View Full Version : [RTW story II] Numidia
Dear friends:
Welcome to maltz's RTW story. This time, I will make a (short) story of Numidia, the miserable faction of Sahara desert. Most players, including myself, agree with that Numidia is one of the hardest faction to start with.
If possible, I will cover some of the battlefield techniques I have used. I am not really a great battlefield commander in TW, but I guess it is ok to improve through exchanging ideas with others.
I have some difficulties making screenshots during the battle. Sometimes I get a completely black screen with 3 horizontal color lines. I hope not many of the nice moments will be missed. OK, let's begin the safari!
Settings: Very Hard/Very Hard, Large unit size (80), No restriction camera (for better screenshot angles)
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_01.jpg
Welcome to the desert, where life forms are scarce, cultures are primitive, and funds are deficient. Numidia, the nightmare of great minds, sees another usual sunrise.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_02.jpg
The Numidian royal family is not a complicated one. Syphax the clan leader, like Hanno in the previous Carthagian story, is close to the age of retirement in the Numidian capital, Cirta. Syphax has three sons: Gisgo of Tingi, Muttines of Siwa, and another maturing lad whose face are too popular to be recognized. Gisgo and Muttines already gave Syphax 5 grandchildren, 3 boys and 2 girls.
The Carthage (city), where population grows insane and market economics advances beyond Numidian's imagination, is just east of Cirta. As usual, we will start chapter one with a Rush. Go, Syphax!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_03.jpg
Although Cirta appears to be close to Carthage city, it still took Syphax a year and half to get there. He grabbed everything available from Crita, including 2 units of skirmishers, one unit of jav. cav. (Numidian cavalry), one unit of slinger, and hired one unit of mercenary jav. cav. Mercenary are not cheap, sinking their balance into red only in the 2nd turn.
There are a few scattered army standing outside Carthage. These cowards didn't bother to call out the garrison of Carthage city, and retreated into the port. Now Syphax has to siege Carthage himself. Fortunately, the spy opens the gate for him!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_04.jpg
"Men on fire"!
The castle assault begins with the familiar infantry gatehouse rush. In the Carthage story, I made the infantry in long formation, 4 columns wide, and didn't let them rush in all at once. Only 5 - 10 men fried by the oil at that time. Yet this time I had 20 men turned charcoal. So I guess the the lesson is: better make the rush units 4-column wide.
As soon as the gate is taken, Syphax's entired army rushed into Carthage city!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_05.jpg
One good thing about spy opening the Gates are that the AI will always spread out its troop to guard each entrance. One can always rush in easily, then slowly taking out the individually approaching garrison units. As many of you might have noticed, the AI will leave 2 units at the town center. So you know how many to expect on the streets.
In this case, the Carthagian only has 3 units defending Carthage. The Carthagian commander Hansdrubal (right, Hanno's oldest son) sent out some cavalry to intecept us. Let's see...
Mercenary Numidian cavalry. Very unstylish. Everybody, ready to charge these traitors!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_06.jpg
The charging jav. cav. probably turned off the skirmish mode, so they charged right into the crowds. I see no reason of doing that, since they will be far more effective with skirmish modes on.
Anyways, some of these traitors carried such a great momentum, so they charged "through" the wall. Now they are outside the city!
With the great slinger unit, Syphax was able to handle the rest with no resistance. Carthage is our new capital!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_07.jpg
In the meantime, Muttines, the 2nd son of Syphax, has begun his backstabbing mission on the always-rich Egyptians. Seeing the town of Thebe is not guarded with a wall yet, he will sneak in with haste!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_08.jpg
The lone patrolling Nile spearmen is absolutely decimated by the javelin rains. They attempted to flee, but was soon massacred by Muttines and his bodyguards.
Those bowmen at the town center wasted their arrows attempting to shoot down some skirmishers taking cover behind an apartment, only sticking one or two men out to show their presence (and they subsequently died from arrow).
