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Messages - Parthian Shot

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1
Amazons: Total War / Re: Amazons: Total War 8.0A Released
« on: June 10, 2013, 08:13:16 PM »
Hope you like it, and please keep us posted about any issues you might find.

2
Amazons: Total War / Re: Amazons: Total War 8.0A Released
« on: June 04, 2013, 06:54:18 AM »
Thank You! CG

No matter how good the mod is, it is not possible without yours and Jubal's support!

3
Amazons: Total War / Amazons: Total War 8.0 Released
« on: June 03, 2013, 10:16:26 PM »
Amazons: Total War Ranked Among MOD-DB's Top 50 Titles
As of October 18, 2015, Amazons:Total War 8.1A has been released

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WARNING : MATURE PLAYERS ONLY
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This mod contains some female nudity in the depiction of conflicts in antiquity, therefore if there is any reason the laws affecting your area prohibit you from viewing such content (for example, if you are under the age of 18 in most areas), please do not access the download.

By either downloading or installing this mod's compressed file, the user who performed the download/installation acknowledges that he (or she) is legal to view such content and he or she is solely responsible for the use as well as the consequences of the use of this mod.

Keeping the aforementioned prerequisites in mind, Please do not pass along or forward link to the download file without this warning be shown.
And while playing multi-player online, please be mindful of the opponent's age or sensitivity, as each player is solely responsible for the unit(s) he or she selected to play.



[here], or [here], or [here], or [here]


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COPYRIGHT : STATEMENT OF RESOLUTION
===============================
In addition to great amount of work by the members of the mod team, this mod is an accumulation of work from many sources as mentioned in the credit section of the readme folder in the compressed mod file. The said credit and acknowledge statements are carefully compiled and extra efforts made so as to be as accurate as possible. If, for any reason, there is an unintentional omission of credit or accidental un-permitted inclusion of prior art, the mod team, as represented by its mod leader, would be more than happy and willing to make corrective actions in a timely fashion to address said grievance(s) of copyright issues. Therefore any complaints of this nature should be addressed first to the mod leader (link to private message as shown above) so as to allow the Amazons Total War mod team to make amend of such mistake prior to any means of escalation.
As an attached clause, any copyright claims or complaints to third parties, without substantiation, and without attempts to resolve the issues first with the said mod leader shall be deemed as frivolous harassment.


You need 7zip utility to uncompress the file. Due to increase in complexity, it is recommended the system has a minimum of 4GB RAM to have more trouble free gaming experience. You also need Rome Total War/Barbarian Invasion 1.6 (or Rome Total War Gold Edition) in its vanilla form.

The original Whitepaper is published [here]

For the weapon description, you can read them [here].

For the factional background of the game, you can read more detail [here].

For the Balanced Unit Modeling Concept, or B.U.M., you can read more [here].

18+ viewers only, Amazon Total War 6.0 series, 7.0 series, 8.0 demo videos by Naxzul666, please "like" the videos if you find it helpful.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4
Thank you, guys!

Only in Exilian, you can find such support!

IMO, WHTW is a great game and much better one too, perhaps ModDB does not have the demographic presence there.

5
Amazons Total War mod has on multiple occasions reached the top 10 ranking of ModDB's Top-100 Titles.


6
Amazons: Total War / Re: 20,000th download for Amazons Total War 7.0
« on: April 04, 2013, 03:10:16 AM »
Thank you! Only possible with sites like this.

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Amazons: Total War / 20,000th download for Amazons Total War 7.0
« on: April 03, 2013, 03:10:24 AM »
T'is with great pleasure I would like to announce the 20,000th download today for Amazons Total War 7.0 series.
Since its first release on January 7th, we have anticipated Amazon Total War 7.0 to be better received.
But the result has surpassed our best estimate.
By comparison, the previous release, the 6.0 series, had its 10,000th download 8-9 months into the publication. The 7.0 has doubled that number in just a little shy of 3 months.
Besides the terrific support of the fans and a first rate mod team, I would also like to thank the forum website for the tremendous assistance in making this happen.

