Napoleon Complex Tortures Himself! It's Five Good Emperors for an Overconfident Flavian!

[Napoleon Complex]

I considered "Its Five Good Emperors for a Cocky (expletive) but that would be both rude and ruinious to the alliteration.

First of all, the torture referred to is not a slur against the mod for Roma Surrectum; rather it is a reference to the difficulty of this mod, which to add to the fun, I will be playing on hard mode. To give an idea as to why I'm not feeling too confident, I'm intending to do this blind. That is, I have never played Five Good Emperors before, and while I am a single player veteran of Rome Total War, I am still prone to making stupid, overconfident mistakes; to add to the fun, I never really got to grips with Alexander. And this mod is, apparently, one of if not the hardest mod out there. To add to this, I will be imposing the following restrictions upon myself.

1) I am not allowed to enslave or exterminate opposing factions towns. I have to be uncharacteristically nice as a Roman conqueror.
2) I have to follow the historical course of the 2nd Punic War; that is, I am not allowed to crush Carthage outright. Once I have them on the ropes, I have to sue for peace and give back Africa; I am only allowed to take Spain and the Balaeric Islands! (I am allowed to take African towns as long as I give them up once the war is done.) That means I still have Carthage to worry about even after the 2nd Punic War ends. To add to this, I have to maintain the peace for at least twenty years (I reserve the right to go to town on Carthage if they break the truce first!)
3) I have to (if physically possible) keep all towns happy (105% or higher Public Order) at all times. If this means keeping horribly large garrisons in my towns, well then, I should've planned my conquest timing better shouldn't I?
4) ROMANS DO NOT SURRENDER! I am not allowed to try to sue for peace if I am losing a war; I must carry a war to the bitter end, just as the historical Romans did. So half the world is at war with me and I'm 80,000 denarii in debt; what of it? Rome is destined to conquer the world! And if we must do it all at once then we shall! Next (and this is the restriction I most hate...)
5) No Autoresolve or Blitzkrieging! (Oh God...) Normally blitzing early on to gain money to develop my empire is my modus operandi. And normally I could do this... if only I could use siege engines. Alas, nay, I am not allowed to do this as I am following the house rules advice; I am not allowed to do this and I have to let those autostacks form! This will turn every attempt at expanding my territory into a long and bloody assault on a well-prepared town.
6) I have to use the general with the highest influence, not the highest command! This reflects the Romans tendency to pick those who had the best connections, rather than skills. So expect to see a lot of popular dunderheads leading my army. It may also deprive me of my best leaders. I'd also cycle my generals realistically but that's sort of hard to do if I'm in Spain and it takes a year to get a general out there.
7) When mobilising to attack (not emergency defence) I have to use realistic style legions, as mentioned in the house rules. For pre-marian reforms, that's eight Polybian cohorts, four Triarii, 2-4 units of cav and 2-4 units of velites. I can, if I want, make a half stack of four polybian and 2 triarii, but this caps the number of cav and velites I can recruit to 2 each. I can recruit up to four units of mercenaries for full armies and two for half but this halves my cavalry and velites (and is vewy vewy expensiwb.)

And finally, I will be getting judged while undergoing this ordeal as well! I will be reporting the squalor levels and happiness of my settlements each and every turn I complete, and you, my audience, will be judging me on how well I am doing (or how badly I am screwing up) on the home front! Also taking into account the military situation/how badly I am getting mauled, audience members can rate every ten years on how I am doing as a ruler of men on a scale of zero to ten, ten being a new Augustus and zero being the lovechild of Nero and Caligula with some Tiberius thrown in for added paranoia and depression.

I will hopefully be back with the first update tomorrow. I've... yet to work out screenshots so this will be a text-only AAR I'm afraid. You'll just have to visualise how badly I'm getting slaughtered.

I'll entertain any reasonable extra restrictions the audience suggests. I'm not conquering the map with one unit. Or one army for that matter.

[Napoleon Complex]

Rght, first things first, I pick "huge" unit sizes for that epic feeling of trying to cram massive units down tiny streets and watching your big clumsy units slam into one another trying to manoeuver towards the flanks. Settings are, as mentioned, Hard for both battles and campaign, the recommended settings (VH is a bit buggy in Roman Surrectum). I also pick high advice, because where we're going we won't need eyes (uh, where we're going I'll need advice.) All settlements are managed (I didn't feel the need to handicap myself quite that much) and I will not have a time limit on my battles either.

So, it's summer, 536 A.U.C (Ab Urbe Condita; from the founding of the city.) In other words, smack in the middle of the 2nd Punic War, and Hannibal has just come down from the alps with a massive army and a hatred of all things Roman. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Ok moving on swiftly; the first thing I do is check the script is running; it is (I have that extra denarii.) Roma Surrectum relies on a special background script which needs to be on for certain things to happen; the AI gets free stacks to defend its cities as it doesn't do this naturally, and the script affects other things as well such as the trait system. (I think.) So it's very important this works.

A brief overview of empire; I have, at this point, control of everything south of Arretium and Ariminum on the Italian Peninsula, as well as Sicily minus Syracuse (still Greek) Epirus, Sardinia, Corsica and a tiny little money-sink called Emporiae in northern Spain which, due to my lack of remorselessness (and self-imposed rules) I can't extricate myself from. I have the following;

Northern Italy: Arretium and Ariminum. Arretium is a city, Ariminum is a large town. Neither are good for much on the troop front if I recall.

Central Italy: Roma, Capua and Cannae. The latter two are going to backstab me first chance they get by the way; that's where the Roman Rebels spawn from if I recall correctly. Also, did I mention half my recruitment capability comes from Capua?

Southern Italy: Already considered to not really be mine. Consists of Tarentum, on the heel, and Crotona and Rhegion, on the foot. Bunch of backstabbing traitors. Will be lovingly reintroduced to the fold when I get my hands on them. Useless for recruitment, unless you like velites and think they can stand up to veteran Carthaginian death machines.

I have three cities on Sicily, which again can't recruit for toffee unless sailors can stand up to the might of Hannibal (can they whack him with an oar?) I'm starting to see where this mod gets its fearsome reputation; I'm getting flashbacks to trying to play Shogun 2 Total War on Legendary as a newbie. Actually it's more like Alexander. These cities aren't cities actually, two are large towns ( Messana and Lilybaem which are where they were in vanilla) and Akragas, a new town (just a town) in the middle; that one'll be important later, as it's where I get the Marian Reforms once I take this tiny little town and transform it into a big Huge City (and yes, that is redundant.)

I also have Dyrrachium, capital of Epirus, which is a large town. I forgot to mention in the army summary but I do in fact have an army here and I'll describe it next update. Assuming it doesn't get disbanded to shore up my pathetic treasury/recruit something more useful.

We have Caralis on Sardinia, a Large Town, and Aleria on Corsica. This island is also home to some troops which I forgot about in my initial overview.

