Dyabedes of Aphrodisias
01-10-2010, 12:58
I'm playing the Sweboz, and it's about 186BC now. For the last few dozen turns I've been warring the Romans.
Here's the back story first:
While I was conquering Gaul, the Romans betrayed me and took Viennos, but that was about all they did for years. I watched them the whole campaign as they spread their tendrils slowly over the Mediterranean. They captured all of Sicily, then moved north to Mediolanum. They went west, Massalia, Gergovia, Viennos, Tolosa...into Iberia, making headway, piercing right into the heart of the Lusotannan, scattering Famous Battle markers about the landscape like Tacks. They captured Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics and landed a large army in the heart of Epeiros. I watched fearfully, because I knew I'd have to face them fairly soon, and they seemed to be doing far too well for my liking.
Then, Makedonia captured Taras and began sending armies into Italy. The army in Illyria disappeared. Carthage took back Sardinia and the Balearics. The war in Iberia came to a stop, halting to a bloody stalemate. By that time it was my turn, having eliminated the Arverni and Evicting the Aedui from Gaul, letting them develop an Illyrian empire. My spy noticed the Romans had already achieved the Marian Reforms - I saw the stats on the cohors reformata and a chill went down my mouse cord. I don't have anything to match that, save for my bodyguards, and my only counter to it is sheer numbers and exposed genitals. So I began reformatting my armies, raising two full stacks of the finest, most skilled and heavily-armored men of all the Swebozez. I retired my archers and replaced them with slingers. I put my spearmen away and gathered men with armor-crushing clubs and axes. I picked out men with Warcry instead of Shieldwall. I visited Cisalpine Gaul and equipped myself with naked spearmen. I hired mercenary Celts trained in phalanx-style fighting.
I was ready for action, scared about the insane defense stats on the Marian legions. My screaming barbarian horde poured down from Gaul, blitzing Viennos and Gergovia, capturing Tolosa and burning the neighboring city on the east coast of Iberia. I cut off the Romans' Iberian holdings from Italy, leaving the forces remaining there for the Lusotannan. I waited for the endless train of full stacks to come marching from the east, full of cohors reformata. Nothing came but some scattered Gallic mercenaries headed for the Lusotannan. After the new territories settled down I headed east, taking easily a nearly undefended Massalia. I waited some more, and nothing came. I charged further east, besieging Mediolanum, trapping inside it a fairly large force, but composed of vigiles, accensi and Gallic troops. My other army, feeling restless and hungering for Roman blood headed south, into the heart of Italy. Nothing was there. The cities each defended by only a governor and a unit of vigiles. I besieged Roma immediately, then noticed Capua was completely undefended, its gatekeepers waiting to welcome me in, so I took it and I burned it to the ground. I went back and re-sieged Roma, taking it and burning it also to the ground. After I left the two cities revolted of course, giving my restless army a taste of Roman blood at last, as the army that spawned contained a bunch of cohors reformata as well as cohors evocata, and the ones with the blue ovular shields, which chased me to Arpi, where I got trapped and was forced to do battle. But their flanks collapsed easily, their veteran soldiers routed, they became surrounded and I crushed them. Now the full stack Apeleutheroi Army of Doom is headed my way as I try to escape back to my own borders with my booty.
So, what happened to this faction? They were doing really well for a long time, got both reforms and hired the troops that came with them, expanded effectively and at a high speed and waged wars with many nations. They have all kinds of financial resources on that peninsula and fully-developed cities. But when I went to fight them, expecting epic battles, a long bloody war and hard-won booty, they just kind of rolled over; bent over and took it with little resistance. I just moseyed my way into their land, plundered the riches and destroyed the wonders of Rome, and packed up and headed home. I was supposed to go back to my people saying I wrested the bull to the ground and slit its throat, not that I went cow-tipping and didn't get shot by farmer Jenkins.
How would this happen to an AI faction, particularly the Romani?
Here's the back story first:
While I was conquering Gaul, the Romans betrayed me and took Viennos, but that was about all they did for years. I watched them the whole campaign as they spread their tendrils slowly over the Mediterranean. They captured all of Sicily, then moved north to Mediolanum. They went west, Massalia, Gergovia, Viennos, Tolosa...into Iberia, making headway, piercing right into the heart of the Lusotannan, scattering Famous Battle markers about the landscape like Tacks. They captured Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics and landed a large army in the heart of Epeiros. I watched fearfully, because I knew I'd have to face them fairly soon, and they seemed to be doing far too well for my liking.
Then, Makedonia captured Taras and began sending armies into Italy. The army in Illyria disappeared. Carthage took back Sardinia and the Balearics. The war in Iberia came to a stop, halting to a bloody stalemate. By that time it was my turn, having eliminated the Arverni and Evicting the Aedui from Gaul, letting them develop an Illyrian empire. My spy noticed the Romans had already achieved the Marian Reforms - I saw the stats on the cohors reformata and a chill went down my mouse cord. I don't have anything to match that, save for my bodyguards, and my only counter to it is sheer numbers and exposed genitals. So I began reformatting my armies, raising two full stacks of the finest, most skilled and heavily-armored men of all the Swebozez. I retired my archers and replaced them with slingers. I put my spearmen away and gathered men with armor-crushing clubs and axes. I picked out men with Warcry instead of Shieldwall. I visited Cisalpine Gaul and equipped myself with naked spearmen. I hired mercenary Celts trained in phalanx-style fighting.
I was ready for action, scared about the insane defense stats on the Marian legions. My screaming barbarian horde poured down from Gaul, blitzing Viennos and Gergovia, capturing Tolosa and burning the neighboring city on the east coast of Iberia. I cut off the Romans' Iberian holdings from Italy, leaving the forces remaining there for the Lusotannan. I waited for the endless train of full stacks to come marching from the east, full of cohors reformata. Nothing came but some scattered Gallic mercenaries headed for the Lusotannan. After the new territories settled down I headed east, taking easily a nearly undefended Massalia. I waited some more, and nothing came. I charged further east, besieging Mediolanum, trapping inside it a fairly large force, but composed of vigiles, accensi and Gallic troops. My other army, feeling restless and hungering for Roman blood headed south, into the heart of Italy. Nothing was there. The cities each defended by only a governor and a unit of vigiles. I besieged Roma immediately, then noticed Capua was completely undefended, its gatekeepers waiting to welcome me in, so I took it and I burned it to the ground. I went back and re-sieged Roma, taking it and burning it also to the ground. After I left the two cities revolted of course, giving my restless army a taste of Roman blood at last, as the army that spawned contained a bunch of cohors reformata as well as cohors evocata, and the ones with the blue ovular shields, which chased me to Arpi, where I got trapped and was forced to do battle. But their flanks collapsed easily, their veteran soldiers routed, they became surrounded and I crushed them. Now the full stack Apeleutheroi Army of Doom is headed my way as I try to escape back to my own borders with my booty.
So, what happened to this faction? They were doing really well for a long time, got both reforms and hired the troops that came with them, expanded effectively and at a high speed and waged wars with many nations. They have all kinds of financial resources on that peninsula and fully-developed cities. But when I went to fight them, expecting epic battles, a long bloody war and hard-won booty, they just kind of rolled over; bent over and took it with little resistance. I just moseyed my way into their land, plundered the riches and destroyed the wonders of Rome, and packed up and headed home. I was supposed to go back to my people saying I wrested the bull to the ground and slit its throat, not that I went cow-tipping and didn't get shot by farmer Jenkins.
How would this happen to an AI faction, particularly the Romani?