Advanced Hellenistic Era NES - Part 2

[appleciders]

Taking a break? Computer crash? I'm sure he'll be done soon.

[Tassadar500]

A computer crash that takes one hour?

[Micha]

UPDATE - 280 to 275 b.c.

Greece and Asia Minor
Macedonia
Athens, city of scholars and wisdom, is getting a big funding for both its defences and its academy!
As the wall is equipped with an iron coating at critical places (as the oil depots), the academy gets a second library and a new forum for even more philosophers to speak. The need for more accomodations becomes apparent as more and more people flock into the city just to enjoy being there.
To the north, the iron deposal is being mined by Moesian immigrants and a fort has been built to protect the mine. It has quickly developed into a small town, however, some funding is still needed to build basic improvements like temples and a town hall.
The rest of the budget was spent on ships and army, preparing for the naval assault of the Cyrenaica!
With all the ships more than 5,000 cavalrists with their horses have been ferried over to a place near Cyrene in the first run. Encountering no standing army the Macedonians established a bridgehead and got more troops from home.
During the second run, a few days later, the fleets got into a storm. Nine ships sunk, drowning
865 hoplites...
When the army was disembarked, the fleets split up. One fleet set sail to the Carthaginian waters in order to sink the enemy´s battleships, while the other ones went on a pirate hunt into the Aegian Sea.
There, Pirate activity has almost completely ceased since the patrols began, leaving no evidence of it ever happening. Strange ...
The Macedonian Battlefleet had to pass the waters south of Sicily, waters known for their wildness and inpredictibility. As another storm was forming on the horizon, the captain decided to not try his luck again, so short after the last tempest. The sea battle was postponed, for now.
For the campaign in the Cyrenaica see part „Western Mediterranean“.

Lydia
King Maeon rose to power in Lydia after killing his predecessor. However, the population doesn´t care too much as long as their situation isn´t worsening. One might even say the people don´t care who their king is, as they will know soon enough (when the coins with the new face are given out).
As one of his first duties Maeon saw the overhaul of the tax system; The corruption has been decreased and thus more talents are flooding into the royal treasury.
The army is being set to training exercises after many decades of simply sitting around. Success is evident as some of the soldiers get the do pushups for the first time in their lives..
Also many officiers have „retired“ to give their commands to younger and more capable men, some of them even from the lower classes! This reform is stirring up some trouble among the established upper class but has earned Maeon the respect of his army.
Because of the order to train and equip swordsmen, the trade advisor has taken the liberty of making a trade deal with the Bosporian Greek about importing iron for 6 talents a turn. This deal can be cancelled anytime as the BospGr. have been informed about the circumstances that led to it.
With a new palace guard and a strengthening of the fleet the new king has done his first step in achieving what has been before: The economic and military hegemony over Asia Minor...
Piracy in the region has decreased a fair bit, mainly because of many Aegian powers now let their warfleets patrol and engage pirate ships, which is scaring the latter off.

Sparta
After achieving a good coontract with the Romans, the Spartan war machinery is on the move. New ships have been built to transport the mercenary army to Southern Italy; The ships had to do ten waves of invasion in order to land the 33,000 troops. Because of the Roman maneuvers the Spartan fleet didn´t encounter any hostile fleet.

Italian peninsula
Upon the death of the former Emperor Laurentius Aelius Rome was in a state of grief and rage at once. With the invasion of Pyrrhus´ forces the security of the capital itself was threatened, and the lack of a strong leader in these times was percieved as a loss to Rome. The Senate however did anything it could. The Spartan Mercanary Corps, as strong as the Roman army, was hired for the battle. New triremes have been built, the old ones refitted with new iron rams. Naval crews got a short introduction in capturing enemy ships, and the captains were shown new naval tactics.
On the Hispanic coast the polis of Emporion pledged allegiance to the Roman Empire in exchange for being granted full citizenship and paying no taxes for ten years. However, the town was pillaged and burned by Pirates, so most of the citizen wo´t pay taxes anymore regardless of the treaty.

