[Epeiros/Pergamon AAR] Philetairos' Gift

[QuintusSertorius]

225BC:



My soon-to-be Bosporan Kingdom, the dynasty Messaneos will found. He took Chersonesus with ease (there was hardly anything left, so I auto-calc'ed), and his two sons are on the ship coming back. I won't be sending anyone or anything else up there, it's going to run it's own business. Perhaps when Ptolemaios finally dies (73 and still kicking) some kind of reconciliation between Messaneos and Pergamon can be made.

Rome have broken through in Cisalpine Gaul. Hopefully they'll turn to the Illyrian coast next. Qarthadast are romping through Spain. For added chaos, I gave the Arverni Numantia again, though as consolation I gave the Lusotanii Ivernis in southern Ireland, which had bizarrely revolted to the Aedui.

The Getai accepted a ceasefire without the use of FD, which is becoming a pattern. Maybe my faction is strong enough that they're more willing to listen? Seleukids are at war with Hayasdan now as well as Pontos. Pontos finally took Trapezous.

Pahlava still aren't moving much, I think I might need to FD them some territory to get them started. Zadrakata at the very least.

Makedonia are still useless, even after I moved all of KH's standing armies to Cape Horn. Literally all of them.

I really like the way you describe battles step-by-step and you analyse them afterward. Keep going!
How do you take so many screenshots? Do you use some specialized software or do you alt-tab out of the game all the time?

I hope they don't come off as a little repetitive, since I use broadly the same tactics most of the time.

I Alt+Tab out of the game, paste them into Paintshop Pro, convert them to JPEG then save them, then back into the battle. Nothing fancy just a little effort.

[General Appo]

But... why? Just use Irfanview or something instead, saves you all the trouble of Alt+Tabing.

[QuintusSertorius]

But... why? Just use Irfanview or something instead, saves you all the trouble of Alt+Tabing.

Does it automatically convert the BMPs to JPEGs and clear my cache? Or am I going to have huge files taking up valuable memory while I'm playing?

[General Appo]

Well... at first it becomes huge files, but you can then easily convert them into JPEGs and delete the huge files.

[QuintusSertorius]

Well... at first it becomes huge files, but you can then easily convert them into JPEGs and delete the huge files.

Hmm, if I have to manually convert the BMPs after the fact (and they hang around in the meantime) then it's not really saving me any time or hassle.

Each screenshot is twenty seconds of time out; about two to switch out of the game, three or four to paste the image, convert it to an appropriately named JPEG and clear the cache (each image is about 2.5MB in BMP which isn't trivial), then about ten seconds to switch back to the game.

Then the only work I have to do after the fact is upload them into photobucket.

[QuintusSertorius]

The Relief of Nikaia, 222BC

Atintan and Sybotios arrived before the Pontic commander had any time to build siege engines. They couldn't have arrived too soon for Lykomedes Kastideus, the governor of Nikaia.



At first Atintan lined up ready to form into columns and cross the bridge. He put Sybotios as far out of the way as he could, with all the cavalry at a ford downstream from the bridge. Hopefully he'd stay out of the way.



To Atintan's surprise, the Pontic commander came to him, and charged across the bridge to force the crossing.



The Thrakian elites charged in, prepared to hold the entire Pontic army at bay if need be.



For a time, that's exactly what they did, causing grievous harm to the Pontic commander's bodyguard.



Sybotios began the crossing. He was going to contribute to this battle no matter what.



Atintan was never far from the fighting, but chose to stay behind he fighting line. This was not a fight his cavalry could influence a great deal. It was a day for the infantryman.



One of the Pontic officers was separated from his bodyguard.



The cavalry made good progress across the river.



Another Pontic officer was stranded alone.



Now across the river, Sybotios and the cavalry made for the bridge, harrassing Pontic stragglers as they went. Now the subordinate could see the fate of Kastideus' garrison, who were suffering badly at the hands of the remainder of the Pontic army.



One of the Pontic officers was slain in the melee.



Then their general was caught by the Thrakian skirmishers.



He was bisected at the waist by their wicked blades. At the same time, Sybotios charged across the bridge into their rear.



The Pontic army collapsed.



The scene at the bridgehead was one of total carnage.



Nikaia had been saved. Now Atintan could take the war to Pontos and regain the initiative.



But first there was a grave matter to attend to, the funeral of Kastideus. He had fought bravely and died trying to hold the line when his levy troops broke and ran.



Editorial Note



I was expecting a battle to cross the bridge here, but instead got a more regular AI trying and failing to cross. As the stats show, the AI-controlled reinforcements did a piss-poor job of achieving anything, besides getting their general killed. It was actually an accident on my part, I thought I'd unchecked the box to let the AI control them.

