[Tutorial] Setting up a clan? Read here!

[Windbusche]

Thinking of starting a clan?

Table of Contents:
I: What it means to lead a clan
II: Name/Faction (And rules regarding these things!)
III: Ranks!
IV: Making your own thread. (Like this one! )
V: How to get more people to join your clan.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I: What it means to lead a clan.​

Now, to tell you all a bit from my own experiences, leading a clan is great fun. And also you have quite a say in the community, due to your leading a clan. You have power. But you must use that power well. Now, to be a good leader, you must be very respectful. (I.E, no going onto other legion's threads acting like a jerk. "WE OWNED YOU SO HARD LAST SHIELDBATTLE. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.) No. None of that. That is concidered trolling.

Also, being a leader means signing up for events, and managing a thread on the forum! Signing up for events is quite easy. There is an NA Shieldbattle event and an EU Shieldbattle Event both hosted by very reliable hosts. Information on signing up can be found on the threads linked.

Lots of fun, but also lots of work.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II: Name/Faction!​

This is sort of a big deal. Picking a name can be a tough choice, especially because of the "no taking other clan's names" policy, which is still enforced. A name can say quite a bit about a clan, for example the faction, and the level of seriousness in the clan.

Obviously, names vary based on the faction you pick. That faction can be either Rome, Greece, Gaul and anything inbetween. You can also be a miscellaneous clan, for example, Armenian Cataphracts, who have no ingame faction, but play cavalry and fight for whatever team they want at the time, which can also be very fun!

Picking a faction, does not mean that you will ALWAYS get to be that faction. Let's say there are 5 legions at one shieldbattle and only 1 warband, the admin has to balance the teams, so odds are if you're a part of those 5 legions, you would be put on the Gallic Team for the event. (Theoretically.)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III: Ranks!​

Ranks, a very vital part of any clan. This shows the member(members) veterancy in the clan, or skill, or, well, any qualifying trait, really.

*I cannot promise historical accuracy for any of these ranks.

ROMAN RANKS

Spoiler

INFANTRY
(Listed from highest to lowest.)

Legatus, (Legate, Commander.)
Tribuni (2nd in Command)
Aquilifer, (Standard Bearer, Vexallarius)
Centurio, (Centurion, Captain-Like rank.)
Optio, (Officer Rank, helps the Centurion.)
Sesquiplicarius (NCO rank)
Legionarii (Standard Footsoldier)
Immunes (Equivalent of Corporal)
Munifex (Equivalent of Private)
Tiro (Recruit)

CAVALRY
(Highest to lowest like the Infanty)

Imperator (The leader of a cohort or legion.)
Decurio - (2nd in command Officer Rank. Can be multiple people with this rank!)
Duplicarius (3rd in command, helps the Decurio.)
Sesquiplicarius (4th in command, helps the Decurio.)
Equite Evocatus (Veteran Cavalryman.)
Equite (Basic Soldier of the Roman Cavalry.)

*Thank you to the ESA for giving me some idea on Cav Ranks ^^*

CELTIC RANKS

Spoiler

INFANTRY RANKS
Warlord
Noble
Chosen
Elite
Veteran
Warrior
Levy

CAVALRY RANKS
Same as Infantry, minus the druid.

GREEK RANKS

Spoiler

INFANTRY RANKS

Progonos, (First in command, leader of the clan.)
Stratigos, (Second in command, equivalent of a General.)
Tagmatarches, (Third in command, equivalent of a Major.)
Lochagos, (Equivalent of a Foot Captain.)
Dimoirites, (Equivalent of a Sergeant.)
Simaioforos (Standard-bearer.)
Hoplite (Basic Footsoldier/Fighter)
Neosullektos (Recruit)

*Thank you to the Athenai Hoplites for helping me put up the Greek Infantry ranks.*

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV: Setting up a thread of your own!​

Typically, a thread for a clan will contain these things.
•Roster.
•Ranks.
•Application Information.
•Historical Background.
•Teamspeak/Steam Page information.
•Trainings/Events
•Name/Faction/Class.

Note, it does NOT have to be in that particular order. Why do you need these things you ask? Let me explain...

