AU 601: alexman's DAR

[alexman]

So far, I have seen it only inside a city, and right-clicking it doesn't reveal anything. I doubt it's anything other than a 2-Sword, 1-Hoplite Army though. That's the only Sword/Hoplite combination that would make it a 4-4-2 unit. 3 Swordsmen or 2 Hoplites in the Army would ressult in inferior stats (4-3-2 and 3-4-2, respectively).

[Arrian]

So, basically your Rider vs. his Samurai, then, eh?

-Arrian

[alexman]

260 AD

I was wrong, it's a 2-Hoplite, 1-Sword army.
No attacking that guy...

Russ had enough of our cowardly pillaging, so he blocked our way with Hoplites. Now we have to attack, or just sit there.

[alexman]

260 AD

The lone hoplite to the south fought bravely, as hoplites do, and inflicted an unexpected 7 HP damage to the Roman Army. The Sword-hoplite Army inflicted an additional HP damage from ZOC. At less than half strength (6/14 HP), Trajan led his army away from further conflict, pillaging the countryside as he sought a mountain refuge.

Athens, the great prize, could be seen undefended in the horizon, but Trajan's men refused to advance that far.

[Solomwi]

Dicey situation, it seems. I'm with vmxa on owing you guys something for the entertainment.

[alexman]

Double post

[alexman]

260 AD

Meanwhile, back home things were not going very well. The Germanics or the Babylonians (or both) just discovered Theology, because its price dropped without any research from our part. Theology was the technology that was supposed to make us rich and yield Chivalry and Invention 4 turns ago, before Russ spoiled our plans with the world alliance against us. Both Hammurabi and Hermann still refuse to acknowledge our envoy.

The Germanic forces are still harassing the northernmost towns of the Roman Empire. With the main bulk of the Roman army out of position fighting the Celts (among them, 11 Elite units, not counting the Elite*s), it seems quite likely that the walled town of Palmyra will fall to the barbarians next turn. Luckily, this town was founded by Roman settlers, so Caesar will allow his armies to get it back.

Oh, yeah, by the way, we got another leader.

[Arrian]

Brave hoplite indeed! You very well may lose that army if he's got any bombard units handy.

As for Palmyra, I think you've got a decent shot at holding it. It's got a barracks, so if that elite legionary survives this turn (and I figure it's got a decent shot of doing just that), you should be ok for a bit.

-Arrian

[alexman]

270 AD

Arrian, you were right on both. Palmyra held, and the Army was killed. Are your real life initials RNG?

So let us review what Trajan's leadership did for Rome. He took command of three perfectly good Ancient Cavalry units and led them to Greece. When Cleopatra declared war on Rome, he actually lost hit points when killing a lone Egyptian Archer. Twice! The signs of his poor leadership were beginning to show, even before he set foot in Greece.

When he arrived in Greece, instead of fighting like a man, he avoided the Greek army, choosing to pillage the countryside and murder unarmed workers instead. When he was finally cornered by single hoplite unit, despite the odds being heavily in his favor, he lost half of his men in the costly victory, and had to run into the mountains and hide. These mountains were to be his final resting place, managing to kill just one swordsman unit while defending.

But even if he will be remembered as a coward, Rome would not have been the same without him:

[alexman]

270 AD

With his Ancient Cavalry Army lost, Caesar turned to diplomacy to save his empire. Babylon and the Germanic tribes finally accepted his envoy, and they both knew the secrets of Theology. No trades were possible with them, which is too bad because they had a considerable amount of gold in their treasury.

So Caesar agreed to pay them both gold per turn in exchange for peace and most of their treasury. That way they had something to lose if they decided to break the peace treaty, and Rome got some much-needed cash for upgrading Horsemen to Knights.

Egypt agreed to peace in exchange for an Invention-Theology trade. Caesar realized that he had let Rome fall very far back in terms of technology, as most civilizations already had knowledge of Gunpowder.

Finally, Rome’s trusted ally, Carthage, agreed to send some slaves to Rome along with the secrets of Chivalry, in exchange for Theology.

[alexman]

280 AD

OK Mr. Hermann, I'm paying you 15 gold per turn for peace, signed just one turn ago. Instead of withdrawing your troops, you advanced your Knight towards undefended Artaxata. What is the meaning of this? Could you please withdraw your units from my swamp?

No? Sigh, back to war, but thanks for the free gold.

[Arrian]

Wow, so the Germanic AI is actually being a real nuisance, eh? Sir Ralph should be pleased.

Once you get Palmyra hooked up to the road net you will be in better shape.

I WISH I was as accurate with my RNG predictions as I seem to have been in this case. I think I've got a decent feel for how the combat in CivIII goes, but I'm often wrong and find myself pounding the armrest on my chair in frustration. Like if my 3x AC army had lost 7hp to a single hoplite on flat ground.

It seems Greece may be a tough nut to crack. I thought your AC army would do more damage (and indeed if the RNG handn't been nasty to you it may have, but it probably still would've gotten killed). Perhaps 2 4x knight (6.5.3, if I understand correctly) armies would do better

-Arrian

p.s. Real life initials: RTE

[vulture]

Originally posted by Arrian

p.s. Real life initials: RTE

You're an Irish television station? Who knew...

Only just got around to reading some of these DARs, and have greatly enjoyed this one. Now off to go and read jshelr's stuff to see what he has to say about the situation.

[Arrian]

NO! I'm no steenking Irish TV station! The last initial is for "England" (no freaking relation to that dip**** pyscho ***** torturer, however ).



-Arrian

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Arrian
The last initial is for "England" (no freaking relation to that dip**** pyscho ***** torturer, however ).



-Arrian

Heh, my first thought on the psycho torturer bit was Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund. Now, if you'd said fat West Virginia army skank, I'd have gotten it right off.