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Brief Review; Aeternas Civitas
The Eternal City
Very nice scenario. Been playing it as the Romans, primarily. The unit strengths are good. I'd like to know how these numbers were determined and what was the idea behind them. Terrain was great, though one could wish for a better orchards/groves tile. Graphix are superb, as always with fairline units. The cities are good too, and work especially well for the gauls and germans. Techs come along at a good pace, despite the high number, and the tech tree itself is very interesting. There are some major delaying tactics hidden in it. It's nice how Roma is the only real production center. The other cities in Italy are easy enough to conquer, and fast, but occupying them is a trick, and money will buy you troops . . . but you might need the gold later.
Fun to play. It preserves a "tactical" element as well as a strategic. Chosing your terrain for a fight is VERY important. The map is immense. Largest Mediterranean map I've seen, IIRC. But it works, and the barbs/AIs don't seem to wander off into the boondocks too much. Movement is good for the map size--you can get things done. The improvements come along very slowly. You'll appreciate everything you get. Wonders even farther along. No idea what the hex editing was like, but it seems extensive, and to good cause. The whole diplomacy module is truncated, leaving off most of it, and cutting you off automatically. It works, if you're trying to tame an mge AI. They seem to remain remarkably peaceful if you just follow the rules, and only after multiple sneak attacks by moi did an AI player do the same.
There are a huge number of village units on the map and killing them gives a 150 cash reward. This seems okay, but . . . if you put together a boat/hastati (amphib.) team, it can jet around the shorelines and pick off the villages. Put three of these teams in action from turn 1 and the amount of gold you can amass is considerable.
This is a workable idea because of a problem. The pirate ships do not attack. I have never seen one do so. They do get in the way occasionally, but seem only put there to 1.) give the opening Roman fleet something to do, and 2.) take up a huge amount of time while they all move and make me watch. I discovered this in my now-abandoned Fall of Rome scen. The storms at sea don't ever attack. no idea why. I wonder if the sub flag has something to do with this? Maybe the pirates/storms need the sub flag too?
The barbarians were a mystery at first. They'd come boiling out of their origin cities . . . and stop. Late in the game, I'd come across cities far out on the frontiers surounded by barbs. Then it occurred to me why, and Keenen's barbarian paper explains it; fortresses/stackable terrain. At least they don't wander off into the blue. The problem with this is that it enables a very efficient, if not very enjoyable tactical method. The method is this; move a general through the mess of units next to the city. attack the single barb unit holding the city and destroy it. move in. Now all the other barbs will suicide attack your general, now full strength, behind a greatwall/city wall. Using this tactic, one can occupy Italy in 20 years, taking almost a city per turn. Out on the frontier the problem really becomes getting troops up to the point where your generals have conquered.
Nice scenario, I recommend it for ancient scen players.
The Eternal City
Very nice scenario. Been playing it as the Romans, primarily. The unit strengths are good. I'd like to know how these numbers were determined and what was the idea behind them. Terrain was great, though one could wish for a better orchards/groves tile. Graphix are superb, as always with fairline units. The cities are good too, and work especially well for the gauls and germans. Techs come along at a good pace, despite the high number, and the tech tree itself is very interesting. There are some major delaying tactics hidden in it. It's nice how Roma is the only real production center. The other cities in Italy are easy enough to conquer, and fast, but occupying them is a trick, and money will buy you troops . . . but you might need the gold later.
Fun to play. It preserves a "tactical" element as well as a strategic. Chosing your terrain for a fight is VERY important. The map is immense. Largest Mediterranean map I've seen, IIRC. But it works, and the barbs/AIs don't seem to wander off into the boondocks too much. Movement is good for the map size--you can get things done. The improvements come along very slowly. You'll appreciate everything you get. Wonders even farther along. No idea what the hex editing was like, but it seems extensive, and to good cause. The whole diplomacy module is truncated, leaving off most of it, and cutting you off automatically. It works, if you're trying to tame an mge AI. They seem to remain remarkably peaceful if you just follow the rules, and only after multiple sneak attacks by moi did an AI player do the same.
There are a huge number of village units on the map and killing them gives a 150 cash reward. This seems okay, but . . . if you put together a boat/hastati (amphib.) team, it can jet around the shorelines and pick off the villages. Put three of these teams in action from turn 1 and the amount of gold you can amass is considerable.
This is a workable idea because of a problem. The pirate ships do not attack. I have never seen one do so. They do get in the way occasionally, but seem only put there to 1.) give the opening Roman fleet something to do, and 2.) take up a huge amount of time while they all move and make me watch. I discovered this in my now-abandoned Fall of Rome scen. The storms at sea don't ever attack. no idea why. I wonder if the sub flag has something to do with this? Maybe the pirates/storms need the sub flag too?
The barbarians were a mystery at first. They'd come boiling out of their origin cities . . . and stop. Late in the game, I'd come across cities far out on the frontiers surounded by barbs. Then it occurred to me why, and Keenen's barbarian paper explains it; fortresses/stackable terrain. At least they don't wander off into the blue. The problem with this is that it enables a very efficient, if not very enjoyable tactical method. The method is this; move a general through the mess of units next to the city. attack the single barb unit holding the city and destroy it. move in. Now all the other barbs will suicide attack your general, now full strength, behind a greatwall/city wall. Using this tactic, one can occupy Italy in 20 years, taking almost a city per turn. Out on the frontier the problem really becomes getting troops up to the point where your generals have conquered.
Nice scenario, I recommend it for ancient scen players.
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