Scenario of the Week Club: scenario #1

[techumseh]

It's Justinian, by Carl Fritz. I think this is the best scenario by far on the fall of the Roman Empire. It not only does an excellent job of simulating the barbarian invasions, but also the counter-attack to reclaim the Western Empire lead by Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor. It's an excellent example of the value of a small map in a scenario. The events are great too. Enjoy! members.xoom.com/fambans/index
[This message has been edited by techumseh (edited February 18, 2000).]

[techumseh]

I can't get the link to work. Anyway, it's on the Carl's Scenarios for Civilization II site. Find it on Apolyton's Links.

[Paul Hanson]

I think I know what`s wrong, but I`m not sure. Give this a go:

http://members.xoom.com/fambans/index

[This message has been edited by Paul Hanson (edited February 18, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Paul Hanson (edited February 18, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Paul Hanson (edited February 18, 2000).]

[Paul Hanson]

No, I can`t get it too work either, but it`s not hard to find the site if you follow techumseh`s instructions.

[Hendrik the Great]

Found it.
Downloaded it.
Playing it.

Waiting a week...

[St Leo]

Carl's Scenarios

------------------
St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

[DarthVeda]

Can we criticize it now? And on this page?

[techumseh]

On this page, but wait till Thursday night to make comments, s'il vous plait. We want to give everyone a chance to play it first.

[Hendrik the Great]

May we start now? Or should I wait until tomorrow?

[Paul Hanson]

Good question.

Oh what the hell Hendrik, let`s give our opinions now! It`s Thursday night for us!

Overall, a good scenario. The artwork is original, if not a collection of masterpieces, but good nonetheless. The terrain is also especially good. The way that plains are used to represent areas near the desert gives a good impression of the actual terrain of said areas, and it looks good. The mountains are also very nice.

Playability was not quite as good, in my opinion. I got fed up of the scenario fairly early on because there was so little happening. A few more events would have spiced it up somewhat. It perhaps would also have done better to start at a later date than it did, because the interesting bits (Belisarius` campaigns, the revolt in Constantinople) don`t happen until quite late in the scenario. And the "The garrison at .... has switched sides" events early on do get a little bit annoying, but thankfully stop after a couple of turns.

The unit stats were good. Each unit had a purpose, and although not pointed out, were quite obvious (Limitanei for defense, Cataphracts for attacking out in the field, Comitatenses for attacking cities etc.) and this was one of it`s strong points, in my opinion. Unfortunately, and this is no fault of the author`s, but the AI wasn`t particularly good at using them effectively.

Overall, a pretty decent scenario, but one that does need some ironing out. Perhaps a slightly later starting date would help.

[Kull]

I've been playing as the Western Romans. At Deity, it really is "an uphill struggle"! But you CAN do quite well. Here's ten tips for success:

1) Complete that Palace in Ravenna on the first turn, or else.
2) Build barracks units in your unit-producing cities. Non-Veteran units are next to useless in this game.
3) Don't try to counterattack in Gaul (France) until you have plenty of heavy units.
4) Fortify Stilicho in Aquileia and bar the door to invasion from the East.
5) Put Veteran Limitanei from Milan in the Alp forts to north. Otherwise the non-vets will die quickly and you'll be inundated.
6) Don't waste your cavalry on offensives until you have a large force.
7) You are going to lose Gaul and England no matter what you do, so sell off your improvements in those northern cities and use the cash to buy units.
8) Try to stem the Frank/Goth/Vandal advance along the Burdigala-Tolosa-Arles line, but have your engineers build forts on the two mountain roads leading into Spain and the mountain road just northeast of Arles. Fortify them with several veteran Limitanei. Better safe than sorry!
9) If a massive barbarian invasion threatens your cities in Spain or North Africa, don't fight back. Have Diplomats and Transports prepared in a nearby city, and move in to buy the city back after it's conquered. The resulting bonanza of Noble Horse or Camelrider units is well worth the loss of a few city improvements.
10) Be wary of Original Enemy cities like Alemanni and Franks. They are full of excellent defensive units and you must have BIG armies to take them out AND secure the surrounding area to keep a counterattack from demolishing the weakened units outside the city.

One note on the design:

On the first turn every city went into revolt, which is pretty annoying.


[This message has been edited by Kull (edited February 24, 2000).]

[techumseh]

I thought Justinian was one of the most interesting little scenarios in a while. The AI really seems to work better on a smaller map. The tech tree and events together create key historical events very well. The author has done an excellent job of recreating the barbarian invasions which overwhelmed the Western Empire, using the original starting positions of the Romans and barbarians. The result of the invasions is also very historical, regardless of which civs are run by the AI. So it seems to be a good game regardless of which civ you pick.

