Re: Ancient TW2: Eastern Empires is back on track
Today I took the Spartans out for a spin, and their starting position was HARD mostly down to being strapped for cash.
It didn't really help that all the captains I had were complete thickos, dimwits, dunces, call it what you may, but the two starting units only had one acumen between them.... Then there were famines every other year.
So, in true Spartan fashion, I decided it had to be either a) a mark of disfavour from the Olympians, or b) it was all the fault of the moral degeneracy of all the other Greeks and I had to kill them all. Either way it boils down to this: to survive as Sparta you need to blitzkreig the other Greek factions and rely on rebel-farming (whilst being careful about provoking re-emergences). It was so tough I had to save up for three years to be able to afford a watch-tower in ArgosIt would have been two years, but guess what? Famine...
It was a challenge on hard, but I managed to pull through. I think expert may be impossible... it all comes down to stretching out that starting treasury and getting really good at using those early, cheap skirmishers. Once you have the economy rolling Sparta becomes the heavy infantry steamroller par excellence... you just have to get there first.
Anyway, a few things tested out quite nicely, and Sparta definitely has a different feel to Athens, which is good.
Re Ionia - it's a one-province wonder (like ALL the Greek factions in this scenario) and due to map limitations it's a bit un-geographical, but it's the closest I could get. For the player, Ionia has an easier start than Sparta, though it's still a toughie. There is an obvious way to go to get the ball rolling, once that's done things kick in nicely. Ionia (the province) gets a valour bonus for Rhodean Slingers, and the faction has a cost benefit on them, so a unique double advantage there. I'm really getting to like the Rhodean Slingers, used them a lot with Sparta (recruitable in any Greek province with a port to reflect them going off as mercenaries, same principle with Cretan Archers). The province is also in the Lydian recruitment zone, so the Ionians get access to Lydian Heavy Cav. Lydian Infantry and Lydian Archers.
A few more items have gone on to the to-do list (though a lot have also been cleared from before), so definite progress is being made.
Re: boots - yep, you need to do every figure in all 12 frames of the BIF. C&P won't help much as everything will be in a different position or angle in each frame. That's why I've not done much editing of those BIFs beyond adding shields and weapons, as those DO need to be in exactly the same place in every frame, so a quick C&P is fine.
Not a glitch - tacticsps ...... What was going on with those Immortals & Royal Guards ? could it be another glitch carryied over from HTW ? heheThe Phoenician Colonial Militia stopped 'em getting off the bridge, and my missiles threw or shot everything they had into the flanks.
Not sure who I'm going to try out next - either the Scythians or the Macedonians. I think the Macs are pretty much up to speed though (bearing in mind that in this era they were basically a bunch of backward sheep-ers pretending to be Greek). It's not until the LATE campaigns that they become anything special. And to play out Scythia, I think I want to get the 'confederation of tribes' reforms done first. All of which means I ought to stop procrastinating and get back to the 'to-do' list...
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, for the betterment of our existing troops & creation of new ones !! 
we have both made progress .
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