so you find yourself in 272 bc....

[mountaingoat]

what would you choose to do?

and since i cannot edit this poll , we could say that the romans did have IT networks ... and that by servering the emperor .. you are helping to ... setup ..... servers... of ... some sort ...

[pezhetairoi]

Find out where you are.

[Azathoth]

Enter the cave and go forward.

[mountaingoat]

sorry i took a while to think of what to enter in the poll , only yo make a mistake with some spelling ..

anyway pick an option

[bobbin]

Rome didn't have an emperor in 272bc so not that...

I know! throwing a roof tile at a certain uppity hellenic monarch (I'd have to wear a dress for that).

[Azathoth]

I wouldn't want to do any of those things! Also, there was no emperor in Rome in 272 BC.

Anyway, I would immediately set out to look for The Book by finding a native and asking for the location of the nearest sovereign/village leader/general and the geographical location of the area relative to Athens.

[mountaingoat]

oh this is not meant to be extremely historically accurate ... even though this is an EB forum ... just pick an option punks

[antisocialmunky]

"servering the emperor at rome"

I'm sure the Emperor of Rome really needs an IT department if he were somehow also magically transported to 272 years in the past.

[Hax]

I would travel to the lands of Maurya, one of the greatest at that time and write down the Buddhist scriptures in English, French and Dutch, so in 2,000 years people have a clear view of the founding of Buddhism.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I'd visit the Senate of Carthage and convince them to support that Hannibal guy.

[DaciaJC]

I would go visit the leader of the Getai, advise him to spam falxmen, and then he would go forth conquering the world.

[mountaingoat]

"servering the emperor at rome"

I'm sure the Emperor of Rome really needs an IT department if he were somehow also magically transported to 272 years in the past.

can you explain this then?

[Aemilius Paulus]

A balloon to you:

EDIT: WINDOWS!!!!1!

I would go visit the leader of the Getai, advise him to spam falxmen, and then he would go forth conquering the world.

Heh, but that is what Getai did, and they lost to Roma anyway. Falxman spam tends to crumple under Syrian Archers and Pila. Think the EB falxmen are vulnerable to missiles? Wait 'till you see RL ones!

[mountaingoat]

oh yes and i picked nomad btw , i would start in cyclades then work up to the getai and the steppe , make my way south to babylon and then east to africa , up through spain and western europe .

[Aemilius Paulus]

This thread is biased. How about more Hellene things? I chose serving the Roman Emperor, advising him with my knowledge of explosives (I love making bombs, including ones from black powder), and some other odds and ends, such as the stirrup or perhaps springs to re-introduce chariots, but this time effective, as the lack of springs was the chariots' main problem - the terrain had to be skating-ring flat. So basically, I would do my best to ensure the Roman empire lasted. And then I would introduce the Printing Press and build a time-capsule with all the works of Greek and Roman thinkers.

But at the same time I would love to serve in the Athenian Academy, or especially the Lyceum, as it was more scientific and less philosophical.

[Ibrahim]

I want to vote for arabia!!

[option]

To hell with the posted options, I would head straight for Carthage and live in luxury or join Pyrrhos' entourage and convince him that perhaps slowing down and consolidating his conquests for a few years would be a wiser decision.

[DaciaJC]

Heh, but that is what Getai did, and they lost to Roma anyway. Falxman spam tends to crumple under Syrian Archers and Pila. Think the EB falxmen are vulnerable to missiles? Wait 'till you see RL ones!

Bah, there's no option for "Arcade Battles" in RL, either. Think the armor-piercing ability is overpowered in EB? Wait 'till you see its effects in RL!

[Krusader]

See if the hubbub on Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth was as great as its supposed to be.

[satalexton]

I'm sure most of you would know what I'd do.....

[Andy1984]

I'd probably start gambling, visit prostitutes, drink myself almost to dead and definitly not help whatever emperor.

Given nobody knows you there, who's going to blame you for it?

[satalexton]

or, use your superior knowledge of science and nature to make yourself a king...assuming you actually paid attention and remember all those stuff ur taught in high school....and know how to apply it.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Sodding hedonists...

I actually remember the stuff they teach you in high school, in addition to the copious amounts of books I already read. Yeah, I will teach Greek Fire, black powder, and nitroglycerine to the Romans. All three are quite easy for me to make (I know, the recipe we know for Greek Fire is not the original, but hell, it is close enough).

In any case, I want power. Oh yeah. Lots of it. Not just some smelly barbarian chieftain or saddle-sore nomad khan. No, while I am in Antiquity, I may as well wish for the moon. I will become the Emperor of the Roman Empire with my knowledge and then on a single night, execute all the Praetorians. Just like Hitler and the Sturmabteilung (SA), a.k.a. Brown Shirts.

