Trying to create my own story

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Hi there

Downloaded DEI, but I don't want to play it just according to stats and figures and stuff.

I want some immersion to create my own story. In Napoleon, I managed to wreck the Austrians, devastate the Prussians, obliterate Russian armies sent to me, and my Marshalls were the most respected in Europe! I created several client states that were loyal to me. I was immersed in that era.

Not too sure how DEI can do this for me. I want to create a story where I play a Germanic tribe and conquer Rome, or I want to re-in-act Glaidator.

So how can do I do this? Is there anything that can get me involved in the Ancient World like you did in RTW 1?

How do I immerse myself playing the Romans/Parthians or Germans?

[Delicate Strawberry]

Playing as Egypt, I rename the armies into 'Legeons' based on the regions in Aegyptos, for example, 'Legeon I Ta-Shemau'. Once I have that I decide whether my general, based on his personality, if he will be a governor or a general, whether they will release, enslave, or kill prisoners etc. I give each army a different set of units, such as the faction leader gets more heavy infantry, but less skirmishers, my governor gets a lot of levies and basic swordsmen. I usually aim to take one province at a time, secure it, and move on, but thanks to the AI realising my weakness in sending all my forces into one area, usually attack me and I have to send an army back. I find it helps to make up armies with the native troops if you conquer them. I conquered Aethiopia and used a lot of their archers and heavy infantry, to bolster that part of my army that was lacking.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Playing as Egypt, I rename the armies into 'Legeons' based on the regions in Aegyptos, for example, 'Legeon I Ta-Shemau'. Once I have that I decide whether my general, based on his personality, if he will be a governor or a general, whether they will release, enslave, or kill prisoners etc. I give each army a different set of units, such as the faction leader gets more heavy infantry, but less skirmishers, my governor gets a lot of levies and basic swordsmen. I usually aim to take one province at a time, secure it, and move on, but thanks to the AI realising my weakness in sending all my forces into one area, usually attack me and I have to send an army back. I find it helps to make up armies with the native troops if you conquer them. I conquered Aethiopia and used a lot of their archers and heavy infantry, to bolster that part of my army that was lacking.

Hmmm...this is interesting. I think Ptolemic armies really would have relied on the use of native troops rather than Hellenic troops. So how historical are you trying to go with this?

[Delicate Strawberry]

Hmmm...this is interesting. I think Ptolemic armies really would have relied on the use of native troops rather than Hellenic troops. So how historical are you trying to go with this?

Semi-historical, I prefer my own army compositions, but I try to make it somewhat accurate, same with the territory, I usually follow the objectives, partly for structure, partly for fun.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Semi-historical, I prefer my own army compositions, but I try to make it somewhat accurate, same with the territory, I usually follow the objectives, partly for structure, partly for fun.

What about in historical terms? Like if you wanted to revive the fight against the Selecuids in Raphia 272 BC? or if I wanted to replay the Four Emperors campaign, etc?

[Swarbs]

Rome is quite easy to immerse yourself into, with the way the Senate is set up. Make use of the political tools to try and keep a balance between all three parties and the other factions, discrediting anyone who gets too influential and helping out any party which loses gravitas by sending one of their generals on a war of conquest. Just like the actual Romans did - Caesar precipitated his rise to power by conquering Gaul, then others started working against him, similarly for Scipio after his victories against Carthage. Don't make every general do what is best for the faction, make them do what is best for their own family even if that means sometimes they are late to a battle and leave another character outnumbered.

Also Rome's foreign relations is basically a case of waiting for other factions to go to war and supporting one against the other in order to gain territory. You can make a really immersive experience that way - such as if war breaks out in Greece and a general who was acting as a governor in Magna Graecia decides to support one side, raises an army and conquers new territory. Then the other families have to work out how to respond to this guy's new influence and deal with the new land - do they support him with more troops and share the glory, leave him to try and secure the land himself and maybe get more powerful, or try and move one of their own into Magna Graecia as a replacement governor. And when a character dies, particularly a powerful one, make it a free for all with every faction member trying to move into the power vacuum created.