Finally, there's Emporiae, the money sink. Oh, it's happy now, but just you wait, the moment I try to move my army out they'll start going yellow faced and I'll have to sit my army back in there to keep them happy. You cruel, cruel Spanish monsters. (Cries)

(New limitation; Not one step back! I'm not allowed to abandon towns. Even if it makes sense to.)

So... that's what I own. Well with that lot the treasury should be in robust health shouldn't it?

Current Treasury: 20,001 denarii.
Treasury predictions: 8351 denarii.

...I'm losing ~11,500 denarii a turn.

A brief taxation round brings this deficit and transforms it into a tremendous profit of... -1,500 denarii. I'm regretting that no yellow faces rule already. Well, no matter. I'll get some of those soldiers sent off to die in some pointless war. At least I've got lots of soldiers right?

Right?

Umm...

Well, first of all, lets give you all the diplomacy situation. I'm allied with the Greek City States. I'm at war, however, with Macedon, Carthage, the Cimbrii, the Arverni, the Roman Rebels (you'll be seeing them soon!) the free peoples of Earth (the rebels in this game) and I also have a grudge against kitchen sink manufacturers. To combat this...

I have one almost full army; that is the one commanded by Gaius Flaminius Nepos in Northern Italy, a three-star general, and the guy who historically got thrashed by Hannibal at Lake Trasime- wait a second.

What's that massive Carthaginian army just north of me? With the ten star general called Hanni-

Oh socks.

Right, here's the situation. He's going to ambush me if I so much as move. Now, I have, as my forces, my generals guard, three units of garbage Roman cavalry, a respectable ten cohorts, six Roman, four Allied Italian, much of a muchness quality-wise, two units of Triarii (again, one allied) and some slingers who are, by the way, probably the most deadly bunch of maniacs this side of the mediterranean; those stones will rip through a back-facing unit like a knife through quivering, terrified butter.

Hannibal, however, has elephants, who will have those slingers for dinner (they're carniverous, Simpsonian elephants you see) as well as five units of (much better) cavalry, ten units of (superior) heavy infantry of various flavours and levels of superiority over my Roman rookies, some archers, some skirmirshers, and most of them have silver or bronze chevrons. But we're fairly certain he doesn't have any panzers. He does, however, have an awesome eyepatch and a very angry parrot that he's trained ot peck furiously at Roman eyeballs. This is by far the most terrifying thing on the battlefield.

(The parrot or Hannibal? Both. They complement one another in the fields of Roman killing and force marching.)

This army is not the only hope. In addition to the ones mentioned in Dyrrachium and Caralis I have four units (2 cav, 1 cohort, one triarii) in Roma, Scipio junior with four infantry and some slingers in Sicily, and a seven star Scipio Senior with a formidable army of four infantry, spears, velites and cavalry in... Emporiae.

The city I can't move too much from.

Jupiter help me...

Next time: I confront Hannibal the stupidest way possible and probably get massacred horribly. My goal; kill Hannibal and take his parrot for myself! Once we've caged it safely that is.

[Ybbon]

Good luck with this campaign, let us hope it is not too short! +rep for the moxy!

[Hamilicar]

Hey you should keep the taxes on very low to promote growth and a higher population which leads to more tax income.

[Napoleon Complex]

536AUC (Summer) Continued.

Or, How NOT to Fight the Battle With Hannibal

Well first of all an update on my forces. I have a few more armies lying around that I didn't notice before. I've got 2 cohorts, 1 triarii, 2 cavalry and 2 velites in Dyrrachium and four units (2 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 slinger) in Caralis. Unfortunately, I have all of one Bireme with which to carry them.

Oh hell, I'm stalling. Lets get this over with...

(One badly chosen move and a bloody battle later)

OH GOD WHAT?!

Roman kills: 302/3412
Carthaginian kills: 2647/2995



Well I was severely off form in that battle. In the same way that the Romans were extremely off form at Cannae. That is the single worst defeat I have ever suffered in a Total War game; even in Shogun II's Legendary I put up more of a fight than that. I'm pretty sure I did worse than the Romans did at the original Lake Trasimene.

First off, I was, of course, taken completely by surprise. I tried to do the smart thing and begin to withdraw... only for my soldiers to take the absolutely brilliant tactical decision to begin trying to withdraw... straight... through... the Carthaginian... lines.



I decide to try to draw up for battle, and trying to ignore the 24 terrifying elephants shooting at my men on the flanks, I attempt to form up a bit further away from the terrifyingly large Carthaginian army. Which my men managed to do thanks to a heroic charge by my cavalry which left half of my generals guards dead, trying to put some space between me and the masses of Carthaginian cavalry. Unfortunately, said cavalry (specifically, the Germans) chased my cavalry even as they withdrew through the infantry lines and smashed themselves right into my massed Romans, who still hadn't spread out well enough. I normally fight in ranks of four men; these guys were basically in columns. Now this would have been fine if the isolated Carthaginian cavalrymen had JUST. DIED. ALREADY! Unfortunately what happened was the Germans fought extremely effectively, survived a massed cavalry charge straight into their backs, and held out for long enough for the rest of the Carthaginian horde to bear down on my beleaguered infantry.

I tried several times to get men to go behind the Carthaginian line, but the thing about the AI in both Roma Surrectum and, it looks like, FGE, is that the AI always keeps a reserve; and mercilessly exploits you NOT keeping a reserve. It wasn't long until my entire infantry line was locked up; even my cavalry met infantry trying to take a wide circle round the flanks. The battlefield was saturated in Carthaginians.

Eventually I just told my cavalry and slingers to leg it and let my Roman infantry die. Of course by that time there weren't many Roman cavalry left either. Even my slingers were cut down to a man by Numidians roaming around behind my line. I didn't even get to rout; the Carthaginians surrounded my army so the guys fighting to the death prevented a merciful end to the battle once my men routed. It was a complete disaster.

Nepos withdrew to Arretium, and as far as I care Hannibal can come and murder him there. For the record I did once manage to kill 80% of that Carthaginian army, but there I wasn't ambushed and I managed to kill Hannibal with a lucky charge. Also, it was Roma Surrectum so he DIDN'T HAVE ELEPHANTS!!! I SHALL HAVE MY ROMANS FEAST ON PACHYDERM STEAKS SOME DAY!

I did kill one elephant. ONE.

Ok enough excuses for my incompetence (In my defence that is the most brutal battle I have ever seen in a Total War game). I immediately set about taking every unit I can from the south without leaving towns ungarrisoned. This forces me to lower the tax rate in places but with the upkeep of that Roman army gone I have some money coming in now. I grab everything I can from around the empire. I get a few units coming up from the south to come to Roma. I also build two biremes in Dyrrachium, and another two pairs in Caralis and Messana in order to get those armies back to Italy ASAP. It may already be too late, but I swear I'm going down swinging. Loyal to the restrictions I look around for my highest influence general... which is of course the zero star Germinus down in Rhegion.



