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We should be antigoons
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Jun 29, 2019 08:55
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Dance Officer posted:We should be antigoons If I wasn't a fervent Carthage partisan, I'd choose this, just for the glorious pun.
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Jun 29, 2019 09:23
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 Carthage, pre-eminent trading nation of the world, who will dare stand against our merchantmen?  While we are not the most populous of states, we have the money to hire in mercenaries when we need them.  Our lands are scattered, do we consolidate them, or continue to look for easier, richer pickings?  Now I need to start explaining this stuff! Commerce Bonus means we will get more value from trade, trade acumen is how well we will compete with a high trade acumen we will force other nations to trade with us, rather than others, meaning more money for us! We also get a good bonus XP for units created, and pay mercenaries less than normal, but we generate a huge 50% less manpower than everyone else.  Starting the game proper, we now learn that the Magonid faction is control of the senate.  Oh boy, this one is going to take some explaining. Right! To begin with, we are a stable merchant republic with three progression tokens. What the hell does this mean? Well, there are three levels of civilisation, so, as you can see in the circle, we are level 2, right in the middle. To qualify this, the game uses some descriptors - 'young, stable or glorious are the good ones, old or decadent the bad. So we are pretty middle of the road. The Progress tokens show we are a good way towards moving to a glorious merchant republic, then we would move up to the next level of civilization. If we start accumulation decadence tokens instead, we could slide down the scales. How do we get these tokens? By keeping a good ratio of progress to decadence. Every nation in the world is ranked on its Culture to Decadence ratio CDR. The top tiers gain Progress, the lower tiers Decadence. The mid tiers nothing.  Culture is generated by buildings and provinces having a lot of people of your culture type boosts this, having a lot of people of other culture types hurts it so rapid expansions can bring in a lot of angry people who are not a good fit for your empire. Decadence is generated both by these people, and by buildings. A good number of the high tier buildings generate a large amount of decadence. Why would you build them? Well apart from their other effects, a lot of these buildings generate Legacy, which is the games score system. The idea is to have the most legacy at the end of the game and it can go up even when your nation is in decline! So you have to balance expansion, culture and decadence to get your empire up and running.  As you can see, we are generating three legacy a turn at the moment two from holding objectives, and one from a wonder. Going back to this one, you can also see our forces we are at war with Syracusae, a nation in Sicily. We have a large fleet and a good sized army, so we should be able to destroy them with some thought.  There they are we already have a foothold on Sicily, but taking our Syracusae will expand this the province in between is held by minors, and can be swept up easily. The circle around the city there means this is an objective of ours, and taking objectives brings legacy, so the only downside to this war is putting us on Rome's doorstep!  We have several objectives in hand, and several more that are not held by major nations so we have a good expansion list ahead of ourselves.  Next up is our leader, and oh dear, we seem to have someone who is a little hot headed. We can raid for slaves, but nation building is going to be slowed for a time.  The last part of the main screen is the decisions most of these are locked out due to missing prerequisites, but we have the option to cease merchant ships which is not that useful seeing the strength of our fleet.  Of more interest is the ability to spend 1000 gold on mercenaries from the surrounding tribes.  Or maybe that money would be better served buying metal or manpower? Right, I can finally move off that screen and back to the main screen!  Here are the global resources Money is money, Manpower for raising troops, metal for heavy infantry and legacy once again.  Clicking on our capital gets us this. Yes, there is a hell of a lot going on in this game, its a nicely grogged up Rome Total war, and I love it. On the right are the local resources Food controls pop growth. Infrastructure is used in construction both building and maintaining buildings. Money If living under capitalism hasn't taught you what that is for, then your out of luck! Culture this is an abstract of how your society is flourishing, it builds up over turns, but can be destroyed by rampaging armies. Manpower/Metal how much this region contributes to the nations manpower/metal reserves. Equipment how much equipment in on hand for training troops in this region. In the center is the population a mix of slaves and citizens, with their happiness displaced as a colour. The jobs they are working depends on the row they are in Slaves are the same as citizens when working the top two rows food, health and infrastructure, but do worse in the bottom two rows wealth creation and culture. The left side has the buildings in the region the top row has green and blue farming and health, the second row has red and pink buildings military and infrastructure. The third row is all about the money, and the last row is culture. Lets have a look at some of these buildings. There are hundreds, so I can't cover them all!  This is our national wonder the Senate of Carthage. It produces 10 culture, 5 equipment, allows recruitment of certain troop types, increases loyalty and even provides a garrison! This is on top of giving us a legacy point a turn.  