Anno Domini beta : test it and feed back here!!

[ElCommandante]

Also, I noticed that Florence doesn't have a wonder that pays for trade installations, as their description states. Will the training hut going obsolete with smelting affect Raising the Clans?

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Is Hanno's Voyage meant to require timber, and is Noah's Ark not?

Yes, that's the case.

Also, Florence doesn't have a wonder that pays for trade installations, as it's pedia description states.?

Originally it did; the Florentine Republic government type pays for all installations, rendering the Medici bank ineffective; it was therefore changed. I'll update that civilopedia entry.

Does anyone know if the changes made to the Training Hut affect Raising the Clans?

It does - as the training hut is obsolete with smelting, Raising the Clans (which builds a free training hut in each city) is therefore obsolete.


I realise that with each of these, a tweak to the civilopedia is required; I'm not doing any further updates in terms of patches, but here's an updated civilopedia. I'll most likely change Noah's ark to require timber in the full version .

 

[Gen. Rommel]

I'm not doing any further updates in terms of patches, but here's an updated civilopedia.

For not wanting to make anymore updates, you're still quite actively...well, updating!

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

For not wanting to make anymore updates, you're still quite actively...well, updating!

Well, the Indian units had to be included, they were too good to miss out; I also thought that it was the right thing to do to provide ElCommandante with an updated civilopedia after he'd fed in those issues. However, once the weekend comes around (please, Lord, soon !!), the current version will change in such a way that I won't be able to provide updates of this nature .

 

[Gen. Rommel]

Sounds good! My weekend started today actually, since we get thursday and friday off of school due to holidays.

Anyways, as promised, some pics of my current Spartan empire. Despite what I had said, I have yet to conquer any Athenean territories (although I did destroy one of their cities recently) but the war is, nontheless, in full flame. The brave Spartan warriors have proven their dominance on the battlefield time and time again. A small summary:

In the year 1830 B.C. of Agis the Great, the Spartan holdings span the northern Aegean Ocean (indeed, this body of water does not exist, but this is an alternate world afterall) from Pylos to Plataea. Though not the greatest kingdom in size, it is by far the fastest expanding and surely rests on the most fertile and rich soil on the face of the mighty Gaea.

From the beginning of recorded Spartan history, the Atheneans have continually contested Spartan dominance of the northern continent. Eventually, the uneasy peace that had ruled for hundreds of years was broken by the Athenean treachery of Sparta, where Athenean diplomats vowed peace but simultaneously backstabbed the unprepared Spartan nation. However, Sparta's thus ambiguous allies soon rose to the occasion, and the mighty steadfast Romo-Spartan Alliance was established with the three member states, Rome, Byzantium, and its leader Sparta. During this time, a war between Egypt and Sparta also broke out, which required full attention of the Egypt bordering member states Rome and Byzantium. This meant that Sparta would fight a one front war in the west with evil Athens and the combined Romo-Byzantine army would be concentrated on the south eastern border with Egypt.

Needing only to worry about the Atheneans for the time being, Sparta declared a polarisation of the world's nations, demanding that one of two sides be taken: the Spartan side or that of the Athenean scum. Many nations fearing Spartan reprimand quickly joined the Protector of Greece in their struggle, while a few less intelligent nations were foolish enough to cross Agis the Mighty. A full-on world war broke out, sending the Gaea into a quickly spiraling international conflict.

Understandably, these times were marked by many wars. But none, however, were of such strategic importance as that of the Battle of Thermopylae (strange how this turned out to be a historical battle as well hehe). Amassing a massive army to the south of the Thermopylaean mountain pass, the Atheneans began their march towards the city. Things looked bleak for the massively outnumbered Spartans, who were still devastated by the suddenness of the war and scrambled to gather enough troops to hold out until further armies could aid the war effort.

As the large phalanxes of Athenean warriors approached ever closer, the Spartan defence force made its stand just south of the city. Readying their shields and spears for the encroaching enemy, they began to feel the rush of battle pump through their veins and the blessing of Ares strengthen their minds and muscles. As the sudden wave of Atheneans crashed into the Spartan force, rows of warriors fell to their bloody graves, being trampled by the quickly reinforcing troops coming from behind. One warrior stood out from the rest, sending many an Athenean foe dead to the ground. His name was Leonidas and he was the recently crowned king of the Agiad Dynasty of Sparta. Quickly leading the outnumbered Spartans to victory, the remaining fleeing Atheneans were hunted down for their cowardice.

With the Battle of Thermopylae also came the decimation of the bulk of Athens war machine, granting Sparta the time it needed to properly prepare for war. With Leonidas and Agis II leading Sparta, the future of the mighty nation looked to be one of expansion and success. The history books turn bague at this point and require further deciphering.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I love how that's written!! Thanks...and I look forward to seeing how the mighty Sparta expand into Athenean territory !!

