Ancient TW3 - Roman Wars

**macsen rufus** · 03-13-2008, 10:35

They already have a bridgehead in Kent, facing up to Caratacus across the Thames. Now they're acting a bit better, and sometimes they attack him, sometimes they go sideways into Sussex and whack the Atrebates.

EDIT: I've actually made a few changes to the start map that shows at the top of the thread - the Catuvellauni have an extra province, Dorset has changed from Atrebatean to Durotrigean, the Hibernii now have Munster instead of Brega, and of course the Croabh Ruadh are in Ulster.

**macsen rufus** · 03-14-2008, 14:36

I've started on the new faction flags, and the Croabh Ruadh now have a more realistic "red hand" symbol... the next wee puzzle is how to persuade the Romans they really ought to train a few legionaries before they start on the catapults, and am tinkering with the personality preferences yet again. I might just change the starting buildings to make them behave more sensibly

I've also done bit of a reform on the the province titles as well, trying to improve economic and loyalty issues. Much to my utter disgust and embarrassment, it seems to be the Corieltauvi who always get wiped out first, and gave them bit of a play last night. It just looks like they're going to be one of the harder factions

**Hound of Ulster** · 03-15-2008, 01:57

it just looks like they're going to be one of the harder factions

oh, well.

What your plans for the installation of this particular add-on for ATW?

**macsen rufus** · 03-17-2008, 12:57

Well, the Corieltauvi play well enough, at least once you've identified who the major threat will be

I did manage to conquer most of Britain in the end, then of course, the modder's curse - had to make some tweaks and the save-game was no longer playable. You just never get to finish a campaign when you're modding

The install will be as part of a new release - Ancient TW3 "Roman Wars" - too much has been changed now to keep it as part of the original, which was the point behind going the separate installs route.

I've made a few more of the new faction emblems, and it's looking a bit more in-period now. The Romans still need a lot of tweaking, as the AI really doesn't have a clue on how to play that faction. In fact it's soooo bad I might even have to remove the Batavians and relegate them to "rebel" status, as the Romans really don't watch their backs. It would be a pity as the Batavians have also learnt the trick of raiding the east coast of Britain, in a nicely historical twist....

The poor performance of the Romans aside, though, the inter-tribal warfare amongst the British factions is quite a lot of fun, as they all have subtly different unit rosters. I've been giving the Ordovici a whirl over the weekend, just trying out their new logo, really

and had a few amazing battles. Wresting Cornwall from a Durotrigean re-emergence was a great one - 2000 vs 7000, though I had the advantage in stars (7 vs 3) and in tech (mostly v2 and +1w, +2a). It was a glorious bloodbath, to say the least, and earned my Champion a "skilled attacker" into the bargain. The Ordovici, like most of the factions with mountainous homelands, are quite restricted for cavalry, only tribal horseman and Celtic noble cavalry are available (and the nobles need the top of the line horse-breeder building - I captured one before I had been able to build one...) The BG unit is the Celtic Noble infantry, and as a perk gaesatae are available (if you can ever afford them

)

**macsen rufus** · 03-18-2008, 18:52

Ah, well, I broke the curse and actually took the Ordovici through to 100% victory last night, though after the 60% point it was the usual MTW steamroller effect. Still, it was fun to kick the Romans out of Britain

, and I had a great 3 or 4 way battle at one stage, when I bribed two out of three Atrebatean stacks in Sussex, then the Romans and the Batavians (who were rather unexpectedly allied...) also invaded.

Overall odds were about 3:1 against me and my rag-tag bunch of slingers, tribal spearmen, half a unit of Celtic noble infantry and three mounted units - covignae, tribal horsemen and Celtic noble cav. My general was the bribed three-star ex-governor, who showed up at valour 8, being very proud and very brave

. The remaining Atrebates had a similar line-up, though smaller, and a no-star general, easy meat really.

I dismounted my tribal spears to spear-throwers, but saved the throwing spears for the other two armies, who were fielding a large force of Germanic heavy cavalry and equites, lots of slingers and some low-grade infantry. Luckily they retired to one corner of the map whilst I mopped up the Atrebates, then I had to march all the way back again (through the snow, no less) to deal with the larger threat.

Slingers to the fore, I started stinging them whilst my spearmen lined up beyond the tree line. Eventually the heavy cavalry let valour get the better of their discretion and they charged my slings. A quick retreat into the trees led the heavily armoured cavalry into a volley of throwing spears and a wall of pointy sticks. In the trees the Celtic noble infantry are real horse-butchers, armour piercing too, and I soon had the Batavians' top-end units routing, which cleared the field of most of the infantry as well. It was then down to the spearmen to advance to pin the remaining cavalry whilst my mounted wing flanked round the trees to clear the remaining slingers then rear-charge the two enemy generals. Rome lost her last Caesar and the Batavians stumped up a massive ransom and were forced back to the continent.

Not a bad performance for an un-teched, bribed army (I hadn't bothered reinforcing it as I thought I'd just be up against the Atrebates...). I thought I stood no chance, but I think it showed what good old tribal guile and tactics can do against an army that was far superior 'on paper'. However, it would have been a different story I'm sure if the Romans had had any legionaries on the field.....

I know, I know ... "When's it coming out?" you'll all be thinking. Well, I just got the good news that we'll be off work for Easter, so I'll have a good long stretch of time for polishing up and final tweaks, and hopefully getting an installer sorted. So maybe shortly after Easter - about a week or so, I guess, but as with all things modwise, this is an estimate rather than a promise

**macsen rufus** · 03-28-2008, 14:39

A release is getting close - Britannia is working pretty much to my satisfaction, it's had bit of a presentational overhaul, more historic figures added, and the Romans are getting a bit more aggressive. There's also a wadge of new portraits and names.

Some things left to do: unlock some of the castlemaps; Auxilia Brittanorum to add, plus a couple of others; check the Punic campaign still works, and transfer some portraits across. All being well I should have an installer after the weekend