Crossing the Padus River once again, the second Legion as well as the Greek hoplites of the Apulian Guard approached the Celtic major settlement of Mediolanum. Being protected by palisades, the extremely old general Fluvius Camillus decided to not assault the city and instead initiated a siege.
After a week, the legionaries could hear the warsongs of the Celts from the nearby hills. The Horde has returned!
Reinforced by another 2,500 cavalry from various Gaul tribes it now outnumbered the Roman troops a fair bit!
The attack came at noon; A very strange time for a battle, but the Celts weren´t known for too much tactical genius...
As the cavalry charged, the Greek hoplites formed a semicircle of phalanx. Nine lines deep the giant spears pointing forward overlapped and thus formed what could be descriped as a huge hedgehog.
Not wanting to lose the speed, the Celtian commander led his force rigth into the phalanx in an attempt to brake through.
What followed thereafter could be called a bloodbath, but it wouldn´t resemble the horrible scenery good enough. Hundreds of horses died at the spears, hundreds of hoplites got smashed between the Attackers and their own brethren behind.
The Roman legionaries joined the fight wherever the Celts had been engaged in melee fighting, while more and more mounted warriors flooded the battlefield. On the brink of being routed, one of the Roman archers struck down Gardelik, the Celtian commander. With the Roman palm still held up high and the enemy leader fallen, the Roman troops suddenly felt sure of their victory and got a morale boost.
The Celts, of course, were little impressed and just kept on attacking, pulling back and attacking again.
At early evening, over three thousand Celtian warriors descended from the forest and joined the fight. Some of them equipped with bows, they targetted the legionaries and did considerable damage to them.
During the night the battle toned down somewhat, mainly due to the overall fatigue setting in.
But as soon as the first sunlight fell upon the scenery, the battle went on with full force.
This time the Roman infantry engaged their Celtian counterparts, fending off constant raids by the still numerous mounted barbarians. The lightly armed Gauls were among the best warriors in the world, but they simply couldn´t stand the superior Roman weapons, tactics and training. As soon as the enemy infantry was routed, all remaining troops turned on the cavalry. Eventually Fluvius Camillus managed to encircle the Gauls, which stripped them off their ability to gain speed for charges.
The following hours saw the heroic death of five thousand Gauls as well as many Greek and Roman soldiers. Among them, hit by three javalines, the great leader Fluvius Camillus at the age of 74.
The aftermath was devastating:
Twothousand hoplites dead or wounded, only eighty horsemen left in fighting condition, almost all footsoldiers dead and one-and-a-half thousand legionaries fallen. However, the Gauls have been utterly defeated, their leader killed and Mediolanum still besieged. This battle brought up the saying „to win a Camillus victory“ in Rome...

While blood was shed in the north, Pyrrhus didn´t sit waiting for his enemies to form an offensive. Instead he commanded an assault on Beneventum. Being reinforced by almost six thousand townsmen from Tarentum and Croton, his army outnumbered the defenders at Beneventum by three to one. Publius Cornelius Scipio, at the age of 77, didn´t want to sacrifice an entire Legion in a pointless battle with no chance of success, so he pulled back to wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
Most citizens left with the legion, so Pyrrhus found an abandoned town when he arrived. Plundering the city, he took care that no temple was harmed, as he planned to rule the Romans after their defeat.