8
Amazons: Total War / Re: Amazons: Total War 7.0 Screen Shots
« on: March 23, 2013, 05:46:46 PM »
Amazon Elite Scout


Though the scouts are similar in appearance as the longbow archers, as the armor, the double-bows, and swords they are issued are the same. The Elite Scout unit has military insignia(s) on their helmets, usually something easy to identify on the battlefield and frightful to the enemy.


In case of the Geothe Amazon, their scout has a pair of wings mounted on top of their helmets. Hence their nickname "winged maidens".


The scout does not use arrows, they carry a pair of arrow shafts as a rail component, and shoots iron encased lead cylindrical block about the diameter of a thumb with the iron casing ended with a sharp tempered tip. The other end section of the iron casing is fluted so as to cause fast spinning of the projectile during the flight. The fast spin stabilizes the projectile and the missile's external ballistics is not dissimilar to modern day armor-piercing bullets. So instead of carrying a back quiver, the scout carries hip ammo-container which allows her to have 60+ shots of such missiles. This affords the scout a very good stand-off capability.


In contrast, the regular longbow archers are very limited in the amount of arrows they can carry, because of their over sized double-bow requires arrows with extra long shafts and larger diameters to cope with the correct spine stiffness. Once their limited amount of arrows ran out, they will lose their stand-off capability, so they either have to withdraw from the battlefield or charge the enemy with their swords.


In comparison, the initial velocity of the iron encased lead cylinder is slower than the longbow archer's long arrow. But because of its superior ballistic coefficient, iron encased lead cylinder retains more velocity at much longer range. and that terminal velocity is the key for better anti-armor capability at distance. Whereas, at long range, the longbow arrow would lose so much velocity such that it will not be able to penetrate armor or shield but the iron encase lead shot will still go through enemy's armor or shield.


As for the cost comparison of shooting lead cylinder vs. shooting an arrow: As the Amazon Total War weapon whitepaper stated, to function properly, an arrow's wooden shaft must be selected, and cured for 2-5 years, re-inspected, and then precision hewn or lathed to guarantee straightness. It was then attached to the arrow head which need tempering, and then carefully fletched with feather or with thin woven reeds. To guarantee the accuracy, the concentricity of the three components (arrowhead, shaft, and fletch+nock) must be re-checked. Then the evenness of the fletch inspected, because any uneven fletching will cause the arrows to spin into helical trajectory which reduces its terminal velocity. So even with the faulty arrows rejected or relegated to training purposes, to be effective, the arrow-smith industry requires the availability of quality wood supply, a great amount of controlled storage, a team of knowledgeable experts, a great number of skilled crafts people, and careful planning to be able to maintain a steady supply of arrows for combat deployment.


Whereas, the lead can be mined and easily purified by melting and then formed into lead cylinders with ingots, which make each cylinder almost guaranteed in weight. For war time deployment, however, the iron casing would be applied, which increase the complexity of the manufacturing process, nevertheless, the casing is still cheaper than the cost of making an armor-piercing arrowhead.


The scout still retain the tradition of carrying the sword on her should strap. Using back quiver and carrying sword in the back is actually preferred over carry quiver or sword on the hip. With the scout and other units shooting iron cased lead as exceptions, back quiver allows faster draw of arrow. And shoulder strapped sword gives the soldier easier access and allows the sword to strike once it is out of the scabbard.


The aforementioned anthropology thesis/theses are entirely conceived by Parthian Shot. Written permission is needed to quote or use the above information, in part or as a whole.

9
Amazons: Total War / Re: Amazons: Total War 7.0 Screen Shots
« on: March 23, 2013, 04:05:19 PM »
Geothe Amazon Longbow Archer from 7.0C

The gears are similar to the Amazon mercenary longbow archers depicted above, except a great deal of equipment are using copper alloy instead of iron. The best armor grade copper alloy is about 90% hardness of the best of modern day armor grade steel, and it would not rust away as easily as the iron gears. So a unit deployed using copper alloy armor but using iron sword or iron encased, or iron tipped projectile, has lower maintenance cost than a fully iron geared unit, but just as effective.

