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[PATV] Friday, September 6, 2013 - Extra Credits Season 6, Ep. EH 1: Extra History: The Punic Wars B

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited September 2013 in The Penny Arcade Hub

image[PATV] Friday, September 6, 2013 - Extra Credits Season 6, Ep. EH 1: Extra History: The Punic Wars Begin

Most of the research for these videos comes from: Polybius' The Histories And Livy's History of Rome But if you just want an overview, here's a wikipedia link.

Read the full story here


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  • YusakuGodaiYusakuGodai Toronto, CanadaRegistered User new member
    I know some Roman history, but I love learning more. Thanks for making this great episode!

  • RabidKittenRabidKitten Registered User regular
    Hannibal is on the short list for greatest military badasses ever to live along with Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, and Genghis Khan.

  • bentibbettsbentibbetts Registered User new member
    Cool!

  • net_runnernet_runner Registered User new member
    great idea!

  • TempleDogTempleDog Registered User regular
    OUR money wouldn't say 'E Pluribus Unum'? Aren't you guys Canay'jun?

  • TempleDogTempleDog Registered User regular
    By the way, agree with net runner, awesome idea, good on you guys, and good on Creative Assembly! See if you can't get Ken Levine to pony up some bucks before the next Bioshock DLC...people REALLY should know a lil' about Wounded Knee and the Boxer Rebellion.

  • Ionic007Ionic007 Registered User new member
    Nicely done! This Roman historian gives you one thumb up, which, in the Coliseum context at least, is a good thing.

  • speedplayspeedplay Educational Technology Coordinator UW MilwaukeeRegistered User regular
    This was great, guys. With my wife being an ancient history professor and me being an information scientist who studies game interactions, this is exactly the cool kind of project that we can both talk about. Keep up the great work.

  • YuriTheTrainerYuriTheTrainer Registered User new member
    Thanks guys. I love ancient history, and you guys chose a awesome topic. Great job explaining. I love that creative assembly allowed you to do so. I may just buy Total War: Rome II just because of this initiative and educational spin on advertisement, also the game looks pretty good. Thanks keep up the great work.

  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    All these avatarless posters

    But yes, this is the best thing. Can we redo Khan Academy with Extra Credits people?

  • NerevarNerevar Registered User new member
    Here I was bummed that we weren't going to get a video this week. I knew a little about Hannibal, but nothing about his father. Great video!

  • BaloogyMcBoyBaloogyMcBoy Registered User regular
    This is great :O I'm not super into civ games but I'll certainly be linking this to everyone I know who is! :D

  • DiagorasDiagoras Registered User new member
    It's awesome that you're doing this. Still, I feel the nature of Carthage's political system is misrepresented (ie. a lack of mentioning its much more democratic nature than the Roman Republic), and the entire perspective is very much coming from a Roman viewpoint.

    This might be due to relying on Roman histories to tell the Carthaginians story. If you're interested in hearing what we can reconstruct of their side of things, I'd recommend "The Carthaginians" by Dexter Hoyos - it's available for Kindle, and it's a quick and informative read.

  • OldSchoolChickenOldSchoolChicken Registered User regular
    Cool! I think this was a great idea from the makers of the Total War series... sounds like you have a fan or two in their ranks

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    @TempleDog they are not in fact Canadian, to my knowledge. James is certainly doing his lobbying in the US capital, and the episodes here seem to be pretty US-centric.

    I think you're thinking of Graham, Kathleen and the gang at LoadReadyRun, who are indeed Canuks and do Checkpoint on PATV.

  • kSmashkSmash Registered User regular
    If people found this interesting you should definitely check out http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com,

  • leviticolevitico Registered User new member
    great video pls keep the good work

  • weakbosonweakboson Registered User new member
    omg those wars were so cool so much better than fghting insurgents we should get rid of guns and go back to swods :(

  • dagobbodagobbo Registered User new member
    I was on the fence about purchasing Rome II after a few discouraging reviews and having been a fan of the first one. The fact that Creative studios would undertake a history lesson via you guys rather just spending more money on annoying ads pushed me off the fence. I'm logging onto steam right now and purchasing Rome 2. Purchase made at the end of this sentence, keep up the good work Extra Credits and keep challenging the norm Creative.

  • cB557cB557 voOOP Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    Just going to say, Carthage FTW!
    Also, someone with a youtube account send this to.... someone.... over at THFE. Someone, can't remember (I wanna say it's mr. Pokefile? I dunno) over there is making a ton of videos about Rome II.

    Lastly, El Skid, they're Canadian. Everyone on the internet is Canadian.

    cB557 on
  • isocrydisocryd Registered User new member
    It's good to see Allison drawing EC again :D

  • LittleBlackRainCloudLittleBlackRainCloud Registered User regular
    http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/the_history_of_rome/2011/09/index.html

    I really have a hard time "taking to"your dissertation on roman history after listening to the almost 200 episode podcast from this source. While I enjoy your work on video games, the approach you use is a bit too "abbreviated and paraphrased".

    Nonetheless, keep up the great work guys! And grats on your effort , it is humanitarian and I highly respect it.

  • IgcisIgcis Registered User new member
    Holy crap!

    That was probably the most attentive i've ever been to a history lesson, and i rather enjoyed it to boot. Seems the reason i love your videos is due to your style of teaching, rather than my interest in the subject of games. Now if only there was some way to convince you to do a segment on chemistry :D

  • BriaerosAUBriaerosAU Registered User new member
    if you want to see something cool. look at carthage on google maps. The huge man made military bay of carthage is still there today, over 2000 years later

  • jessickgjessickg Registered User new member
    This is absolutely awesome! I would love to see many, many more of these. However, I hope it doesn't interfere with the regular episodes that you guys do.

