Congrats! Send... send an army to wipe the Britons off the mainland! Khajiit doesn’t think they can transport troops across bodies of water.

I kinda want to, to get rid of them, but I’m thinking on experimenting on them once I conquer all their territory on the mainland; I’m going to starve them off, the way I did the Scipii, and send assassins on England to destroy some infrastructure that governs law and order. If I could get at least Londinium to become a rebel city, they’re going to be down for the count for the rest of the game, being busy trying to reclaim a city with their shot economy and all.

Ooh, or you could send a plague bearer up there!

Yo does this work? Cause if it does, I’ll do it in a jiffy; I have a diplomat who’s diseased to his eyeballs and I’m quarantining him on a ship in the middle of nowhere since I don’t want him to spread it to my cities lol.

EDIT: I think it does? That diseased diplomat was actually a spy, and when I had him infiltrate the rebel city of Capua for a few turns the garrison headcount went down lol. I even got a notification saying Death Stalks The Land, though it only showed him being affected.

Diplomats do not actually enter a town, so they cannot be used to spread disease. Though I think if you have one in a stack of your own troops, they can pass the disease along to them. Spies work best. Have a diseased spy go from enemy city to city, infecting them all. I cannot recall if assassins can actually enter cities or not. If they can, they can spread disease too.

IT IS TIME TO VENERATE GRANDFATHER NURGLE, AND UTILIZE HIS MOST GENEROUS BLESSINGS.

The havoc I can wreak with this...

Here is where we were talking about it earlier in this thread Ulleni:

This is good. Very good. I will have fun ruining my rivals through espionage and then finishing them off in one-sided open field massacres.

Oh man, the potential Evil AAR I can do with these details... May the gods of my enemies have mercy on them, for me and mine will not. Just thinking about seeding their cities with Beautiful Flowers that will poison them for generations to come; it makes me salivate with desire. And sabotage! Dear lord the sabotages!

Alright, you guys properly hooked me in. I’m gonna have to work on that AAR now

Have you sicked war dogs on your enemies missile units yet? Lol

Nah, I just use my cavalry. Less speed yeah, but more oomph.

I save the dogs for when they rout and it just feels so good running people down with these magnificent beasts.

*Modders should mod in trained tigers or lions hahahahaha

Don’t underestimate the amount of damage the pooches can do. Just don’t send them head long into spears and pikes and you’re golden.

Alright then, I’ll use them in my next battle.

AND OH MY GOD I JUST DISCOVERED ROME SHELL. Tbh I’m only going to use it to add traits and ancillaries to my generals, a la Character Creation if you will, since I find cheating in a game like this to be so inane.

BUT OH MY GOD THIS IS GONNA BE FUN

My own campaign continues at a decent pace. The 3rd, 5th, and 6th Legions have each enjoyed victories against Separatists and/or the last few barbarian factions that still oppose us. Our fleet is stuck in a game of cat & mouse with some separatist ships, but they have nothing else to do so no real problem there.

We've started to push outward a little, capturing two settlements, while our emperor focuses on gaining control of his court to solidify his strength. Our faction victory requirements are mostly fulfilled already, we just need to capture another 12 settlements and survive for 27 more years - the Huns are yet to arrive and may be the only real obstacle we face. I really need to get some cavalry forces built up between now and then.

ACCURSED PIRATES! Unwashed and unwanted wretches of Neptune, I call them, a blight upon all the shores and coasts that know of our blood (and steel).

No lie, where are all these guys coming from??? All of them are spawning in stacks of three, each of them having the first 3 experience levels! They’re a menace!

Three Kingdoms is out!!

It’s frickin’ gorgeous! Khajiit has only had a brief time with it so far but everything feels right. One thing that is a bit different is that you have “heros� who can fight 1v1 duels with heroes on the opposing side. During this one’s first battle playing as Cao Cao, the opposing general from the Han forces challenged my secondary hero to a duel and they automatically went at it. Khajiit’s hero defeated him pretty easily, but it was neat watching them do their fancy martial arts stuff while our forces crushed the Han forces in more classic Total War style. You can also set your heroes to automatically decline duels so they don’t get in over their heads without your consent.

