Roma Surrectum 1-turn - should it be like this?

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Friends, Fellow RSII Lovers, World of Players...

I’m going to write a little blog here that will continue my Roma 1turn Beta test that began on the weekend of the 11/12 Feb. I have now reached 621AUC, which is 85 years in. That’s one of the reasons – 170 turns have taken me over 6 weeks/45 days playing at least 2-4 hours every day, possibly more, with a single turn lasting up to 2 hours. Now, in many cases I have spent additional time looking at things in great detail and finding real and potential problems; nearly all the Team have already fixed before the public testing; but I also am one of those that like the detail and spend time and effort on the, more background, activities apart from actual warfare. That quite possibly isn’t up to everyone’s tastes!

What I’d like to do, therefore, is use this medium to elicit comment and discussion about what my experience is like; particularly when it comes to things like: length of battles; number of battles; complexity of economy; managing the characters; and the thorny aspects of AI-spawns, especially if it is considered that they only add time and not challenge.

I’m going to start this, albeit with a resumé, from what I feel is the beginning of the mid-game, because not only am I there and wish to continue testing forward, rather than start again, but because it is now with an established central economy that the effect of ‘money’ can be the defining factor: too much and I can build and throw legions at anything; too little and one can be constrained to the point of frustration. I believe the game development could do with genuine pause and feel extremely lucky that I have discovered it for myself only a few months ago – being a long time lover of the Vanilla games – and perhaps reviewed for balance.

I am also something of a Roman-ophile having studied their history and the Roman Army for about 40 years. I do play rather seriously, but hope that is a benefit for this testing, and therefore I am very keen to see if the troops and tactics that, as far as possible, were used can be used. Thus my armies/legions are organised in a fairly historical fashion, but with a view to applying all the military experience I have learned and been trained in, not constraining myself stupidly. I am therefore keen to see the game balanced for ‘Roma’, for that’s the name of the game, and then helping ensure that all the factions are balanced around it - so that any player’s choice can result in an enjoyable experience.

I’m also keen to play the game/mod as is. I don’t use any ‘cheats’, but live with the consequences, for I hope to see the mod tweaked only to ensure they are never necessary. I hope some players find the blog interesting for what I’ve found and may give them encouragement; I hope others can add and suggest and comment and criticise; particularly if they spot a trend that they genuinely dislike and would like to have considered for change, or simply how they can modify it further to suit.

So, I hope some find it useful. I’ll keep it going as long as it’s beneficial (and unless there’s something IRL to get in the way) and keep delving into the detail.

To begin...

PS – this is a 1-turn campaign as I don’t feel comfortable with 0-turn and the large number of armies, and mostly AI armies, that will result. My own experience seems to be that I have more than enough battles! If someone could, however, provide detail on a 0-turn similarly, then I know the Team would be most grateful?

[ur-Lord Tedric]

I thought I would start with my setup, for that may be useful for some – for I don’t (touch wood and spit) suffer CTDs any more – unless there’s a genuine problem.

I have an older PC, which has been tweaked and is now dedicated to RTW alone. One of the things I have found is that being unconnected to the internet and having, therefore, no Anti-Virus software to get in the way, makes things so much more stable. Having analysed the behaviour of many CTDs and everyone’s comments I came to the conclusion that RTW just acts too virus-like in the way it saves and modifies files for some modern AV systems – it was written in a gentler age! So:

- Intel P4 running at a genuine 3GHz (the faster processor the better, for the main CPU has to do all the work, RTW being written before programs could use modern graphics cards)
- 2Gb of RAM (it’s enough)
- 512Mb 8x AGP card (the memory is enough, but PCI-e would indeed be better for speed)
- Win XP SP3 (installed and updated once by the PC-man and then delivered virus-free with no further updates – remaining standalone)
- RTW Gold Edition (having a disk is too convenient) with both Original & BI

Not everyone can have the luxury of a ‘spare’ PC, but if you can and you do suffer CTDs, then cleaning it up, particularly if upgrading to a new one, and keeping it just for RTW and standalone, will help tremendously. In those 170 turns I have had 3 CTDs only: 2 because of the map that dvk’ has already addressed; and one, I am sure, because of the effect of an earthquake on the AI army that left the units unusable. Other than that – none! The patch, BTW, I am happy doesn’t introduce any new ones. I am confident that nearly every CTD that people experience is down to the original .exe’s or something else their PC is doing/preventing.

