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Everything is over. The city is destroyed, the holiest sanctuary of all is broken. The streets are flooded with blood. The bodies of the defenders, their sacrifices ultimately vain, are littering the ground. The air is filled with the cries of the women and children are mixed with, and drowned by, the victorious shouts of the invaders. They look like demons escaped from a forgotten divine jail. In their euphory they plunder and defile everything, from the temples and the palaces to the humblest house. The inhabitants are brutalized, and either finished off if they are men, or rounded up and put in shackles if they are women or childrend. Her guard towers burn. Her docks burn. Her storage depots burn. Her temples burn. Everything burns. A lonely voice suddently speaks, so strong and intimidating that time itself seems to stop. The woman, or rather the goddess that speaks is filled with sorrow, but also disappointment. She says : « You failed, my poor, lost, vainquished children. No one can help you now. The eagle took you all, and your corpses will feed it's litle ones. » Hanno suddently awakes, terrified. His wife is instantly woken up too, and asks him if he is alright. But the man doesn't even hear her caring questions. His head is filled with memories from this terrible dream, every detail shining with implacable cruelty and realism. With a mutter of appeasment to his wife, Hanno stand up and leave, to take a walk on his balcony. From the palace, he had a nice view over most of the city, its docks and the sea. The nocturnal silence was only troubled by the sentinels' steps, walking around the place to make sure no thief or enemy would dare to threaten this sacred place. The dream was a message from the future. A warning, to be precise, this was a certitude. If Hanno would not heed it, Carthage would be destroyed. Tomorrow, in a month, in a century, it matters not. His beloved people would be destroyed or enslaved, and the mighty empire would collapse, and be buried under the dust of the past. The woman's voice was most probably Tanit, the Mother Goddess. Or maybe Dido, the lengendary founder. In any case he knew she wasnt lying, her every word betrayed her divine nature : « -This will not happen. » whispered the man. « I will prevent it. » He wasn't a young man anymore, but even if he couldn't stop this bleak future from happening, he could always prepare his son and heir for this task. They would pass on this holy and vital task, to protect the mighty Carthaginian Empire. For the first time since he woke up, Hanno seemed calmer, but he wasn't overconfident either. For too long, Carthage acted slowly, staying in her borders and vegetating. While she rested on her laurels, others grew powerful. The Greeks, the Iberians, and the most dangerous of them all, the Romans. The Eagle-soldiers, if you would. But overconfidence was a stupid error Hanno and his heirs would never allow themselves to commit again, not if they were to survive, them and all of their people. The future seemed uncertain, but they would do everything in their power to protect the most holy place of them all, the loving mother and sweet daughter to protect, Carthage.   Hello everyone ! Welcome to...well, what it says on the image above. Rome Total War is one of my favorite game, ever. I was in contact with it when I was around nine years old, and when I bought it on Steam nine years later it felt like a great accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, I love pretty much the whole Total War serie, but this one holds a peculiar place in my heart. Wich is why I'm probably the only guy stup...erm nostalgic enough to make a Let's Play of that game, over the more modern releases of the serie. And because my CPU sucks.  We'll be playing as Carthage, Rome's archenemy and one of the greatest threat she faced in her history. As you can see the settings are in Hard/hard, because while I do want challenge I do not consider myself to be good enough to take a crack at Very hard/Very hard. Will we be able to change History, or will I be crushed like a larva for your pleasure and amusement ? We will see ! Why you no play vanilla ? Because despite my affection, I'm not blind. The vanilla game has quite a number of flaws, balancement issues and more (I will talk about them as we go through the game), and this mod is simply amazing. You will very quickly see how. What will be the frequency of updates ? I'll try to upload at least one part every three days. If I have the time, it'll be more, and I'll try to warn you guys in advance if for some reason I can't upload. Will this let's play be interactive with it's readers ? Not really. I'll do most of the stuff myself, but I'll more than probably ask you people for stuff, like names for armies (or even units), opinions on an important matter (like a diplomatical choice or adoption/marriage) and anything I'll be uncertain about, but I don't think that will happen too often. Well, now that this is out of the way, let's start !  Hanno looked at his maps, lost in meditation, barely hearing the sounds of his camp. Weeks ago, he spoke to his first son, Hasdrubal, about his dream and what he had in mind to prevent this disaster from happening. He left Hasdrubal with directives, but he also trusted his son to make his own decisions. He wasn't a boy anymore, and was the future ruler, after all. Carthage herself was prosperous, her colonies and possessions giving her wealth and protection. Caralis, Lilybaeum and Thapsus were respectively guarding the North, East and South of the great city. If invaders were to attack, they would be at least spotted. (you can already see the changes from Vanilla. Yep, we start with a bigger territory!)  Numidia was under direct Carthaginian control. The Numidians had lost a previous war, and as payment had lost much territory, and were forced into an alliance with the winners. Cirta, their former capital, was a good stronghold. Palma, in the Baleares, was providing a supply of great mercenaries, and a strategical position in the Mediterranean. (Ha ha, get bent, Numidia! But don't worry, they are still around. And do not mind the end of the world, all is perfectly normal.)  The Iberian possesions were among the most recent, and as such, unstable and exposed. The people was happy for now, but Hanno knew too well mood and morale were as unpredictable as the sea. Nonetheless, they allowed Carthage access to ressources and to control the pillars of Hercules, as the Romans were calling them. Tingi was controlling the last part of the Western North African coast,and it too was a Numidian city. (uuurgh, Cordoba...at least as we are the Carthaginians maybe the city won't rebel all the loving time.) But Hanno knew that, for now at least, the main problem wasn't what was happening inside of the borders. The people was content, the lands were safe. It was the outside that was truly threatening.  The Iberians and Celtiberians tribes, proud and ferocious men, had been tenacious and skilled adversaries. While many of them were now serving, or willing to serve Carthage, the fight ended with a simple peace treaty, not the alliance the Empire wished for. As such, it was more than likely that ''Spain'' was already plotting it's revenge. (Personally, I think we have around hmmm...100% chances to be attacked by those guys ? Just a crude estimation. Seriously, the Spanish (unappropriate term for that time but gently caress it, it's convenient) WILL attack you if you play as Carthage. You are holding 1/3 of Spain, and they DO NOT like that. Maybe they are pretty borders addicts. Well guess what dudes, me too...)  Not much was known about the Gauls. Rumors said they were similar to the Iberians, but also very different. The only thing Carthage knew for sure about them was that they hated the Romans just as much as Dido's descendants, and that was enough to struck an alliance with them. Not a vassalization in disguise, a genuine pact of mutual assistance. And trade rights of course, the most natural way of bringing people closer, according to Carthage's most ancient (almost sacred) tradition. (The Gauls are good allies usually, maybe because they are too far to attack you, and they distract the Julii. And this is where the mod shows it's value : do you remember how broken the Romans were in Vanilla ? And how nerfed the Barbarians were ? Well now, EVERYONE can vanquish anyone. I'm not joking, the game's been rebalanced in such a way that even the AI as the Barbarians has a chance against Rome. If Rome is also played by the AI, of course.)  Italy...where the biggest of Carthage's problems was nesting. Hanno cursed his ancestors, for they did not destroy this rat hole named Rome when they had the chance, when it was just another italian city among the others, fighting to survive. Now it was a true power, dividing lands between the most powerful of their kin, even landing in Sicily. We were blind. Cruelly blind. Now, they were coming for the whole world, and they were coming fast. As for Sicily, it was now divided between Carthage, Rome and the Greeks. The latest were technically allied to the sons of Ba'al Hammon, but a long history of strife between the two factions, especially with Syracuse, made the deal unstable. If needed, Carthage would have to take the whole island for herself. (Aaaah, the Romans. In vanilla, a true pleasure to play as and a nightmare to fight against, at least if you didn't have phalanxes. In this game, they will be a pain to deal with, but it's far from impossible. Just like the Romans, the Greeks have been tweaked, making them less overpowered. The phalanxes that were ''unkillable lawn-mowers except by surrounding them'' are now ''powerful unit with weaknesses''. Except the Spartan Hoplites. Oh god, the Spartans...)  The Numidians were allies, but Hanno wasn't trusting them as far as he could spit. They were holding a grudge against Carthage, for beating them and taking their lands. The great desert and mountains were their, but they were obviously planning to take back the coast. (Numidia pretty much has ''traitor'' tattoed on it's forehead. It starts as an ally, but do not be surprised when they'll suddently send a force to a city, most probably Tingi.)  (here we have the faction overview, with all the basic infos about our beloved Empire.)  Finances were looking good on paper, but it actually wasn't nearly enough for the plans and projects Hanno had in mind. Buildings would have to be constructed, men would have to be trained, and none of these would be possible without gold. (We are given a rather sizable pile of cash to get started, and a rather stable economy. But I don't like that profit. Seriously, look at it. It's too small. So to make it bigger, we have to empty our coffers ! Trust me, I'm an expert.)  (That's the diplomatical overview. I won't bother showing the other factions, because it's really not necessary. And at each turn's start the game will notify us if there are changes in diplomacy.)  Hanno smiled dreamily as he thought of his family. Fate had blessed him with many sons, and his line was assured and solid. He knew he was nearing the end of his life, so the future was on his descendants' shoulders. (Do not get used to a small family tree. It will grow much, MUCH bigger a time passes.)  Despite his age, Hanno was as competent as he always was. Skilled on the field of battle, in bureacracy or against the Senate, life taught him well, and he had been an eager student. (Look at these traits and skills, it's beautiful. Sadly, you surely noticed Hanno is already 65 years old, so he won't be around for much longer.)     His sons were also competent leaders, and this thought eased his worries about the future greatly. (The first generation is actually very competent, even the youngest of them ! That's very important, not only for general purpose but also descendance. A general/family member with great stats and traits will have more chances to have good offspring. The ''Sharp'' trait on Burrhus and Theophanes is especially amazing, as it has the probability to be hereditary. By the way, do you see that priestess of Tanit ? She's probably the only one you'll ever see in this LP.)   The sons of his heir were...a mystery. They were still very young, and had yet to prove their mettle. (Yep, the second generation seems a bit lackluster, compared to their elders. But we may still have luck in the future, for them as for their own children. Ha ha, who am I joking, they are probably future drunkards and lunatics...)   But thankfully, others were already showing potential. (That's more like it ! Sadly, no ''Sharp'' trait from Burrhus. Oh well.)  Carthage's navy was adequate at the time being, but like the rest, it will have to be improved if the city was to stand a chance against it's doom. (Biremes are the first boats you can build. They are rather cheap and effective, making them great in the beginning and good in support later, if you have money problems.)   The two main armies were big enough to b noticeable, but not much more. Hanno had a plan, and it will pay off in the near future. (Yeah, I'm not using these armies the way they are now. I'm going to sail the one next to Carthage in Sicily, where it'll be able to do some good. Also notice how the units have very different numbers of men, this will be more apparent once we start fighting.)   While Carthage always employed Iberians as mercenaries, the recent conquest of a third of their territory opened the gate for a huge number of these warriors to the city's service. Strong and with good endurance, they were reliable infantry and cavalry. (The Iberian Infantry was little more than cannon fodder in the original game, especially when put up against Hastati. Now they are a true combat unit, not resistant enough to hold for long but very fast, great for encirclements. Cavalry is always useful, and the light equipment of these guys makes them invaluable in chasing down fleeing enemies, archers, and the cursed horse-archers.)   (The Sligers and Skirmishers (or Peltasts/Velites, same thing) were ridiculously weak in the vanilla game, famous for barely doing anything useful if the conditions weren't optimal for them. Here ? They.Kick.rear end. They have their designed jobs, but they are drat good at them. Sligers are best used against cavalry, missile troops and light infantry, while Peltasts are devastating against heavy infantry and phalanxes, especially if you managed to flank the armored bastards.)  The Carthaginian citizens fighting on the battlefield were a mixed blessing for Hanno. Yes, they were disciplined and tough, and no cavalryman would be mad enough to charge them willingly, but they were also costly. Most of them will have to lay down their arms, for the time being at least, as they weren't needed yet. (How the mighty have fallen. These were generally the best infantry for Carthage in vanilla Rome, being cheap (compared to the elite phalanxes) and being phalanxes made them very, very hard to kill. Here they are still good, but mostly against cavalry. Heavy infantry like, say, the Roman troops, will destroy them. The Poeni Infantry will held for a long time, but the casualties will be very painful, especially with how costly they are to train, maintain and replace.)   Hanno brought a regiment of elephants with him, when he sailed to Sicily. The mighty beasts will deal a terrible blow to the Romans, both figuratively, and very literally. (Elephants are awesome, but a bit of moderation must be observed. First, do not bother with the first tier of elephants. They are simply too weak and fragile (for elephants) to be worth the huge cost in training and upkeep. The second tier is probably the most balanced, devastating yet cheaper than their big brothers. The first tier, which we will won't see before quite some time, is basically a huge organical tank with armor on it. Nothing can stop the whole it'll make in straight enemy lines...and in your wallet. Actually the war elephants are in Iberia, kinda sucks but we'll find a use for them.)   (Balearic sligers are even more awesome than in vanilla, able to wreck all but the most armored of foes, and tearing up missile troops in one on one fights. They also have a (slightly) longer range than many of them, giving them another advantage. Numidian cavalry, and every type of missile cav (especially archers, obiviously) are perfect for driving a human opponent mad. They are the ultimate annoying guys, perfect for distracting precious parts of the enemy army while you deal with the rest, or isolate them. Never forget that mercenaries tend to be very costly, so it's best to use them only for a few battles, and disband them afterwards. Except if you really want to keep them around, experienced mercenaries can really tear poo poo up.)   Two agents were handling two side of the same coin. The first one, the diplomat Hiram Tunis, is charged with the diplomatical relationships. Even if he already has done his work, Carthage may still need him if she encounters other people...or if the Romans come begging for mercy. The second one is a spy. Aqhat is his real name, supposedly. He is a master at infiltrating cities, and spying on armies to bring back vital intelligence on the enemies' forces, plans and movements. (Nuff said, I usually also station spies in cities susceptible to be infiltrated by the enemy. A high ''unrest'' loss in public order can indicate you that a town has been infiltrated.)  Everything is in place. The plans to save Carthage, and in the same time place her at the top of the world has begun. Every man, woman and child will be important. Every spear, sword, arrow, gold coin...Fate cannot be bleak to those who forges it for themselves.  Here I will talk about the grand lines of my strategies, and what I'm expecting from the future. I'll do that if there are important changes, or after a certain number of updates. First, let's blow all of our money. Well, not all of it, but most. We NEED to construct buildings in many cities for yesterday. Many of them do no even have walls or basic dirt roads, this cannot continue if we are to have a chance to win. Caralis is actually just a port. LITERALLY a port. A governor's house, and a port, that's all. Second, I'll disband quite a bit of the army. I know, this sounds foolish, but many soldiers are in safe places, way too far from the action to be truly earning their pay. Some will garrison the cities, but we need the cash. And as a second benefit the disbanded soldiers will settle in the region they will be disbanded into, allowing the towns to grow. Then, as I said, Sakarbal will join his grandfather in Sicily. That way we will be able to strike at Messana, the Roman base in Sicily, and the army will have another commander for when Hanno kicks the bucket. I'm expecting a Spanish attack on Cordoba and a Numidian attack on Tingi. Don't let them fool you, these guys are out for our blood, and if you do the folly of underestimating them, they can hit us really hard, and we really do not need that with most of our efforts turned against the Romans. Speaking of them, I'm expecting the Julii to try and take Caralis, in Sardinia, while the Scipii have probably their eyes set on Syracuse. As the Greeks are our allies, it'd be nice of us to lend them a hand. Then again...Syracuse is quite the prize...and that'll teach them not to gently caress with us...hmmmm... Enough traitorous thoughts for the moment, we'll see how things will turn. Links : Rome total war Darthmod (moddb) : http://www.moddb.com/mods/darthmod-rome Rome Rise of an Empire (where I found the image I used for my banner, I asked for permission to use it but haven't received any answer) : http://www.moddb.com/mods/rome-rise-of-an-empire I hope you guys will enjoy the LP !