Roster - So others may see how large your clan is, and see if it suits their preferance. Also so others know how your clan is doing!
Ranks - So people know who their officers are and such.
Application Information - So people can actually JOIN your clan!
Historical Background - So people can know if your clan is based on history or not, and if so, what it actually did in reality.
Teamspeak/Steam Page Information - So people may join your steam group/read more, and also the teamspeak IP so people may join to communicate.
Trainings/Events - So people may know when they need to be in teamspeak to attend the event, and also to know if it fits their schedule.
Name/Faction/Class - This reason should be very obvious, but just incase, , so people may know what team you are, and what they shall say when their friend asks who they're with.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

V: How to get people to join your clan.​

Attending many events helps to get the word out about your clan - If other clans see you perform well in combat then they are more likely to recommend your clan to those who are looking to join a clan.

Recruiting can be done many ways, via a thread, (See IV: Setting up your own thread.), via ingame recruiting, (Hey! You there! Pub! You look like you know how to use that pointy stick! Want to join us? We use pointy sticks ALOT!), and also by bringing friends.

Number three on that list is a very common way for clans to start, here is how the conversation would go.
Guy 1:HEY, WOW, THIS MOD LOOKS SICK! Let's set up a clan!
Guy 2: YEAH! I'LL GET EVERYONE FROM SCHOOL! BECAUSE THAT WON'T MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A NERD -AT ALL!-
Guy 3: YEAH I CALL 2nd IN COMMAND!!!!

That pretty much sums it up,
Any questions, PM me, Windbusche, on the TW forums.

Thanks for reading,
-Windbusche

 

[doctorwarband]

Wind was really tired when he did this

 

[Windbusche]

I did it about 2 months ago. Just copy+pasted it over here.

 

[doctorwarband]

i know

 

[dion1195]

wind celtic ranks....
Why so few?
Where are the speardudes sworddudes.
chosen axedudes xD

 

[Windbusche]

wind celtic ranks....
Why so few?
Where are the speardudes sworddudes.
chosen axedudes xD

I just gave an exemplary format, a very basic one at that.
If you'd like to find me some accurate ranks to add/replace, feel free.

 

[dion1195]

wind celtic ranks....
Why so few?
Where are the speardudes sworddudes.
chosen axedudes xD

I just gave an exemplary format, a very basic one at that.
If you'd like to find me some accurate ranks to add/replace, feel free.

well historicall you would have:
warlord/chieftain/noble (what ever.
and then the rest soldiers....

But for fun I would do.

Warlord
Noble

chosen
elite
veteran (from here will in whatever example veteran axeman.)
warrior
levy

 

[hudson57]

You missed out treehuger from the celtic ranks xD

 

[doctorwarband]

Atleast he can hug the tree on not firetruck it

 

[Lord Striker The First]

Nice thread. I think it would be great if the developers/researchers could put in a historically accurate, complete list of ranks of the different factions. At the moment I believe all Roman legions are going by different ranks, a good list might solve that problem. Perhaps, if it does not limit the freedom of clans too much, examples of how to put every one of those ranks in-game would be good as well, for example VIII_Optio_Striker, and a uniform way of shortening ranks such as VIII_Sesq_Striker standing for VIII_Sesquiplicarius_Striker.

 

[Seek n Destroy]

Current ranks are valid mostly for Imperial Rome timeframe, the Republican army had different ranks depending on the soldier's personal wealth, origin and military career. I'd like to remake it a bit when I have the means and time.  Also another topic that is less known is the one of the Early Republic Legions, none really has an history as they were levied for a campaign only but that does not mean they are less able or do not deserve any attention. An army of citizen-soldiers conquered the world and the professional army lost it.
More on this later I hope.

 

[Lord Striker The First]

Hm interesting. I never really studied any Roman thing in-depth (I know Caesar was a pretty good leader and Nero was a crazy emperor), but this mod has encouraged me to read up on it a bit more.

Isn't the mod placed in the mid Republican era though, therefore making mentioning the Early Republic Legions not necessary? Or did I misunderstand you there?

Good to see that the developers are actively involved with the mod and listening to the community

EDIT: I forgot mentioning class equipment. A list of that would be cool too (for uniform legions).

 

[Sir Edwards]

Its that Mount and Gladius gave everyone that awesome feeling of legions; thus, they kind of stuck around, well in the mp atleast.

 

[jepekula]

Uh, what? The Roman Army was always called "legion", and the soldier was always a "legionnaire", so RaW has as much legion in it as MnG.

 

[Sir Edwards]

Uh, what? The Roman Army was always called "legion", and the soldier was always a "legionnaire", so RaW has as much legion in it as MnG.