It’s a Roma 1-turn campaign on Medium Campaign/Medium Battles. Not only do I think the game should be balanced for Rome, as noted previously, but also at M/M; presenting a genuine challenge for the experienced. That allows someone to downshift to help learn, but upshift to get beaten occasionally. On H/VH I would expect the player to be handed his head - regularly! (I’m still assuming VH campaigns are fully bugged?)

So, using BI, I have:
- High-Res and Post-Marian General, but not Bloom (mainly because of the warning)
- Manage all Settlements and Follow AI
- I don’t have unlimited battles, but stay within the 45min limit (this is a hangover from my Vanilla experience: firstly because no battle ever lasted that long; but mainly because sometimes the AI has ‘issues’ and without a limit there were the odd battles, mainly sieges, that would never end! The longer battles now can last up to that limit, but not many; I take the limit as an extra challenge)
- Large Units (mainly because I like the look on the battlefield, I always liked the fact that a Vanilla cohort was the same ‘size’ as a real century; but also that the preponderance of units in RSII that use the largest unit size has increased and I don’t feel the engine can handle Huge well at all now, especially with too many units – with a knowledge that ‘Medium’ used to be called ‘Normal’ and that’s what the system was really done for. Each to his own, however.)
- Both resolutions are 1680x1050x16 (one as it’s the native resolution of the screen I am using, but not too excessive as I did try another, better, screen, but it slowed things down too much. 16x colour as I was keeping the stress down)
- No Anti-Aliasing as recommended
- Terrain Medium
- Buildings Low
- Grass Low
- Units High
- Effects High
- Vegetation Medium
- Battle shadows, but not Detailed
- Campaign Shadows
- Smoke/Dust
- Desych on
- Unit Shaders

This seems to work fine and at a suitable rate. All other settings in the Preferences are set at standard, apart from Autosave which is set to False. I don’t have ‘unlimited men’ to also reduce the load, which I know is common. Obviously, anyone with a more modern system can tweak upwards if suitable, but will need to be careful not to stretch the original program too much – for it has its limits. I believe a great game can be had with a more restrained approach and hopefully avoiding common CTDs.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Definitions/Organisation:

I try and use, because I’d like to, something close to a ‘realistic’ structure. I’d like to hope the game/mod would support it, for then I feel comfortable that it’s a good approximation simulation; giving me all the flavour I could desire. So, taking the Army/Stack as the building block I use that as my scaling start.

Therefore I wanted to replicate the standard Roman Consular Army in a 20-unit army. With Polybius as my guide this would be:

General; 4 x Republican Cohorts; 1 x Triarii, 2 x Velites; 1 x Roman Cavalry; 4 x Allied Cohorts; 1 x Allied Triarii, 2 x Allied Velites; 3 x Allied Cavalry; for a total of 19, leaving a slot spare for a unit of mercs or artillery perhaps.

However, I knew this would be harder to manage and also had my eye on the later legions. Therefore, instead of thinking an army/stack was 2 x Legions + Allies, I halved my scaling and kept Roman and Ally units separate (Allies are also much cheaper to field!). Therefore I will use the following terms and their definitions:

Republican Legion: General; 8 x Cohorts; 2 x Triarii; 2 x Velites; 2 x Archers; 4 x Cavalry (2 x Missile when available); Repeating Ballista or Campanian Cavalry (this last is a unit that is too useful, but for which I know of no real historical precedent (and I’ve read Livy), certainly for its continued longevity and I’m now trying to do without it)

Later Legion: General; 1st Cohort; 6 x Cohorts; 2 x Antesignanii; 2 x Archers; 4 x ‘Auxiliary’ Cohorts; 2 x Heavy Cavalry; 2 x Missile Cavalry (these last 10 are true Auxilia when the Curia Hostilia is built, but suitable allied troops before) (in my test I have bypassed the Late Republic period legions)

Army: an army is a Legion stack supported by a half-stack (proportional) in reserve to provide replacements. Newly raised troops are sent to the reserve location, often a particular fort. I do use an extra 1st Cohort when available as this gets over the limitation of not being able to ‘promote’ ordinary cohort troops to the 1st as would have been done). Also used for an enemy full stack.

