The Will of the Senate PBM - out of character thread IV

[econ21]

This thread is for out of character comments, questions and general interactions about the Will of the Senate PBM.

Please only post in the other more specialised threads if you are sure it belongs there. If in doubt, post here.

Thanks!

[econ21]

Just a note to say how pleased I am with the progress of the PBM. The campaign may be at its most interesting in terms of tactical challenges - I don't envy the next Consul having to defend against Seleucia and Conquer Carthage. We also seemed to have worked up to a healthy number of Lower House members, including at least 3 who have expressed an interest in being Consul at some point.

I'd also point out that motion 11.14 - requiring the defeat of the 2 Carthaginian armies at Melite and Sardinia - is an out of character one. There is a weird bug that means those armies are just not going to move. If the AI was operating properly, we would have lost Melite, Sardinia and Corsica by now. Requiring us to get rid of the armies is trying to establish a more realistic situation. (We could try to control the AI to take the settlements, but that requires scripting and is too much trouble IMO.)

[Lucjan]

After playing out the fall of Lepcis Magna, the army in Sardinia actually becomes active and trashes the town. Weird..

[StoneCold]

hmm... maybe the original objective of that army was to go back to Lepcis Magna, and now that it change hands, a new objective was given to it?

[Lucjan]

I doubt it would land an army solely to take it back. We know for a fact the computer forgets what it was doing because of certain situations and armies sometimes become stranded for this reason, until something prompts the computer to re-issue a new order for that unit.

But we could just pass it off in RP as the army's leadership becoming indecisive after hearing about their fleets destruction, or some other silly excuse.

[Dooz]

Phooey, nobody wants to rename a city after we conquer it? (aka Motion 11.20) Eh, maybe next voting session .

[Braden]

Just to let you guys know that I have my internet back at home..

...please offically move me to the lower house as an active player!

[econ21]

...please offically move me to the lower house as an active player!

OK, done. We now have 12 Lower House generals!!!

[GeneralHankerchief]

Wow, am I getting trounced.

Just as a note, no hard feelings to all of those who I've spoken out against. I think I may have gotten a little bit emotional in my last in-character post.

I do believe that my strategy of raiding is the most prudent, but in no way should you think that I don't want to fight anybody. Lucjan, just remember to switch ancillaries between me and Braden for a little while, and keep those mercs coming!

[Lucjan]

Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to set you guys up for a victory, but once it gets down to the actual battle, it's all you.

Also, the name switch sounds interesting in rp, and changing settlement names is probably one of the easiest things to do, I'm just a little bit worried that doing it mid-game might cause the game to do something buggy.

[Dooz]

Nope, nothing buggy from name changes of settlements. The actual name is in the text files so anything changed during the game is purely aesthetic. It'll be good .

[Braden]

Does sound like a good RP idea to rename the city in “our” honour. Also tends to rub it into those we’ve crushed…

….can we please rename at least one settlement “Baccuswaterus” in honour of Froggy?

I can’t wait to get a battle now, but I’m not dumb enough to want to push the Consul into a position where I have an army and an Avatar not prepared properly. I’m a patient person so don’t worry.

[Lucjan]

Somewhat off topic, but I've been playing the Arthurian Total War mod, and I am very, very highly impressed with the diplomacy in it. I don't know what that team did, but they suggest playing on VH/VH, so I did, because that's how they structured the game to work best, and it is gorgeous.

I've got 5 years (same thing, 20 turns) under my belt in that as the britonic Goddodin kingdom, and in that time, on vh campaign setting, I've had 4 neighbors, 2 of which have been loyal allies and strong trade partners. One of which went to war with me briefly, I was highly outnumbered on the battlefield but managed to outmaneouver them, sacked their capital, burned everything to the ground, then abandoned it to them. When I offered them peace immediately afterwards, they accepted unconditionally. My other neighbor I'm warring with right now isn't quite beaten enough for me to actually want to request peace yet. I've taken the two towns on the way to their capital, upping my kingdom to seven towns now, and want to sack their capital too before offering a peace treaty.

If only rtr's vh diplomacy was that realistic.

[Dutch_guy]

Somewhat off topic, but I've been playing the Arthurian Total War mod, and I am very, very highly impressed with the diplomacy in it. I don't know what that team did, but they suggest playing on VH/VH, so I did, because that's how they structured the game to work best, and it is gorgeous.

I've got 5 years (same thing, 20 turns) under my belt in that as the britonic Goddodin kingdom, and in that time, on vh campaign setting, I've had 4 neighbors, 2 of which have been loyal allies and strong trade partners. One of which went to war with me briefly, I was highly outnumbered on the battlefield but managed to outmaneouver them, sacked their capital, burned everything to the ground, then abandoned it to them. When I offered them peace immediately afterwards, they accepted unconditionally. My other neighbor I'm warring with right now isn't quite beaten enough for me to actually want to request peace yet. I've taken the two towns on the way to their capital, upping my kingdom to seven towns now, and want to sack their capital too before offering a peace treaty.

If only rtr's vh diplomacy was that realistic.

Hmm how could they be able to change the diplomacy, isn't that hardcoded?

[Lucjan]

I don't know how they did it, but somehow, someway, they managed to make the diplomacy actually work realistically.