After a long wait, the bowmens are out of arrow. All Numidian missle units exhausted their javelins to take down a few dozens of bowmen and peasants, followed by a total charge that finalized the day. The following Thebes massacre certainly pulled the Numidians out of debt, at least for this turn.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_10.jpg
While Syphax brought cavalry and slingers to take care of the town just south of Carthage, a new family member matures. He is Syphax's 3rd son - Adonbal. He certainlly has a few military potential. Great!
Hum, remaining Carthagian forces are wandering around the port. We will send Adonbal with some simple infantry garrison to take care them. This should be easy enough for Adonbal's first mission.
The Carthagian army is comprised of round shield cavalry, skirmishers, and iberian infantry. Equally balanced is Adonbal's little army, with one extra skirmishers. Ops, it should be "desert" spearmen, not dessert. Well, they do get eaten like desserts sometimes.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_11.jpg
The retarded Carthagian captain advanced with all its infantry, with its cavalry captain stayed in the back forming a wedge. This is a great chance for Adonbal - divide and conquer! He immediately managed to take out the Iberian infantry, by using dessert spearmen to block the front, and his own charge on the flank. Iberian infantry on the run!
Now he is ready to handle the 2nd skirmishers group with 2 of his own.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_12.jpg
The Carthagian round shield cavalry is charging in! Adonbal gave up chasing the routing Iberian infantry, but focused on routing the skirmishers as soon as he could. Everybody, charge the skirmishers!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_13.jpg
By the time the Carthagians skirmishers broke, there was no time for maneuvering. Let all infantry turn around and bravely face the weak-charge round shield cavalry! Looks like Adonbal has been abandoned by his bodyguards, probably fearing the enemy targeting them directly.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_14.jpg
The round shiled cavalry soon received heavy losses on this head-on charge into the crowd. Captain fell off the horse in no time. Adonbal did quite well in his first battle!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_09.jpg
While everything looks slow but smooth, angry Egyptians has gathered an army for revenge - and they don't buy our maps. Muttines has already hiring archers in Thebes, but will they survive the numerous bowmen and chariots?
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_15.jpg
Bad news don't come in singular. Two Roman families landed at the same time. Just count the stars! Syphax has returned to Carthage, ready to face the challenge! What will be the fate of Numidia, battling the mighty Egyptians and Romans? We will soon find out.
i loved the carthage one =) this one is the same.
good luck on surviving the roman-egyptian onslaught =P
i gave up on my numidia campaign when spain-egpyt-scipii declared war on me =(
The Egyptians & Romans have taken the iniative to face the rising desert power. Pharaoh sent out a large army in an attempt to retake Thebes, while the houses of Julii and Scipii simultaneously landed their elite troops close to Carthage city.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_16.jpg
Turn 6, winter 268BC, Thebes is under siege.
What should Muttines, the 2nd son of Syphax, commander of the east do? The Numidian army does not defend well unless there are plenty of time to shoot. Plenty of time can be collected by repeated military action. So, let's sally and see how much damage they can deal!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_17.jpg
Wo... hundred of bare chests shining under the morning sun. Ever-breeding peasants of Nile, stood at the front to attract the arrows.
It is a well-known "AI defect" that the AI army, when they have the advantage, will charge close to the gate, and stand there to be shot to pieces by the arrow towers. Let's not utilize that and try to simulate what really might happen.
First, in order to dodge fires from enemy archers and give nearby units a boost, Muttines sits himself just behind the gate.
Then, Muttines divided the skirmishers and archers into two lines on his left and right. Javelin cavalry will sneak out the side gates, attemping to lure some enemy close to the arrow range, decimate them from inside.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_18.jpg
The plan worked. Intense exchange of arrow started. Our archers had their hands busy, but also took heavy losses because the enemy has also brought a lot of missle units. 3/4 of the Egyptian army can shoot; the chariot bodyguards are particularly lethal. In the meantime, Muttines has managed to rout some peasant, spearmen and skirmishers that took our bait too seriously. Don't let them escape!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_19.jpg
The table never turned around on this day. Bodies of brave soldiers lined up in where they used to stand and shoot. Having exhausted almost all their arrows and ranks, Muttines called back all soldiers to the town center, ending the sally attempt.
