Slitherine

Pretty much what the title says.

I for one would like to see someone finally cover the Late Roman/Patrician period maybe going as far as the early Byzantines. Pretty much untouched period of history in wargames. Don't know if it'd be a bane or a boon but historical info is sketchy at best so a lot of freedom for developers.

Yes, but we need to take a break and have some fun. We've been making historical games for a long time and we just need to do something a bit different

iainmcneil wrote:Yes, but we need to take a break and have some fun. We've been making historical games for a long time and we just need to do something a bit different :)

Ave Iain,

That's an intriguing answer, it follows that the next question has to be, what future add-ons do you have planned for Legion Arena? Will it involve or include any of the following:

01. More campaigns ie. The Roman Invasion of Britain of 43 AD, Trajan's many campaigns etc?
02. More troop types ie. horse archers, slingers, cataphracts etc?
03. More moddable elements ie. any and all of the above and below?
04. Conversion kits ie. to convert animations from .pcx to .xam formats?
05. Proper activation and animation of all elements of ballistas and elephants?
06. Naval battles ie. an expansion of the naval battles from Spartan, assuming there were any?
07. Or maybe a brand new series of games, called "Naval Arena" followed by "Siege Arena", it's the next logical step?
08. Continuing the series with, "Gladiator Arena" followed by "Chariot Racing Arena", an "Arena" franchise?
09. Maybe some method could be created to connect all "Arena" games together so that all elements from the ideas above would work as one monster, all inclusive game? It's an evolutionary process, each game could operate as a stand-alone or be part of an entirely new game.

I could go on, but mustn't, I know you won't answer my post in any detail, you can't. But, even if nothing else happens, it's recorded here for all readers to see and ponder over, and imagine the possibilities.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

At the moment we don't know what it will be

Following on this thread, I have thought that it would be a nice feature if one could "promote" units. We spend several campaigns building armies and equiping them with skills, armour etc, only to have to dump most elements, if trying to retain a degree of historical accuracy, and start again with tyros. It woyuld be nice for example to be able to promote Hasti to Principes by the payment of 200denarii and say a 2 point reduction in level, and principii to legionaries by a similar mechanism. After all as the legions re-equiped they didn't disband and start with a complete bunch of new recruits!

Totally unrelated - why do the auxilliaries throw their spears? Unlike the pilum the auxiliary spear is essentially a hand weapon, and retained would give them advantage in the hand-to-hand situation?

answer to Q.2> because its a game

OK point taken, so how do I mod them so they don't throw away their advantage?

Yes, that "type" of Auxiliary troops were armed with sword and spear, not javelins. But I humbly think that Slitherine gives them a javelin (different stats that pila) in order to try to depict all the different light troops available to man the frontiers and support the offensive armies (aka, the legions).

It would be impossible to depict in detail all the auxiliary troops Rome that served under the Eagle in that long time frame...

Think about other question. Roman Legionaries used both Spear and Pilum well until after the first century of the Christian era (see Yann le bohec, the roman army) and the game don't depict Legionaries armed that way...

Fair point, but the legionaries are shown as a generic type who primarily used light & heavy pila (see for example Connolly), in the same way these auxilla are a generic type. Javelin armed troops can be provided by retaining either Velites or skirmishers as options in the later periods of the game, they also start to look rather like numerii for 3rd/4th century scenarios. Incidentally if you hang onto militia long enough thet can double as legionaries in light combat attire, because by the time you reach the empire stage they have accummulated enough skills, armour & experience to prove fairly tough if used properly. A recent Osprey publication shows unarmoured legionnaries as anti-cavalry troops, but considering the way LA works that might not be very successful!