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Apr 2, 2017 10:49
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Great to see more LPs of strategy games like Rome Total War! I've always been interested in the Total War series, but lack of time has prevented me from playing any of the games. Looking forward to seeing how this goes DarkParchment! It looks like you're doing a mix of story and mechanics commentary, which works well for LPs like this. However, I would really appreciate seeing more mechanics detail - your screenshots are good for all the content they include but I don't know what half of it means. For example you talked about the Sharp trait being fantastic and hereditary but didn't actually explain why or what it does. Also would be good to hear what the goals for Carthage are in this LP; is it the victory conditions in the screenshot or are you trying to do something particular? The breakdown of the different units was great though, you did a good job outlining their strengths and weaknesses and it was good to see you point out the differences in the vanilla version and the mod. Otherwise again always great to learn about a new game so I'll watch for updates. Here's hoping they feature a lot of War Elephantsv(or whatever the next tier up is), costs be damned. There could always be more elephants trampling our enemies! 
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Apr 3, 2017 01:47
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CatsPajamas posted:Great to see more LPs of strategy games like Rome Total War! I've always been interested in the Total War series, but lack of time has prevented me from playing any of the games. Looking forward to seeing how this goes DarkParchment! Thank you very much for your support and for following this LP, I'll do my best not to disappoint you or anyone reading! As for explaining the mechanics, you're right, I should have thought about explaining the basis. I don't know, my brain was like ''Naaaah, everyone knows how it is, even those who never played it, that makes sense right? herp!''. I'll upload an update explaining the basics shortly, and detail the mechanics more in future updates.
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Apr 3, 2017 10:40
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So, as Catpajamas noticed, I didn't really explained anything about this game and/or the mod, except some very basic stuff. I'm talking about the general mechanics, not the details like the units. He made a very good point, so... I'll remedy this mistake of mine immediatly !  Rome Total War is a turn by turn strategy game, in the Antiquity era. It is spread in two ''parts'', the Stategic Map in which tou manage your empire, train and move your armies/agents, and the Battle Map, which has a gameplay of RTS in which the goal is to, well, win the battles. The Strategic Map englobes the world as the Romans knew it at the summit of their power, which means The British Isles, The Mediterranean Basin, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle-East. There are many factions to be chosen from, which we will talk about in a minute. Time is mesured in years, and each time you hit ''end turn'' a season pass. There are only two seasons, Summer and Winter, and every two turns a year pass. The goals in a game are of course to survive as a faction, but the game usually tells us to ''own X number of regions, including the following ones, specifiallay :'' In Vanilla Rome the region you always had to capture no matter what was the faction you played was Rome itself, but the Darth Mod removed it for objectives that makes sense, as you can see : In the Overview we can see the objectives, and while we do not have to take Rome we have to protect our starting regions, and also take two Spanish and two Roman Scipii settlements. So not only do we have to protect ourselves, but also expand and vainquish our closest enemies. Even if we decided to invade the Middle East while completly ignoring the Western part of the map, technically, we would not be winning. Also the Vanilla Game had a (very generous) time limit in the form of a ''turns remaining'' indicator, but it seemes the Darth Mod removed it. While you do have to do a minimum of conquering, there is literally nothing preventing you from conquering the whole map. It's VERY time consuming and you'll probably get bored, but it's quite an amazing achievement, in my opinion.  Gold is the blood of your empire. It allows you to build edifices, train soldiers and recruit agents. It also pays the upkeep of your armies and generals' bodyguards. Run out of cash, and you'll enter a whold of pain. Not enough money means that the people will be unhappy (more on that later), you'll be stuck behind while the enemies will have access to better trained and equiped troops, and of course you won't be able to recruit additional soldiers. Interetingly, the soldiers will NEVER betray you on their own, even if you are at -20000 bucks. Personally I always focus, early on, on the economical buildings : markets, roads and ports are probably the best to increase your profits, everything that says ''Increase in tradeable goods'' in their description. Cities with advanced ports become huge trade center and sends a juicy, delicious river of gold right in your safe. The mines are my second favorite, they are very expensive to build but their income stays constant once you have built the mines. Mining profit isn't variable like trading, farming or taxes, with it you'll always have a reliable (if not accessible in every region for obvious reasons) source of income. Taxes and farming are linked together. Farming does not only give you gross income, it also give increase your towns' growth. More people means more people to tax, which means more money, simple. Taxes are also the only source of income you can modify directly, by changing their importance. You can do that for every town, and we'll talk about the other effects later. The enemy can and will hit you economy directly, and they'll do so each time they have the occasion. Enemy armies stationned within your borders will cause devastation, which will decrease your income and increase public unrest (the enemy will also probably burn houses, kill, rape and pillage the villages invisible on the strategic map but the game doesn't tell us about it, so let's not worry about that). Bandits (rebel armies) are annoying because of this, and it's the reason why you shouldn't let big brigands parties roam your lands. The enemy can also blockade your ports, which hurts a lot more than devastation. An enemy navy can sail straight to your port and deny you the income from it, as if it doesn't exist. On the strategic map you'll see little barriers around your port. The solution ? Sink the bastards. Or at least, repel them, but the enemy will pester you as much as possible and WILL use almost destroyed boats to blockade your ports, just to deny you the money for this turn, since you receive money on the start and not at the end of your turn. What the enemy do to you, you can do to them but I honestly didn't find it very effective. Maybe the AI cheats and simply doesn't care even if you blockade every single one of it's ports. The other, sneakier thing that'll drain your money is corruption. As your empire grow bigger, you'll conquer cities far from your capital. As a result the ''auto management'' (I suspect local officials) will embezzle money. There isn't a perfect solution against this problem, but you can station generals/family members in towns, to supervize the management themselves. Not having a governor also prevents you from choosing ''Low – Normal – High – Very High'' tax rate, only giving you vaguer options which we will see in game before too long.   Here is the city overview of Carthage, as an example. During the LP I won't show this too often (unless you guys want me to) unless I feel it to be important. Every shown statistic works that way : Positive Negative The Population Growth indicates by how much percentage from your actual population your city will grow, at least for the next turn. As an example, if a city counts 5000 inhabitants and has a 10% growth, next turn the city will have 5500 inhabitants. Farms and building, as indicated, increase growth, and squalor represented by rats (yummy!) are decreasing it. While there are ways to reduce squalor, know that it will inevitably grow : the more people, the more squalorer...sorry the more squalor. Public Order indicates you how happy a city's (and region) people are. The bigger the number, the better. The people will start to be less happy at 100%, be nervous but not pissed yet at 85-75%, and openly rebellious at 70% or less. If you do not do anything to fix that, they'll riot next turn. And if after that, things are still grim (I wonder why the situation is not better, you morons trashed the city and killed guards, dispshits!), they'll simply rebel the next turn. Your troops will be kicked out and the region will be ''independent''. The guy with a + next to him means the people are happy thanks to the population boom, if the growth is superior to 4% I think. The laurels is the bonus public order thanks to your governor's influence, which we will talk about later. The more influence a general has, the better, and some traits make it better too. Squalor is one of the main reason for unrest, and a nightmare for Vanilla players, because some city would just continue to grow forever and ever, and the people would always rebel. The only solution was to let them rebel, then conquer the city again and slaughter the people. Then do it again a dozen turns later. Quite tedious and annoying. The Income is, well, how much money the city will give you next turn. The piece of paper is how much your governor's administrative skill is giving you, the chariots are the profits brought by trade, the purses indicates how much money the taxes are giving you, and the house and grain how much income farming is giving you. The banners are how much upkeep from your armies this city is covering. The system is a bit weird, the upkeep of all of your soldiers is divided between your cities, depending on the city's size and wealth. Since Carthage is our richest city, she is covering a huge amount of upkeep. The heads indicates how much generals' bodyguards upkeep the city is covering, it's the same thing as the regular soldiers. The Trade overview breaks down in details what we receive from trade. We can see what merchandises are exchanged, how much we gain from the trade, with which city what goods are traded, and by what means (by sea or land). Now imagine the ''Sea Imports'' and ''Sea Exports'' gains reduced to zero. THIS is what blockades does to your economy, it HURTS.  Generals/Family members are one of the most important part of your empire. If your leader dies and there are is no heir, you lose, it's that simple. Your family members can be male or female, but the female characters have a very limited rôle, which is appropriate in game since most culture from the Antiquity didn't leave much room or chances for women. You can marry them. Yup, that's it. Once they are at least 12 years old (I know, it's horrifying, but once more, it's realistic), there is a chance that each turn a man from outside the family will request a marriage with the girl. You can see all of their traits and competencies, and the final choice is yours. Be careful though, if you let one of the woman from the family die without at least marrying, her life would have been completly wasted, game-wise. Of course there is also the possibility that the RNG screw you and no one ask to marry your daughter, or only old crazy men. As soon as they are 16 years old boys will appear on the strategic map, and you can use them as you see fit. As for heirs, the heir is generally the oldest son of the current leader, but other things are to be considered. For example, we can see here that Hasdrubal is the heir, but once Hanno dies there is a greater chance that the heir will not be Gisgo, despite him being Hasdrubal's first son. Hanno's other sons, Hasdrubal's brothers, have higher influence than him. Yup, the inner politics are at work, and you can find yourself with a very old and inadequate heir just because he has more influence. You can manually name the heir, but doing so will give the ''Disinherited'' trait to the former heir, which will permanently reduced his influence. Why would you change heir ? After all, there is no penalty if the heir or even leader dies, as long as there is someone else to replace him. That's true, but being heir gives and influence and personal security bonus to the guy, so it's quite good to have on young and promising characters. Generals can also build watchtowers and forts on the strategic map. The first gives you line of sight over your territory and the enemy's if it's placed on the borders, but you can't build it in enemy lands. The forts can be built anywhere and serve as hastily built defenses or to block a narrow passage like a mountain pass. If a fort is left empty at the end of the turn, it will disappear at the start of the next one. The generals' skill are as follow : Command : tells you how good of a general this man is. This boost morale to your troops on the battlefield, and will give you more chances to win autobattles. Management : How good the general is at making money while managing cities. Only one general can manage a city, but if several of them are in a single city, the game will automatically put the best manager in charge. Influence : Charisma and political savvy. Influencal characters have more bodyguards, are more likely to be heir and give a bonus to public order. Two things will influence these skills : Traits : These will tell you about a guy's personality and more. Some can be positive, like ''Good Commander'' which gives an additional ''Command'' skill point (''star'') and others will be bad, like ''Poor Trader'', which makes the character lose a point in ''Management''. Some traits have a chance to be Hereditary, meaning the father can transmit it to his sons. This tend to be random however, which can be both a curse and a blessing. Hereditary Traits comprise but are not limited to physical appearance (handsome or ugly), intelligence (sharp or dumb), temper (calm or irascible), and mental health (only seen crazy so far). Hereditary traits usually gives great boosts or awful nerfs. The ''Sharp'' trait which I praised so much gives +1 at every three skills, and more often than not your characters will be incompetent rather than good so it's important to have luck on your side. Retinue : The retinue designate a man's important personal items, pets or followers. While most of them are good and give a more or less useful onus to stats or other things, a few of them can be really bad. For example, the Priestess of Tanit in Burrhus' retinue gives him +1 Management and +1 farming output, making her useful to help a governor. A number of retinue ''items'' can be passed from one character to the other, but I think they have to be in the same army/city. As a retinue is limited to 8 ''items'' it's best to spread them out if one of your general is already ''filled up''. Finally, as a quick parenthesis before finishing this update, I'll talk a bit about my goals in this LP. My goal is simply to establish Carthaginian Hegemony. This means conquering our most bitter enemies (Numidia, Spain, Rome) and make sure no one will be strong enough to threaten the great and holy Empire. This doesn't mean I'll conquer the whole map, but if a nation is too powerful for our liking, it WILL get ye old boot right to the face. As for who will get the boot, we will see who declares war, and who we do not like. Yup, I'll heed your opinions and advices as much as possible, as long as they are reasonable of course. I think that's it, I will explain more things (like diplomacy) while playing. As for the Battle map part of the game, it's pretty self-explanatory, but I'll tell you guys about it when we will have our first battle. Thank you for reading this pile of  , I hope it was clear enough for people new to the game !