At the same time the Roman fleet engaged the Greeks in the Ionian Sea just east of Syracuse. Catching the bait, Pyrrhus sent his triremes to sink whatever opposed his plans to win this war, as he was expecting the Romans to launch an invasion by Sea at Rhegion.
Expecting an easy victory the Greeks just approached the Romans catching speed in order to crush their oars. However, the Romans have learned new naval tactics and now applied the serpent formation. While the front attracted the enemy, the rear lines waited for an opportunity to ram from the sides; Some triremes even had catapults attached. They were used to kill any enemy on deck as well as to damage approaching ships.
This was learned by the Greeks pretty soon, as eight of their first-line-ships ceased to move after serious hits into the oarsmen´s benches.
When the navies clashed, the Roman tactic worked extraordinarily well. Despite losing many of the frontline ships to enemy rams, the catapults did a good job in damaging triremes and making way for the „marines“ to capture the ships.
This would of course have been much more effective, if the triremes actually had some extra troops on board. As it was now, the own crew had to be reduced in order to capture an enemy ship.
Nonetheless several triremes have been boarded by the time the Greek tried to pull out of the battle, for they saw the Spartans at the horizon unloading their invasion army...
With haste the Greek captains turned around to defend their homeports, but the Romans didn´t let go of them. At the end of that day, the Greek navy, or better its remnants, surrendered. Fifteen ships were turned over to Roman control, seven had been captured before and another nine were floating without rudders and oars.
Making sure that there were no other ships left, the Roman navy returned to Ostia, bringing with them the enemy ships. It´s estimated that five talents would be the cost of refitting them in an harbour.

When Pyrrhus arrived at the gates of Capua, the Roman legions had finally arrived! With them they carried various catapults and other ballistic siege equipment, which was positioned behind the endless lines of troops.
The battle of Capua became one of the largest battles in history so far. More than 36,000 Romans faced a force of 26,000 Greeks and 20 war elephants. While Pyrrhus put his trust in the eleven lines of hoplites forming a phalanx of almost one mile in width, the Romans applied a much more flexible order of battle. Several cohorts formed a line, but each of them was capable of fighting on its own and could perform different tasks during the fight. Which one was to prevail would be shown at the end of this battle.
Right before the assault began, word arrived from the south that Spartan mercenaries have landed and taken Tarentum, Pyrrhus´ main base. This struck a blow to the Greek morale, while the Romans were even more encouraged. With this message spreading among the soldiers, the signal horn for the assault was blown.
The noise was enormous, as tons of rocks and burning tar balls rained down on the Greek hoplites. Wherever such an object hit the ground, dozens died instantly. The dense phalanx formation and the inability to move independantly even worsened this effect, especially with the burning projectiles wreaking havoc.
Pyrrhus saw no chance but to attack in order to destroy the catapults; His elephants began to charge into the lines of Roman infantry. They, in return, started a deafening noise by shouting, blowing horns and banging their swords against their shields. One elephant was accidently hit by a rock, being knocked out instantly. A few other of the creatures refused to approach the noise and instead ran alongside the ranks of legionaries fleeing the battlefield.
Those who made it to the enemy were literally being passed through without much contact, when they finally were greeted by a rain of arrows targetted at the mahouds and the javaliners sitting on top of the giant animals.
On the left flank two cohorts messed up when trying to open lanes for the elephants. Three of the beasts rampaged through the Roman lines killing hundreds! The rear, mostly archers, fled the battlefield as panick struck them.
Pyrrhus used this break in the enemy´s defences to order the charge of his hoplites. Most of the Roman auxiliary forces were busy trying to close the gasps in the infantry lines when an elephant eventually made it to the catapults, which he tore apart quite easily. Four of the machines were lost before a lucky hit by a rock struck the animal down.
The last beast fell when spearmen surounded it and finally managed to penetrate the thick skin.
Half of them died as the elephant ran amuck in his death throes.
Shortly before the hoplites clashed into the legionaries, the latter broke apart forming two wings;
This forced the phalanx to split and revealed their flanks to the Romans.
Meanwhile the both side´s cavalries tried to outflank their opponents, with almost no success.
Only when the Spartan force of 25,000 arrived (the rest was defending Tarentum), there was enough numerical superiority to eventually encircle Pyrrhus´ army.
Publius Cornelius Scipio led a cavalry raid into the left flank of the hoplites when another projectile hit. He was smashed together with fourteen of his companions and more than thirty Greeks...
The hoplites had done much damage to the Roman infantry, but was now being tore apart from the flanks and from behind. Though the Spartans preferred a head-to-head combat, their assault was only stopped as they had worked through the other Greeks and met Roman troops. Some hundred died because the legionaries, in the heat of the battle, first didn´t realize those hoplites were Spartans.
Eleven hours after the first catapults fired, the battle was over.
Pyrrhus was captured alive, though he tried to kill himself with a dagger. Fivethousand Greeks surrendered. More than ninethousand Romans had died, threethousand Spartans and twenty-six thousand Greeks. Publius Cornelius Scipio died honourably during the battle.
The remnants of the cavalry were also able to capture the loot from Beneventum as well as the supply depot of Pyrrhus, worth 44 talents.
According to the agreement, half of it went to the Spartans.