Force: often ad-hoc, formed from reserves or garrisons, or rear area guards 5-10 units strong.
Archers remain essential and cannot really be passed up. They are much less powerful than in Vanilla and I am much happier using less, but some are still, I believe, necessary as part of my structure. I am too swayed by my wider knowledge not to incorporate them early.

Standard Turns:

In the Winter I: check on the settlements and put new buildings into the queue; check on Governors, particularly their age (I retire them at 60 after handing over useful retinue, moving them out to villas in the countryside, or keeping them there if still useful) and for new traits that are changing things; keep population growth at 2% (if possible) up to 24000, 0.5% thereafter; tax at Medium (not below except in emergency) or High, VH if the pop growth allows it. I try to stop growth when Governors get older, having seen new Governors have a serious impact.

In the Summer it’s an army concentration, checking Generals, particularly loyalty, and raising new units. Generals are moved to cities when possible, especially if on the Senatorial track.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

And so – to Tedric’s Roma.....

(I remain indebted to Aristotle’s Folly for her early guide as I have definitely used it)

(I do have .sav’s for every, nearly, 10 turns/5 years to enable checking of snapshots as useful and a good history of some financials throughout)

I made myself a little rule to start with – if I could see Hannibal I would act accordingly; if he was hidden I would set off and have the ambush.....

The story so far:

Hannibal was seen and therefore the legion stayed put. A transfer of unit from Ariminium to Arretium spotted a new (since 2.1a) helper for Hannibal in the form of General Maharbal. Hannibal went for Arretium, before deciding he preferred Ariminium which he took – and then remained. Meanwhile I was busy re-organising the local units, whilst sending to Spain for the deployed forces to be returned to Roma (where the Large Foundry was certainly being built – all armies since have been +2/+2 upgraded). Some forces were returned from Dyrrachium.

The Socii rebellion occurred with 3 enemy armies appearing, including my old friend General Vopsicus (recalled from my 0-turn try originally when I just couldn’t get rid of him!). A few sterling actions held the Rebels at bay. The returning force from Emporiae raised the siege of Roma by the aforesaid General, destroying the army; whilst the ousted former Governor of Tarentum cobbled together the local forces, including some from Dyrrachium and from Sicily in a hard fought fight on the mountain slopes of the route towards Croton and Rhegium, gaining my first legendary battle swords. Thus only Capua & Tarentum were affected. The only loss at that time was therefore Dyrrachium as the Macedonians moved in fast.
The upgraded legion then took Capua, whilst other forces continued receiving new weapons and armour. The Carthaginians invaded Sardinia, but this was beaten off with the final units removed from Sicily to help the garrison troops (the odd ship is definitely necessary!). Tarentum was retaken and then it was time to go and get Hannibal.

In the Summer of 541 Hannibal’s army disappeared, but he remained in Arrimium. Luckily the army was spied out in the foothills NW of Roma, where it was destroyed. That Winter, Ariminium was assaulted and both Hannibal & Bomilkar were killed. With Southern Italy now back under Roman control, the Dictatorship was laid down; now to drive the Carthaginians from the mainland...

Whilst a new raid was made on Sardinia, this time with elephants, it was repulsed with extra Velites recruited by the garrison; Genoa was besieged. Maharbal and his army sallied forth in the Summer of 545 and the first hill fort was attacked and taken (lovely model). Peace came to the mainland – so the damned Greeks reneged on their alliance and invested Messana. Reinforcements were moved over quickly and the siege was raised, destroying the army in the process. Syracuse was sparsely defended, so was immediately besieged – obviously!

