On the Path to the Streets of Gold: a Suebi AAR (updated 11-17, final chapter)

[edyzmedieval]

Wodanaz takes me to Walhalla, made me chuckle.

Quite the campaign you are enjoying, any Roman trouble so far?

[Hooahguy]

Archaeological evidence shows that the Germanic people called it Walhalla.

And yeah, Im going to have to tackle the Roman problem soon. They havent given me trouble yet, but I think they will soon.

[edyzmedieval]

I have eaten a couple of letters in that spelling of Walhalla...

[Bramborough]

Another great installment, keep em coming! :-)

Question: Are you actually finding time to take screenshots during the battle itself, or doing it from replays afterwards?

I just can't multi-task and click fast enough to capture good screenies during actual battle. But my replays usually don't play out quite the same way, the moments of which I want a really good snap don't recur. (which has also been my challenge in coming up with a screenie I want to submit for the weekly contest)

[Hooahguy]

I take them in the battle itself. As you can tell, most of the screenshots are taken before the battle actually starts or during a part of the battle which doesnt require my undivided attention, like when the battle lines are about to clash and theres nothing more I can do until the melee starts, or when my units are chasing down routers. Thats why there are so many pictures during those times.

[Hooahguy]

Sorry for not updating in a while. I am drowning in schoolwork- I have two major tests and a 10 minute presentation in a language I barely understand (and I cant use notes!) due next week. I have been able to play two turns with the new patch and I love what I see (AI armies are no longer 75% slingers for one thing) but Im not sure if Ill be able to play much until next weekend. Again, I apologize for anyone who has been waiting for an update, but I must get control of my real-life requirements before I can attend to this.

[AntiDamascus]

What language?

[Sp4]

You had me all excited!

[Hooahguy]

What language?

Hebrew. Annoying as frak to learn, too many male/female word variations to go along with the numerous tenses that gives me a huge headache.

You had me all excited!

Yeah, sorry again...

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eleven, Part 1

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After the conquest of the Treverii, the Romans were now our only serious threat. We had to act soon, and more importantly, we had to get to Roma soon. I feel like the longer this dream is not satisfied the further away it gets from being achievable. And I feel that my men are feeling it too. I feel they are getting restless. they want bigger things, not just small Gallic hamlets. They want big and rich cities, and every week that we don't sack some large Roman or Gallic town is another week that I hear of growing discontent among the ranks. That worries me, I cannot invade Roman lands with my commanders and soldiers murmuring behind my back.

And the voices have returned.

They give me many sleepless nights now. I keep having this dream— or maybe it’s a nightmare— of arriving in Roma and seeing instead of gold and silver, I see blood and bones.

The gates are closed as I march in with my army. The gates to Roma are gilded with golden plates embroidered with silver leaves. But as I push them open they begin to crumble, the rotten wood raining down over me.

I venture further into the city. The streets are mud, with broken stones littering the sides of the streets. There are way too many piles of bones for this to have been the capital of one of the supposed cultured nations in the world. Wild dogs fight over scraps of rats that were unfortunate enough to get caught. I catch a glimpse of a few charred corpses in an alleyway, with wolves nipping at the bodies. But I think the most unsettling thing was the silence. Not even dogs barking. It was the silence of the dead.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My men and I walk down the street, dazed at what we are seeing. I send scouts up ahead to see if anything changes, while I give permission for some of my men to see if there is any loot still in this city. There is none. The scouts return telling me that there are large palaces and arenas in the middle of the city. We went on, hoping that the center of the city is better.

We reach this large arena that is very long on two sides and short and curved on the other two sides. I think they at one time raced horses there, but now the only horses in this arena are dead and rotting. The seats are broken and dirty. Stray cats prowl the stands where it seemed like once thousands of people cheered as horses raced.


There are large palaces in the center of the city. We head into the largest of them. It had a painting on the ceiling which I found intriguing. Numerous random naked people doing seemingly random things are covering the ceiling. I can only assume they are their gods or something. But then I hear a voice. It is Odin’s voice, coming to me solemn and strong:

“The road to Roma is from the south.”

