Investigation of Senate missions

[therother]

This thread, opened at katank's request, is for investigating all facets of Senate missions, which are detailed in descr_senate.txt. CA seems to believe that this is, "simple enough", so hopefully this'll be a straightforward topic. I'll believe it when I see it!

[katank]

Thanks for opening the topic.

The types of Senate missions seem well spelled out.

I'm just wondering if we know definitive patterns about them etc?

I think the first missions are all hard coded and generate 5,000 denariii for Apollonia, Segesta, and Syracuse respectively.

Later on, it's harder to say it seems.

Also, what units are rewarded and with what probabilities?

Best unit you can build rewards often generates tons of triremes that are useless to me since I rarely try to outdo the insane naval AI anyhow. I might also get wardogs which I appreciate but just due to my playing style. What other units are generated by those?

Similarly, for minor and major exotic units, which are minor and which are major. Barbarian cav are minor but Sarmatians are major. Does this depend upon stats? Also, merc war elephants are probably my most sought after ones along with first cohorts but how often do they occur?

Do rewards tend to occur with mission types? Major exotic with blockade or sacking city, money for establishing diplomatic ties, etc.?

I think all missions are at least possible within the time allotment. Blockade missions not reachable by nearest ship can often be accomplished by an army blocking the port etc.

Have anyone ran across truly impossible missions? Does difficult relate to relative standing with people and senate? Does accomplishing them faster get you more favor? I think I managed 10 popularity with Senate and people at the same in my Scipii campaign by completing every mission ASAP but what are other people's experience?

Thank you all in advance and I look forward to your responses.

[RollingWave]

The units i have gotten from mission are most often barbarian mercenaries
:(, perhapes it's because of lower difficult setting, i can't recall ever gettting anything decent from senate missions.

Also the difficulty seem to raise more if you keep succeeding while it drops back if you fail one or two, for example the first one i failed big time was when the senate want me to take that city west of Alexendria ... which is basically in the middle of nowhere and requires a army to be transported from Greece, I did have Alexandria at that time but it was not possible to sent a expedition from ther without losing the city instantly.... then they ask me to take memphis... again same problem.. except now that alexandria is devastated by plague making it even more impossible. Afterward the difficulty dropped quiet a bit back to blockades missions again.

[Oaty]

Well my very first game playing as the Julii I quite often got simple missions. I held over half to all of the offices throughout most of the game. With my high popularity and completing missions succesfully quite often the mission was to take the city I have under siege. I do'nt know if the first game is triggered to be in your favour or not(normal normal).

The worst missions for Julii are of course blockading Numatia and Londinum. When first starting the war it seems the senate likes to start off with blockading then take some territory and them bleed them into submission by blockading them again and assigns you to make them a protectorate. That seems to be the basis.

Although the protectorate missions are bit ugly and should only be assigned if you are directly involved at war with them. Because it does not seem the A.I. associates the Roman faction as one big faction. So when Brutii beat up Dacia and you are Scipii or Julii because you were of no threat to them or can be of very little threat to them it is impossible to get them to accept terms.

Julii, Senates priotity (segesta and Caralis are givens). Own the coastal ring in the Northwest of the med starting with Narbo Martius, Massilla Osca then Carthago Nova. That seems to be the most common order after that it seems to be Random for the Julii.

So basically the Senate almost gives priority to a coastal town before a landlocked town.

[katank]

I've just had a pretty fun Brutii campaign. In 262, my popularity with the Senate hit 10 and I got a merc war elephant.

It appears that you also get 5000 denarii for "efforts in expanding the empire" and then no more Senate missions when your popularity is maxed out.

Anyone else can confirm this?

[Oaty]

It appears that you also get 5000 denarii for "efforts in expanding the empire" and then no more Senate missions when your popularity is maxed out.

I believe it has more to do with your treasury on cash rewards. If I can remember correctly I got a cash reward for Thermyska but I had an ugly treasury. And if you can take thermyska your pretty well off.

Also campaign difficulty plays a huge role on senate missions. Patavium is a hard city to take early on and apparently on very hard difficulty Patavium will be your first Gaul mission as Julii. Plus those stinkin gauls sucked up the mercanaries.

[katank]

Are you sure that you get a first mission for Caralis or Patavium? I've been playing on VH/VH for a while and got the same missions as the Roman factions all the time.

[Lord Hammerschmidt]

I'm not sure if this is new for 1.2, or if I've just never had one before, but the Senate gave me two assassination missions last night while I was playing my Scipii campaign. Both were easy, as I had a skilled assassin nearby, and both earned me only the gratitude of the Senate.

Both people I killed were Pontic family members, and the Senate was not at war with Pontus at the time. Pontus was allied with Macedon, with whom the Senate was at war.

[Oleander Ardens]

I second that observation. The Senate gave me four times assassinations mission against Egyptian low-level familiy members, while being neutrale. The targets were alway near my ten-star scipii masterassassin, so the problem was solved quickly.