The Germanic tribes need a bit more creativity, but the confederation mechanic can be a good way to build immersion. Instead of conquering people of the same blood, try and build a confederation peacefully by helping them in wars against their enemies and gradually work your way up from non aggression to alliance and confederation. The ultimate aim is to build a confederation that will be strong enough to compete with Rome for influence in Gaul, and then move on to conquering Rome itself. The same principle can be applied to the Arveni and Iceni or any other tribe - never conquer a faction with the same blood unless you have no choice, and instead always try to ally with them against other blood lines to form confederations. Then take those confederations to war to conquer new lands.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Rome is quite easy to immerse yourself into, with the way the Senate is set up. Make use of the political tools to try and keep a balance between all three parties and the other factions, discrediting anyone who gets too influential and helping out any party which loses gravitas by sending one of their generals on a war of conquest. Just like the actual Romans did - Caesar precipitated his rise to power by conquering Gaul, then others started working against him, similarly for Scipio after his victories against Carthage. Don't make every general do what is best for the faction, make them do what is best for their own family even if that means sometimes they are late to a battle and leave another character outnumbered.

Also Rome's foreign relations is basically a case of waiting for other factions to go to war and supporting one against the other in order to gain territory. You can make a really immersive experience that way - such as if war breaks out in Greece and a general who was acting as a governor in Magna Graecia decides to support one side, raises an army and conquers new territory. Then the other families have to work out how to respond to this guy's new influence and deal with the new land - do they support him with more troops and share the glory, leave him to try and secure the land himself and maybe get more powerful, or try and move one of their own into Magna Graecia as a replacement governor. And when a character dies, particularly a powerful one, make it a free for all with every faction member trying to move into the power vacuum created.


The Germanic tribes need a bit more creativity, but the confederation mechanic can be a good way to build immersion. Instead of conquering people of the same blood, try and build a confederation peacefully by helping them in wars against their enemies and gradually work your way up from non aggression to alliance and confederation. The ultimate aim is to build a confederation that will be strong enough to compete with Rome for influence in Gaul, and then move on to conquering Rome itself. The same principle can be applied to the Arveni and Iceni or any other tribe - never conquer a faction with the same blood unless you have no choice, and instead always try to ally with them against other blood lines to form confederations. Then take those confederations to war to conquer new lands.

I could never understand DEI's food supply and system, are there any guides for 1.1 with this? I might do that, but I can't find Rome's system really immersive but I'll have a try. Now how would I make every general do what is best for their own faction?

I'll def try out the Germanic suggestions, and def see what I can do with it.

Any tips on increasing immersion with the Parthians?
I love the 2nd suggestion, but how exactly would I play this out? So if Athens declared war on Sparta, and my governor was in Magna Graecia, he would then go and attack the Atheanians? Its a bit confusing, but could you show me some screenshots to show what you mean? I'll try and follow that one out as well.

[Delicate Strawberry]

Do you mean specific things that happened historically? Or just try to reenact things?

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Do you mean specific things that happened historically? Or just try to reenact things?

Both.

[philler]

I think it is quite easy to create some story in this game especially with new diplomacy system and DEI mode. You can for example order your allies to attack specific hostile city or army (something you could not do in previous series), so the story-making is more in the hands of thre player I think. For example, I am playing for Gauls right now and as someone did say here, I established a gaullic confederation with aim to punish Rome for their historical abuse of this territory. No, it is not in accordance with history (Rome actually subjugated gaullic settlements), but I find it way more enjoyable, when you can actually reverse the history by your actions thats just one of thousands example of great possibilities of role playing.

[FlashHeart07]

Both.

Have you tried the historical battles? They are pretty nice actually. Only a single battle, I believe, but they are well.. historical and you get a small background and such.

[Delicate Strawberry]

I don't usually try to re-enact too much, I'm a slow player, so racing to keep up with targets doesn't interest me much haha. I like growing slowly, getting it organised and allocating it it's role.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

I think it is quite easy to create some story in this game especially with new diplomacy system and DEI mode. You can for example order your allies to attack specific hostile city or army (something you could not do in previous series), so the story-making is more in the hands of thre player I think. For example, I am playing for Gauls right now and as someone did say here, I established a gaullic confederation with aim to punish Rome for their historical abuse of this territory. No, it is not in accordance with history (Rome actually subjugated gaullic settlements), but I find it way more enjoyable, when you can actually reverse the history by your actions thats just one of thousands example of great possibilities of role playing.

