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Whelp. This update is where Darthmod seems to have really started mixing things up, so this will require a bit more explanation. Keep in mind I have never played the first Rome with Darthmod so I may end up doing a lot of talking out my rear end. Darth Mod on the Left Vanilla on the Right General's Bodyguard   Hoplites   Archers   Ok so here is where things get a little screwy. Scutari   Simply put, Carthage does not have a Scutarii unit in the base game, Spain does. The closet equivalent is the Spanish mercenaries, which is admittedly pretty much a pallet swapped Scutarii. I decided to just go with the Spanish one as the example. Medium Spearmen  Near as I can see there is no Med spearman equivalent in the vanilla game. The unit model itself seems to be the longshield cavalry unit turned into infantry. Hastati   As you will note the fellow on the right is blue as he his a unit of the Scipii Roman faction. Since in the vanilla game most units get their color scheme from whatever faction they are apart of, I will be presenting any unit shown in this LP based off of which army they are a part of when shown when able. Town Militia   Libyan Mercenaries   That should do it for part 1 Ikasuhito fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Apr 13, 2017 |
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Apr 13, 2017 06:54
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double nine posted:we're gonna need a bigger army if we want to rush Africa AND the Italian boot AND Iberia. I'm assuming you're turtling in Carthago Nova? You are right. While the Spanish on our lands are mildly annoying, we are still at peace with them. There's no use in opening yet another front for us to fight on, actively at least. Even if they do declare war on us, we'll just repel their armies while we seize lands elsewhere.
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Apr 13, 2017 15:03
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 Hello there, and welcome back to Rome Total War ! In the last update the Greeks got their asses kicked by a small Roman contingent, and I was wondering if I should let them die against the angry Latins or kill them myself.       Hanno held his head between his hands. He knew that death was inevitable, but his wife's departure shocked him greatly. The one who shared his life and gave him his great family, supporting him through the hard times and making the good ones even better. The king recruited a priest in his retinue, for he knew his beloved Actaee was now in Melquart's realm...he also knew it wouldn't be long before he joined her, for eternity. (Besides the queen's death, nothing really important happened in the transition between this turn and the previous.)   Finally, after years of anger, the people of Cirta was calming down. Most of them didn't seem to know why they were so furious in the first place, but Gisgo's newly recruited agent had discovered a Numidian spy, working to stir up the population. The Carthaginian guards nearly caught him, but he managed to escape by stealing a messenger's horse and fleeing the city. (Ha ha ha, got you, you little gently caress ! Well we didn't really got him, but we threw him out of our city, and that's the important stuff ! I knew these Numidians dicks were plotting against us! The unrest in Cirta dropped by a whopping 50%. The people is still a bit pissy, but I don't think it'll get much better. Probably worse, but not better. Also, there's a big Roman army that landed in Sicily, but back to the important stuff, we should build a... wait... WHAT ?!)   The conquerors of Messana prepared themselves for a fight once more. This time, the Romans didn't land a small force to scout the Sicilian lands. It was a full-scale invasion. (HOLY BA'AL'S BALLS ! The Romans are apparently sick and tired of my poo poo, and decided to send a serious army this time. Thanks to the Greeks' previous failure, the small force that landed here previously bolstered the big army that just arrived. Thirteen units, mostly Hastati, led by a General. This ought to be fun. The only upside is while their General will provide them with a unit of heavy cavalry, he is a bad commander. His Command skill is literally nonexistent and he has the ''Lily-Livered'' trait (he feels sick when he sees blood), which lowers his Influence and gives a morale penalty to his men, I think.)  (And the Scipii are bringing in a decent force as support for the Brutii ?! What the gently caress guys, they only have a single town ! How the gently caress can they even maintain these troops ?! The Scipii seems quite pissed with us too, as they are sending two generals at the same time at us. Good, I think ''Roman Family Members' Cemetary'' would be a charming thing to say, when asked to describe Sicily, don't you think ? Oh, here are two units we haven't met before !)   (Principes are basically better Hastati. They fight better, they are better protected, and they have a better morale. However they are also more expensive, less mobile, and they tire more quickly than Hastati. Samnites Mercenaries are basically slightly weaker Triarii. They are great spearmen, adept at killing Cavalry and decent against light and medium infantry, and their sheilds give them good protection against projectiles. Using heavy or shock infantry is the best way to kill them.)  Meanwhile, in Gaul, the diplomat Ribaddi was welcomed with open arms by the locals. He was invited in the chief's hall, given a fine meal, and all the warriors present treated him with respect and friendship. The women and children were looking at him with curiosity, especially at his clothes and his skin color, but there was no trace of hostility or mockery in their gazes. The negociations with Carthage's ally commenced, and Ribaddi proposed what seemed like a fair deal to him. Carthage and the Gallic tribes' federation would exchange their maps, in exchange for a small payment in Gallic gold, as the Carthaginian maps were large and detailed. (I like the Gallic lord's name, even if he probably has no blood ties with the Brandybuck Clan. )   After speaking with his consellors, the local chief modified the proposal's terms. The payment would be much lower, as apparently the Gauls needed the money for their own constructions and operations. The Gallic lord seemed to be nervous when he gave his own proposal, as if he was scared to offend the diplomat. But if there's one thing the Carthaginians love more than trading, it's bartering. Ribaddi smirked at the challenge, and gave a more reasonable offer, hald of what he asked first, but higher than the Gauls' proposal.  With a huge grin, Meriadoc accepted. Everyone in the hall cheered loudly, and a party was thrown to celebrate the deal. Surprised, Ribaddi joined them happily nevertheless, and when he left the small town next morning, his head was hurting him as if an elephant stomped on it. (Well would you look at that ! The Gauls aren't nearly as confusing as the Spanish are! I already like them. The Gauls' territories are still solely comprised of their starting regions. You may think it's bad, but actually it means they managed to figght off the Julii in Northern Italy, and that's great news for us.)  But his hangover didn't make him forget his duty. He observed a group of warriors training together, and was impressed by their ferocity and skill, even if they seemed to mostly ignore their commander's orders. (The Warband is the most basic Barbarian unit. They are numerous, they are decently skilled against Infantry, and good against cavalry. Their morale, stamina and general toughness will make them stay in a fight for long, and all in all they are a very good unit to have around in the early game, and still useful in the late game when you play as the Gauls/Britons/Dacians. In Vanilla Rome Total War, these guys were very famous, but not for good reasons. They were famous because as the Julii any player with a bit of skill could slaughter a huge Gallic army in an instant, by creating a mass rout then running down the fleeing warriors with a general. One time, I remember one of my general got more than 1800 kills in a single battle that way, thanks to all the Warbands he destroyed on his own while they were running away.)  (While telling the fleet who transported the diplomat to Greece to get back to Sicily, I ran into a Greek navy bringing reinforcements to Syracuse. Good plan, but I do not think this will be enough. I do not think they'll even get there in time... Speaking of our diplomat in Greece, let's use him !)   The meeting with the Greek governor was polite, productive, over very quickly. This last point didn't bother Hiram one bit, since he got what he asked for. (Oh ! Thank you guys ! I'm almost regretting my decision to let Syracuse's defenders die at the Romans' hands !)  (As we can see on this map the Greeks managed to keep their posessions too. Iraklion in Crete seems a bit vulnerable, as is Pergamum in Asia Minor. We also learn of Halicarnassus' position, a Seleucid town next to the island of Rhodes.)  Admiral Thero and his men attacked the Scipii fleet, after receiving orders to sink the transports carrying the Roman reinforcements for Sicily. The fight was going to be fierce, but his men already fought against the Romans, contrary to his opponents who had yet to taste Carthaginian steel. (I won't let you guys get ashore, no sir, no ma'am ! I hope you can swim with your armors on, motherfu-)   Despite the Carthaginians' best efforts, they were repelled without sinking even a single transport ship. The Romans fought with devastating efficiency, and the admiral himself barely escaped with his life. (-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUCK ! gently caress ! YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS ! NOW WE'LL HAVE EVEN MORE ROMANS TO DEAL WITH ON LAND! Grmbl...)   (Somehow our sailors managed to gather information on the Scipii family members, while getting their asses handed to them. Gaius is a good commander and have great influence. The ''Office of Quaestor'' means he holds a post in the Roman Senate, Quaestor is the lowest possible seat a Roman family member can get. Aulus is a lot less awesome, but still decent, and it looks like political ability runs in the family.)  (As a quick side-note, I absolutely love the description for some traits/retinue ''items''. I'll try to remember to post the best of the descriptions when we meet someone with them fun traits.) Well, that'll teach me to get smug. Here I was, planning an invasion of Italy, and the Romans invades US instead. Well not us directly, but once Syracuse is theirs they'll obviously shift their attention on Messana or Lilybaeum. And I'm not going to lose Lilybaeum, or give Messana back, they are mine and they can't have them.