Egypt was the strongest non-Roman power, and was at war with Parthia and Pontus, both neutral in regards of the Senate, but close and trusty allies of mine, which I supported with both 15.000 denearii each turn to stop the Eggies of complete domination.

Protectorate mission seem to be more frequent, however this may be very gamedependant...

OA

[Oaty]

Are you sure that you get a first mission for Caralis or Patavium? I've been playing on VH/VH for a while and got the same missions as the Roman factions all the time.

I always played on normal until the last few weeks. It seems the beginning senate missions are tied to difficulty.

On very hard the senate missions are to strike the enemy where it hurts them the most.

On normal Julii the A.I. missions seem to take you to France as they are easy to take usually but does not hit the Gauls economic power. Whereas on very hard Patavium is an early target, wich means more Gauls to fight due to it being a populated town but you are taking a nice rich province from them.

Brutii seems to be different too. On normal it seems the mission are those 2 rebel towns. On very hard there first mission seems to be Thermon wich hits the Greeks hard and early. Big difference when I played Greeks on normal as it gave me time to prepare a defense in Thermon before there arrival, on very hard I had to evacuate and left some skirmishers but the impact does make it harder for the Greeks.

As far as Scipii I do'nt think theres any difference as theres not a whole lot of avenues for them to take early.

[Oaty]

I remember looking through the modding forums a dew days ago where a CA dev made a comment and then I remembered this thread.

According to one of the developers the senate missions are not hardcoded at all. The only thing that is hardcoded is the Roman factions in general. The first mission might be hardcoded but after that it takes in factors of strategical location, economics and other factors but it is my observation that difficulty rating factors into this too.

So on very hard difficulty it's my observation that Roman factions are a bit easier due to it seems the senate attemps to target economical strongholds. But if you are non Roman the Romans will be hitting you where it hurts.

Where as on normal difficulty the targets seem to be easy but won't hurt the enemy so bad economically.

Rich cities usually = recruiting power. Whereas poor cities are usually depopualted anyways.

[Kraxis]

The assasination missions can only happen when you have an assassin close to any non-Roman family member. So that is why you get them when you have those nasty assassins sitting around.

I checked it by getting three missions in a row killing Macedonian family members in Cyrene (they had been exiled), after the third I moved my assassin far away in a fleet. No more missions like that. THen I moved him back and then I got another mission. I got a little suspicious and I kept this up (killing, moving away, get another mission, moving back, getting assassination mission, repeat) for a while until my assassin got killed.

[The Stranger]

I've just had a pretty fun Brutii campaign. In 262, my popularity with the Senate hit 10 and I got a merc war elephant.

It appears that you also get 5000 denarii for "efforts in expanding the empire" and then no more Senate missions when your popularity is maxed out.

Anyone else can confirm this?

yeah had it too, looks like the 1000 fl you get from the pope. though i don't always get 5000, somethimes also just 100 denari

[PseRamesses]

yeah had it too, looks like the 1000 fl you get from the pope. though i don't always get 5000, somethimes also just 100 denari

Doesn´t the time needed to fullfill the mission play a big part? I tend to get more cash and/ or better units if I complete the missions fast and if I wait to the last turn I´ll get less. Although the first mission seems fixed, don´t you agree?

[mfberg]

On a saved game I completed the same mission 4 times (Major Exotic) on the second try it was Merc War Elephants, the others included Merc Scythian Horse archers and I believe a Merc Bastarnae unit.

mfberg

[Kraxis]

Doesn´t the time needed to fullfill the mission play a big part? I tend to get more cash and/ or better units if I complete the missions fast and if I wait to the last turn I´ll get less. Although the first mission seems fixed, don´t you agree?

No it has to do with the sentence in the mission itself.
Are you going to be 'Greatly Rewarded' or only 'Rewarded' for instance (10k and 1k respectively).

[TonyJ]

I certainly agree about the assassination missions - I have had two in my latest campaign as the Julii - one against Dacia, one against Thrace. Both were large players and neutral and I had assassins nearby in both cases.

[Jason]

I can confirm about the assination missions as well. Those only come up when I have a decent assain about.

As for other missions, I find they often times depend on how the other two factions are doing. For instance if the Scipii are having trouble with carthage (which they usually do) S.P.Q.R. will ask me to either blockade them or take the town that Scipii cant. The same applies with the guals and the Julii or the greeks/macedonians and the Brutii.

Also I have noticed that if a paticular settlement only has a very small garrison and you are close by S.P.Q.R. will ask you to take it. It will do this more often if the city is rebel then it will if it is controled but it will still do this.

And lastly I have noticed that S.P.Q.R. tends to try and keep you involved in its wars. If S.P.Q.R. is at war with someone and you are not they will keep giving you blockade missions (and less frequently take settlement missions) to keep you battling what ever factions they are.

As for units given in reward actually the most common unit that I recieve as a reward is Triarii (pre-marius of course). And second to that Brimere or Trimere.