I evacuate all the units I can from Arretium and Ariminum to Rome without leaving the settlements abandoned. This includes the governors; those heavy cavalry units could save my life in future battles! With ships preparing to pick up my other armies I also take the time to recruit another four polybian cohorts in Rome, along with two allies cohorts, four units of velites (to take care of those blasted elephants) and two units of very dangerous Campanian cavalry; I may as well get these units while I can as I doubt I will be given the opportunity again. I also spend 1000 denarii establishing tribal justice in Caralis and Emporiae; at least this way I can get my army out of them.

I'm already on the ropes here. I really hope I can kill those elephants. I'm HOPING I can kill Hannibal some time early on in this campaign; that ten star bonus his soldiers are getting, in addition to the hard mode bonus, is killing me.

Anyway, for your perusal at the end of turn... here are my town statuses.

Arretium: 130 p.o (Public Order), -1.5% growth, 5 squalor.
Ariminum: 110 p.o, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Roma: 155% p.o, 5.5% growth, 7 squalor, 6 health.
Capua: 115% p.o, 1% growth, 4 squalor
Cannae: 120% p.o, -0.5% growth, 5 squalor
Tarentum: 105% p.o, -0.5% growth, 5 squalor
Crotona: 115% p.o, 0% growth, 5 squalor
Rhegion: 110% p.o, 0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Messana: 115% p.o, 0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Akragas: 140% p.o, 0.5% growth, no squalor (model town)
Lilybaem: 110% p.o, 1% growth, 2 squalor
Caralis: 120% p.o, 0% growth, 1 squalor
Aleria: 110% p.o, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Emporiae: 130% p.o, 1.5% growth, 1 squalor

If a town has over 5 more squalor than it has health, it's filthy. If it has equal health to squalor, it's comfortable. No squalor at all is a model town. To give the judgmental amongst us a framework.

That's the end of turn... I hope it picks up from here folks.

Replies section

Ybbon66: I'm going to need every piece of luck I can scrabble together. Thanks for the thought... this may be a short one though, but I shall fight to the death!

Hamilcar: That's not going to work while I've got a Carthaginian death stack bearing down on my capital. My treasury is there and if you lose that in Roma Surrectum you really are in a ditch.

[Napoleon Complex]

And now I remember it's one turn recruitment. So I won't be getting that army I recruited; I'll be getting one unit of Campanian cavalry and one unit of cohort.

To face Hannibal.

(Headdesk.)

I'll be back with what I decide to do instead of queuing up a tonne of units.

[Napoleon Complex]

Winter 536 AUC: It Hits the Fan

Summary: I recruit a whole load of mercs and start moving north to reinforce only to have half my army cut off by a massive revolt in the south which cuts my southern territories in two. Now I have three rebel armies standing between me and my gathering forces in Rome.

Well realising I can't just recruit a massive army in Rome, I spend the turn recruiting mercenaries and units wherever possible. I recruit a unit of Velites in Rome and another one during the winter to deal with THEM DURN ELEPHANTS! (shakes fist) Campanian Cavalry in Capua, Velites in Cannae, Tarentum and Crotona and Latin Medium Cavalry as mercs near Roma, because I really need good cavalry right now. Hannibal makes himself nice and comfortable besieging Arretium; at least he's not blitzing me with his elephants. I recruit Corsico-Sardinian mercenaries during the winter, which are archers that can also fight well in melee (sort of like velites but with bows) along with mercenary phalangites and bruttian spearmen in Southern Italy; these are the best heavy infantry I can get my paws on right now. Less promising are the Agrianian infantry I get from Epirus as mercs and the Syracusan hoplites in Sicily. Oh, and some Greek Slingers. All of which are great to have, but not a match for Hannibal.

This is going to take a miracle, even as my armies board ships to bring soldiers back to Italy from Sardinia, Sicily and Epirus. Well at least it can't get any worse, right?

WRONG!

First, Brigands spring up on the road between Cannae and Capua, meaning I have to go around them if I'm shipping reinforcements about places. However, the worst shock comes when Capua not only revolts, as expected, but does so with two full armies which promptly chase my reinforcements miles out of their way into Cannae and Rhegion! A third army forms around Crotona, which has also joined the revolt (at least I still have Tarentum, Rhegion and Cannae... for now at least.)

I also get attacked at sea by Carthaginian ships, but at least I had the foresight to attach two biremes per escort so that I don't get sunk so easily and I beat them off. That'll learn 'em

So, to summarise, I'm getting borne down on by three rebel armies in the south, and I've got Hannibals army from hell in the north. Anyone got any advice?

[Hamilicar]

bog them down in siege battles for your citys but make sure you never lose Rome. If you do your sunk. Siege battles are going to be your best bet though since then an inferior force has a better chance to beat a larger/better equipped one.

[Napoleon Complex]

537AD Part 1: Things Look Marginally Better

Summary: I merge my armies in Italy together and win Rome its first victory against the rebels! I also start bringing my armies home as the army of Sicily under Scipio Junior lands on Italy. And Geminus becomes marginally less useless.

Well with everything rapidly going to hell, I react by gathering together a motley army around southern Italy based on my Italian reinforcements and the army of Dyrrachium. To my amazement this actually comes to a decent-sized army of 18 units. It wouldn't stand a chance against Hannibal (I'm going to have to army-swarm him or something) but it is more than enough to kill the rebels as long as I can goad the buggers into sallying out of those reinforced cities and I don't get swarmed. I can beat three rebel armies piecemeal with heavy casualties; facing all three rebel stacks at once will wipe me out comfortably.

With this in mind I take to the offensive, attacking stack number one in the mountain pass between Capua and Crotona. My army consists of a fairly formidable range of troops, albeit a little green and led by our favourite decrepit nancy boy Geminus. I have three full units and one badly mauled unit of cohorts, four velites, two units of triarii, the mercenary phalangists (deadly on the flanks believe it or not, if a little slow) the Agrianians, two tribunes (generals bodyguards) including the posh dunderhead himself, some Campanian heavy cavalry and two units of cowardly ponces, sorry, equites.

(My opinion of the Roman upper classes may be showing through here, though part of it may be frustration at just how awful the Roman cavalry is. There are units of militia cavalry tougher than these pathetic gits.)

As the battle opens, I deploy my forces. I have a very formulaic way of deploying my army in Rome Total War; I deploy with four units facing the enemy, four ranks deep, with spare infantry units gathered on the two flanks. I deploy my ranged units on the flanks behind the spare infantry units; this reflects my rather unusual strategy of using these guys to flank the enemy and rain arrows on them from behind; I find arrows to be rather ineffective unless firing upon units from the rear. Finally, I put my cavalry in deep reserve, only deploying it to pick off enemy cavalry, to charge the rear of the enemy if my infantry fail to do so, or to chase down fleeing enemies. I tend to try to use my infantry as much as possible before deploying cavalry as they tend to be less vulnerable.