After that I will introduce the Bessemer process to mass-produce stainless steel (with nickel), and then invade what is now modern-day Ukraine to mine titanium, and see if it will be possible to work with it, using the newly-designed furnaces. I will teach the Romans how to build trebuchets if the cannons prove to be weak, although I could rifle them too (but that would mean it would take very long to reload them, as I do not know how to make an effective breech-loading cannon). Then I will introduce oil and coal as energy sources. The list goes on... With coal I can make sulphuric acid, which I do not doubt will become a superb wall-defence weapon. Ahh, chemistry was always my favourite science after astronomy.

Continuing, I would introduce vaccination and antibiotics (I know of a couple of natural sources of antibiotics which perhaps I could isolate) to make my empire impervious even to the plague which will hit it (supposing I come before Marcus Aurelius). Not to mention my meagre medical knowledge would nevertheless revolutionise medicine, and of course, I would ban the use of lead and mercury in sensitive places.

Heh, I could write a book about this...

[satalexton]

OR, use that knowledge to 'enlighten' a village of idiots, make yourself a king through your 'divine blessings', defeat any oppsition with superior technology, then take over the world.

I'd burn Barbaropolis down first if I were you, then wipe out the Seres before they grow too rich/smart/intelligent to rival you.

[Azathoth]

Unfortunatly AP, you won't be able to accomplish all that because:

a. You need acid for nitroglycerine (why would you want it anyway?)
b. There's no industrial base so mass-producing anything will take decades.
c. Sulfuric acid as a wall defence weapon? With Greek Fire and gunpowder available? That's kind of, uh...
d. How are you going to use, or even obtain, oil? Conquer the Arabian Peninsula, and then you have to actually build all the engines that use oil, which I don't think you can do.
e. Maybe you can vaccinate against smallpox, but the plague? We don't even have a vaccine for that now.

In short, your dream could be accomplished by the time of your grandchildren, but probably long after you are dead (unless you are the Yankee in King Arthur's court on steroids).

[J.R.M]

I´d probably found the city of Bartix, then with time make it an empire, then the world would be mine

[Ibrahim]

Unfortunatly AP, you won't be able to accomplish all that because:

a. You need acid for nitroglycerine (why would you want it anyway?)
b. There's no industrial base so mass-producing anything will take decades.
c. Sulfuric acid as a wall defence weapon? With Greek Fire and gunpowder available? That's kind of, uh...
d. How are you going to use, or even obtain, oil? Conquer the Arabian Peninsula, and then you have to actually build all the engines that use oil, which I don't think you can do.
e. Maybe you can vaccinate against smallpox, but the plague? We don't even have a vaccine for that now.

In short, your dream could be accomplished by the time of your grandchildren, but probably long after you are dead (unless you are the Yankee in King Arthur's court on steroids).

well, I know a weapon that can be produced in a manner that can be applied to ancient foundaries

and the ancient people were capeable of producing the materials needed (lead, iron/bronze, wood, saltpeter, sulfur, brass/copper, leather, linen, papyrus (or more linen ), and coal. mix them in the right proportions, and dress the soldiers in proper clothes, and we get this: )

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

'nuff said.

EDIT: yes, its within the technological capeabilities of most advanced cultures-though I'd prefer to start out in China, since they were of the perfect economic potential.

[Andy1984]

Since you have no instructors and your soldiers lack even the most basic knowlegde of gun-warfare, it would take decades to train your army. There is litterally no-one who has even a remote clue how to aim, fire and reload a gun. Let alone he'd do it when being charged by some gaesaetae. You'll need to have some accuracy and firepower to make volleys deadly. You'll still have to armour your soldiers (since your opponents will use missiles), which almost forces your soldiers to reload these guns when fully armoured. I really want to see that happen. You can no longer have any kind of decent shield. You'll have to equip your soldiers with something that is capable to break a charge of heavy cavalry...

To me, the introduction of guns seems at best possible in some very specific situations: you need to be able to train your units (no berserkers please) and to have a proper battlefield (no northern-european ambushes, no quick skirmishing raids,...). You'll need to have decent accuracy and enough manpower in order to make your volleys deadly (just imagine being encircled, being heavily outnumbered, or being utterly butchered in man-to-man fighting). You'll need to be capable to find ammunition, to keep your powder dry, to have decent supplies of powder and ammunition (swords can be repaired if needs be)... When you finally assembled your army you should avoid barbarians living in trees or opponents who rely on archers or any kind of heavy shock unit - whether infantry of cavalry.

[satalexton]

though I'd prefer to start out in China, since they were of the perfect economic potential.

Minor problem, they're probably too busy shooting the crap out of each other to give a frak about you.

[Jebivjetar]

what would you choose to do?

I would have a bottle of wine, travel around the world with some instrument and sing the songs. And, yeah: when time comes i would join Hannibals army as his officer

But at the same time I would love to serve in the Athenian Academy, or especially the Lyceum, as it was more scientific and less philosophical.

Philosophy at that time was considered as Science itself: philosophy was science.