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Apr 3, 2017 11:13
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This was a lot of fun back in the day. The vanilla game had some ridiculous mechanics though, such as being unable to properly balance growth and public order once your empire got rather large, which led to a choice between not building advanced farms or slaughtering tens of thousands of your own rebellious citizens every few turns. I've played a good few mods, such as the basic one with the hugely expanded campaign map called Mundus Magnus, Rome Total Realism and Europa Barbarorum (both of which change so much about the game that it's virtually a new addition to the TW series). I've never tried Darthmod though, but I certainly heard of it back in the day. Could you provide a bit of exposition as some important changes made from vanilla?
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Apr 3, 2017 15:30
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Does this mod change the fact that you can take over the entirety of Barbarian lands with your armored war elephants with some blacksmith upgrades in arcade mode? Because that was my first VC run of Rome and will forever be dear in my heart.
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Apr 3, 2017 15:37
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I never found a TW game to match the sheer addictive properties of Rome. And I never even tried one of the major changes mods. No idea which one is the best, either. The TW thread tends to agree that Darth is pretty bad, for obvious reasons.
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Apr 3, 2017 16:08
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Neato LP so far, been a while since I've played Rome, still as good as I remember it! Also wow, didn't even realize it had a Darth mod! Do the poor Saracens(? I think it's them? The guys down in the Middle East that get ganked every game by half the world) still get roflstomped immediately? And one last thing: On the subject of blockading, clogging the enemy ports (at least in Vanilla) worked quite well, and has a noticeable impact... until the Expert difficulty AI starts pulling full stack armies and faction members out of it's rear end to try and stay alive. The high difficulty AI gets a bit cheaty. But hey, have to give it some way to not gently caress up. I've got fond memories of tacking on a unit of cavalry to my "fellow Roman allies" during their battles so that they can't pull autoresolve wizardry. (Such as the time a unit of three Julii hastati and two Equites took over Lugdunum without any siege equipment.  )Regardless, can't wait for more!
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Apr 3, 2017 17:05
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Does this mod change the fact that you can take over the entirety of Barbarian lands with your armored war elephants with some blacksmith upgrades in arcade mode? In this mod the Barbarian nations has been considerably buffed up compared to vanilla, their units no longer melt when in close range with Roman troops and can really tear a new one to any over confident general. If you play as the Gallic, Britonnic, Iberic or Germanic tribes you can use many skirmishers warbands to kill the elephants quite effectively, and there is still the old ''flaming arrow'' trick to watch the beasts trample their buddies while laughing your head off. Even if you play as the elephant master, the beasts can easily get swarmed with enemies with high moral pinning them down, while the skirmishers pelt them with javelins (yeah, the AI do not give a single gently caress about firing all of its missiles in it's own troops, as long as it kills/hurts/annoys you.), so be careful.
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Apr 3, 2017 22:28
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Das Panzer posted:Neato LP so far, been a while since I've played Rome, still as good as I remember it! Also wow, didn't even realize it had a Darth mod! Well the Seleucids starts in a better situation, from ''you're already hosed'' in vanilla to ''it's gonna be hard, but you can do it'' in Darthmod. Even an AI Seleucids can push back Pontus, Armenia and Egypt, and the player as a much more enjoyable time in the first turns. Personally I always had the ''Abraca-darmia!'' spell happening to me, so I really couldn't see a blocus effect when the enemy was sending stack after stack to cave my face in. Thank you!
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Apr 3, 2017 22:32
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Xander77 posted:The TW thread tends to agree that Darth is pretty bad, for obvious reasons. Um, they're not obvious to me.
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Apr 5, 2017 08:13
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FredMSloniker posted:Um, they're not obvious to me.
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Apr 5, 2017 09:07
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Oh, interesting. I have been on a bit of a Total War kick. I never got any of the games (Because I am poor) but they seem interesting. Maybe you could do a little bit more of an explanation on the differences between vanilla units and their modded versions? Like how the numbers have changed, and how that makes them better or worse.
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Apr 5, 2017 09:10
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Zebrin posted:Oh, interesting. I have been on a bit of a Total War kick. I never got any of the games (Because I am poor) but they seem interesting. Maybe you could do a little bit more of an explanation on the differences between vanilla units and their modded versions? Like how the numbers have changed, and how that makes them better or worse. On the numbers level it's a bit hard to explain in detait, the numbers have been raised quite a bit (for example, vanilla Iberian Infantry had 7 Attack and 8 Defense). I can tell if and how a unit is stronger or weaker than in vanilla, but I'd have a hard time doing it using numbers. To be perfectly honest I was tempted to indicate the vanilla units stats next to Darthmod units stats, but the file containing the screenshots for vanilla have been corrupted, and I'm sure as hell not going to redo all of this crap.
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Apr 5, 2017 10:22
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As far as I understand it, just about every mod makes RTW units harder to kill and break. The idea is to simulate long and grinding engagements (a real life phalanx v phalanx fight may well have lasted for hours) instead of having units get annihilated / routed the moment they are flanked / properly threatened.
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Apr 5, 2017 10:47
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Xander77 posted:As far as I understand it, just about every mod makes RTW units harder to kill and break. The idea is to simulate long and grinding engagements (a real life phalanx v phalanx fight may well have lasted for hours) instead of having units get annihilated / routed the moment they are flanked / properly threatened. I think you confused this Darthmod with Medieval II Darthmod. Having played it and seen it's weaknesses I tend to agree Medieval II Darthmod is pretty bad, especially compared to the wonder that is Empire Darthmod, in the former the Defense skill is absurdly high for every unit. Cavalry is ridiculously overpowered, I seen a single light cav unit attack from the front, maul and rout 4 of my spearmen, while losing less than 15 men.
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Apr 5, 2017 14:43
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I only ever played vanilla, and the Spanish were always a hassle in late game because by the time I got around to conquering them, they'd had a chance to develop and build huge army stacks which I had to tediously grind through.  Even if Rome is your arch-nemesis, I hope you will deliver the pleasure of kicking Spain while they're still small and weak.
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Apr 5, 2017 17:39
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 Hello everyone, welcome back ! Last time we considered our situation, now it's time to actually do something !  Sakarbal respectfully bowed his head before Hanno, who in return placed a loving and caring hand on his shoulder. The two men finally embraced each other, while their armies were merging, forming the largest force of Carthage at the moment. (Ah, now that looks (a little more) like a proper army, amiright ? Fortunately this game does not take things like ''supply'' and ''strategic map moral'' in consideration. Which means none of our guys will ever die from starvation or cold, even if you make them camp in the Alps for a few dozen years.) « -Come with me, let's walk while we speak. » said the old man. The youngster was still unexperienced, but not foolish or disrespectful enough to refuse or contest his grandfather and king's will, despite his fatigue after a long trip, from Carthage to Sicily. They were soon joined by what looked like a simple servant, but Sakarbal drew his short sword, suspicious. Hanno gently lowered his arm : « -Your reflexes are good, but save your strenght for the enemy. He is an accomplice of one of our agents. » He turned towards the man, his voice carrying all of his authority with him : « What is your message ? -Your grace, my master taught me the words he wanted you to hear, in case the enemy caught me. -Then speak ! What are you waiting for ? -Yes, my liege. »  « -Syracuse is well defended. It's walls are solid and it's commander competent. They are not too numerous, many hoplites and a few missile troops but a direct attack would be ill-advised. -Syracuse ? Noticed Sakarbal. It's a Greek City ! Spying on our allies is a treachery only the Romans would do ! -Silence ! » growled the King. The young man immediatly kept quiet, but his eyes were betraying his disgust : « -In time, I hope you'll understand what being a ruler means. » As I expected, Syracuse would be a real bitch to take right now. Not only is it's garrison rather numerous, but while phalanxes are a pain in the dick to kill even in the open field, in cities they are a whole other level of nightmare. Syracuse herself is an excellent city, especially if you take it early on to replace the filthy, decadent Greek culture with your own.)  (Dionysios is a well balanced and overall good general. We can't see his traits, for that I would have to send my spy into Syracuse herself, and even if he is good I'm not willing to risk losing him and our alliance. Spying and Assasinating are, obviously, an instant alliance-ender if your target discover your agent and identify who sent him. And they'll be pretty pissed at you for quite some time, for some reason. Now let's see who this dude is commanding.)  (Bodyguards are among the best units in every faction of the game. Very strong, endurent and reliable, their rôle is to protect your general, or die trying. Their cons are they are quite costly, generally few in numbers and these numbers depend on your general's influence. If the general they are supposed to protect die, they are automatically disbanded, as if they never existed. By the way, you guys see the little ''Experience 1'' just under the ''Soldiers'' stat ? This indicates this unit has battle experience. When a unit has experience, a little chevron will appear on it's ''unit card'', the thing allowing you to select them in game. There are at most 10 levels of experience, from nothing to three gold chevrons. A uni gane XP by killing enemy soldiers, or by being trained in higher-tier barracks. And EVERY time a unit gains experience, it will get a direct bonus of ''+1'' to Attack and Defense Skill. And they'll also have greater morale. So, a recruit Greek Bodyguards section normally has 12 Attack and 22 Defense. Which means if this dude manage to get him and his buddies all the way up to max XP, they'll have a whooping 22 Attack and 32 Defense. Also, notice the ''Hitpoints 2'' above the ''Upkeep''. This means these guys take the equivalent of two lethal blows, on the battlefield, to die. The Greek had really, really bad Bodyguards in Vanilla, at least before a certain event we'll talk about later. The mod allows them to fight 'and look like) more like Bodyguards and less like light cavalry.)   (The Hoplites, the backbone of Hellenistic armies. In vanilla Rome Total War these were frustratingly hard to kill, and incredibly funny to play as. Also with the way phalanxes worked in vanilla the enemies would just run to your Hoplites in formation and...die. Just die. Like sausages willingly running into a meat grinder, and cavalry was dying even quicker. The few ways to efficiently kill a phalanx were to counter them with another phalanx and hope for the best (or have the better soldiers), swarm them from every side with infantry to make them rout, keep them busy with a unit of infantry while archers ran behind them to fire volleys right in their backs. Now while the Hoplites are still not to be hosed with, they are much easier to defeat. Just like in Antiquity, it's the Peltasts and Archers main job to take down these bastards, preferably by firing from their flanks or in their backs. Heavy infantry is also a worthy adversary for phalanxes, but it'll take quite a long time to win (or lose) a frontal clash, and expect to suffer losses and exhaustion. The Hoplites' long spears give them a range advantage, as sword infantry will have to close in to engage, while the phalanx will be able to hit them with impunity. In CQC they have short swords, but are not nearly as dangerous with these as they are with their deadly spears. To be brief, if and when we fight the Greeks, we will see a LOT of these guys. They are tough, but not invincible. With the right tactics, we can beat them.) (Archers, mid-tier missile infantry (Slingers and Skirmishers forming the first tier), always useful to cause casulaties at long range. They are especially effective against lightly armored targets, like Peltasts over which they also have a range advantage. They can also hit cavalry pretty hard, since they make bigger targets. Archers are also extremely useful for dealing with missile cavalry. You can use also tell them to fight in melee with daggers, if they run out of arrows or to flank enemy units for example, but it's generally not worth it. Archers are precious, and they will take heavy casulaties in CQC as they are not trained for it. Their light equipment allows them to be very fast and have nice endurance, allowing them to keep their distance from regular infantry but cavalry WILL catch and maul them quickly. Cavalry is the bane of the missile infantry, so keep them safely behnd your melee dudes, preferably spearmen in that case. Archers have bonus damage against chariots and war elephants, which is bad for us, but good in case we run into enemy elephants. Yup, we do NOT have the monopoly over the monsters, and other factions can use them as well. Archers can also use fire arrows, it takes them longer to fire volleys but will lower the hit enemies' morale. It can also make the elephants (and some chariots) run amok, which is hilarious when it happen to the enemy, and horrible when it happens to you, since the elephants will become uncontrollable and start to rampage through anything next to them, friend or foe.)  Meanwhile, Ribbadi Ilera travels North. He was hoping to establish contact with the Spanish tribes, as the contacts with them had been scarce for the past few years. (Nope, I totally did not completly forget about this guy in ''part 0'', why are you asking?)   In Carthage, Hasdrubal was already planning for the years to come. The Empire already had solid troops at it's service, but it wouldn't be enough. It probably wasn't enough already. Plans to better equip and train the soldiers, especially the punic pleb, the Lybians and Iberians (forming the bulk of the army) had come to fruition. And even if the holy capital was at the moment the only place from which the new troops could be trained, soon new training facilities would be constructed in other cities. The Scutarii are very solid and reliable soldiers. With their large shield, medium armor and good combat skill, they are more than a match for most foot soldiers they'll encounter on the battlefield. Oh, and they can throw javelins, just like Roman heavy infantry throw pila. The Medium Spearmen are the poorer cousins of the Punic Infantry. They rôle is the same : protect the army's flanks, destroy cavalry, and pin down enemy units. They are cheap, effective, and reliable. They are not very quick or mobile, but that's not their job. These two units will, at least in the early part of the game, form the backbone of our armies. Teamed up with cavalry and missile troops, they'll give us balanced forces able to deal with most probable threats. Notice that, while the Scutarii are better at being front soldiers than Iberian Infantrymen, they are a lot less endurant and much slower. The best thing to do on the battlefield is to attack the enemy with the Scutarri from the front, then flank them with Iberian Infantrymen. Also the Medium Spearmen are said to have ''Excellent morale'', making them less susceptible to run from the enemy than our other units. I have no clue why it is so. With that, time to hit the ''end turn'' button for the first time ! Let's see what the game has in store for us!)  