I pick my three full cohorts and one of the units of triarii to go in my front line. My phalangites and Agrianians, along with my other Triarii unit, my depleted cohort, go on the flanks. My skirmirshers are spread out behind them. My general is placed at the head of the cavalry who are arranged in a block wedge; strongest unit at the back, with two weaker units behind them, three weaker units (or in this case two much larger units) behind them, forming a wedge. This gives concentration and power should a full-scale cavalry charge be called for while simultaneously allowing the units further back to flake off and pursue/react to sudden changes. I group my units into front line, left flank, right flank and cavalry reserve.

I start on a hill climbing up, but the AI isn't quite smart enough to deploy at the edge of the high plateau they have deployed their forces on, instead giving my troops the opportunity to surge to the top of the hill and fight on the flat, albeit at the cost of being winded. The AI is, however, smart enough to realise the mistake and surge forward, something I have never seen the AI do in a Rome mod before. Kudos to the AI coders.

As a result, both armies almost stumble into one another, the AI managing to keep two infantry units back in reserve with the rest crashing clumsily into my front line with my two flank groups barely kept extricated as I begin to send them round the flanks. My infantry hold up fine under the pressure on the left but my right begins to take heavy casualties. I begin to rectify this as my phalangites and spare Triarii tie up the enemy reserve while my velites bombard the enemy with javelins and my Agrainians batter away at the reserves flanks (the enemy brought no cavalry, leaving my cavalry units restricted somewhat to pursuit in this battle as my infantry were sufficient to surround.)

The awkward shape of the enemy army makes total encirclement difficult and the battle quickly becomes quite bloody, albeit decisive in my favour. The right flank takes a beating, the enemy cohort bloodying my flanking velites and doing a number on my right-most cohort, bleeding it down to less than half its original strength despite pressure from my triarii who weren't caught up in the fighting and who managed to flank the enemy. The Lucanian infantry and triarii in the centre fight very hard, not breaking even when surrounded and causing unpleasant numbers of casualties. Eventually units of skirmirshers, and some of the units in more exposed positions, begin to break up, but it is only when the enemy commander goes down that the enemy really begin to break up. The battle ends with 1892 rebels dead, a solid chunk of the rebellion, but at a cost of 17% of my army, or 439 soldiers.

I get a very appropriate quote from Sun Tzu on the loading screen; "Never cut off someones escape route, unless you want to see just how hard he can fight."

In any case, the battle ends and Geminus gets his first command star. Maybe he won't prove completely useless but he's 53, so he'll probably be dead by the time he becomes good for something other than dressing fancy, annoying his centurions and getting my soldiers killed facing other, better generals.

On the strategy front, I pick up Scipio senior from Spain and sneak my Sardinian forces past a Carthaginian bireme I pray doesn't come looking for me. Scipio junior lands in the south next to a smaller rebel force, right next to where Geminus fell short. That battle is to come!

So far, things are looking a little better; I'm going to lose Arretium and the treasury is bleeding, but Rome is secure behind a wall of soldiers and I'm about to start tearing the rebels a new one in the south. I'm hoping Hannibal will kill himself charging a gatehouse or something, but the AI seems too smart for that now. Killing the elephants would be nice. Killing Hannibals army with his own elephants would be even nicer.

[Ybbon]

Not played FGE so I don't know how that plays it, but personally I ignore Hannibal, he usually goes and causes some trouble but leaves half his army behind. Then I stomp him. I deal with the Rebels first, then Carthage and I also build a bireme in Dyrrahacium and abandon it taking all my men with me but destroy everything left behind to boost my money.

Hannibal once left all his army, just his personal guard - I sent half a stack of cav only and left a nasty red Hannibal smear on the countryside. Pathetic overkill but it felt good.

Is this 2.1a with FGE and not 2.5 then?

Oh, and you know you can quote or even multi quote people? use quote to do one, and hit the little blue icon between quote and reply to quote multiple people.

[Napoleon Complex]

bog them down in siege battles for your citys but make sure you never lose Rome. If you do your sunk. Siege battles are going to be your best bet though since then an inferior force has a better chance to beat a larger/better equipped one.

Oops, forgot to reply! Sorry.

The problem is I'm also bleeding money, and I can't really just wait for the enemy to come to me; I don't have the soldiers to cover all three towns the rebels could go for plus Roma itself. I have to be aggressive.

That said with Hannibal it's sieges all the way. Nothing in the world, no money or treasure or fame, could draw me into a battle with that army. I'll only engage it if I absolutely have to; if I literally have no other choice. But I have to deal with this rebellion!

Not played FGE so I don't know how that plays it, but personally I ignore Hannibal, he usually goes and causes some trouble but leaves half his army behind. Then I stomp him. I deal with the Rebels first, then Carthage and I also build a bireme in Dyrrahacium and abandon it taking all my men with me but destroy everything left behind to boost my money.

Hannibal once left all his army, just his personal guard - I sent half a stack of cav only and left a nasty red Hannibal smear on the countryside. Pathetic overkill but it felt good.

Is this 2.1a with FGE and not 2.5 then?

Oh, and you know you can quote or even multi quote people? use quote to do one, and hit the little blue icon between quote and reply to quote multiple people.

I went and forgot you could quote people. I did see the multi-quote function, but forgot to use it. Thank you for the reminder.

Alas my rules don't allow me to abandon settlements; I have to leave enough there to keep that green smiley face! (if possible.)

I hope Hannibal abandons his army/does something stupid. There is literally nothing in the Roman army that can counter that army of his; you really see how custom made Hannibal's army was to crushing Roman armies. I've got velites to take care of his elephants and I'm fairly confident I can make a mess of his cavalry now, but those heavy infantry are still a major problem. There's just so many strong, elite forces there!

I'm using 2.5. That might make the siege battles... interesting, to say the least.

[Napoleon Complex]

Summer 537 AUC Part 2: Jack and Jill Fought Up the Hill to Stave Some Rebel Skulls In.

After landing the Sicilians on Italian soil near my exhausted army under Geminus, I try to engage a small, six unit strong rebel stack nearby. Unfortunately it withdraws; this leaves me with a problem. If I leave that stack alone, it can counterattack with the main Capuan army, which is nearby, and possibly cause my main Southern Italian army serious damage. If, on the other hand, I attack, I will be attacking in mountainous terrain with an equal sized army. Deciding not to leave my fate to the AI, I get back on the boats and attack from the sea.

My Sicilian army is comprised of Scipio juniors tribunes guard, (no stars) three cohorts, a unit of triarii, two slingers, and the Syracusean hoplites, who are probably the most expendable of my units but with manpower at a premium none of my units are throw-away currently. The slingers are actually the most dangerous of my units, as you'll see later, but all of these soldiers have their niche, and my survival depends on their effective use. If you've got a lousy army, you have to compensate that much more with tactics.

The enemy army is about on par with mine. They have two triarii, two units of light lucani infantry, a cohort and a very dangerous unit of Campanian cavalry which makes my tribunes guard look rather underwhelming. So far, nothing too intimidating.

