Extended Realism - Now in dreams!

[Mogan]

Yeah. The title says it all. I had a dream about an epic battle in the anicent era (not an actual one) after playing Rome: Extended Realism before sleeping. It was long, tiresome and it still hurts where that spear exited my body. Quinn, you and your crew have psychological impact on people.

So, I just had to share this. If you bother to read, please give me some feedback. Should I talk to a psychologist or not?


The dream started out with me as a Carthagian General, landing at the shores of western Italy with reinforcements for an army, laying siege to some city in southern Italy. Unfortunately for me and my men, as soon as the captain of the ships landing us (portrayed in my mind as my best friend) had set sail for Sicily, the Romans came (led by some classmates of mine), marching towards us at great pace. While our numbers were somewhere around 2,000-3,000, this was the Roman answer to the Carthagian intrusion, an army of over 40,000 men, sent to encourage the Carthagians to return to Northern Africa. In desperation, I commanded my army towards a small fishing village near the camp. We took the population there as hostages, among them a little Roman garrison.

We then set camp in front of the village, knowing that we had no other way to escape, except the seaway. But how would we get ships? I sent out 10 of my men, disguised as Italian fishermen, in two boats for greater chance of success. They were to sail for Sicily and get help. So, the issue. How to make a stand for approx. one week against an angry army?

It started with diplomacy. Me and the Roman General (portrayed by a classmate of mine which is somewhat arrogant) met in the middle of the field, to discuss our unconditional surrender. But, the fact that I held Roman Citizens gave me a tough bargaining chip. After the diplomacy broke down that day, I ordered the execution of 5 Romans, and sent them to the Roman camp. This infuriated the enemy, and the whole night we could hear the taunting roars and metal clacks of swords and shields, to frighten and demoralize us. But the attack didn't come this night.

Next day, the Roman army positioned themselves in combat formation, surrounding us with our backs toward the sea. The Roman General stepped forward, shouting at me to show some common sense and surrender. I blankly refused. At this point, my second in command and friend (in real life as well) pleaded me to disguise myself and flee the battle. I refused, and encouraged my troops by swearing that I'd fight by their side, until the end.

As the battle seemed to start, I positioned my archers behind the javelinmen, spread out to minimize damage from Roman Velites. Then followed a long and nerve-stirring javelin-combat, ending with both sides retreating, but my troops with the highest casualty. About 800 javelinmen/archers went out, and were confronted by over 2,000 Romans. After 5 minutes, both sides were out of ammo and fell back, but only 300 of my men.

Following this, the Romans prepared to simply push us out in the sea. They aligned their Hastati and Principles to fully cover our escape and force us to retreat to the water. I aligned the few, but veteran Phoenici and Libyan spearmen I had in 2 full rows, with an improvised Cavalry Unit of 200 mounted spearmen just to try pierce a hole and make a run for it. Then the Romans advanced.

The battle itself, was just caothic. No tactics or specific orders, just fighting for survival. I remember the Cavalry Unit being decimated by Etrurian Spearmen, and most of my soldiers were killed in combat. I also went into a duel with the Roman General, slaying his horse with my spear, which broke there, to force him fight on foot. My shield were also broken, but 4 of my bodyguards acted as shieldbearers for me, while I went on a rampage with two swords. I did kill the Roman General in hand to hand combat, but not without sustaining such damage, that fleeing were no option. Meanwhile, a few of my spearmen had punched a hole in the Roman lines, and about 500 of my men were able to flee. I made a final stand there with the rest of my bodyguard and those who didn't manage to flee the arena, and woke up when a spear from a Triarii pointed out of my chest. It seriously still hurts there.

Looking forward to go to sleep tonight. Sequel, anyone?

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

I'd be lying if I said I haven't had a dream where I fought in the ancient world...

[Lord Dakier]

Erm... I fought zombies. Lots of them. Was once scared of zombies that was till I watched Shaun of the Dead. Now I just laugh at how slow they move. Except the ones that run quickly... but thats what Left 4 Dead is for anyhow...

If it had anything to do with diplomacy... you couldn't of been playing Rome :L

[Mogan]

Just like Rome, the diplomacy didn't really do anything but buy time. The exterminating part was fun though.

I think I'll start playing Rome on a regular basis before I go to bed, just to see what comes out of it.

[lelouchx99]

You mentioned that your troops were demoralized in the night before the battle, I wonder how your troops were able to pulled it off by actually fighting against the Romans. Another thing is, in your battle, you have neither the advantage nor the heaven in your side. An army of merely 2000 will prove to be proven nothing against against 40,000, which is about 20x your size. A miraculous escape of 500 men would not be possible...Even if you did managed to ran away, roughly 2000 cavalries will haunt your routing troops down.

What I would have done is to do a blitzkrieg attack on the Romans' camp at night... which is WAY better than taking them head on (almost the same as throwing life away ).
I hope you have another good dream.

[Mogan]

I know, this wouldn't even work in vanilla Rome.

There was a reason for us standing our ground there, but I can't recall all the details. I only remember most of the battle itself, because I killed so many of my classmates.

I also recall there was a prelude to this, something with my gf being an oracle, predicting my fall etc. But, as I said, it was an ambush, thus leaving us no way out. The reason for not attempting a sneak attack in the night was probably because they were clearly awake and taunting us. I also remember the slaying of Roman civilians very well. It's very irritating that I can't recall any dialogue.

Well, my classmates do think I am psychotic.

And excuse the lack of total realism, after all it was a dream. But it was damn fun. I hope my next dream proves more realistic. Every odd 3 months or so, my mind kicks in and I have weird dreams. This is my first one so heavily influenced by Rome tho.

Great mod, and continue your work.

[Quinn Inuit]

Wow. That's a pretty awesome dream. Decent tactics, given the circumstances.

If anyone wants to get out some aggression on zombies, I recommend clicking the link in my profile. I'm also a reasonably well-known balladeer of zombie hunting.