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Apr 13, 2017 16:47
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Well, clearly the Brutii and Scipii need to be wiped out, but maybe after that the Julii and SPQR can be convinced to let you alone until the Marian reforms.
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Apr 13, 2017 22:42
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My plan still stands. Attack, get the Greeks exterminated (with any luck, they won't even have any units left to defend Syracuse), then take over and use those stone walls to hold the Roman tide back. I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but if the entire Greek army dies here, yet the Romans retreat, doesn't the city turn Rebel? That would mean you can take it without breaking your alliance.
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Apr 13, 2017 22:57
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 Welcome back everyone ! Things are heating up quite a bit in Sicily, with numerous Roman soldiers either on the island or about to land on it (thank you very much, admiral Thero. Douchebag.).  The sad news quickly reach every corner of the empire. The King is dead. Shortly after his wife's departure for Melqart's realm, Hanno's soul followed her. Every one in the empire, or at least every loyal inhabitant, mourned the great man who heeded the warning Tanit sent in his dreams, the one who conquered Messana and directed Carthage with care and discipline. But as his final breath escaped his lips, Hanno smiled peacefully. He knew his descendants would continue his mission. In time, Carthage will grow, thrive, and vainquish her enemies. (Aw gently caress, there goes an amazing family member. Farewell, Hanno. You'll be missed. This event puts Sakarbal in charge of our main army, and Hasdrubal as our faction leader.)      (Now that our economy is getting stronger, we're starting to construct a few military buildings. All that money will not help us if we let ourselves fall behind in terms of military technology and army quality.)  The urgence of the situation pushed Sakarbal to stop mourning his grandfather so he could focus on the threat that were the Roman forces in Sicily. To help him in the inevitable fights that would happen in the future, he recruited a unit of Mercenary Peltasts. Their captain even joined his retinue, allowing the young man to profit greatly from his experience. (How urgent is the situation you ask ? Well uh...look for yourselves.)  (Syracuse is besieged by the Brutii, and the Scipii landed nearby to support them. The Greek reinforcements are just next to Messana's port, but even if the enemies take their time I do not think these troops will be enough to kick the Romans off Sicily. If we attack we'll leave Messana exposed, and after the Greeks' poor showing in the last part I think I'm gonna let them and the Romans kill each over, then just walk in and take what's left. I know, it's incredibly assholish of me to let my allies rot, but I'm not the one who lost what should have been a straightforward fight.)    (Ouch, our economy is still a bit frail. It'd be some time before it can handle the expenses we'll need to make, if we are to survive and win.)  (The Numidians are coming back? I'm not your probelm, morons ! Go fight Egypt ! That way, when I do become a problem for you, you won't have enough men to repel me!)  (Fuuuuuck the Romans are sending more reinforcements that way...and three Biremes might be too much for us to sink.)   The Greek relief force has disembarked, but the situation was bleak for Syracuse. The Romans had built siege equipments during the last months, and the defenders were too few to stop them if they decided to attack. Sakarbal decided to wait and see. Hanno had spoken about ending their alliance with the Greeks, but by letting the Romans take Syracuse, the strategic and rich city would be fair game for Carthage, without officially compromising their relationships with the Greeks. (Pretty much what Sakarbal, said. Sometimes the AI will choose to wait to build more siege engines than what they have here, so maybe the Greek reinforcements will be able to intervene. I still do not think they'll fare well against the Romans.)  The Scipii warships who escorted the second Roman army approached the port of Lilybaeum. Admiral Thero immediatly engaged them, to protect Carthege's assets but mostly to win back some honor after his defeat against the same fleet. (Friend, you better not gently caress up this time. Now you have a numerical advantage, and your sailors and marines are more experienced than the Romans. If you fail I swear I'll shove your ship's anchor where the sun never shine...)   The Carthaginian ships charged the Romans, and struck them with strenght and precision. The two enemy biremes quickly sunk, while the marines fought the enemy crew that managed to jump or climb on board. The battle was over quickly, and Carthage's victory was uncontestable. (Yes ! There you go, my friend ! I knew you had it in you ! The enemy fleet is gone from the Strategic map, weakening the Roman naval forces. With that, let's end the turn.)   The mighty city of Syracuse, once the strongest of Sicily, has fallen. The Romans killed Dionysus and his son Cleon, and every soldier fighting under their orders. To their credit, however, they seemed to have been merciful towards the local population, as the Carthaginians were to Messana's inhabitants. (Yep, that's what I expected. There's no trace of the Greek reinforcements, they either got on their boats and are now sailing towards Greece, without having fought even once, or they all got killed. I think Scenario 1 is probably what happened. The Greeks killed some Romans at least. That'll make our own battle against them easier.)    (We focused on replenishing and expanding our navy, mostly, to take control of the seas East of Sicily, and properly escort our future invasion force.)  (Wow, this diplomatic scroll is telling us about things that I never saw before ! The Seleucid Empire attacked Pontus, but the Egyptians decided to ally with their northern neighbor and give Pontus the middle finger. Usually what happens is everyone gangs up on the Seleucids who rather quickly cease to exist. So Egypt is really, really serious about this whole ''going West instead of East and North'' then ? Kinda sucks for us...at least this will be an original and interesting game.)    Admiral Thero fell upon the Brutii fleet bringing reinforcements to the now roman Syracuse. The surprise attack was a success, and while the Romans fought fiercely they were defeated soundly. (Now I do not know what happened here. On the battle report, they say not a single ship was sunk, but on the Strategic map I'm pretty sure I saw the little roman boat disappear beneath the waves. I think they sunk after the battle because they didn't have enough rew to man the ships, or something...but just to be sure, let's not write off these on-board reinforcements as sunk before battle yet.)  Sakarbal was tempted to hire another mercenary force, but this one was very different. They were former gladiators, and while they assured the young general of their strenght they were asking for an exhorbitant price for their services. In the end, Sakarbal declined their offer, at least for now. (HOLY poo poo ! Look at that recruitment price ! Do you think I'm made of gold ?! I'd love to hire these mercenaries, but I simply can't use half of our money just for them!)  (Our army in North Africa is ready to move out. They are a bit few in numbers for my liking, but we have to move quickly. This army is well balanced and effective against the lightly-armed and armored, fast moving Numidians. Heavy soldiers, especially infantry, would get slaughtered against their swarm of javelin troops. The Medium Spearmen are there to fight the occasional General's Bodyguards and surprise missile cav charge. And yes, Hasdrubal is leading it. Burrhus is now managing Carthage, and Thapsus is left without a governor for now.)  Ribaddi watched as the Gauls were besieging Massila. Founded by Greek colonists, it was now composed of mixed cultures of local Gauls and people of Greek ancestry, living outside of factions. Not for much longer, if the Celts were to succeed. (Our allies are also getting poo poo done. So far I think the Gauls are my favorite allies. The diplomat will now head North, to meet the Britons and the Germanic Tribes. Yes, the guys we often see in the diplomatic report, the ones making peace and declaring war all the time.)  Hiram was welcomed by the Macedonian general, and the two men quickly got down to business. The diplomat decided to try to get a bit more gold than usual for Carthage. (200 more denarii may not seem like much, but every little bit helps.)   Gyras replied with another offer. Always eager to barter, Hiram gave him the usual offer.   The General accepted, and the diplomat left to move Northwards. (The Macedonians still have all of their starting regions, just like the Greeks. Usually, at this point, the Brutii have invaded Appolonia (the town to the West of our diplomat) and are at least threatening Thermon and Larissa (respectively the town to the South of Hiram and to the East in the middle of the mountains). So the Brutii completly ignored the cities that are, normally, their basic objectives. Do you know what that means ? We have the full might of two Roman factions directed against us.) This game looks more and more promising, and interesting, every time I make progression ! Prepare for next update, guys, because we are going to be fighting for Syracuse, against tons of Romans.
