First shot at modding a new nation based on Arcos.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Alneyan said:
I had thought about giving the sailing ability, but two nations are already present in this field,

Well, 1 1/4 nations actually, since CotS is only 1/4 of Marignon.

I think no other land nation has amphibian regular troops).

Hehe, if I was any good at drawing sprites, I would have published my Eskimo mod many months ago. Amphibian seals, swimming polar bears, and even a Penguin Goddess.

I like your idea about having a supply wagon.

I use pack camels to the same effect in my own Arco mod (which draws its inspiration from the 'Arabian Nights' tales).

The Engineers are already present in Golden Era, and so I am a bit reluctant to "steal" them from there.

No reason not to. I'd even give them a 'feu grégeois' special attack (how do they translate that in English, Greek fire?).

[Vynd]

Nagot Gick Fel said:

I'd even give them a 'feu grégeois' special attack (how do they translate that in English, Greek fire?).

Yeah, it's called Greek Fire in English. I was going to suggest some sort of Greek Fire unit myself, since that and the Cataphracts are the most famous weapons of the Byzantine Empire. Taking a regular Slinger unit and giving it a new name and a 4 or 5 ammo small area fire attack would be a fair simulation, I think. Worthless in melee, innaccurate enough to pose a threat to their own men, but capable of inflicting some serious damage when they do hit. They'd have to be much more expensive than Slingers, of course.

Another thing the Byzantines are famous for is defending Constantinople against (almost) all comers. So a unit with a castle defense bonus would seem appropriate.

Spies and Assassins are definitely appropriate for a Byzantine Empire-style nation. One could make an argument for forced Sloth and/or Chaos, too.

I like your ideas too, Alneyan. But if that is the way you want to go I would stop saying it is inspired by Byzantium, or else history buffs like Nagot and I will keep pestering you.

[Alneyan]

I think I will be doing so indeed. My main concern with going the Byzantine road is that it may look too similar to Marignon/Ulm, and I tend to prefer unique twists to my nations.

That, or I should head for a fully different nation and start tinkering there. Something about a nation with angel blood for example, which would be quite difficult to connect to our history (unless you are willing to label Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange as being actual history, which would be quite a surprise for me. But I do digress).

[Soapyfrog]

Couldn't a "byzantine" theme be appropriate for Pythium?

Pythium are "romans" and byzantine was effectively the Last gasp of the roman empire...

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Vynd said:
Another thing the Byzantines are famous for is defending Constantinople against (almost) all comers. So a unit with a castle defense bonus would seem appropriate.

That's indeed the reason why I suggested to keep the engineer.

One could make an argument for forced Sloth and/or Chaos, too.

Not sure about that one, in that regard Byzantium was not worse than its neighbours during its existence. Quite the contrary actually.