The model shows the front loin cloth, as skirt was not in fashion, as a matter of fact, the skirt was only worn by very few men in certain part of the world, but not at all by women of the time. Fashion in 300BC is limited by the fact that fabrics are woven entirely by hand without advanced tools such as spinning wheels (with the exception of Far East Celt which is one of the Amazon Total War factions (depicted first in Amazons Total War), who has been using such tools, and so did the ancient Chinese). Even with the "industrial" societies (usually utilizing slave labor exploitation) in Greece,  Italia, and many parts of Europe, most women prefer one piece fabrics (chiton for example) arranged in a variety of ways. And such fashion clearly has its utilitarian purposes. As a single piece of garment can be easily adjusted for changing body dimensions.
And the most favored clothing, where they are available, is componentized animal pelt. And in warm weather, or in a life-or-death combat, the less clothing is the preference.

In ancient time, the concept of being naked is not a degrading moral issue as it is today. The word, gymnasium, for example, means a place to get naked, and it means being naked for both men and women who are in the gym. Most sports are engaged without anyone wearing any clothing, as are the athletes in the ancient Olympic Games. A properly trained military unit will not allow non-regulatory clothing to interfere with the weapon drill or combat performance. So either they were issued with uniform designed for such activities (read, a very expensive unit), or they are using their own gears (peasants or some militia units and therefore very cheap), or they are issued with faction's gear but not wearing anything which can jeopardize their survival on the battlefield (read, a unit with reasonable cost, but being naked other than their issued gears).


The model is also wearing a pair of garter chain-mails, these are more for the heavy infantry or cavalry who need armor protection against missile strike or weapon blow against their lower limbs. The garter chain mail limits the movement of the wearer and must worn with suspender straps (not shown), but it is ideal for cavalry to protect themselves from close-quarter infantry attack. But it will not be effective against a stabbing thrust of a spear or a sword.

The aforementioned anthropology thesis/theses are entirely conceived by Parthian Shot. Written permission is needed to quote or use the above information, in part or as a whole.

10
Amazons: Total War / Amazons: Total War 7.0 Screen Shots
« on: March 23, 2013, 03:10:23 PM »
Amazon Longbow archers, Mercenary

Nocking and drawing the bow:
with large size composite double bow with two sets of limbs and two strings. because the animation is not fully perfected yet, the following description is necessary to describe the hypothesized sequence: On horseback or on foot, "nocking" of the projectile is by drawing one bow string first to an anchor location, usually on the opposite end of the shoulder and deposit the string at a smooth-surfaced hook, the arrow is then drawn with the second string and at the end of the draw cycle, the end of the arrow is nocked to both bow strings. Or the second string is drawn to the hook and arrow inserted and nocked onto both strings.

In contrast, the English longbow is drawn only to the chin or the side of the archer's jaw or lips.

Helmet Harness:
The helmet, with an opening on the top, is set on the wearer by the wearer's hair around the pate and/or the crown, drawn from inside of the helmet to the outside of helmet through the top opening. And the hair pin or hair rings are used to retain the hair on top of the helmet. To make sure the hair does not tumble down to interfere with close quarter fighting or horseback archery. The hair is propped straight up with a flexible wooden stick and then twirled on the top of the stick. In this fashion, the wearer does not need chin strap to fasten the helmet.

Helmet Drape:
The drape can be chain-mail links in copper alloy or iron. It is more effective if the drapes are in two layers, and with hair (whatever remained inside the helmet) wrapped in between the two layers. The idea is not to deflect close range shot or blow, but to cause a long range or strayed projectile to get disoriented when it hits the first layer of the chain mail, and thereby introduces a rotational moment to the impact as it penetrate through the wrapped hair, and then it would be easier for the second layer to stop the incoming missile because of the rotational momentum. So in some aspect, this is similar to a WWII space armor concept. The drawback is, the chain mail drape can not prevent blunt trauma, and can not really protect the wearer from a stabbing thrust.