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Apr 14, 2017 15:52
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 Here we are guys. The fight that will either mark the Romans' return in Sicily, or allow us to take the whole island for ourselves.  Sakarbal employed the same strategy is grandfather used when he fought for the same city. By attacking the Scipii outside of Syracuse, the Brutii garrison moved out to support their allies. Now, only skill at arms and sounds strategies could decide of the fight's outcome. (Numbers-wise we have a very, very slight advantage, but the Romans have a better overall troop quality. The CPU is saying we are likely to loose this fight, and I can see why.)  (Oh look ! It's our buddy the big rock ! We are fighting at the exact same spot as we did when Hanno was still alive. The Brutii will be entering the battlefield on our left flank, or behind us. We need to move quickly and eliminate the Scipii before we are forced to fight on two fronts. But with all these woods I'll try to make our forces deploy on the other side of the rock, and draw the Scipii out in the open.)  The Romans from Syracuse have arrived. They will take some time to get there, but nothing could prevent them from joining the fight. Sakarbal barked his orders while focusing on the closest enemies, there was no use in worrying about what wasn't a problem...yet.   (As I thought the bastards are hiding in the forest. My Numidian Mercenaries are sent forward to try to provoke them, while the rest of the army is moving.)  (The strategy works ! Even better, not only are the Romans moving out of cover, they are also isolating their infantry units. Like this Hastati regiment, who is about to get familiar with our organic tanks in a very intimate way.)  (Tramp ! Tramp ! Tramp ! Your deaths are coming ! Fear not, comrades it won't hurt !...okay it will probably be excruciatingly painful.) )  (Meanwhile, our missile cav is still harrassing the Romans, and pelting this unit of Principes with javelins. I gotta say, these dudes have quite the throwing arm.)  The Brutii were closing in quickly, but they had a lot of ground to cover while their allies were already struggling against Carthage's sons. (After some time waiting for all of their units to enter the battlefield the Brutii are finally coming, as quickly as possible. We'll let these morons exhaust themselves before the fight, let's focus on crushing their brothers/cousins/whatever.)  (Yes Elephants, just like that ! We are already losing some of our war beasts, but it's inevitable. I'll try to withdraw them so they can rest a little.)  Suddently, on the left flank, a Carthaginian footman let out that simple yet terrifying cry : ''Ambush !''. (Here we have an example of the AI being skilled and sneaky : they used the woods to hide two Hastati units from my view, while I was focused on the main fight, and now they are charging my Iberian Infantry units on the left flank. My men ate a full volley of pila and three Iberian Infantry regiments are not going to win a fight against a unit of Hastati and one of Principes. Good job, game. You really got me there.)  (Meanwhile, our Elpehants are still rampaging against the enemy infantry. Yes I said I'd withdraw them, but the Samnites Mercenaries charged them, so I returned the favor.)  (drat the cowards ! I really do not need any enemy units moving freely on my flank, especially while the Scipii center is still solid ! Can I have good news, please?)    (We killed their general you say ? Why, thank you for the good news, kind sir ! Ask and you shall receive! Instead of throwing men at them, I instead lure the flanking Hastati out in the open. They walk right into our trap, and now they will be easy to flank. The second unit of flankers are engaged by more Iberian Infantry in the woods. Here we can see the Hastati preparing to throw their pila at my men. That Infantryman in the center of the picture is about to stab a Principe in the back, or the rear end it seems, but he will get nailed in the back by a pilum two seconds later. )  (For some reason Aulus decided to throw himself against our Poeni Infantry. This goes about as well as you might guess. Also, do you see these weird black thingies in the sky ? Your screen isn't dirty, these are projectiles. About to fall on the Roman cav and our men. Fired by my own missile infantry. This game has friendly fire, and I hate it. Not the concept, but I hate it when I do stupid things with friendly fire as consequence. And that's why, kids, you always turn off ''Fire At Will'' when your troops are engaged in melee ! God I hope I won't make more stupid mistakes.)   The Scipii commanders' bodies were collected from the battlefield. Sakarbal hesitated for a second, then decided to keep them apart from the others. They fought bravely, to the end, and to reward them they will be sent back to Italy on a boat, for their family. The men that survived routed, and were hunted down by the Numidians. They were out of ammunition, but a competent force of light cavalry nonetheless.  The vanguard of the Brutii army, some Velites, have finally arrived. They are welcomed by a rain of stones, fired by the Carthaginian slingers. (Ha ha ha ! The Velites have ''Very Good Stamina'' as part of their traits and they are already tired ! The others must be pretty exhausted, too.)  (To capitalize on this, and to prevent the Brutii from getting in position, I order the Elephants to attack. They are tired, but that didn't prevent them from tearing the Scipii a new one. Go forth, my pretties ! Crush them!) [/i]   (DISASTER ! I crudely underestimated how low my Elephants' morale was ! They were very tired, got surrounded by the Brutii general and infantry, and now are routing ! While the enemy cavalry is slaughtering them...dammit !)  A force of Hastati, trying to flank us from the right this time, are intercepted by Iberian Infantry regiments. (The fight goes better here than it did on the left. Our men weren't taken by surprise and are fresh while the Romans are tired. They are still going to kill a lot of our men, though.)  Finally, the last Roman Commander is felled while running away. For his cowardice, he will not be sent back to Italy with Gaius and Aulus. Cassius will burn, on the same pyres where the losses from today will be turned to smoke. (Yes ! This moron got into a fight with my spearmen, then tried to flee from the battlefield, but my Numidians caught him and stabbed him to death with their daggers. This fight is pretty much in the bag now.)   Very quickly, the Roman right flank is shattered, and a few moments later, when sakarbal flanks them, the enemy soldiers in the center breaks as well. A single unit of Velites is still technically in the fight, runnig away from Iberian Infantrymen in the woods, on the left flank. (Now, we need to clean up as much of these douchebags as we can. I don't want them to regroup in Syracuse.)   While the Cavalry is pursuing and destroying the fleeing enemies. The Carthaginian soldiers take a moment to gaze upon the battlefield. The cries of dying and wounded men fills the air, crows are already feasting on the corpses. (Man, that was intense ! This is our biggest battle so far, and one of the most important too. Let's see how we did, according to the battle statistics.)   (Yeowch, we suffered heavy casulaties. Sure, we destroyed the Roman forces, but we also lost about a third of our men, around 900 dudes. We got 150 Iberian Infantrymen back, but only 2 Elephants. Losing them is a blow, but as usual they did their job admirably, and killed more than 450 Romans. Despite the surprise attack and my big mistake in the end, I think we did rather well. We crushed what was probably the biggest Roman force on the map, and killed three family members. They must, especially the Scipii, be running pretty low on these at home.)   (Good stuff, Sakarbal also got a shieldbearer. But where is our prize?)  (Ah, there it is ! And completly undefended too ! What ? Our army is out of movement points ?! I have to wait for another turn ?! Nah-uh. Nope. Refused. Cavalry has more movement points than footmen on the Strategic map, so you know what, Sakarbal, buddy old pal ? You are going to Syracuse. On your own. The triumph is all yours, friend!)  The general entered the city, and was welcomed by angry shouts and insults. His bodyguards and him ignored the small folk and took posession of the Governor's palace, officially claiming Syracuse for the Carthaginian Empire. (Welp, so much for the triumph. I elected to simply occupy the town, we're gonna need the infrastructures and local manpower immediatly. As a result we now have an extremely poorly defended and extremely pissed off city. But next turn, the rest of the army will catch up with it's general, and something tells me these cranky peasants will finally shut their trap and welcome their liberators.) We did it guys ! Sicily is ours ! Now, to focus on our enemies' nest, Italy... DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Apr 17, 2017 |
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Apr 15, 2017 18:57
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Part 2 Update Darth Mod on the Left Vanilla on the Right Mirmillo Gladiators   Spanish Mercenaries   Peasants   Naked Fanatics   Mercenary Hoplites   Velites   Mercenary Peltasts  
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Apr 15, 2017 20:23
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"Hey Carthage, very nice of you to get our city back for us." "Please?" double nine fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Apr 16, 2017 |
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Apr 16, 2017 16:28
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That would be a hoot, if they actually tried it that is. I mean, you can give other countries counties, right? I doubt anyone would actually just give the city back, but if it was a crap city in the rear end end of nowhere you couldn't actually defend, you might trade for it.
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Apr 16, 2017 16:48
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Zebrin posted:That would be a hoot, if they actually tried it that is. I even tried to save dying empires by reconquering their cities for them - but they just won't ever accept their territory back, preferring to commit suicide by attacking me to reconquer them instead. Even if you ignore the fact that Rome TW AI has a strategy mode and diplomacy mode that don't communicate with each other, the diplomacy mode is pretty broken in its own right. Xander77 fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Apr 16, 2017 |
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Apr 16, 2017 16:59
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double nine posted:"Hey Carthage, very nice of you to get our city back for us." ''Huh?...ye...yeah! totally! just sign this paper here, you'll get it back! and DO NOT read the tiny inscriptions at the bottom, it's just my shopping list...if you have any questions or complaints, please write to this address: ''13 I'veBeenScammed Street, 69 Neverland.'' ''
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Apr 17, 2017 06:37
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Zebrin posted:That would be a hoot, if they actually tried it that is. To be honest I'm not sure if it's possible in Rome Total War. I know you can buy cities or ask for them, but I do not know if you can give them like that, as they probably will be like ''No, your offer is too generous, since we're a bunch of morons we won't accept your help.''
