Some hints for playing as Caesar in 77 BC

[Salvor Hardin]

WARNING 1: contains spoilers

As Caesar's campaign is one of the most complicated parts of this modification, I will offer some clues to those players who have reached this point of their SPQR campaign.

WARNING 2: you need hotfixes 1 and 2

OK. I have played some turns of a player who was so kind to send me his campaign, ChrisB, (thanks to him) and I think that I can give you some clues to becoming the First Man in Rome:

- Concerning the Helvetii: you do not need to destroy all of them. Just win a battle against each of their stacks. After that, let them settle wherever they can, except in Sotium. As it is one of the settlements you must capture in Gaul, you will kill two birds with a shot. Nevertheless, I must confess that in my tests I was lucky enough to kill both the King and the Heir of the Helvetii so I destroyed the whole faction and had no need to pursue the Helvetii all around the map.

- Concerning SPQR: the best way to deal with them is a bit tricky but it works. They will try to attack you EVERY TURN. But as they are scripted to sign a new alliance every turn with your faction, they will have to lift their sieges.

- Move your armies to Gaul, outside the Senate's reach, as soon as possible. This way, you will avoid being caught by any Senatorial army and having to fight a battle during the Senate's turn. If you recruit new armies in Cisalpine Gaul, a good idea is to send them through the Alps. The AI has not followed my armies there.

- Do not worry about your settlements being besieged. The Senate must lift the siege when their turn ends so there are no costs to the economy or units having their soldiers' numbers reduced. And you will be able to move any recruited unit during your turn.

- Nevertheless, prepare for the Civil War in Spring of 51 BC. There are going to be some nasty Senatorial stacks in Cisalpine Gaul awaiting for your return. And the scripted alliance is not going to be available anymore.

- On the good side, you will have enough money to recruit decent armies for some time. But beware, as all good things...

In spite of all of these advices, be sure that I will go on trying to improve this game.

[Ektoras1]

why do I start all north to the map with Caesar? how do I get down to rome he can't move.

[Salvor Hardin]

Well, Caesar is not supposed to be playable from the start. If you play a SPQR campaign and successfully reach the year 58 BC the advisor will appear and give you the choice to play as Caesar. Clicking on the advisor's portrait will give you control of the Caesariani, properly placed in the map. Clicking on the dismiss button will let you go on with your SPQR campaign.

[Ektoras1]

thx.

now I get it

[Emperor of Europe]

So I made it to 58 BC and (of course ) chose to continue with Caesar. I'm a bit confused though and hope someone can shed some light on a few points:

1. Caesar's army is a horde unit. So when I took Bibrakte I lost them all, lost my horde status and immediately went into -10,000 denarii or so a turn. What was I supposed to do?

2. I defeated the three Helvetii stacks, but didn't kill them all. So they continue to roam around Cisalpine Gaul and I let them be, because they are no threat. Should I end their misery in order to continue a script?

3. I guess I have to start the war in Gaul myself by attacking them. Is that right?

thnx/EoE

[Salvor Hardin]

1. Ops, you play fast, man. I tested some turns with Caesar and I thought I had arranged some sort of economic balance for this faction. Now I can see that I was wrong. Although I should not tell you this: cheat a bit. Open the console and write "add_money 40000". This should help while I add the necessary fixes to the script.

2. Let the Helvetii live as long as they do not threaten Sotium. It is one of the towns they must own to win the game!

3. That is right. Start De Bello Gallico without further delay, as you are going to require a strong power-base in order to face the Senate soon.

Hope this helps!

[Emperor of Europe]

1. Ops, you play fast, man. I tested some turns with Caesar and I thought I had arranged some sort of economic balance for this faction. Now I can see that I was wrong. Although I should not tell you this: cheat a bit. Open the console and write "add_money 40000". This should help while I add the necessary fixes to the script.

Yeah, well ... I cheated. I wanted to see where the script was going, so I autoresolved most battles. That's really just a testimony to a great campaign (and a lazy player!).

I will hunt down the tilde-key (to open the console) on my Danish keyboard until the Senate caves in and hands over the 40,000. Thanks.

2. Let the Helvetii live as long as they do not threaten Sotium. It is one of the towns they must own to win the game!

3. That is right. Start De Bello Gallico without further delay, as you are going to require a strong power-base in order to face the Senate soon.

