*Defineing Irony: Thrace*

[Siris]

Alright, so my Macadonian Empire runs almost the the far stretches of the north & south, very thick & powerful in land ownership sense. I had over 18,000 of my main army down near Athens, and every single city has over 1,900 defenders (on large unit size useing 120 man units). I want the Thracian cities for my own, give me more land, expand the fronts, however, I lack one key element into doing this, the soliders of my army are a few thousand miles away, many many turns from getting there fast, however, I have two diplomates, one which was a Thracian turned Macadonian for abou $600.

So I decided to employ this use of bribbing, since I'm stock loaded with cash. I'm not recruiting off the walls so my cities will expand very quickly (that they are) so I can upgrade & get the best units as soon as possible.

I sent them in, and one met a Thracian family member, for about $9,000 he was turned over to the Dark Side (since all Macadonian things are black hehe).

His brother, a few miles away, was turned just as easily. Both of them then recruited up all of the Thracian mercinaries avaliable. So now, I go from having just two diplomates, to two family members plus a nice sized military in the far east, ironic enough, the two family members of mine, were just recently Thracian family members!

Moving on with the diplomates & the combined armies of the two Generals, they met up with one of their other two brothers. He failed to be turned to the Dark Side, so my two Genearls, formerly Thracian Generals, were forced to kill their own brother! They fought hard in the snow, their Thracian vs. Thracian armies fighting at each other, but ultimatly, the Noble Thracian family member was slain by one of his own brothers on the field.

Now with more command stars and their Thracian mercinaries, the two former Thracian family members marched upon their own Capital! With the promise from the Macadonian Emperor that they would get to become the Govoners of the provinces they conquered from their family.

There they fought vs. their last brother of the original 4. Sadley for some reason it didnt go into Deployment Mode, and I had choosen to goto the bathroom; by the time I got back they were in the heat of battle, my guys flanked & loseing. In the end, the Governor brother slayed both of his brothers on the field, and his own country men, the Thracian mercinaries.

Fight the enemy, with the enemy. The smartest thing I ever did. I did not lose a man in that conflict, only the Thracians. However I massed up half of my army, which was 8,400+ men, and marched it upon the capital, and two years later, the last of the ragaed house of Thrace was all dead, through betrayl, and sheer military might of Macadonia.

Heh, I thought it was funny that it turned out that way lol!

[Kraxis]

When you bribe a familymember and send him to conquer his old land, then you can say to yourself that you have merely helped a faction within the family. He wants power of the Thracians and you are going to put him there. That happened many times in real history.

[Hetman_Koronny]

Well, never go to bathroom before you pause the game

A cool story btw

[The_Emperor]

Excellent.

Sounds like what the Romans did against Carthage in North Africa with the Numidians (bribed them over, used them against Hannibal's numidian Cavalry, and gave them much of Numidia as a reward)

[lancer63]

Treason, what better way there is to weaken a powerful foe than from within?

[Siris]

I suggest that you all employ this tactic, it works well, and you dont lose any of "your" men. However, their family members that you bribe, will be put into your family member list, so if you dont want that, dont bribe.

I have one family member, was a Barbarrian who was in the brown lands, dont remember the name of that faction, anyways, I bribbed him, he merc'd up an army, and took over the former Capital, same thing just he killed his father lol! Now hes the Governor of the province, which was originally only a mere 3,000 citizens, now its flustering with over 22,000+ citizens! I'm sure he's a happy fella, married with kids, governor of one of the largest provinces in the map, with one of the biggest cities in the Empire, for him, his defection paid off well lol! Anyways, he and another Barbarrian of the same family joined me, and in my Family Tree, he is 51 years old now, been running his city for some 38 years, or 28 years, one of the two, and then the other Barbarrian under my family tree, is listed as his son... and hes 49... very strange lol! So the family tree is implementing that a child of 3 years of age mated successfully and had a son, while their brothers still, meaning he did it with his mom (Oedipus lol!), very messed up stuff I'll tell ya lol!