Then I wake up, every time, and I go back to a dreamless sleep.

To be continued…

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Authors note: Part 2 is coming tomorrow, and is much larger. Don't worry, I'm back.

[Alcibiade]

This nightmare of the Suebi leader has been a reality for the Macedonian trroops of my second campaign. I hope you'll find Rome less depleted by barbarian invasions than I. It would be a beautifull development in this penthralling AAR :-)

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eleven, Part 2

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We have to learn more about the Romans. Considering that they are our biggest threat, we knew very little about them. So I sent my best spy, Erminigilid, to discover more about the Romans.
Starting from Koria, he moved past Medhlan, which we already knew about it, and headed south.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He eventually found the city of Roma.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He ventured further south, finding more Roman towns and cities, until he came to the ocean.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He thought that was the end of Roman rule, but then he learned about passage to an island off the coast called Sicily, where he met with a Siracusani envoy who talked to him about a possible alliance.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And he found out that the main part of Roman lands is called Italia. Our way into Italia could be Sicily. If we were to land there, kick out the Romans from the island, give it back to Syracuse as a gesture of goodwill, then we could use the island as a staging ground to invade lower Italia, and eventually take Roma.

While this was going on in the northeast, two of our neighbors, the Aestii and Lugii, went to war. For decades the Aestii have been sitting around, doing nothing, and now it seems like they plan on doing something with a numerous armies they have been raising.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And a month later, the conflict was over.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Although it was not the Aestii who defeated them. The Eravisci defeated the Lugii, giving us a new neighbor. A neighbor with whom we do not have the best of relationships with. It seems like they want their home town of Akink back. Which is a shame because I don’t think we will be feeling too amicable to the idea of simply giving up a town that we captured to them.

I met with Ricfried and Baldovin about our next move. They brought something to my attention the problem with the Artrebartes. Our relations with the once-small Gallic tribe had soured to the point where our spies report that war was being discussed by the Artrebartes tribal leaders. It was time that we took steps to remove the Artrebartes threat, because we do not want to be in a large conflict with the Romans and have the Artrebartes attack an undefended border. Another army was being trained at the moment, as soon as that was completed we would begin our invasion. Ricfried thought that an obvious first target would be the Artrebartian capital of Nemetocenna. A factor that we had to take into account was the numerous smaller Artrebartian navies that might land their troops far behind our lines and cause havoc to the countryside. So to remedy that problem we would raise a number of small armies on our northern border to ensure that we would be able to defend from any possible incursions.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

When Erminigilid came back from Sicily a few weeks later, I asked him what he thought of the city of Roma.

“It is massive. I have never seen a city so large. It makes Lupfurdum seem like a small village. Also, Romans are small. I felt like a giant there, and all around Italia. They seem to be very haughty; I feel we can use this to our advantage somehow. And they are very wealthy. Almost everyone I saw was dressed in clothes that in our nation would only be worn for special occasion. I believe that should we take this city, we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams.”

I went to bed happy, and I once again dreamt of roads paved with gold.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twelve

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As we were preparing for our invasion, we heard that the Lugii people had risen against their occupiers, threw them out, and then created a new independent state. And then was promptly attacked, again, by the Aestii.



Finally our preparations were complete. Numerous small defense armies were posted on the coastal towns, and the new full-sized army, the Skull Breakers, was sent to take the Artrebartian capital city.



The Siracusani had taught us a few siege tactics, such as the siege tower. This was a large moving tower that could be used to take over the enemy walls. With the small enemy garrison, it seemed that this battle would be over quickly.




But it quickly went south when both of our towers, one at the south gate and the other at the western gate, were set on fire very quickly. Our men who were eagerly waiting on the towers to capture the walls climbed down the ladders in a panic, desperately trying to get off before it was engulfed in flames and collapsed.




With no other siege equipment we had to send three units to throw torches at the gates, a very costly tactic.



When the gates were finally burnt town, we had sustained almost 300 casualties, wiping out one unit and decimating two others.



With the gate open our remaining units charged forward, eager to have their first taste of blood.



