About siege engines... PRICE?

[Duguntz]

Hannibal was the foundator of our Romaioktonoi group... he was dreaming of assaulting Rome every night!!!

[Cute Wolf]

Hannibal was the foundator of our Romaioktonoi group... he was dreaming of assaulting Rome every night!!!

I think the founder is Megas Maion, Basileus ton Basileon of Makedon....

[Duguntz]

I was cynical! If there's a great general that's worthy of the name Romaioktonoi, it is Hannibal! remember how at 9 years old he sweared that as soon as age would permit him, he'd use fire and steel to stop the destiny of rome!

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

I was cynical! If there's a great general that's worthy of the name Romaioktonoi, it is Hannibal! remember how at 9 years old he sweared that as soon as age would permit him, he'd use fire and steel to stop the destiny of rome!

Ah, but that's the critical difference, you see. Hannibal didn't think he'd need to actually TAKE the city of Rome to stop Rome's destiny. In Hellenic and Phoenician warfare, states made peace when they were clearly beaten. They didn't keep fighting no matter what like Rome did.

So Hannibal created a army superbly suited to defeating Roman armies in the field. An army based mostly on cavalry shock action, like Alexander the Great's. It was not an army suited to assaulting one of the largest and most heavily-fortified cities in Europe. In city assaults, cavalry is useless. Storming a city is a job for infantry alone.

Hannibal wanted to dominate all of Italy EXCEPT the city of Rome - by winning great victories in the open field, and by doing so, persuading all of Rome's allies to change sides - in order to force Rome to the peace table. After which a peace would be made, turning Carthage into the superpower of Europe with many Italian allies, and reducing Rome back to where she had been 150 years earlier in 350 BC, just one of many small, independent Italian city-states with little influence outside her own borders. That was an achievable goal for Hannibal's army. (Provided all of Rome's allies did change sides...which they didn't.)

The utter and total destruction of the city of Rome by assault was not - at least not by Hannibal's historical army. You'd need a absolutely gigantic (200,000+) army of Gallic and Italian infantry to do that job, well supplied with grain shipped from Carthage, and with a great many siege engines. Remember Hannibal fought the war with Rome largely with his own resources, from Carthaginian Spain. He didn't get a lot of help from the Carthaginian Senate back in Carthage...basically Carthage tried to win the war on the cheap. Also most of the Carthaginian Senate was jealous of Hannibal, and worried that he might try to make himself King of Carthage after he'd won the war.

[Ludens]

[vartan]

Topic has been thought out. The rest is really unnecessary and I can't believe you actually wrote that up Scato! Makes me want to put down an emoticon!

[Ludens]

Topic has been thought out. The rest is really unnecessary and I can't believe you actually wrote that up Scato! Makes me want to put down an emoticon!

[Cute Wolf]

Ok, let me bring back the original discussion... how did you notice that the AI often spam onagers in RTW? that's because the onagers are ridiculously cheap along with high damage