Interest in historically accurate Roman campaign saves (Saves Uploaded)

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

So, in judging Total War: Rome 2, my benchmark was always going to be "how well can I play out Rome's historical development?". Needless to say, the vanilla game made this an impossibility, for a vast number of reasons.

In judging overhaul mods, the same question stands.
Having recently started a Cornelii campaign on legendary with DEI 0.96x, I can finally say that I am playing the game I always wanted to play.

I've been able to reenact the major incidents and territorial and political developments of the Roman republic without having to edit anything. AT ALL.

I've conquered every piece of land at a similar time period to that of Roman history, and the major wars have been similar too. I had a naval war with Carthage, who then tried to invade 20 years later. I subjugated them, and finally Publius Cornelius Scipio (now Africanus) razed the city in 146BCE. I took african elephants with me to Macedonia, and Publius' father Lucius Aemilianus Paulus defeated the Macedonians, and P. Scipio Africanus went back to finish the job. Although I reached the requirements around the time of the second war with Carthage, no Marian troops were recruited. I'm now at 110BCE (playing 1TPY), and Gaius Marius is the head of the Julii, and Lucius Cornelius Sulla is rapidly climbing the ranks of my family. I've got correctly named and distributed legions, and Marius has just begun reforming his own legion. I've just broken into Asia Minor, using Greeks against Greeks.
The factions still on the board are not too disappointing either, as I use the mod "stop barbarian empires". Pontus and the Selukids own most of the east between them, but it could be worse. It could also be changed by editing if desired.

My offer is, if there is enough interest, I can upload my save games from various key moments in my campaign so you can play them out.
This has been the most satisfying TW campaign I've ever played, and is sufficiently challenging, while I don't feel like i'm forcing the historically accurate path.

What say ye, TWCers?

-TC-

EDIT: First of the Save files are here

146BCE
This save is of the combined Roman army under Publius Aemilianus Cornelius Scipio (not yet Africanus) besieging Carthage for the final time. It will be much like the vanilla scenario, but with much more troops. (sadly, Carthage has no Military Port, cus the AI bastards never build one.
Delenda est Carthago

140BCE
This file is of the Roman annexation of Macedonia. I had some serious difficulty getting through the pike phalanxes (come on DEI 1.0!), so I had to overwhelm the greeks. There are elephants brought from Africa, and greek auxiliaries eager to help rid the world of the Macedonians.
Annexation of Macedon
The deal Rome refused:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

118BCE
The next save I've decided to upload is in 118BCE. Consul Scipio Africanus has retired from military duty, while Gaius Marius has recently been promoted to Legatus, and has begun raising a new army of legionaries. The Roman Empire is moving eastwards, while Hispania still needs quelling.
The Marian Age

88BCE
The Roman empire is on the edge of ruin, despite its burgeoning size. The massive size of its armed forces are causing demand for a new source of income. The untapped eastern lands have been selected as the next target for the reformed legions. The Selukids were runied early in the campaign, but reappeared with tenfold vigour, and expanded eastwards rapidly. The Asia Minor holdings are now occupied by Pontus, who own the entire Levant. Therefore, in the interest of historical accuracy, we pretend that Pontus is the historical Selukid Empire, and the Selukids take the place of the historical Parthian empire. Despite their popular standing amongst the eastern nations, Rome has been able to justify its war with Pontus (Selukids) by coming to the aid of their Bosphoran friends. Meanwhile, Egypt has thrown off the yoke of Pontic (Selukid) dominion and expanded once more in alliance to Rome. Cyrenaica, although historically incorporated into the Roman empire by this date (cannot be done through diplomacy), is a strong ally. Lucius Cornelius Sulla has last year received a triumph for his successful war against the Lusitani. Quintus Sertorius remains in Spain to quell the simmering rebellions. Carthage is finally being rebuilt from the ashes as a roman colonia...
Into the east

New current campaign: 78BCE. Superstars Emerge
Sulla and Marius have perished amid an uncertain strategic environment. Egypt has expanded into the levant, and Marius, having pursued Jugurtha through Numidia, has closed the African coastline from Tingis to Cyrenaica for the Roman Empire. Spain is now entirely Roman, thanks to Quintus Sertorius and Consul Sulla. Lucius Cornelius Cinna is now the leading Cornelian, and has an elligible daughter who is looking for a husband. Conveniently, one Gaius Julius Caesar has emerged from the repressive Sullan dictatorship. He is currently a low ranking officer at Mytilene, who knows what might happen there...
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus has taken over Sullas old legion, hoping to gain recognition by bringing war to the Illyrians. Meanwhile, the wealth of Marcus Licinius Crassus has brought him political office. So the triumvirate are all in office.
Legio Macedonica, requested by the Raeti to help against marauding germans, was ambushed, and the greek legion was massacred to a man. Asia is highly unstable and needs consolidation, while the Gauls are stirring in the north...
The eclipsing of the Republic