The bright side is, the Egyptians took heavy losses, including their disposable troops as peasants, pikemen and such. Many "annoying" units still stand intact, though.
Fortuantely, there are plenty of archery training facility in Thebes, and about 1000 population left. Next turn we will have fresh skirmishers & archers ready to shoot again. But what if the Egyptians finished building siege equipments before retraining is complete...
Note: As a human player, it is possible to sally multiple times in a given turn. Yet we won't do that because it is a little "uncool".
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_20.jpg
Well, again we Numidians are short of funds. Why not let the diplomat try again.
The salesman from national geography has certainly gained some good experiences from his last failed attempt. Perhaps he can sell something this time, and gain some trust from the Egyptians to reach a ceasefire? Hum... But it would be really interesting to see what happens next turn.
Well, no time for imagination. Prince Kiya of Egypt asked for something outrageous - to become a protectorate of Egypt. Hey, the money he offered, 8410, is very generous, too.
Out diplomat shake his head like a mad cow. Never show your satisfaction in an negociation.
So Mr. diplomat counter with 16k for the same thing, just to see how big Pharaoh's bank account is. Prince Kiya called home, and proposed a 2-turn tribute of 5900.
So Egyptians currently make 5900 per turn huh? Not bad. We are very close to the deal:
Let's just add "1" to that tribute period, ok?
Kiya said yes! Numidia is formally RICH! 5900 * 12 = 70,800 !! Now we really want to keep Egypt happy.
Note: I offered "12" turn intending as a joke. I could never imagine why the AI would take it. I should have tried "21" instead.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_21.jpg
While we were expecting some significant boost of fund, on the next turn, the treasury of Numidia becomes a grand 24k! Now we have all witnessed "the protectorate bug". Evil, evil!
Well, certainly we don't deserve this extra cash, so we decided to give it away. No, not back to the rich Pharoah. Pharoah should be responsible for his own son's decision.
So, we gladly sponsered the tour groups of Scipii and Julii outside Carthage, and the soldiers happily went home with 20k evenly distributed into their pockets. Their leaders showed their gratitude by joining the Numidan family, too.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_22.jpg
Well, Thebes is relieved through diplomacy, and Kiya returned home without pants. Muttines retrained his soldiers and started some rebel hunting nearby.
The Numidian army layout is rather standard. The archers at the center keep pushing forward. When one archer unit moves, the other two stand still on "fire at will", so there is a constant fire power guarding the safe distance. (I did this with human's "siege tanks" in Starcraft. Worked really well.)
Once the archers pull some enemies in the range, the mobile cavalry & skirmishers set out ready to hunt down some wavering - charging enemy. The sandwiches have to be made fast, and we have to pray that the enemy units don't come all at once. For AI we are usually fine because AI always try to keep some "reserve" even if they can't afford it. It is also recommended to turn archers' "fire at will" off just before melee begins. This will largely reduces the body count of our own men.
Right, 12 turns won't pass that fast. Perhaps Muttines will grab one or two rebel towns. Helping the Egyptians fighting the Selucid Empire + Parthia will also be interesting...?
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_23.jpg
After all the long march, Gisgo, the faction heir and the oldest son of Syphax, has arrived Carthage all the way from Tigli. He is named the new commander in chief of the Numidian army, and led whatever they could afford to attack Sicily.
2nd from the left is Adonbal, who appeared in Chapter 1. 3rd guy from the left is our new friend from the Julii family. The 4th guy is the new son in law of Syphax, carefully chosen. All of them have some potential of becoming a great generals. However, now there is no army for each of them. Their little influences will help calm down some newly conquered cities, so welcome aboard!.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_25.jpg
Lilybaeum, the Carthage city was heavily outnumbered, 4:1. The elephant army went missing again, probably still in the forest, so Gisgo faced little resistance.