2nd Campania, 537 AUC.

The battle, once again, starts with my guys going up a steep hill. Typical. I modify my formation slightly, having only the three cohorts in the front line so I can keep my Syracuseans and Triarii in reserve along with my slingers on the right and left flanks respectively, with my tribune in reserve.

The enemy deploy atop a very steep hill towards the back of the battlefield. I move forward to occupy an area of less steep ground further down.

The enemy seem to be mimicking my formation to an extent! They have triarii holding their right, lucani in the middle and the cohorts (who I just know are going to chuck javelins into me the moment I approach and slaughter all my men) on the left, a three-unit front, with the remaining lucani and triarii in reserve and the Campanians in deep reserve behind.

I attempt to goad the enemy into an attack from my more stable position. First of all I try a simple missile lure, sending my slingers marching up the mountain towards the enemy position. However, they pull the vulnerable Lucani out and put in their triarii after a cavalry scare, and my stones just bounce off. Reluctantly, I pull back.

My next move is more drastic and risky; I push my army forward a bit so I am actually on the slope, exposed to a charge, and to add a stick to the carrot, I start moving slingers around to bombard the flank.

This works beautifully; the enemy not only charge down the hill, they do so out of formation, sending only their two lucani light infantry down to meet my infantry, who promptly scramble back down to better ground. My centre and right infantry recieve the charge, allowing my right hand slingers and left hand cohort to bombard the enemy left and surround the enemy right respectively.

What follows is one of two very bloody periods of fighting where my hoplites and cavalry try to envelop the cohort on equal ground as it steams towards my exposed slingers. The cohorts follow in the proud Roman tradition of not giving two figs if they're surrounded, and promptly murder forty of my Syracusean hoplites with their pilae from melee (I hate how the AI can use pilae in melee and my men just stand around like lemons when I try it!) My cavalry bounce off, the charge being worse than useless, leaving my hoplites in a worrisome position. However, the day is saved when my triarii draw off a unit of opposing triarii who were harassing my cavalry, and the slingers break the lucani's, allowing my right cohort to slam into the engaged enemy cohort. This stabilises the hoplites and allows both slingers to move right up and round to bombard the enemy mercilessly with my cavalry and triarii ensuring the enemy cavalry don't get too cocky. The result is that the cohorts break, running with the lucani with only 40 men left. The remaining lucani are butchered.

A gap in the fighting occurs as both sides count their losses. I regroup at the bottom, re-establishing my formation and recovering so my troops are fresh. The enemy are now down to just two units of triarii and their Campanians; they have lost three out of six units, including their valuable cohort. I, by contrast, have all my units and most of my ammunition left, with nobody below 150 men. Not bad for an uphill battle, but I'm feeling the loss of those hoplites keenly.

The enemy have now pulled back onto the highest reaches of the battlefield. There is a moment where I have my heart in my mouth as I advance; if they had charged while I marched up the slopes they could have caused grievous casualties to my thin defensive line. My formation is modelled on Hannibal's strategy at Cannae; a thin layer of frontline infantry which hold the enemy army in place, while infantry go round the flanks and cavalry eventually close off the rear if necessary, encircling and butchering enemy formations. This is excellent if the enemy can be contained by the front line, and I even use an outward-facing semi circle when on the defensive sometimes, but it is vulnerable to shock infantry or units like elephants staving in the front line and breaking my formation before I can get round the flanks. (It is also vulnerable if the enemy hold back enough units to prevent a flank or rear attack from working, but I have to be pretty badly outclassed for the enemy army to have those sorts of resources.)

If the enemy had thrown everything down the hill while I was at the steepest point, I would have, at best, had to scramble back down the hill, and at worst, would have recieved a withering charge from those triarii and cavalry and possibly seen my line broken. As it was, I just kept climbing.

Turns out the enemy were paralysed; they didn't even react as I climbed the slope and turned my right cohort 45 degrees to equalise the steeper terrain on the enemy left. A standoff develops as I move my left-most unit round to form a semi-circle round the enemy army, one which is deepened as the enemy, apparently unsure of how to respond to my vast numbre of units, allows my flanking units to move up in an attempt to goad the enemy. Ultimately I force the enemy into a response as my slingers on the right flank bombard the enemy right with stones from above and behind, butchering almost 3/4's of their unit and forcing the remaining 63 to make a suicidal attack on my triarii, who are on the flank. I respond by trying to tie up their Campanians with an attack by my hoplites and cavalry, and once again things get bloody.

As my slingers turn to bombard the remaining triarii from both sides, the Campanians break away from my hoplites and cavalry, the two units once again failing to show the same killing quality of my other units, and barrel into my left-hand slingers, causing light casualties as I immediately bring up my rightmost cohort to save them but almost breaking them with the shock (my zero star general also contributing.) I swarm them, attacking with my hoplites and cavalry and encircling the Campanians as my left-most cohort holds the spare triarii in place and my unaffected slingers get to work on them from behind.

The remaining rebels put up a heroic fight, fighting till they are reduced to 30 men a unit. The enemy triarii are butchered to a man, but the Campanians slaughter at least eighty men from various units, including 40 invaluable polybians, before they finally give up and run. This was while they were surrounded and being butchered by cavalry from behind! The battle ends declaring that I have won a heroic victory.

But with 347 of my men dead for 1049, I don't feel very heroic. It is a costly victory, and one that worries me. Despite this there is only one army between me and Capua now, and more reinforcements are on the way. I move my army back next to Geminus, and prepare to meet the final Capuan army. After that, it's just the walls of Capua itself to go.

And I'm STILL losing money.

Town statuses for 347 AUC.

Arretium: 115 po, -1% growth, 5 squalor
Ariminum: 105po, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Roma: 155po, 4.5% growth, 8 squalor, 6 health
Cannae: 105po, -0.5% growth, 4 squalor
Tarentum: 110po, -0.5% growth, 5 squalor
Rhegion: 105po, -0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Messana: 115po, 0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Akragas: 150po, 0.5% growth, 0 squalor
Lilybaem: 115po, 1% growth, 2 squalor
Caralis: 120po, 0.5% growth, 1 squalor
Aleria: 120po, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Emporiae: 110po, 1.5% growth, 1 squalor

All quiet on the domestic front. I can't really do anything as I don't have any money, so until I have some green coming in there's nothing I can do but watch these numbers get worse.

[Hamilicar]

Oops, forgot to reply! Sorry.

The problem is I'm also bleeding money, and I can't really just wait for the enemy to come to me; I don't have the soldiers to cover all three towns the rebels could go for plus Roma itself. I have to be aggressive.

That said with Hannibal it's sieges all the way. Nothing in the world, no money or treasure or fame, could draw me into a battle with that army. I'll only engage it if I absolutely have to; if I literally have no other choice. But I have to deal with this rebellion!

