The Epirotes and the Antigonids in 0.5

2022-09-06 · Tarnholm

Hello and welcome to a brand spanking new developer diary!

Today we will talk about the exciting upgrades that 0.5 brings to the Epirotes and showcase some of the additional improvements that have been done to the Antigonids since the last diary.

Akontistai:

Greek Archers:

Greek Slingers:

The Epirotes have, just as the Antigonids, access to plenty of light skirmisher units. Great for early harassment and devastating flanking manoeuvres but with very low defensive capabilities.

Euzonoi:

Thureophoroi:

Hoplites:

Above are some heavier units best used to hold the line or secure the flanks. Notice how the units, while being the same as their Antigonid counterparts, differ in shield motifs and linthorax colours, giving them a unique look.

Deuteroi:

Ambrakiote Phalangites:

Epirote Pezhetairoi:

Chaonian Agema:

Deuteroi is the Epirote mainstay unit, and while being worse than the Antigonid counterpart, Leukaspides, they still hold their ground as long as they are only attacked from their front. Ambrakiote Phalangites are a step up in quality which also shows in their equipment with more vivid colours, helmets and decorations. Epirote Pezhetairoi's are the elites receiving even more lush colours, iron helmets, greaves and even partly iron cuirass. These men WILL hold the line if their flanks and backs are protected, and what better unit to fill that role than the elite Chaonian Agema. Metal scale reinforced Linthoraxes, decorated Iron greaves and exquisite helmets with strong protection for the soldier's face. These are men that you can depend on in the heath of the battle.

Prodromoi:

Aspidophoroi cavalry:

Xystophoroi:

Thureophoroi Cavalry:

Molossian Agema:

General's bodyguard:

Just as with the Antigonids, the Epirote army got a plethora of cavalry units to bring home the charge, harass and, of course, the General's bodyguard in all its splendour!

With the brand new units showcased, let's move on to the strategic map.

RIS 0.5 brings out an all-new, much larger custom map. This allows us to fill it with hundreds of settlements, bringing a new level of fidelity to the map.

As an Epirote player, you will face an abundance of options at the start of the game. To the east lies the recently lost Macedonian lands, now once more under Antigonid possession. The saving grace is, however, the weak control the Antigonid rulers have over their land. This shows in terms of their lack of recruitment centres and its lacklustre infrastructure, allowing for a more even fight than one might think just by looking at the map.

Up north, one finds Illyrian tribes and two minor Greek colonies, all relatively well guarded and thus quite hard to take. Things aren't much easier down south where we find the Aitolian League, and while they might start as your ally, it's all well known that they look with envy across their border towards your lands, waiting for any show of weakness.

Last but not least is the option of an Italian invasion, as once done by the late King Pyrrhos. The southern parts of the Italian peninsula are full of Greek cities under Roman rule, surely waiting to be liberated once more. The island of Sicily has plenty of Greeks living there as well. Surely they would be better off under Epirote rule.

As you can all see, 0.5 is shaping up to be the most significant release RIS has ever seen, and we know many of you are keen to get your hand on it. Due to the much larger scope, 0.5 has a larger developer cycle than usual, and thus it won't be out until later this fall. We recently posted a roadmap so that you can better understand what to expect regarding features and the general timeframe. As with all development, and especially when it comes to modding, nothing is set in stone as it depends on the number of team members, their skills, their time for modding, the skills needed and how hard it is to find the required research material.

The best way to help the mod is to join us either as a developer or a beta tester. One doesn't need any previous skills; all that's required is time to put into the mod and a willingness to learn and listen to our senior modders. a channel a channel

We understand that everyone can't put hours of work into a mod each week, and for those, who still wish to help, we implore them to boost our discord server. A higher server level means that we can post larger files, use higher bitrates in our voice channels, and make more use of threads, among other things.

With all that said, we hope you all enjoyed this diary. Make sure to comment in a channel.

We will be back sooner than expected. 😉