Playing power-broker is a full-time job!

[QuintusSertorius]

I'm trying to play roughly historically, at least as much as the AI will allow me to. I've not been rushing off conquering anywhere out of turn.

It's currently 237BC in my game, and I have all of Italy, have taken Sicily and recently Corsica and Sardinia. I've got a legion and a mercenary army in Spain "restoring" the balance of power there. Basically I've been taking Carthaginian settlements, destroying all their buildings (but not the Barbarian ones), hiking taxes and waiting for the inevitable rebellion where they either go Rebel, or (as I intended) rejoin the Iberians. Thus far I've gifted them with two provinces this way, and saved them from destruction. Just two more to hopefully restore some difficulty for the Carthaginians in Spain.

I may have to come and do it all again in twenty years or so, but it gives me something to do...

However I've just learned in the meantime Macedonia have pretty much annihilated the Greek Cities (just one province), and last turn destroyed the Illyrians. I now have no Illyrian pirates to campaign against in 197BC! Given I'm playing PE with the 1.5 patch, can factions return from dead now? Or do you have to have BI for that?

Looking like when I've done with Spain, I'm going to have to take on the Macedonian juggernaught in the east. Maybe restore the Greek Cities and try to turn the Illyrian coast rebel. It's something to do at least!

Either way this game has really given me some serious pause for thought. Trying to play historically without keeping an eye on the lands beyond your borders could lead to some very nasty wars in the future.

Plus keeping the smaller factions alive is actually quite a fun little mini-game to play, defeating their enemies, driving off their oppressors, then hoping they'll recover their cities. A little funds helps too.

Anyone else been trying something similar, maintaining your enemies' enemies to keep everyone else weak and at each other's throats?

[morteduzionism]

First, thanks for the guide all that time ago. It's my playbook.

Next, have you tried the 4 Turns Per Year(4TPY) add-on? One of the features is the Roman Leadership System which somewhat recreates the Cursus Honorum. If you haven't already you should try Imperator II also. I think you would like it.

I'm trying to play roughly historically, at least as much as the AI will allow me to. I've not been rushing off conquering anywhere out of turn.

It's currently 237BC in my game, and I have all of Italy, have taken Sicily and recently Corsica and Sardinia. I've got a legion and a mercenary army in Spain "restoring" the balance of power there.

...What if there's a Gallic Incursion or someone sneaks elephants through the Alps? Are you prepared to handle that? I'm not saying it's going to happen......I'm just saying 'what if'...

Either way this game has really given me some serious pause for thought. Trying to play historically without keeping an eye on the lands beyond your borders could lead to some very nasty wars in the future.

Tell me about it. Try fighting with Greece/Makedonia over the Po Valley.

Anyone else been trying something similar, maintaining your enemies' enemies to keep everyone else weak and at each other's throats?

I've tried it repeatedly. I can never maintain the support and I never see any results.

In one campaign I had a diplomat on the Greek/Sarmatia border essentially using every means diplomatically to prevent Greece from expanding farther north. The ungrateful Sarmatian bastards...they wouldn't do anything to keep the city I kept giving them. They never sent troops. No garrison. Nothing. IIRC, I think they even rejected me a couple of times...they turned down receiving a city as a gift!

[QuintusSertorius]

Does the 4TPY mod slow building times by half? Does it halve movement distances as well? While I'd like more turns in the year (much more realistic, then perhaps resting in winter, with no fighting unless absolutely necessary), I don't if it just means the game is half the speed. Unless that also cuts down the amount of AI expansion.

How involved is the Cursus Honorum in the mod?

Is Imperator II another mod?

I keep hitting a bug every time I take Bononia (though I only want it to plunder it, then abandon for now), so I may start again anyway.

I don't bother expecting the AI to do anything smart - that's why the smash and grab. Either it rebels to Rebels, or the original faction. The Iberians similar to what you said refused to take the provinces as gifts. Bonus if it rebels to them is it gives them troops for free.

[morteduzionism]

Does the 4TPY mod slow building times by half?

If I'm understanding you correctly the answer is yes. Build times are adjusted(lengthened) to account for a year being 4 turns.

