Pontic Campaign

[Treverer]

Why do you have these CTDs? Try reducing the graphics quality and turn off the music. So far, I've had three CTDs with 1.0, all but the second due to own fault.

[Sygrod]

Most likely memory problems. A Ctrl+Alt+Del reveals a number of programs running in the background. I try to turn some of them off for EB, but I believe that there are memory fragments left that screw things up. I've only got 1.5 Gig (only... heh. That was excellent two years ago) memory and 4 Gig left on C:
A clean start usually works for EB and it can then run all day with no problems.

[Sygrod]

So I had a chance to run almost 3 seasons. The battle to repulse the ptolemaic siege on Edessa went well. Very well, in fact.

THey were lined up outside the west gate. I placed 4 slinger units and a unit of Caucasian archers to the right of the gate, inside the wooden walls. My two phalanxes, the Galatian heavy spearmen, the general and the Eastern skirmishers were lined up inside the gate and the Scythian horse archers and the Skirmish cavalry were placed behind the northern gate. As expected, the ptolemaic army drew off to the northeast, receiving a thorough pelting from the missile units. The cavalry was sent out and headed for a place behind the final ptolemaic line. The all units except the missile trops were sent out after the ptolemies. The two phalanxes were drawn up in a line 5 men deep with the skirmishers behind. The general went to the far left. The galatians came up and took position behind the phalanxes. Then my main effort arrived: my missile troops. They showered the enemy line where it would do most damage.

The ptolemies tried to counter charge, but as they got closer, my missile units were drawn back, causing the enemies to return to their lines, at which point they received concentrated missiles and suffered heavily. When the enemy line finaly broke, I sent eveything forward. the cavalry massacred the borken units. The general charged and caused more units to route. The last unit to be destroyed was the phalanx, whichgtried to escape to the Northeast.
Of my initial 1647 men, only 34 were killed. of the initial 1754 ptolemies, only 178 got away and scattered after the battle. HEROIC VICTORY.
The following season, I finally decided to advance on Antiocheia. I had enough units to keep Tarsos and Side under control. A strong detachment of seleukids arrived south of Edessa and I was unable to guess its intentions, so I dared not send a large army from Edessa. On top of that, the seleukids had sent a strong army into Antiocheia. It was not going to be a walkover.
After my turn, the seleukids decided to lay siege to my small fort east of Edessa. Not a good idea. When it was my turn again, I sent a small detachment from karkathiokerta and with 165+199 men, I sallied against the 420 strong enemy. They were cut down to the last man, thanks in due to the 30 chariots. This gave me the confidence to send forth a strong force to the bridge SW of Edessa to be forwarded to Antiocheia, which I finally laid siege to, building 2 sap points and two towers.

[Sygrod]

Antiocheia

The siege had taken its toll on the garrison, and I wanted to have crushing superiority before assaulting. Besides, it took 2 seasons to build the siege equipment.

