The curse of Pyrrhos?

[Lovejoy]

Why can't he just stay alive! I always make heavy use of my generals in battle - they almost never die. But its a different thing with Pyrrhos. He dies in every battle I fight. So far he have died 4 times in my campaign. I reloaded every time, since I didn't think it was fair - most of the time he seem to just die by himself. An angry look from a skirmisher and he drop dead.

He is always among the top 10 to die in his bodygaurd! He just died by some Hoplites he passed by - so I got angry - shut down the game - and started this thread.

Anyone else having the same curse?

GOD I HATE HIM!

[Aemilius Paulus]

Heh, I could never kill my generals even if I tried, whhat really happened was that the general lost all of his bodyguard and then fought for a couple of minutes (!) until routing. I have never lost a general in my EB career. Or wait, no, I have actually lost a general charging into the back of Lugoae, but he was a fighting general, whom I kept just for his bodyguard (extra heavy cav). Despite this, I still reloaded the game.

I suggest you carefully check every trait your Pyrrhos has and add up the hitpoints the traits give him. Some traits will take off hitpoints, which might explain your bad "luck".

But from your description, it does seem quite ridiculous. Probability has rallied against you, looks like. It sometimes takes me minutes to kill a single enemy general even when he is surrounded by a couple of units of elite, experienced spearmen.


If you are too fed up with this, which you seem like you are, then just add a couple of hitpoint-boosting traits to your general, which should make him virtually indestructible. After all, the EB generals already have quite a bit more hitpoints than the vanilla ones. Refer to earlier threads about giving traits to find out how to do it. It is tricky. I have never succeeded in it.

[A Very Super Market]

Pyrrhos is quite unlucky IRL...

[machinor]

My Pyrrhos died in a heroic battle near Ariminum early on in my Epeiros campaign. He fell towards the end of the battle, when things still were more or less balanced. Pyrrhos led a decisive charge into the enemy flank, when a javelin hit him. His army, infuriated by its king's death at the hands of the dirty Romani, continued fighting with utmost determination. A young captain led the final push against the Roman forces and crushed them, no one from the enemy escaped and in the end Ariminum surrendered without any further fight. The young captain was adopted by Pyrrhos in his last moments as he realized that the battle was won. Then he died. His last victory was a heroic one and the site of the battle is still today recalled. Since then whenever Romans talked of wrote about "Pyrrhic Victory" they do it with utmost respect and awe, since it means a victory for whom the victor himself brings the greatest of all sacrifices.

I thought for a second about reloading and replaying the battle in order to save Pyrrhos but then I found his death quite fitting and glorious so I went on with it. The Man of the Hour Pyrrhos adopted in his last moments personally led Pyrrhos' veteran Italian army to a smashing victory over the Romans thus breaking their dominance of Italy and he sacked Rome itself. Aber pillaging and burning vast areas of Rome the Epeirotes left Latium and occupied the whole Adriatic coast.

[SwissBarbar]

I find generals too strong anyways, they're not spiderman, batman, catwoman etc. , after all they should fight and die like like everyone else. If one doesn't want to see his general dead, he should not let him join the combat.

That's my 2 cents concering the generals in general *lol*

As for your phyrros: you were just unlucky try again, it'll work


@machinor: nice story :-)

[Aemilius Paulus]

I find generals too strong anyways, they're not spiderman, batman, catwoman etc. , after all they should fight and die like like everyone else. If one doesn't want to see his general dead, he should not let him join the combat.

Well, you are absolutely right. However, it kinda kills you to see your best general, especially such a historical one die out of some measly charge in the back or a javelin. The only way I will accept a battlefield death of a general is in a last-stand type battle. Otherwise, I will reload.

Just like I reload when my generals die from natural causes. My Dentatvs starting FL is over 100 by now, even two out of his three sons are dead by now (natural causes - even a reload was not possible, since someone kept dying every time I would reload; and if anyone has noticed, after 3-4 reloads, suddenly everything stops changing and all the announcements, such as trait/ancillary gains, deaths, marriages, and adoptions are all the same. Weird.) Out of his three starting sons, only Cotta is still alive.