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Apr 17, 2017 06:38
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 Good day guys. Now that Sicily is ours, we can plan on expanding elsewhere.  (Here we have a very rare specimen of screenshot taken during the AI's turn, showing a Numidian spy infiltrating Cirta. The same BLOODY spy we kicked out a few updates ago. The stubborn fucker comes back every time, and every time our guards fail to catch him. This is turning into a goddamn Tom and Jerry style cartoon.)   A mob massed in front of the governor's palace, shouting insults and demanding Sakarbal's departure. At first, the general tried to calm them down, but then the stones and clay pots started to rain around him. One of his Bodyguards raised his shield, and a rather big rock bounced on it rather than hitting the Sakarbal's head. As his efforts proved to be ineffective, the general gathered his men, and yelled at the mob, before putting his helmet on : ''Is strenght the only thing you understand ? Very well, I shall speak your language !'' The horsemen then directly charged the mob, surprising the citizens greatly. They cried in confusion as they tried to escape while the soldiers drew their swords and started slashing at the rioters. Between that and the persons that were trampled by their fellow citizens, dozens of people died that day, but at least the revolt was avoided. For now. (All things considered, this riot wasn't a big deal. Very few civilians died (compared to the city's total population), no soldiers were killed, and most importantly all the buildings have been spared. Usually these dumbasses rioters damage at least one of them, preferably one that raises public order.) The ''Culture Penalty'' thing means the locals do not feel like they belong in our Empire, causing unrest. The only way I know of solving this issue is to destroy/upgrade the buildings built by the previous owners, changing their culture. If and when we take Numidians towns, their culture will be the same as ours, so we won't have this problem in North Africa.)     (Yes ! Carthage is growing ! It's already our biggest city, now it'll be even bigger, ha ha ha!)  A band of peasants took up arms and decided to become bandits. They were now hiding in the mountains, and were pillaging the surrounding villages to survive. (Really ? REALLY ? A lovely rebel army spawned in Sicily, just like that ? I'm not in the mood for this poo poo, let's take our new Scutarii regiments for a baptism of fire and kill those fools quickly. I'll show you an ''abridged'' version of the next battle, for it wasn't really interesting.)    (We pelted them with our heavy javelins, a lot, then we charged and cut them down with our falcatas, the end.)   (I admit, I was expecting to lose a lot less men than that, then I remembered that even the lovely units have upgraded stats and traits in Darthmod.)  (Good news, Theages is better at Commanding troops now, yay ! Too bad he'll stay in Sicily until his death. At least if invaders come we'll have a general that isn't a total moron to lead the defenders.)  The stele was finished and the workers walked back a few steps to gaze upon their work. A big rectangular stone, two meters tall, with inscriptions graved on it : ''Here the courageous men led by Sakarbal, son of Burrhus and grandson of Hanno, defeated a Roman army led by Gaius Scipio, son of Cornelius Scipio. May the brave soldiers who fell this day rest peacefully in Melqart's realm, for they made Ba'al Hammon proud in accomplishing their duty to the end.'' (Ah, our first ''Site of famous battle'' marker ! I really like these, not only do they commemorate your greatest triumphs (or worst failures), they also appear when the AI factions fight each other, giving you informations about what happened where they are placed.)    (I dropped a spy in Magna Graecia to scout ahead, and it looks like Croton, one of the two towns held by the Brutii, is virtually undefended. I would like to move quickly to capitalize on that, but we also need to be careful. As our troops will be isolated in Italy, any wrong move and they could get destroyed. Also I found the guys that were supposed to save Syracuse. Maybe they are trying to get revenge for the fallen city by attacking the Brutii?)  (In Numidia we are getting ready to attack. We will need to kill that Numidian army to be sure they won't try anything funny behind our backs. Then we will march on Lepcis Magna, the settlement along the coast south of Thapsus. This way we will secure the way to Carthage and Thapsus from the Egyptians, and we will cut the Numidian realm in half.)
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Apr 17, 2017 06:50
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Unit update for parts 4, 5, and 7 Darth Mod on the Left Vanilla on the Right Equites   Traditional Hoplites  As was mentioned in the LP, this is a unit unique to DarthMod. Militia Hoplites   Principes  Samnite Mercenaries  Warband 
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Apr 17, 2017 10:33
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When I play, the Sicilian cities always end up with gigantic populations, and in the late game they're always giving me unrest trouble. But they're super rich and have a lot of trade connections. Maybe you could soften up the Italians with a massive port blockade?
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Apr 17, 2017 16:58
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 Hello, guys. It's time to start the war in North Africa.  (Huh ?! That's a surprise. I knew the AI allies can do that, but look how far we are from the battle site ! I kew the AI could ask us to give them a hand, I didn't knew they could loving summon us from 100 kilometers away ! Well, let's look at the AI killing rebels. They really don't need us to kill a band of skirmishers. Oooooor not. Apparently they realized they didn't need us and killed the rebels on their own. Well that was pointless.)     (Despite our efforts, our economy is still weak. But if we continue like this, trust me, in the end we won't have to worry about money at all.)  While moving towards Thracia, Hiram stopped to gaze upon the Macedonian capital. It was a city of respectable size, and he watched as a patrol of soldiers walked passed him.  (These guys form the bulk of Hellenistic factions, which includes Thracia, Macedonia, the Seleucid Empire, Pontus and Egypt. In Vanilla, Pikemen were more dangerous than Hoplites, but also more vulnerable. How is that possible ? Their ridiculously long pikes (sarissa) could pretty much insta-kill anyone on touch, like the Hoplites' spears, but their lack of defense made them vulnerable to archer fire. In Darthmod the Pikemen are very dangerous opponents. They can kill the enemies way before they themselves are in range of their opponents' weapons and they are devastating against cavalry. But they also have a number of weaknesses. Concentrated missile fire will tear them apart, they are very slow, which makes outmaneuvering them easy tf they are not supported, and if line infantry units manage to flank them, they'll get saltughtered.)  Hasdrubal was still uncomfortable with that idea. Yes, the presence of Numidan spies in Cirta had been confirmed numerous times, but he still had a hard time accepting the idea of attacking the ones that were, officially at least, allies. But the plan was set in motion, and nothing could stop it now. Later that day, the Numidian king received the following message : ''Our people can no longer bear the innumerable insults and outraging offenses that you and your dignitaries have thrown at us. We will do what our ancestors should have done in their time, and rid the world of the nauseous pestilence that is your country. Your people will be happier in the loving embrace of Carthage, traitor.'' Before he could even understand the message, news came that Carthaginian troops entered Lepcis Magna's region. (There, that's how you declare a war ! Tell the others it's their fault, tell everyone and the rest of the world about how duchebagy they are, and do not forget to say you are doing it for the people! Works everytime.)   (Hasdrubal will have a quick snack on the way to Lepcis Magna. The Numidian army is lovely, their commander is lovely, let's get this other with quickly.)  While the two forces maneuvered, with the Carthaginians closing in and the Numidians trying to fall back, all of the sudden a unit of javelinmen charged towards Hasdrubal's slingers. A bold or desperate move, but the response came swiftly. (You guys have five seconds to guess how this ended for these Numidians.)  Iberian Infantrymen attacked and quickly struck them down. Their courage vanished as soon as it rose, and soon the skirmishers ran away, pursued by their enemies' swords and taunts. (Those who said ''squashed like ticks between two fingernails'' win.)  In an effort to make up for the javelinmen's failure, Adonibal charged with his cavalry, but his assault was hampered by his own retrating troops. He did not have much time to strike Carthage's infantry that Hasdrubal's cavalry fell on his flank. (An admirably stupid effort, but it ends...)  (...that way, predictably.  )    With their general dead, the rest of the Numidian army crumbles quickly. It turns int a slaughter when Carthage's light cavalry pursue the fleeing soldiers and cut them down. Even the slingers, eager to take part in the massacre, hunt down their exhausted enemies, knife in hand.  (Well that was a curb-stomp battle if I ever saw one. The Numidians didn't had a chance, and barely caused any damage to us.  (Cavalry did most of the job, but the Infantry fought well too. Back to the Strategic map.)  (Here is our most powerful fleet, stationed in Syracuse's port. We will split it in half, and while one will transport the future invasion force to Italy, the other will blockade Capua's port. Why ? Because I can, first, and second because it will severely decrease their income. Remember, Capua is the Scipii's last city, the only place giving them money and allowing them to pay their troops' upkeep.)  A Julii ship was spotted near Caralis' port. Nothing to worry about, as it wasn't escorting transports, but it had been some time since an enemy boat was seen near Sardinia. Now we just need to continue to kick Numidia's rear end and their lands will be ours in no time. We'll probably end up bordering Egypt, which is never a good thing, but I'm sure we'll manage just fine.
