Civ of the Week no. 5: Persians

[Steve Clark]

Good call, Alexander01.

[Falconius]

Originally posted by d_dudy

i would also like to say i share tniem's reservations about xerxes. he doesn't sound all that great especially next to darius.

No, but he DOES have a really cool name. I wanted to name my kid Xerxes, but my wife told me I was nuts. Too bad.

[jsw363]

Bravo to Alexander. I must admit that I was a bit skeptical, but....

And yes, all the leaders are UGLY.

And finally, there description of Xerxes doesn't really match up with him being their leader. Kind of odd, no?

[d_dudy]

i think his having a cool name must be the only reason for him being the leader.

think about it, how ignorent is it to say how he near single handedly brought down his own great civilization and then make him their leader?

nice to see people actually realize i'm posting things, i might use caps more often


edit: i always have typos!

[Buck Birdseed]

All I know is that a lot of people would chose the king who lost most of the swedish territorial possessions, Charles XII, as the Swedish leader if such a civ ever would be made, because he's interesting and had some brilliant victories (Narva, most famously) before succumbing to Peter the Great's forces. *shrug*

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Alexander01
Come on people. Cataphracts? Try Byzantines, please. (Maybe in the expansion).

I knew someone would be ignorant enough to say this.

The Byzantines did already use Cataphracts when they were still Romans. And the Romans, an infantry civilization, if there ever was one, didn´t invent Cataphracts, either.

Guess from whom they copied them.

[splangy]

Persians are nice but nothin special. I DO like the imortal though, that should be a ***** to hold against.

[Alexander I]

Hold on a second, Comrade Tribune. Take your communist attitude with you. I never said the Byzantines were the ONLY civ to have Cataphracts. Yes, the Romans had them. As did the Parthians. But YOU'RE the ignorant one if you think Parthians are bonified Persians.

And anyway, the unique unit should be something the civ is renowned for. The Romans are more famous for their legions than for cataphracts. In the Persian situation, the Immortal best fits the Persian persona.

So please, stop spewing insults and go back to history class.

[Felch]

True dat, Alexander. What's important in terms of the UU is not the inventor but the most famous civilization to use it.

Germany didn't invent tanks, Britain did.

America didn't invent jets, Germany did.

Babylonians didn't invent bows, they've been around sinceprehistoric times.

Egypt didn't invent the chariot (I think that's their UU), it was used against them by an invading army, and the Egyptians modified the design and became a dominant power.

What's significant is not who used the weapon first, but who was most influential with the weapon or tactic.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Alexander01
But YOU'RE the ignorant one if you think Parthians are bonified Persians

No insult here, but it's funny that you call someone else ignorant and then use the term "bonified". Those of us who have seen it in print usually spell it "bona fide", from the Latin for "in good faith". I usually screw things up the other way around; I mispronounce things I've seen written, but have never heard spoken.

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Alexander01
And anyway, the unique unit should be something the civ is renowned for. The Romans are more famous for their legions than for cataphracts. In the Persian situation, the Immortal best fits the Persian persona.

So please, stop spewing insults and go back to history class.

It´s all real history vs. popular history.

The Immortals were mostly "renowned" for losing big time against the Greeks. On the other hand, Parthian and later Persian Cataphract armies annihilated Crassus and fought all Roman Emperors who tried something and even the master general Belisarius to a standstill.

Brush up your historical knowledge, before I am going to take any lessons in your history class.

[d_dudy]

you know, i don't think anyone cares

[Fiil]

I think the Persians look good. I like the firaxis' choise of the immortals and compared with the other leaders he Xerxes looks allright. Ofcause they could have chosen Darios but Xerxes is the most famous.

I think the two pictures of Xerxes look very different (the one on the main page and the one under civ-of-the-week). It's probably just the costume but both of them look ancient, and I assumed there would be only four different costumes to cover the timeline. The previous leaders wore the same clothes on both pics!!

[eNo]

I'm suprised noone's mentioned this but if I understand the background of the Immortals correctly, then the unit chould be weaker than its standard counterpart but much cheaper to produce. Maybe half the shields? two third's of the shields?

And yeah..Xerxes does seem an odd choice for a leader. Except it might be that fame versus accuracy thing.

[d_dudy]

they cost the same but have more men in a unit, making their attack greater

i think it makes sense