Learning of Pyrrhus´ defeat, the cities of Ancona, Elea and Cannae surrendered to the Romans.
On Sicily, after the Carthaginians pulled out, Hieron of Syracuse declared himself King and issued a peace proposal to Rome. He was willing to cede all of the Italian mainland to Rome and to become an ally if he was acknowledged as king of Sicily.

[Micha]

Western Mediterranean
Carthaginian troops have started expanding the Hispanic territories, pushing the borders some dozen miles inlands and a few hundred miles along the coast. The river Baetis has been explored up to his source and the scouts have reported large fertile grasslands along its banks, suitable for growing grain and oil as well as wines. Silver has also been found, the mountains in that region seem to be rich in metals of all kinds.
With all those wars going on, most of them having Carthage involved, the number of tourists and scholars visiting the Guardian of the West is very low. The people are more concerned about an invasion and the war in general than where to go for a holiday...
Nevertheless, the government spent quite some talents to stimulate the economy in the colonies. Without detailed plans the governor used the money to build roads around Carthago Nova.

Speaking of war: The Cyrenaican Army under Hamilcar Barca, reinforced to roughly 20,000 men, has left for Egypt once again. Although taking the same route, several mistakes were not repeated.
This time there was enough food and much wine and water being sent with the troops, and the Lybian tribes helped the Carthaginians with additional supplies. A certain part of the ordered Special Forces however could not be included in the army, since there was no supply of a needed ressource.
When Hermopolis was in sight, a messenger from the Cyrenaica arrived to tell Hamilcar about the Macedon invasion. The general is quoted to have said „Now this can only be good news, for it means we will have much more time to spend in Egypt. Our only chance to get out now is to force the Pharao to accept peace.“
Knowing that it´s now „forward or die“, the Carthaginians sped up their march.
Strangely the Egyptians didn´t engage them, so Hamilcar´s army reached Hermopolis and sacked the city without noticable resistance. The citizens that haven´t fled yet did so when the Carthaginians laid fire on the residental quarters. Within hours, Hermopolis burned down completely, leaving only the stone temples standing.
More than 115 talents have been plundered. Encouraged by this easy victory, Hamilcar decided to continue the campaign and turned north. Memphis, the heart of Egypt, was the next target.
Upon hearing the news from Hermopolis the citizens of Memphis took up arms and prepared a defence of their capital. Of course there was no city wall, and most of the defenders wielded nothing more than clubs.
While some ambushs succeeded to kill a few dozen soldiers, most of the defenders were simply overrun by Hamilcar´s army.
The sacking of Memphis was thorough. Not a single coin was left, even pottery and statuettes were taken. However, with respect to the many cultural and religious sites in the city, it wasn´t burned nor desecrated. The spoils of war add up to 285 talents altogether. Still, there´s a small problem in bringing them home...
Hamilcar set up his camp right inside Memphis, where there´s a huge stockpile of food, supplies and fresh water. Until now no Egyptian army has shown up.

Meanwhile, in the Cyrenaica, a large Macedonian force has landed, approaching Cyrene. Almost 18,000 men are ravaging the landscape, plundering farms and vinyards. Macedonians have looted some 11 talents from the various small settlements in the area; However when they arrived at Cyrene, an alarmed Carthaginian citizens defence force has formed at the town. The same goes for the neighbouring town of Barca, also spawning a citizen army. Apparently the people have been horrified by the latest news, telling them that if they fail to fend off the invaders, the homeland will fall!
Surprised by so much resistance and tired after such a long journey, the Macedonians lay siege on Cyrene in autumn 275 b.c.