At the western gate, our units burnt down the gate with much fewer casualties, but the Artrebartian garrison had laid numerous traps within the gate, preventing anyone from getting in. So our units went to the southern gate and joined the fray there.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Authors note: For some reason my units refused go through the gate even though I destroyed it. Must be a bug of some kind.

Our forces at the southern gate were met with fierce resistance, for the enemy had put their elite units at the front line. We poured men into that gate, and it seemed like it would be a stalemate, for neither side could turn the other. When one side began to waver, our generals would rally the troops to continue on. It was a bloodbath.



After almost an hour of a very violent melee, our units finally broke through the enemy barriers at the gate by sheer numbers, and quickly went to mop up the remaining Artrebartian units scattered around the city.



Finally we were able to see exactly the carnage at the gate. I arrived just as the battle was ending, and was able to survey the bloodbath. We had to either improve our siege equipment to prevent them going up in flames or we would have to starve out the garrisons.



The day was won, and the Artrebartes had lost their capital city. But it was at a considerable cost. Three of our units were completely destroyed, and six others had to be merged to keep battle effectiveness. The Skull Breakers had taken quite a hit for a first battle, and they needed some time to recoup from their losses, so the Bloodsworn would be taking up the mantle for now.




Hopefully this battle was just an initial bump in the road. Otherwise this could be a disastrous campaign for us.

[Bramborough]

Pretty crazy battle. Kudos to the Skull Breakers for winning a tough fight.

(Note to self: don't bother with siege towers...or at the very least, don't send them into battle saturated with lighter fluid...)

[Hooahguy]

Yeah, thats the last time I build siege towers. Or at least make a large number of them. They cant burn all of us!

[Sp4]

Build tanks instead.

[Shaitan]

...
Authors note: For some reason my units refused go through the gate even though I destroyed it. Must be a bug of some kind.

...

I had this too in one of my sieges. You could only go up half of the ramp after the gate. Must be a bug.

Shaitan

[Myth]

Build tanks instead.

Do I need to get the siege military tradtions or is this bad boy manufactured in a workshop?

[Sp4]

Do I need to get the siege military tradtions or is this bad boy manufactured in a workshop?

It's a pre siege thing and it's used to attack stone walls directly. Like I said, screw towers, get this thing instead and just drive through the walls. On that note, does anyone else think it is funny that walls are the weak spot of walls instead of the gates? You'd think no one ever bothered with battering rams if it was this easy.

Oh btw, I am not sure if it is Romans only. I have only ever seen it as Rome.

[Bramborough]

Do I need to get the siege military tradtions or is this bad boy manufactured in a workshop?

Not a workshop product, but one of the available options for building equipment at the start of a siege (alongside ladders, battering rams, etc). So you have to wait a turn for it and suffer attrition in the meantime. Strictly speaking, it's not worth building, since most of the time one can just assault immediately without waiting and still win, as long as the attacking army has a ballista or onager that can open a breach. But the tortoise is just fun to use for a few sieges.

It does require some level of siege tech progress, but I don't remember where exactly I picked it up....somewhere in the middle tier [Edit: Pontus gets access with the "Battering Ram" tech in Tier 1. Pretty early.]. Does not require a siege tradition for the army itself; I've had multiple armies build the thing, and I never pick that tradition line.

Oh btw, I am not sure if it is Romans only. I have only ever seen it as Rome.

Pontus gets it, so I assume all the Hellenic factions have access to the tortoise.

[Sp4]

Not a workshop product, but one of the available options for building equipment at the start of a siege (alongside ladders, battering rams, etc). So you have to wait a turn for it and suffer attrition in the meantime. Strictly speaking, it's not worth building, since most of the time one can just assault immediately without waiting and still win, as long as the attacking army has a ballista or onager that can open a breach. But the tortoise is just fun to use for a few sieges.

It does require some level of siege tech progress, but I don't remember where exactly I picked it up....somewhere in the middle tier. Does not require a siege tradition for the army itself; I've had multiple armies build the thing, and I never pick that tradition line.



Pontus gets it, so I assume all the Hellenic factions have access to the tortoise.

Yes the whole attrition siege to build gimmicky siege equipment thing is a little bleh. I'm sure it'd be used more often if sieges weren't easier to win than most land battles.