Gisgo didn't stop right here, though. In the same turn of occupying Lilybaeum, Gisgo directly marched towards Messana, declaring war to the Romans. The Scipii general, Quintus Scipio, intercepted Gisgo half way. Finally a good field battle!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_26.jpg
The Scipii army is quite standard - mostly hastati, plus some velite and archers. Knowing the Romans are a little limited in mobility, Gisgo concentrated the more-powerful, faster troops on the right flank, and slower, defensive troops on the left. This way, it is possible to hold our own left, then win in our right, then come back to left and defeat the rest.
Note: Originally there were about 10 screenshots of this battle taken. However, when I opened them in photoshop, they were all BLACK with 2 horizontal colored lines except this one. Argh... In the future I will try to tune down the video qualities to see whether I can take more valid shots.
In short, the Scipii velite soon broke into a little fleeing horde under all our missle fires. However, the real battle did not begin until Quintus Scipio led a fast charge of himself and "the archer", and personally chased Gisgo around. Gisgo is not a coward, but he knows 1 vs. 1 he has no chance to survive.
Soon, Gisgo intercepted Quintus and his bodyguards with desert spearmen, coming from a 90-degree angle. Apparently, this was not enough to stop Quintus. With only 2 or 3 men fell, Quintus easily got away and kept chasing Gisgo all the way to the rear of our line.
Trained in the motion-lagging desert, Numidian horses run fast. Gisgo made a few more sharp turns without getting touched, and ran "right through" his own lines, including one unit of desert spearmen, one unit of mercenary pelsate, and one unit of mercenary hoplite close by.
(Note: Once I ran my general through some phalanx from their "back", and he still died on friendly spears! So this time I canceled their phalanx in advance.)
Quintus took the bait. He didn't hesitate to charge in the infantry crowd, just to find himself hopelessly trapped by our spears. The roman archer plus 2 units of hastati soon rushed in to save their general, only to be charged on the back by 2 units of Numidian jav. cav. already waiting.
However, with quality infantry, strong morale support of nearby troops, and the presence of their general, the Romans fought very hard and does not look like losing at all. The left flank fell into chaos. Our hoplites had to dropp their spears and pulled out their knives. The Roman archers & Gisgo's mercenary pelsates routed first.
On the right, where the faster & lighter Numidian troops are, was almost a perfect 2:1 match. 2 skirmishers faced 2 hastati head-on, with 2 jav. cav. charged their back, 1 on 1. Gisgo, who just got rid off Quintus, followed his direction and charged into the flank of one of the hastati units, finally routing both of them.
There was no time for chasing, though. Gisgo and his cavalry soon flied with full speed back to the left, charging into the opening side of Scipii hastati. The blug flags blinking!
Quintus knew he had lost the day, so he pulled the remaining 3 horses out of the mass and started fleeing. The Roman army panicked. A few moments later, Quintus was caught up by the fast Numidian jav. cav, and slained right beside his watch tower. Very few Roman forces survived the massacre of multi-unit cavalry.
It was a heroic victory of Gisgo!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_27.jpg
The Scipii soon found their own town besieged by Gisgo. It looks like that the Numidians will soon connect their jump points to Italia. With 6 years of 5900/turn of "protectorate tributes" from their rich daddy, Egypt, the future of Numidia can't look bad!
Mikeus Caesar
11-14-2004, 15:28
Dude....very cool. Which faction is next?
Good stuff, i thought the Scipii had you for a while there! Shame about the screen shots, would have like to see more!
*Ringo*
Nice story dude. I myself found numidia hard to start with, but once i beat up on carthage and took over africa i grew quickly bored. They have such an incredibly limited and weak selection of troops, just not fun to play with for all that long :(
Welcome back to maltz's RTW Numidia story. After taking Carthage city and becoming a protectorate of Egypt, the once poor Numidians have been able to finance themselves to invade Sicily, and declared war to the Romans.
Battle comes fast - the Scipii, although lost a devastating battle west of Messana, was agreesive enough to arrange a sally with some fresh reinforcement immediately!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_28.jpg
Seeing the enemy divided into 2 parts, Gisgo started an all-out cavalry rush, to rout whatever in sight. Poor velites were surrounded and crushed to cream. The Scipii garrison alone is no match of Gisgo's entire army.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_29.jpg
Without waiting for the reinforcement, Gisgo took a risky landing to Italy, close to the Brutii town of Croton (same as the Carthage story), while with only 300+ soldiers. He better pray to Baal that the Brutii has sent the majority of their force overseas, to deal with the Greeks.
