A unit description for the upcoming Medieval 2: Total War Kingdoms.
Mayan Hornet Throwers gather nests of stinging insects and hurl them into combat! Once thrown, the nest erupts on impact, sending forth a swarm of angry stinging insects which can even get inside European armour and cause serious pain to the recipient. The Hornet Throwers cover themselves in mud to protect themselves from being stung.
I’m going to need a citation, gentlemen.
Heh heh, thanks for the Monday morning laugh! I’ve always found it a little annoying that Creative Assembly claims that their games are purely historical (and weren’t they even featured on a History channel show a couple of years ago showcasing how “accurate” R:TW was?) when they go so over the top with everything.
The Rome they showed on the History Channel and BBC had none of the head throwing Celts or Banshee Women. When they did Raphia for Time Commanders, they even had a proper Ptolemaic army instead of the Pharaonic monstrosity that shipped with the game.
I don’t mind a few cartoon units (wardogs are plausible, if incorrect, for example) but sometimes they just make me stare in bewilderment. Especially since Medieval 2 was very true to its time frame, with little of the ridiculousness that permeated Rome.
None of which, by the way, makes me dislike Rome. I think it’s a masterpiece of game design, even with the silliness.
One of my favourite bits of silliness was the chanting priests. I told my very-very-religious friends about RTW yesterday and they were both intrigued by this whole “convert the heathens” game aspect, as well as the priests chanting to improve troop morale.
Awesome. ;)
Now back to fighting the Mongols as Poland in the Holy Land in MTW2… you want historical accuracy? It’s gone when my empire owns half of Europe, really.
Well, that’s what total realism mods are for: to get rid of the bees or the wardogs or the wardogs with bees in their mouths so when they bark they shoot bees at you.
JS…. all I can say is “YES!”
Homer FTW!
Heh, what more can you say. I wish they’d at least group these goofy units into some fantasy category you could switch on and switch off.
That would no doubt be a boon for purists. I used to be a purist in some areas, then stopped caring though.
What I care more about is unit effectiveness – who cares how bizarre the unit is if it can’t actually fight the way you want it to – or at the very least, the way it’s supposed to fight.
At least the units described here don’t perpetuate the “duplicate unit with different name” syndrome that afflicts the series. I love the variety, but not at the price of identical units with a slightly different name and a +/-1 pt attribute difference. Spearmen and Dismounted Polish Nobles are but one example.
I think they watched Apocalypto too many times.
Huge Mel Gibson fans?
Well what do you know… // Feb 18, 2008 at 3:10 am
[…] Remember when I made that snarky comment about the Mayans throwing beehives? […]