The defenders of Syracuse rallied round (lots of the buggers, having received the 14 extra units!) and sallied forth. The investing troops made a tactical withdrawal. The, newly reinforced Greeks then went marauding round Sicily (well, they threatened Akragas!). More reinforcements arrived. The reinforcements were a near match for the now marauding Greeks, so I detached some previously damaged troops to invest Syracuse, whilst they were dealt with (the garrison script gave the Greeks no cavalry, which I thought was a nice touch as they wouldn’t have been much use inside the walls), which meant the battle was tough, but decisive as the routing enemy were all run down. Syracuse, however, filled up again! The now, damaged, legion returned to reinforce the besiegers. A couple of Greek units were hiding on the slopes of Etna however, so they attacked – the siege of Syracuse became an open field battle. This was tough, but decisive and Syracuse was mine. Thus ended my first experience of the Garrison Script! Rome’s revenge would be taken at Massilia.....

[Ferdiad]

The only gripe I have is the lack of pictures.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

By 555 the Galleaci had declared war and taken Emporiae (well, it has provided useful income this long). They then ask for peace, before going after Carthage, which I am happy about. It’s at this point I’ll note that money isn’t too plentiful and expansion is constrained. I recall that I still have the original Republican units added to slightly to produce 2 Legions, normally operating as a single army in the North to defend as needed, and a Force in the South to keep Carthage off the islands. A single Allied legion has been raised by this time, however, and half remains in the South, whilst the other half sets off for Pollentia whilst the Carthaginians are distracted. This leaves the Republican Legions free to start operations and Massalia is taken, followed, slowly, by the Free Peoples South of the Alps, because this is a great defence line, as well as the Boii in Bononia. I am, however, trying to upgrade settlements all the time.

By 565 it has been time to take the war to Africa and 2 Allied Legions invade. The idea was to besiege Carthage with one Legion, whilst the other kept anyone else away. Thus, whilst I knew the Garrison would be reinforced, I was more than prepared to besiege it for 4 years. However, one small enemy force did get round and attack. The resulting army was defeated and I gained the Carthaginian Capital earlier than planned. Carthage was such an obvious choice from Sicily, but little did I know.....

The next turn an ‘emergency army’ (a matched 14-unit to the Garrison reinforcements) appeared to retake the city, but then moved off South. Exactly one year later another, larger (20u) army appeared West of Carthage. Both these armies were engaged whilst I took the war to Hadrumentum and Thapsus; whilst simultaneously fighting off 3 Gallaeci armies that appeared on the new Western African province border and moved to Carthage. Things eventually calmed down, especially when Lepcis-Magna revolted to Free Peoples when Thapsus was taken, and that was the end of the Carthaginians, but the Akragas-Carthage Ferry was kept very busy transporting replacement units from Syracuse, who had become a Client State.

Meanwhile, my Spartan allies had succumbed to the rampaging Greeks, without me ever being able to help. There will be suitable revenge one day! A new Allied Army was raised to take the war against the Macedonians, who had been trying the border forts in Venetia. They, however, got ‘distracted’.....

The Year of 581 was notable. In the summer 7 entire Cimbri armies appeared from nowhere South of the Alps and declared war. The Cimbri had, until this time, been fairly quiet and we had Trade Agreements; they had not advanced far south. This invasion has been toned down a bit now. The surprise was that an Allied Legion, followed by a Republican Legion both had their asses handed to them. This was new, for me, and a real brake on my plans. Those Germans were tough.

Years were to pass (8 of them!) before the Germanic plague was finally dealt with. It took time to rebuild and take them on. I was given that time, however, because they didn’t do anything but slowly mill around the approaches to the Alpine passes, which I had previously blocked with forts. I also contained them into separate forces when possible, with judicious forts at the river crossings. The eventual outcome was being able to deal with them one at a time, with joint attacks with a Republican Army and a reinforcing, largely sacrificial, Allied one. Whilst all this was going on, the Averni and the Macedonians were held at bay, particularly by taking Dalmatia & Illyria and containing that war there, where an Army has been ever since. Progress was also made along the African coast east, slowly driving the Gallaeci back towards Spain.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

(Aside – I had chosen to not upgrade Akragas with additional population growth and also kept Taxes VH to slow as much as possible, but I did build the Imperial Palace immediately. Still the reforms happened fairly quickly)

In 601 (after 65 years – 57 early) the reforms happened. I did have 5 x Campus Martii (4 + Roma) all built, however, and paused to immediately upgrade to the Roman Fortress and thus move straight to the ‘numbered’ legions.

