Post Your Empires

[CaesarVincens]

Well, if you already have it...

[Unknown Soldier]

Photobucket converts them for you when you upload the files from bitmaps to jpegs.

[TM Is Back]

Yes photobucket is far better then imageshack.

[Scutarii]

Yeah, I used to use Imageshack, but switched to Photobucket after some poor service. Photobucket is far easier.

[Stoneface]

Some updates on my campaign
The Seleucid king must have gotten a good and a bad message by now. The good one is his constant money problems are solved. The bad one is half of his army is dead by now.

Well, we will see how much strategic depth he really has. In the end his armies were surprisingly easy to kill with too few real soldiers between the arrowfodder.
Pontus also attacked which is nice and saved me the trouble of decraring war against them myself. Let them march to their doom.

[Unknown Soldier]

Guy front row, fourth from the left has got sarrissa through the stomach issues!

And others in the ranks behind - its not looking good for pontus they've killed half their own men before they start!

[TM Is Back]

Auch, that poor guy.

[Kara Kolyo]

Heavy metal poisoning hellenistic style I have started pontic campaign myself, but it's too early for pics

[Ferrus]

With my roman campaign ruined by a bug I decided to go back to my favorite little buggers in the aegean.

Currently playing as the GCS and using 8turns per yr on m/m. The yr is 266bc and i am at war with;
Germania
Iberia
Gauls
Independent Greeks
Carthage

The first 8 turns were spent taking salamis off the Ptolemies and launching a small invasion force for Rome as I like my Spartan perioci as Hoplites rather than phalangites. Doing that of course left greece grossly underdefended and Macedon promptly invaded and a series of desperate battles were being fought in greece with the elder spartan while the younger one was in italy. (I love putting myself in stupid and downright dangerous situations, quite exciting ). I took Italy but not before losing the younger Spartan in battle with the conquest being accomplished by the 'new men' within the spartan family, basically adopted sons. If you are wondering why I am talking mainly about the spartan sub branch is that during all the midst of the fighting I sent the other branch families on suicide missions at cydonia because i wanted to make a spartan 'story'.

I then took care of the Roman rebels to deal forever with the threat of marian reform in sicily but then Carthage not liking me as a neighbour, attacked and some of the largest battles fought yet were done in sicily and they were and still are pure gold, good mix within the enemy stacks and always with the damn war elephants.

For my war with the gauls, it first began with the recapturing of northern italy of the three cities of genua, mediolanum and patavium by an army composing of mainly italian infantry with 3 units of hoplites. The lack of hoplites had to do with the fact it was hard to ship the few reinforcements from greece while greece herself was still fighting with Macedon and having to build the necessary buildings to recruit them would take too long with lots of gauls gathering near the border. I took those three cities to have a secure frontier and as you can see from the map i have not moved beyond the alps.

With Macedon crushed I took my time consolidating the new borders by improving everything for alot of turns while defending my new holdings and also recruiting lots of diplomats to begin subversing the populace in Seutopolis and causing a cultural revolt. However the Germans decided they wanted northern italy for themselves and battles were fought in the passes by the new italian armies raised from the locals with the few greek hoplites as the 'elite' within the formations. The constant defensive fighting has raised two of four italian armies into deadly and dependable veterans that have gone on to do offensive operations as one of the main armies in the thracian war when it finally broke out over the claim over seutopolis when i captured it after it rebeled.

As for that small 'island' in the middle of all those barbarians in dacia, having been ticked off by all the constant german armies marching towards salona and the pass over patavium, i went and took the city sarmizegetusa (or something like tht) to use it as a main site for future battles with the germans away from my borders and already alot of germans are moving towards it with several sieges and battles fought over it already.

During all this i am constantly feeding money to the TSE so that they conquer and colonise all the eastern regions for the sake of conquering such regions easier if i ever decided to pursue an eastern conquest. However, it seems that i have to pacify the west in several mulitfront wars and i dont know where to continue from here as just thinking of the long haul in the north is a super pain while strong armies still linger in the regions that carthage still hold. But taking and colonising the carthaginian regions seem a much less daunting task than the entire barbarian world but new armies have to be raised for this as all available forces are in the north checking the barbarian advances into the greek and italian heartlands, or in sicily waiting for the next carthaginian invasion.

I just wished the barbarians went for each others throat instead of mine to give me some damn peace, a single game turn is taking about an hour and beyond at the most if there are several battles taking place. I take command because for italian armies fighting out of italy, retraining them is not an option and reinforcment for the greek armies is an issue due to the long supply line and holding the thracian territories. I wish diplomacy worked as i dislike using forced diplomacy.

Ahhhh I love XGM! =p I get so addicted tht i always say, one more turn.....

[Stoneface]

Ferrus, you seem to be another reckless general. I like those moments where you wonder wonder if you could pull it off. There are often safe solution requiring separating stacks with night battles, bribing or even leaving large garrisons in your frontier cities but were is the honour in that.

