So is anyone besides me geeky enough to rename their units?

lcjr · Post by **lcjr** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:14 pm

Just wondering if I'm the only geek who gives their units names. Been going through a partial translation of the Notita Dignaitatum which although is much later than the period this game covers, 420 AD, it's a good source for interesting Latin names. By Late Roman period the core of the army was cavalry and the Auxilium Palatinum. The heavy infantry of legionary type had been replaced by the smaller Legio consisting of around 1000 men and divide into border troops,Legio Comitatenses, and field armies Legio Palatina.

The Auxilium Palatinum have the most interesting names ranging from simple one indicating the tribe they intially recruited from to some that seem to have been earned in battle or at least an attempt to give some sense of unit pride and boost morale. Quite a few of the cavalry units and a few of the Legio also have interesting names.

Visi=Visigoths
Celtae=obviously Celts
Batavi=Batavians, IIRC a tribal group from area that is now part of Austria.
Nervii=One of the tribes that gave Ceasar a hard time.

Invicti="Undefeated"
Sagittari Ventores=Archer unit "Huntsmen"
Invicti Britaniciani="Undefeated British"
Exculacatores Britanniciani="Squashers from Britain"
Superventores="Surprisers"
Pacatianenses="Pacifiers"

Equites Dalamatae Passerentiaci=Light Cav, "Dalmation Sparrows". Thats the ancient province not the dog.
Equites Mauri Alites=Light Cav, "Swift Moors"
Equites Mauri Foroces=Light Cav, "Ferocious Moors"

sum1won · Post by **sum1won** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:14 pm

My main 2000 denarii army has been renamed with lyrics from the Kung-Fu song.

spedius01 · Post by **spedius01** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:13 pm

Ave lcjr,

I too am guilty of naming my units. If you check out my topic "Keeping Records" you'll see what I mean.

Another good source of authentic unit names are "Roman Military Diplomas" check out another of my topics, "Roman Names and Roman Military Diplomas".

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

fatetriarrii · Post by **fatetriarrii** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:45 pm

I like giving my units intimidating and ideally poetic names, in english. For example, my elephants are purple and thus the "royal hammer." My praetorians are the "absolution," because they are white. I had a named multiplayer army, but those were lost in its most recent revision and need to be re-given.

And I would like to take this moment to re-inforce my belief that what the game really needs right now is in-battle names (so far, they are just "light infantry," "heavy cavalry").

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:05 am

I rename my units to know their function quick. "Dumbae" is the anti-elephat unit

. If it is "Expertia Dumbae", then it has more than one level on anti-elephant. Everything goes like this, but I wonder why did I learn latin at high school when I was 16, pretty useless

.

anguille · Post by **anguille** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 10:12 am

I rename my units too:

Infantery: animal names like bears, lions...
Skirmish: birds like eagles...
Cavalery: names of natural events like thunder, storm
Very Heavy infantery: names of natural things like mountains...

Some specialised units like one heavy infantery specialised in anti-cavalery: horses

And so on.

lord_ley · Post by **lord_ley** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:34 pm

Well guys I must say I did during the campaign but not when i play multilayer since I scraped my army on the move and never took the time to rename them.
Alos I was thinking wouldn't it be fun If those who play roman's adopt Latin names and those who play celts: tribe or famous gallic leaders names. Then maybe we could organise a Celt vs Roman challenge.
Just an idea tell me what you think of it...

Redpossum · Post by **Redpossum** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 12:26 am

Ley - Romans would get slaughtered every time. The two sides are way imbalanced.

As far as renaming, sure, all the time. I don't like that the Aux Archers and Aux Cavalry both begin with same word, it's less visually clear to me. So I rename my Aux Cavalry to Hvy Cavalry.

I often rename my leader to something silly and whimsical like "Studlius Manlius" (Manlius being an actual roman family name), or "Possumgetorix".

honvedseg · Post by **honvedseg** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:50 pm

Some of my Roman units get renamed with more "Latin" unit designations, some of the others are close enough as is.

Examples:
Auxiliary Cavalry I = Equites Ala I (an Ala is a group of several hundred riders, equites are horses)
Auxiliary Archers I = Sagittarii I (a sagittarius is an archer)

I generally give the Legate a personal name after his title.

grimsta · Post by **grimsta** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:52 pm

surley auxilary cavalry would be Equites Auxilia though?

quezcatol · Post by **quezcatol** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:46 pm

I named my best preatorians for XIII as in the tv serie "ROME"

miki · Post by **miki** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:50 pm

I rename my core units too, BUT the names doesn't show in the battle map, os it's marginally useful... So, if I want one unit to be easily identifiable, I play with the colour skins then.

quezcatol · Post by **quezcatol** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:04 pm

Mm,thats why i have purple pretaorian on the XIII

honvedseg · Post by **honvedseg** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:29 pm

Equites Alares would be genuine Roman Patrician cavalry. Additional ala were recruited from allies.

So is anyone besides me geeky enough to rename their units?

So is anyone besides me geeky enough to rename their units?

Name-calling