The Will of the Senate - out of character thread III

[x-dANGEr]

Just one note.. (Going through all the posts you hyper-actives make is hard along with everything else I need to do :P )

Make Publius seem as a victim.. Please. (Me and him share the first name)

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Thanks for the heads-up - I remember watching that as a kid; it made a big impression. It made the recent "Rome" series look tame by comparison. I guess because the Emperors were able to get away with so much compared to the men of the Republic. I wonder how it fares by today's standards?

I have the DVD at home. You can take all my stuff, just leave me that DVD.
I, Claudius is the best series about Rome ever made in my opinion and I think it will not be surpassed ever (and I think I watched every Rome-related thing ever produced and I am working on the books).

The absolutely brilliant thing about I, Claudius is the acting. Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed and all the other actors (including Patrick Stewart) give such a brilliant performance that you stay glued to the screen, starving, untill you watched the whole 10 hours of it.

And you never even notice it is almost completely played out indoors !

Apollo must have visited earth as an avatar. Surely Robert Graves must have been that avatar when he wrote I, Claudius and Claudius the God. I was forced to buy a new set of the books as the originals were disintegrating after been read dozens of times.

I think this rant expresses my opinion quite well

[GeneralHankerchief]

Just a little heads-up, I will be going on vacation tomorrow for three or four days and will not have any internet access at the time.

Marcellus isn't supposed to do anything, but if he gets into any spats during that time, I give my permission for somebody else to fight the battle.

(or you could autoresolve and have a know-it-all 19-year-old go on trial next )

[Mount Suribachi]

Well DDW, having seen the first 2 episodes, I must agree, I Claudius is brilliant. Like you say, the acting is first class. Kinda weird seeing Brian Blessed as Augustus tho - I'm so used to seeing a rather puny but scheming Octavian! ~:D And Livia is eeeeevil!!!

Shame about "TV and Togas" though. Trust the BBC to make a potentialy interesting program into a piece of trendy revisionism and leftist propaganda. I was expecting Tribesman to be one of the interviewees in that last 5 minutes spent slagging off America

[econ21]

Off-topic, but I agree "I, Claudius" has stood the test of time very well. The acting in it is excellent and the script is sharp. The early episodes all seem to reduce to Livia, acting as some horrific human cuckoo, one by one pushing the rivals to the throne out of the nest. I guess it changes when we get to see Tiberius and Caligula as equally monstrous. I'd be interested to re-read Graves to see if he highlights Livia quite so much; regardless there must be a lot of dramatic licence over whatever is written about her in Suetonius. Still, it's hard to think of a more impressive villainess. Lady Macbeth has nothing on her.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

The excellent thing is that I read I Claudius first and then started on Suetonius and so on. Robert Graves manages to weave all the diverse accounts together and never contradicts one of the other texts (except where they contradict each other and then he usually lists all versions). The rendition of Livia as evil mastermind behind 50 years of Roman history is his invention (altough some other writers do blame her for some of the things she does in I, Claudius, like poisoning Augustus, they are described as evil acts, not acts of an evil mastermind).

So it is actually a brilliant summary of all accounts over the time-period of the Julii dynasty, all woven together with a completely new view of the situation, and a fascinating read as well. Just awesome.

[Dooz]

Oh boy, all this talk about this program has got me itching. I saw Rome and thought it was good, but after reading everything about I, Claudius, I feel it's something I cannot pass up. I hope my local Blockbuster carries it.

[Mount Suribachi]

Its a completely different feel to Rome - a lot less glossy and glitzy. As DDW said, all the scenes are inside, and on some pretty ropey 70s sets too. With that, and the acting it reminds me more of a play than a TV series. Then again, most of the actors in it cut their teeth on the stage. Indeed Robert Jacobi said when he was asked if he wanted to play Claudius, he thought it was in Shakespeare's Julius Caeser

[Mount Suribachi]

Manius the Mad -

[TinCow]

Well gathering 'evidence' for my case, I compiled basic battle statistics for each family member who has commanded an army in battle. These statistics have been added to their individual biographies and will now be updated every 5 years along with the rest of the information.