[Alcibiade]

Yes the whole attrition siege to build gimmicky siege equipment thing is a little bleh. I'm sure it'd be used more often if sieges weren't easier to win than most land battles.

I find the BAI better as a defenser than as an attacker, though. But it's even dumber when attacking fortified camps. I stoppped using the fortification stance with my armies after I won 3 heroic victories in a row. THe interesting thing is that after this 3 defeats, the AI chose to take another road and to avoid my army`. But how can they just attack one door of the camp only when they heavily outnumber the defender and have 3 different wide open doors to get in ?

[Bramborough]

Yes the whole attrition siege to build gimmicky siege equipment thing is a little bleh. I'm sure it'd be used more often if sieges weren't easier to win than most land battles.

Seems this would be a pretty easy thing to correct. Simply make ballistae and onagers ineffective against walls. These aren't trebuchets, after all, and are intended to be field artillery. I'd be okay with giant ballistae remaining effective, since they don't move and therefore aren't as attractive as "standard" equipment for all armies (not for me anyway). Then there's the flaming arrows/javelins...c'mon, really? Is there historical basis for this? Not some extraordinarily rare example where it worked as an improvisation (much like Hooah's Skull Breakers had to do here), but as a viable, regularly-practiced siege technique, where attackers expected beforehand to burn down the gate of a stone-walled city with flaming "small-arms" missiles alone in the absence of larger equipment, and planned their assault around this capability.

Bottom line, they need to make it so the absence of pre-siege equipment prep means it will be extremely difficult for even an overpoweringly strong army to get inside the walls...and disproportionately bloody even if they succeed. Which is the way it should be. Right now, most player-built armies past Level I barracks probably lose more men during the siege-build attrition than they do simply making an immediate assault. But I often do it anyway (wait), just because it seems "proper" and it's kinda fun to use battering rams and such. Unless I'm trying to get my turn done before dinner or Seahawks kickoff and just AR it out...

[Sp4]

Reduce the amount of artillery pieces from 4 per unit to 2 or maybe 1. At least that way, if you are going to win with siege equipment, you are going to have to build your army around it. Now it's just ridiculously overpowered. Level 1 workshop Ballistas are all the siege equipment you will ever need. They're accurate, they're deadly and 2 units can make big enough breaches into the biggest wall for you to send in all the huns at once.

[Hooahguy]

Reduce the amount of artillery pieces from 4 per unit to 2 or maybe 1. At least that way, if you are going to win with siege equipment, you are going to have to build your army around it. Now it's just ridiculously overpowered. Level 1 workshop Ballistas are all the siege equipment you will ever need. They're accurate, they're deadly and 2 units can make big enough breaches into the biggest wall for you to send in all the huns at once.

Wasnt that how it always was? I remember in R1 a single unit of onagers could smash the walls. Granted it would take time, but they did it.

Though I do miss tunneling. Always fun to bring down a wall with sappers.

EDIT: And I do agree that at least for heavy artillery there should be a max of two engines per unit. Thats the way I remember it in M2- the trebuchets had 2 per unit, though maybe that huge cannon thing had just one? I cant remember.

[Hooahguy]

Alright, good news everyone!

So initially I thought that my campaign was broken because it kept crashing when I was loading the savegame. I could load the game just fine, play a battle, whatever. Just I couldnt load my campaign. I was so scared that patch 5 broke my campaign that I was writing up a huge plan to go back start a new campaign and get to where I am now but I forgot about my mods. So I went back and looked at the mods I was loading and went through each one. Turns out that I can only load the savegame if I have the complete Radious mod package. But I wanted a different battle mod so I got the separate Radious packages (AI, campaign, economy&research) and installed another battle mod. Which causes the crash because I went back to the complete Radious mod package and I could load the game fine.

Anyhow, I finally have time for this game and will be updating this weekend. I will also post an updated list of the mods Im using, as they have changed.

Also I did play a little bit and I have noticed some improvements, havent played enough to notice many changes. Well, there was one big change but you will find out!

