Things are very seldom what they seem. In my experience, they’re usually a damn sight worse.
took an arrow to the knee
spy of the council
[TE AAR] Thracian AAR and Strategy guide
Here is my Thracian AAR and Strategy guide that i promised in my other AAR thread. Now the layout will be a bit different.
-Every 5 years i will give a World Diplomacy report coupled with my faction's economical report.
-Every year, I will give strategical input on all of my actions, why i did them, etc etc.
-Every large battle or important battle that i fight i will right a story describing the battl,e much like my other AAR, but a bit less detailed.
- And anything else I may throw in at a point in time.
Note- I have modded the files to allow me to have 95 movement points on the campaign map instead of 80. IT is what I like so i will use it throughout this campaign. I am also on H/H difficulty.
Note- Some of these first turns will not have many AAR related section (like battle stories, campaign map stories, etc) but they will have more strategy guides in them as the first 10 turns or so for any faction are the most important.
Another note- Last note for now: Sometimes when i work i update bit by bit so i dopnt lose any work or tire myself too much. Just so ya know.....
So without further delay I will start this AAR and Strategy guide for Thrace. Please comment on what you think or if you have questions, and a bit of rep wouldnt hurt!
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Year 280BC- Thrace
Strategy- Here is the starting positions of all armies and agents of Thrace, and their capital city.
The beginning of the campaign as Thrace is a race to beat Macedon to Byzantium. Though Thrace is a bit closer to Byzantium than Macedon in the start, any procrastination will allow Macedon to take this valueable city. Your first objective as Thrace is to take Byzantium as fast as possible, so you get to exploit its wealth and strategic location instead of Macedon. With Byzantium remember that you can control the Black sea and the Aegean sea near Greece if you play all your cards right.
This is the first thing I have set my eyes on. Capturing Byzantium. My army is within marching distance (well just barely out of reach in the first turn). By the winter of this year Byzantium will be under siege.
I also move my army in the north down a ways and position them so they can einforce anywhere in Thrace that may need it. But I dont move them to far away from their starting position. The reason is that there is a half stack rebel army just to the north of them, and maybe if they see my guys just right there they might come after me, and i can lure them into a trap. This is just a maybe atm though, I will have to wait and see.
After I move toward Byzantium, I want to send my diplomat over to Macedon and see what i can get out of them. The best thing to do so that I benefit the most is to ask for terms that give me their map information and some of the cash. So thats just what I do. I ask for Alliacne, Map info both ways, trade rights and I Demand 3000 denarii from them. Though they did not give me 3000, (they gave me 450 or so), any bit of money is worth it. I also want to send my spy into MAcedon near my diplomat, MAcedon is the earliest threat to me and I will want to keep a close eye on them. Keeping my spy near their two towns on the border will give me good warning of any attack.
Next I go take care of construction and recruitment in my capital. Here, I want to build roads first, they are cheap, fast to build and will give my armies a bit more marching distance which is a good thing early on. For recruitment I want to recruit my hoplites.
Turn 2- This turn I will lay siege to Byzantium. That is the first thing I do now, and when i lay siege i build 3 rams so no matter what the 3 defending rebel units do they will have a hard time defend a breach.
With ny smaller northern army i see that the rebels from the north are comin closer to my lands, but just on the border. The chances of them attacking are slim so ill leave them alone for now, I have not the military strength to take them on yet (except for my southern army at Byzantium, but of course they are occupied there). So just to keep an eye on them i build a watchtowere and move my army near my capital, where later it can maybe pick up reinforcements, defend against attacks or take the small village to the west of my capital.
Next I go to my capital and take care of building and recruiting again. This time I begin building of a port, it will be nedded to make a reasonable navy to try and contol the Bosphorus once I take Byzantium. I also begin recruiting some peltats that will join my small northern army that just dropped by.
With my diplomat having completed his mission to get some money and info out of Macedon, I now send him north to get the same from Dacia. Dacia is a big threat later on if not contended with somehow, whether diplomatically or militarily. The best thing to do with my spy is keep him where he is so he can keep an eye on all of Macedons movements near our border.