Fellow warchiefs and venerated goddesses war! I offer the blood of mine enemies and the souls of their devoured pantheon to ask thee a trifle;

Do the A.I ever initiate the Roman Civil War on their own? I’m playing as the Seleucid and I’m in the end-game portion of my campaign; there’s only the Three Houses to overcome now and it’s getting really old LARPing as a Classical Era Darth Maul with all these 2v1s and 3v1s. I want to see Romans shed Roman blood damnit, maybe even play kingmaker on the side (gonna back the Brutii of course; can’t leave my Gang Green Bois hanging)

The Roman civil war will happen even if all the Roman factions are AI. I saw it once when I did a defensive campaign as Scythia. I stayed in my starting territories for the entire game, and played it to the end (I think 16 AD?). Every ten years or so I used the console to turn off the fog of war and looked around the map to see what was going on.

It is the kind of thing that is not likely to happen in most games, because I think the human player will win the game long before any of the AI Roman factions can get the number of territories needed to trigger the civil war. I think it is 30? It took a few hundred years for it to happen in my game. The Brutti got into Asia Minor in my game from Rhodes, and that put them head to head with Egypt, which had conquered all the Levant and Asia Minor up until then. After about a hundred years the Brutti conquered all the east. In the meanwhile the Scipii got into Africa and conquered all of its western half. The Scipii and Brutii wound up fighting it out in the middle of Africa with dozens of full stack armies on each side. In the end the Brutii were so huge that they just steamrolled the other Romans.

That is good to hear! Though it might be a little difficult in my current play through, since the expansion of the Scipii and the Brutii regrettably won’t make it past Seleucid ambitions.

I think I’ll try it out in a Thracian campaign, stay in my borders and just watch what happens. Thanks Sage

I found a link to the AAR I did of that campaign. Sadly the pictures do not work anymore since they were on Photobucket, and I don't use that anymore. But the text is all still there. Down at the bottom of Page 7 is where the civil war began. The Brutii hit 50 territories, and that triggered it.

I took a break from Kotoring and fired up Rome Total War I. It is still my favorite game in the franchise. I have been playing my Amazon TW mod, which adds 4 Amazon factions. I have been playing Amazonia. They were the first Amazon faction I created, and are still my favorite, since they have a good balance of infantry, archers, and cavalry.

This time out I have been really embracing their chariots, which are murder on enemy cavalry. That is a good thing, since this time out I have been deluged by eastern horse archer factions. Armenia attacked me straight out of the gate. That led to me going on the offensive against them, and pushing into the Caucasus mountains. I conquered all their starting territories. But they had sent some folks up into the Kuban peninsula, and took the territory there. So they have been there ever since. I only finally had the chance to load up some troops on a ship, sail up there, and wipe them out for good. They are the first, and so far only, faction to be destroyed in the game.

That ran me into the Sarmatians and Parthians, who have been coming at me ever since. I have been holding on the defensive against the Sarmatians, since I can bottle them up when they come down through the mountain passes. OTOH, I have been pushing into the Parthians, and am steadily eating up their territory in the mountains. They are a lot more trouble than the Armenians or the Sarmatians.

I conquered Asia Minor (the Amazonian heartland). Then in the west Macedon attacked me, which resulted in me invading northern Greece. In the center I have been sharing a border with Egypt, who have a giant seat of armies in and around Antioch. They declared war on me a while ago, but have not done more than attack me at sea. I have not had an army strong enough to fight them head on. But now I think I might try a different tactic, and use ships to raid down the coast of the Levant behind them.

Basically, everyone I share a border with is at war with me. Which is how this game typically goes.

Amazon shield wall

Chariots

Sometimes the AI in this game is just comedy gold

Resistance is futile

My Seleucid bois is getting thrashed around, I see. *sad Seleucidophile noises*

I was fighting the Seleucids for a while, when I conquered Asia Minor. But after that they just sort of became irrelevant. The Parthians have eaten up all their territory in the east, and I have taken all of it in the west. All they have left is one territory in the middle, which is far enough out of the way that no one has bothered with it for the past 20 turns or so.