The aforementioned anthropology theses are entirely conceived by Parthian Shot. Written permission is needed to quote or use the above information, in part or as a whole.

11
Amazons: Total War / Amazons: Total War 7.0 Video Trailer
« on: March 13, 2013, 10:57:47 PM »
New Mod Video Trailer for Amazons: Total War - Recalesced  by TWC content staff has been published.

It is PEGI 18 only, so it is for 18+ viewers, please "like" the video if you find the content helpful.

Not a valid youtube URL

12
Amazons: Total War / Re: Amazons: Total War 7.0C Released
« on: March 13, 2013, 07:05:33 PM »
The OP has been updated with the actual download links.

13
Amazons: Total War / New Amazons Total War Trailer Video Release
« on: March 11, 2013, 08:34:08 AM »
This is to announce the latest Amazons Total War 7.0 demo has been released, thanks to the TWC Content Staff.

The video is rated PEGI-18


Due to the trailer's length limitation, these are not shown in the video:

What are not shown:

- elephants with new animation model
- newly added weapons such as halberd (cavalry's favorite weapon before stirrup), pole ax, and so on.
- new mano-ballista (man portable ballista) animation
- new battle wagon video
- new high resolution cavalry and infantry models.
- new strategy for game playing.

14
In developing the Amazon Total War mod, I have set a few principles for the project.

At the time was just for myself and my partner, but later on it was quipped as the "Parthian Shot's Laws" by other  team members, so the name "Parthian Shot's Laws" stuck.

These requirements are listed below:

1. A unit model's appearance, its equipment, and its ability, must bear direct relationship with the infrastructure of the region where the unit is trained and raised, as well as with the cost of the unit.

Case in point, a town with a population of 700 and a lone blacksmith can not recruit a unit of 100 fully chain-mailed men-at-arms in a single turn. As stated below, chain mail was extremely expensive and time consuming to produce, so the texture must correspond with the cost as well as the location where the unit is recruited.

2. iron equipment and weapons are easy to rust, requires constant cleaning and maintenance, and must be assigned higher recruitment and up-keep cost.

Any one in the combat tour out in the field will vouch for the fact that iron and even steel equipment is constantly a pain for maintenance, requires polishing, oiling/greasing, rust removal, paint. A not so well-known fact is that some copper alloy can be 90% as hard as the best of modern day steel and won't rust away as easy.

So most factions in Amazon Total War are using bronze, or other type of copper alloy armors. Except the Celt, the Gauls (Arvernii), the Carthaginians, the Romans, and few others.

3. chain mail is not a lower quality armor to plate mail, it is quite effective and it is also quite expensive to produce.

A full suit of chain mail armor cost 10,000 man-hour to make in 400AD, with a very skillful armorer being able to make about two links in the chain mail a day.

So chain mail in Amazons Total War is more for linkage between major pieces of armors. Only Celts, Gauls, Romans and Carthaginians can field mostly chain mail armored units and the cost is adjusted to reflect the expenses.

4. arrow is not cheap or easy to manufacture, it require a highly developed manufacturing complex.

The shaft of the arrow requires curing and drying for 5 years, it is then lathed into the arrow shaft. Otherwise, the arrow shaft will not be straight, or was straight when it is made, but will be warped when deployed. It then needs to be varnished to protect the wood against insect (termites comes to mind), and other damages.

In Amazons Total War, only factions with rich timber resources and high industrial development can fully supply its army with large store of arrows per archer. Other factions only can get so many reloads per archers.

5. Sword is not for every militia and his/her cousin, sword is very time consuming to make, and even then, it is easy to bend and to break.

Sword making is an art, not an exact science in the ancient days, and forging a sword is time consuming and tedious work even by a highly skilled labor force.

So the use of sword in Amazons Total War is sharply curtailed, unless the unit is an aristocratic or patrician unit.