With the Temple to Tanit, I have to start talking about trade. As you can see, it provides some nice bonuses food, culture, loyalty, legacy and decreased decadence. But see those things in red? Those are the missing resources I don't have a source of grain or wine, and that is reducing the buildings ability to produce culture by 8 a turn. I could build the buildings to produce these or I could trade for them.  Here is the regions trade screen. We naturally produce olive oil here, and manufacture stone, pottery sails and fish. Each of these resources has a value, and if traded for we get that value into the treasury. If we import them, we have to pay that value. But if we import from inside our own borders, we only pay half the cost so we make the whole cost of exporting, get the benefit, but only pay half the cost! This is where trade accumin comes in, this and our trade range show how far we can go to get these resources, and helps force others to buy off us. Getting the cash rolling on in! You can see we are missing two important trade goods Flax and salt, which is costing us a massive 14 gold a turn, while we need a host of others to activate bonuses from the buildings we have. These resources are outside of our trade range, but there is another option.  I could go knock over an independent tribe to the south and bring them, and their useful resources into our nation! The last thing I want to cover in this rather explanatory post is the military.  You recruit from this screen and as you can see, the heavy units can get expensive. Our landmark unit costs not only 30 gold, 20 manpower, 5 metal and 20 equipment, it also costs us 8 gold and 4 manpower to keep in the field.  Here is our army, lead by Taxilis. Its a nice mix of heavy infantry, light infantry and cavalry but we have two units of elephants! These tanks of the ancient world are expensive, but can power through most things out there.  And here is our mighty fleet! Right, that's enough prattling on! Next time, I actually do things. Do you guys have any preferences on the events or war targets?
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Jun 29, 2019 09:27
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On the economical aspect, I'd advise to develop our trade, as it is our main strenght. Trying to consolidate in Iberia might not be a bad idea either, the Iberians are notorious for being fierce and freedom-loving enemies. As a wargoal, I say we take on the independant tribe Grey spotted then waste Syracuse's rear end as fast as possible. Having most of Sicily will make it harder for the Romans to poo poo in our boots when they inevitably decide to do so. It will probably be harder for us than Syracuse to gather men and supplies, but Lilibaeum should be a good enough staging point. These morons think themselves strong because they defeated the Athenian expedition. Time to show them what a real big player is, and the consequences of defying him. DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Jun 29, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 09:33
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The tribes to the south will surely be grateful when their
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Jun 29, 2019 15:27
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I vote for gameplay reasons that we consolidate Africa, even though in historical context that would have been an utterly pointless exercise.
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Jun 29, 2019 16:06
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I suppose getting access to Numidian cavalry, whether by conquest or hire, will be a lifesaver. And of course, navy expansion. Can't be a Phonecian trade empire without a big navy!
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Jun 29, 2019 16:14
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Yeah I agreeconsolidate Africa, try to delay the inevitable war with Rome by staying out of their business. Ideally wed take Africa and Hispania before pushing north and east.
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Jun 29, 2019 16:36
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Conquer a few juicy trade posts then crush Syracuse. More money = More Mercs = More Better.
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Jun 29, 2019 17:40
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I say we sack Rome and burn it to the ground. It's the only way to be sure.
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Jun 30, 2019 00:01
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Surely Rome can be made to see reason in not having a war through gold and wi
whatever alcohol we can manage to scrounge up... While we head south and east into the vast riches of Aegyptus.
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Jun 30, 2019 02:00
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Rome's policy at this point is quite simple: if someone has gold, and it's not them, they'll start turning all their efforts towards taking that gold through violence. ...although given the game's start date, we might have to hurry if we want to sack Rome before the Gauls do.
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Jun 30, 2019 07:04
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With how much I've seen if this game so far, it seems like it's a lot of what people wanted Imperator Rome to be.
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Jun 30, 2019 09:10
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loving love Fiona Apple posted:With how much I've seen if this game so far, it seems like it's a lot of what people wanted Imperator Rome to be. It seems like more of a gamey game with an actual win condition than what Paradox likes to do, which IMO is to its credit.