While on the road, Ribaddi met a very well dressed Spanish man, as well as a Barbarian could dress, at least. He too was on a mission to make contact with Carthage, so both men started to discuss to accomplish their respective missions. Segovax assured his fellow diplomat the Iberian king only had good intents in his mind, and immediatly proposed trade to be established between the two factions. The Barbarians were even ready to share the maps of their lands if the Carthaginians accepted to trade. Ribaddi was still suspicious despite the generous offer, but couldn't find anything that would displease his king in this offer, so he accepted. (Oooh, first contact with another faction ! Usually in the early game the outsiders will be rather friendly to you, but do not take that for an unbreakable oath of friendship and love. If they think it's in their interests, the other factions WILL stab you in the back, sometimes even if you are allied with them. And sometimes, they'll stay loyal to you no matter what, the AI can be unpredictable.) (Diplomacy is very simple in this game. Just tell one of your diplomat to talk to anything belonging to another faction : a city, an army, another diplomat. Then choose what you want to offer or ask from the faction by selecting the options on your side of the screen. We can see both diplomats' influence skill, the higher ours is and the better deals we might get, and it is countered by the ''enemy'' diplomat's own influence.)  The Carthaginian immediatly continued with a proposal of his own. The Empire was willing to share it's map with Spain, in exchange for a small fee. The beginning of the game is usually the hardest, money-wise, so it's a good thing to sell your map informations.It will reveal your cities and ports locations to another faction, and precisely tell them about the size of your empire, but in Spain's case I don't think they will ever be able to destroy us. 1000 denarii (or gold coins, Romebucks or whatever you want to call them) is a reasonable price, especially with how large our empire is.  In a split second, Segovax is angered. The proposal, offered with courteous words and genuine good will, was answered with threats. The Spanish formulated another proposal, promising war between the two factions if it was refused. Once the surprised was passed, Ribaddi noticed something. The barbarian's proposal was, in fact, better for Carthage than his own had been. Completly puzzled for a minute or so, the diplomat quickly reacted in consequences, humbly accepting Spain's offer. Deep inside, he was laughing at his collegue's poor diplomatic, or mathematical skills. That...was a surprise. I verified at least ten times to be sure this wasn't a trick to make me accept a foul deal, but no, it isn't. Sometimes the AI will do weird stuff like that, maybe my diplomat's higher influence skill has done that. SO instead of getting 1000 denarii, we'll get 1400 over two turns. Uh. Thanks, I guess. The best part is, after I accepted, Segovax was all smug and happy, like he was thinking ''Ha ha, I got you, morons !'')  After a few months, finances seemed rather solid. The towns' upgrades were helping, but it still wasn't enough. The empire's administrators continued to study for a better way to gain, and spend money. Each time a new turn begins, you'll get a serie of reports regarding what happened between the previous turn and the new one. This is the financial report, it breaks down the sources of income and spending in details. We can see Farming and Trading are the two domains giving us the highest profit, while Army Upkeep is a goddamn gold sinkhole already. We can also see that Corruption is already hurting us pretty badly, even if we have governors in almost all of our settlements. Sometimes a governor is just not enough to stop corruption in a town.   Under the direction of architects, and the whips of the supervisors, the slaves in all of the Empire build roads to connect the cities with one another and their ports. One the maps, long serpents were added, tracing ways for soldiers, travellers and merchants to follow, for more speed. The Construction Report tells you about which buildings have been completed, and where. I built roads pretty much everywhere, except in Caralis where it's proximity with Italy makes security a priority.   This kind of reports have two advantages. First, they tell us which faction is the strongest/largest/most advanced (we won't see a report about this, this turn) in the whole world, giving us valuable intel even if, strangely, we have no clue who/where the hell the report is talking about, neither how it can tell us this in the first place...seriously...are we and the other factions pretentious enough to, every time we thinks we are the best, throw flyers in the wind telling of how awesome we are, and hopes it lands on strangers' towns just so we can boast ? And second, it makes us really proud. Look at us, all strong and big ! Ha ha !  The citywatch in Lilybaeum found and tried to arrest an enemy spy. Posing as a merchant, the man was quickly identified, but he was even quicker in running away as soon as he smell smoke in the air for him. In the room he rented in an inn, the guards found enough documents to prove he was a Roman agent. Goddammit, stop spying on me ! You can't do that, only I can do that ! Let's find the bastard !  Aulus, winded and shaken, hid in the countryside around Lilybaeum. He didn't expect the guards to be this vigilant, maybe their commander wasn't as stupid as he first thought. Despite being spotted, at least he escaped with his life, and maybe he would still be able to accomplish his mission. Discovered enemy agents who managed to flee with their lives will just stand around the town they've just run away from. It's kind enraging to see them just hanging around, but it makes them vulnerable to another type of agent, the Assassin. But we don't have any yet, boo...  Yeah, we can also somehow know about the diplomatic relationships between states we barely knows exist. Realism put aside, these reports are another good source of intel.    Carthage will prevail, but men cannot do such a task alone. They will ask for their gods' favour and help, and to hope for their support, temples and priests were necessary. Tanit, the Mother Goddess and Queen of the Earth. Milqart, Ruler of the Underworld. Ba'al Hammon, the Father and Ruler of the Sky. Hear our pleas, hear our cries. Protect us from the enemies' foul divinities, shield us from their blows and schemes. We beg of you, lend us your bounties, wits and strenght. Their blood with fertilize the fields, and their lands will be dedicated to you. Temples are really important buildings, not only do they give happiness (public order) to the town in which they are constructed, but they also give a bonus (depending on which god is venerated) and provide retinue to your governors/generals, once again depending on which god is revered. See the Tanit shrine ? Wave goodby, guys. Seriously, they can be very useful in the early game with the bonus growth, since you need population to train into soldiers and to upgrade your cities, but in the mid and late game it'll come to bite you in the rear end with the strenght of a white shark. Your cities will be overcrowded, and constantly rebel from the squalor unhappiness. And the growth bonus gets ''better'' as the shrine is upgraded, so I really do not recommend building temples dedicated to Fertility godesses. Ba'al temples are extremely good. Not only do they give an amazing bonus to public order, but in their more advanced versions (starting with the great temple I think) they allow you to train one of the best unit in the game. I won't spoil, but know that I WILL train them when we'll be able to. To counter balance this, their priests are a bit lackluster in the bonuses they give to generals, but htey aren't bad either. Milqart is also the god of the merchants, I guess. His temples are best constructed in towns were there are many trade goods available, to maximize the bonus effect. His priets are focused on management, obviously. So we will build temples consecrated to Ba'al and Milquart. The Mother Goddess shun buildings that deface the Earth, her realm. We will venerate her in the beautiful gardens of our hearts, there is no need for stone and marble edifices. Yes I'm trying to justify my choice in temples, leave me alone and please Tanit do not make me flaccid as a revenge for not building anything for you.)  The Sardinians fishermen spotted something on the horizon. Boats, but not any boats. Those weren't merchants ships or Carthaginian Biremes bringing soldiers or officials. These were Roman warships, heading straight for the port. (poo poo, here comes the Julii ! We can't see what type of boats they have, but I'm pretty sure these are simple Biremes, I don't think they have the docks to construct more avanced warships. The good news is they do not have an invasion force aboard them. In this game (and in mst ''old'' Total War games) there is absolutely no limitations regarding troop transport, probably for convenience's sake. So you can transport a full stack army, 20 units, with a single Bireme if you want/is necessary... Personnally I think of it like this : the foot soldiers are using transport ships, slow and without weapons, so they refuse to go to sea without even the smallest escort. If the ship gets intercepted and sunk, then the attackers have a field day as they sink the undefended transports. I know, it's stupid, but it's less stupid than ''Yay, 2000 men on a little boat ! Let's go on an adventure !'' I think. The bad news is these dickheads will probably blockade the port. I need to bring a navy up here.)  Follwing his orders, Aqhat moved close to Messana. He decided not to try his luck and enter it, and instead gathered intel by eavesdropping and paying a few coins to the poor people in the city for informations. In the meantime, the army lead by Hanno traveled along the North coast of Sicily, and constructed a watchtower near the border with Roman territory. Not far from them they spotted a small Roman force, probably placed there as sentinels.  Oh poo poo guys, it's them...  Look at these monsters. Meet the Hastati, main line infantry of the Roman Republic, and kickers of asses. Just look at their stats and ability list, then at our own Iberian Infantry's stats, and they are almost as cheap. Granted, this hastati unit has 2 Experience levels, but it still gives a pretty good idea of their abilities. These numbers may not seem that different, but the much higher defense mean they are much tougher to kill, giving them plenty of time to use that 10 Attack stat. Even if the Hastati are rather few in a unit, they are extremely good at their job, which is to savage enemy infantry in a head-on fight. Like our Scutarri, they carry throwing weapons, namely pila, and will use them to soften (read destroy) an enemy formation before charging. Their morale makes them hard to break, even when flanked, and they have good stamina. In vanilla, there weren't any ''good'' way of dealing with Roman line infantry, except maybe heavy calvalry, but in this mod... Against them, Cavalry charges are usually very good, but DO NOT leave your horsement in melee against them. Use hit-and-run tactics. Skirmishers are extremely good too. Historically they were true killers of Roman armies, and the people who caused the Romans most damages (for a time at least) were the ones using guerrilla and hit-and-run tactics : the Samnites, the Gauls and Iberians for example. This army also has Roman archers, identical to the Greek ones we saw earlier, and Mercenary Peltasts. On Hard and Very Hard difficulty the AI will recruit mercenaries, which is annoying mostly because it prevents you from recruiting them yourself, and gives another reason to conquer some regions, for the mercenaries they can provide you. For example Balearic Slingers can be recruited in Spain, Sicily and their native Balearic Isles.  Aqhat managed to gather valuable informations on the enemy city and it's forces. He opened a small, easily concealable cage, and took a homing pigeon out of it. Soon after, the bird flew away, carrying a message for Hano. Messana is well defended, which is obvious since it's the Roman base in Sicily, and the second settlement of the Scipii family. When the ame starts the three Roman families have two settlements each, most of them in Italy. Cornelius Scipio, the Scipii leader. He is a very good general, and younger than Hanno. We do not know any detail about him, but we know enough. His son Quintus is here, but not nearly as interesting, and if we get in a fight, Cornelius will be the most worrying of the two. The pricks also recruited Mercenary Hoplites. They are a useful unit, if a bit vulnerable to heavy infantry. In the Darthmod these hoplites cannot form phalanx and have a much shorter spear than regular Hoplites, making them more like Triarii than what we usually think of as ''Rome Total War Hoplites''. Messana herself is a town with few improvements, but it's strategic importance makes her invaluable to take. Invading it will kick the Romans out of Sicily, and allow us to get closer to Italy.  Hiram Tunis is sailing towards the East. Knowing what lied beyond Sicily was of the utmost importance to have a better strategic understanding of the world. This guy's mission will be to gather information about the Eastern Powers, namely the Seleucid Empire, Pontus, Armenia, Parthia and Egytp. Probably Thrace and Scythia too. While these factions are not direct threats to us, information never hurts, and people who are too far to hurt us cannot hurt us if we sell them Map Information. Wait a minute, I think I saw something next to Thapsus...  The people of Thapsus was scared. Terrified was a more appropriate turn. Peasants rushed in the town itself for protection, while soldiers were nervously checking on their amor and weapons. Burrhus read the scouts' reports for the fifth time, even if he raised the alarm as soon as the news had been confirmed. A large bandit army was almost literally at the city's gates, apparently coming ut of nowhere. Maybe the bandit captain had planned this a long time ago. Hanno's son was much more comfortable behind a desk than on a battlefield, but the town was under his protection, and he will do his duty to the end, no matter what that end might be. His men, too, would fight like demons to protect Thapsus. Oh for gently caress'S sake ! Come on game ! The very first turn you spawn a big rebel army right next to my city ?! I call bullshit on that ! Thapsus doesn't even have a loving WOODEN STOCKADE yet ! Also, fun fact : this game, like Medieval II, does NOT have a garrison system. The army you have stationned in town will form the only defenders if the town is attacked, no free troops like in Empire or Shogun II, for example. The Town Watch is the only unit of which we can see the details now. Notice how we ourselves cannot recruit Town Watch, despite it being clearly a Carthaginian unit originally. It's because while Darthmod adds many recruitable units it also removes some of them. So no peasant armies or incendiary pigs for us, sorry ! Honestly I do not mind the departure of most units, because except from the entertainement value (FLAMING PIGS) there weren't much real use out f them. The Town Watch were good for garrisonning safe towns, but were absolute crap in combat. Rebel armies spawn randomly, will be composed of various types of units depending on which regions they spawn in and are annoying rather than dangerous, but on Very Hard they WILL attack towns if they think they can take it instead of just devastating the countryside. I do not know if they do that on Hard...i guess we will see.  While ordering the costruction of a stockade to protect the city and the recruitment of an Iberian Infantry regiment (now formed by volunteers from any origin, not only literal Iberians), Burrhus hired a unit of Lybian mercenaries to bolster his forces. They weren't the deadliest swords in the armory, but skirmishers were always useful. And if the worst was to happen, their number will be useful in melee. Lybian mercenaries are rather costly but if you use them well can be a thorn in the enemy's side. And the bandits have many Skirmishers of their own, so we'll be able to counter them a little...even if Burrhus' Bodyguards will probably do the most against them when we do fight.  Yeaaaaah, we have a SLIGHT numerical disadvantage. But Burrhus' unit is an elite force of heavy cavalry, something the enemy doesn't have. Or at least doesn't seem to have... Game. Game. Please, tell me you are not hiding powerful units behind those '' ?''. Pleaaaaaaase... Also look at this douchebag staring at my town. You can't have it, moron! IT'S MINE! Get off my lawn!   Just a quick parenthesis before ending the update, here is the financial report before, and after I put the taxes on ''High'' on most of the cities forming the empire. I left alone the cities that needed to grow quickly, or the ones under 100% public order (Palma for the first, Tingi and Cirta for the second). Do not hesitate to tax the people if you have the occasion to do so, it can make a real difference. Sigh...I knew the game wasn't going to go easy on me, but I can't say I was expecting THAT. We will try to stay clear of the Rebels for a turn at least, until Thapsus is more secured and reinforcements are recruited. In Sicily we will try to catch the small Roman army outside Messana, but the ideal would be to repel them to the city's gates, forcing Cornelius Scipio to engage us outside. We REALLY do not want to fight all of these Hastati in the streets. DarkParchment fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Apr 8, 2017 |
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Apr 5, 2017 20:56
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Looking good so far, but something I'd like to interject is that even with the extra Squalor, Wouldn't it still be good to have a couple cities with Fertility shrines, and use them as your army training centers, with other cities handling the experience and retraining for better weaponry? Even in late-game, you've usually got a large enough empire that the negatives don't really matter, anyways, unless things are changed from vanilla. Moving on from my bit of nitpicking, though, that Spanish diplomat... I can't even. that's Incredibly amusing. Silly barbarians. Also, on the subject of diplomats, did Darthmod change the bribing sheananigans any, or are they still as hilarious as vanilla? e: whoops, forgot a question mark. Das Panzer fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Apr 5, 2017 |
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Apr 5, 2017 22:43
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Wow... First turn rebel stack? Before you could even do poo poo huh. Man, this is a good start.