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Here's a new version of Justinian. I'm thinking of replacing Basil II with him in the mod .

 

[Stormrage]

Hmm.. that crown is huge.. cos it can`t press down the hair in Poser, right?

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Hmm.. that crown is huge.. cos it can`t press down the hair in Poser, right?

Nope, it's huge because...it was huge.

 

[Plotinus]

I think it looks a bit unrealistic to have such a wide crown balancing on his hair like that, no matter what the mosaics say (I understand that that one may well actually portray Theodoric, but when the Byzantines later invaded, it got altered...). He'd have to be using an awful lot of hairspray to make his do support such a weight. Personally I'd press the hair down and narrow the crown.

 

[Gen. Rommel]

I love how that's written!! Thanks...and I look forward to seeing how the mighty Sparta expand into Athenean territory !!

And so the history books have revealed more information on mighty Sparta:

Following many resulting battles with Athens, the Spartan army had finally gained a considerable foothold and boasted a much larger army than their enemy. It was time to push then foe back and show the world true Spartan valor!

As a wise Spartan once said, "Necesity is the mother of invention" (so, it was actually Plato who said that, but in this alternate history, Plato is a citizen of the massive Spartan empire ). And so it was that Sparta unveiled its new weapon to rot out the Atheneans. With the vigorously trained and battle hardened Broad Swordsman leading the ranks of Sparta, no nation could oppose Sparta ever again! (BTW, I believe the Broad Swordsman needs to be made about 10-20% bigger; he's way too small in comparison to the others, even if he is an AoE conversion unit)

City upon city fell to the advancing Spartan war machine, which continued to swallow large portions of the Athenean Kingdom to expand father Sparta. Forming a strong offensive line, the camps of the Spartan warriors were moved daily closer into enemy territory. "The Wall of Men" as the legendary formation was later known, was absolutely impenetrable and more devestating than anything else.

And as the Spartans fed on their enemies weakness, so did the Spartan Empire on the weak Athenean Kingdom. It ate to appease its hunger - a hunger that knew no satisfaction! Sparta had become one of the mightiest empires in the world, and it was only getting started.

And so it was, that in 1500 B.C. of the mighty Agis, Spartan troops banged on the city gates of Athens. Finally, the war juggernaught had reached its goal! Once Athens had fallen, the whole Kingdom would be crippled and crack apart.

The Spartans were not the only ones who knew this, it seemed. In a humiliating display of cowardice, the Athenean politicians and the treacherous General Pericles came cowering before Agis begging for mercy. Ready to accept horrendous war reperations, the Atheneans proved they were broken and tired of war. (The reperations are one tech [Code of Laws], three cities [Pharsalos, Amphipolis, and Ephesus], and 115 gold)

But Sparta was NOT merciful! It was hungry for power and would do anything to satiate its craving. Sparta would greedily eat up all of Athens - before setting its sights elsewhere...

---

I like the new Byzantine leaderhead much better for this scenario. Basil II looks good, but way too medieval for this mod. I would hope that the Serbian leaderhead gets replaced eventually as well to support a more "ancient age" looking head.

And about the crown, I would reduce the size as well. Sometimes it's better to forget realism for the sake of practicality.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I think it looks a bit unrealistic to have such a wide crown balancing on his hair like that, no matter what the mosaics say (I understand that that one may well actually portray Theodoric, but when the Byzantines later invaded, it got altered...). He'd have to be using an awful lot of hairspray to make his do support such a weight. Personally I'd press the hair down and narrow the crown.

You know what - I think you're right. I'll look at re-working it tomorrow.

 

[Ares de Borg]

I like the new version of Justinian. Good work, Rob!

 

[Micaelus]

Greetings,
I've been lurking for over a month now and following this mod's development excitedly. Right now I'm playing as the Byzantines (Justinian looks great by the way) and have been in a great power/border struggle with Egypt for most of the game. They seem to produce Anubis Knights at ludicrous speed and often have huge stacks of them parading through my territory, daring me to challenge them. All in all, I've been very impressed with the mod and have had a great deal of fun playing it.

I do want to echo, however, comments on the miniature broad swordsmen. If there is any way to correct this, I think it would help quite a bit.

Thanks all for the great work and the excellent product!

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I think it looks a bit unrealistic to have such a wide crown balancing on his hair like that, no matter what the mosaics say (I understand that that one may well actually portray Theodoric, but when the Byzantines later invaded, it got altered...). He'd have to be using an awful lot of hairspray to make his do support such a weight. Personally I'd press the hair down and narrow the crown.

Okay....how's he looking now?

