vanishing principes

[matteus the inbred]

Ok, not been playing this for very long, only on my first campaign (Julii). I've invaded Massilia in Gaul and needed to reinforce...so i raised three units of Principes in Arretium and marched them to the nearest port. A couple of turns later i remembered them and went to look for them...they had gone. vanished.

I find it hard to spot things on the map sometimes (spies!) but i also scrolled through all my armies and fleets several times, couldn't find their captain or see them on any ships.

The only thing i can think of is that a Gaulish diplomat hanging around northern Italy must have bribed them to disperse...can this happen? With no warning or notification that it's happened, cos i'm damn sure i received no info about it.
Or is it a known game fault?

[Drusus Magnus]

Strange. Normally you get a message when someone is bribed.

[matteus the inbred]

yeah, I thought I should, but nothing ever appeared. the troops just dropped off the planet! I was moving a lot of peasant units around to repopulate a couple of newly captured towns, maybe I got confused and accidentally disbanded the Principes as well...ah well. I can raise more.

[Monarch]

If they where in a boat are you sure the boat wasnt attacked and killed?

[matteus the inbred]

If they where in a boat are you sure the boat wasnt attacked and killed?

yeah, I didn't lose any boats during the period in question. I lost one some time earlier with a diplomat on it and learned my lesson that way.

[Celt Centurion]

yeah, I didn't lose any boats during the period in question. I lost one some time earlier with a diplomat on it and learned my lesson that way.

Sometimes I have hit the "end turn" button without reading all messages. Is there a possibility that you might have done that?

After the Marius event, the Principes will be phased out for better, stronger infantry units. You can merge the ones you have to make full units, or discharge them, your choice. My own preference is to still merge them, upgrading their armor, and send them to take the "less civilized" towns. It's hard to retrain an Urban Cohort in one of those barbarian villages in Northern Europe. It's much easier to merge pre-Marius units, and train up new units with what's available in the town.

Also, as for ships being attacked, if you look around, you may find that there are places where you can move a fleet safely from port to port where they are not attacked. For instance, I have learned the hard way that I do no "walk" a diplomat from Rome to the Adriatic, and put them on a single ship, and "right click" them to cross to Thermon. The ship was attacked repeatedly by pirates, and the ship went down with the diplomat. Had there been a full stack on that ship, it would have been disasterous.

What I'm saying, is march them to the port, board, and when possible, sail from port to port whenever possible. Don't just sail a few movement points out if it's going to leave you vulnerable. Wait until the next turn, and you will see that in many cases, you can safely make your route a port at a time. Don't use your "troopships" as blockade fleets.

While playing as Carthage, Scipii was coming toward me with a fleet. Right clicking on the Scipii fleet showed me a Family member with a full stack of troops coming my way, but they were far out to sea with only a few ships. Fortunately for me, I had several strong fleets all around. I attacked mercilessly as the Scipii fleet "bounced" all over the Central Mediteranean, from near the coast off Carthage clear up to near Capua, the Scipii Capital. I sank them, full stack and all in view of their home. It felt good!

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion