Roma - Fledgling State to Mighty Empire

[CaesarAugustus]

What a surprise it would be if you sent a diplomat and found out it was actually the Yellow Death who had eaten up the Seleucids along with Pontos and Hayasdan... actually, I wouldn't be surprised ... and regarding QuintusSertorius's comment about the Balearic Isles never being invaded, there was a point in my 1.0 campaign where I was suffering near-yearly invasions of the Isles by Kart-Hadast... strange...

[QuintusSertorius]

QS - I know it's not historically accurate to do it this way (bringing units back to Italy to 'retrain'), and that your suggestion of bringing new replcements from Italy to "the front" to merge into existing units is the way it was done most likely, but in the "game" world don't you lose experience levels by merging units?

Depends how big your losses are, but often you do.

I don't mind, personally, it's not like the legions of old were permanent standing forces anyway. Even though veterans were often mobilised repeatedly, there wasn't much by way of knowledge transfer, only long service together would turn them into an efficient force.

Back in terms of gameplay, it makes battles a little harder by not slowly being able to build up stacks of many-chevron-ed veterans. Plus it does allow your armies to venture much further from home without having to worry about how you're going to ship an entire army from an active front home.

[Illian the Mediocre]

Only problem being that you'll have to send your reinforcements well protected or you risk losing them, do you really want to send a whole army everytime you want to reinforce old troops. Actually yes, this would be my preferred way of doing it. If you can afford to have that number of men running around. Still less risk of losing a newly conquered province if you had to send your men home to retrain.

[QuintusSertorius]

Send them by ship; you don't need a whole army, just a unit for each set depleted. I usually only send replacements for the Roman core, replacing the allied bits with local troops. In Spain I'm slowly replacing the Bruttians and Samnites with Spanish troops, for example.

Why wouldn't you be able to afford it? In my game I've got three full stacks active, plus reinforcements even after losing several provinces (including one homeland, core one in Capua).

[thelord]

POST TEN - ARSE & THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR

221 BC, Arse is still controlled by rebels, so I decided that I should expand there sooner rather than later, as it would not start any wars and I could build up on the peninsula before I had to fight any major wars over there. Also I sent a diplomat to the AS to see how much land they controlled, and they are absolutely huge! I'm actually quite glad at this as I am sick of fighting the Ptolemaioi.



Once I had taken the city I decided to build it up for a while before starting any trouble with the Lusotanians and Carthaginians. However my arrival on the Iberian Peninsula aroused a lot of suspision amongst them and they sent an army each several years after I took they city. Luckily I had sent 2 legions over for the invasion with a 3rd on the way.



Thankfully it didn't come to having to defend Arse from the other occupants of Iberia, they seemed to be heading for Emporion to the north. However since my arrival Kart-Hadast kept making demands of money and territory of me with threats of war. I kept deciding to call their bluffs and they didn't act on their threats, however I was sending more troops over to begin the second punic war and take Mastia.



Once my latest legion arrived in the region, under the command of a young aristocrat from Roma, I decided to declare war of Kart-Hadast. They had two very large armies in the area so things were reasonably balanced.



It was the classic scenario of numbers vs skilled troops. The fact that the first army charged without waiting for the 2000 odd troops behind them was idiotic though.



If my army has some triarii in it then I place them infront of 2 lines of infantry units, I put them in guard mode which makes them extremely tough, almost like a phalanx.



As the battle goes on however, I have to engage the supporting infantry to defend the flanks or to attack the enemies rear.



After a while the 1st army pulled back to join the second one, so I advanced forward to face the remainder of the Carthaginian force.



They were split up all over the place and the rest of the battle was merely mopping up the remainder of the enemy force, I lost just over 600 troops in the battle, compared to 2000 for Kart-Hadast. A Crushing defeat which earned me a famous battle site on the map and also the opportunity to march south to Mastia.

[hrrypttrbst]

Very cool that you destroyed the two carthaginian army's and it truly was a crushing defeat for them.

