First Screenshots: VIKINGS (probable), SPANISH, MONGOLS, Multiplayer

[Spiffor]

Aaaah, the Hwacha. Beautiful, and educative. I longed to learn something from a history-game. Last time, it was with Civ1, when I was 10 (but I sure love history thereafter). I hope the still unknown UUs will teach me some other things !

[monkspider]

here's some hwacha info from various sites
1451:

The Korean King Munjong views a military exercise at his palace. Seven hundred soldiers take part, and weapons demonstrated included hwacha, a rocket- launcher on a cartwheel.
(http://ejmas.com/kronos/NewHist1350-1699.htm)

Hwacha was a movable launcher mounted on a cartwheel, from which
gunpowder released dozens of arrows equipped with iron-made wings. This gadget had searing fire-power, highly effective in striking the enemy.

The hwacha was greatly upgraded and positioned in the frontier in 1451. Later the movable launcher was utilized against the Japanese Invasion of 1592, a token of what Choe and his son contributed to the advancement of firearms and weaponry.
(http://english.gija.com/click27.htm)

[monkspider]

Here's a screen of the two new leaders for those too lazy to download the zip.

[monkspider]

Anyone willing to take bets on who the 8th and last Civ is?

[Panag]

Originally posted by monkspider
Here's a screen of the two new leaders for those too lazy to download the zip.

hi ,

while you are at it , ....did you see any other faces , ...
there seems to be a problem with their site now , ....maybe to many people at ones , ....

have a nice day

[monkspider]

Any other faces? Nu-uh, just those two, no Hannibal or Brennus yet.

[Bleyn]

Originally posted by civman2000
5/3/3 is WAY too strong. Unless they only have 1 speical ability that is unacceptable

Why would that be too strong? Everyone seems to be assuming that the Conquistador is a Knight replacing UU (for which it would admitedly be a bit strong).

My vote is for it to be something of a Cavalry replacing UU. Considering that Cavalry is 6.2.3 and Cossack, the Russian Cavalry replacing UU is a 6.3.3, having Conquistador be essentially in the same ballpark makes sense.

Also, if I remember my military history correctly, the Conquistador did not really appear until after the advent of gunpowder weapons, which were also the deathknell of the heavily armored Knights. They were too slow, too vulnerable to musketry (and crossbows), and too expensive compared to other military units that were evolving. Among those replacements were a variety of more lightly armed and armored cavalry units. Hussars, Lancers, Cuissairs, Dragoons and probably a number of other varieties that don't come to mind quite at the moment.

And yes, I know that the Conquistador image in the screenshots is wielding a lance and not the gun that the Cavalry and Cossacks already present in Civ3 are depicted as wielding. The fact of the matter is that for the most part until the advent of the repeating rifle in the 1850s, it was found to be more practiable for cavalry units to be armed with sword or lance. Muzzle loading muskets and carbines were too unwieldy to be easily and quickly reloaded from horseback. The primary task of cavalry in battle for the first several centuries of gunpowder warfare was to act as a shock trooper, deriving their power from the charge and the bodily slamming of their horses into an enemy line. Indeed, there is strong evidence that most cavalry charges did very little real bodily damage to enemy infantry, but possessed great ability to shatter the morale of infantry through their charge, and cause them to break in retreat or rout. In the rare instance that cavalry were armed with muskets or carbines, they were more often used as a form of mounted infantry and not true cavalry. (And as a small side note, cavalry were still being armed with sword and lance in European warfare into WW1 and I think even the very early days of WW2 as absurd as it may sound)

Combine this with the factor that the heyday of the Conquistador was the 1500s and early 1600s, between the eras of the Knight in the 1100s through 1300s or so and the era of the repeating rifle armed cavalry of the second half of the 1800s. All of this makes sense that we will likely see the Conquistador as a Cavalry replacer, or perhaps they are putting it slightly earlier in the tech tree and this comes in closer to Gunpowder than Cavalry does. Either way, it fits more with Cavalry than it does with Knights as a unit.

[Panag]

Originally posted by monkspider
Any other faces? Nu-uh, just those two, no Hannibal or Brennus yet.

hi ,

well their server in France is offline , there was more info , ....
well that's what you get with some O products , .....

some people are speculating as to whom those 2 represent at firaxis, ........

have a nice day

[monkspider]

Here's also a better in-game screen of the Conquistador, clearly the loveable dog appears in the game too. Woo-hoo!

[monkspider]

Here's also a much sharper image of the Viking Bezerker

[monkspider]

and to round things out, here is a better image of the Mongol Keshik

[Bleyn]

On the Viking/Radar&Airfield screen, I find it interesting to note that both the radar and airfield terrain improvements appear to be usefully placeable outside ones civ borders. Not that it is exactly suprising that this would be so, but I could see a certain logic in arguing that they should only be usable when inside ones boarders. Though I suppose that could still be the case, as it a little hard to tell being that there is no fog of war even showing in the screen shot to judge radar ranges from. But 5 radars and 2 airfields seems a bit much for either one or both to work only inside civ boarders. Also appears as I think about it, if they are working, it means they work without needing a road connection as most of the ones outside the boarder do not have such a connection. Which is also nice....

[ChaotikVisions]

I guess Isabella and Genghis aren't too bad, when compared to the mad glare o' Caesar, and ole stoned Abe. Genghis sure is ugly though, heh.

[monkspider]

Here's a new Paradigm for us to consider on the Conquistador/Knight question
Firaxis introduces a number of new units in the XP.
One of those new units is the Crusader, back from Civ 2. Fitting somewhere between knight and cavalry.
The Conquistador is a special version of the Crusader.

[Imp. Montezuma]

Originally posted by Nuctemeronn
A real hwacha:

http://www.sac.or.kr/eng/bows/173.html

Cya

Hey, it's not roket launcher! It launched arrows with bombs.