Yep, actually that's what I'm aiming for. Expand historically, and then reverse history. That's my real goal. Mine might be different as I prefer historical methods. But hey, those are good suggestions and I'll def have a look at that

Have you tried the historical battles? They are pretty nice actually. Only a single battle, I believe, but they are well.. historical and you get a small background and such.

Rome 2's historical battles are excellent to play with, I wish Carthage would be more bigger, and they could be bigger. Heck, TW historical battles from NTW have been pretty excellent to play with. Tuetoberg Forrest is by far one of the best yet under-rated battles to date. I wish there were more battle maps like this being created.

I don't usually try to re-enact too much, I'm a slow player, so racing to keep up with targets doesn't interest me much haha. I like growing slowly, getting it organised and allocating it it's role.

Ah I see, I try to do historical, because these games are about reversing history, each to their own really.

[BMLlednar]

Personally, I prefer defying history to following it. To that end, one idea I'd suggest is overcoming your would-be conquerors as a unified nation of British natives. Play as the Iceni, confederate with all possible tribes, then conquer Rome rather than the other way around! I've tried this myself, but was hampered by my complete inability to comprehend the Iceni playstyle. Instead, I play Egypt and lament the inability to restore a true Egyptian empire. The Ptolemaic empire is really more a Greek empire that happens to be centered in Egypt.

[Kjertesvein]

The best thing about using Rome for these things is the vast amount of ingame content (legions, multi-reforms, houses, massive amount of local Romanized units) with huge amount of premade stories from popcultre's Rome series to actual history. There is so much to grasp inspiration from. You can have one situation between a dignitary and a general who's invading Scotland, while you have a completely different "scene" in Syria where two dual emperors of the Julia family tries to wrestle for control against the natural elements and their complicated struggle for power. There is never a dull moment. If you try to do the same with Suebi, then you quickly find that you're limited to fighting in forests... and not much else to fuel your imagination.

The new Arch-types makes it ridiculously easy to come up with plots and story lines. You read it and instantly think of a character in RL, a game, book, tv-sitcom, movie, etc. For example the new Emperor was bold, his arch type was a bit on the crazy side so the natural part for me was to imagine that the Triarii units in his army wanted him him to die in a battlefield. At this time, the Marian Reform also happened, which meant there was ample opportunity to create a shift in the army hierarchy. I tried my hardest to kill my new Emperor in battle. Sending him dismounted with a few Apulian Infantry into battle while the rest of his army hanged back outside the city walls. Unfortunately for the Triarii, the whole detachment got slaughtered except for the emperor and 5 of his bodyguards who manage to flee the scene. They retreated in a direction so that they walked past the Triarii who waited there (yes, it was as awkward as it sounds). 2 other battles with the same result, but he still survived. The result was that the Triarii units were killed (deleted) as soon as they returned home to Italy and replaced by a new elite force.

The most important thing for me was realizing that what you think is a sensible thing to do is wrong from the perspective of the characters. Another instant happened when a new general from the small Cornelia family was tasked to capture a minor region in Africa as a diplomatic gesture with the Ptolomy. A new legion was established, and by looking at the Arch-type I had an anxious Cornelia general. Not a good trait for a general, which meant that he got the short end of the stick when it came to what soldiers to bring along with him on the campaign from Italia. The military Governor of Brundisium of the Junia family who was tasked with producing legions had a Egotistic Arch-type, which meant he was really greedy fellow. This meant our poor Cornelia general was given Legionarii Capite Censi (vagrants). He didn't even get a Veteran agent to advice him on his first campaign, but instead got a woman spy with a "witty tongue". What a disgrace!