[thelord]

POST ELEVEN - BATTLE FOR MASTIA

Shortly after the outbreak of the second punic war in Iberia, I sent a stack with a promising 19 year old general in charge south to begin to apply pressure of the Karthadastim by Mastia, which the AI has for some reason made their capital, even though it is towards the edge of the area they control and not in the middle like it usually is. Anyway they had another stack inside the city with some capable troops in, I am particularly impressed with the Iberian Heavy infantry who managed to chop a big chunk out of some principes in a previous battle. I hope to inflict as much damage on them before/in case the elite phalanxes turn up.

My army came into contact with Bisaltes, the Carthaginian faction leader. Alongside his army of over 1500 men. My army had just under 1400 so again things were balanced. Bisaltes also had 8 command stars compared to my junior generals 1. However mine had a perfect record so far. With one battle fought and one heroic victory. His name is Publius Sergius Paulus.



The battle was generally one of those that I really enjoy, with little or no skirmishers or horse archers, it was basically one huge infantry clash of around 3000 soldiers with several cavalry units supporting. The Carthaginians had the advantage here however with two family members with around 100 of their extremely tough bodyguards.



The reinforcing Carthaginian general died fairly early on in the battle, however Bisaltes was proving much stronger and more reluctant to perform the suicidal attack on the front of my entire army that the AI so loves to perform and effectively lose the battle for itself.



You can see here how long the infantry had been engaged with the amount of fallen soldiers on the ground beneath the still fighting troops. The Carthaginian troops here are the Iberian Heavy infantry as well which also helps explain why they held for so long, eventually however they broke when there was too few surviving to pose much of a threat. Bisaltes himself escaped sadly, having withdrawn to Mastia. Which I was now able to besiege following this victory.



Before I could assault the city however, a last ditch attempt to force me to withdraw to Arse was launched. It was a pretty feeble attempt which merely enabled me to capture the city quicker as Bisaltes was captured and executed in this battle, and the final resistance in Mastia was destroyed.



In a few years time I plan to attempt to take Gader and force the Karthadastim off of the Iberian Peninsula. In the meantime however I need to build up my latest conquests so that they can supply me with local levies in order to bolster my fastly depleting ranks.

[Africanvs]

Nice start to the second punic war. What's with that Iberian army in your territory? Surely Roman law cannot tolerate such a force foraging for food and harrying the locals in her lands. :)

[General Appo]

Nice work. Hopefully you won´t ever have to worry about the Seleukids, the Pahlava might just eat them up before that.

[satalexton]

I was wondering how did you add that nice looking skin onto the world map =3
I want something like that too.

[Illian the Mediocre]

He told me how to do it on the second page of this thread near the bottom.

Unless you mean something else

[thelord]

Yes I explained how to several pages back, about the Iberian army Africanvs, I am allied to them so I can allow it, also I don't really fancy a three way war being started.

[QuintusSertorius]

I'm surprised you make do with so few skirmishers, who do you use to kill routing troops? Do you have to pretty immediately attack in every battle to get to grips with the enemy?

[thelord]

Cavalry to kill routing troops, my infantrys pila more than make up for the skirmishers.

[Cameron]

how did u make the map fully visible

[QuintusSertorius]

Cavalry to kill routing troops, my infantrys pila more than make up for the skirmishers.

Your infantry have two; most skirmisher have three or four times as many javelins (even if not AP ones). They're not fast either and your cavalry can't be everywhere.

[Africanvs]

Yes I explained how to several pages back, about the Iberian army Africanvs, I am allied to them so I can allow it, also I don't really fancy a three way war being started.

Ah I see, alright then. :)

how did u make the map fully visible

In campaign press ~ to bring up rome shell, then type toggle_fow and hit enter.

[thelord]

Your infantry have two; most skirmisher have three or four times as many javelins (even if not AP ones). They're not fast either and your cavalry can't be everywhere.

True, but they do more than enough IMO. I would rather have 2 extra infantry units than two skirmishers who are next to useless in combat.

As for cavalry, 3 units including the generals bodyguard can usually kill most of a routing army.