Right after landing, Gisgo saw some free troops outside Croton. If they were attacked, and call out the Croton garrison... Gisgo might be able to occupy Croton immediately, this turn!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_30.jpg
The Brutii also came as two seperate batches. Gisgo only has a small army and there is no guarantee any reinforcement will come in a few turns, as Sicily's shore is heavily patroled by the Romans. Gisgo has to act quickly. Soon, he surrounded the captain-led Brutii army, mauled them to the ground, then mob the Brutii general that came as a too-late reinforcement.
One unit of hastati retreated back to Croton before the cavalry could catch up, so Gisgo still had to siege Croton. It turned out fine - the Brutii didn't come back in time. In fact, no Brutii army came back to rescue their holds in Italy. Tarentum also fell to Gisgo's small-but-efficient army.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_31.jpg
With more reinforcement on their way to Italy, the advanced stable of Carthage is now complete. Long shield cavalry & camel riders are under mass production! However, the Greek cities blockaded the Carthage port, declaring war to Numidia. How can our reinforcement go out this way? Emergency fleets are called throughout the Numidian coast!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_32.jpg
Teach them a lesson! Numidian didn't hesitate to attack the ill-defended castle of Syracuse, Sicily. Adonbal, the youngest son of Syphax, was in charge of this swift action.
There weren't a lot of Greeks troops available in Sicily after a major bribing event several years ago, so there were n't a lot of Numidian troops stayed in Sicily, either. All Adonbal has in his hands are missle units, archers and skirmishers, not even missle cavalry.
This kind of army would have a huge weakness to cavalry. Fortunately, the Greeks are just opposite to that. All they have are infantry, slooooow infantry. There are plenty of time for Numidian archers to shoot, plus Adonbal personally confused the phalanx by running close to their formation, along with mobile skirmishers.
The hoplites were nailed to the ground in a good rate, routed by Adonbal and skirmishers, chased to their grave. Their cavalry general didn't survive the final mobbing action.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_33.jpg
On the east, the Egyptians have been pretty quiet these years, probably due to the large amount of "development fund" (5900) they agreed sponser every half year to their "protectorate", Numidia. Actually, we have been helping them by reducing their army upkeep fee. Prince Kiya has also been invited to Numida for a while. ;)
Before the expiry of the 6-year tribute, Muttines, the 2nd son of Syphax and the commander of the east, travelled a long way to finally reach the first rebel town in Arabia - Petra. There was quite a powerful garrison army - all cavalry there. Muttines attacked the small group of peasants just outside the town, to lure the cavalry out.
The trick about AI reinforcements is that they don't enter the battlefield all at once, but one by one. AI doesn't really wait, instead it usually charges each available unit in the battlefield immediately. The interval between each unit is not long, about 10 seconds. 10 seconds is enough for a fast cavalry gang violence. Each unit of rebel was surrounded and charged, by the Numidia cavalry and their mercenaries.
Everything was done by the cavalry. After this battle, Muttines got a "superiod cavalry commander" trait!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_34.jpg
Croton and Tarentum provided Numida a stable holding of Italy, and a safe landing site for the constant stream of reinforcement following the Carthage - Lilybaeum - Syracuse - Croton rout.
Gisgo didn't wait too long to march towards Capua, the last town of Scipii. The Scipii organized their final attempt of resistance, again, by calling back some crappy captain to assault with the garrison.
Yet another cavalry rush sealed the fate of the captain army, and the Capua garrison was not strong enough to handle Gisgo's balanced force 1 on 1. Scipii ended here.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_35.jpg
The locals of Capua didn't really want to give their city to Numidia yet. Revolt occurred and Gisgo had to fight one more time. These rebels, some town watch and equite, were weaker than they look - or they don't really look.