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Apr 18, 2017 05:28
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I'm surprised Caralis hasn't been invaded yet. In my games that happened like clockwork in the early game.
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Apr 18, 2017 08:34
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       (Gaul is the most advanced faction ? That's interesting. Usually they are too busy pumping out warriors, in order to survive, to focus on infrastructures. Good for you, buddies. Also Egypt is now Numidia's ally, after probably beating the crap out of them. Nice to see Egypt is doing alliances Roman and Carthaginian style.)  (Oh gently caress you, game, you're just mad because I attacked Numidia. Get bent, I won't play with that little rebel force of yours and suicide half my troops on these gladiators.)   (Cirta is defended, but not very well, and a small Numidian army is apparently walking towards Thapsus. They won't find glory nor loot in our lands, only death.)  Finally, Aqhat was in view of Carthage's most hated enemies. The Scipii city seemed very poorly defended, as if it's rulers didn't have the means to recruit a true army anymore. (It feels so nice when your rivals are neck-deep in Elephant crap. This lack of troops can mean two things : either the battle for Syracuse was their last attempt to regain terrain and now they are stuck with a piss-poor economy, or their next army has already left. For Sicily, most probably, if they do have an army at sea.)  The gigantic army was tirelessly patrolling the Latium. The Senate had the means to repel any foreign invasion, or ambitious Roman patrician. (Yup, the Senate still has a big rear end army to protect Rome. Although it seems they got into a fight with someone, probably rebels, as some of their units are damaged. Everything that hurts the Romans even a little bit helps us.)  The Spanish army that had ''settled'' next to Carthago Nova left, just like that, without a word. While this puzzled the inhabitants and their governor greatly, the town's children were sad to see the ''trespassers'' leave. They liked them, in the same way the weirdo of the neighborhood can be adored by the kids. (Well, apparently they got tired of waiting for our garrison to die of old age, I guess. Let's end the turn !)       (We just stole the ''Most advanced faction'' title from the Gauls. It's probably our sexy mines that won us the jury. The diplomatic scroll gives us a wonderful example of Karma. Remember how Pontus was building alliances to attack the Seleucid Empire ? Well now everyone is abandoning them and the Greeks just declared war on their asses.)  (Our spy infiltrated Rome and is giving us some great intel.)   (Slinger Auxilia doesn't exist in Vanilla. Darthmod gave the Roman a unit of Slingers, but they are afflicted with an hilarious bug. When they use their slings, the sounds aren't those made by regular Slingers at all, their the ''archer fire'' sound. I was completly baffled the first time it happened, now I kinda love that. Decius Maxentius, leader of the SPQR faction, governor of Rome, and the man behind most of our problems. If he doesn't die of old age, I'll be more than glad to put his head atop a pike.)   In North Africa, Hasdrubal surrounded Lepcis Magna. Several of his men instantly started the construction of three battering rams, as they will be needed to fell the enemies' defenses. (Desert Spearmen are incredibly, and surprisingly competent. They have great stats, they can shred cavalry to ribbons, they can repel light infantry easily, they are numerous and they are extremely cheap. And these are the most basic unit the Numidians can get. In a one-on-one fight, these guys will probably destroy our Iberian Infantry. To kill them, it's best to use missile troops or heavy infantry. They have large shields to stop projectiles, but they also have next to no armor.)  Capua's port was blockaded. Every merchant ship approaching was chased off, or sunk, depending on their colors.. No one could enter or leave the Roman town by sea ; (Ha ha ha ! No trade for you ! At least not from other ports ! What are you going to do, huh?!)   Panic invaded Caralis, as the Roman army had been spotted just after it's landing. (Oh. Yeah, you could do that, that'll do. Dammit dammit dammit DAMMIT ! I should have scouted the seas between Capua and Sardinia, now I can't do poo poo about the small army that landed right in our face. If we fight them, numbers should be pretty even, but their troops are much better trained and equipped than ours ! And there are no reinforcements to send from Carthage or Lilybaeum. *sigh* We shall see what happens in the future...stupid past me, being overconfident like a moron...)  (On a brighter note, our army in Sicily is good to go. Soon, it will embark and sail for Italy, to take Croton. I think this army deserves a name, don't you think ? If you guys have suggestions, feel free to share them. Just so you know, as there is no way to really name armies or units in this game (like you can in Rome II) it won't appear in game.) DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Apr 21, 2017 |
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Apr 20, 2017 05:28
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Well, what do we know about Sakarbal?DarkParchment posted:As his efforts proved to be ineffective, the general gathered his men, and yelled at the mob, before putting his helmet on : ''Is strenght the only thing you understand ? Very well, I shall speak your language !'' His army is the Carthaginian Diplomatic Corps.
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Apr 20, 2017 19:24
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Mechanical Ape posted:Well, what do we know about Sakarbal? That's...awesome. My favorite proposal thus far! and not just because it's the only one.
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Apr 21, 2017 18:45
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 Hello guys. It took them a long time, but the Romans finally attacked Caralis.  Everyone in town was now trapped. Without the guiding hand of Carthage's ruling family, the inhabitants and defenders of Caralis were left to their own devices. The local militia sergeant was declared captain of the soldiers, while the local governor did his best to prevent panic from spreading. (Motherfuckers. Of course I knew they weren't just going to stand there like the Spanish did next to Carthago Nova, but it's always enraging to see your cities besieged. Especially when you don't have the forces to assault the attackers.)       (I just love the Carthaginian descrption when one of your city is under siege : ''our men are trapped inside and our merchants wail at the expense !''. We really are a bunch of greedy bastards if we are worried for the coins as much as we are for our troops and citizens.)  (Yeah...the Romans slightly outnumber us, and they have way better troops than us, except for the Poeni Infantry in Caralis, but they'll get shredded by the Hastati. Our only hope is to let the Scipii attack, and kill them as they enter the city, and it won't be easy at all.)   Hiram Tunis left Byzantium, puzzled. The Thracians' reaction to his offer was unlike anything he heard before. If his offer was generous, why not take it directly ? Or ask for different terms ? Instead, his hosts nearly threw him out after they refused what they called ''too much offered'' from Carthage. (...what the gently caress ?! In moments like this you can clearly see that CA didn't care much for the diplomacy aspect of the game. And when the people you are negociating with suddently stop the discussion, there is no use in trying to get anything else from them for the whole turn, they'll just tell you to gently caress off everytime. Well, the Thracians seems a bit retar-erm confused at the moment, we'll try again next turn. Let's talk to someone else then !)   (Huh ! Looks like they'll probably manage to get a foothold in Europe in a moment. Sup guys, wanna trade and gimme money ? Guss what guys ? These dickheads refused, saying pretty much what the Thracians said. What the hell guys ?! At least the Greeks, Gauls and Macedonians knew how to haggle !)   (This is extremely frustrating, I need to kill some pixel truppen. Lepcis Magna isn't very well defended for a capital (says the guy leaving only a couple of Iberian Infantry units in Carthage), this should be fun.)   (Meh, small town, but we still want it for it's strategic location. And the pretty borders. Sweet, delicious pretty borders... You see this square made of little flag in the city's center ? It's called the ''Town Center'' for obvious reasons, and it's one way of winning the battle for us. In a siege we can either wipe out the defenders, or take the Town Center for three minutes to win. The defenders can either wipe out the attackers or stall them until the battle timer runs out.)  (The enemy moves around. Look at this blob. Thankfully, our pal Hasdrubal has something for them.)  While the footmen pushed the rams to destroy Lepcis Magna's walls and gates, the slingers took position behind their comrades, and started to rain stones on the defenders. (The Numidians have almost no armour. This makes them very vulnerable to missiles, especially when they are bunched up together like that. If you are the attacker in a siege and have missile troops, it's usually best to make them fire all their ammunition at the enemy before sending your melee soldiers in. Defenders are a pain in the rear end to kill in the narrow streets and you can get flanked easily, so kill as much people as possible before directly engaging them.)   The Slingers quickly showed their effectiveness, the heavy projectiles felling the Numidians like pigs under the butcher's knife. (Urgh, it's going to take forever to clean this place after the battle.) As the defenders stayed outside of sling range, Hasdrubal ordered his infantry to move in the town, and mop up what remained of the defenders.   But the fight wasn't over. Despite their losses the Numidian Infantry fought fiercely, and it took great efforts from the Iberian Infantrymen to rout them. (Holy hell, look at that ! I knew Desert Infantry were strong, but not THAT strong ! I have sword infantry going against spearmen, and the spearmen are kicking their butts with style! Game, you're not Fire Emblem, you know that at least ?!)  (At least we got their captain, but their last unit of Desert Infantry is holed up in the Town Center. Defenders of a city will, if routed, fall back to the Town Center, then fight to the death as they cannot retreat anymore.)  It took the combined efforts of two Iberian Infantry regiments and Hasdrubal's bodyguards to finally destroy the last Numidian soldiers. (Finally !)   (Our light infantry did poorly, very poorly in fact. We really need to replace our Iberian Infantry by Scutarii as the standard line Infantry of our armies. Cheers to the Slingers, they did an amazing job.)  Lepcis Magna was all but deserted, and it's few citizens didn't seem to dislike the new rulers at all. Hasdrubal quickly ordered the walls to be repaired, and a temple to Melqart to be built. (drat, the Numidians nearly emptied that town (towns cannot have a population lower than 400 inhabitants), we probably killed all them conscripts in the last battle...it'll take some time for Lepcis Magna to recover.) In the meantime, our objective is complete, the Numidian kingdom is now cut in half. We will send our army Westward now, to conquer the remaining enemy towns in North Africa.