Ok well your doing the best you possibly can then by going on the offensive. Also if you can once you get Capua start recruiting campainians as they are supposed to be the best cav. you will have until the reforms. Oh and have Akarags (totally misspelled I know) on low tax rate so you can get to the reforms faster and start getting your real killing machines. Those Roman early numbered legions that I have run into in my Spartan Campaign are a pain and I really dont want to see the late ones. Also to help your treasury try to keep only one army per front for now. Also since I am criticizing you on your AAR you are welcome to come do the same on mine. In fact you can be a character on the War Council. Anyone who is going to advise me on the campaign regularly gets a character there.

[Napoleon Complex]

Ok well your doing the best you possibly can then by going on the offensive. Also if you can once you get Capua start recruiting campainians as they are supposed to be the best cav. you will have until the reforms. Oh and have Akarags (totally misspelled I know) on low tax rate so you can get to the reforms faster and start getting your real killing machines. Those Roman early numbered legions that I have run into in my Spartan Campaign are a pain and I really dont want to see the late ones. Also to help your treasury try to keep only one army per front for now. Also since I am criticizing you on your AAR you are welcome to come do the same on mine. In fact you can be a character on the War Council. Anyone who is going to advise me on the campaign regularly gets a character there.

The thing about disbanding units right now is that I have to be careful; I can only recruit one unit per turn in each city, and there is only one city I can recruit decent troops. And there are a lot of Carthaginians out there wanting to destroy my units without me doing it for them. However, as you'll see from the next update I am in a considerably more stable position now so I may start looking for things to get rid of.

537 AUC Winter: In Which a Lot of Italians Die Horribly

Ending the turn and declining an offer from the Arverni for peace (while once again cursing the existence of that no peace ruling) I brace myself for a Campanian onslaught...

...which never comes. I also see Carthages turn spiral past without incident. What the heck?! Hannibal had four rams! He has no reason to hold back!

Turns out he's ran back to Genoa, abandoning the siege of Arretium! Did my annihilation of a solid chunk of the rebel army terrify him or something?! Elephants get homesick? He has two full armies up there enjoying the northern Italian climes for heavens sake!

Well all the more for me then; I was anticipating an attack on Roma! The rebel AI, smartly, has camped its forces outside of the rebel city. This means that I can potentially empty the city of its garrison and take it without complaint; no foul if the AI gets its army slaughtered reinforcing the soldiers outside the walls!

I take a moment to land the Sardinians and rearrange my forces so that my best units are with Geminus... and I march towards the (at this point smaller) Capuan army. As far as I'm concerned they're as good as dead, but there are still a good 3600 rebel soldiers between me and that parade and I have to annihilate them.

My army barely makes the march to Capua, Geminus managing to meet up with the Sardinians (the Sicilians fail to make it.) It's sort of disappointing to see the AI make these sorts of mistakes after the near-blitzkrieg I was exposed to on turns 1 and 3, but I suppose I did annihilate most of the rebel army and there are a lot of Romans milling about Italy right now. All I have to do, then, is avoid letting Hannibal inflict a Cannae on me; I hope to inflict one on him.

Or at least, on the Campanians...

3rd Campania, 537 AUC.

This is it, the final showdown between myself and the defenders of Capua. The rebels have nowhere left to run now except behind the walls of their city, and if they cannot exit the battle it's over; there's nothing behind that garrison now that I've drawn it out to fight. My frontline army comprises 3137 men and has a further 600 or so coming in the form of the soldiers from Sardinia if I run into trouble. I have an army up in Roma holding back any mischief from Hannibal. But on the other hand, I have nothing left in reserve. If things go badly wrong, and the rebels annihilate or badly maul my army, I'm in serious trouble in the south.

The enemy, by comparison, have around 3600 soldiers, including TWO units of Campanians in the first army and another unit coming in the garrison. Their army is mostly comprised of lucani light infantry, with cohorts and triarii forming the backbone. My main advantage is they start off with less forces, deploying only 2400 in the first army with the remaining 1200 or so coming in from Capua. Overall, I have a slight numbers advantage; after the butchery of the last season I should hope so!

The battlefield is rather picturesque rolling Italian countryside, a nice break from the mountains I seem to end up with usually. My side of the battlefield slopes down steeply from north to south, towards my right flank, and dipping steeply as it travels towards the enemy side of the field, creating two opposing areas of high ground, of which mine is higher up, connected by a small hillock overlooking the Campanian side of the battlefield. It is this hillock I deploy just below, hoping to run up onto it from below.

Geminus's army is comprised of four full cohorts, two understrength cohorts, two triarii and some Bruttian spearmen, three units of velites, the Agrianians and phalangites, my beloved slingers, two tribunes guards, the Campanians and two units of equites. It is the largest force I have fielded so far.

I also have the Sicilians approaching, but they can't come onto the field unless some of my forces rout, so I know from the start that they likely won't be used. I can withdraw some units deliberately, but that takes time and means I lose the units I withdraw. Generally if it's come to the use of your reinforcements, you are either fighting very badly or are fighting a VERY big battle (the horde battles of Barbarian Invasion come to mind, though of course if your computer can handle it and you trust/have to trust the AI, you can have your reinforcements come onto the field.)

I draw up in my usual formation, with the four cohorts drawn up four deep just behind the important ridge, ready to scramble up onto it. On my right flank goes the phalangites, along with half the triarii, the Bruttians, two velites and the slingers. My left is less dense with the Agrianians, remaining triarii and two units of velites; the ground slopes down and I'd rather keep the larger flank on the high ground here where they can move around and cause more damage. I keep the two depleted cohorts back as a central reserve, ready to move up if my line gets staved in or is broken by events. The trap is set. My cavalry are at the back in the usual block wedge formation.

As the battle kicks off, the AI reinforcements arrive immediately, to my relief; I don't particularly want to fight a siege battle against an entire army if I can possibly help it. The enemy army deploys very close and a desperate race ensues for the high ground in the centre of the field which I win, my army making a very intimidating line along the ridge only tempered by the presence of some flatter ground towards my left flank. The enemy apparently notice this too; they charge my left with a cohort after I bombard their army, made up in the centre primarily of spears and lucani, with my pilae. I surge forward downhill with my remaining three cohorts in response, and a furious melee ensues as the enemy respond a little too much like I want them to, throwing everything they have bar their skirmirshers at me. Campanian cavalry charge at my legions, forcing me to bring in the central reserves as holes appear in the line as four identifiable melees begin to ensue, my flanking forces already scrambling round the flank to save the six beleaguered cohorts. The rebel army fights like men possessed, putting my army under severe pressure in front with the left only being saved by my triarii and Agrianians, who reinforce the line and then hit the enemy right respectively, as my velites on the left get tied up by annoying numbers of enemy slingers and velites, slowing them down.