Middle East
Persia
The Great King hasn´t been seen for a while, which is concerning not only the advisors and satraps... No budget has been made so far, so all money has been saved.
The only orders received from Persepolis are to set the forces on high alert and to send a small expeditionary force to Egypt, both of which has been done.
More bad news arrive from the Southwestern provinces:
A second raid by Sinai tribes has obliterated the mining town of Attus! Only few survivors could escape and make their way to Palaestina; There they went right into the middle of a civil war!
The Jews in Jerusalem and several over towns of Palaestina have risenup against Persian rulership, apparently under Carthaginian influence. Several tenthousand men have taken arms, many of those even good arms and armours, to fight the Persians.
In Jerusalem the State of Judaea has been proclaimed. Near Gaza there have been several skirmishes with Persian forces, but the Jews only engage the Persians during the night or by ambushing, so the latter haven´t really had an opportunity to crush the upheaval yet.
The immortals of the military police stationed in Jerusalem have been arrested, since they were way too few to put up any resistance.

Egypt
Following the retreat of Hamilcar Barca from Egypt, the officials have been excelling each other in speaking about the greatness this victory has been. The people have regained their faith in their own country, raising morale in the army as well as lowering dissent.
The Pharao himself is travelling the whole country making speeches and promoting military leaders as well as civil „heroes“. He notices the dire need for monetary aid in lower Egypt, especially in the Nile delta area and east of it, where the past wars against Persia have literally obliterated any building.
During one of these journeys, the Pharao just barely evades the Carthaginian army that was sacking Hermopolis. Fortunately they didn´t notice the small caravan and so the Pharao could escape to Abydos.
There he heard about the sacking of Memphis and Hermopolis, after it took seven soldiers to prevent him from taking a chariot and go to see Hamilcar himself...
The caravaning trail from Hermopolis to Ammonion seems to have been interrupted, too. Lybian tribes are reported to plunder every caravan trying to pass, so the route has been given up by the merchants. The Oasis Siwa is thus cut off from any supply lines.
Meanwhile the expanded police as well as the immanent threat of being conquered helped a great deal in combatting corruption. Several roads are now being built to connect the major cities, though this effort has somewhat halted due to the invasion. Half of the funds allocated have been returned to the royal coffers.
By evading the Carthaginians, the army was able to regroup and to be reinforced with several thousand fresh troops.
On the plus side, the people of Egypt enjoy one of the highest living standards in the whole world in terms of luxuries and consumer goods, since the new Pharao has opened the country to foreign merchants. This helps the war effort by increasing the income as well as by strengthening the people´s will to fight for their country.

NPC orders / Events
- "Western fleet" surrendered
- "Roman Fleet" lost 38 triremes
- Sparta spent 42t on 14 triremes
- "Legion II Italica" lost Fluvius Camillus; 1,468 legionaries; 976 horsemen; 552 foot soldiers
- "Apulian Guards" lost 2,078 hoplites
- "Celtian Horde" lost 8,520 horsemen; 2,119 foot soldiers
- "Legion I Romana" lost Publius Cornelius Scipio; 1,745 legionaries; 446 horsemen; 56 foot soldiers
- "Legion III Latina" (Marcus Aemilius) lost 524 legionaries; 198 horsemen; 135 foot soldiers
- "Legion IV Augusta" lost Publius Cornelius Scipio; 1,621 legionaries; 141 horsemen; 104 foot soldiers
- „Legion V Liguria“ (Vappa Monterus) lost 360 legionaries; 3,980 foot soldiers
- "Siege army" lost 135 foot soldiers; siege equipment (4)
- „Pyrrhus´ Army“ annihilated
- "Spartan Elites" lost 1,452 hoplites; 1,228 swordsmen; 465 horsemen
- Magna Graecia is now known as Kingdom of Sicily
- "Cyrenaican Army" (Hamilcar Barca) lost 17 horsemen; 36 swordsmen; 241 foot soldiers; 198 light infantry
- „Military Police“ has lost 17 immortals
- Judaea has declared independence from Persia
- "Army of Egypt" lost 26 swordsmen; 252 foot soldiers; 115 light infantry
- Macedonia now has access to an iron ressource
- "Macedonian Battlefleet" lost 9 triremes
- "Alexander´s Army" lost 865 hoplites

[Tassadar500]

Carthage and Macedonia have come to an agreement, and we are at peace.