I lined up a main effort and a secondary effort. My Chalkaspidai carried one tower and the Thureophoroi had the other on the far right. My first move was to get the tower to the wall, but not against the wall as quickly as possible to use the destructive missile power. The units behind and on the wall were seriously depleted by this shower from Hell. Then I sent the tower against the wall - I had to start somewhere and there were Toxotai just where the tower was. I decided that I needed some more firepower and sent my other tower over to deliver death, but the Thureophoroi were pelted by slingers that I had missed. Finally on the wall, I had to slug it out with a unit of Hellenic Royal Guards that had arrived. It was a hard fight. The Chalkaspidai were taking heavy losses and were getting very tired, while the Guards were still fresh.
I sent in a unit of Pantodapoi Phalangitai to help and these finished off the Toxotai, but were greeted by a unit of spearmen. I sent in another unit of Pant. Phalangitai to assist, but too late. They first unit had been destroyed. Finally, the enemy units on the wall had been broken and swept off. I sent the Thureophoroi over the wall on the far right, followed by Heavy Persian Archers and slingers. These got rid of the units ion the ground behind the wall and advanced to the gate. I was not interested in sending in any units through the gate, because there was an ugly formation of Elite Phalangites there. I could not inflict enough casualties from the wall above, so a unit of slingers went down on the ground on each side and pelted the phalanx from behind as it triad to attack the unit that was throwing rocks. This phalanx finally broke and was cut down on its way to the square. Meanwhile, the two enemy generals were moving. I had them placed under a murderous barrage, followed by my 3 generals charging in and finishing them off. Now, there was only one enemy elite phalanx left on the square. I placed my missile troops around the square and sent in a general for the phalanx to chase. As the phalanx turned its back to some missile units, it received a relentless pelting and finally was whittled down to the last man. Victory.
Antiocheia finally gave me the ability to build ships, and I started with the cheapest variety.
The Ptolemies thought they were going to take Edessa. Wrong. Their 1792 strong army of 90% melee units were no match for my 2193 Man mostly missile units. They left 1006 men behind to my 20.
234 it was time to take Ani-Kamah. It took a bit of effort and manoeuvering, but the city was taken with 252 casualties to their 1209. I did not destroy the local government and was able to recruit all sorts of new exciting units, including horse archers. I also recruited a merc eastern general and he has the funny moniker of "interloper", but the city is still happy enough that it doesn't make any difference.
My new fleet allowed me to send 3 units over to Cyprus, where the ptolemies had two units of Peltastai and a unit of Thureophoroi. They attacked when I laid siege to Salamis. The first unit of Peltastai was the main effort and the other two units were way behind. I sent the fist unit off after inflicting massive casualties. The other army took a bit longer, as I had only one slinger unit and it had to concentrate on the Thurephoroi. The final result was that 1/3 of my detachment had been killed, but the enemy units were destroyed, thus placing Salamis under my control. Now, I started to attack the ptolemaic fleets around, which were blockading my ports. There is still a strong Seleukid Penteconterai that I am not confident enough to tackle, but its time will come. The next 6 battles were to repulse armies laying siege to either Karkathiokerta, Edessa, the fort east of Edessa and Antiocheia, two resulting in Heroic victories and adding a couple of neat ancillaries for a local general.

The line from Antiocheia to Karkathiokerta via Edessa is firmly under my control. Units are added and enemies vanquished. Armies are now arriving that have few chevrons and are at full strength, since their more veteran armies have been destroyed.

EDIT: My edits are just fixing spelling... :)

[Treverer]

Impressive as/like before. Congratulations!

Yours,
Treverer

[Sygrod]

I discovered that the EB teamdefinitely is a lot smarter than I am. I figured "Interloper"... 5% unrest. Town happiness 150%. No problem. Well, I found out that the unrest INCREASES by 5% per season. At 20%, I decided that he should go to Amaseia for some training.. I am sure there were celebrations in the streets in Ani-Kamah when he left (nothing in the game, just my imagination).

My newfound navy has been busy chasing ptollie-navies. 3 of my 4 ships have a chevron. Keep it up, boys. The seleukid navy attacked and was sent off hurting. It will be of no concern from now on. Navy sent to Antiocheia to replace losses.

I am having a problem with the client king in karkathiokerta. The bugger has no movement and refuses to sally. I installed the fix, but I guess it was too late for him. I have to keep a unit or general nearby so that I can get rid of any sieges. Well we can't always get what we want.

Northwest of Edessa, between the mountain ranges, I noticed a sizable rebellion with 4 units. Units and 2 generals were sent off to deal with this.

The Ptolemies have finally made a serious move. A full 20 unit army with 3 generals have laid siege on Edessa. No missile troops. 2905 men against my 2567. I would venture a guess that most of them will have welts from stones when the battle is over. The battle will likely have the following elements:
1. Ptollies will relocate to the right.
2. My missile troops lined up inside the wall will shower the ptollies as they run past.
3. Sally with phalanxes and set up defensive line across from ptolemaic main battle line.
4. Sally with skirmishers and heavy infantry to support the phalanxes.
5. Send HA, light cav and chariots out the west gate to divert part of enemy line.
6. Sally with missile troops as they run out of targets and line up behind defensive line.
7. Advance until missile troops are within range and pelt the enemy generals. 8. When enemy units counter attack, withdraw and hit the enemy units in the back as they rejoin their line.
9. Continue until enemy breaks.

[Treverer]

I discovered that the EB teamdefinitely is a lot smarter than I am. I figured "Interloper"... 5% unrest. Town happiness 150%. No problem. Well, I found out that the unrest INCREASES by 5% per season. At 20%, I decided that he should go to Amaseia for some training.. I am sure there were celebrations in the streets in Ani-Kamah when he left (nothing in the game, just my imagination).

Welcome to the club ... though I took him out at 10% (and the second one also left).

T.