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Apr 22, 2017 06:05
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       (drat, look at that diplomatic scroll ! A lot of poo poo happened, and the most important being Armenia deciding to hop on the merry train with ''gently caress You Pontus'' wrote on it's sides.)   (Oh hell yes, our first trireme ! they will form the basis of our fleets from now on. (Also here is Bisaltes, a completly incompetent young moron who came of age last turn. He is so uninteresting I forgot to show him last time.)  ''Hello, my pretty'' smirked the spy as he finally found what he had been searching for dozens of months. The town was well hidden, but patches of fertile lands and the dirt road leading to it made his long trip across the desert worth it. Now, to inform his superiors... (There you are ! I knew Dimiddi was somewhere in this ocean of sand! Without the roads the Numidians built it probably would have taken us a few more turns to find it.)   (By the way guys, I forgot to tell you that Darthmod adds a neat bonus to barracks and walls. If I'm not mistaken, in Vanilla, neither of these give a bonus to public order. I'm sure about the barracks, but don't quote me on the walls, just in case. This is immensely helpful to keep your population happy despite squalor and unrest.)  A target of opportunity had been spotted, and admiral Thero was not going to let it slip away. Many transports were almost undefended, and the Carthaginian ships rushed to destroy the single Bireme escort, eager to begin the slaughter.  But despite their best efforts, the Roman ships managed to escape. The admiral screamed in rage and frustration as his prize escaped his clutches. (Dammit, they got away. I was expecting this, but it's still terribly disappointing.)  (As a quick side note, the Greek army is still waiting here, on their boats. I don't know what they are doing here, maybe a pleasure cruise near the beautiful coasts of Southern Italy.)  (Also this dude wanted to marry into the family. He is young, he is a competent general, so I gave permission. Our family tree has grown quite a bit since the beginning.)      (The diplomatic scroll is still going crazy, this will probably calm down as factions will disappear. The Germanic tribes are now at war with the Gauls. That's bad for our allies, they now have to fight on three fronts, since the Spanish decided to attack them rather than Cordoba or Carthago Nova.)   The first of the Italian city was doomed. The Carthaginians finished the rams, and waited for Sakarbal's command. Even if the Romans, by some ungodly ritual, fought with demons' strenght and cunning, the invaders could simply swarm them with sheer numbers. (Yeah, this one is in the bag, the Carthaginian Diplomatic Corps just cannot lose this one. I'll cut the battle, and skip to the result, except if something unexpected happen.)   As the men feasted and celebrated, Sakarbal broke the Brutii banner with one mighty blow of his falcata. He then took his own flag, and installed it on the roof of the governor's villa. For the first time, Carthage's banner was floating over Italy, it's archenemy's home terriory. Croton wasn't even a city yet, but it would be an excellent base to strike at the Romans. (Everything went well. Even if their slingers managed to kill a few of our men we destroyed the defenders efficently. The local population wasn't exactly thrilled to be a part of the Carthaginian empire, but they weren't mad at us either, so I decided to spare them. Croton as more than 5000 inhabitants, a real mine of recruits and soon it will be upgraded into a city. )    (Wow, the Julii took their time, but they are finally attacking the Gauls with everything they have. Maybe because the Julii and the Brutii have only one city each, now. I do not think Mediolanium will hold against this Roman army. Never forget, the Roman infantry is incredibly powerful and half of the city's defenders are outside of the besieged town. We also meet two new units.)   (Raider cavalry doesn't exist in Vanilla. These soldiers hit hard, have great stamina, are very brave, and eager to charge in battle (read : they can charge without orders). But the best thing about them is probably the ''Frightens nearby Enemy Infantry'' ability, it does what it says on the tag and gives a morale penalty to nearby enemy footmen. When this adds up with a flanking charge, you can easily start a rout, or even a mass rout in enemy ranks. When facing them, the typical response to light/medium cav will be enough : spearmen, spear cavalry and massed projectiles. Triarii, the elite of the Pre-Maria Roman armies. These guys are devastating, the only thing that makes them a bit less of a pain to fight, at a first glance, is their inability to throw pila in combat. They are simple spearmen. Did I say simple spearmen ? Ha ha ha, I'm just loving with you guys. These guys are loving terminators desguised as Roman soldiers. They will destroy your cavalry, they will destroy your infantry, they will shrug off your projectiles. Remember how our own spearmen got trashed by Hastati and Principes ? They'll beat our Scutarii, easily. The best way to deal with these dickheads is to flank them with line infantry, after shooting a few volleys of arrows/javalins/stones in their backs.) That's all for this time. We made good progress, but now the Brutii will fight like madmen to defend their last city, and admiral Failure allowed their army to escape.
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Apr 24, 2017 09:08
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question: what other good mods exist for RTW1?
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Apr 24, 2017 10:08
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NewMars posted:question: what other good mods exist for RTW1? I don't know many of them, but Europa Barbarorum is very complex and very good. DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Apr 24, 2017 |
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Apr 24, 2017 10:59
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  (Dammit, the Brutii decided not to be stupid and disembark their army. The fight for Tarentum will be much, much harder now.)  (The Julii smashed the Gallic cities in Northern Italy. Mediolanium is theirs, and it won't be long before Patavium falls too.)   Panic spreads through Messana and Syracuse. Whatever they did to offend Melqart, the god of the Underworld was clearly enraged. Many thought the whole island would sink beneath the sea, but only the city of Naxos was razed, and few of its inhabitants survived. (Wow, that's not good ! When natural disasters happen they'll be visible on the strategic map, but don't worry, we did not suffer any losses of any kind in this event. As a side note I think the game is talking out of his rear end, when it says Naxos was razed by the Etna. Naxos had been destroyed at least one century before this eruption, during a war between the Greeks of Sicily.)  (Oh and by the way, remember this Greek army on this fleet here ? Well they are still there, not doing anything. They didn't moved at all since the first time we saw them here. Are they seriously going to do the same poo poo the Spanish did next to Carthago Nova?)  (The loving Scipii decided to starve Caralis' defenders to death. These dickheads have prepared siege engines, but are not assaulting the walls. I absolutely HATE when the AI does that. So now we have to sally forth, fighting an army that will crush us in a field battle. You know what ? It's 2:00 AM, I'm tired, and I'm a bit drunk. I'm not doing this poo poo. I'm going to auto-resolve this, and if the Romans take Caralis, they can have it ! I'll just take it back.)  (wat. I...what the gently caress ? How ? I know I should be happy, but I'm just stunned. I was so shocked I forgot to take a screenshot for the battle's details. Usually the game will make you lose auto-battles, even if it says you'll easily win. I guess here the estimation gave us a 50/50, sort of, but still. Well, I don't know which one of you guys sacrificed his or her firstborn to Cthulhu in order to ensure our victory here, but this person has my sincerest thanks. Oh and since the Scipii had nowhere to retreat, their whole army was wiped out after the battle.)  (drat, our family members have been pumping out babies like crazies for a few turns!)  The Gauls were still bravely fighting. Despite overwhelming odds, the proud Celtic warriors were not going to give up. The Julii would have to fight hard to get what they wanted. (I'll be damned ! The Romans that besieged Patavium have been defeated ! I really, really like and respect the Gauls, our best allies so far.)  Knowing that his position was unstable, Sakarbal recruited fierce gladiators mercenaries to bolster his army. Their cost was painful, but hopefully their martial prowess would be as great as they said it was. (And here is the last type of gladiators you can recruit in this game. Velites, Samnites and Mirmillos are basically the same, small units that destroys everything it attacks, but there are subtle differences. For example, the Velites gladiators we just recruited have sligtly lower stats than Samnites or Mirmillos, but their shields allow them to suffer a bit less from arrows or other projectiles.)   The Numidians finally responded to the invasion of Lepcis Magna. An army was close to Tingi, and the Governor took dispositions to bolster the garrison, including the recruitment of mercenaries. (Garamante warriors do not exist in Vanilla. They are a useful, if a bit costly, mercenary unit. They are great fighters against light infantry, are very good against cavalry, and they also have several javelins to throw at the enemy. However they do not wear any kind of armour. Their large shields are the only thing that can protect them from projectiles, even if their defense skill mean they will usually hold for some time in melee.)   Sakarbal learned from his scouts that a great Roman army, the one the navy failed to destroy at sea, was approaching. He mustered his men and everyone prepared for a fight, one that would probably decide the fate of Tarentum. (This is going to be a tough one. I think we will win, but our army will suffer. That is a LOT of cavalry, and three General's Bodyguards units is a really scary force. The other units aren't as threatening as the cav, but they will be a pain in the rear end to deal with. So, next time, we will see how this battle plays out.) Just a quick parenthesis before ending the update : you might have noticed, but I cut out some parts of the game in this update, compared to the previous ones, particularily the reports at the start of the turns, but also some things that, I judged, weren't interesting at all. So, the question is, do you guys prefer : A) A simplified LP, with only what I deem important/funny in the updates. This will allow us to progress in the game faster. B) A normal LP, and after part 16 we'll resume to the usual form of the updates, with all of the reports at the starts of turn and most of the game, even what's not vital. Going with A will significantly improve the chances to have updates with battles, and is the best if you don't like the more ''common'' stuff. Removing some parts of the game might ruin a sizeable part of the ''charm'' that makes it, so the final decision is yours. If no one says anything, I'll take that as ''remove the non essential parts'' opinion. DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 06:41
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Whatever makes the LP easier for you to continue
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Apr 26, 2017 07:02
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Option A, I really don't care about the non-battle stuff unless it's important.