[Tassadar500]

OOC: By the way, that was the best update I have ever seen in my whole damn life. The map looks great as well. I love the new rivers. When you logged off, I thought something really bad had happened, and you had lost everything. Evidently I was wrong.

[foolish_icarus]

Marthage and Macedonia are at peace if and only if Carthage and Egypt come to an accomodation.

and could I get those trade routes?

[laurentius]

This day will be remembered. Last night Micha did this update and I became a King.

BTW guys, some of you might remember Mao from 2000? A real NES veteran. I sent him PM asking him to join to this NES, well see if he responds.

[Micha]

Originally posted by appleciders
Micha, why is salt a military resource?

Because salt was (and still is) used to preserve food, since there were no refrigerators around.
With salt your army can be supplied with meat that would otherwise rot away within days. Also salt is a critical ressource to animals as well (horses, elephants)...

[Micha]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
Does Magna Graecia have War Elephants?

Originally posted by appleciders
Yeah, and I'm not exactly clear where those came from. Micha?

Well, Pyrrhus was rich and had been promised a kingdom in case of helping the Magna Graecians. So he was quite motivated to do anything he could to make it a success; Maybe he bought the elephants from Carthaginian breeders? Maybe they´ve been part of a Mercanary Corps? I mean having no elephants roaming in your forests doesn´t mean you´re not allowed to buy them overseas
Just that Pyrrhus was a renegade, while monarchs will have to use the diplomatic channels to purchase military equipment.
Also, I have made Pyrrhus invade with a force that the real Pyrrhus has used; There were 20 elephants, so I added them in here, too
Lauri spoiled the historical accuracy though by buying the Spartan mercaneries. Originally Pyrrhus should have won this battle but with enormous casualties, so that he could have said "One more victory like that one, and we will lose the war." (--> "Pyrrhus victory")

Originally posted by appleciders
EDIT: Check the map- Carthage has no slave resource within its borders, yet is being credited with slaves in the nation-by-nation breakdown on the first page. Am I missing something?

Oh well, I think that´s my fault. The slaves on the map should rather be stretched along the entire innerafrican border. It means that Carthage is getting slaves from the southern caravan lines...

When the good is "movable", you don´t need to own the source. You can also try to trade for it with the tribes.
Like in the Arabian region there are incense and drug sources that may be traded if you have a port on the Red Sea

The same goes for Gaul, too. (Though maybe not after slaughtering half the Gaul population )

[Tassadar500]

To: Egypt
From: Carthage

Will you continue to refuse peace?

[Tassadar500]

To: Rome
From: Carthage

Although it may look suspicious, we do not have control over the pirates, nor do we tell them what city or place to destroy. And why would we want to sack a trade partner anyways? It would be more helpful to sack, lets say, the Persians or Egyptians.

[appleciders]

Egypt to Carthage:
I'm sorry! Us refuse peace? What have we ever done aggressively towards you? You're just complaining because be wouldn't support you in your aggression against Persia. We want nothing but peace, you're the aggressors here. We're just defending our homeland. You're perpetuating this war. We trusted you last turn, and look what you did to Egypt! If you want peace, return all plunder you took this turn!

[Tassadar500]

To: Egypt
From: Carthage

By the way, I asked last turn, and you killed the messenger. And we invaded you two turns ago, so you had warning. We have conquered two cities, one being your capital. There is no way that we will give back the talents.

[appleciders]

Egypt to Carthage:
Did you seriously expect to attack my country and have me say "Oh, that's ok, I'll accept peace now."? You're the aggressors here, and it's ridiculous to think anything otherwise. You say you invaded two turns ago- that's true, but you specifically told us you were not invading before you did it. Then after that, you offered us peace, said you weren't invading, and turned around and invaded! I'm at a loss to understand why anyone trusts any alliance with you!