15
Amazons: Total War / Amazons: Total War 7.0E Released
« on: March 05, 2013, 11:51:24 PM »
    Amazons: Total War Now Ranked Among MOD-DB's Top 100 Titles
    7.0E release is out,

    Download 7.0E release [here],  [here], or [here]

    Changes in 7.0E

    1. New Linked Armor-Clad Cavalry animations
    2. New optimized Suebii (German) Quest
    3. New Roman Elephant troop
    4. New hi-res animations to replace vanilla low res units.
    5. game re-configuration make recruitment and combat more balanced
    6. corrections of animation problems of previous releases.
    7. adjusted strategy setup
    8. More challenging renegade and rebels.

    changes in 7.0D
    • - add Suebii (Germans) to the quest factions, similar to the Far East Celt.
    • - add hidden resources to control the availability of the Amazon Advanced Units
    • - Experimenting making both AI and Player factions to be able to have advanced units at the same time.
      currently, only one faction can have the advanced weaponry at one time.
    • - re-balance stat on units just switched from sword to ax or halberd
    • - add new hi-res animation units to replace vanilla units
    • - eliminate the parasole cover for the western Celt battle wagon.
    • - new Amazon Sword Maiden models to replace the old Amazon Sword units
    • - correct foot wear B.U.M (Balanced Unit Modeling) issues.
    • - re-evaluate cultural "barbarian" buildings per naftykid's recommendation
    • - re-animate Noble Maiden
    • - re-animate Amazon Hoplite

    changes in 7.0C
    • Massive optimization on animation speed, and space saving
    • New Amazon Peltast units animation
    • New Amazon Heavy Peltast units animation
    • New Amazon arbalest cavalry and Infantry animations and new weapons
    • New Amazon attires to match Amazons to the same "primitive" level of other "barbarian" cultures
    • changing "skirt"s to be more of a waist-wrap
    • changing loin-cloth from front only to front and back, same as Thracian peltasts and woad warriors.
    • removed redundant animation for secondary weapons that is never used.
    • corrected 3D model and texture inconsistency for Amazon Hoplite units and Dismounted Pathfinder units.
    • re-animated Amazon Longbow Chariot Archer
    • re-animated Scythian Head Hunting Maiden

    As of February 25th, 2013 - 7.0C beta, the 3rd release is out.

    7.0C enhances the realism even farther, with major new animation revamp. New specification states that swords are much more costly to manufacture than many close quarter combat weapons. For light and low-cost units, therefore, if swords are their secondary weapons, they must be replaced with something more representative of their cost-performance relationship (according the Balance Unit Modeling , aka the B.U.M. principles)

    • New animations for 2handed ax units
    • New animations for halberd units
    • New animations for Amazon Dispatcher Corp, now using short halberd instead of sword
    • New animations for Amazon Brigandine Archers, now using short halberd instead of sword
    • New animations for Macedon Geothe Mercenaries
    • New animations for rebel Amazon archer units.
    • New EDU stat for new units to reflect the changes.
    • New Amazonia, Libya, and Thyssa general's units
    • New Amazonia strat map captain animation.
    • New Geothe strat map captain animation, to correct a weird problem with default texture file, uncovered by Katsoro.
    • New heavy standard bearer animation, with female soldiers instead of male.
    • New light standard bearer, now with druidress or Camilla priestess.
    • New Amazon priestess and colour guard animation
    • New Amazon Militia Hoplite animation, instead of spear and sword , now with lengthened pike (18ft).
    • New Amazon Round Shield foot units, now with shield slightly enlarged, and armed with short ranseur style pike, instead of spear and sword.
    • New Amazon Round Shield cavalry units, same as the Round Shield foot units.
    • Complete re-work on Amazon Pathfinder animation.
    • Minor change on Amazon Xiphos Cohorts animation
    • After three years, finally added mano-ballista animation for advanced units. This includes
      -Amazon Path Finder
      -Amazon Noble Maiden
      -Amazon Grenadier Cavalry
    • Amazon Ballista Elephant "Gunner"s, with new model ballista
    [/list]

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