The history books have revealed more information on mighty Sparta.............Sparta was NOT merciful! It was hungry for power and would do anything to satiate its craving. Sparta would greedily eat up all of Athens - before setting its sights elsewhere...

Thanks for that history lesson. I wonder what the future has in store for the mighty Sparta?

I would hope that the Serbian leaderhead gets replaced eventually as well to support a more "ancient age" looking head.

I've had a few comments made about Serbia being in the mod, in place of the Slavs. I did it for two reasons: firstly, some of the Serbian "extras," i.e. St Sava's nomocanon, Dusan's code and the monastery St Sava spent time at seemed to fit better with Serbia specifically; the second reason was that I knew Partizanac was keen to have Serbia in the mod. Please let me know what you think, guys, especially Partizanac. If the Slavs still "fit" with those extras, then I'll simply replace the leader and the name of the civ; if you'd prefer Serbia to stay, but want me to do an earlier leader, then please let me know.

Greetings,
I've been lurking for over a month now and following this mod's development excitedly. Right now I'm playing as the Byzantines (Justinian looks great by the way) and have been in a great power/border struggle with Egypt for most of the game. They seem to produce Anubis Knights at ludicrous speed and often have huge stacks of them parading through my territory, daring me to challenge them. All in all, I've been very impressed with the mod and have had a great deal of fun playing it.

I do want to echo, however, comments on the miniature broad swordsmen. If there is any way to correct this, I think it would help quite a bit.

Thanks all for the great work and the excellent product!

I'm glad you're enjoying the mod and that it's pressed you out of lurkerdom! I'll look into replacing the broad swordsmen with something else.


Now it's time for that great Civfanatics forums institution....it's "open a can of worms" time!! As you might already have read, this weekend I've a few days to start taking the hood off this mod and tinker around with the contents, with the intention of getting the "full" version out around Christmas. So do you, by any chance, have an opinion on whether or not some civilizations make the grade for the "full" version ? Here's the story; I've been in touch briefly with Ogedei about maybe putting in Asian civs in the full release. The three civs, incidently, would be the Qin, Shilla and Yamato. That would require a new culture group; I was thinking that as Nubia takes up an entire culture group on its own, they could be a departing civ, only to return later when I have a chance to do Africa as a full culture group, making the Nubian advantage of "no resources required for units" an African trait. So, if that were the case, we'd be looking for a couple of other civilizations to go. Brigantia might be a good choice; though personally, I like that civ with the Brigantian farms and armouries. Florence is another civ that some people feel is too "late" for this mod compared to other civs; if the general feel is not to have them, I could leave them out in favour of one of the Asian civs, beef up the Carthagian cothon's abilities to incorporate an "airport" type of ability in terms of trade and share some of the other Florentian trade advantages amongst the trader civs. Another late addition, Nabataea, is another possibility for making way for Asia.

Or is the Asian addition the way you'd want me to go? Are there other civs in the game you see as a "waste of time" whilst other "more worthy" (in your opinion) civs haven't made the grade?

I know I said that I'd do other BIQs - and I will - I'd like this one to be the "flagship" BIQ for Anno Domini. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Plotinus]

Okay....how's he looking now?

That's much better! It looks much more convincing anyway. I did like the long hair of the original version - I don't know if you could give this one similarly long hair but keep it close to his head as you have it here - perhaps it wouldn't look good. Alternatively, perhaps save that long-haired look for some future hatless LH.

...the second reason was that I knew Partizanac was keen to have Serbia in the mod.

Partizanac wants to have Serbia in everything...

 

[Stormrage]

What a cruel face. I think it looks much better now

As for the "comings and goings" I`d say Florence should take a vacation and I welcome the Asians. I have to think some more about the other 2 civs.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I've amended the hair and made the tunic a deep red .

 

[Blue Monkey]

As the "flagship" it'd be nice to have a taste of each of the future biqs included. How to have both Africa & East Asia on that buffet at the same time I don't know. Could Nubia be included in the Indian culture group for now (I know the cities won't look right, but wouldn't most of the rest of the elements be able to be the same?). Kushan is my least favorite of the Indian civs. For what it's worth I'd be willing to see it shelved until a later biq if the consensus is for an African civ.

 

[Partizanac]

Partizanac wants to have Serbia in everything...

Thats true but believe it or not... I would like it better if Rob was to put Slavs back in!

And in my defense @VC wanted to put Serbia in his ancient Greek mod! and I told him Serbia didn't exist back then...

THERE PLOT!

Edit: If you think I pushed Rob in putting Serbia in his mod... well, your wrong... I told Rob when he started Anno Domini II to put in Serbia, he rejected so I asked for Slavs, that he accepted! and believe me I don't know why, but suddenly he put Serbia in (why?, he'll have to answer that one!)