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Jun 30, 2019 11:25
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Part 2 Securing Africa Carthage demands salt, and the easiest way to get it is to march south.  I meanwhile put out the call for more mercenaries.  Buildings are semi random and with our shortages in imports, I decide that Carthage needs clean water.  Most of my other buildings are of the infrastructure variety as well. Once the economy is humming, we can focus on other things  I do order up some more troops to support the mercenary army.  We are the sixth greatest nation in the world. Well, join sixth, but we are sliding down the culture/decadence scale.  They say this is the end of our empire. But they have said that every day for the last hundred years.  The mercenaries are sent to secure the objective city of Hippo Regis.  With clean water installed and disease put at bay, I order a charcoal burner more resources for the economy!  The outlying parts of the empire are being raided.  The main army slams into the salty people.  And rides over them with minimal losses.    Hannibal, commanding the mercenaries, has a tougher time, but wins through.  Another progress token is gained, and people go from lamenting the death of our civilization to calling this a golden age.  Slaves flow into Carthage. They are put to work, freeing citizens for greater jobs.  Construction slows somewhat, but we are making more money and more culture.  Men march across Africa, and I begin to build up forces on Sicily to actually get involved in the war.  Taxiles elephants over another group of minors, securing another of the Magnoids's objectives.  Three turns in and we are holding our place at 6th.  We have an offer of cooperation from a Iberian power I agree, as this will help keep the Iberii in check somewhat, without drawing us into another war.  The Numidians attempted a raid, but were put down, but I need to think about liquidating these troublesome tribesmen.  I can't skip this building equipment, better trained elephants and ivory in one bundle this is a national wonder, and I can see why!  The Syricusian army is spotted, and with garrison I should be able to deal with them.  I order the mighty Taxiles to cross the seas and end this war, so I can get back to securing Africa.  As promised, the runner up Judea has been given the honour of being my next video LP this is hard mode! So lets see how long I last!
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Jun 30, 2019 11:54
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The Judean Peoples front begin to get mobilized!
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Jul 1, 2019 05:07
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A great beginning! then again, I know jack poo poo about this game, but the situation LOOKS good for us at least! Our overextension is still a bit scary, but with Greynnibal's leadership, we will make it!
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Jul 1, 2019 07:32
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Part 3 The Syracusian War. We slam into the Syracusian fleet.  It is a short battle as our superior fleet overwhelms theirs.  The desert tribes repulse our mercenary army, and in the battle, Hannibal is killed!  Hearing of this, and thinking us weak, the Sardinians declare war on us!  The Iberii also desire to co-operate with us, and I agree, we have to much going on at the other end of our empire to worry about these regions.  A new general takes control as we march to destroy Syracuse. Dyslexic note, why the gently caress can I spell Syracuse, a word that rarely comes up, but cannot spell definitely, a word that is used regularly? Or regularly for that matter!  Sad, just sad.  The Sardinian army dies to our local militia.  Taxilies finds only a token force to stop his landings.  Our armies settle in for a siege, and the fleet moves to cut the harbour at Hereari  We are becoming decadent, so I order the next wave of buildings to be more culture focused.  Curse the Numidians!  They think me fool enough to have taken all my forces from the mainland no, I have rebuilt the remains of the mercenaries, and am marching to give battle!  We storm the walls of Sicily, taking the city and allowing us to form a province there.  Curses! Our outer colonies are under threat, and the armies are trapped dealing with a single enemy. *note, the AI in this game is not timid by any degree!  The Numidians take Ampsaga.  Their forces are weakened, so we counter attack.  In the west I order mercenaries and put all workers to the whip building palisades this area will have to hold out until the main forces can arrive!  I try and get as many troops out as I can. Total war has come to Carthage.
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Jul 2, 2019 06:29
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Holy poo poo, Hannibal dying while fighting a random tribe is...anticlimatic as hell compared to RL. His sacrifice won't be in vain, Carthage shall prevail! now that the arrogant Syracusean are dealt with, the backstabbers and opportunists shall pay dearly for assaulting our holy domain! Wait, the Iberii wanted to cooperate, then they attacked you anyway? I'm getting some vanilla Rome Total War I vibes here.