[Mount Suribachi]

GAH! Missed the voting session Sorry about that. Mrs Suribachi on PC all last night, and we've been out all day today (went to Scarborough Castle, which includes the remains of a Roman signal tower, so I've at least done something Rome connected today

[Lucjan]

That's ok, after all, the Republic is nothing without strong Roman families. lol Besides, get him interested now and just imagine, in about ten years when Rome 2 comes out, , we can have two suribachi senators.

[Mount Suribachi]

Unless Postman Pat or Fireman Sam served in the legions, I doubt little Suribachi will be very interested just yet

[Lucjan]

Ah, well...either way at least he's got noble intentions already. Do you have any idea what postmen get payed over here in America? You basically have to wait for one of them to die or move before you can get the job, and even then you have to try and beat out a couple hundred other applicants. Full time, full free government benefits, $17+ an hour.

[TinCow]

Unless Postman Pat or Fireman Sam served in the legions, I doubt little Suribachi will be very interested just yet

Well, perhaps he'd be interested to know that the Roman vigiles were the world's first professional firefighting force.

[Dooz]

Lucjan, Arthurian mod's diplomacy sounds good. Keep us updated if you would if everything continues to go well. I'm thinking it might have something to do with core attitudes, which are adjustable in 1.5 and EB has been working with heavily I believe. Perhaps RTR didn't delve into that as much as they could have?

[Lucjan]

I've actually had 2 straight years of peace right now in Arthurian TW.

I'm playing Goddodin, I'm allied to Ebrauc and Alcuyd. Neutral with Rheged but have trade rights (crushed the buggers in a year and a half, took three towns and sacked their capital, they accepted unconditional peace), and neutral with the Picts (although the picts have been at a constant state of war with my ally Alcuyd, and we fought briefly for a time before I sacked their capital too, hahaha).

Oh..and then there's Ynis Manau, once a decently powerful faction that my ally Alcuyd absorbed all but one province of. They landed an army on my coast once to try and take a town but were duly crushed, and subsequently offered me a peace treaty. I had no land borders with them, Alcuyd had absorbed them almost completely, and I had no interests in building a fleet solely to attack their last province....an island province.

I've been playing with the no retraining units rule and the must have one ship per unit rule like we do in the pbem here, because it's more fun to me, and a bit more challenging.

I'm actually kind of disappointed, I'm so happy that I'm not completely surrounded by horribly hostile nations, I almost don't want to declare war on anybody...but the picts are getting a bit too strong, and I think they're due for another sacking in a year. They had lost two provinces to Alcuyd but have recently taken one back and snatched a few rebel territories too, so I think it's time to put them back in their place.

[Mount Suribachi]

I like that last paragraph. Occasionally, very occasionally, you'd get that state of affairs in MTW. Lots of big sprawling alliances, with everyone afraid to start a war for fear of half the map coming after them. Could last for decades until something triggered a war, then all the alliances would unravel and all hell would break loose.

Going to war with another nation should be a big decision.

[Lucjan]

Yes, but unforetunatly, the Picts decided not to give me that choice, they just seriously romped an Alcuyd army and decided, since my settlement was closer than the Alcuyd's, and I'm Alcuyd's ally, they'd come after me instead. I half expected it. But I'm still maintaining a solid peace on all other fronts. The Picts are more like a minor annoyance, they swarm you, you swat them down, burn a settlement or two, then they go away until next summer.

[Lucjan]

Econ, clear some space in your inbox, important message for you.

And tell those silly people clogging your inbox to stop doing so when I need to use it! *Selfish whining*

[econ21]

Sorry - cleared up some space in my PM box.

[Braden]

Well, it just goes to show what a “good” soothsayer I’d make. I predicted that because the Republic was in such dire problems that there wouldn’t be many motions and the senate session would be quiet.

How wrong I was! TWO pages of Motions…..TWO! Go figure.

Anyway, NOW it seems to have gone quiet, there’s usually someone debating something IC but so far….nothing. How odd.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Some more MTW 2 screenshots.

I really like the first consul report, Lucjan, keep it up :)

[econ21]

Anyway, NOW it seems to have gone quiet, there’s usually someone debating something IC but so far….nothing. How odd.

The current situation reminds me of a scene in the brilliant TV series "Das Boot". IIRC there was some kind of cat and mouse situation between the main protaganists, a U-boat crew, and some allied U-boat hunters. The U-boat was forced to dive and maneouvre as quietly as it could, with one crew member saying under his breath:

"Now it gets tactical."

That's where we are now in the this PBM, both the African invasion and the defence of the straits will require a lot of fine judgement on the part of the Consul. I am not sure the Senate jumping in with both feet would improve matters.

[Braden]

I am not sure the Senate jumping in with both feet would improve matters.

- since when has that stopped Politicians?

M2:TW screenshots – I’ve never doubted it’ll look lush and fantastic…..I retain a healthy dose of sceptasism about game play until someone has actually got a copy though and played it.

What I can say tough is….that I really need a new computer! I’ve got M2:TW coming AND Company of Heros AND the new Warhammer Fantasy RTS…….I know for certain that the last two (that I know I want) will not run on my PC even if I do upgrade my gfx card….