1-3-1 archer.
I don't equate heavy armour and shields with defensive units, but with offensive. If you don't have any armour you want to stay away from the enemy, not rushing against him. Such as bowmen and longbowmen. If you do have heavy armour and shields you might rush against someone. Such as the spearman. Even if those archers are shooting at you.

Xen, the problem is: what is a republic? Is the important thing whether it is one or thirty rich guys that are ruling you, or is the important thing if the state respects your rights, let you trade without a toll both at every corner, and grants you some decent human freedom. And accept that money is more important than whether your grandfather was gloriously killed in the crusades.
I believe these latter things are more important than the former.

Remember, there were no wealthy men in Sparta, after the whole uber-military reformf there was no money at all in sparta, it only resufaced after late in the peloponesian wars when gold was needed to build a navy, as for Spartan government respecing the citizens rights? What rights?