Heroic Warfare - New Stype of Play for RTW

[Flying Pig]

This is an idea for a novel method of playing. How it works is that you play as a barbarian faction to start with. You then abide by these 'rules of war':

1) Only ever declare war for some breach of conduct from your enemy; either espionage or a direct attack

2) Take retribution for said misconduct, but only ever kill one named character or a stackful; so never attack royal families; and only take one settlement at the most.

3) When the above is done, offer a ceasefire for no other conditions. If accepted, stop fighting until 1) comes into effect again. If declined, repeat 3)

4) All of your stacks must be lead by named characters when they go to battle. Only attack stacks lead by named characters.

5) If possible during battle, set your general on the enemy's and try to make it a one-on-one unit contest by keeping his and your army away. Never withdraw from this without conceding the entire battle

6) Never employ an assassin or move a spy into a settlement that you do not own.

Any thoughts? It's meant to be a representation of how the Keltoi fought their wars so is intended for the gauls above all other factions. I want to see if people manage to win a campaign abiding strictly by these rules. Oh, and no cheats allowed!

[Spartan198]

Interesting...

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

It seems like an interesting set of tactics - if used it should slow down player expansion a little. It would be very interesting to see the progression of battles strictly following your rules though - I would expect it to be very difficult/risky to get the general on his own without intervention from his men.

~:)

[Flying Pig]

That's the point! It is meant to encourage leaders to develop traits like +2 HP or +3 valour over others as those that don't will die out easily! I've tried it on easy, it slows you down a LOT but you can cheat slightly by getting in the way of everyone. It is amazing just how dishonest the AI is though; every time he spies on you you can take a city, and their inability to declare a good deal means that you will probably end up crippling them before they ask to not be killed. It is meant to be really hard to win a campaign in time and impossible playing as macedon in alexander (the barbarian faction bit is just to get a feel for it) but it feels really good in Gods and Fighting Men as that is a map where everyone is a barbarian.

[RLucid]

My battlefield tactics in Vanilla RTW include, softening up enemy via provocative cavalry maneuvers.

I like to apply "economy of force" principal rather than "Smackus-Maximus" so occasionally I have to get quite creative, to win a siege at 1:2 odds, or other dog situations in the open field. Have to use all terrain advantages to max though, if you face rush tactics like the Gauls, with fastish light infrantry. I really don't know why there's so many fans of German phalanx warbands, as I find them rather easily annihalatable opponents (to tune of taking out 3/4 stack of spearmen losing only 2 men, facing odds of 1:3). The Screeching Women inflict more casualties, unless you have heavy cavalry to massacre them.

So basically, I'm sure you can win imposing such rules. The AI is just so stupid, that so long as you have a well balanced combined arms force, suitable to the task in hand, you could do it.

Definitely with a Roman faction, you can afford a code of honour. One of the Barb factions must be well situated enough to pull off similar.

[RLucid]

It is amazing just how dishonest the AI is though; every time he spies on you you can take a city, and their inability to declare a good deal means that you will probably end up crippling them before they ask to not be killed.
Think about "Intelligence" a bit more. Is it really dishonourable? In an early Imperial campaign of mine as Jullii, I found these "neat" mines in Illyria and Dalmatia, that seemed to my disbelief to be ignored by the AI Brutii and the Dacians.

I managed through trade, progressing to an alliance with the Dacians, and Diplomats and spies assured me, that no back-stabbing was imminent. I just couldn't believe these gold mines weren't getting fought over. That meant low troop levels, lots of profits. In the end I was the back-stabber, having created a large stack, to shadow Brutii big stack, that suddenly (due to good roads) started using my territory to route armies from Tarrentum & Croton, to Greece; rather than taking a short ferry. I wound up with a big army near Dacia, needing some action to justify it's existence.

In another game, where a large rebel slave army spawned, at an incovenient time, the military build up, led to counter build-up and finally an "impetuous" warband, acted impetuously and broke the treaty.

May be your code, should allow "observation" but not stirring unrest via occupying a city, or activity by assassins.

[Wasp]

I like most of those rules. I always try to play very honourable against the computer. I guess that's why I turtle so much :beam:

[Flying Pig]

Rlucid, an impetous warband will not attack an allied unit. Same goes for berserkers. They kill the enemy but leave friends alone; what do you mean when the unit broke your treaty. And how do you sit in a city without stirring up unrest? Is there a button I've missed?

Also, thanks for your suggestion, I hadn't thought of that. It's added to the list as never spy or assassinate

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I think he's referring to a force of warbands on the campaign map choosing to attack one of his own forces. Not a unit on the campaign map turning against him - that was possible in M:TW and S:TW, but not in the later titles.

~:)

[RLucid]

Tried to reply previously but must have forgot to submit it, just pre-view.

Yes, it was an escalation in a different game, brought it in as an illustration of the "light" side of spying. I moved forces in to deal with spawning rebels, and so did the AI. At time, an alliance had not been sealed, or due to other alliances it was not possible. Then rebel stack turned up in border area, I may have unthinkingly made a hot pursuit after it withdrew, and then having dispatched the rebs, war breaks out next turn, and there's no way to withdraw and cool things down but relieve a later siege when the AI persisted, and put AI on receiving end of a punitive expedition.

But the main point is, Intelligence gathering can be part of "trust" building, not always something to regard as dishonest.