And yes I every so often recieve money from the Senate, almost out of no where I might add, just for 'efforts to improve the empire' or something like that. I cant say for certin but it doesnt seem to matter how much money I have, but it never seems to happen when S.P.Q.R. opinion of me is low or when I havent taken anything in a while so I assume there is a threshold in there somewhere on both of those.

Jason the Newb

[itsgottabeworthatry]

I used to get only Triarii, Warhounds and Triremes as reward units. But in my latest Brutii campaign however, I am usually rewarded with mercs. The most common have been Sarmatians, Barbarian cavalry, Balearic slingers and, for some reason, those eyptian Javelin mercs. I have never before gotten any of these except Barabarian cavalry.

[locked_thread]

The faster you complete missions, the more the senate likes you. This translates into offices and attribute bonuses for family members.

Typically the Senate starts by asking you to blockade ports. Once those are done, you graduate to conquering cities. If you aren't ready for the tougher jobs, simply "unblockade" the port immediately after the Senate rewards you. Leave your fleet close by because soon they'll ask you to blockade it again. In this way you can ping pong between a few easy goals and rack up your popularity.

And don't forget you can blockade ports using ground units.

[TimStarboy]

I play like a very loyal son of Rome, and it seems that I am falling slighlty behind Brutii and Scipii. Is there a chance that Brutii or Scipii will rebel against the Senate ealier than me? Will I be able to fight together with Senate against them? What happens after Senate and I get rid of them?

[Mooks]

Good question, but never got that far :(

It seems when you fall from the senate's favor the missions get harder and there starts to be punishments...Like "your secret will be revealed" O NO!!

Although I dont know what that means, its funny to piss them off.

[Lanemerkel1]

This thread, opened at katank's request, is for investigating all facets of Senate missions, which are detailed in descr_senate.txt. CA seems to believe that this is, "simple enough", so hopefully this'll be a straightforward topic. I'll believe it when I see it!

I already no why the senate sends you out on missions....


to spread your forces to far apart so that when the time to turn against you comes they have the smallest resistance possible.

[WarHawk1953]

While Playing the Julii on med/med mode: Blockade missions. Once you have built the other port at Airminum and have ships bulit the Senate likes to send you on blockade missions to: Sparta, Corinth and Thermon.

[Severous]

I liked to follow Senate missions in my just finished Julii campaign. The game always seemed to adjust the missions to the situation at the time.

Most annoying mission. Blockade Corinth. But couldnt get there because a Brutii allied ship accidentally blocked the narrow sea space that is the only sea access to Corinth.

[Severous]

Test of RTW V1.5 Brutii Senate Mission (H/H difficuly)

I saw an unanswered question/observation above. So did some testing to support my first ever Brutii campaign.

The first Senate mission for Brutii is capture Apollonia. With ships, General, Equites, Hastati and Velites in range this is an easy mission. Reward 5000.

Purpose of the test was confirm
- if first mission was always the same
- if reward varied in amount offered
- if reward varied due to time taken to complete the mission

6 tests. Restart campaign from the start for each test.
- Apollonia is always the mission
- 5000 always the offerred reward
- 5000 paid irrespective of how many turns I took. (Immediate and through to 2.5 years)

There is benefit in performing missions faster. You are likely to get another one. Why do 1 mission in a year when you could do 2.

[gardibolt]

The first mission for Julii is always capture Segesta, but in my testing I occasionally get 10,000d instead of 5,000d. I don't see any apparent reason for the distinction.

[Severous]

I wonder if the reward might be influenced by the amount in your treasury ?

Edit:
2nd Mission in my Brutii campaign was negotiate a trade route with Macendonia. Easy again. My diplomat was standing near a Macedonian diplomat.

Replayed this event 6 times.
- 5 times the reward was Equites in my capital. Once it was War Dogs.

[Avicenna]

Have anyone ran across truly impossible missions? Does difficult relate to relative standing with people and senate? Does accomplishing them faster get you more favor?

My first impossible mission I think was blockading Londonium: my nearest fleet was at the south of Spain, and I had four turns only: 3 for moving and I have to blockade it for one turn.

I think a higher standing should have no difference in mission difficulty. The only difficult thing is that once your Empire gets larger, the senate can order you to take a settlement which is near any of your fronts, making them more difficult to accomplish.

Accomplishing them faster can gain or lose favour: you get more missions in the same length of time, so potentially you could lose more or gain more favour, depending on whether you bother to do all the missions.

[Severous]

Ive just had two missions at the same time.

RTW V1.5 H/H Brutii campaign. No mods.

1) Capture Mallissa - from Gaul
2) Recapture Mediolanum - Rebeled from Brutii back to Gaul

The first mission reward was a couple of minor exotic units (Nubidian Cavalry) and the second was 10,000. When I completed the second mission first I did not get another mission. The turn I completed the first mission also became the turn I lost Mediolanum again. The next mission was recapture Mediolanum...again.

Only other time Ive had two concurrent missions was when the senate demaded I remove my troops from trespass on an allies territory. Didnt get any reward for achieving that mission..wouldnt that be a nice little earner if it did.