Does it halve movement distances as well? While I'd like more turns in the year (much more realistic, then perhaps resting in winter, with no fighting unless absolutely necessary), I don't if it just means the game is half the speed.

I think movement is untouched. The distance a character would travel in 2 turns is the same(I think) except this time only 6 mos would've passed instead of a year.

Unless that also cuts down the amount of AI expansion.

I think it'll take an act of a god(aka modder) to slow Makedonia down...

How involved is the Cursus Honorum in the mod?

hmmm...it's more of a military thing. Characters are considered "Disciplus" from 16-20, not earning command stars, etc; 20-30 they're "Tribunus Militum"(sp) where they serve as tribunes(you know); 30 they become qualified to be commanders and they become "Legatus Legionis" and get a Legion banner(ancillary); after 20 yrs in the military they earn the rank "Praetor" another banner; at 25yrs of service they can become a "Consul" and get the Consular Banner; there's some other stuff too. Other posts are Provincial Governor and Governor of Latium(both ancillaries)

You won't have characters becoming Pontifex Maximus(sp) or Aediles etc. I think there's a sticky with a better description than I gave.

Is Imperator II another mod?

Yes. It includes the 4TPY feature and changes some other things too. The only playable faction is Rome and their stats have been lowered to make it more difficult for the player. I highly recommend it.

I play Imp II essentially according to the guide you wrote. I love it. Fighting Pyrrhus and his elephants with an extremely weak group of Romans is...challenging.

[Tiberius Tosi]

[quote=QuintusSertorius;2706773]Does the 4TPY mod slow building times by half? Does it halve movement distances as well?


Yes, it does slow building time in half, but I find it's better to go back through the files and switch the building times to the regular. If you want to know how to do this just ask, or I could email you the file and you could just paste it in to your directory.

And no, it does not halve movement distance. With the 4 turns a year mod it may seem like time goes by slow sometimes and you may find yourself conquering rediculously fast sometimes. A way I find to make the game a bit more realistic is to try and starve each settlement out when I besiege them, or if I feel like fighting I will make a single battery ram or a single siege tower before the last turn, just adds to the fun.


PS- good god Solaris, I've never seen bactria get so big, and um, what version are you using that britain is still a faction?

[QuintusSertorius]

I'll have a go if the current game is still CTD-ing if I try to take Bononia or anywhere else.

[Solaris]

I took power broking to the next level, I totally decimated the entire modern Middle East (from the Ptolemaics) with about 3 or 4 veteran stacks, taking all of Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Judea, all along the Euphrates and every where in between, as far east as the Hyrcanian Sea. Destroyed all the buildings, let them rebel. Now the east is a vast rebel wasteland Though Bactria have made some inroads, but I'm playing with the ExRM which gives each region at least 1 stack of veteran rebels, so their progress has been stopped far away enough from my holdings (I kept Asia Minor, Sinope, Cilicia and Galatia and Cyprus) for my satisfaction. I left the Ptolemaics their original lands, which they start the game with (I then later engineered a revolt in Egypt proper)

Then I did the same thing to the Balkans, to stop first the Macedonians from becoming unstoppable in the North, and later the Greeks (as I wasn't ruthless enough the first time, hehe).

The only problem now is I don't have anyone left to fight, hehe.

Oh yeah, I did it to inland Africa towards the beginning of the game too.

Screenshot:

[QuintusSertorius]

In fairness, by 125BC that isn't an entirely inaccurate state of affairs, with most of the major powers gone and shattered.

[QuintusSertorius]

I limit myself to largely historical expansion, except where I'm plundering anyway, so fast army movement isn't an issue.

But reading some of the stuff about the 4TPY mods, doesn't sound like the population growth rates are fixed yet. Long as my current game isn't messed up, I can wait.

I might have to cave in and buy BI though to play some of the other mods, like ExRM. Haven't had any need so far, since I don't actually want to play vanilla BI (or indeed vanilla RTW ever again).

[Tiberius Tosi]

I limit myself to largely historical expansion, except where I'm plundering anyway, so fast army movement isn't an issue.

But reading some of the stuff about the 4TPY mods, doesn't sound like the population growth rates are fixed yet. Long as my current game isn't messed up, I can wait.