[beikon]

I'm wondering if I could do [IMG]link[/IMG] code or can I just do ''Insert Image''?

[Scutarii]

Your image hosting site should give you an image code for forums to use. Just copy and paste into your post.
@Kara Kolyo: I finished a recent Pontic campaign.... Was totally crushed. My advice: Watch out for Armenian backstabbers. Good luck with your campaign.

I have to agree with you Ferrus, putting yourself in dangerous situations and then getting out of them (or not!) is quite exciting. In my Ptolemy campaign I've started, I sent my only stack deep into Seleucid Eastern territories (up to about Susa/Ecbatana, deep since I'd only taken Antioch/Tarsus). He wound up burning Seleucia, Susa, Ecbatana, Arbela and Hatra to the ground. Then retreat and he's now taking Asia Minor for the beloved Pharoah.

[CaesarVincens]

I sent a stack up to the steppes once, it took three cities from the Scythians before it was mostly wiped out, fortunately I could move them back, hiding all the way to retrain them, so it was reborn to take out more Scythians.

I also sent a general to reinforce my city in Armenia which was besieged by a Scythian cavalry only stack, he was to recruit mercenaries when he got there, unfortunately the Seleucids had other ideas, so he made a quick side trip to a Seleucid city, then high tailed it out of there, he now is wandering around the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Those were both quite fun times, where I had to really be careful to save my men.

[Ferrus]

@Stoneface: When you play the safe options or sensibly for too long the game would get dull sooner or later thats why it is good to do stupid things once (or several times) in a while.

@scutarii: Yup, the risks are soo exciting in this game, when i invaded rome, it was only with 6 units with only one unit of hoplites and i had to fight 6-7 units of principes, triarii, hastatii. The fact that i took rome is one part skill and 9 parts luck it was that intense in the streets of rome with all the units suffering over 50-70% casualties. Then i have to defend against the roman reinforcement meant for the Roman army that was raping phyrus army, and this is when i had to rely on samnite mercs as part of my main battle line. Just remembering those desperate moments is what makes this game replayable in my honest opinion with every move that I make i have to calculate the risks/gains and decide if it is worth the lives of my men and whether i have a small possibility of it working.

@CaesarVincens: I sent a roman legion into Germania that renacted the annihilation of varus legions by the German hordes (not by intention mind you) They were untried in battle and they were found wanting with every last man killed in those damn forests. This is a moment when a simple redeployment involving no risk was suddenly a full blown war that caught me by surprise. Trying to get the survivors back into roman borders was all in vain but it was fun as i took command of every one of those desperate battles to try to bring those roman troops home.

[CaesarVincens]

I had a very harrowing battle against the Seleucids with the general I sent to Armenia, because on his way he stopped over in a copse just off a Seleucid thoroughfare, and a Seleucid army just had to fall into his "ambush" the next turn. Fortunately, his army was mostly merc HAs, so I could pick off some of the enemy, including the enemy general and his accompanying militia cavalry, I even managed to drive off the Greek Hoplites he had, but his eight odd Aspyrigd (sp?) Phalangites, would keep me from true victory, even as I wiped two out. Once the clock ran out though I ran out to relatively safer lands along the Tigris (or the Euphrates or both, not sure exactly which is which).

I tell you, I thought to merely take some of those gray meanies with me, I didn't expect to be able to actually hold them off.

[Scutarii]

Here's my new Egyptian campaign:

Played on M/H
Bonuses reduced
I've turned FOW off for the picture, but positiioned the map so I can't see anything I wouldn't have been able to see normally.



At the starting of the campaign, its a bit difficult as you start off with less than one full stack in your entire empire, but I got one up in a few turns in Alexandria/Memphis and sent it on its way under the command of a 3 star 16 year old general named Olophyxoros. Quickly took Damascus and Antioch with no real fight, then had to weather the storm as TSE took a couple stack an tried to retake them. Olopyxoros got them and took Tarsus, Halicarnassus, and TSE's holdings in Asis Minor while I brought up a new 2nd stack from the Nile Delta to take over his role as Antioch's defender. I must say, in absence of Nile Archers, those Syrians are kick-ass. Now I've got another new general in Antioch to defend from the coming storm (those Seleucid stacks near Antioch you can see). Olophyxoros is now my faction leader and a 10 star general who just finished conquering the Greek Cities holdings in Asia Minor, along with my other general, Hestiodoros. Now I've turned my attention towards Pontus and Ancyra to complete my conquest of Asia Minor.

The AI is fairly predictable, with a few exceptions: its 253 BC and Rome has just gotten control (sieging the remaining non-Roman cities) of Sicily, and has not invaded Gaul. Gaul has nearly kicked the Indie's out of Gaul, and so is fairly strong, but Germania and Iberia look like they will take them out.

Macedon has kicked GCS out of Greece, they only have Rhodes left. The Mak's are worrying me with some troops near the Asia Minor land bridge though.

