Age of Strategy Forums

Ok, so this is inspired by the recent discussion of a Roman Garrison and that we need "more units."

It should be noted that I had no idea where to put this topic, you'll see why.

To start, Roman Auxiliaries were basically non-Roman troops that were recruited from Roman controlled regions, such as the Middle East, Gaul, England, Spain, Africa, etc. They were basically used as filler troops to support the main legionairres/cavalry regiments/archers. Auxiliaries didn't necessarily have any particular roles, wore no particular armor, and carried no particular weapons. However, they were almost always mounted, footmen, skirmishers, or archers. They most often had oval shields and some sort of chain/leather armor. They traditionally were given a Roman styled helmet.

Auxiliaries were not dependable though. Although they were certainly effective soldiers in many situations, they often fought traditionally according to their culture.

Now stay with me:

My idea for this unit is a set of units. There could be 4 units (Auxiliary skirmisher, archer, cavalry, footman). All are about just as powerful as a 3-cost unit, all are affected by Roman bonuses, and all have their certain strengths and weaknesses. You cannot choose which one you want to build. Rather, you can simply recruit an "Auxiliary." The unit that is produced is chosen at random from the 4 possible units. Thus, it is a gamble, but possibly one worth taking to build a balanced Roman army, just as the Romans did.


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Now we need stats and images for each unit. How do people feel about this?

That's pretty cool.

Very Cool, maybe your units could work in through the peasants and house units offered in this vote round? Seeing how they are aux.?

I don't really know what you mean, can you elaborate?

Very interesting idea
But what will the stats be like?

I was thinking the units would basically be as follows.

Mounted Auxiliary = slightly altered light cav (5 move and just slightly more powerful).
Footman Auxiliary = macemanish strength (maybe slightly different bonuses and one or two minor stat changes).
Archer Auxiliary = roman saggitarus (almost identical here, just a different image....)
Skirmisher Auxiliary = master skirmisher (3-4 range, similar bonuses, similar armor/stats)

This is an awesome idea! I would vote for this.

Sorry Doom, just realized your units are from around the middle east, I was thinking just around the block..never mind )

Oh, yeah, auxiliaries kinda came from all over. It's basically the Roman version of mercenary

I see, these units could come by dock then possibly?

Hm, that's actually an interesting idea... I don't know if this particular unit would make a good "mercenary" unit to be recruited at docks. Being Roman-based, and all

Started on artwork because I think this is a great idea!

Any suggestions welcome, standby for cavalry, skirmisher and footsoldier drawings.

Hm, not bad. I think the skirt should be a little more pronounced, and he should probably be wearing a roman-styled helmet, but it looks good otherwise!

How's this look?

I added a bit to the helmet (including team colour) and lengthened the skirt.

Roman Auxiliary 2 (skirmisher).

Roman Auxiliary 3 (Light Cav with spear)

I would've liked to make the spear longer but... Such is life.

They look good! As far as the archer, I would suggest making the helmet shinier maybe, as it looks like he has grey hair

And I THINK you are allowed to go above 32 pixels in height if the spear woukd look better longer.

Yeah, good point.

OK, here are the reworked Roman Auxiliaries. Let me know what you think. I have made the cav and the swordsman 32 × 34; I hope this is allowed.

And the swordsman...

Not 100% happy with it but wanted to post to see if I was at least on the right track. Personally I think the sword is too thin. Any other suggestions?

The cavalrynlooks much better! The swordsman could use a bigger sword though... Perhaps a different stance would allow more room for a sword?

Actully, looking at the units again, I'm wondering if maybe the units with shields would look better with large oval shields? (kinda like in one or two in the pictures)

Agreed. Spent a little time making some minor tweaks and got to this stage. Thoughts?

I still think the skirmisher/swordsman shields don't look quite as oval shaped as in the pictures, but everything else looks good to me!

How's this?

Much better!

Yeah pretty cool )

OK, so finalised images for melee units are these ones:

And ranged:

All that is left now (I believe) are stats and an image to produce the unit as from what I understand it randomly generates one of the four, thus we will need an image for the icon to select them to build. Is this correct?

Maybe for the image, we could make a Roman helmet or shield? Or perhaps the little eagle symbol that Roman troops get when they're near the centurion?

What do you guys think?

Also, statwise I think it should be basically as follows:
Cav- light cavalry but with similar bonuses as the lancer (ie good anti cavalry)
Swordsman-similar to maceman but slightly less attack and more armour
Skirmisher- advanced skirmisher but benifits from Roman bonuses
Archer-as DOOM said, basically the same as the Sagittarius.

Thoughts?

Spot on I think. I like the idea of making the cavalry lancer based actually. I think a roman symbol or helmet would be a good production image