Well as promised, I’m finally posting my interesting info on all the MU’s that never made it into the game, plus some interesting facts on current MU’s that didn’t start out the way they are now. It’s taken me a months of casual searching, and some help from ES, but I’ve finally been able to piece together what happened to all those MU’s we never got to play. I’ll be able, for the most part, tell you what they did , who they belong to and why they were axed. These unit’s are the Apep, Griffon, Siren and the hardest to track down, the illusive(explained later) Rock Giant.
On top of that I’ll look at some current MU’s that underwent a lot of evolution to get where they are today, some surprising facts here. I’ll be looking at the War Turtle, Caladria, Troll, Sphinx and Harpy.
Saving the best til’ last, let’s start off with the current MU’s that under went a lot of change, and started out quite different.
War Turtle:
There are several interesting facts about War Turtle (or Sea Turtle as he was know then). Firstly, the biggest, he used to belong to the Greeks. He later, early in production, changed ownership to the Egyptians, but that’s not all. Besides Kraken, War Turtle has undergone the most art changes. In the early days we was a friendly looking green turtle.Later he become a leopard turtle,the texture below is this version, when he belonged to the Greeks, then onto a snapper turtle, and finally onto a land-like turtle. I personally preferred the snapper; he looked meaner. But he’s not bad now.
Caladria: Now this one really surprised me, and I wish she never changed, but Caladria was once a ‘Valkyrie of the sky”! What do I mean…well, she could both attack and heal. How do I know this, well the signs are all there if you know how to look for them: I suspect that the roles of Servant and Caldaria were reversed, but ES felt that having a 2nd age flying MU, with an attack, would be unbalance the game and therefore game Servant the ability to attack. Troll: Nothing major here, except that Troll’s special attck was onced planned to be a poisoned dart that did damage over time. This idea was later changed slightly and given to Scorpion Man. Troll was then given his now infamous power to ‘steal’ health. Sphinx: Once again just some small trivia I found while going through files. Sphinx was once able to teleport through walls. In the sound files there is still his old teleport in/out sounds. Harpy: Well, Harpy was an interesting unit. I’m not 100% sure on these facts, but they are pretty much self-explanatory. Harpy was once a unit in the game, she belonged to the Greeks. I suspect that she was Hades’ scout, and Zeus would get Pegasus and Poseidon would get Hippocampus. However this changed some where along the line and the gods, for some really unknown reason, lost their unique MU scouts! L Harpy was then banished to the underworld, and if you never play Erebus, like me, you never get to see her! Now the good stuff, they MU’s we all lost and thought we’d never find out anything about again, including what they did, who got them and why they were axed!!!!! After a lot of painful, fruitless searches I finally stumbles on some answers, some from ES directly after I contacted them. I even found out about unit’s we never knew were existed. The most surprising and hardest of all to track down….Rock Giant, just wait until you learn what happened to this guy! You’d never have guessed! Apep: This crocodile MU was one of the last to get axed from the game. Originally he belonged to the Egyptians, under Hathor. This armless crocodile possibly attacked by dropping rocks on unit’s or regurgitating them. I’m not sure on this, it’s all I could get from a screenshot. It may have just bitten. ES axed him because they ‘couldn’t get him to work’ It seems not much can be done with an armless reptile so he got the flick and was replaced by a fellow crocodilian, petosuchos. Petty was the last unit to be included in the game and at very short notice. Griffon: This was the most published unit in the game, and for some reason still is, even though it’s NOT ACCTUALLY IN THE GAME!!!! Why??? Well, sorry not even I have the answer for that one. This was a flying final age MU belonging to the Greeks. He was completely finished, and appears in game files 85% complete, but still got axed. I’d love to know why. He even appears on the CD, in reviews and ads for this game???? He was believed to attack, aerially with a fire attack, similar to Phoenix and Nidhogg. Siren: Well, this one got axed only a few weeks into programming. Very little of this unit exists. It was never given an attack, a texture or pretty much anything. But we do know it belonged to the Greeks. It probably looked like a bird with the head of a woman and was a naval MU. I suspect it’s special was to sink ships instantly with a song. I few files give reference to this unit, but the are largely incomplete. Rock Giant: Now this once was the one I had to enlist the help of ES. I could not find any info on it. No files, in the game, referred to him, where as all the other ‘lost’ MUs left behind some trace. Only one screen shot existed, yet everyone had heard of it, but no one knew what it was. Even in several interviews, when asked directly about this unit being axed, Bruce Shelley out right denied knowing this unit. Why??? Well, I suppose you’d have to ask him, that is if he’d admit to it! Firstly, to settle an old debate, I mean really old like back in 2001 old, this unit belong to the Norse. It’s pretty obvious though, which civ gets giants? The only evidence to the existents of this unit lay in Frost Giants sound files. Of coarse I didn’t figure it out then, but frost giants death sound was rock falling over??? Also why were there no files on this unit??? Well, if you haven’t figured it out now, like I hadn’t I’ll tell you. It was finally explained after ES got back to me about this unit. After reading the e-mail I was shocked, I never imaged this is what happened to the Rock Giant. And here it is….. Frost Giant was once Rock Giant!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s right; Rock Giant became Frost Giant later in the game. Rock Giant was originally a siege unit that belonged to Hel. Hence the research ‘granite blood’. This upgraded the Rock Giant. But ES felt that with two other siege giants, the Norse were going to be the local demolisher squad, so Rock got a make over and became Frost, along with a new home under Skadi, Goddess of Winter. So hence the lack of files and the odd death sound in Frost Giant’s files. I couldn’t believe that me 2nd favourite MU was actually the MU that I had been hoping would be in the game. Personally I’m mad that ES took him out, or changed him. The Norse are already MU light, so why take away some and replace them with repeats. Hel getting all three giants. That’s a little lame!!! But that’s just me! Anyway, hope you guys found this very interesting and worth the wait! For now it’s bye, I’ll still be around the board occasionally, but not as much anymore. So thanks to all those who helped me over the last two or three weeks. Have fun playing AoM. And to GloryofSpata, congrats on the award, and thanks for welcoming me to the forum! BYE!!!! P.S. Since we haven’t had on of these in ages, would the guys, who run heavengames.com, please make a poll asking which ‘lost’ MU (Apep, Siren, Griffon, Rock Giant or Harpy) was their favourite and they would most like to see returned to the game. Then after a week we could have the results posted and see which MU was most popular! It would be something fun, so Moderators please take my suggestion. [This message has been edited by FrostGiant (edited 03-22-2005 @ 12:00 PM).]
1.In early screen shots, she can be seen attacking.
2.On close inspection her ‘staff’ is actually a bow. I always wondered why it was bent and now I know. This is what prompted me to find it out. The bag she carries on her side is where her arrows used to go.
3.In her sound files she has an attack sound, and when in-game, you can task her to attack an enemy, with which she replies with a unique answer, the sound file. But once she has flow for them she cannot do anything.