Post-BI Imperial Campaign v1.3

[Puzz3D]

what do we know about the effects of the update of the Imperial Campaign (original RTW) from 1.2 to 1.3?

The battles are better, the AI doesn't break sieges after a reload, AI generals combine with armies and the AI seems to be doing well combining small stacks to form larger armies.

In my Julii (M/M) campaign, by 215 BC Egypt and Brutii are as strong as Julii. Brutii has eliminated Macedon, Pontus eliminated Armenia, Egypt eliminated Selucia, Jullii eliminated Gaul, and Greece Spain and Parthis are just about eliminated. Britannia has taken cities from Germania and Dacia and is expanding. Scipii, Scythia, Thrace, Dacia, Numidia, Carthage, Pontus are medium strength but not expanding. Scipii took Sicily early, but then stopped expanding. I think this is all about the same as it was in RTW v1.2, but the rebel cities are eliminated fairly quickly and retaken if they re-emerge since sieges are not broken. There are only 3 rebel cities on the land accessible map in 215 BC and 3 rebel controlled islands (Crete, Rhodes and Hibernia).

Gaul offered me a ceasefire if I gave back one of their cities. I accepted, and on the same turn Gaul attacked me at a different place on the map. I guess news of the ceasefire hadn't arrived yet.

SPQR was allied with Britannia, and when I, as Julii, attacked Britannia, SPQR broke their alliance with me and gave me a warning. On the next turn, SPQR declared war on Britannia and I got a senate mission to blockade a Britannian city. An enemy SPQR agent was found spying in one of my cities on the same turn. I'm not at war with SPRQ. Scipii and Brutii declared war on Britannia and have remained allied with me throughout all this.

To me the RTW v1.3 diplomacy seems very similar to the RTW v1.2 diplomacy, but I'm not a diplomacy expert as I generally ignore diplomacy.

[Garvanko]

Gaul offered me a ceasefire if I gave back one of their cities. I accepted, and on the same turn Gaul attacked me at a different place on the map. I guess news of the ceasefire hadn't arrived yet.
.

Thats just the Gauls being themselves.

[Jambo]

Cool Yuuki, so you're actually playing the 1.3 Imperial Campaign! One of the things that puzzled me was that in the descr_sm_factions text file there's a code line "prefers_naval_invasions" which is either "yes" or "no" for each faction.

Now, this is selected as "yes" for the Saxons in BI and yet none of the factions in RTW 1.3 have the same. Assuming this line actually has some effect on the AI, one might have argued that this should be "yes" for the Scipii faction and also potentially Carthage, Numidia and possibly Brutii...

Any ideas if this would make a difference?

[Uriel]

In my Julii (M/M) campaign, by 215 BC Egypt and Brutii are as strong as Julii.

My gosh - that was fast. That's in 1.3 and a fresh campaign? Are you autoresolving all the time or do you just have a lot more time to play than me?

[Puzz3D]

My gosh - that was fast. That's in 1.3 and a fresh campaign? Are you autoresolving all the time or do you just have a lot more time to play than me?

I autoresolve battles against rebels, but play all the others. I may have put in as much as 30 hours in this campaign in the past 7 days. I would estimate I fight between 1 and 1.5 battles per hour of play not counting autoresolved battles. My total record, which includes naval battles, is 60 wins and 19 losses, at difficulty level M/M. Right now I control 18 provinces with 49,000 denari income, 46,000 expenses and 30,000 in the bank. I got the Marian reforms in 221 BC.

One of the things that puzzled me was that in the descr_sm_factions text file there's a code line "prefers_naval_invasions" which is either "yes" or "no" for each faction.

Now, this is selected as "yes" for the Saxons in BI and yet none of the factions in RTW 1.3 have the same. Assuming this line actually has some effect on the AI, one might have argued that this should be "yes" for the Scipii faction and also potentially Carthage, Numidia and possibly Brutii...

Any ideas if this would make a difference?

I'm playing with fog of war off so I can see the whole map. Scippi might have used sea transport to help take Sicily, but I'm not sure. They did have some troops on ships after taking Sicily, but I don't know what happened to those troops. After taking Sicily, Scippi just built up 5 full stacks at Capua, and around 240 BC it moved one of these full armies all the way up to just north west of the city Vicus Venedae which is owned by Germainia. They then subsequently moved another small stack to the same spot, and there both armies have stayed. Scippi is at war with Carthage, Spain (probably due to naval contact), Britannia (in sympathy with Julii), Thrace (in sympathy with Julii who recently attacked Byzantium) and against the Rebels.

