Praetorian! What on Earth! That's not Right!

Zebra 9

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I don't get it. The dictionary sayes that a Praetorian is the emporers gaurd, NOT the main military unit for the roman army. The legionary is.
Does anyone else think this is weird, & does anyone know why this is, & does anyone think it should be changed.

I don't want this thread to turn into a Firaxis basher please. I don't blame Firaxis for this I just think they where trying somthing new.
 
I agree with you but, meh; Civ is not reknowed for its historical accuracies.
 
I noticed that a lot of the unique national units were actually "elite" in their own time, e.g. SEALS, Immortals. Perhaps this was just a way of spicing up the titles. Certainly we can't accuse the design team of being overly consistent! :)
 
Yes, how they handled the Romans is one of my gripes with Civ 4. The salad joke isn't funny the second time you hear it. And the legions were impressive enough as an unit. The coddled Praetorians would probably lose to a real veteran legion anyway.
 
I especially hate how the SEAL replaces the Marine unit, given the archetypical example of the Marine is the US Marine... which doesn't exist according to the game. D'oh!
 
you think seals and praetorians are bad? at least they're real. "quechua" is what the inca called their civilization and language, not a warrior!
not to mention indian fast workers.
 
Civ is not only a game, but diverse societies and their characteristics are included as learning tools. So, if praetorians weren't included in the game, perhaps you would never learn about them.

Personally, I would prefer them to be named "manipule", or some other sub-unit of the legion.
 
Ammar said:
Yes, how they handled the Romans is one of my gripes with Civ 4. The salad joke isn't funny the second time you hear it. And the legions were impressive enough as an unit. The coddled Praetorians would probably lose to a real veteran legion anyway.

After all, it took only 1 General Maximus to beat 5 Praetorians in the woods. And he started with no weapon and a sword at his neck.
 
A Phalanx is a tactic. Not a unit.

It's a game. They just think of cool names.

:king:
 
True, however the approriate history should be implmented in the summary. Why have "untrue" definitions? It seems kind of pointless to me, but the vikings have horns so obviously firaxis is not influenced too much from history.
 
Once one of my Praets reaches Level 4, it gets renamed to "Xst/nd/rd/th Legion". Real-life Praetorians were good at intimidating Senators, but not much use in the field.

I suspect someone at Firaxis thought they should change a few names to hammer home the whole "new, improved!" thing. Silly, really.
 
Do you guys realize you are playing a game??

At no point did Firaxis say they were historically accurate.

Relax, you will live longer
 
kcbrett5 said:
After all, it took only 1 General Maximus to beat 5 Praetorians in the woods. And he started with no weapon and a sword at his neck.

Grin :) But that was because the frost makes the blade stick, hey maybe that should be moddable, Praetorians -2 str in coniferous forests in winter..


The sad thing is some people might think I was being serious......
 
kcbrett5 said:
After all, it took only 1 General Maximus to beat 5 Praetorians in the woods. And he started with no weapon and a sword at his neck.

Well, he did have those +20XP as a Great General. :lol:
 
Civ is not a historical game. It just uses real names to be much fun. In a game in which you can build the Taj Mahal in London or found the Taoism in Mali, I think there is no problem to fight on the field with Praetorians or to give horses to persian Immortals
 
naterator said:
you think seals and praetorians are bad? at least they're real. "quechua" is what the inca called their civilization and language, not a warrior!
not to mention indian fast workers.

Hey, Indian workers must be pretty damned fast... Otherwise, why would the United States be hiring them to do so many jobs Americans used to do? :o
 
AfterShafter said:
Hey, Indian workers must be pretty damned fast... Otherwise, why would the United States be hiring them to do so many jobs Americans used to do? :o

So true... Many american companies are outsorcing thier customer service line to india...
 
Every country is outsourcing their services to low cost countries nowadays.
Several years ago, it was mainly the production that was outsourced to low cost countries, but now even services even get outsourced, because language is less of a barrier then it was say 10 years ago.
 
Whne I first got Civ4, I was PO'd that the Legion was removed, I always played As Rome and as such, the Legionary was my Favorite Unit.. Mostly because at the point that I would get them I would massively produce them and put the in Wall Formation to protect my Civilization for wandering neighbors...

But I've grown to not play as Rome anymore, lol, I didn't notice how much it disappointed me until now, that Since the Demo, I have not played Rome AT ALL. lol.. Usually the Americans or a Modded version of the Confederate States.
 
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