Hope this helps!

Great! Thanks a zillion!

cheers/EoE

Oh, a thought: MAYBE the Caesar faction should start with more map knowledge and trade rights? After all: They are true Romans until proven otherwise.

[Salvor Hardin]

Oh, a thought: MAYBE the Caesar faction should start with more map knowledge and trade rights? After all: They are true Romans until proven otherwise.

Map knowledge is a bit difficult. There is a command, reveal_tile, but it does not work. Maybe I could spawn a super-spy for Caesar, though.

By the way, can you confirm that you are losing an average 10000 denari per turn? I need the approximate amount in order to fine tune the script...

[Emperor of Europe]

By the way, can you confirm that you are losing an average 10000 denari per turn? I need the approximate amount in order to fine tune the script...

Sorry, I saw this a little late and now I've overwritten the save game file. I'm pretty certain that the loss was in the 10,000 pr. turn range, MAYBE a little less. Wish I could be more precise.

rgds/EoE

[Salvor Hardin]

No problem. Have you been able to fix the situation? Are you already in black numbers?

[Emperor of Europe]

No problem. Have you been able to fix the situation? Are you already in black numbers?

Yes, more or less. I allow myself to cheat from time to time to allow for a Caesarean army of somewhat historical levels. It's the summer of 53 BC and to be honest I've probably given the faction something like 200,000 denarii.

I'm probably going to install the force diplomacy mod as well. When I played as S.P.Q.R. I captured Sotium and Oxellodunum - two victory conditions for the war in Gaul. I'll see if I can persuade the Senate to hand them over.

rgds/EoE

[Salvor Hardin]

Well, in fact there are no big consequences if you do not capture these two settlements. Have you already captured Gergovia, by the way?

[Emperor of Europe]

Well, in fact there are no big consequences if you do not capture these two settlements. Have you already captured Gergovia, by the way?

Ok, I'll let them be for now then. And yes, I captured Gergovia. Guess it upset a few Gauls.

rgds/EoE

[Salvor Hardin]

Ok, I'll let them be for now then. And yes, I captured Gergovia. Guess it upset a few Gauls.

rgds/EoE

. I would not have stated it better.

[boxo]

Um, I've just made it to 58bc with the 77bc mod switch 1.2 + hotfix 2 version, and I have absolutely no idea what I am doing again. The helper dialogue pops up at the start of the year, but as soon as you click the flashing popup the dialogue disappears, the map changes and the game starts running incredibly slowly. The actual text dialogue that you are supposed to read to find out what you are doing disappears a split second after it is displayed and there is no choice or option presented. I have the game saved at the turn immediately before the Caesar switch and this has happened 3 times now, there is absolutely no way to read it in the game.

[Salvor Hardin]

It is true that sometimes the advisor is a bit hard to catch. I am going to explain to you how the script works in this turn (and the purpose of it):

- The idea is that, when the player clicks on the script, the message appears. After some historical introduction it tells the player that, if he wants to play as Caesar he should click again on the advisor. Otherwise (i.e. follow the SPQR campaign) he should click on "dismiss the advisor". So far so good.

The script is programmed so that if he counts two clicks on the advisor (the first one to read the message and the second to choose the Caesar option), it gives the player control over the Caesariani faction. Some automatic moves are made, the game runs a bit slowly for some time and Caesar appears.

BUT, and here comes the problem, sometimes the game mistakes one click for two, therefore skipping the advisor's message and placing the player as Caesar.

Not much can be done about it, although I have noticed that if you click on the advisor while you are still receiving your faction's messages, you have a bigger chance to be able to read the message and, after that, to choose your option.

Anyway, remember:
- Clicking on the advisor: Caesar
- Clicking on "dismiss advisor": SPQR

Hope this helps and sorry for the long post.

[Salvor Hardin]

I wonder why I keep on getting double posts...

[boxo]

Well, the problem is that all that happens is you get the adviser flashing, but it says nothing - it just flashes, no dialogue balloon next to it at all. You click it, some dialogue comes up, and that disappears completely too. There was nothing to indicate that there was even a choice there about playing with caesar or not.

Still, now I know. Thanks again.

[boxo]

dp