Dacian Falxmen

the main problem is, units like you describe tend to suck IMO- they just look to plain
 
Xen, are you trying to become the local pb child ? ;)

1. You are rude
2. You wrote a few posts earlier you knew you were right
3. Now you admit you were not but that it would be more pleasing easthetically for you....

Now am I supposed to trust your "I know it is like that, I am a REAL scholar" anymore ? :D

Welcome to CFC inahurry. And don't hesitate contradicting Xen, even (;) ) if you know you are right !

Albeit Xen I admit the unit you showed would look real nice.
 
actulally, i dont think i can keep the label of "problem child" any longer- I'm a moderator at a differnt forum now :)

as for the argument- give me time, I'll have my comeback, but looselly said, the picture guiven is an accurate portral of what a Roman legionary could have expected on the battle feild in large numbers- which by far out weighs what the heigher up would have been wearing- I assure you, i know what I'm talking about

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61027 (not by me, but I know the information well)
 
One sure thing is that on an actual battlefield warriors would tend to be as naked as possible so as to have freer movement. The opposite would be true only in 1. winter 2. weight and lesser movement is caused by a good increased defense (armor protection).

Xen, you are a mod ? Did you apply for it ? Or were you simply picked up out of the lowly crowd ?
 
I know that Xen has seen this picture before, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

These are Thracian warriors, but the figure in the front rank, who is armed with a two-handed rhomphia, could equally be a Dacian with a two-handed falx:-



As you can see, you cannot use a shield with such a large heavy two-handed weapon, so you had to be a bit of a nutter to use one....but then, the Dacians WERE a bit nutty!
You see, they believed that death on the battlefield would ensure entry into a sort of 'warriors heaven'. So, like Viking Berserkers and Celtic Gaisatai, they didn't bother with defensive armour, but usually fought partially naked to show how brave they were.

Therefore I agree with Xen: a figure naked from the waist up and armed with a large curved blade on a long two-handed wooden pole would be just about right. :)
 
I don't really see how that made them nutty, unless you assume that their religion was wrong. But to be honest, most people of the time were a bit crazy back then. That being said, why is the Viking beserkir covered in pelts if they fought naked/scantily dressed? Or did Friaxis just not want to show any skin, :D.
 
well, if you look at the holplite, one notes that despite clearlly being nude below the waste, he is is missing his man luggage... kind of weird conciderign they choose to portray torwser vegitables on the colossus...
 
:lol: Too much detail Xen! :lol:

Originally posted by A Viking Yeti
I don't really see how that made them nutty, unless you assume that their religion was wrong. But to be honest, most people of the time were a bit crazy back then.

Well, most soldiers in history excepted to survive a battle. ;)
The Japanese kamikazes of WW2 were an exception of course, but they were a backs-against-the-wall desperate last ditch effort.

Although warriors armed with heavy two-handed rhomphia or falx were a terrifying sight, and could chop a shield to pieces or literally cut a man in two (and they certainly put the willies up the Romans), it is interesting to note that no other ancient people adopted this formidable if suicidal weapon. The Celts, the Germans, the Greeks, the Macedonians, the Goths and the Romans, all prefered weapons that allowed a sturdy shield to be used, and had some sort of helmet & body armour if they could afford it, even if it was only leather armour.
They wanted to survive a battle, and didn't have the luxury of believing in a glorious eternal afterlife. :D
 
as a Roman polytheist, i can assure you of a glorius eternal afterlife, it just happens that getting in is more determinate on your deeds in life, rathern then how you die :p

as for the detail- I was only stateing the obvious :p, just a bit of an embaressment for the Hoplite if I do say so myself :p
 
Originally posted by Xen
as a Roman polytheist, i can assure you of a glorius eternal afterlife, it just happens that getting in is more determinate on your deeds in life, rathern then how you die :p

as for the detail- I was only stateing the obvious :p, just a bit of an embaressment for the Hoplite if I do say so myself :p

Well if Roman polytheism is somewhat similar to Greek polytheism (as I believe it is), Achille said no great thing about the afterlife to Ulysses on his Odyssey back to Itqua (cf Homer).
 
we dont know for sure what the after life is until we get there- but a major though in the religion is that you need to make best of your life on earth, and have the after life as but a guide line to do good, and adhere by the virtues- for the sum of your life is the sum of your deeds on earth (well techinically in space and stuff to if your an astronaut, btu you get what I'm saying ;))
 
A Dacian UU? You people are driving me nuts! I spent quite some time trying to squeeze Thracia into my last mod to take advantage of the excellent Javelin thrower unit that was created and it's hit and run tactics. How am I going to fit this in?
 
