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Cataph's - the Black Sea

So, uhhh, this is my latest piece. ‘s called Black Sea and Revelations.
It goes like this: WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB.

As you might have guessed this is yet another roster expansion or slight overhaul and NOT a dubstep parody of Muse. Sorry not sorry.
More precisely, it’s about the hellenistic factions around the Black Sea* (except Bithynia, we already did that one), with 16+ new units (all with custom UI and yadda yadda) and many rearranged vanilla units, but we’re gonna explain what’s been done one by one.

*Yeah yeah, the Black Sea DLC's been out for a while and I got here like a caterpillar-tracked slowpoke, I know.

The Bosporus was a highly hybridized kingdom, based on decently wealthy greek poleis like Pantikapaion and on the quickly hellenized closest native tribes. With time, a love/hate relationship with the powerful Scythians on the north evolved into symbiosis when these people were pushed southwards and westwards by the Sarmatians. The Bosporans weren’t picky though and also befriended many sarmatian tribes, like the Siraces. This meant a steady supply of unparalleled horsemen (as allies or mercenaries), techniques and influence. Did I mention Thracians? No? Well, the Spartocid dynasty was thracian and so were a serious lot of light infantry and cavalry fighting in the Bosporus. That adds up.
New* units and vanilla ones were added to the roster:
- thracian skirmishers
- scythian royal guard (general only), sarmatian horsemen (aux IV) and riders (aux III), steppe armoured (aux III) and noble lancers (aux IV)
- agema cavalry, bosporan marines* (tetreres and hexeres crews, plus limited ground unit)
- bosporan heavy infantry* and bosporan spearmen*
Recruitment fixes: young axes (now also from muster field, cause, come on), steppe archers (added missing level 4), noble horse archers (swapped from Heavy4 to Light4 in line with the rest).
Technology: their Tactics branch is now a greek/nomadic hybrid. Which lets you have horse ranches sooner, with cheaper mercenaries, but the infantry training grounds beyond II come later.
Naming: some “cimmerian” names were relocalized as “bosporan”, including the faction’s. The king is a Thracian, not Conan the Barbarian.
Please note that this is a critically hybrid faction. Which means I had to be careful not making it too overpowered since it can virtually field some of the best cav units in the game on top of the best archers and good hoplites, with probably the best fleet around. Which is why they have no serious sword unit for now- yeah yeah, I know, but come on, we don’t want it too easy, do we?

The Kingdom of Pontus’ fame is that of a mixed hellenic/anatolian state with a persian legacy. Also, thanks to Mithridates VI, famous for their imitation legionaries and their shrewd “this is mine, also this” foreign policy. For balance reasons I chose to discard some feasible historical units like scythian auxiliaries. In this regard, this pontic roster lacks the ranged power of Bosporus but can field the pikes and the swords the Bosporans only have wet dreams about.
New units* and vanilla additions:
- Pontic Picked Swordsmen* and Pontic Legionaries* (with hexeres and tetreres crews)
- Galatian Swords and Spears, also Celtic Light Horses
- Karian Axemen
Recruitment fixes: cappadocian cav has been delayed to HeavyIII, but the Bronze Shields have been moved up to HeavyIII as well.
Buildings changes: Pontus has a privileged access to the eastern tax chain (gray town thingies).

Trapezos has been at the borders of action since the times of the march of Xenophon’s Ten Thousands. It was however the capital of a persian satrapy capable of its decent yearly 300 talents, on par with the ionian district. Which means a good amount of wealth divided among a few greek colonies of milesian origins and the native tribes. Given how limited its hellenic manpower would have been by this time, I chose to change its military grouping into a modified colchian one, with less greek units and more natives, relatively good garrisons and fleets to protect the economic assets.
New units* and vanilla additions/variations:
- Picked Thorax Hoplites* and Thorax Hoplites
- almost no greek missile units, swapped for eastern ones, also Highlanders*
- Eastern Axemen but not the Kartli, no Noble Blood Cav but Pontohellenic Cav*
(please note that the roster in Custom battle will include the old one because of the faction unlock if any is used, but it won’t be the same in Campaign)

Colchis represents the union between the hellenic trading posts on the coast - bound to produce wealthy hoplites in their defence - and the proto-georgian tribes of the interior - constantly at odds with the Armenians in the south. Which puts this kingdom quite on the same page of the league led by Trapezos, westwards on the black sea. The colchian greeks used their influence to assimilate or befriend many of the Eastern Iberians or Kartli and as such we can expect in this combined military the presence of tough proto-georgian warriors well accustomed to defensive struggles against all kinds of neighbors.
New units* and vanilla additions (some also affect Kartli faction):
- Eastern Cataphracts, Colchian Heavy Horse Archers*
- Kartli Noblemen*, Highlanders*

Reskins: most greek units in the rosters received a factional reskin to represent influences and ethnicities, e.g. a few thracian capes and trousers for the Bosporans.
Buildings: Pontus, Trapezos and Colchis can now also build eastern city civil structures (the secondary ‘yellows’) and eastern town halls (yellow main structures) with proper tech unlocks. Enjoy your hybrid economy.

CRUNCH SYNOPSIS:
As you might have already noticed, the Bosporan Kingdom has the missile, cavalry and fleet superiority but lacks the infantry punch, Trapezos and Colchis are a cheap and versatile jack of all trades with valuable melee inf options while Pontus is a further mix with the addition of pikes and chariots.

TECH INFO:
- A faction unlock is only necessary to play Trapezos in campaign. Custom battles will be in fact less messy without one.
- As usual, this mod is made with vanilla game in mind. I have no idea what can happen with the common overhauls. And please, do bonk me on the head if you encounter something with way too many legs resembling a bug.
- A glitch prevents (at least here) the naval reforms from showing in the tech tree tooltips, but don’t worry, they’re there.
- Please note that the screenshots were made with other mods enabled (I’m that lazy), both ours and from other guys, like Sebidee’s Linothoraxes and Mackles’ Hoplons. Their features might or might not be spotted in the screens but I’m reporting this anyway because fair’s fair.

Finally, the customary thanks to my buddy Dreamlore for his support. Say thanks to Mr Dreamlore, class.

Now, for the commercials.
Among my other mods, I recommend the greek pack and Diadochs for more units and reforms, Naval warfare for optimal naval balance and the bithynian/cappadocian rework for proximity.

PS.: everytime you like a thing but you don't upvote it, Manbearpig kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.

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