[SwissBarbar]

over 100?? never had that

[Ibrahim]

I find generals too strong anyways, they're not spiderman, batman, catwoman etc. , after all they should fight and die like like everyone else. If one doesn't want to see his general dead, he should not let him join the combat.

That's my 2 cents concering the generals in general *lol*

As for your phyrros: you were just unlucky try again, it'll work


@machinor: nice story :-)

blasphemy! a commander must prove how macho he is, by charging into a sarrissa wall

[anubis88]

blasphemy! a commander must prove how macho he is, by charging into a sarrissa wall

Yeah, this is the favourite hobby of any diadochi general.... I guess the are betting before the battles which one lasts more...

[Rilder]

Heh Pyrrhos was a bit unkillable in my Makedon campaign, had him completly surrounded at least twice and every time he got away, luck ran out though while he was hanging out in his capital and the Makedon Royal Army appeared.

[theoldbelgian]

wel one thing is certain, in your campaign he was better of then in real life
at least a javelin is meant to be a weapon and not something to cover your roof with

[Ibrahim]

wel one thing is certain, in your campaign he was better of then in real life
at least a javelin is meant to be a weapon and not something to cover your roof with

[A Very Super Market]

Awesome post.

[Ravenfeeder]

IIRC Phyrros has the trait that gives him -2 hit points, so he can die quite easily if his bodyguard are in serious combat. In my current Epeiros game he died as soon as I had to commit him against anything but routers or skirmishers (but his remnant bodyguard still won the battle for me and KH was no more).

[Lovejoy]

Thanks for your support and stories guys!

Next time I play, Phyrros will get an early pension - sitting safely in the capital.

[Slaists]

Why can't he just stay alive! I always make heavy use of my generals in battle - they almost never die. But its a different thing with Pyrrhos. He dies in every battle I fight. So far he have died 4 times in my campaign. I reloaded every time, since I didn't think it was fair - most of the time he seem to just die by himself. An angry look from a skirmisher and he drop dead.

He is always among the top 10 to die in his bodygaurd! He just died by some Hoplites he passed by - so I got angry - shut down the game - and started this thread.

Anyone else having the same curse?

GOD I HATE HIM!

hmm.... must be bad luck or maybe he picked up some ailing trait while roaming wilderness? In my Epyros campaign he's pushing 80 now and has 3 gold chevrons to his bodyguards...

[Βελισάριος]

I say we make a Pyrrhos fan-club. The man deserves it.

But I have to tell you, he is one of, if not the unluckiest general of all.

And machinor, talk about reinventing the term Pyrrhic victory. Though the meaning is still quite similar.

[ezekiel2517]

i have just had a battle in the Epirote capital (me as Greece). He was in the city while his son and what seemed to be his grandson were outside and attacked me from the left. I sent 3 units in the city, as only Phyrros, an elite phalanx unit and a levy were inside, so to keep most of my army for the larger enemy force led by his son.

Getting to the point. I tried to surround Phyrros unit in a street but he charged before I was able to do so. I still sent my men around the block to attack him but, before they got even halfway, Phyrros managed to get himself right in the middle of my unit (only him as his unit was still in a line), at least 2 ranks in it... he died quickly.

I still do not know how he managed to do it, specially with him being the only one out of his 120+ men unit

[Africanvs]

I understand where you're coming from. When you get to run around with an awesome general and historical figure like Pyrrhos, you hate to see him die. I find that since I started doing AARs, I actually roleplay and take notes for the AAR as I go along. This isn't probably fun for everyone but when something like that happens, it just adds dramatic flare to my story. So many things could come from the death of such a man, ike machinor's post earlier. One way or the other, I suppose no one lives forever, and I agree that death in battle is far superior to being hit in the head with a roof tile by an old woman, and then decapitated by a Gaul.