In today's blog, we're going to talk briefly about infantry in Ancient Egypt, along with showing you some of the warriors in Builders of Egypt! Are you excited the same as we are? ;)
Let's start by saying that the Egyptian military consisted of three major branches: the infantry, the chariotry, and the navy. The Egyptians had no cavalry in the modern sense of the word, although the horses had been introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos along with chariots, which often played a major role in supporting and clearing the way for the infantry to charge. As a matter of fact, the chariotry was very effective in breaking the ranks of the enemy.
Furthermore, Egyptians classified their regiments according to the arms they carried - they had Archers, Spearmen, and Lancers. As you can see in the screenshot below, all of the warriors standing in front of the in-game Fort are also supplied with large leather-covered shields and axes. Each regiment in Builders of Egypt has also a standard - a pole with the symbol of warriors and archers. Historically, the tradition of using standards probably arose in the times of tribes as so-called tribal fetishes, which at that time were reverenced as religious symbols, afterwards they were adopted as a military badge of the specific nome.
The infantry was by far the greatest body of the ancient Egyptian army.
Hope you enjoyed our latest blog! Looking forward to your thoughts about today's short introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit! You can find more about soldiers in general in our previous blogs.
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Builders!
--- Your Team from Strategy Labs ---
More about Pharaoh's army: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/6048900423830388110 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/6048900423830461020 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/3104672693362010030 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/3104672693362032264
In today's blog, we're going to talk about fortresses in Ancient Egypt, along with showing you defence structures in Builders of Egypt!
Egypt, a country devoid of natural protection, except for the deserts stretching to the east and west of the Nile Valley, was forced to build fortifications, which were an integral part of the country's landscape. Even sacred buildings, temples, and tombs were enriched with elements characteristic of defensive architecture, emphasizing their function as bastions of order and harmony, providing protection against the chaos surrounding everywhere. Towns and villages were surrounded by walls, reinforced with bastions spaced at equal intervals. Fortresses were constructed in strategic places for the defense of the country, and the borders were secured with a chain of observation towers (Predynastic Period). Moreover, the forts were established in places from which trade expeditions set out for the area of the mines. Others were erected at points convenient for loading goods onto the boats on which they were transported.
Fortresses were built by the Nile River or on the Nile River islands, and their architecture has always been adapted to the topography of the area. They could be square or triangular structures. Brick buildings referred to the traditions of defensive construction of earlier periods - massive walls were reinforced with bay windows and corner fortresses (flanks). In front of the main fortified wall, a smaller one with loopholes was erected. The fortress was often surrounded by a moat, and the entrance was defended by a massive gate.
In addition to defensive functions, the fortresses played the role of representative buildings, demonstrating the power of the Egyptian state to the Nubians. Temples constructed inside the fortresses spread the cult of the Egyptian gods and protected the country from the influx of foreign beliefs. The pinnacle of defense construction is the fortress in Buhen, which was also a settlement, located on the West bank of the Nile in present-day Sudan.
Hope you enjoyed our latest blog with a bit of historical context! Looking forward to your thoughts about today's introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Builders and Generals!
--- Your Team from Strategy Labs ---
More about Pharaoh's army: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/6048900423830388110 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/6048900423830461020 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/3104672693362010030
During the Steam Next Festival, we've received a lot of valuable comments from you, for which we're very grateful! Unfortunately, a lot of your feedback concerned performance issues and bugs that are hard to reproduce, which ultimately will have an impact on the release date of our game. We've planned to launch Builders of Egypt at the end of this quarter, but due to the necessity of major changes in the graphical part affecting the direct consumption of GPU, CPU, and RAM, we're forced to postpone the premiere of the game to the next quarter.
We're very sorry for another delay, but as we've written many times before, we want to bring you the best city-builder ever, which also means that we don't want to release a half-baked, bugged product. Now, we're mainly focused on launching the playtests and the optimization improvements, which often is the most time-consuming part of the game development.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in Steam Next Fest Live Stream and for your insightful comments! We're very happy that our game is so popular and it's very motivating for us!
Thank you for your understanding and see you at the next DevBlog! If you have any questions regarding today's news please contact us.
In today's blog, we're going to discuss further the history of Pharaoh's army. If you didn't read the first part you can check it below:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/818520/view/6048900423830388110 Service in the Egyptian army was neither pleasant nor safe, especially at the very beginning of the military career. The risk of death or permanent bodily injury was part of the soldier's profession, however, the army offered a chance to achieve prestige and numerous honors. Each recruit started at school, where he learned to fight with various types of weapons and assimilated the rules of tough, strict discipline. The training lasted several years and required both physical and mental stamina from the volunteer.