[Dooz]

Well gathering 'evidence' for my case, I compiled basic battle statistics for each family member who has commanded an army in battle. These statistics have been added to their individual biographies and will now be updated every 5 years along with the rest of the information.

Excellent, this makes the already incredible library that much better. Well done!

[Lucjan]

*hoping my portrayal of Manius the mad is meeting expectations*

[Dooz]

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Crazy enough to entertain, coherent enough to work.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Well gathering 'evidence' for my case, I compiled basic battle statistics for each family member who has commanded an army in battle. These statistics have been added to their individual biographies and will now be updated every 5 years along with the rest of the information.

You are as crazy as Manius to do that, but a good kind of crazy

p.s. Enjoying the show and wondering where it will lead. Publius Laevinius will arrive in two seasons instead of a year and Manius has already arrived.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I will not lie to you; I will make a lengthy case. - TinCow

Holy Maceroni, Batman !

[TinCow]

I will not lie to you; I will make a lengthy case. - TinCow

Holy Maceroni, Batman !

I didn't realize how long it had become until I finished. I added in that disclaimer paragraph at the end. Ah well, I enjoyed writing it, so it was worthwhile for me, even if no one reads it.

On another note, we have two family members who are available for use as avatars. Both are rather good choices IMO:
Herennius Genucius
Cornelius Saturninus

[Dooz]

Very nice TinCow! That was excellent, enjoyed reading it a great deal. Great job.

[Mount Suribachi]

I don't know, I have to wait over 100 turns before I get to even fight a battle, and when I do, I get 2 straight battles against the Macedonians where I'm vastly outnumbered. Ah well

*shrugs shoulders*

Tin Cow, loved your legal argument. Maybe we should get Pindar to do the defence?

[Avicenna]

It was a good shot, MS.

Since you're an active LH'er, do you want to take over my character for now?

[Lucjan]

It was a good shot, MS.

Since you're an active LH'er, do you want to take over my character for now?

Wait...you're not insinuating that he lost are you? O.o

[Dooz]

Wait...you're not insinuating that he lost are you? O.o

Check the battle report thread.

[Lucjan]

*grumble*

I was hoping this wouldn't happen. I played the battle myself yesterday just to see what he was up against. It's not an impossible battle just incredibly, incredibly difficult. I managed to squeeze a victory out of the battle but my only surviving units were two half-full principes, both of my generals died as well..

My highest regards and respect to Mount Suribachi for doing as well as he did.

[Mount Suribachi]

It was a good shot, MS.

Since you're an active LH'er, do you want to take over my character for now?

No, its OK, I think there are a few avatars free, but I'll wait for confirmation from Simon.

Lucjan don't worry too much about the battle being lost, that only makes things more interesting. PBEMs get boring when you win every battle. The only way this could have been better would have been if Amulius had survived - then there would no doubt have been senate motions calling for my impeachment etc. Would have been fun

The key to the battle was the Chalkispedes who just refused to break allowing their 2nd line to arrive. That and my cavalry chasing multiple units of peltasts

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

The key to the battle was the Chalkispedes who just refused to break allowing their 2nd line to arrive. That and my cavalry chasing multiple units of peltasts

You were warned about the 'killer skirmishers' in the FAQ. My objective analysis is that you were too reckless. I won quite easily when I played it yesterday, but I was lucky with my starting deployment. Yours was slightly less fortunate. Cavalry should never be used to fight it out, especially not with skirmishers.

Not that I am unhappy with the developments Now things are becoming a lot more interesting.

[econ21]

No, its OK, I think there are a few avatars free, but I'll wait for confirmation from Simon.

I thought we had several, but the only one I can find from the Org posts is Cornelius Saturninus. He is in Pella where we desperately need a Lower House general, so he is ideal. It might also throw you straight back into the fray, Mount Suribachi, if you are up for it.