Originally posted by davbenbak
A Dacian UU? You people are driving me nuts! I spent quite some time trying to squeeze Thracia into my last mod to take advantage of the excellent Javelin thrower unit that was created and it's hit and run tactics. How am I going to fit this in?

:lol: As some people like to add the Austrians from Conquests as a civ, as as the Austrians were not actually around in ancient times, how about having Dacian units for the ancient Austrians? :D
Austria did control Hungary for a long time, and the Dacians lived in roughly what we today call Hungary/Romania (Wallachia actually, which the Ottomans conquered).

(By the way, I'm currently making a Thracian Horseman, a Thracian Archer, and a Thraican Peltast, which I'm hoping people will use as early Byzantine units, pre 500 AD. :) )
 
Originally posted by davbenbak
A Dacian UU? You people are driving me nuts! I spent quite some time trying to squeeze Thracia into my last mod to take advantage of the excellent Javelin thrower unit that was created and it's hit and run tactics. How am I going to fit this in?

simple, use the Falxman as a replacement for either the thracian sword, or the MI, as the dacians were the northern most brach of the Thracians ;)
 
I'm an atheist, so the idea of dying in battle just for a supposed heaven or after-life of some sort seems ridiculus and insane, IMO. I don't mean to offend anyone planning on charging into WWIII with nothing but a bayonette (sp?) :lol:, the idea just seems a little far fetched to me, is all. But I don't see why everyone back then seemed so determined to carry a shield, if it can just be cut right in half with the falx. I suppose the falx and the Viking's Berzerkirs were more of a mental weapon then really a weapon of war; I mean if you really want to win a war, you're usually planning on living to see the end of it.

BTW: The kamikazes were given leaflets on how to commit suicide properly, right? For a last ditch effort, they planned ahead pretty well, :D.
 
True Kamakazes were not a last ditch effort, but a planned strategy (the Oka fighter was loaded with explosives in the front, and was designed to impact as a sort of manned guided missile).

Anyway, I don't think Barbarian tribes who would fight with little hope of survival ever wanted to win a war. They were probably more concerned about killing their immediate enemy at all costs. Also, many would not use body armor because they need mobility, not because it was cowardly.
 
Originally posted by A Viking Yeti
But I don't see why everyone back then seemed so determined to carry a shield, if it can just be cut right in half with the falx.

Yes, a well swung falx probably could cut through a shield, if it hit squarely and was not deflected or dodged that is. But in the next instant the falxman would find a sword burried deep in his chest.
One man loses a shield....the other loses a life.
As I said, you had to be a bit of a nutter to use the falx. ;)

(By the way, I too do not believe in an afterlife, be it a quiet calm Christian one, or a riotous rollicking Dacian/Viking one....)
 
Mobility, IMO, would be the only good reason to not use armor, and probably the most likely. They only had iron back then, as far as I know, and iron ways quite a bit. A full set of armor was probably very heavy, making fighting (or for that matter, fleeing) much harder to do. Not to mention the fact that it probably got very hot inside an iron helmet and breast plate, especially since you're trying to fight (which I'm sure must be very hard work).

To Kryten: Ah, a kindred spirit :D. You do have a point, though. Unless you're really strong and can bring that heavy falx back up quick enough, or strong enough to to make it through the shield and kill 'em in one blow; you're pretty much dead meat. BTW: If the Vikings were right, I wouldn't want to go. Those guys were crazy, imagine what that place would be like, :crazyeye:.
 
Xen is the mod of a spam forum. :lol:

Anyway, this might be a worthy project. The ancient age in Civ is kinda bland....

Now that I've been playing Civ again, I've just customized my games to bypass the Ancient Age altogether.
 
actually, funny thing about the spam forum, perfection came and ruined it, now only moderators can spam in the spam forum ;)
 
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