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Apr 5, 2017 23:11
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Oh man, Rome 1 was my life back in the day. I spent way too many hours in Rome Total Realism and Europa Barbarorum. If I wasn't so attached to some of the mechanics of later TW games, I'd jump right back in.
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Apr 5, 2017 23:12
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Das Panzer posted:Looking good so far, but something I'd like to interject is that even with the extra Squalor, Wouldn't it still be good to have a couple cities with Fertility shrines, and use them as your army training centers, with other cities handling the experience and retraining for better weaponry? Even in late-game, you've usually got a large enough empire that the negatives don't really matter, anyways, unless things are changed from vanilla. It's a very good plan, but trust me if I place Tanit shrines it will be a pain in the long run. The ''recruitment centers'' strategy you proposed is generally better for small starting kingdoms or those with few fertile lands, like the Barbarian factions for example. And even so, since the Barbarians can't upgrade their cities over ''City'' level (the third one) Squalor will also be a problem. Also for that strategy to be viable I'd need to be constantly training troops to pump out the extra population out of the cities, and enemies to kill off these troops before their upkeep suck my coffers dry. Having a large empire is, in my opinion, an even better reason not to build Fertility shrines. Before too long we will have many cities with a numerous population, and while it is tedious and money-consuming I like to try and keep all cities to the same level of upgrades, so I will be able to form my armies from many places. I know, it's probably not the best strategy but I like it, that way I won't be screwed if ''recruitment places'' get hosed. If by sheananigans you mean the ability to bribe every army/general/city as long as you have mountains of gold I think it hasn't changed. But even if I could I wouldn't do that, that would be (ironically) a cheap victory.
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Apr 6, 2017 08:36
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Doesn't Egypt have hilariously OP elite archers in vanilla? Did those get hit with the nerf bat by Darthmod?
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Apr 6, 2017 15:47
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Lynneth posted:Doesn't Egypt have hilariously OP elite archers in vanilla? Did those get hit with the nerf bat by Darthmod? Pharaoh's Bowmen are still ridiculously powerful, but since Darthmod buffed or balanced every unit I think even Barbarian units can beat them here, while in Vanilla a dozen Pharaoh's Bowmen could pretty much walk all over the Gaul, Germany and Spain in the same killing spree without breaking a sweat.
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Apr 8, 2017 05:28
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 Welcome back everyone ! Last time we met a shizophrenic Spanish diplomat, took a look at Messana and a big rebel army magically popped right at Thapsus' doors. Now let's continue, and take care of the last point...   (During the AI turn, the Romans moved a unit of Hastati out of Messana, and forced my spy to take a few steps back. Also a Numidian diplomat arrived at Cirta, but while he gestured like he wanted to negociate the Diplomacy menu didn't appear. When this happens it usually means the diplomat's faction is plotting something against you... Also the rebel stack didn't attack ! It can mean that Rebels can't attack towns in Hard, they didn't feel like it or got deterred by the new stockade and the garrison.)       Carthage's coffers were solwly but surely emptying. While the bureaucrats were nervous, Hasdrubal was confident. He knew his plans for the future were reliable, and time will prove it. Then good news arrived : a daughter was born to the family ! Protogonia was Theages' daughter, Burrhus' granddaughter and Hanno's great granddaughter. The future was solidified with every birth in the ruling family. More buildings were finished, and more soldiers were recruited. Carthage's might was growing. We are still losing money, the economical buildings we constructed have not a visible effect yet. The first turns are crucial to build up your economy for the rest of the game. A daughter is good, but I'm not gonna lie, boys are usually better in this game. Oh well, I'm not going to complain about it, welcome to the family, little girl ! Wow, she sure is a tall one for an 0 year old child ! Hiram Tunis gets an aide to be a better diplomat, while Theages and Annibas celebrates Protogonia's birth by hiring a Tax farmer each, giving us more tax money but also costing them Influence, since employing these guys isn't exactly a popular move, according to the people. Carthago Nova and Tingi have been upgraded, expanding the cities' size and allowing the construction of more advanced buildings.)  In Cordoba, a guard brought news to Theophanes. A band of marauders had been spotted near the city. They weren't too numerous, but the simple sight of this rabble managed to scare the scouts. The governor decided to keep this a secret from the population, to avoid a wave of panic. After all, the enemies weren't going to attack the city, and roads were never safe no matter when or where. If everyone kept calm, Theophanes could more easily plan to get rid of the bandits. (Dammit, another Rebel force right next to one of my town...at least this one isn't a big stack. Speaking of Rebels, let's get rid of the fuckers in North Africa!)  Burrhus and his men marched out of the city they were tasked to protect. Soon enough they met the large bandit force, and prepared for a bloody battle. The general wasn't an experienced commander, but he knew some basis, contrary to the bandit chief who barely seemed to know how to give coherent orders. The battle deployment screen will give you the basic informations about a battle that's about to happen. The colored slider is an AI estimation about your chances in battle. You have three choices, on this screen : -Fight the battle on the battle map : this will start the battle proper. -Auto resolve the battle : If you can't be bothered to fight the battle yourself or think your men will crush the enemy easily, the AI will instantly play the battle on its own, basing itself on the estimation, generals' Command skill and troop quality to calculate the outcome. This is extremely random, and I REALLY advise you to avoid doing this as much as possible. In Vanilla things such as an handful of enemy peasants destroying an army made of professional soldiers fighting for you were way more frequent than it should have, or your army suffering tremendous casulaties to take a lovely village defended by an old man and his sick dog. In Darthmod, while these ridiculous outcome are rarer, they are still there, so be wary of them. -Retreat : sometimes the wisest choice, but remember that now, you are in a very vulnerable position to be attacked, now that you are in the enemy's zone of influence and can't move away from them. Wait a second, even if the Rebels are more numerous than us, this estimation seems a bit off balance to me. Let's see what they have here...)  FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU... What's my problem you ask ? THESE GUYS :  Gladiators are, in this mode, elite mercenaries that you can recruit in Italy, Sicily and North Africa, if I'm not mistaken. They are few in numbers, very costly to recruit, maintain and hard to replace. But they hit like loving tornados. Seriously, look at these stats ! They are stronger and tougher than a Bodyguard unit ! Which means they'll take FOREVER to die, while dishing out massive amount of damage. Oh, and like Bodyguards, they have 2 hitpoints, making them two times tougher than a regular grunt. Their abilities makes them even more ridiculous. ''Excellent Morale'' will make them awfully hard to rout, and ''Very Good Stamina'' means they will be a lot harder to exhaust, allowing them to fight more efficently for much longer than refular troops. Their weaknesses are their absence of shields, making them (somewhat, what with all that armour) vulnerable to missile fire. Cavalry charges can be effective too, but use hit-and-run tactics. Leaving even heavy cavalry in melee against them will result in atrocious losses for you. To be brief, these are shock troopers, best used to shatter enemy lines while the rest of your soldiers clean up behind them. They also make wonders with siege ladders/towers, since they are superb individual fighters the top of a city's walls are the perfect arena for these men. Honestly game, go gently caress yourself. The big rebel army on turn 1 was a dick move, but now that I know that, I hereby declare it THE dick move. gently caress.You. Now that I've stopped ranting and I'm slightly less salty about that, let's go ! (to our probable deaths)  Every time you start a battle, the game does this zoom thingy with a most ominous sound. I find it pretty neat actually, and from that the later games' animations will be born. I guess. Come on guys, we won't let a general wearing a dirty floorcloth as his clothes defeat us !   Burrhus wasn't really good at military speeches, as he spent more time managing his army's supply situation and planning ahead of his soldiers' wages than preparing a motivational speech. Despite his lack of confidence in that matter, his soldiers seemed pretty eager to fight. Burrhus then focused on the task ahead, crushing the Bandit scum that were defiling Carthage's lands. (Burrhus, you pessimistic bastard. That's not how you inspire your toops ! Where are the lies about their invulnerability and the enemy weapons made of soap ? Jokes aside, your general (or captain) will make a speech before the fight begins. For most factions there are only a few variants in them,but the Romans have quite an impressive number of different speeches, including very, very obvious hints about the battle to come (''The enemy have many missile troops !'' ''The enemy cavalry can be a problem as we lack spearmen !''), and the best part is some traits will affect the speeches. I know that for sure about the Romans, but I'm not so sure about the other factions. We will see, I guess. I'll leave only the most interesting speeches, I'll pass on the others. I quickly place the troops, during the Deployment phase (you can place your troops however you want in a delimited zone before the fight proper start), in a ''standard'' formation : Infantry in a line in the front, skirmishers behind them, Cavalry on the sides.)    After a fierce fight, the situation is looking grim for the Carthaginians. Their cavalry's attack on the right flank didn't manage to break a single enemy unit as it was supposed to, and the enemy is still advancing on the infantry waiting for them. (gently caress, this is bad. The AI is very reactive, and as soon as my cav attacks their skirmishers or Round Shield Cavalry, all of the surrounding units gang up on them. As you can see I lost quite a few of my own light cav. Losses are pretty even, which is terrible when the enemy has more men than you.   But it is finally proven that bandits are no match for Carthaginian troops. Despite heavy casualties, the cavalry charges two more times and the rebels finally break and run for their lives. (Yes ! When an enemy unit routs, it's banner will blink repeatdely. In this state the soldiers doesn't even try to fight anymore, they'll just try to run off the map's limits, and any soldier can kill any routing soldier. Yup, if an elite troop is fleeing, even mediocre soldiers can cut them down very easily. It's very, very enjoyable. Routing units, before they cross the map's limits, can rally and come back to the fight. If possible, always run down large or elite enemy troops with light cav preferably to avoid this.)   While the remainder of Carthage's cavalry (both Bodyguards and light cav) engage the enemy captain's unit, the Mirmillo Gladiators attack the Lybian Mercenaries. (Blast, I hoped the mercenaries could get a volley off before getting charged...)  The bandit leaders' unit is getting decimated and the Lybians fall back and let the Poeni Infantry engage the Gladiators. (The point-blank throws managed to get a few of the bastards, but not nearly enough. )  While the rebel leader is desperatly fighting to stay alive, an light cavalryman stabs his horse from under him. The ruffian falls, and is promptly trampled by the massed horses. Soon after, the few men remaining in the Carthaginian Round Shield Cavalry rout. Despite Burrhus' orders and curses, they do not turn back while they flee towards the city. (gently caress yeah ! Once it's general is dead, an army is generally doomed, if the opponents still have what it takes to finish the job. When your general gets killed, all of your units suffers from a massive morale debuff for the remainder of the fight, making them more likely to rout and worsening their combat skills. poo poo, I really needed them to stay in the fight ! But there were only like, 20 survivors out of 108 soldiers, so it's understandable. And they did their part in killing the enemy leader. )   But on the other side of the battlefield, the fight goes horribly wrong. The disciplined Poeni soldiers, in their shield wall formation, are no match for the brutal Gladiators. Most of them are butchered on the spot, and the few survivors break and run away. Only a few of their assaillants have been killed. (Yeah, spearmen are pretty hosed against Gladiators, I'm not mad at them for running away and in fact I'm pretty amazed that they held up this long, allowing us to kill the enemy captain. Gods, look at that slaughter...you can't even see the few Mirmillos' corpses in this pile of white and death !)  While the Iberian Infantry engage the enemy Skirmishers and Town Watch in close combat, the Lybians run out of javelins to throw at the Gladiators. A good number of them have fallen, but they are nowhere close to break. The mercenaries then charge desperately at their enemies, while the Bodyguards close in from behind. (Uuuurgh...see that rear charge that's about to happen ? When it did happen, I lost more bodyguards than I killed Mirmillos. THAT'S how ridiculously powerful they are. The Lybians, unsurprisingly, got mauled quickly.) Finally, the Iberian manage to surround the Gladiators, now numbering only16 warriors. An ultimate cavalry charge (led by Burrhus and his twelve remaining Bodyguards) finally managed to win the day for Carthage.   The soldiers were exhausted, bloodied, and stunned by how many men lost their lives this day. Still, some of them rose their weapons and yelled in joy, others fell to their knees and praised the gods. Burrhus himself, amazed to be alive, lifted his blood-soaked falcata above his head, and let out a bellowing cry : ''VICTORY ! VICTORY FOR CARTHAGE !''  (Holy poo poo, we did it guys ! Yeah, our army is in a sorry state...but still better than our enemies ! Don't worry about these 262 enemies that escaped. Rebel armies, when defeated, instantly disband when you get back on the Strategic map. But when we fight other factions, it'll be best for us to kill as many of their men as possible, or they might come back later. You might notice that, on the UI, we clearly do not have the 360 men the game tells us about. That's because some men ''killed'' during the battle aren't dead, in fact. Some were knocked out, wounded, you name it. In any case we managed to save their lives after the fight, and they'll be back in our army once we get back on the strategic map.)  (Here are the details about our units' performance during battle. These are pretty self-explanatory (notice the ''Casualties Healed'' thingy I just told you about). Our cavalry, mercenaries and one unit of Iberian Infantry did most of the killing, and the Poeni Infantry got trashed while doing little damage to the Gladiators. I'm very surprised we managed to heal this many light cavalrymen, but I won't spit on that. Despite our victory and the casualties healed, we lost around 2/3 of our men. We destroyed the Rebel threat, but at great cost.)   Now that he won a battle, Burrhus felt a lot more confident about his capacities as a general, and as a soldier. His armor and falcata seemed lighter, and the orders came more easily to his mind. (Burrhus not only gained battle experience, but also a trait ! Awesome. And yup, our army is in a very bad state. I disband the surviving Poeni Infantrymen and Lybian Mercenaries. ) For their service, the survivors of the two most damaged units are allowed to return to the civilian life with honor, and settle in the town and region they fiercely defended. (While you need population to recruit units, when you disband units the region/town in which you disband them gain the same amount of population as there were men in the units in question. This can allow you to ''relocate'' populations from overcrowded to sparsly inhabited regions.)   In Iberia, Cordoba's garrison repels the bandit force from the city's outskirts. Outnumbered, the ruffians decide not to engage the soldiers and flee to the south. The problem is not resolved, only a little farther from the town's walls, but it allowed Theophanes to gather informations on the marauders. Well well well, would you look at that ! These dudes have some sense of survival ! Let's take a closer look...    