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In order to use these saves, you will need DEI, and stop_barbarian_empires DEI submod.
You will not NEED them, but I also use:
- dresden_sack_liberate_diplomatic_options
- GEM, aztec_version2_full
- md_mod_nohdr_saturation
- mod_moretownsandcitiesv3
- noif_better_horses_elephants_and_dogs
- better_siege_equipment

[Velvet_Elvis]

I would be very interested in taking a look at these saves. The Punic wars in particular.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

I might try get some screenshot up. I can offer a pretty amazing Siege of Carthage "moment". 14000 Romans against 10000 defenders. Scipio on land with siege equipment and two legions reinforcing, with a heavy fleet and another legion at sea.

[ostendadler]

I find that playing the game at a slower pace (enabling to develop and "romanize" your provinces newly conquered) gives the AI a better chance to built itself. Playing historically however is a bit of russian roulette as you never know if the historical foe will still be there. I had troubles keeping the history in line on the 2nd Punic war. They simply cared about spain more than anything else. I find myself in a very long attrition war with them and i'm approaching the end of the 200 BC gap. I'm considering a white peace between us to shift my attention to those germanic tribes who are getting dangerously big. 3rd Punic War anyone?

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

3rd Punic War anyone?

I interpret this to mean "maybe I will create a Third Punic War". Are you not aware that there was a Third Punic War?
anyway, the only way to do the historical playthrough is on 1TPY. It's a long campaign to get to where I'm at anyway, but the only downside is that your generals die earlier. Regardless, I can still get a few consuls if I want. Scipio Africanus is my retired consul presently. It would be nice if the devs can make other houses promote more generals more often. This should be based on level requirement and ambition.

[Linke]

This is exactly what I was planning to do in my next campaign, I ve played as Armenia getting used to the more relaxed pace of not expanding mindlessly, I have began raising armies only when needed and I more often do Peace treaties with other factions rather than conquer them.

[0))crayola))>]

I'd be interested in seeing your historical campaign saves as well! I am currently following an old Rome one guide that lists the historical dates for wars and city conquests and it's a lot of fun. During the lulls in my campaign, I usually send my troops around liberating factions to try and keep them around (Syracuse in particular has problems with Carthage). One advantage to playing historical as Rome is that in the early stage in particular, is that you can really invest in your food/economy and rake in HUGE money to use upgrading your provinces and legions for the rapid expansion you need later in the game.

[dmperu11]

I would love to see those savegames

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Please do! I wanna play some historically accuracte campaigns .

[TheRazaman]

That'd be really cool to see--nice work. I'll have to give that a try as well. What mods do you have affecting gameplay? DeI, Stop Barbarian Empires...anything else?

[Dresden]

This is a very interesting idea. Perhaps we could have a thread for it in the game guides section or another place where people can post various save games for others to try.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

This is a very interesting idea. Perhaps we could have a thread for it in the game guides section or another place where people can post various save games for others to try.

Plz make this.

[Dresden]

Here is the thread, found in the game guides subforum: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?671645

Please feel free to post any interesting or fun saves there!

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Here is the thread, found in the game guides subforum: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?671645

Please feel free to post any interesting or fun saves there!

Excellent!

[TTocsxic]

YES!
This is a great idea indeed!
I have been suggesting stuff like this ever since Medieval II, but noone ever seemed interested.
That being said, a big plus of this is both sharing experiences AND not having to start every faction from scratch.

Also, it should be possible to share this with one another if only the vanilla version of DEI and Rome II: EE are used.

So again, a big YES from me!

sooo... where was your savefile again?

[Julio-Claudian]

I would love to have that 110 BC save. I've always wanted to play that era but never have the time to get to that point.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

I want a Roman Parthian war mod save.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

OKAY! Soo I have final exams tomorrow until early next week, but if I can find time in the next couple of days, I'll upload a series of Saves from that campaign. In order to get them to work, you'll need DEI, plus maybe a couple more to be safe. I also use stop barbarian empires submod, Dresden's sack, liberate etc. mod (probably don't need that anymore with DEI including it), and a range of graphical mods that wont make a difference.

[ostendadler]

I'd be interested to see a screenshot of the map evolution of your game. I have not used the barbarian submod or the other and I would love to see the difference it brings over time.

[♠ Thomas Cochrane ♠]

Edit: OP updated w/ link

I'd first like to know that people are able to get these saves working, then how much you like them and what you think of them. There are more saves of course, but I will wait to see how these go before I upload more from different periods in the campaign. Will take requests (I made lots of backups, despite the limitations of playing on Legendary)
Throw some rep across if you like.