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Apr 26, 2017 07:12
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The broad strategic stuff is fun, but in the end it's all about the battles and if you have more fun focusing on those then go for it. A
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Apr 26, 2017 16:46
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I guess I'm weird in that I tend to skip half of battle reports, and focus more on the strategic layer.
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Apr 26, 2017 22:05
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double nine posted:I guess I'm weird in that I tend to skip half of battle reports, and focus more on the strategic layer. Battles are interesting, but yeah--the strategic stuff is also useful. I guess mostly choice A, but mostly just skip build screens and whatnot. Streamlined, not fully cut.
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Apr 26, 2017 22:52
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double nine posted:I guess I'm weird in that I tend to skip half of battle reports, and focus more on the strategic layer. Not that weird, I barely pay attention to the battles, still fine with it if we go with A though.
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Apr 26, 2017 23:13
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I like both layers.
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Apr 27, 2017 10:03
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 Hello everyone ! First, I'd like to thank everyone who took some time to give their opinion to answer my question. So...thank you guys, you're all awesome. The decision is to do a simplified LP. Those who like the strategic part of the game, worry not, I won't cut off everything. There will be less reports and strategy-related screenshots, that's all. Now where were we...oh yes, the Brutii were about to punch us in the face. Or try, at least.  (Hey look ! They have big random rocks in Italy too ! Or the Sicilian rock followed us across the strait, I don't know... Because of this drat pebble I had to pull back a lot and form my line in something vaguely resembling a plain, but there are a lot of woods. Right now the Romans are taking their time, and it seems they aren't as threatening as I thought.)   (Everything has gone to poo poo, I repeat, the stuation is now officially lovely AS gently caress. Okay I might be exaggerating a bit, but once more the computer managed to surprise me. I was expecting them to hit us on the center, but instead they suddently charged and threw almost their whole army at my left flank. Now our spearmen are being attacked by infantry and cavalry, while we barely have anything to help them while the rest of our forces gets there.)  (The situation is much better now, but it's still a horrible clusterfuck. We managed to isolate a Roman general on the right, and the Elephants will help us greatly if only for the morale penalty they'll inflict on our enemies, but we can see the enemy missile infantry closing in from behind. Wait, what's going on with my Numidian mercs?)  (These morons managed to get stuck by Roman Equites against the map's borders...dammit, I liked them quite a bit.)   (Yeah, Vibius didn't stand a chance, stranded in a sea of spear points and sword blades. Man this looks like hell. If you look carefully you can see one of the two remaining Roman family members, with a more stylish helmet and raising a sword.)  (I think the situation is under control now. We killed most of their footmen, and their cavalry has been mauled, and their missile troops are routing or vulnerable to our own calvalry.)  « -RETREAT ! » The Roman general turned back and started to flee, followed by what remained of his army. Sakarbal ordered his own men to hold their positions. His men were tired and bloodied, and no one had enough energy to pursue the retreating cavalry. (They are giving up ! We won guys, we won!)   (A unit of Scutarii routed, but I'm not angry at them. They fought well and suffered heavy casualties before their comrades could help, I was epecting them to break. Also the Numidians aren't dead ! They managed to rout the Equites unit that cornered them, and are now taking revenge on the fleeing footmen. Few of them survived, however.)   (drat, look at the death toll ! This is a costly victory for us, while we killed 2 enemies for every soldier we lost, we lost around a third of our force. Everyone fought with skill and honor, except the Mercenary Peltasts who didn't do poo poo because I was keeping them to guard our flank against the Velites. It's a shame that two enemy generals managed to escape, but we'll get them sooner or later.)   (Nothing too interesting happened during the AI's turn, just the Numidians besieging Tingi. Sakarbal got one more Eagle of Rome to throw in our pile. Speaking of Sakarbal, let's take a look at him!)  (Wow, look at these stats and traits ! Okay, some of them are pretty bad, but he is an amazing commander ! Also he has a new title, this can happen when a character gains or develop traits. Who would have thought that the young and talentless man he was at the beginning of the game would become a great general? You can also see how battered his army is. Since we only have one base in Italy, I'm not going to charge forward with weakened forces. We are pulling back to Croton to rest and recover.)   (The Gauls are still holding against the Romans, and their faction heir is defiantly staring at the Romans, making a mockery of their ambush. I'm honestly amazed that our barbarian buddies are still in the game, usually they get crushed pretty quickly.)   (Germanic warriors are threatening Lugdunum, however. The Germanic Warband is not at all what you can see in the other Barbarian Factions' armies. Did you spot the weird thing in their description ? That's right, these guys can form phalanx. Barbaric.Phalanx. And it's not a thing DarthMod added, it's in the Vanilla game too. These guys are basically Hoplites, expert in defense and a cavalry meat grinder. It gives the Germanic tribes a huge advantage over the Gauls/Britons/Dacians...at least at first glance. Remember, phalanxes have very poor mobility, and once these guys are flanked, they are basically doomed and bound to rout sooner rather than later, as they have poorer morale than true Hoplites.)
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Apr 28, 2017 09:41
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There was an old man from Tarentum Who gnashed his false teeth till he bent 'em. When they asked him the cost Of what he had lost, He said "I dunno, I just rent 'em." Good showing! Carthage has proven by bloodshed its right to exist on the peninsula. Now Sakarbal has time to regroup and take a second, decisive strike at the Roman city.
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Apr 28, 2017 15:42
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Mechanical Ape posted:There was an old man from Tarentum He he, nice! drat right. We will drown Italy with Roman blood, much like we did in Sicily.
