Mod Request: Legionary and Centurion units for Byzantines/Italians

[Eudoxia]

Can someone add the Legionary and Centurion units to the Byzantine and/or Italian civilizations, specifically without replacing Cataphracts? There doesn't seem to be a workshop yet but it would be great to have this like someone did for Age of Empires II on steam.

[Filthydelphia]

Hi Flavius, there is an alternative to the Workshop integrated into the game and accessible under the Mods section on the Main Menu. Unfortunately, doesn't look like there is such a mod as this developed yet.

One note, just because the history is interesting: the Legionary unit probably isn't the best representative for Byzantine infantry because it is a very strong unit. Only in the very early period can it really be said that the Romans had particularly effective infantry; by the time of say Nikephoros Phokas (10th century), the infantry was no longer a professional force and played second fiddle to the cavalry. Infantrymen were lightly armored and more resembled militia. It was not expected of the infantry to clash decisively with the enemy, but instead to serve as a rearguard bulwark protecting the archers and acting as a retreat point for the cavalry. I recommend checking out Eric McGeer's "Sowing the Dragon's Teeth" for more info.

[Eudoxia]

I'm aware of the history of the medieval Roman Empire (I have a B.A. in History and after I finish my first PhD in Chemistry I will be getting a second PhD in History probably with a focus on D2 period Archaeology (420 to 455 AD) but if not that then Byzantine Studies and I'll do my PhD on how the Anatolian Military districts (the "theme System" which wasn't actually the Theme System) operated similarly to Goffart's Thesis on Hospitalitas.

And actually the Professional army was maintained into the 11th century until it started being defunded under the successors to Basil II like Romanos III Argyros. The idea that the infantry of the Roman army had been relegated to a militia is horrendously outdated. That might be true of the Akritai who were descended from the Limitanei and similar to a "militia" (Justinian I began defunding the Limitanei in the 550's) but it wasn't true of the "Thematic army" let alone the "Tagmata" (it should be noted as well that the traditional notion of the theme system has been disproven, we now know it was a reimplementation of a law passed by Valentinian II in 386 that allowed for poor families to group together fund a recruit, see the work of Haldon "A Context for Two Evil Deeds" and Salvatore Consentino notes that Charlemagne actually did it first in 808 while Nikephoros implemented it in 809). Hereditary service was tied to family, not to land, in the empire. Not until the Pronoia system, which is how most people think the Theme system worked, and that's implemented after Manzikert (Actually spelled Mantzikert, Manzikert is a slightly off transliteration of the Romeika) under Alexios Komnenos.

As for the Legionary/Centurion unit, I just like a little Roman flavour.

[Filthydelphia]

Originally posted by Flavius Aetius:

I'm aware of the history of the medieval Roman Empire (I have a B.A. in History and after I finish my first PhD in Chemistry I will be getting a second PhD in History probably with a focus on D2 period Archaeology (420 to 455 AD) but if not that then Byzantine Studies and I'll do my PhD on how the Anatolian Military districts (the "theme System" which wasn't actually the Theme System) operated similarly to Goffart's Thesis on Hospitalitas.

And actually the Professional army was maintained into the 11th century until it started being defunded under the successors to Basil II like Romanos III Argyros. The idea that the infantry of the Roman army had been relegated to a militia is horrendously outdated. That might be true of the Akritai who were descended from the Limitanei and similar to a "militia" (Justinian I began defunding the Limitanei in the 550's) but it wasn't true of the "Thematic army" let alone the "Tagmata" (it should be noted as well that the traditional notion of the theme system has been disproven, we now know it was a reimplementation of a law passed by Valentinian II in 386 that allowed for poor families to group together fund a recruit, see the work of Haldon "A Context for Two Evil Deeds" and Salvatore Consentino notes that Charlemagne actually did it first in 808 while Nikephoros implemented it in 809). Hereditary service was tied to family, not to land, in the empire. Not until the Pronoia system, which is how most people think the Theme system worked, and that's implemented after Manzikert (Actually spelled Mantzikert, Manzikert is a slightly off transliteration of the Romeika) under Alexios Komnenos.

As for the Legionary/Centurion unit, I just like a little Roman flavour. [/quote]

Awesome info. Thanks for this.