[Sp4]

Wasnt that how it always was? I remember in R1 a single unit of onagers could smash the walls. Granted it would take time, but they did it.

Though I do miss tunneling. Always fun to bring down a wall with sappers.

EDIT: And I do agree that at least for heavy artillery there should be a max of two engines per unit. Thats the way I remember it in M2- the trebuchets had 2 per unit, though maybe that huge cannon thing had just one? I cant remember.

No, a single unit of onagers, which was still only 2 actual onagers could make maybe 1 hole into a big stone wall? That still meant sending everyone through one breach and the AI was quite good at putting stuff on the other side, so the battle was a massacre. Now, a single unit of ballistas (not onagers, I never tried onagers, I don't even wanna know what they do to a city, maybe the battle just defaults to a victory) can make a big enough hole into a wall for you to send your entire front through at once, which the AI has no idea how to deal with but they have no idea how to deal with sieges anyways.

Like I said, it's all kind of silly cause siege battles are easier than most land battles.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Thirteen

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As quickly as our war with the Artrebartes had begun, it ended.

Soon after our capture of their capital city of Nemetocenna, an envoy arrived at my camp, offering terms for a truce. They seemed desperate, and they even offered us a nice sum of money



So I accepted their truce, and with that war ended, we started preparing for our invasion of Roman lands. It didn’t take very long; as most of the armies were already created, and all we had to do was bring them towards the front. Ricfried with the Bloodsworn were to strike first, against the lightly defended Roman town of Octuduron.

With the pieces on the board set, we declared war and launched our attack.




It wasn’t a very strong garrison, so Ricfried decided to bide his time and make the Roman garrison scared. People always fight worse when they are scared.

He calmly moved his men into position on either side of the town, seemingly in no rush. The Romans weren’t going anywhere, and the nearest Roman army was a week’s march away.




A few hundred feet he stopped the men, in full view of the Romans. He addressed his men.

“Sons of the Suebi! We stand in front of the Roman dogs today for what? Why do we face them in battle today? Is it because we are bored? Is it because we have nothing better to do with our lives than to kill our enemies, steal their women and pillage their towns? YES, IT IS! Even as I speak, these Roman animals are wetting themselves in fear of us, the mighty Suebi, who have come to take their homes and lands! So let’s put them out of their misery, and show those barbarians what it means to be a proud Suebi warrior!”



And with that he gave the signal to charge.



The battle did not take long.



Crushed from either side, Roman resistance was short lived and futile.




Soon the last member of the Roman garrison was either slain or had fled to the hills.



It was a very clean victory. We had lost only ninety men, killing almost all of their men. Octuduron was ours, and with that victory, one of the biggest wars we were ever in had begun. Next we would move onto the fortified city of Medhlan, for which I had a plan. I would not allow another fiasco like Nemetocenna to happen, so we would take the Roman's strongest weapon and beat them at their own game with it.

Yes, I know, I forgot to take a screenshot of the results.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Authors note: So with patch 5 I'm using a few new mods, and had to discontinue the use of others: Other than the Radious mod, I'm using the AI Food Fix (helps prevent AI armies from starving out), loose formations for all units, faction uniform colors by Mitch, a battle zoom mod called “Zoom all the way down!!!,” and that’s it. As for the mods I had to remove, I had to remove the Armored Suebi mod as the creator went AWOL and hasn’t updated it for the changes, giving me a CTD upon startup. Also, the Natural Dyes mod had to go as it was incompatible with Radious.

[Bramborough]

Glad this is back on track!

Looking forward to the Medhlan...your screenies of Octuduron made me realize that despite two Rome campaigns, I don't think I've ever seen a Roman capital city during battle. One hardly ever has to defend one's own city against the AI, and when it does happen the battle is so laughably one-sided that I've almost always AR'd it. And other than Rome, there's no other Latin factions with a walled city. So interested to see what it looks like (although my Pontus is beginning to mull over the the idea of capturing Roman Brundisium...).

[Hooahguy]

Yeah, Im really excited to continue this- at Medhlan there is a large and well equipped Roman army and Im eager/nervous to see if my armies can take on the Legions, since I heard that the Roman legionnaires are OP.