Brutii attacked Appolonia in 266 BC, and I believe that was by sea. After taking that city, they fought Greece for a while, and then went after Macedon who they defeated. I saw Brutii troops on ships during this time. I had a mission to take Bylazora (owned by Macedon) during this time which helped Brutii.

Carthage took Scallabis and Cartho Nova from Spain, but has done nothing else, and they have lost Cordoba to a rebellion.

[Jambo]

Unlike the descr_strat file, descr_sm_factions is moddable during a campaign (i.e. effects of modding are instantaneous and don't require a new campaign).

Puzz, I wonder if you could change Scipii to "prefer_naval_invasions" "yes" in this file and see of that has any marked difference on their apparent stagnation on Sicily.

It might be this is indeed the reason, as in all my imperial campaigns I've never witnessed Carthage taking on Spain and apparently winning. It's true that this could be because Scipii have left them alone in N Africa, but Carthage is also labelled as "no" for "prefer_naval_invasions"...

[Puzz3D]

Unlike the descr_strat file, descr_sm_factions is moddable during a campaign (i.e. effects of modding are instantaneous and don't require a new campaign).

Puzz, I wonder if you could change Scipii to "prefer_naval_invasions" "yes" in this file and see of that has any marked difference on their apparent stagnation on Sicily.

It might be this is indeed the reason, as in all my imperial campaigns I've never witnessed Carthage taking on Spain and apparently winning. It's true that this could be because Scipii have left them alone in N Africa, but Carthage is also labelled as "no" for "prefer_naval_invasions"...

Ok I'll try that, but it will have to wait until tonight after work. I have a savegame from 255 BC shortly after Scipii took Sicily where they have two stacks and two ships at Capua. There are already 3 units on one of the ships. I'll start from there.

[Jambo]

Also of note is the new diplomatic content at the bottom of the descr_strat file which details the "core attitudes" of the factions to one another and the "faction relationships" (mainly just in relation to slave).

It's possible that the "core attitudes" for the Roman factions haven't been made hostile enough to provoke the early war with their most likely targets, i.e. Julii and Gaul, Scipii and Carthage/Greece, Brutii and Macedon/Greece...

?

[Puzz3D]

It's possible that the "core attitudes" for the Roman factions haven't been made hostile enough to provoke the early war with their most likely targets, i.e. Julii and Gaul, Scipii and Carthage/Greece, Brutii and Macedon/Greece...?

Well I controlled Julii, but Scipii did go right after Greece and Carthage in Sicily, and Brutii was sieging rebel owned Appolonia in 266BC, and went to war with Greece right after taking it and later against Macedon who they eliminated. Britannia went after Germania, Egypt after Selucia and Parthia, Pontus after Armenia, Macedon after Greece, Carthage after Spain. Thrace and Scythia allied. Numidia and Carthage don't seem to be fighting. The AI faction expansions that have occured have been pretty slow and methodical. Except for Brutii, Egypt and Julii (myself) factions do not have large armies, but they all seem to spend all of their money. In 215 BC, I have basically a 10 faction game not counting SPQR since Parthia, Spain and Greece are about to go under and Macedon, Armenia and Gaul are already eliminated. I'm now at war with Carthage, Britannia and Thrace. I don't feel threatened, but I can't quite maintain 3 full armies dedicated to offensive operations either because of the ecomomics. At this point with 49,000 income and 46,000 expenditures, I don't have any offensive armies in the field.

Macedon made quite a few ships but are eliminated now, and Spanish had quite a few earlier but they are down to one city now. Carthage has a few. The AI has been pretty aggressive about attacking what few ships I did send out. I failed to complete about half of the senate missions because I haven't tried to gain naval superiority.

It seems to me that there is a proximity distance beyond which AI factions don't act aggressively even against factions with which they are at war. For instance, Scipii is at war with Britannia and Thrace because I'm at war with those two factions, but Scipii isn't taking any action against them at all, and i think it's because they are not in close proximity to those factions. It's unclear why Scippi moved a full army way up north away from the factions with which it is at war.

[Garvanko]

Interesting..

Ive modified the descr_sm_factions file in my Pontic campaign, and made the Scipii, Greeks, Carthaginians and Egyptians all prefer naval invasions. I'll also post my thoughts on any new developments.