This is also one of the few occasions that I got phalanx to work to close perfection. (The enemy units are rather stationary in town center, while on the battlefield they RUN and CHARGE.)
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_36.jpg
Our diplomatic team has also landed Italy, and ready to write checks for new recruit. One of our Roman friends encountered this superstar of Gaul. Let's sell the map first, as usual.
Wait a minute, what is the condition that he accepted. A 100-year tribute for a total of 420,000!
Note: The AI first proposed a tribute of 2100 for "2 turns" for my map information. After the Egyptian experience I thought the AI might take something even more outrageous than "12 turns", so I proposed 200 turn of 2100 denari. I wonder whether AI would agree to pay you for eternity, like 9999 turns? This "feature" really makes the game rather unchallenging because any poor clan, once they get this kind of tribute from multiple sources, will go financially worry-free for the rest of their campaign.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_37.jpg
Summer, 264BC. With Brutii and Scipii out of way, Gisto advanced his army - with new reinforcement, to Rome.
The Senate army was a 19-unit full stack of assorted veteran infantry, triarii, principe, hastati and velite, plus 4 generals are their bodyguards, led by the 5-star commander Servius Maxentius. No other clan in this period would put up such a powerful army.
The Numidian army was also led by its best general, the faction heir, 10-star Gisgo the Mighty. I don't know what time he begins to be called "Mighty", but indeed he gained a few "heroic" victories recently. The Numidian army was composed of a balanced selection of archers, slingers, skirmishers, jav. cav., and some spear infantry. From the starting "power bar" we could see the odds were about Numidia 5: Roman Senate 7.
In terms of infantry, Numidia has far less power to match the Roman legion, so the least thing we want to see is a wall of legions walking towards us, or anything 1 vs. 1. To avoid this, we need to be the "attacker", so the AI will be less aggressive, and then we need some tactics to separate the enemy into batches that came into contact "in a string" but not as a whole. Then, we will rush, divide, massacre, and repeat that.
First, the Numidian archers started to shoot in the right flank, concentrating its power on only one thing: the generals. Servius Maxentius, the Roman commander, hid himself in the center, so these archers were just targeting other Senate generals. Shooting down the enemy's mobile troops in one flank will buy us some precious "time" later - we will only need to focus on the left flank when the Romans begin their charge.
Bad generals stood still to watch their bodyguards die - but they seemed to be unhurt themsleves. When their bodyguard's number reduced to a handful, they couldn't stand it anymore, and charged forward. Our archers ran back to lure them in, and the now world-famous speedy Numidian jav. cav. rushed forward to end their lives. Two Roman generals gone.
The Roman army then sent out some lone units of velite to skirmish, as a standard move of the Republican army. Not bad - but Velite ran way slower than Numidian jav. cav., so they got massacred, too.
Half of the day has past now. Finally, the Romans couldn't stand it anymore. Servius Maxentius himself lead a charge, to the left, followed by the legions. (Note: This is the "suicidal general" thing that we see a lot. They are not really running alone - the problem is they run too fast, so they are not properly supported by the rest of the army.)
Gisgo couldn't let his chance slip out his grasp. If the invincible Roman legions arrive to the line, the Numidian infantry will become desert sands. Gisgo ordered half of the army, the entire left flank to charge towards the Roman general, to kill him as soon as possible!
Servius Maxentius was tough. He held the ground until the next group - trarii arrived and charged. More Numidian troops had also arrived to charge in. These purple fighting machines were more than happy to see their last man standing. The local hot spot - more than 500 men crowded there. Everybody was waiting for the cutscene moment - who will fall first - Gisgo or Servius Maxentius? They were both in the core of the struggle!
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_38.jpg
Today, Baal smiles on the desert men. The Roman general fell first! But guess what - no Roman soldier was affected. After so long there were only 10 triarri killed, and they alone hold more than 500 Numidian troops!