I might have to cave in and buy BI though to play some of the other mods, like ExRM. Haven't had any need so far, since I don't actually want to play vanilla BI (or indeed vanilla RTW ever again).

Yeah, population growth is a bit rediculous with 4TPY mod. I sometimes find myself sacking my own Italian cities just to keep them under 40,000 so they don't revolt on their own after like 20 years because I refuse to build them a royal palace to make the reforms historically accurate. Unfortunately I have never done more modding that "halfing" every number under construction time, so I would have no idea how to half population growth.

Solaris- Thanks, I've been wanting to download the extended realism mod for a while, just haven't been able to do it for some reason, well once I figure it out I shall have to try out britain

[morteduzionism]

Yeah, population growth is a bit rediculous with 4TPY mod. I sometimes find myself sacking my own Italian cities just to keep them under 40,000

Can't it be controlled by not building high level markets and farms in every city?

[Solaris]

@ QS, thank you - I take that as a compliment!

@ Tiberius Tosi, the reason they are so big is: 1. They stayed at peace with the Ptolemaics, and 2, I gave the furthest eastern provinces to them as a gift (for doing sweet f- all while I slogged away against the Ptolemies ), and finally 3, they've managed to conquer some of the more western regions, like Babylon and the like.

I'm using the Extended Realism Mod, you can find it in the Platinum section, under one of the subsections.

[Quinn Inuit]

The ExRM uses MC's 4tpy mod, so I can address some of your questions from my perspective.

Population: I can't figure out how to halve the overall population effects (positive and negative), but I did replace the grain resource (with another resource that now thinks it's grain) so you won't get 40k cities anymore.

Movement: the 4tpy mod increases movement a great deal for characters only, but I'm considering following the RTR TIC example and nerfing that a little.

Slowing building times: Definitely, and costs in general are way up in the next version. Full stacks are not a thing of the past in my betas, but even after 50 turns they're a rarity.

[QuintusSertorius]

On the original topic, I've definitely put the Iberians back on the map, they now have four provinces, with their original capital to retake from the Carthaginians. Given how hostile they are to me, I think I'll leave them to it. What I don't want to do is create a new superpower in the west that steamrollers the Carthaginians. Should be seeking peace with both, if that's possible.

Got some Gauls to plunder on the way home, might raid Numantia, and I think I'll try to turn Massilia rebel on the way home.

Still worried that I've got a CTD bug when I take Bononia, hopefully it was just a particular year not any time I try to take it. If so my game is well and truly scuppered. Since that's a target for 224BC which isn't far off...

[AqD]

Anyone else been trying something similar, maintaining your enemies' enemies to keep everyone else weak and at each other's throats?

Yes, by sending all the money away once I get more than 50,000.
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[QuintusSertorius]

I just keep things queued up in governed settlements (gives the governor a bonus trait, too).

Started a new game with an eye to keeping the small factions strong. This time I won't let Numidia and Illyria just be swallowed up. Not much I can do about Pontus, though, they're too far away.

[MasterOfThessus]

I say you should get BI, after all TIC is worth it

[AqD]

hmm I think high-level markets and farms bring more growth

The only solution I found, is to have good governors, as someone suggested to me. Now the academy is always the first on my building queues, and it's not uncommon to see a huge city with 30k happy people and is still growing
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[morteduzionism]

hmm I think high-level markets and farms bring more growth

No. I meant DO NOT build the high level market and farms. Only build as far as the first level farm and the second level market. Sewers too. Only build as high as the second level.

Won't that keep the population down? Of course I mean this should be done in the 'other' cities. "Other" meaning cities that are not major trade/troop centers.

[AqD]

No. I meant DO NOT build the high level market and farms. Only build as far as the first level farm and the second level market. Sewers too. Only build as high as the second level.

Won't that keep the population down? Of course I mean this should be done in the 'other' cities. "Other" meaning cities that are not major trade/troop centers.

Yeah you can choose not to build farms - but markets must be built I think. As long as the city grows, finally it would reach a new city level, in which you have to have the required markets to upgrade government, otherwise people would be very unhappy and rebel..
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