The key to the battle was the Chalkispedes who just refused to break allowing their 2nd line to arrive. That and my cavalry chasing multiple units of peltasts

In RTR, the expletive deleteds just won't rout, not for a long time anyway. I don't know if you can believe it, but in Platinum the morale is actually toned from Gold. For a long time, I have been cautious about using cavalry against skirmishers - they run like cheetahs and if you do catch them, there is some wierd RTW bug whereby cavalry don't seem to get their charge bonus against retreating skirmishers. RTR just makes it more apparent, because cavalry's defence and attack is rather low. I generally use my slingers against peltasts - the range helps and the peltasts lack protective shields or armour. Often the AI uses peltasts badly so they seem like a nuisance but when used right, they can be devastating - as happened here.

[Lucjan]

I agree it makes it more interesting, but at the same time, a little frightening, what with having just lost Publius' legion too.

[Mount Suribachi]

OK, I'll take Saturninus then.

[Mount Suribachi]

You were warned about the 'killer skirmishers' in the FAQ. My objective analysis is that you were too reckless. I won quite easily when I played it yesterday, but I was lucky with my starting deployment. Yours was slightly less fortunate. Cavalry should never be used to fight it out, especially not with skirmishers.

It wasn't that I was reckless, I just lost track of my cavalry and before I knew it they were halfway down the mountain, in a wood, fighting 3 units of peltasts.

I no-longer play with the pause button (except for screenies) - I weaned myself off it a long time ago on MTW in order to make the game more challenging. In RTW where things happen so much quicker, a few seconds inattention and before you realise, you've lost a unit. In a big battle like this one with lots of units to control its

[econ21]

Playing without a pause button takes a brave man. RTR was supposed to slow things down and there was a time when the units moved like they were stuck in treacle, but more recently, they set a pretty brisk pace. Often the infantry are tough enough that you still have time. But cavalry and missiles can get into trouble really quickly if left unsupervised (I lost the equites with the eagle in my replay of the Massilia Ford without even noticing it, which was kind of lame as I was fighting the battle to see what happened to the eagle).

I wonder where we are on the issue of Legion names? Legio VI - the cursed legion has quite a nice ring to it. We normally give legions both a geographic name, to denote where they are supposed to have been recruited, and an honorific if something interesting happens to them. Legio VI could be said to be recruited in Greece or even Macedon, as I suspect we started occupying Greek and Macedonian settlements around the time it was spawned. So we could have "Legio VI - Macedonica Excrabile" or "Legio VI - Graecia Excrabile". I have a slight preference for the former, as the Macedonians were the one to do it in and the name might be taken as a slight on them as much as the Legion. Alternatively, we could just let the Legion die in nameless obscurity, as I think Augustus did with the 3 he lost in the Teutoberg forest.

BTW, we should keep an eye out on Legio V and Legio IV to see if they do anything worthy of an honorific.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

The problem is of course the game mechanics. The next legion banner to appear will be the Legio VI and I can hardly leave it withering away in Rome. The same goes (much more so) for the Consular Army I banner.
It will be quite some time before we see another Consular Army banner. We have about four candidates for Praetor, but as they are all lower house senators and we have way too few of them, they never get the time to get the former Legate trait. The only one who is ready to advance at the moment is FLYdude. The other candidates are X-danger, TinCow and myself, but they are all in the field continuously. It is a problem I intend to reticify, but not much luck so far.
Historically, several legions were disbanded and reformed later (not sure about the defeated ones, but you are right about Varus's legions), so as it is now, I intend to use the banner when it appears.
I hope more people come forward with good names, also for the Legio IV and V.

On gameplay, I generally play with pause off, but I often pause to get a good screenshot. In extremely confused battles, in the woods for example, I sometimes pause to figure out who is who, as I play without banners.
I once tried to play from the generals view, but that's almost impossible.