Depending on the position in the army, soldiers were awarded for their bravery on the battlefield - starting with the lowest rank - a private soldier and a decoration with a golden fly, the symbol of valor and courage. Higher ranks were awarded gold, they also received some spoils, cattle, or slaves. An officer could receive a hereditary fief as a reward for his merits, which after his death was passed on to the eldest son when he also served in the army under the command of the same sovereign. The most meritorious in the fight was rewarded personally by the pharaoh himself, which was an incredible honor for every Egyptian. For those wishing to pursue higher officer ranks, the scribes’ school was a necessary step into their careers. The candidate for the officer also had to demonstrate high personal manners. The position that opened the most paths to promotion and enrichment was an officer in a combat vehicles unit. A career in the military offered many interesting opportunities for promotion.
Along with the expansion of the military hierarchy, the caste of the military aristocracy developed.
In addition to the army, Egypt also had a police force that included many Nubians. Police officials had a wide range of responsibilities. They dealt with collecting taxes, controlling the weight of the goods sold - forgery was severely punished. The police were also responsible for prosecuting escaped slaves, thieves, criminals, and criminals of all kinds (which we mentioned briefly in Devblog #30). The protocols drawn up by her were forwarded to the courts. The officers of the Egyptian police had judicial powers. There was also a desert police force. The officials belonging to it must have had an excellent knowledge of orientation in the field. They kept order in the desert areas, provided protection for caravans traveling through them, and followed the movements of nomads. They also organized hunting and helped in finding new routes to the mines. When the escaping criminal crossed the city limits and found himself outside the city border, the desert police took over the task of finding and capturing him.
In Builders of Egypt, you will have the opportunity to train your citizens to become warriors and archers. The building where training is carried out is the Fortress (which we've showed you in the previous Devblog). The Academy, on the other hand, is used to increase the combat experience of your Egyptian warriors and archers, in other words, it makes your army more skilled. It's not a necessary structure, but it's highly recommended and extremely useful. In order to work properly, Academy needs a steady supply of weapons.
Hope you enjoyed our latest blog with a bit of historical context! Looking forward to your thoughts about today's introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Warriors and Archers!
PS. Don't miss the chance to play our latest Demo! It will be available until February 28, 2022! You can also check guide we've made for you :) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761425310
Tomorrow at 8:00 PM CET will start our Steam Next Fest Live Stream!
The broadcast with the first chat session will last approximately 2.5 hours and it will end around 10:30 PM CET, depending on your interest. We'll show you a demo with an improved version of Builders of Egypt Prologue content - more polished models, graphics, and more balanced mechanics, including animations such as city bustling with life, giving the effect of greater naturalness in the gameplay. You will also be able to ask us questions during the first chat session.
The second chat will take place on February 24, 2022, at 8:00 PM CET and it will be dedicated mainly to questions that we couldn't answer during the Live Stream, but it won't be limited only to that. You're welcome to ask us anything! Chat will end around 10:00 PM CET.
The last great news for today! At 7:00 PM CET we are launching Builders of Egypt Demo for you! It will be available until Steam Next Fest ends, so don't miss the chance to test it and share your thoughts with us!
In today's blog, we're going to talk about the history of the Pharaoh's army.
During the Old Kingdom, Egypt did not have a large, organized army. There was only a small group of standing troops which were replenished as necessary. The main task of the soldiers was to provide protection for trade expeditions and expeditions heading out into the desert to obtain resources. The geographic location guaranteed the Egyptians relative peace. Nomadic tribes that happened to attack a powerful neighbor from time to time did not pose a threat, because their civilization development was on a much lower level than the Egyptians one. The daily army consisted of the palace guards, crews of ships going to Syria, and construction supervisors. Additional recruits were enlisted when needed, i.e. when the state was attacked from outside or a war campaign was planned. The lack of an organized, numerous army was associated with the lack of officer cadre which was typical for the Old Kingdom Period. Command posts were given to officials when necessary. The organization of the army itself was substandard. The main criterion for its division was the origin of the soldiers (e.g. the Nubian unit) and not the number of units.