I played 2 games, one as the Goths and one as the West Romans. In both cases, heavy cavalry was the key to (marginal) victory. As the Goths, I attacked in the west first, capturing Italy , southern Gaul and southern Spain. I then got into a drawn out war with the Huns in the east. Only gradualy did I get the upper hand by building noblehorsemen (heavy cavalry), the only reliable unit for successful attacks. At the end I had pushed the Huns back and captured the lower Volga and Caucusus regions. I had 9 points for a marginal victory.

In the second game as the West Romans, I traded space for time, giving up all of Gaul and part of northern Spain. In Italy, I managed to stop the barbarians from taking Ravenna and Rome. In Britain, I held London for half the game and managed to hold Isca against the Franks. I lost North Africa after the events driven invasion by the Vandals. By switching most of my production to Cataphracts, I was able to reconquer all of Gaul and north Italy as well as recapture London. In the last turn I made an amphibious attack to recapture Carthage, thus winning a second marginal victory.

I found both games to be fun and challenging. Justinian has very good historical accuracy, and seems to make a good game regardless of which civ you play.

[Hendrik the Great]

First of all I must say that this was a very challenging scenario for me. The relativly weak defenses made it quite difficult for because I normally tend to fight defensive wars with few but well planed counterattacks to win enemy key cities. So I really had to change my strategy here.

First I played with the East Romans and immidiatly lost Nikopolis within 2 turns. but was able to secure the remaining parts of my Europeaen posessions. Then I was stupid enough to get into a drawn out war with the Persians. I had significant success in the beginning but then was driven back to were I started and lost Dura Europos. However, I could hold on to the rest.

After several turns of military build-up I advanced under heavy loses to Phasis which I held for 11 turns when it was destroyed by strong Hun attacks. I then fortified in the Caucasian mountains, where I stayed all the remaining time.

During the same period I was preparing to retake Dura Europos and to move on Seleucia.
Both goals were not reached but the enemy had to suffer heavy loses.

A few years later Dura Europos was destroyed in my third Persian War but I was again pushed back. Antioch was under constant threat of being overrun but held. I then concentrated on keeping the small coastal region of the Holy Land.

A long pause followed when I started an offensive to reconquer Nikopolis and I actually advanced to and took Sirmium. When my adance was halted and a deadlock developed between me and the Goths. For the remaining time a war of nutrition began between me and the Goths who captured Sirmium one turn before the scenarios ended.
All counteroffensives into Goth territoty failed. Largest succes was the unsuccessfull siege of Visigoths and Sarmizegetusa which was removed by Goth reinforcments from Italy which was by this time was under basicly total Goth control. Also Vandal raids made me lose many valuable troops.

Under lose of many ships I tried to take Italy with only marginal succes. Rom fell to me. Which I was able to keep under a huge effort. Regium I took shortly and recaptured.

Then it was all over. I lost Belisarius who had defend Italy almost totaly on his own.
Just to be saved by the bell.

Later I played as the Goth and that was sure a lot of fun. Italy was a piece of cake. I captured everything from Rome southwards to Regium with a single Noblemen. Also I moved into France and against the East Romans and laid a decade long siege upon Constantinople and Thessaloniki.

I got into war with the Huns whom I repulsed and succesfully drove back into the Asian steps after several early setbacks.

Some notes: There are some things about the scenario that should be mentioned.

-Ships should not be able to make shore-bombardment. They had no sufficient equipment to do that effectivly. Also their range was so limited of their catapuls and balistas it could never have reached into land for more than a hundred meters or so.

-Where did Malta go to? I think it should have been there.

-I think there should be more forest in France, Central Europe and Eastern Europe.
It's the ancients afterall.

-The wrong kind of units had the "ignore city walls" flag. I dont't see how mounted units could possibly ride up the walls of a city.

-I couldn't find any amphibious units which made capture of one square island cities rather difficult.

-Also I would have appreciated more events about important historical happenings.

-I think the defensive units of the East Romans ahould be stronger. IMHO.

To conclude I still found it a very nice scenario. It sure could have some improvement but it was nothing that really ruined the game.The only thing that I noticed is that I lost interest in it as the East Romans quite soon because I wasn't making any real progress anywhere.

Still I would recommed it to give it a try. It sure is nicely done!
[This message has been edited by Hendrik the Great (edited February 25, 2000).]

[William Keenan]

Might I suggest that you guys write a review of the scenario for the Sleague.

[Paul Hanson]

Good idea!

P.S Who`s turn is it to pick a new scenario for this week?