Hi guys! I'm a tester for the AE closed beta and I'm thrilled to post a few screenshots of a late-game Roman campaign I have been going through (with UMC's permission, of course). Please bear in mind that these screenshots portray a campaign started from a much earlier build (so earlier startpos variant) than what is available in the closed beta now, so expect improvements already. This is from a campaign of 100 turns exactly. Also, bear the following in mind before judging:
- Such rapid expansion by this date (and turn) was possible only because at the state of this earlier build, some factions were dormant, recruiting nothing, or sometimes having no garrison even. This made faster expansion easier. AI recruitment since then has already been heavily patched, and so was AI construction and balancing. A better experience is already built. - Such rapid expansion was also made easier due to the much diluted form of native discontent after conquest, which is a section of Joysong's cultural tension features for AE. At this stage, I have reached the tech allowing Augustan legionaries, as well as a tech unlocking recruitment of standardized Auxilia. - In earlier builds, Marian reforms did not function properly. Therefore, when running this campaign, I also ran a 1 turn per research mod to get to the Marian reforms to ensure its functionality. In a normal campaign however, the Marian reforms, provided techs are chosen sensibly and you do not simply rush to the tech, are only available at a tech reached by my estimation at the 80 turn mark. - The Selucid Empire retained its Persian lands for so long also because of Joysong's still early form of the Cultural Tension features. In new campaigns, the Selucid Empire should face a much greater internal threat. - Also, the economy has now been made much more difficult.
So, here are some images of my campaign, heavily featuring looks at different armies with different legions and auxiliaries from different geographical locations, made as accurate to reality as possible by UMC. Please note: Legions you see and their AOR units may not necessarily originate from the province you see them in in the images, they simply have moved around. Some extra images of AI armies and their compositions also are in place, but as I said, in newer builds, this has been improved a lot, even for non-dormant factions. Please enjoy and let us know your thoughts!
Last edited by UMCenturion; April 20, 2018 at 01:12 PM.
I hope the legions are not over powering, they need to be good but allow strategy to win the day.
The first thing I noticed after the marian reforms was how expensive the units got. Since units like Hastati and Socii Hastati are not AOR like the legionaries are, you are forced to disband then recruit new legionaries instead of instantly upgrading, otherwise all upgraded legionaries would be of the same kind, which we do not want. Anyway, so with this extremely increased cost, you will be forced to reduce your numbers from your pre-marian armies considerably. Cavalry, especially legionary cavalry, will become very expensive indeed. You will most certainly be forced to rely on auxiliaries too rather than stick to legionaries only.
Edit: by expensive I meant unit upkeep. You will not be able to maintain higher quality units without having to decrease your numbers, at least for the first 20 or so turns.
Last edited by The_Blank97; April 20, 2018 at 03:20 PM.
It adds more depth and caution, but also promotes the use of spending more turns besieging. You will also definitely (by my experience at least) want to siege past the supply point of the garrison, because after this they suffer extremely heavily from attrition.
A dream come true to see the campaign in such beautiful detail thanks Blank. Did you find the politics aspects, the family tree remind you of Rome 1? Did it force you to use economics, investment? I am playing a Carthage DEI campaign and things went real crazy, my leader got crazy so he purged the whole Government starting a civil war, and every province I built I had to invest a lot. Every seizure of territory was calculated. Did you exp anything like this I your play through?
Is this like an advanced version of DEI? And do city sizes on the campaign map expand ?
So I can besiege a city, but it can’t be done so quickly as you do in Vanilla if I am right? You are able to besiege port cities, there must be lots, with fleets?
This campaign map reminds me of Shogun 2 of when it was announced ( I mean it looked all new and stuff at the time) Ancient Empires....it’s like a whole new....I don’t know God of War....it’s just something fresh. Refreshing.
And that that screenshot of the Roman legion in Egypt....I read a novel of Simon Scarrow using Marcus and Cato to travel to Egypt.
Last edited by The Wandering Storyteller; April 20, 2018 at 10:04 PM.
Guys, I thank all of you for the positive feedback!
Originally Posted by San Felipe
A dream come true to see the campaign in such beautiful detail thanks Blank. Did you find the politics aspects, the family tree remind you of Rome 1? Did it force you to use economics, investment? I am playing a Carthage DEI campaign and things went real crazy, my leader got crazy so he purged the whole Government starting a civil war, and every province I built I had to invest a lot. Every seizure of territory was calculated. Did you exp anything like this I your play through?
Is this like an advanced version of DEI? And do city sizes on the campaign map expand ?
So I can besiege a city, but it can’t be done so quickly as you do in Vanilla if I am right? You are able to besiege port cities, there must be lots, with fleets?
This campaign map reminds me of Shogun 2 of when it was announced ( I mean it looked all new and stuff at the time) Ancient Empires....it’s like a whole new....I don’t know God of War....it’s just something fresh. Refreshing.
And that that screenshot of the Roman legion in Egypt....I read a novel of Simon Scarrow using Marcus and Cato to travel to Egypt.
I experienced something similar in another campaign. After my faction leader died, another went in his place, with the trait usurper. Adding on top of this, he was not influential and had a whole collection of more bad traits, like unjust ruler and so on. Loyalty was difficult to maintain with the large amount of generals and governors I had, and so I went into civil war. I think around 3 armies and a few settlements rebelled. When it was done, I was certain I needed to get rid of him so plotted his assassination. (killing him off in battle on purpose would be breaking immersion)
What about the faction leader of the Roman Republic, Blank ? Is it always your family's leader who's in charge of the whole nation like in vanilla Attila, or can any other generals that are not in your family be the faction leader as well ?
Awesome to hear this news! It means the roleplaying bit is def there, damn...what stories can we players craft with this mod???? The possibilities are endless!
What about the faction leader of the Roman Republic, Blank ? Is it always your family's leader who's in charge of the whole nation like in vanilla Attila, or can any other generals that are not in your family be the faction leader as well ?
Unfortunately, Attila has no republic type government at all, and everything has to be based on your family, and you designate heirs from your descendants. But this does not mean it will feel like a kingdom. You start with a leader with 3 sons, two of whom are not of age. You start with a relatively small political influence too. So what you are inspired to think of it as, is being the head of a political family rather than all of Rome. The modders are currently working on a mechanism that, when certain criteria are met, the Roman Republic's name is altered into Roman Empire, with the effects that come with it, perhaps long term influence bonuses, tax bonuses, and short term loyalty penalties due to this abrupt consolidation of power.
FIRST LATE-STAGE CAMPAIGN PREVIEW
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Re: FIRST LATE-STAGE CAMPAIGN PREVIEW
Originally Posted by Totalknight
