January 13th: Spartan Structures Showcase news - The Peloponnesian Wars mod for Battle for Middle-earth II

Thanks for checking us out again here at The Peloponnesian Wars! This time, I'm showcasing a few of the buildings available to Sparta - the Agoge, Smithy, and Keep. Firstly, I'll elaborate on the Agoge, Sparta's unit-producing building.

A detailed render of the Agoge structure, which has gone through many stages of development to get where it is now!

Historically, the Agoge was the process of training Spartan-born men to become the most feared, battle-ready army in Greece. Besides war-craft, they were taught loyalty, social preparation, singing, quick-thinking (thus, how they were able to cultivate so many great one-liners!) and other skills that were deemed necessary in life. In TPW, the Agoge will be represented by this unit-producing structure. Like all of their buildings, it is large and will likely take up a lot of space in your area of control. The main four infantry units for Sparta - the Hopilitai, the Ekdromoi, the Peltastati, and the Lochagos - will all be recruited from here. Due to Sparta's state-funded military and large Helot population, the Hopilitai and Peltastati will be available from a Rank One Agoge. Ekdromoi will be available at Rank Two, and Lochagos at Rank Three.

An ingame shot of the Agoge, complete with two-dimensional art; also, the Smithy.

Secondly, the Smithy. In TPW, the Smithy will fulfill several purposes - to slowly generate resources, provide discount to certain aspects, and most importantly, to upgrade units. There are two kinds of upgrades in TPW: offensive and defensive. Offensive upgrades are typically weapons-related, while defensive upgrades are armour-related. Here are lists of both:

Offensive

• Xiphos. Available for Hopilitai. Switches the Hopilitai from using spears to swords.
• Sarouter. Available for Hopilitai and Ekdromoi. Increases damage output of spear-wielding units.
• Kopis. Available for Peltastati. Gives the Peltastati a sword to use in melee combat - not by toggling, but using it automatically when attacked.
• Amentum. Available for Peltastati. Overall stat boost to the javelins used by Peltastati.

Defensive

• Linothorax. Available for Hopilitai. Armour upgrade.
• Skirmisher's Armour. Available for Peltastati. Armour upgrade.
• Officers. Available to all infantry. Upgrades the units to Rank Two.

Two renders, one of the Smithy and another of the Keep.

And now we have the Keep. Unlike other real-time-strategy games and mods, tower structures in TPW will be few in number and more used to maintain control of the outskirts of one's territory rather than being a viable defense in themselves. However, they'll be a formidable enemy to take on due to high hit-points and good range of the units housed inside of them. There will be a handful of defenders inside of a Keep.

An ingame shot of a Spartan Keep maintaining watch on the borders of their control. And of course, no update would be complete without a teaser for a later one.

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