In the First Interim Period, the structure of the army began to transform. Military units belonging to individual nomes were established. Garrisons to protect the borders were permanently stationed in fortresses on the outskirts of the country. The military hierarchy began to crystallize, initially consisting of only four ranks. As a result, the role of magnates, who were often commanders, increased. The emergence of local troops combined with the decentralization of power meant that not only the most important supporters of the king, but even provincial magnates became powerful and dangerous. Each nome had its own army, commanded by its nomarch. In Asyut (the capital of the Thirteenth Nome of Upper Egypt), in the tomb of one of the nomarchs, wooden models were found showing soldiers armed with spears (Egyptians) and with bows (Nubians), marching in fours, with equal steps.
During the Middle Kingdom, there was a need for greater control and subordination of the areas of Nubia. The ad hoc formed groups of troops ceased to fulfill their task. The creation of a professional, permanent, and the much larger army has become a requisite. It was not enough that the soldiers intervened, when necessary, it was imperative to place permanent units in fortresses in the conquered territories. The army scattered around the individual nomes was again subordinated to the central royal authority. Although the army still retained the basic division into infantry and the fleet that was mainly responsible for transporting to Punt, its internal structure had developed considerably. The military hierarchy gained further ranks. Every aspect of military activity acquired its supervisor - someone else was responsible for logistics, someone else was in charge, etc. The conscription was carried out by scribes who selected young people for the services.
Successive pharaohs of the New Kingdom have improved the Egyptian army further. Seti I introduced the division into three corps - Amun, Ptah, and Re. Ramses II added a fourth corps - Set. Each of the gods patronizing the corps - Amon, Ptah, Re, or Set - was to protect and care for his soldiers. The king himself was the chief commander of the troops. Behind him in the hierarchy stood the vizier, responsible for the recruitment, training, and maintenance of soldiers. He was the immediate superior of the great general, the direct head of the pharaoh's army, to whom he delegated most of his duties. The various military districts in the country were commanded by lieutenants. The royal commissioners were responsible for the units stationed abroad. The lowest in the hierarchy was a private soldier. The most numerous group in the Egyptian army were mercenaries and foreigners, mainly Nubians, Bedouins, and the inhabitants of Asia. In the country on the Nile also served many Libyans and representatives of the so-called Sea People. Apart from mercenaries, tempted by their wages, there were also prisoners of war in the Egyptian army, who could thus deserve their freedom. The mercenary units were most often commanded by representatives of their own ethnic group.
Hope you enjoyed our latest blog with a bit of historical context! Looking forward to your thoughts about today's introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Viziers and Nomarchs!
Today we're going to discuss the posthumous cult of the pharaohs in Builders of Egypt, which is one of the most interesting and fascinating aspects of ancient Egyptians' daily life and religion.
The tombs discovered by archaeologists in Abydos were the burial places of the kings of the 1st dynasty. Some researchers, however, put forward the thesis that these were the so-called cenotaphs (symbolic tombs), and pharaohs are buried in Saqqara, near Memphis. The construction of these tombs has evolved over time. At first, several chambers were dug in the ground, then only one, but a much larger one, in which the king's body was stored in a wooden box. The ceiling of the tombs was made of wooden beams. Above it, a sand mound was built, and a brick wall was built around it. As was customary, sacrifices were made to the deceased ruler. For this purpose, a square was marked out in front of the tomb, surrounded by stone stelae. Inscriptions with the name of the king placed on the tablets allowed archaeologists to identify the owner of the tomb. Gradually, the structure of the tomb also changed, starting with Pharaoh Den (also known as Hor-Den, Dewen and Udimu) - stairs fenced with a stone block began to lead to the burial chamber, and the number of accompanying burials became small.
Mastabas were characteristic for Egyptian architecture monumental buildings in the shape of a pyramid, erected on a rectangular plan, playing the role of a tomb or a symbolic tomb. They were built of dried bricks - a burial chamber was dug into the ground, to which stairs led. The ceiling was laid out of wooden beams and a mound was poured over them. Everything was covered by the above-ground part of the building. Many such structures were discovered at Saqqara, belonging to the king and court officials.
Old Kingdom mastabas were used mainly for non-royal burials. In the times of the Middle Kingdom, great tombs began to be built in the southern part of Abydos, devoted to the posthumous cult of the pharaohs, emphasizing the union of the deceased ruler with Osiris. Over the millennia, they have been almost completely destroyed and their remains covered with thick layers of desert sand. The ancient Egyptians were convinced that there was a life after death. Often the building of the tomb started during its owner’s lifetime. The higher the rank, the richer the interior of the tomb was.