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Apr 30, 2017 07:03
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   (Our economy is finally developing nicely. We're still not out of the danger zone, money-wise, but we're rich, so that's something. Also Macedon is now allied with Gaul. The three of us are now forming a ''Triple Alliance'' of some kind. Wait...)    (Our defenses are solid in South Italy, as Croton already has a decent garrison and the Carthaginian Diplomatic Corps has already mostly recovered from last time's battle. The Romans sent a small army to the borders and planted a watchtower, so I tried to destroyed them. Every Brutii soldier killed outside of Tarentum's walls is one less pain in the rear end to deal with, in the near future. But we don't have enough movement points to catch them, poo poo.)  (Meanwhile, the Gauls are being attacked by the Spanish, at Narbo Martius. While seeing the Spanish attack someone else than me is new, I do not like it at all. The Gauls cannot fight three enemies at the same time on different front, and not only are they our allies, we do not want our future enemies to grow too strong. We will act on that matter, not yet, but we will.)  (The Dacians finally accept to exchange map infos and trade with us, but apparently they did not seize territories since the start of the game. We also discover, garrisonning the Dacian Capital, two new units.)   (Archer Warband are much like the basic archers we already seen with the Greeks and Romans, so why do I bother showing them ? Because there are subtle differences. Archer Warbands have a slightly lower missile attack (and accuracy I think, but I'm not sure) but have a higher defense. They have a bit of armour and a higher defense skill, which mean they are SLIGHTLY more reliable when it comes to take hits. Falxmen are not to be underestimated. These fuckers will gently caress YOU UP if you do. They are among the most basic units Dacia can get, yet they can destroy medium-advanced troops easily. Their attack is, to begin with, simply crazy. Line infantry or spearmen will be chopped to pieces by these warriors, and cavalry do not want to stay in a prolonged fight with them either. As Barbarian warriors, they also have great morale and good stamina. So, how can we kill them ? Use missile troops. They do not have shields and their armour is pathetic. A few volleys of arrows/javelins/stones/spits will decimate their troops.)   (Apparently the Scipii are getting desperate, and they try to break our blockade with a single ship. The result is a foregone conclusion.)  As Mytonnes' army was progressing by following the road, the scouts warned him about a Numidian attack. Some time later, the enemy army was indeed seen approaching, but their numbers weren't quite impressive. Nevertheless, the general decided to treat the enemy with caution and respect, leaving overconfidence to fools and soon-to-be dead men. (Speaking of desperate people ! Here is a very rare kind of screenshot, catching the Numidian dude mid-animation, about to strike with his sword at our general.)   (Yeah, nothing to fear here. We just need to be careful not to lose too many soldiers while killing our enemies.)  The Carthaginian troops waited in standard formation : missile troops in front, line infantry just behind them, cavalry in the back and spearmen on the sides. The Numidians were taking their time, probably thinking about how to take on an enemy so numerous.  As soon as they were in range, the Slingers unleashed a rain of stones on the advancing soldiers. The Numidians' skill in javelin throw was recognized even by their enemies, but it wasn't of any use if they couldn't get in range. (We are focusing on their cavalry in this screenshot. Not only because missile cav is easily the most annoying type of enemy in the game, with chariots, but also because it'll weaken their general.)   (These screenshots have been taken within half a minute of each other...I'm not joking. I ordered my men to attack, they caught the bulk of the enemy army and...the Numidians just melted. Now they only have two units still fighting, and our light cavalry is running down the cowards.)  The Desert Spearmen found an enemy worthy of their skill. Less numerous yet more organized, the regiment of Medium Spearmen was pushing them back and locking them in place. Losses started to mount on both sides, but the Carthaginians had a clear advantage, and Mytonnes himself closed in to support his infantry with a rear charge.  (So...that happened. That wasn't even a speedbump on the road to victory, it was a roach comminting suicide under our wheels, thinking it'll stop us.)   (Ironically the slingers didn't get to do much, with how fast the battle ended. But the Iberian Infantry regained a little bit of valor in my eyes.)
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Apr 30, 2017 19:53
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  (The Seleucids have subjugated Pontus, reducing a former great faction to the status of simple vassal. Oh and if some of you are still caring about the whole Brittania/Germania diplomatic poo poo, you should stop, they'll continue declaring war on each other to make peace the next turn as long as both factions are still alive.)    (While the Carthaginian Diplomatic Corps is still a bit undermanned for my liking, we can easily destroy the Brutii forces outside of Tarentum before we attack the city. We even manage to catch the Roman family member that escaped us earlier.)   (Take a look at his ''best'' traits by the way. I think I understand why his family sent him out to die.)  (Grrr, woods. Lots of woods. I do not like fighting in forests, but we don't have a choice, and it's not like we are in danger of losing this battle anyway. We'll fight by using the cover that caused us so much trouble in the last battle.)    The young Roman soldiers suddently stopped dead in their tracks. Dozens of enemies suddently appeared in front of them, out of thin air it seemed, and charged them while screaming terrifying warcrys. (While Sakarbal attacked a unit of Slinger Auxilia, our Hoplites and Gladiators mercenaries sprung an ambush on these dudes. The little ''Surprised by the enemy emerging'' lowers their morale and fighting skill for a time, that's why we moved in quickly by using the Hoplites to keep them pinned while the Gladiators smashed in their left side.)    Confused and nervous, the Brutii decided to try and cut the head of the Carthaginian army. Sakarbal was resting his men in a clearing after running down the fleeing slingers, and seemed like an easy target. Meanwhile, the mercenaries fell upon and mauled another unit of Slinger Auxilia, laughing and boasting loudly as the soldiers fled before them, beheading the Roman captain to show what happened to poor fighters and cowards.   Cornelius Brutus himself was ambushed, and his horsemen ran into the mercenaries' spears. Before he could get away, he was flanked by a unit of Round Shield Cavalry. As the last Roman Hastati were rushing to support their general, Sakarbal and his bodyguards charged them, causing heavy casulaties on both sides. But his goal wasn't the destruction of the infantry, he just wanted to slow them down, while Cornelius' unit was wiped out. (Here you can see our units' status so far. That's right, most of our army didn't do jack poo poo during the whole battle, the cavalry and mercenaries did most of the job, and the Hoplites lost a lot of men in the process.)   Soon the young Roman general was felled, and the survivors of his army lost what little courage they had left in them after the slaughter. They ran, desperately trying to flee from the invaders who ran them down mercilessly.   (We lost a lot less men that I thought we would ! Great ! Well we did lose many Hoplites mercenaries, but they fought with great skill and it's what mercenaries are here for : taking casualties so you can spare your regular soldiers. And wow, the Velites Gladiators did a lot too ! Remember, there are very few of us with them but they still kicked a lot of asses today !)
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May 4, 2017 04:50
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And that's how it's done in the ancient world. Let the mercenaries take the losses, let the cavalry take the glory. 
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May 4, 2017 15:57
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  (A random Numidian yahoo is apparently leading a small force to reinforce their capital. Brave, but pointless. Next to the Gaul/Spain border, I spot several units we haven't seen yet in a Gallic army. Guess what time it is ? That's right ! It's analysis time, yay !)     (Barbarian mercenaries can be recruited in great numbers in the...well...barbarian lands. They are a useful addition to any army, able to guard your army's flanks against cavalry and hold up against light infantry. These cavalry units are essentially the same, the only differences are that one can be recruited by anyone while the second can only be recruited by Barbarian factions. They are very tough light cavalry units, very good at flanking infantry, intercepting cavalry and running down missile or fleeing troops. The Gallic faction leader is a great character, at least stats-wise. Too bad he'll probably die soon.)  Tarentum is finally surrounded. While the Carthaginian soldiers chopped down trees to build the siege engines Sakarbal ordered them to build, the general sent several scouting parties Eastwards and Northwards. He was worried about Julii or Scipii reinforcements coming to strike his army from behind. (If everything goes well, next turn we will be able to attack Tarentum and wipe out the Brutii. In this game if a faction loses all of it's cities it is removed from the game.)  Two bureaucrats talking in Carthage's palace : « -How is the new guy ? -I dunno, doesn't seem to have anything going for him. -Nothing at all ? Really ? -Well there's something the maids have been talking about, but it's more of a rumor than proven facts, they said he is really... -SHUT UP ! I don't want to know! »   (We get map infos from the Scythians, and as you can see on the mini map they have relatively few regions, but big ones, a bit like the ones we're about to take in North Africa.)     (Oh, turns out Gisgo wasn't just a random yahoo, he was the CHIEF yahoo of Numidia ! I don't know why he is attacking us here, his troops would be a lot more useful in defense....maybe being a drunkard has something to do with it.)  (Just after the enemy reinforcements arrive, I send our light cav to swarm the fuckers before they get a chance to deploy and attack our rear.)  (Meh, not bad, but the Elephants are working on the whole ''trying to send man in space'' project a lot better than that.)  The infantry of both sides clashes together, and soon the air is filled with the noises and clamours of battle. (The Desert Infantry pretty much humiliated our Iberian Infantry at Lepcis Magna's battle, let's see if they can do better in open field.)  (drat this loving infantry is tough ! Look at that, I got three units surrounding them and they keep on fighting ! You can also see the Numidian King caught two of our infantry regiments in the open, but the Medium Spearmen are on their way to help.)    (Yes ! Got him ! This idiot stayed bogged down against our infantry until the spearmen arrived, then he panicked and tried to flee. Sadly for him, he was quickly caught and finished by our own cavalry.)    (Yeah, we lost a lot of cavalry. I tend to forget how fragile Round Shield cav units are, but at least we dealt with this little speedbump on the way to Dimmidi.)
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May 13, 2017 06:51
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