Post your RTR VII Empires here!

[Maurits]

That's a pretty impressive campaign mate! Will you attempt to reach world domination? I think you'd be the first to do so using RTR VII

[Deathkorpsman]

Actually winning battles is no problem. Perioikoi are spot on solid against everything. The problem is holding cities once I take them and keeping my economy up with my preferred rate of conquest. By the time I get to the south of Iberia, my only remaining threat will be Carthage which has neutered itself pretty severely by throwing its century long beach party at Ebusos. Also, taking new territory doesn't seem to help a whole lot no matter how many mines it has at this point. The bigger I get, the worse the economic management gets. It is a delicate balancing act that adds a new degree of complexity to the game that I quite enjoy. I didn't think to ask, but is there a year cap on this game? As in, a year when the game will just stop no matter where you're at?

And yes, I am focused on world domination. That would be awesome. I think I can manage it, based on where I'm at now and the threats remaining. We'll see how it goes....

[Maurits]

Cool! I don't know it exactly, but I thought that the game would CTD when you'd hit the year '0'...

[Hannibal Baca]

Quote from descr_start.txt

start_date -280 summer
end_date 50 winter

[Deathkorpsman]

50 AD huh? Hrm. That gives me something like another 400 turns. I might be able to manage it in that time. It's gonna be close.

[Maurits]

I know about the end date, but I recall having read somewhere that the game will CTD when it has to switch from BC to AD counting

[Benz282]

I believe this is the case, yes. If memory serves, that bug is why RS uses AUC rather than BC/AD, as it avoids the switch from counting down to up entirely.

1 AD is basically the Y2K of the RTW world, except its REAL.

[Deathkorpsman]

If that is the case then I have far less time to accomplish my plan for world domination. More like 200-something turns instead of twice that. Ah well, I'll give it a shot but I don't have high hopes.

[Deathkorpsman]

Well I've started a new campaign with the Dynasty of Aikides and I have to say that the Epirote units are startlingly good. Their pikemen units are particularly solid, as long as they are left in place to receive a charge. They can hold anything for any length of time from the front with almost no losses.

I recently won a battle that truly shocked myself against Sparta. I was worried about the Spartans after my last campaign and I knew a confrontation was inevitable with how well the Spartans were doing in this game. My paranoia was justified when they attacked my (thankfully well-garrisoned) settlement of Chalkis. I didn't know how well I would do against them, but based on their army size and composition I didn't figure I had much of a chance. Before the battle started I set myself to win, but would have been content to just whittle them away some as this was their only field army of any size. The result:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Their army started with 7 fresh Perioikoi units and 4 FM's with 40+ bodyguards each (I'm playing huge unit size), as well as 2 skorpions and a ballista unit. The rest was several helot units of all three types. I accomplished this win without cheating, but I did manage to pull off some stunts against the computer that I probably shouldn't have been able to. One of these was kiting his general and one or two FM's at any given time well away from the battle line with cavalry. Another stunt was being able to kill off his artillery with cavalry charges as soon as my castle gates opened. Since the AI almost always withdraws when you sally, I was hoping he'd do this and leave his slower artillery unprotected. The AI did not disappoint. The battle really turned in my favor when two random units (1 FM and 1 Perioikoi) decided to charge my phalanx on their own, to get broken and wiped out with almost no casualties. I still didn't think it was going to be a win at that point, but I started to hope. Once our battle lines engaged, I had serious problems keeping my pikes doing what they were supposed to be doing. Whatever mechanic of pikes that make them pirouette in place (while very pretty to watch) is absolutely frustrating. Also the mechanic that sometimes has them face backwards if they are reforming and get charged by an enemy unit. Gah! Note to self: Never move pikes if it can be at all avoided.

In any case, once that battle was concluded I looked around at my holdings and decided to post an update. Playing as the Epirotes required a different strategy than I used with the Spartans on the campaign map. I couldn't hold Carthage off with treaties and blocking naval access to Sicily, so I decided to get more aggressive with them. After I'd taken their heartland, I realized that I controlled some of the most productive settlements in the whole game, in a nice swath across the center of the board. I think this may be something I shoot for in the future. Even with fighting on three fronts, the economic benefits of holding these territories is amazing.

Putting off the Romans until I'd solidified my hold on Greece also wasn't an option, so I let Pyrrhus off the leash and he went nuts. There wasn't a roman army that could stand in his way, even after a succession of casualties forced him to hold up in Capua for a while. Pyrrhus has been pushing up Italy's southern coast, while a force of primarily Tarentine AOR infantry and cavalry have been pushing up the north. They have just now met up at Arretium and are set to wrest the last holdouts on the Italian mainland. It will probably be a bit before I can send a force after Alalia, but I'll get around to it sooner or later.

My Greek front: (The Aitolians are gone, but the Achaeans have one minor settlement and a medium sized army floating around in a fleet in the Gulf of Corinth. The Attalids are trying, for the second time, to land armies and take Chalkis. I obliterated the last one they sent, after which they sued for peace, but they just aren't getting the hint.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Norici front: (As you can see, the Illyrians got taken out early - by me somehow. I think Skodra was their last city when I attacked it.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Roman front: (With their last 4 settlements all on screen.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Carthaginian front: (They have 1 large and 1 medium sized army prowling around there, not sure what I'm going to do about that if they decide to press someting, I'm currently trying to save up for mercs in case I need them.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As for the rest of the map, some of the things I saw surprised me a bit when I turned FOW off. The Massyli are still in the game, for starters, and are at war with Carthage. This is probably the only thing keeping the Carthaginians from throwing everything they have my way, so my hat's off to the Massyli. If they take Hippo or Siga, I'll let them keep it. For a while.

I was also intrigued by the Aedui and Arverni who usually go right for each other's throats very early in the game. I guess it is still somewhat early, but I expected them to by duking it out already instead of expanding away from each other like smart neighbors. The Celtiberians have also made an early start, pushing much further than I've seen them do this early in other games. The Getai and Norici are also expanding quickly, so I'm hoping they start hacking away at each other before coming right for me. I'm not overly worried by barbarian factions this time around though, since pikes absolutely trivialize cavalry and sword-armed infantry. I'm actually kinda of looking forward to it.

[Maurits]

Nice update, sounds like another splendid campaign!

[Hannibal Baca]

Deathkorpsman,why you use Force diplomacy to cheat ?
Ask for map information whit force diplomacy that is cheating.
When are you peaple stop cheating and start enjoying the game.
RTR AI cheats i seen the script,cheats only harden the game.
I am sorry if i hurt someones whit this.

[Deathkorpsman]

I turned off fog of war so people can see my game progress. Then I turn it back on again. I see where a few armies are that are near what I'm doing, but I don't really have that great a memory and I feel it is a small price to pay for being able to post an accurate update for my empire. I haven't used forced diplomacy in any game and, unless I am posting to this board, I always have fog of war turned on.

[Hannibal Baca]

Ok,i tought difrent sorry mate.

[_Tartaros_]

hey deathkorpsman,
you´ve got a secure position now, clearing italy and north africa on a one-front war.