BATTLE STORY - Continuence of my Dacian Campaign

**Pelican Man** · August 31, 2006, 09:31 AM

Hello Darth mod team and Fans!!!

I have a little teaser for you today.... I was going to throw this battle in my story, but I couldn't hold it in. I played this yesterday, before seeing the GF, and wow, was it ever worth it. Really, Really Good Battle. Remember, the settings are h/h. Prelude to the battle: They laid siege on my northern city that they took earlier (took it back.

) THey had a full stack.. yes... full stack against my 10 units in the city. So, I send my faction Leader (the young one) With 12 units including him from my original west town, and he's about 23 I think.... well, he is already at 2 silver Chevrons, and command at 6 or 7 stars... cant remember exactly. Well, He had 5 units of falxmen, 1 unit of Spearmen, 1 Sarmation Cav, 1 Barbarian Light cav, 1 Light merc. Cav, 1 Bastarnae mercs, and 1 Illyrian Peltasts. In the city, I had 10 units of something. lol Well, this is how the setup was.

Dacians vs. ZE Germans

http://img424.imageshack.us/my.php?i...germansvh6.png

Well, In the front line, I had four units, 3 units of Falxmen (weakest in the middle :hmmm: ), and 1 unit of Bastarnae Mercs. The Bastarnae mercs and the 1 unit of falxmen had 3 bronze chevrons with weapon and defence upgrades. And on the Flanks, well, you can see from the image. Anyways, I Set up this way because of one reason, my Forces were delayed!!!!!!!!!!!!! So it was my faction leader, and his 11 units. 12 units total. anyways, so I set up like that, and just charged at them with my falxmen and bastarnae mercs. On the right flank, I had my Merc. Illyrian Pelt, Warband, and Merc. Light cav. On the left, I had a valourous unit of falxmen, light cav, and Sarmation cav. I brought back my Sarmation cav back on the right flank before I charged the center line. Anyways, I charged, (btw, the four units for the front line were in loose formation) and as I suspected, the center broke after a little bit, (but enough time for me to bring my flanks around) and their armies split into two. well, I sent my Spear Warband right at their cav, so they took on 2 units of cavalry ( the second Gen, and light cav ). While the Bastarnae mercs. were busy taking on 4 units themselves, (remember, the center broke) , I was actually kinda smiling (somewhat, cause im still outnumbered almost 3:1) Remember those Illyrian mercenary Peltasts??? well, they were having fun chuckin peltast in the backs of the spear and merc. warbands and axemen that were fighting my bastarnae mercs.

Then I charged them on their backs and held them their. I also sent my Sarmation Cav. right at their sarmation cav just so they could cancel each other out. well, I sent my gen. to hit the backs of the spear warband and Merc. Spear warband. They started to worry. lol On the Other side of things, My left flank was holding, But i knew it would not be long before they broke. So Then I got worried. All of a sudden, my center that broke, RALLIED!!!!!!!!!!

I sent one unit back on the left flank to hit the backs of the left side, and I took out my Gen from those pesky spear warband and sent my other unit of rallied falxment to their backs. So far, Im still not dead yet. :tooth: The Light cav that I had on the left flank was ready to do their business. They charged the General himself and held so that my Gen could charge his back.

I hit him, and held him there. Well, my spear warband are almost dead from both units of cav, they kill the second gen. and that unit starts to flee. Then, my sarmation cav. get help from those Spear warband that fought for their country. Anyways, I killed both Generals, but my army was so depleted, I knew I was going to loose, but then, My other army came!!!!!!!!!!

So I had to hold as much as I could until they arrived, but I ended up loosing My whole army except the faction leader, the Spear Warband, and then the mercenary Illyrian Peltasts. I had about a total of 100 soldiers left from the first army, but I killed more than 2/3 rds of their army. I was the happiest. I may not have won the first battle, but the second army that came in, just slaughtered them. ( I let the computer control my second army).

Anyways, That was a battle That I forsure thought I would win cause expecting the two armies. But, things didnt turn out that way. So, I thought I would forsure not have a chance, but I still took my chances. And even though I lost, Im actually really, really happy of how I performed against those damn german phalanxes. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the battle story, I know I enjoyed the battle itself. = )

THE P-MAN

**Eird-Way** · August 31, 2006, 10:30 AM

You jerk. I was just starting to get my life back in order, and now I've succumbed to my own Dacian campaign.

I'm playing on m/h and I have two things to say about the campaign in general. The first is that, with greatly increased movement points, the big map is actually working very, very well. The second is that, when you get right down to it, I am absolutely happy with the diplomacy system. You heard me. You just have to get a feel for how it works. I think people become dissatisfied with the diplomacy when they imagine the agreements to be somehow binding. They are not binding, but "enabling" you to do certain things, and you absolutely have to make good on them. The AI in the campaign has done a wonderful job of judging its interests.