Spanish mercenaries are classic line infantry with missiles, basically they are like our Scurarii. They are always useful on the battlefield, as they can beat spearmen and other line infantry. Aaah, peasants ! In Vanilla (since we can't recruit them in Darthmod) these guys were useful for three things : transfering large numbers of persons from one region to another, turn any bloodbath for your side into an HILARIOUS bloodbath as they got slaughtered while occasionally killing an enemy or two, and making the enemy towns riot. Their stats vary between the different ''types'' of peasants (''civilized'' peasants are much weaker than their Barbarian and Eastern counterparts), but just to give you an idea of how much better these are, in Vanilla civilized peasants stats were literally 1 Attack and 1 Defense.Yup. How could they do the third one ? Simply disband full stacks of peasants into enemy territory. The city will quickly be overcrowded, and rebel because of the low public order. I'll not do that tactic in this let's play, despite it being hilarious it's really, really cheap too. Naked Fanatics...behind a ridiculous name and funny images (I can't stop thinking of an agressive JW with a nail board trying to convert people) is a real threat. They were an okay unit in Vanilla, but here in Darthmod, they are lethal. Not only because of their stats. Notice the ''Can Go Berserk'' ability. (I think ''Will Go Berserk'' would be more appropriate) In Vanilla, only Germanic Berserkers had that ability. It means that whenever you send them into melee, or use the ''Warcry'' ability, the unit will go berserk. Their stats will increase dramatically, and you won't be able to control the unit before the end of the battle. The Fanatics/Berserkers will automatically attack or move to attack the enemies on the battlefield, until all of them are routed, or dead. This makes them excellent shock troopers, as their attacks will send the enemies flying. Fanatics or less dangerous than Berserkers as they aren't bulldozers plowing through your lines, but as they are much more numerous they are no less a threat to defensive units. Their main weakness is their total lack of armour, though their large shield and great defensive skill (which seems a bit high to me, for people supposed to fight without care for their own protection) makes up for it. Repeated cavalry charges and concentrated missile fire, the usual solution for melee monsters, work well against them too.) Meanwhile, the flames of war were already engulfing Sicily. Hanno and Sakarbal moved to engage the small Roman force outside of Messana, but the cowards ran. This however was exatly what the Carthaginians wanted to happen, as their enemies were now close to Messana's walls. When they engaged the army a second time,the city's garrison came to help their brothers in arms, allowing Hanno to fight nearly all of the Roman forces in Sicily outside of their base.   Hanno was itching for a fight, and this would be an excellent way to initiate his grandson to the arts of fighting, commanding, and obeying. The Carthaginians were comfortably outnumbering the Romans, but Hanno knew better than underestimate their enemies. (Hell yes, this went about as good as it possibly could. No knife fight in a phone booth with these bastards, ha ha ! Let's see what are the details of our enemies, before we kill them.)   « -Father, we are almost in range to help our men, announced Quintus. -Good. We will finally repel those barbaric child-killers into the sea. And one our family destroys Rome's most fierce enemy, all of them will see the might of our family. » (Cornelius and Quintus are both good and influential commanders. The youngest seems a bit angry to me. The ''Spartan'' trait on Cornelius doesn't mean he is actually from Sparta, but he is a frugal person with good self discipline (meaning he is more difficult to bribe, and has 1 bonus management, I think).    (Hoplites Mercenaries are, as I said in the previous part, like Triarii. They can't get into a phalanx formation but are still very good against cavalry, and canhold their position against quite a few infantry units. Velites are the Roman version of the Peltasts, and I think that's it. Not much thing to say, except they are, like Peltasts and Skirmishers, much more dangerous in this mod than in Vanilla. Mercenary Peltasts are in fact a variant of a Greek Unit, the Heavy Peltast. They carry large shields for better protection against missiles and melee attacks. They are decently skilled with their short swords and by using their speed are a great flanking unit. However they are stillvery vulnerable to cavalry.)   Hanno's plans were simple. First, crush the small army before their reinforcements could arrive. Then use his numbers to quickly overwhelm the Romans, to prevent as much damage to his forces as possible. Hanno is a lot more optimistic than Burrhus was, but he has reasons to be confident. A bit fatalistic still, but I like that trait of character with people. Ho ho ho ! Look at these elephants ! Forget the crap I said about them in ''Part 0''. It doesn't matter if they are ''first tier elephants'' they are going to rip the Romans a new one ! Or run amok and rip ME a new one, that's always a possibility.)  As soon as the battle begins, the Roman reinforcements start to enter the battlefield. If an army has an allied army nearby when it is engaged, the allies will not start in the deployment phase, but instead will have a chance to or not to come as reinforcements. It will take them time to deploy and arrive, and for the people already engaged it's a matter of surviving long enough or escaping the attackers to join up with their support.  (What the...either the Roman captain is a douchebag, an idiot, or the Peltasts Mercenaries are suicidal. Instead of, you know, throwing javelins at my elephants, using their bonus against them...they charged my beasts. With their short swords. Oh and those things in the air ? They are fire arrows. The Roman archers are trying to make my elephants run amok already. Okay whatever guys. Let's see how this works for you, when my elephants charge back at you.)  ( YUP ! ) While the army was moving into position, the Elephants trampled and sent the mercenaries flying in the air. The Peltasts got crushed by huge feet, impaled by tusks and thrown around by trunks, it seemed like the beasts were a bunch of sadistic children cruelly maiming a bunch of ragdolls.  The Elephant Drivers quickly got a hold of their beasts and directed them at the Roman archers and Hastati, charging them forward. The archers tried to escape behind their infantry, but in the end both of the Roman troops were caught by the monsters. ( HA HA HA HA ! RUN, LITTLE BITCHES ! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE MY CREATURES OF DOOM !)   (Oh man, I'll never get tired of seeing THIS. The dudes sent flying and screaming into the air by Elephants, then landing like 3 miles further back. It's beautiful.)   The Roman reinforcements, moving quickly to engage the Carthaginians as soon as possible, sent Hastati and Velites to pelt the Elephants with javelins. While the beasts started to tire, they eagerly charged the newcomers. (The neat thing with elephants is nothing can stop their charge, except a phalanx formation. If your elephants get bogged down in a fight with enemy infantry, you can just tell them to charge another unit of infantry. The elephants will just charge through the guys swarming them, into their new target. Hmm ? What about the rest of the army ? WHAT ABOUT them ? No seriously, they casually walked to their positions while the Elephants slaughtered the enemy, they are still around, don't worry.)  The surviving Roman archers from the beginning continued to shoot fire arrows at the Elephants, and several of them fell to the rain of death, cruelly burned. (HEY ! STOP THAT ! STOP ROASTING MY ELEPHANTS AT ONCE, KNAVES ! In defiance of what few knowledge I have about chemistry and science, as soon as a fire arrow kills someone in this game, this someone will instantly and entirely burn, as if he was coated in gasoline. Or maybe these are Napalm arrows.)   Meanwhile, Quintus Scipio moved to the Carthaginian lines' center, probably to probe the situation for an attack, but the Slingers rained stones on his unit, and he had to move back, leaving several dead behind. (Eat stones, dick!) He tried to attack the light cavalry on the right flank, but at this instant, Sakarbal's trap closed on the Roman general. The Carthaginian's second in command fell on him with his own cavalry unit, while Poeni Infantrymen trapped the Romans with their shield and spear wall.  The trap worked to great effect, and after losing half of his men Quintus panicked and ran away, his remaining Bodyguards in tow. (This is the best way to use spearmen : catching enemy cavalry in a swamp of spears and men. Once horsement lose their mobility, they are doomed against this kind of troops.)  On the left side of the Carthaginian battle line, the Hoplites Mercenaries pursued the Elephants that retreated there. The Numidian Mercenaries, fighting for Hanno, pelted them with javelins as they got too close. (Sorry for the ugly ''PAUSED'' button that appears from time to time. I'll try my best not to use the active pause (meaning you can issue orders while the game is paused) but very important stuff can happen very quickly on the Battle map, and I personnally prefer that than missing everything, including a good screenshot.)  As the rain of missiles wasn't enough to stop the mercenaries, the Elephants gladly gave a hand to the Numidians.  On the central part of Carthage's lines, Cornelius Scipio and his huge unit of heavy cavalry ran straight through the regular and Balearic Slingers, who swiftly retreated behind the Poeni Infantry, but not before several dozens of them were cut down on the spot. (Dammit ! I was so focused on the drat Hoplites this douchebag maimed my missile troops ! Remember kids, always be attentive to your UI and the whole battlefield, do not get tunnel vision. I love how you can still see the Elephants rampaging in the background though  ) Meanwhile, the two remaining Hastati unit were engaged, on the right side, with Iberian Infantry who charged them before they could throw their pila. (Hitting the Roman Infantry quickly is the key to suffering as few casualties as possible. They will nonetheless get a throw at your men, but will do it slowly, allowing your soldiers to cut downat least a few of them. And a dead Roman cannot throw a pilum, can he ? )    Quintus, seeing his father entangled with Carthaginian spearmen, desperately charged in an effort to support his attack. He and his horse impaled themselves on three spears. It's also around that time that the Roman captain, the one that was leading the first and smallest Roman force (now shattered), was found. His corpse was reduced to a blob of pulped flesh and crushed metal. (Here's a tip to avoid what just happened to old Quintus here : when you order your general unit to charge, use the general's ability, ''Rally''. Your general will make his horse rear and yell something, allowing him not to participate in the charge. This may sounds cowardly, but it's still much better than to lose a family member in a dumb way, because the game decided his horse tripped on a peasant and he broke his neck. This, however, can only work with the army's main general. Secondary commanders, like Sakarbal and Quintus in this battle, cannot perform the ''Rally'' ability.)  His father fought with rage in his heart, splitting a Carthaginian's skull with his gladius. Another one simply gutted his horse, and once the Roman leader fell on the ground, he couldn't get up in time that several spear points pierced him. (HURRAH ! We killed their faction leader ! gently caress YOU, SCIPII ! We're awesome, you suck ! Erm, sorry for that.)   Once their leader fell, the remaining Romans quickly lose their will to fight. Carthage's cavalry pursued and ran them down mercilessly. Sakarbal's reduced force participated too, while Hanno barely fought, his soldiers killing the Romans so well and so quickly his own participation wasn't even needed. His grandson fought bravely and cleverly, and this experience wouldn't go to waste. (Yeah, he did his job like a boss. But we all know who are the real stars here...)  Their tusks are covered in blood. Their trunks and feet are covered in blood. Only their backs aren't red with the blood of the enemies. The burning bloodlust in the beasts' eyes is matched only by the one possesing their drivers' gaze. Every man in the army now respected the Elephants with the same respect they gave to the human veterans. (I love you, my pretties. That was wonderful. We lost 5 Elephants, but I'm really impatient to see the casualties report. I think they killed at least 400 Romans on their own.)  RUN ! RUN TO MESSANA YOU COWARDS ! TELL THEM THE ELEPHANTS ARE COMING ! Oh yeah, that big red line is ''the end of the world'' on the battle map. Every routing soldier crossing it is safe from the enemy's wrath, but also won't return to fight int this battle.)  The battle was a great victory. Hanno's army barely suffered losses, while the Roman forces were nearly wiped out. The road to Messana was now open. (Oh my, that was an absolute slaughter. We lost less than 150, and less than that survived in the enemy side. Quite of few of these survivors are Quintus' and Cornelius' Bodyguards, which means they'll disappear from the strategic map. There are good chances the whole Roman army will be shattered. When few soldiers survive a battle and their general is dead, there is a good chance the army will simply be destroyed once we get back on the strategic map, which would be awesome for us, as these survivors will protect Messana if they are still there.)  (The cavalry did very well, the Slingers too. The Infantry didn't get many kills, but they still did their part. And ha ha ha ha ha ha HA look at that kill count on the Elephants ! Almost 600 kills ! That's almost half of the enemy forces ! Too bad we lost five of them we can't replace before... Wait...am I...am I reading this right ? )  (What ?...it can't be...)  We healed 4 of our Elephants ? We only lost 1 ? … Ha... Ha ha... HA HA HA HA HA HA ! I HAVE LEGENDARY ELEPHANTS ! I HAVE KHORNE ELEPHANTS ! NO, I HAVE BETTER THAN THAT ! GAZE AND DESPAIR, ENEMIES, FOR I HAVE BOATMURDERED ELEPHANTS!)   Hanno won much glory for this great victory. A shieldbeared joined his retinue, and he took an Eagle of Rome from the Roman leader. This was a glorious trophy for him, and a symbol of disgrace for Rome. (I think the ''+1 valour to bodyguards'' raise the morale of Hanno's unit, allowing them to fight better, and the Eagle of Rome has only one use that I know of : it gives Hanno the trait ''Eagle Taker'', giving him more influence.  With all of their defenders dead, the citizens of Messana are powerless to stop the army of Carthage. The soldiers enter the city, and soon after the Roman banner is replaced by Carthage's, on the governor's villa. Despite the soldiers eagerness to seize valuables, Hanno forbade any act of pillage. The city was to be occupied, not looted or razed, and the civillians were to be respected. This disappointed some of them, especially the mercenaries, but the great victory helped maintain happiness in the ranks, and their discipline and their general's aura were enough to keep them in check. The only looting was of the governor's coffers,who was quickly disposed and thrown out of the town, for he had been ruling the town in Rome's name. The town's citizens, surprised and delighted by this most civil conduct, seemed to already appreciate Carthage's rule, just like Hanno planned. Carthage could enforce her reign, but it was much more intelligent to be liked by the local population. The construction of a shrine of Ba'al is immediatly ordered, to convert this good people to the best culture in the world. (Each time you capture a city, you get to choose her fate. You can occupy it, which will give you a bit of money but will spare it's population and leave it's buildings intact. It can be problematic if the population do not like you, however it's the best solution in the long run, as you won't need for the population to build up again and you won't have to repair the buildings. You can enslave the population, which will deport half of the city's inhabitants across your empire, spreading them around. This will grant you more money, but will raise public unrest in every town that'll receive slaves (every town with a governor I think, I never use this option so I don't know for sure). And finally you can exterminate the population. It does what it says on the can, you'll kill around three quarters of the inhabitants, get the most money and most public order (strangely the survivors will all of the suddent become much more cooperative once you slaughter most of their family/friends), but it'll damage some buildings and outright raze some of them (ports for example). The city will take a long time to recover. As the inhabitants of Messana were rather cool with us (probably thanks to our big army) I decided to spare them and their city. After all they are Sicilians more than Romans, and we want Sicily to be part of our core domain.) I think that's it for today, next time we'll decide if we get rid of the bandits in Spain, and we'll plan/accomplish our next move. See you guys !
