WMDs in RTW

[Spuddicus]

In my latest campaign (Brutii), I've been using a rather cheezy but effective tactic-
I cycle plague-ridden spies thru enemy and neighbor cities to stunt their growth.
Keeping a semi-steady supply of spies pumping into already plagued cities, I've been rolling non-stop with 'fresh agents'.
Thracia, Germania, Dacia have been devastated by this (I watched one Thracian city go from about 9000 to 1500 pop by repeatedly reinfecting over about a 5-6 year period).
I'm now moving them thru some of my allies' towns to whittle them down a bit, prior to an all out bio-weapons assault on Egypt.
Not sure what, if any consequences there would be to something like this (I think given some of the other issues with the game, I think none), but it's been fun as hell so far.

[ranpiz]

never thought about it, but a suicidal person could smuggle about any contagion they wanted that way..in real life. not like a virus shows up on a metal detector.

scary.

in regards to the game though, i was thinking about using such a tactic myself but my spies didn't seem to get infected. is it a relatively low probabilty? do you need multiple spies in the city to get one diseased consitently?

[Lemur]

Now that's just evil. Effective, but evil. My only worry with that tactic would be that one of their diplomats would re-infect one of my cities. Or that I might forget where I'd left the plague lying, and invade the wrong city.

Other than that, I don't think the game is equipped to treat you to the custom titles of "Plauge-Bearer," so you can probably get away with it indefinitely.

[Spuddicus]

in regards to the game though, i was thinking about using such a tactic myself but my spies didn't seem to get infected. is it a relatively low probabilty? do you need multiple spies in the city to get one diseased consitently?

just infiltrate your new spies into an already infected city.
then move 'em back out and onto the next target.

i haven't had any 'blowback' problems (yet).
but yeah, i do have to keep track of where my sickboys are so that i don't accidentally take a city 'prematurely'.
but then part of the beauty of this is that i only need about 3-4 infected spies at any given time (i think i'll boost that about 10 when i go after egypt).

[Slaists]

hmm, initially i thought this was historically inconsistent: but it actually is... even the bubonic plague can be dormant in agents for years giving them the opportunity to infect new areas...

[Awww...@#!*]

In reply to the historic accuracy of the plague:

There was a certain plague which affected Athens which was unimaginatively named the Athenian plague. It occurred in 430-26 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 404. Because of overcrowded wartime conditions in the city, the plague spread quickly, killing tens of thousands. Included among its victims was Pericles, the former leader of Athens. The only surviving source for the Athenian plague is the first-hand account of Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, who lived from c. 460 to c. 400, was an Athenian general and political critic.

Having suffered from the plague himself, Thucydides presented a very systematic account of the symptoms. His aim was merely to "describe what it was like, and set down the symptoms, knowledge of which will enable it to be recognized, if it should ever break out again." The Athenian plague originated in Ethiopia, and from there spread throughout Egypt and Greece. Thucydides, however, remarked that the city of Athens suffered the greatest toll from the disease. Initial symptoms of the plague included headaches, conjunctivitis, a rash which covered the body, and fever. The victims then coughed up blood, and suffered from extremely painful stomach cramping, followed by vomiting and attacks of "ineffectual retching." Many people also experienced insomnia and restlessness. Thucydides also related that victims had such an unquenchable thirst that it drove them to throw themselves into the wells. Infected individuals generally died by the seventh or eighth day. If anyone managed to survive this long however, s/he was then stricken by uncontrollable diarrhea, which frequently caused death. Those who survived this stage might suffer from partial paralysis, amnesia, or blindness for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, infection of the plague provided immunity; that is, few caught the disease twice, and if this occurred, the second attack was never fatal.

[Slaists]

LOL, i was reading the same article a few minutes after i posted the question... :)

[Awww...@#!*]

Yeah, I love that site. I love all history sites. Good stuff. Anyways, I think if it was able to hit Athens like that throughout a war, then I think the plague could happen during a siege, or if the squalor is bad. It could then spread really easily.