The biggest example, of course, is alliances. I had an alliance with Scythia, Thrace, and Greece early in the game as we all fought Macedon. I left an open border with Thrace for twenty years. Eventually, I moved westward to encompass the rebels there, and the Gauls began to invade. I had Macedonia down to two cities, full stacks of enemies in sight, and they refused again and again to become my protectorate. Why? They had allied with Gaul. If they had hung in there, it was perfectly conceivable they still might beat me. They didn't, however, and I finally crushed them (although I had let them linger several years in order to keep my alliance intact). For several years after that, I kept troops stationed on my border with Thrace, but when the Romans started invading the Balkans, I took this as an excuse to honor my alliance with Greece and gain their favor by retaking the Adriatic coast, giving them Apollonia (I mean, who needs Apollonia?) and giving them enough money to retake Corinth. I've been waging intensely silly war against the Blue and the Green over the poor people of Illyria, with those worthless provinces changing hands again and again. I've finally won, though, but thanks to BI.exe I can't pull out my troops because the Romans will come straight across the Adriatic to snap up any undefended settlement.

When I made the mistake of pulling out most of my Thracian border-guard to help fight the Romans and Gauls (which, btw, I have never seen the Julii make it to the Alps), the Thracians couldn't resist the temptation to stab me in the back. Suddenly I was the black sheep of the Eastern bloc. The greeks pretended not to know me for a few years, waiting to see who would reign supreme. I never actually came into conflict with Greece (and still haven't, thanks to a lingering Roman presence on the Peloponnesus), and to this day have never seen a Scythian thanks to their eternal war with the Germans. After I crushed Thrace, all were friends again. Thanks to BI.exe, however, Thrace controls Nicomedia and potentially other colonies. I tolerate their piracy because their presence allows me to completely ignore Anatolia.

I'm approaching the late game, with auto-management and rising espionage. One of my generals, Scyles the Great, plunged deep into Gaul in order to concentrate their ire. At one point, worn down from endless sieges, his walls were stormed by triple his number of Germans. We stood on the edge of the central hill, as usual. Some axemen had engaged my spear center, but while their formation was still loose (i.e. the unit had not fully brought its weight against me), and German spear-hedges were coming up from the rear to reinforce, I charged both flanks with falxmen, light cavalry, and Illyrians, with Scyles thundering down the center, and the spearmen suddenly on attack mode. The combined effect was so great that all the axemen immediately routed and, as we chased and slaughtered them, all the spearmen immediately joined the panic without even fighting. It was the most glorious rout I have ever encountered. I actually had about 2/3 a stack of reinforcements coming, and my plan had been only to hold out until they arrived. They made it to my walls just in time to see the Germans in full flight!

I suggest that, whenever possible, you use spearmen on defensive mode to hold the center, and use falxmen to wrap around the flank. Their attack bonus is so great that, when attacking from behind, a falxman can kill an enemy with almost every swing.

**Pelican Man** · August 31, 2006, 11:01 AM

Hey Eird-Way, how long did you play for??? lol haha dont worry, everybody feels the addiction. = )

Anyways, nice story. Like the fact that you didnt get hit by Gauls or germans or thrace early. THey all decided to hit me all at once. lol I was very unlucky, but I so far have held my own. I'll be able to continue my campaign today after work, right up until the Detroit Lions Game. So probably about 3-4 hours worth of playing time. I cannot wait.

**Eird-Way** · August 31, 2006, 11:08 AM

About a week, actually. It's nearing 220 BC, so I guess I'm pushing 100 turns. I'd quit for a day, but in my save game there would always be some decisive battle needing to be fought, or some epic offensive for me to mount.

That's why I don't play on hard campaigns. Diplomacy goes crazy, and you can't hamstring your enemies economically.

**Pelican Man** · August 31, 2006, 11:11 AM

other factions actually can be Diplomatic in the Medium campaign??? Cause in the Hard campaign, everybody loved to backstab me, and never ally with me... exlcuding ofcoarse the dead Pontics, the Barely alive greeks, and the dead Armenians. lol Everybody else did not want to ally with me.

**Eird-Way** · August 31, 2006, 11:19 AM

Yeah, study the faction overview/diplomacy screens, and see where there interests lie. I wanted to make Macedonia my protectorate so we could be one big happy Helleno-thracodacian family, but they knew they had the might of Gaul on their side, so they held out. And I know that until Greece feels safe from the Romans, I don't have to worry about them (I keep half a stack in Larissa, just so they aren't tempted). I've actually had my diplomatic agreements suddenly start or stop other wars not directly concerning me, because one faction suddenly looked weak or strong.

People hate RTW diplomacy because they think of it in terms of, "You're my ally, send me some stacks!" What it really does is govern who decides to go to war with whom. And huge allied battles can happen if you decide to help guard allied settlements.

Like I said, the AI can judge its best interests, and it looks for undefended border settlements. Keep those in mind and you'll be amazed how interesting and realistic the campaign is.

**Pelican Man** · August 31, 2006, 11:25 AM

You know what, in my two years of playing RTW, I've never, and I mean NEVER, had an allied battle yet. Its so hard to gain military access. Even if I am allied with them, I ask for Military access, some map info, money, and they still will not give me access. It bothers me soooo much. And it is absolutely hard to get an alliance going with a decent sized faction. Even when I look at the faction overview/diplomacy screen.

I just dont get it. lol It never works. What do you think I could do with that....