  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    edited September 2013
    So, a quick "hey cool" moment from the First Punic War.

    Rome was completely outclassed when it came to fighting on water. They were beaten again and again. Naval warfare at the time revolved around an extremely complex practice of careful positioning and ramming the enemy with the armored prow of the ship. It doesn't sound that complex, but this practice was so old that most ships were designed so that almost anything but a direct hit would glace off the ship. This meant that if you were lucky all you did was break the enemy's oars, and if you were unlucky you had to fight the sailors of the ship you just bumped. The Romans had absolutely no aptitude for this.

    At some point the Romans devised a device called the Corvus (it's not really written who or when). The Corvus was a short drawbridge attached at one end to the Roman ship and at the other end was a sharp spike shaped like a raven's beak (hence the name). Most ships didn't have a collection of soldiers aboard. Even when bringing armies across the ocean soldiers were kept in separate boats that would often end up simply being tugged by the more capable naval vessels. The Romans would pull up to an enemy ship, drop the Corvus, and send fully armed and armored legionaries into the unprotected sailors.

    The Romans sucked at fighting a naval battle, so they found a way to turn it into a land battle instead.


    Also, I'm seconding LittleBlackRainCloud. If you want a much more comprehensive look at the Punic Wars, The History of Rome podcast is excellent and entertaining.
    http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/the_history_of_rome/2011/09/index.html

    Dedwrekka on
  • SelvaSelva Registered User new member
    You should really make a series of these for schools. Sadly, it wouldn't be able to replace study, but a brief but in depth overview of a subject like this before getting into the details would improve understanding of it geometrically.

  • KrustalKrustal Registered User new member
    So I'm pretty sure Extra Credits is what introduced me to these guys but if anyone is interested in some world history taught in a fun format like this the crash course guys are awesome.

  • GilhelmiGilhelmi Registered User regular
    Every post so far has been about how good of idea this was. This is the most useful and creative "advertising" I have seen in a long time. I approve of these videos.

  • cattlehuntercattlehunter Registered User regular
    @Dedwrekka

    Love me sum of the History of Rome Podcast, but in my opinion the podcast "Dan Carlin's Hardcore history" did the punic wars way more justice. Guy spends almost 4 hours on them (then another 13 hours on the 'death throes of the republic').

    His website has some kind of weird, impossible to properly hyperlink to the right page-thing, but I'm sure anyone can manage to navigate their way to the right page by themselves:
    www.dancarlin.com

  • fumpfump Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    About time! :D

    fump on
  • lordbiscuitlordbiscuit Registered User new member
    grate episode makes me far more interested in the game then any ad could

  • BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    It's sad all we know of Carthage is from the Debates from the Roman Senate

  • Mr. McCrackenMr. McCracken Registered User regular
    edited September 2013
    I've said it before, and I'll say it right now: The best stories have already happened but historians don't give out prizes for storytelling. Thus, kids hate history.

    Mr. McCracken on
  • The_MormegilThe_Mormegil Registered User regular
    I liked this.

  • mzwashmzwash Registered User new member
    I made an account just so I could show my support of this type of advertising strategy. Was it perfect? No, but what is? Please don't abandon this type of campaign and give its creator a raise.

    PS: EC team, you guys and gals are the best! <3

  • LitleWaffleLitleWaffle Registered User regular
    That was probably the most entertaining time I have ever had learning history. Great episode, and well worth the wait.

  • cheeseycomcheeseycom Registered User new member
    This video has made me realize that I will watch anything you guys put out, attentively, without getting bored, no matter what it is you are talking about.
    You certainly seem to have a knack for making things interesting and engaging!
    Nice work.

  • Arsene-LupinArsene-Lupin Registered User regular
    ...Rome 2 is one of the biggest gaming failures of this generation, far worse than Final Fantasy XIII or Mass Effect 3.

    You should have asked to play a review copy of the game before agreeing to shill out for Creative Assembly. Those guys should have taken their extra marketing money and directed it toward some PLAYTESTING or, I don't know, they could hire someone who wasn't a complete boob to design the UI for the game (maybe re-hire the guy who did it in Shogun 2, even).

  • DedwrekkaDedwrekka Metal Hell adjacentRegistered User regular
    edited September 2013
    @Cattlehunter
    I've listened to both podcasts, and still consider the shorter in length but deeper in depth History of Rome podcast to be better for understanding Rome. The main advantage, to me, is that he goes into not just how the Punic Wars began, but much much deeper down to what historical precedents caused the wars and their deeper impact to Rome going well into the late Empire. As well as the social structure which led to it, and how and why that social structure existed at all. Carlin touches on these a bit, and tells you about it in a "how weird is that" manner, while HoR covers it in such a manner that by the time the Republic begins you actually understand and can sometimes empathize with why this is the way it is.

    He actually started the events that led to the Punic Wars on episode 1, with the very basic founding of the people who would rise, fall, and rise to turn themselves into Rome. And even though he points out that Aeneas and Dido were probably fictitious, he goes into how and why that's actually important to understanding the Romans. History of Rome covers the entire history of Rome.
    It's a grim shadow on the wall without the flesh to make it understandable.

    Dedwrekka on
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