On the right flank things proceed better; after breaking a unit of equites with my phalangites and butchering them so they don't come back with one of my tribunes guards, the phalangites, after some velites do their job, sandwich a hapless cohort between itself and my frontline; I leave the poor sods to their inevitable doom; nothing is getting out from between a phalanx and a cohort alive, it's like watching a car crusher. My centre shows signs of caving in but a charge from my cavalry into the enemy back gives time to my slingers and bruttian spearmen, as well as my triarii further down the line towards the right, to get into position. Eventually, despite a furious attempt by the enemy to break my centre, they lose momentum and are enveloped.

However, I am horrified to discover that a unit of Campanians and some equites have got through a hole in the line and are crushing one of my reserve cohorts against the press of men in the centre right of the battlefield. I respond late, following them through the same hole with my general, my own loyalist Campanians, and the equites, and manage to surround them. They are killed rapidly, but the reserve cohort is wiped down to twenty men by the time the last cavalryman is dead.

In addition to this, while my encirclement is successful the enemy reinforcements are approaching at a terrifying rate. My tribunes, having extricated themselves, lead a heroic stalling action against the approaching enemy, killing many of them and slaughtering the reinforcing Campanians in a battle that can best be described as four little Davids taking down Goliath, my exhausted tribunes working with velites throwing javelins and acting as breakers to wear down the unit. Eventually, the surrounded main Campanian army breaks and are slaughtered easily as the panicked mass is cut down.

The game isn't up yet however; the garrison, realising seemingly in time what is about to happen, sounds the retreat.

Not so fast. My army, having just annihilated one army, scrambles after them as efficiently as possible, my cavalry going after the many units of skirmirshers while my own velites scramble after the exhausted reinforcements who have ran an entire field to join a battle that was already lost when they got there. The reinforcements try to defend themselves and my lighter units take a beating but with the rest of my army on their tails they are surrounded and annihlated in turn, either enveloped or cut down by cavalry. Nearly the full army dies; only five men scramble off the field to join the remaining forty three Campanians to lead a new life of banditry and exile. The rebel army is GONE.

The battle is the bloodiest battle of the campaign, the dead standing at over 4,650, dwarfing even the slaughter at Lake Trasimene. The Third Battle of Campania will go down as one of the bloodiest large scale engagements fought on Italian soil, and one of the most decisive, with the Campanian army utterly shattered. 3588 of their men die, leaving only 48 survivors. But it comes at a heavy cost in lives to the exhausted Romans, who mourn 1089 soldiers, many of whom were in the front line units that got hit with the full fury of the rebel army while it was still fresh.

But it effectively ends the rebellion. Capua is empty; with its garrison gone and the Roman army mere days away, there is no time to gather a militia, and the rebel leaders have no choice but to open the gates to Roman arms. The Romans march into the rebel capital unopposed, and, at 220% public order, it seems they do so to cheering crowds. Only 20% unrest is created from the event; the rebellion, it seems, was not popular. The city is, of course, unmolested.

And so ends a serious thorn in my side. The treasury is healed, with 11,000 coming in next turn in disposable denarii, and aside from Crotona, which cannot hope to rally much together in time for my army arriving beyond the emergency garrison, the south of Italy is pacified. It took three battles, the traditional number for a decisive end to a war, but the rebellion is all but over.

However, while my position is improved, it is not yet stable. Hannibal is still within marching distance of Rome; I may yet have to fight to defend the capital. Spain and the islands lie undefended. But for the first time, I have resources in hand to respond... and maybe make a little mischief of my own.

The way I see it, there are two main routes I can go. The army up in Genoa is not challengeable. Therefore, to bring Carthage to heel I can either strike at Africa, or Spain. One is more dangerous but will cripple the Carthaginian war effort, the other is less dicey but may not really impede the Carthaginians that much. The treasury is in Carthage, not Carthago Nova.

What would you do?

[Hamilicar]

Go after Africa because if you go after Spain there are the Iberians there who will surely attack you and you then have another war to fight and that one will surely be long and bloody. Also the cities in Iberia are rife with unrest. Also by weakening Carthage by taking away their treasury you will make the rest of the war easier for yourself because they can no longer afford to train/retrain troops at some point then.

[Ybbon]

"I also have the Sicilians approaching, but they can't come onto the field unless some of my forces rout, so I know from the start that they likely won't be used. I can withdraw some units deliberately, but that takes time and means I lose the units I withdraw. Generally if it's come to the use of your reinforcements, you are either fighting very badly or are fighting a VERY big battle (the horde battles of Barbarian Invasion come to mind, though of course if your computer can handle it and you trust/have to trust the AI, you can have your reinforcements come onto the field.)"

I do it with missile units when they are depleted - it's desperate if you need them as skirmishing troops. Still, in the main, the point applies

Yeah, go to Africa, Spain is a nasty financial trap and the property market sucks big time That might of course bring Hannibal down and he may go after Arretium of course.

[Napoleon Complex]

Hello folks. I'm afraid there's a hiccup. I have got to the point where I besiege Crotona, and the emergency garrison has not appeared. Naturally one of the major elements in this playthrough is taking the garrisoned towns, but there may be a problem with my file or even my install; I am currently checking to see if this is some quirk unique to the rebels. I'll be back as soon as I resolve this.

And before anyone asks, the script is definitely running.

For now, here's a brief update.

537 AUC.

I make the very bold move of sending my army in Rome north to block the bridge over the Arno river, preventing Hannibal from moving directly south to besiege Arretium without a serious fight. This is dangerous as it openly courts a fight with the Carthaginian general. However, the river is also my best chance of beating those veteran infantry and cavalry if Hannibal does decide to get aggressive, and my velites will help me take care of the elephants. It would also give me my best shot at catching the Carthaginian general in a fatal engagement.

I also plan my attack on Crotona. Retraining two cohorts and waiting for Scipio's men should give Geminus a full army with 8 cohorts, 4 triarii, 2 velites, a unit of cavalry and 4 mercenaries. That will be plenty to take Crotona and will permit a shot at Carthage or Spain.

I disbanded a unit in Messana before ending the turn. Cohorts are expensive! I also send the Syracuseans packing; I'm beyond the point of needing sword fodder.

Republic's status in 537 AUC.

Roma: 125%, 4.5% growth, 8 squalor, 6 health
Capua: 180%, -0.5% growth, 3 squalor
Cannae: 105%, -0.5% growth, 4 squalor
Tarentum: 110%, -0.5% growth, 5 squalor
Rhegion: 105%, -0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Messana: 105%, 0% growth, 4 squalor
Akragas: 150%, 0.5% growth, 0 squalor
Lilybaem: 105%, 1% growth, 2 squalor.

The empires status from the end of 537...

Arretium: 110%, -1% growth, 5 squalor
Ariminum: 105%, 0% growth, 2 squalor
...and I've gone and forgotten the rest of the empire. Well it hasn't really changed; I think Emporiae gained a point of squalor but that's it.

The end of turn brings trade with the Boii!