You will have the opportunity to build your first real Egyptian mastaba in mission 4 "Saqqara - Life is a journey, not a destination". This will be the beginning of your adventure with the monuments of ancient Egypt. ;)
Osiris, the resurrected god, patron of the entire underground half of the world which housed the source of new life, and the guardian of vegetation and fertility, reigned over the world of the dead, presented as an abundantly irrigated garden with an abundance of plants. Together with man, his two spiritual elements came into the world - ba, and ka. Ba - the solar soul - was associated with the upper half of the world, a zone belonging to Re, the sun god, and was pictured as a bird with a human head. On the other hand, everyone - the Osirian soul - was associated with the underground half of the world, the Kingdom of Osiris (and thus with the tomb), and was presented in art, inter alia, identical to a living man. After the death of a man, ka took over all his life functions and needed exactly all that human during his lifetime, especially food and drink. The Egyptian concept of paradise pointed to the afterlife as a careless copy of men's life, which was connected with the preparation of appropriate grave equipment and provision of service, posthumous victims.
The fact that the pyramids, or later the mortuary temples were surrounded by gardens, resulted from the Egyptian belief that the immortal ka soul still inhabits the body of the deceased placed in the tomb. Because for his life all goods that served the living man were necessary, hence his house-tomb had to have an environment for relaxation and bringing a number of benefits in the form of, for example, fruit or herbs.
Hope you enjoyed our latest blog with a bit of archaeological and cultural context! Looking forward to your thoughts about today's extensive introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Builders!
We've some great news for you! We'll be participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest!
As the main attraction, we've planned a live stream where we'll be showing you as we go through the demo mission - our lead programmer and graphic designer Jacek will accompany you - and there will also be a 2-hour chat where you'll be able to ask questions about our game. Don't forget to set a reminder! We'll be waiting for you! If you miss the first day, don't worry! We'll be organizing another chat for questions that couldn't be answered after the live stream (more details soon).
Live Stream will start on February 22, 2022, at 8:00 PM CET and will end around 10:30 PM CET.
The demo is aimed primarily at players who didn't have the chance to check the free version of Prologue. Content prepared for Steam Festival will be an improved version of that available in the Prologue branch.
Today we're going to discuss the importance of water culture in Builders of Egypt along with its historical accuracy. A little bit different from our usual approach but one of the most vital and crucial aspects of ancient Egyptians' life.
From a historical point of view, the control of water in general, and in particular the control of the Nile River flood often referred to as a source of the rich farmland, has played a major part in the development of the “water culture civilizations” to which ancient Egypt decisively belonged.
At the beginning and throughout many generations, the water supply of the inhabitants was entirely managed by the state, mainly through the local administration which was charged to bring the water, in general from a rural area, into towns and cities and to redistribute it to the inhabitants. Even when the city was far from a water source, the state preferred a simpler system using the manpower available known as the “water-carriers” over the complex installations. Although the Pharaoh appropriated for himself the sacred character of the flood and also at the same time, the sacred character of the water, by claiming to be the guarantor of a regular and fertile flood, and annihilating its destructive effect, the role played by Pharaonic institutions in everyday water management is not very well known, even though many archaeological studies have been carried out on water management in ancient Egypt in terms of the administration of irrigation.
However since the New Kingdom Period the successive development of wells and technological developments, thus the appearance of more elaborate water structures (primarily more complex wells) in the Nile Valley seems to have modified the role and the implication of the state in it and also the approach to the water supply itself. By gradually placing a source of water in the towns, close to the inhabitants who were now able to supply themselves directly, the state decided to withdraw slowly from one of its many responsibilities regarding the supply of provisions to the population.
Let's move on to the in-game water culture introduction! :) Overall we've decided on implementing wells and larger water supplies buildings, regardless of the historical period in which the specific campaign takes place. Due to the fact that each map in the game is made entirely by hand, the areas where you can build structures providing water are strictly defined and limited. Therefore, these areas determine the possibility of housing development as well as buildings conditional on access to water, such as meadow farms. Both buildings operate within a certain range. Of course, the second one has a much greater working radius. Moreover, depending on the specific mission and the buildings available in it, specifically when it comes to most common farms (for example wheat, cabbage, chickpeas) your whole harvest largely depends on the Nile River flood during which plenty of fertile soil is being left on the edge of the river. Furthermore, in-game time is measured through three seasons - Akhet (flooding), Peret (growing), and Shemu (harvesting) the same way Egyptian farmers have divided their year. The placement of so-called flood farms is also limited to specific areas and restricted by the terrain and the river edges.
Hope you enjoyed our unusual blog with a bit of historical context and we didn't bore you to death! ;) Farming irrigation system and ditches will be discussed in a separate Devblog. Looking forward to your thoughts about today's definitely not brief introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