The Legion sat sail for Africa on a calm day, but half way there it dawned on me that I (yes, me) had forgot to recruit a Baggage Train unit with my new Africa Legion. The consequences of not bringing proper logistic into a desert region would be catastrophic. At this point I could go back, pretend it didn't happen, and restart. Instead I continued the expedition without a Baggage Train. The Africa Legion landed in Garmantia and 3 turns in the Legion begun to starve. 5 turns of constant march through the desert and 70% of the forces were killed by attrition. That greedy Junia general, damn him! -My general probably. http://imgur.com/62GkjZm&VXHLKlo&uqRUMcY

my 2 copper pennies,

~Wille

[The Wandering Storyteller]

The best thing about using Rome for these things is the vast amount of ingame content (legions, multi-reforms, houses, massive amount of local Romanized units) with huge amount of premade stories from popcultre's Rome series to actual history. There is so much to grasp inspiration from. You can have one situation between a dignitary and a general who's invading Scotland, while you have a completely different "scene" in Syria where two dual emperors of the Julia family tries to wrestle for control against the natural elements and their complicated struggle for power. There is never a dull moment. If you try to do the same with Suebi, then you quickly find that you're limited to fighting in forests... and not much else to fuel your imagination.

The new Arch-types makes it ridiculously easy to come up with plots and story lines. You read it and instantly think of a character in RL, a game, book, tv-sitcom, movie, etc. For example the new Emperor was bold, his arch type was a bit on the crazy side so the natural part for me was to imagine that the Triarii units in his army wanted him him to die in a battlefield. At this time, the Marian Reform also happened, which meant there was ample opportunity to create a shift in the army hierarchy. I tried my hardest to kill my new Emperor in battle. Sending him dismounted with a few Apulian Infantry into battle while the rest of his army hanged back outside the city walls. Unfortunately for the Triarii, the whole detachment got slaughtered except for the emperor and 5 of his bodyguards who manage to flee the scene. They retreated in a direction so that they walked past the Triarii who waited there (yes, it was as awkward as it sounds). 2 other battles with the same result, but he still survived. The result was that the Triarii units were killed (deleted) as soon as they returned home to Italy and replaced by a new elite force.

The most important thing for me was realizing that what you think is a sensible thing to do is wrong from the perspective of the characters. Another instant happened when a new general from the small Cornelia family was tasked to capture a minor region in Africa as a diplomatic gesture with the Ptolomy. A new legion was established, and by looking at the Arch-type I had an anxious Cornelia general. Not a good trait for a general, which meant that he got the short end of the stick when it came to what soldiers to bring along with him on the campaign from Italia. The military Governor of Brundisium of the Junia family who was tasked with producing legions had a Egotistic Arch-type, which meant he was really greedy fellow. This meant our poor Cornelia general was given Legionarii Capite Censi (vagrants). He didn't even get a Veteran agent to advice him on his first campaign, but instead got a woman spy with a "witty tongue". What a disgrace!

The Legion sat sail for Africa on a calm day, but half way there it dawned on me that I (yes, me) had forgot to recruit a Baggage Train unit with my new Africa Legion. The consequences of not bringing proper logistic into a desert region would be catastrophic. At this point I could go back, pretend it didn't happen, and restart. Instead I continued the expedition without a Baggage Train. The Africa Legion landed in Garmantia and 3 turns in the Legion begun to starve. 5 turns of constant march through the desert and 70% of the forces were killed by attrition. That greedy Junia general, damn him! -My general probably. http://imgur.com/62GkjZm&VXHLKlo&uqRUMcY

my 2 copper pennies,

~Wille

Damn now that is some amazing experiences! I def want to exp this when playing Rome as a big empire.

Any tips for the Parthians, etc?

You say huge amount of premade stories - Rome series - how can I utilize this? Say I wanted to re-enact the Roman-Parthian Wars etc?

And how would I act out this scene between a general and a dignitary?

Yes with the Suebi not much as they are mostly tribes that aren't discovered until the Romans come around at that time.

How would I enact a situation where in RTW you used to have daily races/collesuem?

[Gilad]

Daily races / games just use the edict bread and games for that province.

Parthians I believe aren't super fleshed out atm, I know it's been on the agenda for a bit. Way I could see role playing Parthia is to just take your main province and then use client states to simulate the vassal states the Parthian empire really was and how a bad leader could lead to a lot of internal fighting and vies for power.

For me at least, what helped me enjoy the game more when I wanted to immerse a bit for historical purposes was to follow the objectives and bonus objectives. Guided me to a plausibly historical expansion route. Mind you this would have been a few major patches back last time I did this, so things may have changed a bit