538 AUC.

Out of my medley of forces I form one of the aforementioned "half-armies" as I am no longer in an emergency situation in the south, in order to take Crotona before I march on *drumroll* Carthage! Yes I have decided to follow the advice of Ybbon66 and Hamilcar (did Hannibal put him up to it?) in launching a bold invasion of Carthages homelands. I am not going to be doing it with a half stack however! I also begin to gather my transports together to form a navy and, once Scipio lands, I will have another three cohorts; assuming I can find cash for one more (and with ~12k coming in per turn I am comfortably in the green) I will be able to transform it into a full army, which I will use to reinforce the siege, take Crotona and then get on the transports for Carthage!

...of course we know that plan has been moved forward without warning thanks to Crotona apparently rolling over onto its belly. But I don't know this yet, and prepare a full army for the job.

Scipio lands in the north, and I begin to move my half stack down to besiege Crotona, anticipating a hard fight. (I HATE siege battles!) I also begin anticipating what I need to form a third army to attack the Macedonians; they'll be after me at some point. This theoretical third army could also be used to reinforce Africa if things get grindy, which at a stack a city, they WILL. I have the cavalry and most of the velites, as well as some spare Triarii, but I'm desperately short on cohorts. I estimate it will cost an extra maintainance of TEN THOUSAND to build such an army. Well I do have 13,000, but that means putting my building on hold which is not something I'm eager to do having just got back some financial security; I have an empire to care for as well and building has thus far gone completely neglected. At the very least I want some wells.

Speaking of ungodly sums of money, Roma picks this opportunity to require upgrading to a large city, making me fork out ~14,000 and using up all my funds bar some money used to retrain my ships and some beaten up velites. Darn Dacian school economics that don't let me deficit spend!

The end of turn is uneventful.

Winter 538 AUC

Geminus besieges Crotona as the reinforcements head down and I finally get some money to recruit the last needed cohort (I got one by retraining). I also get to do some shopping! Now I'm trying to be a caring ruler so I use the opportunity to stave off the squalor problem for a while, building wells in the larger cities that aren't Roma. Capua, Arretium and Tarentum all get wells. I also start establishing some basic law and order in the smaller settlements; Tribal Law goes down in Ariminum, Caralis and Lilybaem.

And with that I'm broke again. Now I just have to wait for the stacks to form, and for my reinforcements to arrive.

I also turn down a ceasefire from the Cibrii. Because I hate myself.

And of course the stack never forms... I'll be back as soon as I establish what the heck is going on.

EDIT: Oh, and the republics domestic status. Nothing much has changed.

Arretium: 120%, -1% growth, 5 squalor
Ariminum: 105%, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Roma: 115%, 3% growth, 9 squalor, 6 health
Capua: 150%, -0.5% growth, 4 squalor
Tarentum: 120%, 0% growth, 4 squalor
Rhegion: 105%, 0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Messana: 105%, 0% growth, 4 squalor
Akragas: 160%, 0.5% growth, 0 squalor
Lilybaem: 105%, 0.5% growth, 2 squalor
Caralis: 115%, 0.5% growth, 1 squalor
Aleria: 125%, 0% growth, 2 squalor
Emporiae: 110%, 1.5% growth, 1 squalor

[Hamilicar]

I think that sometimes it takes a turn or two of siege to get a stack but im not sure... Also it may be that only some of the more important cities get the emergency stack so you don't have a grinder for every siege.

[Napoleon Complex]

Summer 539 AUC: BANDITS! I Hate Bandits...

Right, apparently no garrison spawns for the rebels is normal. Well I attack and take Crotona after using the cream of Roman society (my tribunes) as a javelin-magnet before slaughtering a fair number of my own Triarii with javelins as they pin the lone garrison unit in the town centre as my velites do what they do best... and then neglected to stop firing when it got to the point I was hitting as many triarii as legionaries.

Still suffered under 100 casualties though.

I walk into Crotona to a more lukewarm reception; 180% public order from a nine-influence general and a half-stack in a city isn't a great omen. Despite that the revolution is well and truly crushed. Now on to Carthage.

Except not yet, because as you may remember... I have those bandits to deal with. And I move to deal with them, taking Scipio Junior, the local popular dunderhead, the Agrianians, two slingers, the Corsico-Sardinian archers, my phalangites, and a cohort for good luck. All this to face some tarentine cavalry, Syracusean hoplites, some Cretan archers I make the fatal mistake of mistaking for greek archers, and some heavy peltast.

Well that shouldn't be too hard to shift should it?

Yeah, note something about the enemy forces.

...

Spotted it yet?

...

Yeah, they're almost all ranged troops. And I'm heavy infantry weighted with insufficient ranged cover and with limited cavalry on offer. Now when Roman legionaries meet ranged troops the legionaries tend to win, but my motley band of mercenaries is unlikely to know the testudo formation. (Yes, I know, the cohort CAN do the testudo before some smart arse who is better at this game points it out.)

And of course they corner camp on a large hill with steep rising slopes. Thanks for that game, just brilliant. That'll make my invasion of Africa so much easier!

After deploying in the usual formation, with my slingers distributed on both flanking groups and the archers in the left-hand group, I promptly find out about the cretan archers as I get bombed by arrows while still deploying at what i thought was a safe distance below the enemy army. Scipio promptly drives them off and kills quite a few, at the cost of about a hundred javelins, arrows and other sharp things coming his way and killing off rather more of his guard than I would like to see die this early on in the engagement! "Skirmirshing" over, I do the only thing available to me given the alternative (scrambling out of range and probably getting shot in the back repeatedly) and charge up the hill. The Agrianians prove their superiority again (not) as they get mauled on multiple sides by javelinmen while struggling with the enemy hoplites. They're saved by the phalangites but not until most of them are dead, and as my cohorts and triarii dash off to chase down the heavy peltasts the Cretans try to charge down and finish them off. My general ends up having to go off and help the heavy infantry catch those peltasts, meaning the Tarentines get a good shot at my archers in a charge that is barely driven off by the slingers, who do their usual job of butchering anything stupid enough to open their flanks to my missile troops. Eventually the enemy spiral back, the Tarentines breaking last, but I lost rather more troops than I wanted to at 137 men lost somewhere in that fracas! HATE BRIGANDS!

With the killing of the turn out the way I get to what is best in life; SPENDING MONEY RECKLESSLY! Recruitment-wise I purchase velites in Crotona, Rhegium and Tarentum as I'm going to need to free up the army stuck in Crotona. Well at least that high influence is going to make holding my takings in Africa a lot easier. Remind me to train some garrison stacks to ship over. I already have six ships, so unless the Carthaginians have been spamming triremes since the game started I should be ok; I'll stop off on Sicily anyway, so I'll only be at sea for short periods.

Building-wise, it's more wells! This time in Aleria, Lilybaem, Messana, Rhegion, Crotona, Ariminum and a first aid centre in Caralis. Fresh water and band-aids for everyone!

[Hamilicar]

You might want to think about building some structures that help your money situation. Like tax temples, farms, waystations or mines to name a few.