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Jul 2, 2019 07:14
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Hannibal's reputation in history is going to be a poor one if he even gets remembered at all.
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Jul 2, 2019 09:22
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It's a different Hannibal. The dates make no sense otherwise.
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Jul 2, 2019 12:00
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HannibalBarca posted:It's a different Hannibal. The dates make no sense otherwise. This man should know!
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Jul 2, 2019 12:41
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But what if the Romans invented time travel to destroy Hannibal's lineage before it even got started?! 
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Jul 2, 2019 12:56
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Slaan posted:But what if the Romans invented time travel to destroy Hannibal's lineage before it even got started?! Scipio! You've created a time paradox!
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Jul 2, 2019 13:21
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Slaan posted:But what if the Romans invented time travel to destroy Hannibal's lineage before it even got started?! Oh please. There's so many Hannibals wandering around, you can't throw a stone and miss a Hannibal. Heck, I'm a Hannibal, and so are you.
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Jul 2, 2019 13:56
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Randalor posted:Heck, I'm a Hannibal, and so are you.  
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Jul 2, 2019 14:08
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Let me recreate the experience of reading any history of the Punic wars for you. "God loving dammit Carthaginians! You're allowed to have more than about 3 goddamn names in your civilisation! They don't all have to start with Ha' something either, furthermore..........You! At the back, pay attention. What's your name. Oh. It's Hanno is it? Cool, well you can be Hanno_47. Now go stand over there with....I'm gonna say Hasdrubal and there's good odds I'm right." Deptfordx fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jul 2, 2019 |
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Jul 2, 2019 15:26
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So the whole "conquer Africa" thing isn't really a plan, it's more of a goal I know we chose our first target because it had salt and we need that. But what's our next direction? I'd suggest the West Coast because that's away from Italy so mqybe it'll be less interfered with?
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Jul 2, 2019 23:28
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Deptfordx posted:Let me recreate the experience of reading any history of the Punic wars for you. This checks out.
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Jul 3, 2019 00:36
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simplefish posted:So the whole "conquer Africa" thing isn't really a plan, it's more of a goal The thing about these limited-scope games is that it's always convenient to expand towards the corners of the map, since nothing can attack you from there (unless I'm wrong and there's an off-map attack/raiding mechanic). Deptfordx posted:Let me recreate the experience of reading any history of the Punic wars for you. I've never been clear on whether there were two men named "Hanno the Great", who lived at the time of the First and Second Punic Wars respectively, or if it was one guy who just lived a long-rear end time.
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Jul 3, 2019 00:38
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The Jewish revolt continues to go from strength to strength as another successor state collapses!
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Jul 3, 2019 05:55
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Do we know how much this is going to be? No price listed on steam, which seems odd for a game released next week.
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Jul 3, 2019 08:25
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Ha, Matrix never, ever reveal prices until release day. They've come a long way but still have some customer unfriendly policies. Going by other recent similar titles they publish this will be $40.
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Jul 3, 2019 08:46
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Ah, cool. Was wondering if this was going to be some Grog publisher it's $80 madness. That's fine.
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Jul 3, 2019 08:56
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Deptfordx posted:Ah, cool. Was wondering if this was going to be some Grog publisher it's $80 madness. That's fine. They are a grog publisher. They used to charge 80 dollars... they then actually realized they could sell several times as many games if they put it at half that.
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Jul 3, 2019 13:22
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HannibalBarca posted:The thing about these limited-scope games is that it's always convenient to expand towards the corners of the map, since nothing can attack you from there (unless I'm wrong and there's an off-map attack/raiding mechanic). same guy (hanno 2) but there were two other Hannos the Greats and odds are that there were at least several less important Hannos the Greats contemporaneously with each
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Jul 3, 2019 15:09
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Jul 3, 2019 15:59
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Jul 3, 2019 18:19
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Grey Hunter posted:
These are clearly cakes. Carthage has an income of 293 cakes, that's many more then 4 tens, and that's pretty good.
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Jul 3, 2019 20:57
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terrenblade posted:These are clearly cakes. Makes sense too. Why would we use gold coins as the most precious thing? Cakes are the ultimate good, and The Guild 2 agrees with me. Plus they taste much better.
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Jul 3, 2019 21:49
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