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Serendipity is when something turns out to be unexpectedly lucky (from a novel 'The three princes of Serendip by Horace Walpole).
Has anything really fortuitous happened in your games?
The reason is that I am playing Pontus and had a fleet (ship really) with my army en route to take Byzantium (Macedon got their first actually). I was attacked twice going down from 40 to 11 men - and my two random escapes landed me next-door to Rhodes! (This is early on in the game)
Dunno if this could be called fortuitous, but I once sent a rather useless general to attack a rebel-held city all by himself (Palmyra in a Seleucid campaign), and expecting the "Honorable Death" cut-scene (auto-resolve), I got "Heroic Victory"...go figure:dizzy2:
He gained 12 experience chevrons and a bunch of favorable traits. Didn't have the heart to send him on another suicide mission, so I kept him as town governor until he died of old age.
:hail:
One assumes that the Autoresolve works out the relative strengths of both armies (taking into account composition of troops, location and if it's a city defence/ attack) and (based on its calculation) then works out a probability of each side winning. It then generates a random value - depending on the value it allocates the result and then processes the casualties. If a low-probability victory actually occurs then we get a 'heroic victory'. A much quicker way than actually playing the battle.
e.g. ratio of strengths 2:1 against
(0 - 5) Probability of Heroic victory 5%
(6 - 15) Probability of Clear victory 10%
(16 - 30) Probability of Narrow Victory 15%
(31 - 35) Probability of draw : 5%
(36 - 55) Probability of Narrow Defeat 20%
(56 - 100) Probability of Clear defeat : 45%
If the random number generated between 1 and 100 happens to be e.g. 3 then you get a heroic victory. This is also possibly why you can force a win in the cheats.
When you play on the battlemap it probably works in reverse - once it sees the final results it works out whether it meets the criteria for a 'heroic victory' - said criteria being dependent on initial troop configuration.
Pontus is actually a pretty easy game (on M/M anyway).
Took the rebel towns in North/ Mid Asia Minor, Took Rhodes - which meant I was at war with the Greek States -Pergamon, Helicarnassus. Took Byzantium from Macedon (good sieges there - one of which I just put everything in the central square to circumvent the desert infantry poor morale), Sailed over to Egypt to take out the Nile (two or 3 epic bridge defences there), worked way up to Jerusalem/ Sidon/ Salamis. Took Tarsus/ Antioch, then the 3 inland towns to destroy Egypt. Took Crete from rebels, landed in three armies in Greece to take out Sparta, Corinth, Athens, moved up to take Larissa, Tylis and Thessalonica. It is now 237bc and the Brutii have finally declared war. Two large armies in Greece - one bribed, the other massacred. One more on its way South. Pontus high-level troops rock! Much greater fun rushing chariots around Roman equites/ hastati than having to face spearmen/ phalanxes with them.
I think the key was the rapid economic growth allowing lots of mercenary units to be hired, which thrashed the weaker forces.
Their starting infantry stink, though. And for an infantry general like myself, really annoying. If you haven't modded the game, your phalanx pikes (at least on my game) as Pontus (nobody else) have 80 or 81 men, and 16 defense, meaning their defense is better than your Bronze Shields. Less men, though, and less attack, so Bronze Shields are certainly a better unit.Quote:
Originally Posted by weejonnie
And everyone in the east has spears as their default weapon - which makes scythed chariots worse than useless. Fortunately it doesn't take too long to get phalanx pikes. Of course by the time you start fighting the Romans then you can build some pretty nice cavalry - against pre-Marius Romans I run two armies - one of archers/ phalanx pikes to take cities and one of heavy/ Cappadocian cavalry/ chariot archers to meet the Romans in the field - usually it is a 10%-95% kill ratio. Am about to enter Marius forces I think, but Rome is mine (bribed the army for 170000 and actually used onagers in from Capua) The Brutii only have Pavavium as a Mediteranean port.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vincent Butler
Must be playing the game better as am clocking up 30-50K profit a turn. Probably soon be time to move capital over to Athens - To the East there is only Parthia (very weak) so Scipii Brutii Julii delendae sunt.
Scythed Chariots are a joke. Although...Quote:
Originally Posted by weejonnie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G2RfJHg9LE
I always have Onagers, unless I need to move quickly. I also use the flames. As few hits as they get, one flame hit takes out as many men as I normally kill anyway using no flame. Though I have learned to put my Onagers either close enough behind my men so an errant flame shot does not take out my own guys, or I put them in front of my men and pull the Onager's operators behind my battle line when the enemy gets close.
I have not tried Pontus much. Their starting infantry and position is always a deterrent for me. I guess first move is to secure Turkey. If you can take Tarsus quickly that will become a bulwark against Egypt. From Turkey take Greece, I guess. I probably will eventually try it. As finances improve it would be important to take Egypt out as well.
Their starting infantry is a problem, but with several fast-growing cities (Sinope, Nicomedia, Sardis, and Pergamum) you can be at pikemen pretty quick. Their starting position is arguably one of the better ones. Access to Greece fairly quickly, and the same for the Middle East. Nearly every city to capture is a port city, and you have access to all seven Wonders by mid-game.Quote:
Their starting infantry and position is always a deterrent for me.
The merc pool is excellent...Cretans, Arab Cavalry, Sarmatians (until you get Cappadocians), Ellies, and Bastarnae.
What's not to like:shrug:
I don't use mercs much, because of the money. I guess the Hillmen, who get a bonus vs cav, are good for protecting the flanks, because they are more flexible than Phalanx Pikemen. Maybe I will have to try them out. Of course I will come under attack quickly. It seems the only ones who don't get attacked quickly are the Romans. Usually I start the first wars as Rome, I don't have to worry about that with anybody else. Still, I would have to violate my sense of...something and probably field multiple units of Bronze Shields. I usually only field one or two units of the position of elite infantry such as Bronze/Silver Shields, Royal Pikemen, and Praetorian Cohort. Then again, by stats, I would hardly call Bronze Shields elite. 10 and 14?Quote:
Originally Posted by ReluctantSamurai
As Pontus, money should not be an issue, and Cretans one of the best archer units in the game.Quote:
I don't use mercs much, because of the money. I guess the Hillmen, who get a bonus vs cav, are good for protecting the flanks, because they are more flexible than Phalanx Pikemen.
Never, EVER, recruit Hillmen:inquisitive: They have all the disadvantages of Eastern Infantry (poor morale, crappy stats), and none of the advantages (mass, ie 120 men vs 80). Eastern Infantry has the bonus vs cavalry and 330 denarii gets you a 120 man unit while Hillmen with only a slighly better attack value gets you 81 men for 290 denarii:shrug:
One of the first things I do in an Armenian campaign (or a Pontus one) is disband the Peltasts and the Hillmen. I never recruit a single unit of either the remainder of the game.
Any eastern faction strategy must be to take out Egypt ASAP. I did this and let Selucia build up around Tarsus with tons of militia hoplites. Several battles with over 1000 kills ensued before I took it - but difficulties taking Tarsus are irrelevant if you take out AMT early on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vincent Butler
Other than hamstringing Egypt the campaign went basically as you suggest - The two rebel towns, The Greek one, Helicarnassus, then Byzantium (Macedon didn't like that - The town was beseiged and attacked but putting all the forces in the square meant they didn't rout and held off a much stronger army!) before moving onto Selucia - and then the Greeks. Once you take Athens then the money keeps rolling in from the sea trade across the Agean. Pontic Cavalry/ Chariots love pre-Marius Romans for dinner. (In my current game the standard Gallic cavalry do as well.)