The only positive there was that I didn't get them suddenly appearing and potentially messing with my formation if I tried to move everyone. The battle was actually pretty chaotic, moreso than might appear from the screenshots.

[QuintusSertorius]

Second Seleukid War, 220BC

Amantieus continued to patrol the pass through the Tauros mountains, and was attacked by another Seleukid attempt to invade Phrygia.



They came on in the usual manner.



They were clearly the smaller force.



Byllideus broke through the Seleukid right.



The left collapsed just as quickly.



The final charge that broke the centre was delivered by Amantieus in person.



Thus they'd been beaten in the usual manner as well.



Editorial Note



I'm getting a little bored with fighting Seleukid phalanxes which always try to do the same things. Especially these half-baked stacks with no balance and loads of mostly-destroyed units in them. I may have to take a Seleukid FM, then build him an army from scratch, rather than waiting for the AI to fail to combine their stacks effectively before attacking me.

[QuintusSertorius]

Capture of Pantikapaion

Messaneos was now in the process of completing the very last phase of his grand plan, establishing an independent state in the Crimea. He had received the envoys from the new Basilieu, but gave cool replies to the reconciliatory overtures from Amantieus. He wasn't about to give up his newfound autonomy so easily.

He had started the siege of Pantikapaion back in 221, and kept to a methodical timetable of starving out the defenders and exposing all their traps and tricks. In 220 he ordered the final assault.



It was taken with few casualties, the defenders weakened by months of privation.



And now Messaneos set about the business of pacifying the outlying regions.

Editorial Note

I really wasn't in the mood to play out a siege, so I autocalced it. I didn't however, use any cheats.

[QuintusSertorius]

Pontic War, 220BC

Marching through the season to reach the Pontic coast, Atintan happened upon the Pontic king.



Seeing an opportunity to end this war quickly, but cutting off the head of the Pontic snake, he sent his cavalry to find and kill the enemy general.



That done, mopping up his retainers was a straightforward matter.



Shocked at the loss of their leader, Pontos signed a peace treaty and agreed to indemnify Pergamon for the cost of the war.



Editorial Note

Had to use Force Diplomacy to secure that ceasefire, even though Pontos had little it could respond with, and I had a port blockaded and Sinope at my mercy, they wouldn't agree to it.

[QuintusSertorius]

Second Seleukid War, 220BC

Amantieus was attacked in the Tauros mountains again, this time by a much smaller Seleukid force. They must have been getting desparate not to prepare a proper army to attack, knowing that Amantieus and his army were up here.



The enemy general was slain by Byllideus during the fighting.



His death caused the shattering of morale and flight of his army.



A war-weary Seleukid empire agreed to peace.



Editorial Note

Once again some FD, I was getting sick of fighting them.

[Swordmaster]

I was expecting a battle to cross the bridge here, but instead got a more regular AI trying and failing to cross. As the stats show, the AI-controlled reinforcements did a piss-poor job of achieving anything, besides getting their general killed. It was actually an accident on my part, I thought I'd unchecked the box to let the AI control them.

I always re-check and uncheck to make sure the box is definitely unchecked. Sometimes it's unchecked but the engine still thinks it's checked (e.g. if you clicked away to view enemy troops and return).

[General Appo]

Nice going. Just a thought, if you really are to recreate Lysimachos empire then you´ll have to eventually take Pontos starting regions, right? Maybe you can move them somewhere else.

[QuintusSertorius]

I always re-check and uncheck to make sure the box is definitely unchecked. Sometimes it's unchecked but the engine still thinks it's checked (e.g. if you clicked away to view enemy troops and return).

Ah, that's what I did before that battle, I unchecked it, then had a look at the enemy army, then started without making sure it was still unchecked.

Nice going. Just a thought, if you really are to recreate Lysimachos empire then you´ll have to eventually take Pontos starting regions, right? Maybe you can move them somewhere else.

I'm very torn here, when I'm straddling this line between historicity and alternate history. I don't want to nerf Pontos, because I want them to be able to grow into a power to content with in the future. But I also don't want to be constantly harrassed by them, nor have them be too powerful too soon.

[Tyrfingr]

Leave my precious Pontos alone! :D

[Swordmaster]

EDIT: Heh, I should really check whether there are new pages in a thread before posting.

[QuintusSertorius]

223BC:



Not much change with me, but the Romans have started rolling down the Illyrian coast, though they'll have to fight the Aedui for Dalminion. They did try for Noricum, but then Satres respawned and kicked their arses. Worryingly they recently allied with Makedonia and AS.