Strategy Review:

I had indentified early on the need for recruitment centres, but not too many, and chose some for their access to Weapon Ores (cheaper to get to the required level) and strategic location. In addition to Roma, therefore, they were: Arretium; Tarentum; Lilybaeum; Aleria; to which Pollentia was added. Syracuse; Massalia; and Carthage were made Client States originally, but would be added later. Having done some particular work on the Legion Recruitment detail, there will be others to follow.

I had increased recruitment, less spent on buildings, before the reforms and entered them with the 2 Allied Legions still in Africa; an Allied Army in Illyria/Dalmatia; an Allied Army holding the Averni at bay and taking Nemausus; with the Republican Army in reserve in N Italy (the last Republican Force in the south for incursions). In summary, that’s 7 stacks total.

After a couple of years to build, then, the plan was to recruit: the VII Claudia to replace the forces in Illyria/Dalmatia, valiantly holding off the Macedonians; the VIII Augusta to take over in Southern Gaul and keep the Averni at bay; the XI Claudia(-) to take over in near Africa (which was a good idea as the Ptolemies came calling, but that’s gone quiet). Meanwhile, when those forces came on stream, the Republican and Allied units would move into Spain and slowly subjugate it, whilst wasting out. After the other legions were recruited, the I Germania and III Augusta would slowly build up as the other units wasted out, moving small parties to Spain to join when possible and keep the Armies at full strength. Some new allied units were recruited to fill essential holes as major enemy attacks occurred: Salues & Scordisi swordsmen and Cenomani and more Paleovenitii Cavalry as well as Campanian; to be eventually replaced by ‘proper’ Auxilia when available.

A review of the ‘Empire’ in 621, 85 years from the start:

The plan has come off. The Gallaeci are down to only the 2 settlements in the West, plus their Capital at Ulaca. The Republican and Allied Legions are down to one of each, plus hangers on amounting to another Legion total. The VII Claudia and VIII Augusta (now Armies) have been doing their jobs, valiantly keeping the Averni and Macedonians at bay. The XI Claudia has been raised to full Army strength, using African auxiliaries; and just taken Lepcis-Magna to complete the African province. The I Germania is operating in 2 halves, with the first in Spain beefing up the Republican forces, and the second in N Italy as reserve; and the III Augusta building up and supporting the remaining Allied units.

I will note that the ‘wasting out’ was a bit assisted! There was the earthquake in Illyria just as the VII Claudia had assumed their responsibilities – that was expensive! Luckily the Allied units just relieved weren’t far away and rushed back to contain the Macedonians. The second earthquake happened in Southern Spain and utterly annihilated a Republican Legion, killing the General and reducing all the cavalry units to 1 and the infantry to 2. That did release some funds mind you – a silver lining.

I should mention that I am maintaining 3 small fleets, one in the West on the Spanish Coast, one in the Eastern Med savaging Ptolemaic and Greek ships as possible, and another patrolling Grecian waters doing the same. A couple of ships are also blockading Macedonian and Greek ports nearer to home and I have the single-ship ferries operating between the 3 island bases.

The proper full narrative for comment can now begin.......

[ur-Lord Tedric]

W621 - Income 280k – Expenditure 200k (all these figures are taken from a ‘clean sheet’ as soon as the turn is processed – I have the detailed breakdown noted if useful) – 50mins (times for whole turns and battles are noted)

A review of border security notes a small Macedonian force near the Dalmatian coastal fort, whilst a Force moves back towards Aquincum. In addition a Numidian raiding force appears West of Siga, as well as a small band of Rebels East of Cirta. The rear area Force for the African shore moves West from Cirta, whilst XI Claudia reserve units are dispatched from Thapsus towards the second.