Oh dear Baal, more Romans rushed close! The entire Numidian army now poured into this hot spot - slingers, archers, whatever. Just find an enemy's back and stick your chest on! Also, all of the Numidian cavalries were pulled out of the struggle (they were hopeless before triarii), and sent to the far end on skirmish & fire at will, to slow down the Romans. Gisgo pulled away himself through the trarii's line, to avoid any friendly fire taking his life.
After a while, Numidians completely surrounded this superhuman trairii with a crazy ratio like 10:1, to finally set them on the run. The rest of the Senate army were all close by, though. The Numidian cavalry couldn't be careless to charge in any group of hastati, principe, even velite. The infantry were called forward to carefully mob up one unit after unit, while the cavalry trying to keep everybody else busy. The Senate army were the toughest ever, and they usually refuse to rout until there were charged on 3 different directions at once.
Slowly, group after group of Senate soldiers fell. The rest decided they should retreat all at once. Our Numidian cavalry won't give them that pleasure, though. They pinned down the all of the rest - sounds easy, but that was the most dangerous chase I've ever done. I lost a lot of cavalry, but I thought it should be worthwhile. I don't want to see too many hastati on the walls or blocking the streets.
They final kill ratio was about 1160 : 160. Another heroic victory under Gisgo's belt! The only regret is that I took many screenshots from this battle, but only the above 2 showed up non-black. :<
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_39.jpg
The siege of Rome started on the next turn. Brave samnite warriors sacrificed themselves to lure away the only hastati from the gatehouse, which will be isolated by two sap points, and captured by the remaining desert infantry who survived the last battle. After everybody rushed in and took several towers, there was no more hope for the Roman Senate.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/numidia_40.jpg
Turn 16, winter 263BC. Numidia has developed to a good empire that controls the center of Mediterranean sea, plus a good share of North Africa. Rome and Carthage are 2 great cities for advanced troop production. There is not a lot of obstacles lying before their final dominance of Europe!
I guess this is a good place to call an end to the story. Thank you for reading. Any opinion is welcome.
By the way, here is the save game file up to this point, if you would like to continue this story yourself.
http://protein.biochem.queensu.ca/~dlee/others/rtw/numidia/num_story_08.sav
maltz
ChaosLord
11-15-2004, 05:23
Great read, I thorougly enjoyed this and your other one. I do have one complaint though, and don't take this the wrong way. It would have been an even better story not using the exploits, after the protectorate bit you were pretty much set. The Gaulish trade only made it even more unlikely for you to get challenged again.
So, i'd really enjoy reading a story where you avoided exploits, say with Dacia/Thrace or someone in that area. :)
First, thank you for the input. The protectorate bug really spoiled the fun from challenge. If I could restart, I wouldn't agree on the protectorate deal, or the insane tribute. Later on, Pontus would pay me 9999 turns of tribute. Hum...
When I started this campaign:
(1) I didn't know the protectorate bug could work backwards.
(2) I didn't know AI doesn't mind paying tribute for eternity.
(3) I don't save/load as I said in the beginning. Whatever happens to me, a bug that kills all the first boy in Pharaoh's or my family, is the will of Baal. If I start to save/load, then any thing can be faked - I lose credibility.
And I like to try new things out. When I played with my instincts and accidently walked into the exploit area, I made all the screenshots and reported here. :)
The tribute period bug is really nasty - because one can't really draw a line between the right and wrong. What should we say when AI offers us a tribute of 2 turns? Counter for 3, 4, or 99999? They will all say yes anyways. :
ChaosLord
11-15-2004, 18:02
Ah, I didn't realize you didn't have any saves around the time it happened. Thats understable then. As for tribute, i'd say the most you should counter for is 2 or 3x the turns, anything more wouldn't really be expected in normal negotiations. I don't sell maps to the AI at all though, it can make things too easy starting out when its supposed to be hard. But anyway, I look forward to reading your next story.
I got some ideas for your next campaign.
How about:
Druids Vision
You play Brittania, and backstory is you one of your Druids gets a vision and you must exterminate Rome. To win you to need to create a contiguous line of territories too and exterminate/occupy Rome. Can not ask for ceasefire or alliance or accept them nor tribute, nor sell maps. The vision says, "According to the Druid you must do it alone."