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Apr 8, 2017 06:27
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Elephants OP, Pls do not nerf. I mean, holy poo poo, that group of Elephants just murdered their way through half the enemy army. Those things are terrifying. That you got 4 of them back from being BBQ elephant is just... well, kinda weird, but hey. Free elephants... From Boatmurdered.
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Apr 8, 2017 07:34
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From my experience in vanilla, chariots / elephants rampaging through their own lines toss people around, but don't actually kill them. Also, proofread your updates. There are 4-5 fairly obvious errors in every post.
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Apr 8, 2017 09:31
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Xander77 posted:From my experience in vanilla, chariots / elephants rampaging through their own lines toss people around, but don't actually kill them. The worst part is, I do proofread them. I'm not doing it well enough, apparently.
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Apr 8, 2017 16:44
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 Welcome back everyone. Last turn we got rid of the Rebels next to Thapsus, and dealt a decisive blow to the Scipii Romans by taking Messana, killing their faction leader and his son. Now let's clean up.  Admiral Thero finally caught up with the targets he followed since he left the port of Lilybaeum. The two Roman ships were heading straight towards him. With a grin, the commander barked orders to the crew to prepare for ramming speed. (The Romans attacks us on sea ! In this game naval battles can only be auto-resolved, I think Empire Total War was the first of the serie to introduce playable naval battles.)   The fight had been hard, but the Carthaginian sailors and marines were victorious in the end. Both forces suffered terrible casualties, and their ships were damaged, but the Romans were the ones who had to flee. (I don't think there is, actually, a ''ship hull'' stat somewhere in the game codes, I'm just saying that for narration's sake. Anyway, these guys will be heading straight for the nearest port for repairs/replenishment.)  (Oh look, the Romans pulled a general out of their asses to lead the remaining troops they have in Sicily. No seriously, when you have a shortage of generals there is a chance the game will offer you to adopt someone into your family. But in this case the dude should have spawned with his benefactor, who is (obviously) in Italy. So...I don't know how they did that.)  Hasdrubal watched with satisfaction as many bureaucrats were fondly reading again and again the financial reports. Just as he planned, Carthage was now making more money than she was losing, all thanks to his clever plans. (Hell yeah, the financial situation is improving ! The plan ''focus everything on economical buildings'' is risky, especially for small factions, but it pays off greatly when it works. )   (You know what ? I'm actually happy to know the Seleucids just took our place as the ''Strongest Faction''. Because in Vanilla, at this state, the Seleucid Empire would already be half dead, desperately trying to protect itself from all the surrounding countries wanting a piece of this huge Eastern cake. At least here they are doing decently good...for now. The ''Most Advanced Faction'' is, I think, how advanced your cities and buildings are, tier wise, but don't quote me on that.)    (Nothing terribly exciting to report. Scythia and Thrace are way too far away from us to be a help or a bother, so while it's nice to keep an eye on them we shouldn't care too much about what happen to them.)  The citizens of Cirta were unhappy. For now they were still under control, but the situation could worsen in a matter of months, or weeks. And all of Gisgo's efforts to find the source of the problem failed, as his agents couldn't gather enough informations to unveil it. While he suspected foul play from another faction, the governor had no evidences. So he settled on a solution that always was and always will be effective in easing the people's anger : lowering the taxes. (I'm with Gisgo on this one guys, Public Unrest is waaaaaay too high for my liking. And I double-checked, it's not a problem with the governor himself (some bad traits your generals can have will decrease public order), so it must be a spy. My money is on a Numidian spy, but I can't recruit spies to help with counter-intelligence in Cirta yet, I need a market. For the time being I can't do anything about him, but this snake won't be able to hide for long.)  Sakarbal and his men closed on their enemies. Hanno gave his grandson the task of ridding Sicily of the last Roman presence, and gave him a small force to command in order to eradicate the Scipii soldiers. It was the young man's occasion to show his worth, not as a second in command, but as a proper general. (Let's see how this whole ''joining the family while stranded in enemy lands work for you, buddy. Two spearmen for the Bodyguards, two sword infantry for the Hastati and Sakarbal to support them, I think this force will do just fine to kick the Romans' asses.)   The Carthaginian maneuvered to surround the Roman infantry. Their enemies stood still, watching them move around. Sakarbal was confused by this total lack of reaction. Did they wish to surrender ? (So far so good...but I don't like it. Normally the AI should react very quickly to my movements.)  All of the sudden the Romans let out mighty warcrys, and their cavalry and footmen charge with the strenght and the swiftness of a devastating wave. Taken by surprise, the Carthaginians engage their enemies and fight back. (gently caress ! These little bastards got me, and they got me good. They waited for me to get ready for attack when suddently they launched their own assault. This heavy cav is going to inflict some heavy damages on my Iberian Infantry, and the Hastati charged without throwing their pila just to get to my spearmen. That'll teach me how good underestimating the enemy is, poo poo...at least I managed to thwart the Marcellus' charge by telling my Infantry to pull back. )   Sakarbal swiftly flanked the Roman cavalry, while his second regiment of spearmen engaged them from the front, alongside the Iberian Infantry. Stuck between the hammer and the anvil, the Romans kept on fighting bravely.  Meanwhile, the second unit of sword Infantry managed to start envelopping their own enemies, using their superior numbers and lighter equiment to good effect. (See that Iberian infantryman all alone behind the Hastati, and the corpses in front of him ? He did it himself. The guy did his own flanking maneuver, and is cutting down the Romans by stabbing and slashing them in the back most eagerly.)   After a fierce fight, the Carthaginians finally managed to strike down the young Roman leader. With the main target killed, Sakarbal and his Bodyguards rushed to finish the Hastati. These men, completly surrounded, fought desperately until an opening in the Carthaginian masses pushed them to try and run for it. (When a unit of soldiers is surrounded (and I mean with literally no path to run away that isn't blocked by angry men trying to kill them) they will start ''Fighting to the Death'' which means while technically they are routing they will continue to fight until a path to safety offers itself to them. To avoid unnecessary casulaties, leave them a way out of the fight. THEN kill them while they are on the run.  Only a single Roman horseman managed to escape. Without an army, without a way to get back to Italy, one can only guess what will happen to him in the future. (As soon as we get to the strategic map he'll be disbanded, duh !)   While his men cheered and gathered the dead to burn them, Sakarbal spat in the grass. His first fight as the man in charge didn't go as planned, and he lost way too many men for his liking. (Yeah, I hosed up pretty badly on this one. We lost more men to the Romans than we did in last part ! Oh well, at least we got rid of the parasites that were defiling our lands.)  (In the last update I said ''Eagle Taker'' gave Influence, but in fact it gives Command. My bad ! Also I also made Burrhus build a Watchtower south of Thapsus, to watch over the Numidians' lands and to be sure nothing fishy comes from here.) Well that was a short update ! Now we have some kind of a dilemma here. Now that we kicked the Romans out of Sicily, our army here is pretty useless. So we have several choices. We can either ship them out of the island and send them to another region, OR we could acheive the conquest of Sicily...by taking Syracuse, which means betraying the Greeks.
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Apr 9, 2017 16:08
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 Hey everyone ! We are now entering a rather calm phase in the game, at least for us proud Carthaginians, so this update will be short, just like the previous one. Do not get used to them, anything may happen at any moment in this game and we could be thrown into a shitstorm in a single turn. For now, let's enjoy the slow pace !  The observers were positive on this : the battle had been fierce, and many men died. But in the end, the Romans prevailed and consolidated their beachead, no doubt to prepare the arrival of their reinforcements. (WOW important stuff happened during the AI's turn ! An army of Brutii Romans landed not too far from Syracuse, and the Greek army outside of the city attacked them. They lost however, and retreated to Syracuse. Goddammit ! I'm sure the Scipii went to their cousins/brothers/whatever to beg for help ! And the Brutii, seeing an opportunity to shine where the Scipii were humiliated, jumped on the occasion !)  (And the Scipii are bringing in reinforcements ! On their own two Hastati units aren't really menacing, but if they stick with the Brutii they'll support them.)     (We're still in the red money wise. We're making profit, but barely. Oh and get used to ''Roman faction declared war to/made peace with a faction with which the other Roman factions are at war'' part in the diplomatic relations report. Every Roman faction have it's own diplomats, but they are allied with each other, and this alliance has priority over their interests as individual factions. Which means when a faction is at war with a Roman family, it will be at war with EVERY Roman factions, like we are. And even if you make peace with one of them, they'll automatically declare war on you the very next turn.)  Word came to Carthago Nova that Spanish soldiers were trespassing in the region. While not enemies yet the Barbarians were openly insulting Carthage by making their soldiers walk without authorization. Their plan was most probably to attack the city itself, so civilians and soldiers alike started to prepare for an assault. (Why hello there ! How are you doing ? Can I help you with anything ? Do you want some tea and biscuits while I DISMEMBER YOU AND SEND THE PIECES BACK TO YOUR FAMILIES ?! Erm, excuse me. This Spanish force is small, but they are indeed trespassers. While the priority is still to strenghten our position in Iberia before going on the offensive, and we are still at peace with the Spanish, if they do what they'll probably going to do and attack us, or if they stand around for too long, I'll...tell them...that they are not welcome.)  The Roman force threatening Syracuse was more of an expeditionary corps than a true invasion army. Hanno guessed they were probably opening the way for more soldiers, still in Italy at that time. (Let's take a look at the guys leading this ''Sicily Korps'', if I may say.)   (Amulius is a beast. He is an amazing Commander, has more than decent Influence and even has some abilities in Management. The ''Night Fighter'' trait means he can initiate night battles, which has the advantage of preventing the enemy from having reinforcements, except if the leader of the reinforcing army is also a Night Fighter. ''Local Hero'' tells us this dude already won at least a few battles, so not only is he amazing, he is also experienced. His brother (or cousin) Aulus is less amazing, but still pretty awesome, look at this Influence. He is the faction heir, killing him would throw a wrench in the Brutii's inner politics.)  (The Equites here are the only cavalry unit the Romans can recruit, at least for a long time. They are decently balanced, light cavalry effective at killing missile infantry, running down fleeing enemies and excels at hit-and-run tactics. Their spears give them a great ''Charge Bonus'' to their Attack, and also makes their charge more effective against cavalry. Generally, Equites are better than our Round Shield Cavalry, but fewer in number and much more expensive, look at that recruitment cost !)  The Greeks may have been beaten, but they are far from broken. Protected by Syracuse's solid walls, they are regrouping and preparing for the next fight. (drat, they took some heavy losses. Taking the city would still be a pain (thank you Hoplites) but would be much easier, now that the Romans have weakened the defenders...)  (Say hello to Cleon, Dionysus' son, who celebrated his 16th birthday at the worst possible time. Or in the worst possible city.) Now it's time to take a decision. Either we let the Greeks and the Romans kill each other, but we do not know what'll happen in the next turns so sitting back and waiting might not be the best idea. Or we help our allies like civilized people, which means it'll be harder for us when we make a move to invade Syracuse. Because I want this city. I want it like YESTERDAY.
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Apr 10, 2017 07:36
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Meh, kill the Romans. Take Italy THEN betray the Greeks. Or don't betray them and just set up a bunch of trade. Either or.
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Apr 10, 2017 07:37
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In-engine and in-universe, the right thing to do is to assault the Roman army, have the Greeks join the attack, wait until the Greeks are annihilated, then take down the remaining Romans.
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Apr 10, 2017 09:24
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The question before Carthage should be, as always for Carthage: what will make us the most money?
