Swap 2012

[comrade_general]

lol yeah! That is an RTW inevitability.

[Phoenixguard09]

Well done CG and good luck SotK.

Can we please get a bit of a run-down on the diplomatic situation with some of the other relevant factions CG?

Cheers,

[comrade_general]

Sure, a quick run-down shows that the Romans are at war with the Greeks and Carthage; the Gauls have managed to obtain many alliances (most Romans, Britons, Spain, Dacia); the Germans are at war with Scythia, Dacia, and the Britons; and Egypt, Armenia, and Parthia have already ganged up on the Seleucids.

[Son of the King]

Done. Hate Egypt.

Military:

- Greek treachery occured! They sent a couple of armies heading over to Ancyra, so Pharnaces followed. When the siege was begun, Pharnaces rode to the aid of the Peasants trapped inside. With most of the Greek forces killed, Pharnaces set his sights on Pergamum, and after a bloody battle the city was Pontic.
- The rebels blocking the road from Sinope were chased south, and the chasing army headed towards the bridges south of Mazaka, having noticed that our trustworthy allies Egypt were strengthening along the border.
- A large Armenian force came and wandered back and forth between Sinope and Mazaka, before leaving for their homeland a few years later.
- Egypt broke our allegiance! They besieged Mazaka, and were swiftly routed by Rhoemetalces  and his force who had been chasing rebels a year earlier.
- Having beaten back the first force, a full stack of Egyptians headed towards the bridges near Mazaka. Rhoemetalces blocked their path, and sure enough they attacked. A great victory was won, almost every Egyptian was slain and only 70 Pontic men fell. Not a year had passed before another large army had crossed the other bridge and besieged Mazaka.
- Pharnaces was besieging the city of Sardis when an Egyptian force arrived near Ancyra. He left the city to deal with these invaders. With them routed, he headed back towards Sardis.
- The decade ended with a huge battle outside Mazaka. Again Rhoemetalces lifted the siege, no little thanks due to the brave fighting of some Eastern infantry, who managed to fight off two units of Chariots whilst only losing 31 men themselves.

Diplomacy:

- We found a willing ally in Parthia, but they also allied with Egypt. When Egypt took a fancy to our lands, Parthia sided with them.
- The Greeks begged for peace after Pergamum was taken. It was soon broken again when they sat an army outside Sinope. Again they begged for peace, but before long the army had returned.
- Egypt hate us.
- The Selucids are almost dead.

[comrade_general]

Sounds like the Egypt-law of RTW has come into full effect. Nice job holding back those craven dogs! (or cats? Egyptians like cats right?)
Were you able to train any pikemen? They will be useful against those chariots.

Next turn ends at Summer 240BC.

Good luck, stormcloud. I think you'll need it.

[Son of the King]

Yeah we have a few units of pikemen trained . How do you think I was able to defend the bridge and lose only 70 men? .

Save is here.

[comrade_general]

Indeed

Hey, Pharnaces became faction leader! Sweet. 8)

[Son of the King]

Oh yeah I forgot about that . Also Armenia are allied to Egypt/Parthia iirc, so you may want to watch your northern border storm .

[Son of the King]

How goes it Stormcloud?

[stormcloud]

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[comrade_general]

Next time pay attention.

[comrade_general]

So, storm, how goes it?

[Captain Carthage]

Ok let's try this, I'll join.

Note: I may empty the treasury building things.

[comrade_general]

Added you to the list.

[stormcloud]

This is my first time playing Rome Total war in years, so I expected it to go horribly, but in the end it went ok, the battles are like riding a bike.
Incoming bulleted wall of text

• First turn I accidentally moved an army around some mountains to get at an Egyptian army, resulting in it needing two turns more to travel, I started cleaning some rebels up, in their turn  the Egyptians (the ones I accidentally went round the mountains to get) besieged Ancyra, home to thee units of peasants and a family member


• Second turn I move a unit of peasants to Sinope and disband them, raising it's settlement level, also use the group of troops to siege Sardis


• I take Sardis then command the 3 peasant units vs the Egyptians at Ancyra, the loss in inevitable but I use the leaders heavy cavalry to repeatedly charge the units engaging the peasants in the town centre, this scores 250 kills for the cavalry, and 14 for the peasants before the town falls


• Faction leader dies of age, i build some units and stuff and ceasefire with Seleucid, I don't want any sneak attacks, the Egyptians are bad enough


• I reclaim Ancyra, and have an AI assisted reinforcement group, the AI thinks it's a great idea to headlong charge the faction heir into a wall of phalanx, which ends predictably I lose 60 dudes and the AI loses 400, when Egypt gets its turn at least 4 stacks emerge from the mountains, not good (My notes say "incoming Egypocalypse")


• I consolidate and army build, maxing taxes with happiness, Ancyra gets sieged by 2 Egypocalypse stacks


• I take on one of the siegeing stacks that's apart from the rest, I use skirmish tactics vs the greater numbers, thanks to them having no missiles I get 500 kills for 5 losses before they retreat, I then advance on the second siegers, who withdraw, I swap in some extra light cavalry from the town, Mazaka then gets sieged


• I start a fight with 2 stacks, the reinforcements are delayed so I engage, withdrawing when they arrive, however a unit or archers derp out and get caught, 650kills 320 losses, mostly the archer unit that gets wiped. Crecian archers get about 200 kills, they're awesome, KEEP THEM ALIVE

The game crashed mid fight somewhere around here, then a little later, so my notes are rather screwy, so here's some key points

• I sally at Mazaka, outnumbered 2:1 kill 550 lose 270 before moving back into the walls


• I shuffle around units, drop some of the more useless ones (peasants/eastern infantry seriously guys, eastern infantry aren't worth the upkeep) into settlements, because one thing we need is taxable people


• Mazaka falls and we lose the faction leader, Spotacus or something is the new leader, and is worse than useless, he as practically no command, decreases both happiness and taxes in cities, someone put him on a boat and sink him if they get the time.


• Been skirmishing for the most part, or catching single stacks on their own, have caught quite a few faction members on their own unescorted, good fun. some notable victories include 1334/1417 killed 134/1851 lost, 1353/1398k 137lost


• We are really outnumbered, but I like cavalry and it loves me back, so I'm building lots of heavy cavalry in Sinope

tl;dr: Egypt is trying to bone us and succeeding, however they often do stupid things with single stacks, snipe them.
REMEMBER TO CHASE DOWN PEOPLE FLEEING AFTER VICTORY IS ANNOUNCED, THEY WILL NOT RALLY AND IT'S FREE KILLS, MOST OF THE DAMAGE I DO IS BY REDUCING MORALE VIA RANGE MOVE IN THE TROOPS, BREAK A FLANK WITH CAVALRY CHARGE THEN WATCH THEM ALL RUN, EGYPT GROSSLY OUTNUMBERS US, WE NEED ALL WE CAN GET
Also all those kills give xp, we have lots of high ranked cavalry now
Save here