[thelord]

POST TWELVE - SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR

203 BC, the republic is growing more and more powerful with the recent conquest of the eastern coast of Iberia, I did plan to take Gader as soon as possible however the Lusotanians beat me too it and took it first. I do not plan to start a war with them just yet, otherwise I will be drawn into two different wars on two fronts, as the Macedonians had just declared war on me again.

The have been expanding at a alarming rate recently, which was surprising as Epiros was the toughest faction in Greece until recently, however they never really recovered from my sacking of several of their major cities which opened the door for the Macedonians. They didn't seem content with kicking Epiros out of Greece however as they pursued them alongside the coast of the black sea and eventually destroyed them.



Their destruction of Epiros didn't seem to satisfy their lust for conquest however as they began a mass invasion of Dalminion straight away. The first Macedonian war was ended rather quickly as they were much weaker, but now they are much stronger and something told me that this would not be a war that would be ended quickly.



Dalminion was overun, there was no chance I could win the battles their as I was vastly outnumbered, so I decided to land an army from Italy next to Epidamnos and besiege it in the hope that it would draw away the armies in Dalminion. It worked, but my army now had to face off against 2000 Macedonian troops.



Unfortunately for Macedon however, it was another pathetic army of levies and it was easily beaten.



Following that victory however, Macedon began to throw its full strength at me, with large stacks pouring into my lands, I had besieged Epidamnos the previous turn but before I could assault, a reinforcing army turned up to challenge me. This army possessed better quality troops, but I had the numerical advantage, so I managed to rout the enemy army and capture the city.



But still that was not the end of it, by 202 BC, 6 land battles had been fought over Epidamnos, which left me in command of the city, but Macedon would not relent in sending its stacks of progressively stronger troops, coupled with the fact that I was fast running out of troops meant that I was beginning to feel the strain.



I was forced to keep up constant recruitment in every Italian city south of Bononia to supply me with enough troops to continue to batter back the invading Macedonians. I was finally seeing some close battles which are so much more fun than the routs I had previously been experiencing. Some of the battles were large 4000 men clashed, while others were smaller skirmishers when reinforcements arrived on the coast and were challenged before they could join up with the bulk of my forces.



I was still having success in the war, though I did lose Dalminion for a period of a year at one point.



By 201 BC, they showed no signs of giving in and I was still being besieged every other turn by a fresh stack, it became clear that I would have to counter attack Macedon to get anywhere in this war.



Epidamnos was besieged several times, but this was the first time that it had ended up with Macedon assaulting, as my reinforcements usually forced them back, however I had ran out of troops to send over for the time being and had to depend on the army I already in the city to defend it. You can see here the amount of pila that my infantry threw into the gateway as they poured in.



Perhaps they would have been better off splitting their force up and attacking me from different angles, but they chose to concentrate all their force at one gateway, which ended up with a very long battle which ended up with a bloodbath at the gateway. It is nearly impossible to win a siege against a large amount of defenders this way, and that was proved again today.



With their constant invasions that were repeatedly beaten back, Macedon had fallen into the trap of over extending themselves, they had used up most of their troops in attacking me. Before they could retrain their armies and try again I had to move south and try and take Ambrakia, the former capital of Epiros.



The city was defended by a small but elite force of Macedonian homeland troops, who put up a very good fight in what turned out to be a hard fought battle for the city, but it was not enough and Roma was victorious once again.



This added Ambrakia to the lands I now controlled, Patavium had revolted several turns previously but I took it back relatively easily.



As a result of the defence of western Greece, my general who had won many battles against Macedon, was awarded a triumph, becoming the 3rd general of this campaign to receive one and also the youngest, at only 19 (previous victors were the general who led the first punic war and the conqueror of eastern Iberia) so I sent him back to Roma to celebrate. I plan to leave him there for a while and gain some management experience. His replacement in Greece is a young 16 year old with a lot of potential, he may well be my future reformer if things go well, he certainly has some of the required traits already.
He fought his first battle against Macedon near Thermon on a very hilly battlefield with eagles flying above the armies whilst they clashed.