Year 279 BC
Strategy- While the AI factions i was approached by a Dacian diplomat and he offered Trade Rights. I counteroffered and got this.
The first thing I did was move my diplomat away from Dacia. Since Dacia just came to me and I got what i wanted, an move him somewhere else, and I will move him towards Greece to get an alliance with them. On his way there he encountered a Macedonian army laying siege to the town of Sardica. Now I do not want Macedon to take a city so close to my capital, so I bribed this army so the siege would be cdalled off and give me a chance to take the town myself. I also moved my spy a bit so he has a view of Sardica as well.
Next I went to my capital and toook care of buisness there. Here is what I did.
And of course i cant forget about Byzantium. I should take it now and get it done with.
AAR- The Siege and Assault of Byzantium- Though not a big battle I want to make a story from this one since it is the first battle for Thrace.
The Assault of Byzantium begins! Thrace will without a doubt overpower its rebel counterparts and take the town. They are hungry for blood and ready to kill!
The rebels are thin in numbers and deplot near their main gate where i will attack. With my three rams I began the attack on the walls.
While my men were ramming the walls and gate down the missile cavalry in the rear began to unleash a volley of spears on the enemies within the walls. Most of the enemy Peltats were cut down by the cavalry javelins. As they lost men my men broke open the gates.
However instead of sending them in right away I waited until both sections of wall were broken down so i could flank any enemy that atttack my men ithat came through the gate. Once that happened though i sent all my men into the town.
The first men to enter the town were greeted my Peltasts, but they were easily contended with. The bigger threat lay with the enemy general and his unit of hardcore hoplites waiting just ahead. The only real option that i had was to send all units in at him, so i didd, but imanaged to get my general aaround those hoplites so he could hit them from behind while the rest of my men fought them from the front.
Though we took some losses in that street battle we pushed on after the last remaining Hoplites in the Town Center. Once again i was able to flank them again, and they were easily killed. VICTORY!
After the Battle was over I enslaved the populace of Byzantium because i could really use some more people in my capital. Also after battle i took care of construction and recruitment in my new city.
Turn 2- First thing I did was take care of my settelments.
And now that I was able to attack Sardica, I did. I also recruited some Thracian mercs for support in the inevitable battle.
As i moved my diplomat towards Greece I spotted a Macedonian army heading closer to my lands, they were right on the border. So I sent my diplomat to them to bribe them, as I would rather not go to war with Macedon at this point in time. And to my surprise this Macedonian army had a few units that I could bribe and keep for myself. With this bribe I got 2 units of pikemen and some more peltasts. This will make it so i can recruit a navy in my town instead of troops, as this bribe gives me some good troops.
As the last thing i did this turn I sent my diplomat closer to Greece and moved my newly found army towards my capital so they are ready for deployment anywhere in Thrace by next year.
QUICK UPDATE!!!!!: Year 278BC- This year was a good year for Thrace and a bad year for her enemies. Macedonians bands of soldiers were easily bribed by the skilled Thracian diplomats and thus Macedon has been severely crippled militarily for a few years. And of course the added units from the bribes mean more men for me and less money I must spend on recruitment and men.
The siege of Sardica continues! The Thracians besiegers have decided to try and starve out the defendeding rebels in time so men are not lost and a good garrson can be kept in the town. Also, news from the north arrived that the rebel half stack in the north had taken a Thracian watchtower and guard post! This outrage cannot satnd and the new Thracian army under the command of Ziles is marching north to crush them now and take the town to the north!
Economically though Thrace may face a few challenges. With a few more bribes our treasurey has gone down and may take a few years tto recover and thrive again. All is good though, with the conquest of more towns Thrace will bounce right back!
A full update will be coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled!
Last edited by Hader; August 18, 2006 at 10:57 PM.
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Originally Posted by Juus
Just kidding ill get it up tomorrow. I would tonight but im getting tired, it took a long time to get the many pics i took for this edited and all.
:sign_omg: :sign0163: 