The settlements are reviewed and building queues added. The Governor of Massalia is removed for cause and replaced (by a Senator, as the Propraetor ancillary will be needed eventually; the existing one is transferred to an old retiree so it will become available sooner)

S622 - Inc 277k – Exp 206k – 1hr 50mins

The border review adds to the information available: Macedonian small force of 3 besieges the Dalmatian coastal fort; whilst a 15u army appears to the east of the Illyrian border; an Avernian 16u army besieges one of the Massalia defence forts; with a further 8u force just to the West across the river; and a 1u contingent nearby; 3u force over the border to the North of Nemausus. These add to the 2 African incursions that must be dealt with.

5 battles ensue:
1 – small African incursion one – 4 lost for elimination - 5mins
2 – second African against 6u Numidian force – 18 lost for their destruction – 15mins
3 – relief of the fort invested by the Averni (16u) by the VIII Augusta – 182 losses for 1432 killed – 30mins
4 – after reserves fill the holes, the Augusta take on the smaller Averni force (8u) – 21 lost for 643 killed – 20mins
5 – VII Claudia move against the small Macedonian force investing the fort – 41 losses for 328 killed – 15mins

Units brought to strength after battles, new units recruited, particularly Legatus’ to fill the ranks of young in training, mostly for future Governorship. (Note: Legion Ancillaries/Vexilla for all active legions now present with those Generals in command)

[ur-Lord Tedric]

The only gripe I have is the lack of pictures.

Well, if you can throw in a few rampaging bunnies, then I'm I'm sure Sun readers will be satiated.

However, I have done everything so far from notes and the play-test. If something 'piccie'-suitable comes up, I'll be sure to try.

[Ferdiad]

It's one giant wall of text at the moment tbh. I'm sure it will be useful to dvk though.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

It's one giant wall of text at the moment tbh. I'm sure it will be useful to dvk though.

But I put in paragraph-returns and commas - hell, I even use semi-colons correctly.

There's just no pleasing some people.........

[Ferdiad]

You know how to please me

[TheFaceCC]

i read most of it, i like hearing others strategies, plus i didn't know that a whole legion formed right after Carthage was taken as an emergency defense force...i always wondered where that came from because i had the area scouted with 2 spy's, least i can tell my friend that before he takes Carthage with one legion....little does he know that one legion will be obliterated in a couple turns if he takes Carthage, maybe i wont warn him haha

[Ye Olde Fahrt]

Splendid work, my dear Lord!

Your comments regarding the grand strategy side of things: how you manage the cities and population growth, where you build your recruitment centers, how you organise your armies, etc, ...

Could you elaborate on that further as you go along? The economic side is interesting, as avoiding a weak economy is the key to long term success.

"Amateurs think Strategy, Generals think Logistics"

[ur-Lord Tedric]

..... maybe i wont warn him haha

It will be a learning experience, I'm sure.

Which is itself, nicely realistic in a way - the Carthaginians taught the Romans so much.

[Jean Lannes]

Definitions/Organisation:
Later Legion: General; 1st Cohort; 6 x Cohorts; 2 x Antesignanii; 2 x Archers; 4 x ‘Auxiliary’ Cohorts; 2 x Heavy Cavalry; 2 x Missile Cavalry (these last 10 are true Auxilia when the Curia Hostilia is built, but suitable allied troops before) (in my test I have bypassed the Late Republic period legions)

Why only 7 Legionary Cohorts and not 10?

[ur-Lord Tedric]

...
Could you elaborate on that further as you go along? The economic side is interesting, as avoiding a weak economy is the key to long term success.
...

Most certainly, what I wrote yesterday was an entire summary of what had occurred so far from: memory; notes I had taken; and a review of my original testing thread in the Developers sub-forum. The last 2 turns were from additional and extra notes taken late Monday.