Armenia at one point (10 years ago) was extremely strong, had around 5 stacks. They decided to invade Pontus. Pontus had only around 2 stacks plus garrison, so it looked sound, but they were beaten back (!) somehow, and are now under siege from Scythia, who looks to be a monster in this campaign. Pontus is recuperating and looks to be on the offensive, but little do they know Pharoah wishes for their lands...

[Unknown Soldier]

Excellent! will be even better with the new skins! I always find the lesser of armour on the egyptian troops to be an irritation = higher casualties than with any another successor faction.

[Scutarii]

Thats very true, the less armour has led to more casualties, but I compensate by putting in more archers to kill of peltasts/enemy archers. My Syrians average aroud 120 kills a battle per unit, so they're a key to my success.

The Seleucid's stacks have actually just gotten a little more elite, I've seen some Argyraspids in some that tell me they've upgraded Seleucia's barracks. Guess its time to expand some more to the East and take them down once and for all...

I was going to wait for the next version to come out to start a Ptoly campaign, but I looked at their roster again and its actaully quite exciting: high-end cavalry are great, like companions (and even Nubians get the job done well), double-handed axemen (unarmoured and armoured), phalangites, greek hoplites, and to top it all off, elite archers. A very balanced roster, and I'm having a blast. I've since killed off those stacks in the picture plus another one that was brought up, TSE is getting quite ambitious. Sieging Damascus and Antioch nearly got them both, I only just got to Antioch in time to defend the siege, and then had to march the army over to Damascus and break that siege. Luckily I'm making progress in Asia Minor, I've taken Ancyra and am ready to declare on Pontus.

[CaesarVincens]

I thought I'd give an update on my Roman Empire, though this is already put of date, one major and several minor events having taken place since.

Here is my Empire five years after my last showing, though I have played another couple years since here.

You can see I've taken Seleucia and Susa. I've also lost my city in Armenia, and the Independent Gauls have really given it to the Germans. Not too much has happened in these five years, however in the next few turns the map will change considerably.


Here is my diplomatic status in 205, my allies the Indie Gauls and Pontus, my enemies the Seleucids, the Eastern Kingdoms, and Scythia. Take note of the diplomatic stances of Macedon, allies with Scythia, and enemies to Indie Gaul and Pontus.


A quick overview of my Empire: Capitol, Roma, as it should be; Leader, Gaius the Cunning, formerly Gaius, Imperator; Family extends to 145, I don't know if they count my deceased members; I control 87 regions, though this will go up very soon; I've won over 650 battles, and lost under 100, many of those sea battles, or battles against one or two units. If you compare my map to that of the victory conditions you can see I am not too far from completing them, I nearly have all the territories I need in the West, though Gaul remains only half mine, with those, I merely need to take the Black Sea regions, Greece and Asia Minor to win.

Graphs charting mine and other currently surviving realms. Exactly half of all factions have been destroyed thus far.

Overall worth of each faction.


Military strength, I've been the strongest for the last 20 odd turns.


Territory holdings, I've been largest for most the game.


And financial, only recently have In been the richest.

I thought this was worth showing.

Greece at its hight had almost 200000 denarii worth of gold and other valuables, then Macedon took a couple cities from them, and I wiped them out sometime after that.

Now I'll show some pictures from around the Empire,

Asia Minor

The Macedonians have quite a few stacks in the area, they've been going back and forth over Ancyra with the Indie Gauls, Macedon takes the city, then loses it to rebellion. Pergamon can train gold equipped soldiers, soon legionaries.

Greece, heartland of the Macedonians, and playground of my assassins.

Macedon feels rather safe in Greece proper, most these cities have only a couple units defending them.

The Middle East, graveyard of the Seleucids

I cannot tell you how many Seleucids I have killed outside the walls of Hatra, Palmyra, and Seleucia, it's in the tens of thousands, I know that.

Lower Gaul,

I have long been the ally of the Independent Gauls, and they have done nothing to break that alliance, but manifest destiny says I am to rule all of Gaul, not merely half, so I have been trying to convert Gauls citizens, show them luxury and wealth siding with Rome can bring, my diplomats have been spreading pro-Rome propaganda for a year or so now, at the same time, my assassins are sabotaging Gallic buildings; it won't be long before the people over throw their Gaulish masters.

The West Balkans,

Many men have died on these plains and hills, both Roman and Scythian, and Thracians before them. But peace may finally be coming, the Scythian Army besieging Naissus, will be driven off by the Army wintering in Sardica within a turn, Aquincum will finish its colony, preventing persecution of westerners there, while the diplomats preach the comforts of Rome throughout the countryside, and the Scythians may finally have to retreat to the Steppes.

Finally, the Black Sea

This fleet like a similar fleet so many years before, is to take and sack Scythian cities on the Black Sea coast, at the time of this writing they have already taken two, Tomi, in Scythia Minor, and Olbia, in Scythia, the diplomats now near Aquincum will rush to help ease the transition.


That's my Empire in 205, I may provide another update when I reach 200, as many things will have changed.

[Glorfindel]

i want to ask: if you capture Rome, the Marian reforms take place or are canceled?