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Apr 10, 2017 21:31
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 Welcome back everyone ! I've made my decision about our future plans, after taking your wise advices in account, and it's so simple it can be summed up in three words : gently caress the Romans. I'll explain in detail, at the end of this update, why I took so long to focus on what looks like an obvious strategy.   The marriage was, according to everyone present, a success. Burrhus welcomed his son-in-law in the family, while everyone feasted and celebrated. (A dude wished to marry Burrhus' daughter. Since he is young and with a couple nice traits, I gave my benediction. Not that we really need another general, but with some luck he'll develop his Management skill, and more money is always good. Plus Tingi needs a governor. Also I love the look on his face. He seems absolutely shocked and terrified by something beyond our imagination.)   (Oh Spain, you motherfucker. Notice how the whole ''act of war'' thing about assasinations and espionage only works when YOU do it to the AI. The AI can gleefully send hordes of killers and spies into the arms of your counter-intelligence dudes, there won't ever be war unless you declare it yourself.)     (Constructing buildings, recruiting men, you know the song. The diplomatic relations scroll has something mildly interesting for us. Pontus (a faction situated in modern-day Turkey) is now allied to the Greek Cities. My guess is the Pontics are probably trying to drag the Greeks into a war with the Seleucid Empire.)   The countries around Carthage are finally revealing their true colours. The Spanish are about to beseige Carthago Nova, while the traitorous Numidians march towards Thapsus. (Wow, am I glad I built this watchtower ! Yeah, I knew this dickheads were going to do something like that sooner or later. Last time I played as Carthage they started by attacking Corduba for the Spanish and Tingi for the Numidians.)   Hanno pursued the Romans relentlessly. Amulius, his men and the Scipii reinforcements were now trapped : the sea was blocking them from the South, while the Carthaginians and their Greek allies were coming in from the North. Both sides prepared to fight, the attackers to help their allies and the defenders to survive. (Yeah, I wasn't going to wait here and let my buddies get screwed without doing anything. For now, we are the Greeks' allies, and we will honor this alliance. Hanno broke the Roman siege of Syracuse, and attacked the Scipii. This drew both Amulius' and Dionysus' armies into the fight. Battles in which you have an AI faction helping you (or two different AI factions fighting against you) are a rarity, and I wasn't going to allow the Greeks to sit this one through while we destroy the Romans.)   (But before that, let's see two units we have yet to discover ! Darthmod adds a second type alongside the Vanilla Hoplites. Traditional Hoplites are more offensively-minded Hoplites than the regular ones, with higher Attack but lower Defense. They still fight in phalanx, but their spears are shorter and heavier, and they fight better with their short swords than their more defensive counterpart. Militia Hoplites are drat good for a ''levy unit''. They are basically Hoplites with lower stats and morale. But correctly used and put up against enemies they can handle, these guys won't have any problems to hold the line.)   (Oh what the gently caress game, why are you putting a big rock right up in my face ?! I love this game's attention to details. Here we can see ruined buildings (drat you Romans!) and, beyond the forest, the Roman boats the invaders used to come.)  The Carthaginians cheered when they saw the Greeks entering the field. Their allies will take some time to arrive in the battle proper, but for any soldier it's always good to know help has arrived. (Dionysios' army is quite far away from us, and Amulius' troops also entered the battlefield to the East of our position. Our own men will maneuver while our allies join the fight.)  While most of Carthage's men moved, Sakarbal's unit got closer to the Romans, to distract them and deal as much damage as possible. The Velites surprised him by charging his cavalry force with their daggers. (Wow, apparently the Roman armies are filled with skirmishers who always wanted to be spearmen or line infantrymen. Sakarbal, go crush these dumb fucks.)  (With the Greeks trying to get in position like we are, it's a big clusterfuck here. Thank god soldiers can just push each other to go where they want to, or the pathfinding issues would be atrocious.)  (Speaking of atrocious parthfinding what in the HELL are you guys doing ?! Hugging the rock won't save you from my light cavalry!)  A unit of Hastati move towards the Elephants, no doubt to use their pila on the beasts. Hanno smiles serenely as he gives the beasts the order to attack. (''Frightened by Elephants'' you say ? Nah, you're not scared yet. Give my Elephants a few seconds.)  (Hip hip hurray, it's Roman Stomping Day !)  Amulius and Aulus got into the fight to support their Hastati, fearlessly charging the Elephants. Hanno's and Sakarbal's units, supported by the Greek infantry, joined the melee. (Oh poo poo ! They are trying to isolate some of my beautiful monsters !  The AI as a decent chance of doing some big damage if I allow it to do that. Retreat!)  Soon the Roman leader is surrounded, and he falls like his men. (And that's one big problem down ! Now to take care of the second big problem.)  The Carthaginian and Greek Cavalry pulled back, leaving the Hoplites to deal with Aulus' unit. The armored footmen did what they do best, and mauled the Roman Horsemen. (Look at that mess, the crows will fatten greatly by the end of the day.)  (Do you see that dude with the red cape in the bottom of the screenshot ? That's Aulus, trying to flee the battle. Sadly for him I placed Hanno and his Bodyguards to intercept him, and he'll most likely receive a spear in the face right about...)  (Now!)  With their general and his second in command dead, the Brutii soldiers quickly break and try to make a run for it, but the allied forces' cavalry slaughter most of them.  Against all odds, the Scipii Romans are still fighting. Despite their bravery, the situation is literally hopeless. (As we can see here, the Hastati are actually beating the Hoplites. That's because the Greeks had to run for a long time to get there and are now ''Exhausted'', explaining their poor fighting abilities for the present.)   As soon as a unit of Iberian Infantry gets behind the Hastati, their morale crumbles. Their captain is killed, and the few survivors are mercilessly hunted down by the Carthaginian Cavalry.  (Even in death the Elephants look badass. Look at this one, surrounded by the corpses of his enemies, and with his driver's body right next to him. Rest in peace, buddy, you earned it.)   The Greeks and Carthaginians cheered, while they congratulated and patted each other in the back. The men couldn't understand a single word of the other's language, but it mattered little as they drank and laughed together. Only Hanno and Dionysus seemed to show restraint, while still sharing courtesies, salutations and thanks. The leaders knew alliances were fragile, and maybe in a few weeks the same men that were celebrating their victory together will be killing each other. (That was a rather short but intense battle ! Except for that one Iberian Infantry unit, all of our infantry did nothing but scratch their balls during hte fight. Most of the merit belongs to the Cavalry, and of course the Elephants. Even if I used them scarecely due to the woods, they still managed to kill around a quarter of the enemies. Though no magically healed Elephants that time, boo.)  (It's the second Roman Eagle that Hanno takes in battle, and his Command skill is rising in consequence. Too bad he'll die of old age (or in battle) soon, we won't get to use his traits and skills for too long.) As I said in the beginning, our target number one is Rome. Or, to be more accurate, the four Roman factions (Scipii, Brutii, Julii and Senate). What made me hesitate is an hidden event. Don't worry, it's not a bullshit script allowing the Roman to spawn a huge army of doom in a single turn, it's something called the Marian Reform. Historically, Gaius Marius reformed the military system of Rome, mostly to save the city from the Cimbri and Teutons but also for his own interests. The Roman military was completly changed, and the old system, based on the social classes of the Roman society disappeared and was replaced by a system of conscripts and volunteers, forming the well-known Roman Legionaries. In Rome Total War Vanilla, the Marian Reform Event would completly change the Roman unit roster, remplacing the Hastati for example by Early Legionary Cohort and upgrading the Roman Bodyguards. This also had an effect on the other factions, upgrading their own Bodyguards. In Darthmod, the Marian Reform will change the roster of many factions, not just the Bodyguards. The Barbarian Factions are the ones who, in my opinion, profits the most from it, adding many powerful units to their rosters. Even the Carthaginians gets at least three additional units, the Early Carthaginian Legion, the Carthaginian Legion and the Secret Police Enforcers, heavy infantry units. To trigger the event it is required that an Imperial Palace (the ultimate form of government building, upgrading a city to it's final tier, the Huge City) is constructed in Italy, and Rome isn't a valid place to trigger the Marian Reform. I was scared that, by killing the Romans too soon, we would condemn ourselves to stay in the pre-marian military state. It would ruin an aspect of the campaign, since many of the AI factions would be stuck without a whole bunch of their units. And we wouldn't get our awesome Carthaginian Legions, seriously doesn't that sound rad as gently caress ? So I decided to give it a try and invade Italy anyway. Maybe we can build the Imperial/Royal Palace and trigger the event on our own ? Maybe only the Romans can do that ? We shall see for ourselves. Now that I spat out my load of , let's talk in a clearer way.Hanno's and Sakarbal's army, after a bit of preparation and mustering of reinforcements, will invade the South of Italy, to kick the Brutii out of their home cities, Tarentum and Croton. Meanwhile the diplomat that's almost in Greece will scout for us, and assess the situation there. If the Greeks are getting crushed by the Romans, we might have to intervene, may it be by defending our allies or betraying them, to prevent the Romans from seizing and using their lands against us. In Iberia and North Africa, we will continue to build up our bases and recruit soldiers to form some defensive armies. When the Spanish and Numidians attack us, our priority will be to protect our holdings. If possible we will take the fight to them, but most of our ressources will be directed against Rome. That's all for now, see you !
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Apr 11, 2017 04:46
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Elephaaaaaants!! On the note of Marius' reforms, I do believe it needs to be a Roman faction building the palace. You could vassalise one of them I suppose?
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Apr 11, 2017 14:48
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Getting an itch to dig up my old CDs now... too bad my current computer doesn't have a CD drive. Careful with elephants, once they have tasted blood they will never be fully tamed.
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Apr 11, 2017 17:56
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DarkParchment posted:On the numbers level it's a bit hard to explain in detait, the numbers have been raised quite a bit (for example, vanilla Iberian Infantry had 7 Attack and 8 Defense). I can tell if and how a unit is stronger or weaker than in vanilla, but I'd have a hard time doing it using numbers. If you dont think it to presumptuous, I took the liberty. Darth Mod on the Left Vanilla on the Right Bireme  Iberian Infantry  Round shield cavalry  Slinger  Skirmisher  Poeni Infantry  Elephant  War Elephant  Balearic Slingers  Numidian Mercenaries  That should do it for the introductory chapter. More to follow if you like
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Apr 12, 2017 01:33
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Ikasuhito posted:If you dont think it to presumptuous, I took the liberty. That's amazing! thank you very much for your help!
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Apr 12, 2017 01:42
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 Good day everyone ! Last time we fought side by side with the Greeks, in order to protect Syracuse from a Roman attack. Now let's see what the game has in store for us.     (Ha ha, look at all these buildings we just constructed, they'll bring us juicy, delicious Romedollars to spend on juicy, delicious men !...that came out wrong.)  (Oh look, the Numidians sent a general to lead the attack on our lands ! Good, we'll send his head back to his family in a pretty little gift basket.)  Another Roman force, much smaller than the last one, landed in the same spot Amulius and his troops used a few months ago. They were probably meant to reinforce the first group, however they are now on an enemy island with no direct support. (Stubborn little fuckers, aren't they ? Well Hanno needs to get back to Messana, to replenish his troops and prepare the invasion of Italy. We'll let the Greeks trample these morons.)  The Spanish army, while at Carthago Nova's gates, wasn't actually troubling anyone. They didn't harass the travellers, didn't pillage the countryside, didn't do anything agressive, as if they were just camping there to admire the scenary. (''Hey guys ! We're just here on a vacation trip ! Whaaaaat ? No ! We totally aren't invaders ! These aren't weapons, these are kitchen utensils !'')  (I also make TerrifiedFace, Burrhus' son in law, build watchtowers as he advances towards Tingi. We have huge provinces in North Africa, and it's always good to keep an eye on the regions as a whole, not only the cities controlling them.) Boy that was a dull turn !   (So a new turn begins, and WHAT THE gently caress HAPPENED HERE ?! The Greeks attacked the Brutii during their turn, and look at the result ! The Greeks got TRASHED! And the Romans only lost a few of their dudes ! I'm seriously reconsidering our alliance with the Greeks. If they can't get rid of such a pitiful force with overwhelming odds in their favor, they might be an hindrance rather than a help. And if a burden they are, I'd rather have their cities in my posession rather than let the Romans have them...)      (WHOA WAIT A SECOND ! Is the diplomatic scroll saying the Egyptians are now at war with Numidia ? That's REALLY important. Normally Egypt will usually go after the Eastern Factions, especially the Seleucid Empire. But here, they decided to go Westward. And guess who's to the West of the Egyptians, after the Numidians ? BINGO, THAT'S US ! This calls for a change in plans. We will continue to focus on the Romans, but now taking as much of the Numidian territories as possible is a very important objective as well. I think modern-day Lybia is already hosed, once they want something the Egyptians do NOT gently caress around and send everything at it, but we can secure at least the rest of North Africa, excluding Lybia of course.)  At long last, the diplomat arrived in Greece. The land looked both savage and beautiful, and many things in Carthage were born here, from where strong men could probably rule the world. But everything changes in time, and now, the Greeks had most serious contenders for domination over the known lands. (Here we are, and at least the Peloponnese looks secured, and Sparta have a decent garrisson apparently.)  ( Woooow, I take that back. Sparta is WONDERFULLY defended. See these two Hoplites units with that badass look ? These are Spartan Hoplites. I don't think I need to add anything to make you imagine how fearsome these guys are, when you face them on the battlefield.)  The scouts reported that the Numidian army heading towards Thapsus was nowhere to be found. Burrhus was relieved, and quickly focused on his task : raising troops to form a proper army, in order to take the fight to the Numidians. (Yup, these dudes are gone, they are probably going to Lybia to face the Egyptians. I do not think they'll really make a difference, but at least they are trying to help.) Well I can't predict the future, but you guys can expect more agressive operations on our part in North Africa, as soon as we can organize them.
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Apr 12, 2017 08:23
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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?
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Apr 12, 2017 10:25
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