Depending on what people are after, I will happily 'blog' away after each turn in relevant detail to the questions and comments; time permitting.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Why only 7 Legionary Cohorts and not 10?

3 reasons now:

Firstly, the Antesignanii are part of the Legion (I've done a lot of personal research into the Roman Army organisation recently for a private, but to be aired, little treatise, and there is good evidence for their continued existence throughout the period, either attached to centuries/cohorts, or as ~2 out of 10 cohorts (I prefer the former)); therefore I'm counting them in and, on numbers, I would argue that I'm using about 8.6 cohorts in my 20u 'Legion'.

Secondly, because I do use a 'reserve' component in my Legion-Army, I am using the classic assumption that the Legion went off with perhaps 8 cohorts out of the 10, leaving the remaining 2 at their 'base', acting as genuine replacement pools and training cadres. This doesn't apply to all periods, however, but it fits my operational deployment plans and within the 20u-stack limitations and the breakdown I'd like.

Thirdly, it was 1st + 5 originally, I have only recently added the 6th (originally 6 x cohorts + 2 x Antesig' for my 8). However, my battles, now that they are so much more meaningful, have shown me that extra infantry, particularly 'fresh' and rested, are often more valuable than extra cavalry, and less vulnerable. I've also wanted to try and not use the unit of Campanian cavalry that has often been present in my 'Legions'. I'm not fond of it because I: don't know of its real existence (a bit like the Latin Medium Cavalry either) in context; and I'm unhappy about its costs vs parallel units - I'm therefore experimenting with not having them. In addition, as long as one has an odd number of 'cohorts of heavy infantry', I have become rather fond of the standard opening battle chequer-board formation, which I only tweak a bit. The new formation options I am not entirely sanguine about (for they don't always seem to do what I think they do), but the 2nd one in (after the line) will produce something similar, but closer packed.

Discovering RSII genuinely allowed and even encouraged the classic Roman field deployments, multiple lines and 'manipular' tactics) is one of the reasons I'm such a genuine fan.

So, in summary, I do raise 10 x Cohorts still, but the others are in the reserve (I have an extra 1st cohort in addition, just because of the fixed limitations). The 20u-stack as described, the 10u reserve that completes the Army is effectively one of each unit type, but with 3 legion cohorts as they take the brunt (so practicably a matched force, but halved). I hope that makes sense?

[Ferdiad]

One of the best Armys you can get without getting completely gamey.
1 General
1 First Cohort
10 Legionaries
4 Archers
4 Cav

[ur-Lord Tedric]

I’ve obviously missed something as part of the resume, so I thought I’d better catch up:

I should review what the state of play elsewhere was, so that we can set the context for the rest; so I ‘toggled’ Fog of War, although I knew nearly all of it anyway:

Map: most cultures have not gone too mad in the 85 years, but some have fallen by the wayside (no surprise that they were Rome’s allies!). Greece is the big winner in the aggression stakes, dishing up Sparta fairly quickly, and before I could ever think of helping. It’s in Asia Minor, however, that they have cleaned up: destroying Pontus with a bit of help from Armenia I believe, and nearly wiping out Pergamon; who are limited now to just the island of Euboia, where the Greeks don’t seem to be able to get to them (although I am trying to keep their ships under control) and Pamphylia, where they are mounting a spirited defence.

Dacia was destroyed between Macedon and Scythia, who then split apart over Boii lands. Scythia is now at war with Sarmatia and I was not surprised to see that the Sarmatians have overrun all the Steppes. What did surprise me is that the Belgae have not gained any more of Brittania. Greece, the Ptolemaics and the Seleucids seem to be involved in a 3-way to and fro with little changes here and there. All in all, I expect to be facing more and more pikes as I go East!

Military: I always spotted that the Greeks were pre-eminent militarily (over twice the strength of Rome, but the other 3 are very close together. I knew that many Greeks were in Greece () and have often wondered how there is such a firm alliance with Macedon. I suspect its because the Pergamese are hanging on, but perhaps I’m glad they haven’t come my way....

Having seen the evidence, I thought I’d therefore show what’s waiting down in the Peloponese for me.......