Syracuse Gate?

**Brysk** · 02-09-2005, 23:58

Is it me and my lack of spies within Syracuse *I'm playing Hard with 1.2*, and the scipii were the first to attack, the gate was already broken open, so I wonder, wow, the AI uses spies, so I make a phalanx box and utterly decimate the scipii since they decided to abandon their ladders to go for one chokepoint. Next time, Carthaginians attack, and yet the gate is still in the same broken-open position, phalanx box, cause em to rout.
Is it the AI's extensive use of spies, or is there something wrong with the wall, because theres no option to repair, and busting open teh gate shouldn't cause wall damage in the campaign map anyways...

**Komutan** · 02-10-2005, 00:09

Yes, the same thing happened to me too. Check the message I posted on the ezboard forums:

http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotal...ID=21049.topic

Just today it happened for the second time, again in Syracuse.

**The_Emperor** · 02-13-2005, 14:35

The AI does use spies, but I have since found out the city's gates are permanantly opened, when I decided to use that "View city on battlemap" function... Of course the gates were still open.

**Khorak** · 02-13-2005, 14:50

Meh, I always found it was spies. I got righteously fed up with AI uber spies and simply rammed all my cities with four each. The slaughter of those scum was satisfying, mainly because I fail to see how a network of spies can cause up to 50% discontent in a huge Roman city on the peninsular no matter how good they are. Ridiculous.

**The_Emperor** · 02-13-2005, 15:08

Originally Posted by Khorak

Meh, I always found it was spies. I got righteously fed up with AI uber spies and simply rammed all my cities with four each. The slaughter of those scum was satisfying, mainly because I fail to see how a network of spies can cause up to 50% discontent in a huge Roman city on the peninsular no matter how good they are. Ridiculous.

Yeah I did that and executed loads of them afterwards, but as I say the gates are still open when I view the city... They have been open ever since my very first battle where Carthage paid me their visit.

I'm not going to worry about it though. Given Sicily is all mine and I have a powerful fleet I am not sure anyone will attack ti anymore.

**Mikeus Caesar** · 02-13-2005, 18:19

Until this problem is fixed, i will not be downloading the 1.2 patch, as i insist on playing as the greeks, and no matter how good i am, syracuse always comes under attack from the brutii or carthaginians, so having this happen would not be good.

**Kaldhore** · 02-13-2005, 23:27

meh dont let these small things blur the patch - overall its improved the game alot and even though we all think it could be better I think we should give it the credit that it keeps us from other games.

I havent yet had this problem, Ive played the greeks and overrun sicilly so I havent had this problemo.

**Parmenion** · 02-14-2005, 11:22

If you look at the city detail screen, is it possible to determine whether that city has a foreign agent casusing discontent?

What I mean is, under the population happiness section, is there a little icon that says 'foreign agitator' or something.

If we knew there was an undercover agent causing trouble we could counter it by sending several top agents into the city to take him out.

**BeeSting** · 02-15-2005, 17:55

Yes, it is most odd. It's always open. I think it is a bug.

**Zorn** · 02-15-2005, 19:06

Originally Posted by Mikeus Caesar

Until this problem is fixed, i will not be downloading the 1.2 patch, as i insist on playing as the greeks, and no matter how good i am, syracuse always comes under attack from the brutii or carthaginians, so having this happen would not be good.

Having this happen is the single very best thing that can happen to a besieged greek.
You don`t have to fight the romans 1v1 on your walls, no, they all will stream right into your spears, routing within seconds because they are decimated instantly by steams of burning oil.

You could argue that this makes siege-defenses so ridiculously easy that you don`t want to play that, but you can`t seriously say that it wouldn`t benefit you.

If you look at the city detail screen, is it possible to determine whether that city has a foreign agent casusing discontent?

There is a way. You need to go to the city view. Now observe the civilians carefully. If you detect a suspicious, black cloaked person: Thats the spy. Be carefull though, you need to watch it fromn several angles, they are very good in hiding behind buildings.

**The_Emperor** · 02-15-2005, 19:22

Originally Posted by Zorn

Having this happen is the single very best thing that can happen to a besieged greek.
You don`t have to fight the romans 1v1 on your walls, no, they all will stream right into your spears, routing within seconds because they are decimated instantly by steams of burning oil.

You could argue that this makes siege-defenses so ridiculously easy that you don`t want to play that, but you can`t seriously say that it wouldn`t benefit you.

Its a cop-out really, because it does make siege defences ridiculously easy... (even though the Boiling oil also never-ever works in addition to the gates always being open). Of course it benefits me, the problem with me is that it benefits me TOO MUCH!

Holding Syracuse used to always be a highly enjoyable experience for me, and it is one of the reasons the Greeks are my fave faction. I refused to use the repeating-sally exploit against the AI in the previous versions and instead used good Hoplite urban warfare to beat the enemy back fair and square...

I suppose in future I should deploy closer to the city center and let the enemy successfully run inside the walls... Though that won't silence the machine-gun arrow towers that they would normally capture when they take the walls with their ladders and towers.

**BeeSting** · 02-15-2005, 19:59

For the last two Greek campaigns, believe it or not post 1.2 patch, I've been able to eliminate most of the Carthage and Scipii family members at that jacked up gate. You get tired of the senseless deaths of enemy family members and soldiers really quick, because you are cheating, or forced to do so because of this apparent bug.