Qarthdast took Arse and now I'm trying to get the Romans to take Emporion to put the two of them in conflict again.

[General Appo]

Once again, I´ve never seen the Romans go for Emporion without taking Tolosa first, and I doubt moving armies to Emporion will change that.

[QuintusSertorius]

The Second Seleukid War, 222BC

A fragile peace with the Seleukid empire had lasted for more than six years, but a more lasting settlement was never a realistic possibility. The Syrians resented the encroachment in their traditional sphere of influence of this upstart young nation, born from the ashes of an older Successor state, and acting with unseemly boldness. The loss of much of Mikra Asia was never something they were going to take lightly. The ceasefire had merely been time to recoup their losses and gather their strength.

In the spring of 222, Ptolemaios was still barking orders in Pergamon and generally showing every sign of living forever, and Epimenes Amantieus was the man on the scene, until recently acting as governor of Phrygia from Ipsos. He'd proven an even more adept administrator and ruler than he was a general, which eased the transition in government in the region. As his subordinate he'd taken the now-maturing Byllideus.

The second was a simple man, he knew his limitations which was a rare piece of self-knowledge among so many arrogant noblemen. He would never be a great scholar or charismatic orator - both traits which Amantieus had in spaces - but he was a capable fighter. So he focused on developing his one talent and trying to put himself in situations where he could leverage it to best effect. His prowess had earned him the undying respect of many of the barbarian horsemen who rode under the Pergamene banner.

Hearing reports of a Seleukid army roving through the Phrygian countryside, Amantieus hastened out to the mountain pass. Here he could hold them, no matter what numbers they brought to bear. His camp was attacked in the summer.



He waited his troops at the bottom of a hill, and let the enemy come to him.



Now veterans who had seen their share of combat, the appearance of the enemy did little to impress the Pergamenes.



They marched on, and the Pergamenes rested themselves, officers allowing the men to lean on their shields while the enemy were outside missile range.



When battle began, the first move was the Seleukids. Their cataphract cavalry, something the Pergamenes had never seen before, charged. Heavy horses crashed into the Thrakian mercenaries covering the left flank, and Byllideus saw a chance. Another chance to add credit to his name doing something he was good at.



The lines closed, and it was readily apparent how badly outnumbered the Seleukid force was.



Moving around the cataphracts, Byllideus led the Gallic horse into their rear, sowing carnage among the ranks of the heavily-armoured horsemen. The Seleukid commander was with them, and Byllideus took his head.



The cataphracts dealt with, he led the cavalry in shattering charges to the rear of the Seleukid ranks.



Amantieus had to deal with heavy spearmen on the right.



As Byllideus routed the sole phalanx, some Parthian spearmen ran away without even coming into contact with his cavalry.



The light cavalry with Amantieus routed another group of veteran spearmen.



And soon the whole Seleukid army was in disarray.



Amantieus had won a cheap victory, his casualties were light.



But he was under no illusions that this would be the last he'd see from the Seleukid empire.

Editorial Note



Once again I was really disappointed with the AI for this one. Not only was it blatantly telegraphed from several turns away what they were going to do (I have watchtowers, after all), but they've got the forces to have put together a proper army, rather than attack me with this half-arsed effort. One which didn't even have any main phalanxes in it, just the one native unit.

My second FM, Byllides got a lot of casualties that battle. He was a champion. Especially in holding the cataphracts in melee while the Gauls pulled out to charge home again.

[Swordmaster]

Your campaign is really an inspiration to mine, if you know what I mean. (If you don't, you'll know soon enough .)

Oh, and those were some of the coolest screens you've taken so far. Keep it up.

[Gurkhan]

Great AAR man, although all the FD makes it seem like you are trying to play all factions at once. This is not how I play the game, but it makes for interesting reading! A word to the wise, you cannot move anything to cape Horn as South America is not on the map. Keep a postin'"!!

[QuintusSertorius]

Haven't played for a few days because I simply haven't had the time between work and family stuff, but the game is not dead.

I've been doing some thinking about some more house-rules to make things more challenging. I've already stopped retraining; what I do is have a "reinforcement unit" to merge into losses, then if there's any of that left I retrain it - but of course it never retains higher experience than I can recruit.

Now I'm thinking I need to stop targeting enemy generals, and even actively avoid killing them if I can. In my battles with the Seleukids, I've killed nine of their FMs, including their Faction Heir at one point (though he died during a siege blockade). While they can afford to soak up the losses, it does make battles easy once the general is dead, where even elites break.

Thoughts?