What I was referring to were the legions from the imperial era, I think he was questioning as to why there are imperial legions in a republican era mod, am I not correct?

 

[jepekula]

Uh, what? The Roman Army was always called "legion", and the soldier was always a "legionnaire", so RaW has as much legion in it as MnG.

What I was referring to were the legions from the imperial era, I think he was questioning as to why there are imperial legions in a republican era mod, am I not correct?

What? No. Seek just said that the current ranks are from the Principate-era Roman military structure, mostly. There were legions for the whole Roman military history.

 

[Sir Edwards]

Isn't the mod placed in the mid Republican era though, therefore making mentioning the Early Republic Legions not necessary? Or did I misunderstand you there?

I had apparently misunderstood this bit.  I took it as he was asking about why we have lists of roman imperial legions is all.

 

[Seek n Destroy]

So some info about Romans:

Military​

Technically the Roman military had four major organisations:
- Greek Phalanx
- Camillan/Polybian Manipular Army
- Marius´s Manipular Army
- Late Imperial Army

Roman Phalanx ( Ab urbe condita, since the founding of Rome, until ~320 B.C. )​

The Roman Army fought in it´s early days in the Greek fashion, usually a thick mass of soldiers would march in a formation towards the enemy and seek to break them. Unfortunately the formation proved to be clumsy and was abandoned in the aftermatch of the Caudine Forks battle in favor of the manipular army, heavily inspired from the Samnites.

Typical Deployment:

Spoiler

Just try to picture a bunch of these in a tight packed formation, this is the camillan triarii that bears the remnants of the greek influence on the Roman Army

Camillan/Polybian Manipular Army ~320 to ~100 B.C.​

It was the first adaptation of the Samnite Manipular Army, it introduced new ranks with new functions and generally it made the army more polyvalent and responsive. Troops were sorted by wealth and social background ( the poorest troops would fill the ranks of velites and hastati, the richest would fill the ranks of Triarii and Equites ). Polybius introduced changes to the adaptation made by the Camillan reforms (During the Punic Wars), he generally made it a heavier force and removed of some ranks, the hastati  dropped their spears and could have access to slightly better armor, the triarii switched from the classical greek armors to the hamata ( chainmail of Gallic origins )...

Legions:
There was usually four permanent legions each two led by a consul (The Republic was lead by two consuls irc, except in times of crisis were a temporary dictator was assigned), these would be the Legio Consularis numbered I to IV. If the case was more serious, more legions would be levied, they would most likely bear the name of the city of origin as it is mentioned in Titus Livius (Livy) book Ab Urbe Condita (there are traductions of this book on the net) the name of two temporary Legions "Adiungitur et Tusculana legio"
Furthermore the Romans would require their allies/subjects to send a legion for each Roman one, they would be called the Socii (Allies) and be in a special division called the Ala Sociorum.

Typical Deployment:

Spoiler

Marius´s Manipular Army ~100 B.C.​

Marius reformed the army to allow the conscription of lower class citizens to boost Rome´s military force, the number of legions increased and later on the now renowned "permanent" legions started to appear. The army turned even more homogeneous (No more hastati, principes, triarii...), the legionary rank was the norm, some would have specific tasks ( there was a engineer group in the legion ) and the rest was assured by mercenaries/allies belonging to the Ala ( wing ).

Typical Deployment:

Spoiler

Late Imperial Army​

The late Imperial army is what I call to the armies after the separation of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Occidental Empire, the army changed significantly and most of the roles were assured by mercenaries. The length of the swords increased, the shields used had a rounder shape and it would all evolve into the early medieval army.

Typical deployment:

Spoiler

This is roughly the idea I have of the Roman Army and I don´t claim it to be 100 percent correct as each day I read a bit more to fill the gaps and clear out some misconceptions.
I  encourage you to do some (as I should and will do):
Further Reading:

http://members.tripod.com/~S_van_Dorst/reparmy.html Republican Roman Army
http://s_van_dorst.tripod.com/glossary.html Roman Military Glossary, may be useful to set the ranks for your clan (use ctrl + f4 to do a quick search for key words such as officer/captain/troop/whatever)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion Roman Legion Organization
Just search around. The principal inaccuracy to the mod is the use of the Polybian Reforms Army instead of the Camillan, the rest we aim for accuracy even if there is an occasional mistake here and there.

 

[Lord Striker The First]

Alright, that clears a lot of things up. Thanks!