Aaaargh, persian special unit

Wernazuma III · September 7, 2001, 20:41

I know, some of us don't give a damn about historical accuracy. But the persian immortals were a heavy cavalry unit, whereas the persian special unit seems to be a "Prince of Persia" unit!!! That's pathetic! Swordsmen??????? They don't know what they do!

- Groucho - · September 7, 2001, 21:52

Are you sure they were cavalry?

Herodotus kinda indicates that they were on foot. And most classic accounts of the battle of Thermopylae place the Immortals in the fighting - if Xerxes was sending cavalry up a twisty little road against spearmen no wonder the Spartans held him back for so long. It seems more reasonable to suppose they were on foot.

Where did you read they were strictly cavalry?

Britiannica has a picture which depicts them as foot soldiers ...

PGM · September 7, 2001, 22:23

Even if they used horses, we already have the Rider as a unique unit, and if too many of these were knights, I think it would be uninteresting.

About the Immortal, I'm not that much excited about it (4/2/1), but that's ok, because Persia is not a militaristic civ, so they're not supposed to have a very powerful unique unit.

The Rider (4/4/3), on the other hand, despite the terrible name, is extremely powerful and surprisingly fast, which fits well the Chinese civ which is now Militaristic. From the movie we've all just seen, a modern armor also has a movement factor of 3, so this shows how important that knight can be in its proper period of time.

Inverse Icarus · September 7, 2001, 23:51

wonder what the legion is... i know it is a bump up of the swordsman as well...

Steve Clark · September 7, 2001, 23:55

How about a bump up of the Phalanx unit?

jsw363 · September 8, 2001, 00:08

I don't think that there are phalanx any more. Now there's a spearman and the Greek UU, the Hoplite.

tniem · September 8, 2001, 01:54

I believe that a better place for this argument is in the Civ3-Civilizations section.

In one of the debates in there the point was made that if you took any civs main unit it would probably have something to do with archers. They all used them up even to the English. So Firaxis is forced to pick a more diverse group to add to the feel of the game even if it declines on history.

Melios · September 8, 2001, 02:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Wernazuma III
But the persian immortals were a heavy cavalry unit

Huh?!? Are you sure you're not confusing them with Alexander's "Companion Cavalry?"

Wernazuma III · September 8, 2001, 09:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Melios
Huh?!? Are you sure you're not confusing them with Alexander's "Companion Cavalry?"

I was writing too quickly without checking up

But I knew they were not swordsmen and that persians had quite a bit cavalry to say the least. And the sassanid (persians too) elite cataphracts was called immortals, AFAIK. But the original immortals were infantry as it seems, you're right. Interesting side fact: some suggest that Herodot confused Anushiya (=companions) with Anausha (=Immortals). I really had thought before that Alexander's hetairoi were somehow influenced by the immortals. I guess, I've been wrong.

LaRusso · September 8, 2001, 11:34

is the right expression 'storm in a tea cup pot or glass of water'?

squid · September 8, 2001, 12:04

What do you think about this clip. Cleopatra's of Greek descent. Ah....stupid Firaxis.....will you ever learn? They are going to fix this right?

http://www.civ3.com/images/screenshots/foreign.jpg

The diplomat · September 8, 2001, 12:15

Quote:

Originally posted by squid
What do you think about this clip. Cleopatra's of Greek descent. Ah....stupid Firaxis.....will you ever learn? They are going to fix this right?

http://www.civ3.com/images/screenshots/foreign.jpg

They changed cleopatra, didn't you know? Just check out the Egyptian civ of the Week, Cleopatra is now aesthetically correct!

squid · September 8, 2001, 12:38

glad to hear it. I'm hoping "Brother Bluto of Delta House" replaces Julius Caesar though. I like him

Fintilgin · September 8, 2001, 13:57

Quote:

Originally posted by LaRusso
is the right expression 'storm in a tea cup pot or glass of water'?

IIRC it's `Tempest in a teapot'.

Joe

LaRusso · September 8, 2001, 14:06

thanx. english as a second language

Wernazuma III · September 9, 2001, 01:12

Quote:

Originally posted by LaRusso
is the right expression 'storm in a tea cup pot or glass of water'?

I think Firaxis designers thought: What does the average player know about Persia. Maybe the jump'n run game Prince of Persia or some arcade game where the persian fighter swings his damascene sword. OK, we do not rewrite history in Civ3, but then we could let all histrical fact out. Would that be fun?

star mouse · September 9, 2001, 04:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Fintilgin
IIRC it's `Tempest in a teapot'.

Joe

Actually, it's "storm in a teacup", although I believe the French version of this idiom is something like "storm in a glass of water"

LaRusso · September 9, 2001, 10:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Wernazuma III

I think Firaxis designers thought: What does the average player know about Persia. Maybe the jump'n run game Prince of Persia or some arcade game where the persian fighter swings his damascene sword. OK, we do not rewrite history in Civ3, but then we could let all histrical fact out. Would that be fun?

might as well be

depends on the 'gameplay' and 'interface'