[thelord]

POST THIRTEEN - IBERIAN EXPANSION

191 BC. Following the second punic war I have decided it is time to begin my mass expansion into Iberia, the Lusotani have began invading Southern Gaul with some success which shows that they are increasing in strength, it also means that the bulk of their forces are in Gaul so the time was right for me to strike their cities in southern Iberia.



The Second Macedonian war cost me nearly 500000 mnai and it pushed my troops to breaking point with the sheer amount of troops coming in. So I had to sue for peace whilst I fight in Iberia, which would be otherwise impossible. It however forced me to pay regular tribute to Macedon of 5000 mnai per turn so they do not start attacking me again.



Once I had begun the war, I managed to take the southern city of Baikor before Lusotana could start recalling their troops in Gaul to deal with my invasion. Unfortunately they soon starting coming south and by 188 BC it was clear that I had one hell of a fight on my hands.



I had two very young but talented generals in Iberia, the rest of my family members there are governors. So I split my forces into two sections, in the south my potential reformer would lead his army to besiege and take Iberian cities, whilst in the North my other army also led by a potential reformer would have to defend the land from the mass of enemy troops moving south to try and defend from my sieges and also to stop any armies trying to invade land that was already mine.



There were many land battles between the two armies, both victories and defeats. I had to move newly recruited local levies to the depleted armies quite often as the Italian troops were whittled down, but often they were ambushed before they could join the main forces and defeated.

In 187 BC, I besieged the Iberian capital Sucum-Murgi, and assaulted the turn afterwards with 3 sap points constructed.



I employed a tactic I often use in assaulted stone-walled cities, which involves using 3 sap points, I prefer sap points to ladders, towers or rams because ladders and towers often receive huge casualties against strong defenders and if the ram breachers the gates the boiling oil causes huge damage.



Once the 3 sap points have been used, I use around half of my infantry to attack each of the 3 points, I don't engage all of them as it would tire the entire army out and also the towers and defenders missiles would cause more damage.



The theory is that the defenders have to stretch their defences and also if at one of the points the defenders rout, my surviving troops can then go and flank the enemy at the other sap points.



The Lusotani possess some very tough infantry, that in some cases is superior to the Polybian roman troops, at one of the sap points this was shown with my troops taking much more casualties.



Fortunately at one of the sap points the defenders were less able, which caused them to rout and I could then begin to flank.



This contrasted with one of the other sap points, where my troops were clearly beaten and fled.



Once they got wind of my flanking troops they had to engage the remainder of their own troops.



Once the walls and surrounding area has been cleared, it means that I can send forward the second half of my infantry to assault the centre of the settlement.



Once the fight for the centre begins, I move my cavalry around the defenders and then charge their flanks.



The city was finally mine after a long battle, there was a large amount of Roman casualties, which unfortunately is unavoidable in a siege against tough defenders.



By 186 BC, the war was still going on more than ever, all of Lusotani's strength was now focused upon me, I desperately need to ship some more Italian troops out to Iberia before I am overun by the Lusotani. In the meantime I have to rely on mercenaries and local levies to uphold my war effort. I have besieged the former Carthaginian city Gader in the hope of keeping the enemy stacks away from my cities.

[||Lz3||]

this AAR is great


but just a question , where you able to use the alex.exe?

cause I'm not sure If I should try to do it with mine

[thelord]

I was, but they said it was save compatible but it wasn't for me, so be careful there. I hardly notice any difference between any of the .exes to be honest, I have never had a naval invasion on alex. but I did have several weak ones on bi. The only notable difference on Alex.exe for me is that the battles are smoother.

Thanks for the praise aswell.

[Frodge]

I likes, top notch AAR.

[||Lz3||]

how smooth?? cause I only have 1 gb RAM memory so well I'm a little limited whit it so any significant speed upgrade would be sweet

[thelord]

hmmm, it depends sometimes it looks brilliant but others it seems the same.

If you are worried about it messing your game up then I wouldn't bother as it isn't worth it. If your starting a new save then go for it. I have 1280 MB RAM so only a little more than you, the script moderation does wonders for turn time so perhaps try that?