Greek Revenge
Play Greek City States. Must hold at end all Greek City States. Must defeat Macedonia and Thrace any rebel faction terrioties in Greece and then exterminate/occupy Rome. Can not accept or ask for ceasefire, or alliances or tribute nor sell maps. "Its Revenge, Zeus said so."
Alexanders General's Son
Play Seleucid. Must unify old Alexander Empire. Need contiguous territories connecting original, beginning Seleucid Empire with Thebes, Alexander. Contiguous territories to western coast. Contiguous means connecting territories, to shorten the campaign, not have to conquer everything. From here you sail, to finish off Byzantine, Macedonian Capital, Athens individually, these 3 territories do not have to be contiguous. Once you exterminate Rome and occupy it, the world will proclaim Alexanders Rebirth.
Mikeus Caesar
11-15-2004, 20:02
This is all so good....
Thanks for the ideas! Hopefully I could resolve the blacked-out screenshot problem... I was thinking of something extreme such as "Egyptian peasants rush". That will be pretty fun to watch... ;)
mad caligula
11-15-2004, 22:24
wow really well donne
first post ~D
More ideas:
Spanish Glory
Take Spain get get rid of Carthage and Gual, to unify all of Spain. Create contiguous northern border up to and under England then take England/destroy Brittania. Create contiguous territory to Italy from Spanish territory, take out Rome. Can accept alliances, cease fire, no tribute, no selling maps.
Barbarian Warcry
As Germania create contiguous territory up to and take out England/Brittania. Create contiguous territory, up to and take out Macedonian capital. Take out Rome. Can accept alliances, cease fire, no tribute, no selling maps.
Exodus
Take Thracia, burn, destroy all city buildings for gold. Set tax rate highest. Take all family members and army and go up to northern most eastern territory and "make new start". You want these original territories to Rebel, so set tax rate highest and collect money till they do. Once there, create contiguous territory that goes from here to south of Black Sea and connects to Med Sea.
Eye of Seti
New Pharoh is born. Create contiguous territory up to and take out Carthage. Create contiguous territory up to and under Byzantine. Take out and occupy Byzantine, Athens, Macedonian Capital, and destroy their temples. Enslave all these 3 and occupy/enslave Rome all non contiguous.
Get to work, buddy. I want to see some more stuff.
PorT_Lobo
11-17-2004, 04:10
It would be nice to see you playing Numid without using (abusing) the map information sell bug to get extra cash.
"Unlock" Macedonia. They have good pike units, and Awesome cavalry. Their Macedonian Cavalries have like 15 charge. Your goal is of course to unify Greece and conquer Asia Minor. Maybe also finish Alexander's goal to conquer the cities along African Coast and curb Rome's power. See if you can get like a 16 year old fresh general and conquer the world by himself :)
It will also give you the chance to play with Pikemen and Phalanxes more.
The Blind King of Bohemia
06-14-2005, 23:19
Great and entertaining story there dude, this had me grinning all the way through ~D
bubbanator
06-15-2005, 03:53
wow...just wow...
That had to be the best guide/story/thing I have ever read. I might actualy play as Numidia now.
You should really post it in the guides section as well.
amazon77
06-15-2005, 08:45
Maltz u rock!
orcorama
06-15-2005, 16:42
any1 no where his carthage 1 is
Dutch_guy
06-15-2005, 16:50
Yeah I would like to know that as well, although I know that I would still like his Armenian campaign guide/story the best ( he beat the game with Armenia in very very few turns ) that was / still is a record , at least I think it is ~:) .
:balloon2:
Yeah I would like to know that as well, although I know that I would still like his Armenian campaign guide/story the best
Ask and ye shall receive, i was curious myself and a quick search yielded this...
Armenia (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=40197)
and...
Carthago (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=39606)
Dutch_guy
06-15-2005, 21:17
thanks for the links Monk . ~:cheers:
:balloon2:
Damn you`re professional! ~:eek:
You certainly know how to edit images and write interesting stories! ~:cheers:
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