[||Lz3||]

I alredy have the script it does do wonders, but not enough , my objective is to be able to play with huge unit sizes and high unit detail and stuff... (perhaps I'll buy more ram they aren very expensive anymore)


just a final question

how did you reverted to the original RTW.exe?

in case I dont like alex.

cheers

[thelord]

Erm, I think when you change the target line to get alex working just save the rtw one in a notepad or something so you can easily switch them back.

Alex.exe requires lots of file changes however.

[QuintusSertorius]

Ha! You've overtaken my AAR time-wise. That's what I get having a long break being busy, I'm only up to 208BC in mine.

[thelord]

haha nice, its not a competition ;)

Also the amount of micromanagement and diplomacy must slow you down somewhat. And secondly I play I have been playing EB far more than necessary lately.

POST FOURTEEN - BREAKTHROUGH

186 BC, Iberia has been in a state of constant war for 5 years now, with thousands dead on both sides. Including one of my 3 potential Marian reformers. The other two main generals were continuing the same strategy before, in the North defend, and in the south attack. Tiberius Papirus Paetus is Roma's most talented general, having commanded in around 15 battles to date. He's not far off 'seeing the elephant' and has just started being elected to the lower senatorial offices, so I can see it very likely that he will be my Marius. I know its 70 odd years before the reforms really happened but I love the Marian troops so the sooner the better I reckon.

The Lusotani were beginning to feel the strain of their war with me, and the financial consequences with the amount of troops they have trained recently, they appear to be bankrupt as they are not training any troops whatsoever now and are having to rely on their rapidly depleting armies. They have 5 towns remaining in Iberia and the former Carthaginian colony of Gader was under threat, being cut off from the rest of their lands after the capture of Sucum-Murgi. The defenders were utterly slaughtered in a large battle just outside the city, in which I deployed Cannae style tactics to defeat the enemy and capture the city.



This victory earned another famous battle marker and also gained my general a trait which I have never seen or earned before. It must be a 1.1 addition.



The war was not a straight road to victory however, as the Lusotana retook Sucum-Murgi in winter 186 BC, however I had the troops nearby that it would take to retake the city. Nevertheless it severely slowed down my plans as I was halfway through launching an invasion on their capital, Oxtraca.



I retook Sucum-Murgi in 185 BC, from then on it became clear that I had won the war, Lusotana simply lacked the funds and troops to defend itself from me anymore, as I had shipped out another 40 cohorts (a cohort in this is 1 unit of troops) from Italy. Lusotana was overrun. I planned to use my two armies to besiege both Oxtraca and Velika at the same time. However several desperate attacks were launched on my northern army with the few remaining enemy troops.



These were easily put down however and only really slowed me down by a season or two.



This particular victory gave me control of Numantia.



With the fall of Numantia in 184 BC I set my plan to attack two cities at once into action.



More desperate attacks were launched, but they were becoming weaker and weaker each time.



By 183 BC, both Oxtraca and Velika had fallen, which had boxed the Lusotana into the north western corner of Iberia, I had utterly crushed them in the war, but it was not an easy victory, I had lost over 50 cohorts in the war and a young general over a total of around 25 land battles, not to mention all the money it cost for all the troops used. Also the Lusotana infantry posed the biggest threat to my armies in this entire campaign, outranking anything the Hellenic powers had thrown at me previously.

After winning the war I made the Lusotana a vassal of Roma, it seems that they would prefer it to utter destruction, and I am happy to let them have their 2 remaining cities for now.



I plan to now spend around 10 years building up my treasury and preparing for another war, the conquest of Macedonia and southern Greece. I am still 14 territories away from meeting the requirements of the reforms, (it says 33 here but in fact I have 31, the other 2 are my vassals) so Greece is my next target for expansion and then after that it will be time for the third punic war and the invasion of Africa.

[||Lz3||]

have you tried to go to start>all programs>EB>configuration and clic on preferences?


there are several options there that if enabled the game looks wonderfull honestly well at least In my opinion


I have 2 gigs of ram now , but still when trying to play on huge settings it goes I think I need a better graphics card...