Rome Total War I, a great game I haven't played in years. Reminded me of Masters of Magic without the magic. roman Legions for magic, fair trade. I even had an Amazon faction, don't remember if they were playable or not

There were a few world expanding mods for Rome Total War I if I remember correctly. Thought it would be fun to play as Bactria and conquer the entire world.

The music, that Soldiers Chant as the legions marched was the most inspiring of any game I've played.

Divinitus is one of my favorite RTW songs.

hellatorius victorialis (warlike; victory)
erastus necessitas (lovers; death)
honararius despondeo (honor; despair)
spiritus obdormio (life; death)
patriota gladiator (country; fighter)
afflictio ommento (pain; waiting)
divinitus salutaris (heaven; salvation)
furtivus libertas (furtive love; freedom)

I still have the game disk. Will it play on Win10?

Alas, for the imperium of Seleucus! I’m not surprised tho lmao I have yet to find a non-Seleucid play through where they actually manage to survive the armies of Egypt, *Armenia, Pontus and Parthia on their own. A shame, since their roster is the most powerful outside of the Romans IMO.

Words you can hear:

OUT OF MOVES, SIR
BESIEGING THE SETTLEMENT, SIR
THIS LAND IS ROOOMAN
IMPERATOR?

Very imposing shield wall!

Divinitus is my favorite song from the soundtrack. It is playing for me on Windows 10. The game that is, not the song.

I have carried on my war against Parthia. After reaching the eastern edge of the map, I turned south, and crushed them in their heartland. I now rule the land between the Tigris and Euprhates. My original plan was to continue west from this point, and take on the remnants of the Seleucids in Hatra.

But then I noticed that the Parthians only had two settlements left, Dumatha and Bostra, and those were only lightly garrisoned.

OTOH, the Seleucids now have 3 territories, and some big armies in Palmyra and Hatra.

Clearly the Seleucids are going to take some time to finish. If I go after them, that will give the Parthians time to raise more troops. Then they will give me more trouble when I finally do turn to them. So I changed my initial plans, and sent detachments down to take both Dumatha and Bostra. That will wipe the Parthians out entirely. In the meantime, I am building up my main eastern army in Thapsakos in preparation of attacking the Selucids at a later time.

Farther west I fought a massive battle with the Egyptians on the bridge north of Antioch. You can see the city in the distance.

It's a nice looking city. I think I'll have it

The governor has a swanky pad

Some pretty large scale thinking/strategy going on there on a world domination scale. You're right - that is a massive battle you set up at the receiving end of that bridge.

What nation are you playing as Subbie?

An inferior faction, because it is not the Seleucids. In fact, all factions, including the Romans, are inferior to the Seleucids.

Nah, I’m just kidding lmaooo I think the Sage is playing the Amazonians from her mod

Ooo! Isn’t there a Total War game out now that features the Amazons as a playable faction?

There is now. I discovered Troy Total War, which is one of the smaller entries like the Britannia TW they put out a few years ago. That has two Amazon factions. Before that, there were only a handful of female units you could recruit as the Scythians, and one Amazon chariot unit that the rebels had in one city. The whole reason I created Amazon Total War was because of the lack of female representation in the franchise.

I forgot that I made the Parthians are horde faction. So taking all of their cities did not destroy them. Instead it turned them into a horde

In the meantime I worked my way down the Egyptian cities along the coast of the Levant

Then it was time for the Seleucids

Amazon courage has laid them low

The east is Amazon

The Parthian horde headed west into the Nile Valley

I really do not want them to settle down. Because then I would have to fight them all over again. So I have a solution

It took some time, and numerous assassins and spies, but finally the last Parthian General sleeps with the fishes

That ended the Parthians for once and all

You are using the Barbarian Invasion expansion? I didn't play much with the expansion so I find it interesting how you are managing the battles.

Assassins can be quite effective.

I started Amazon Total War with the RTW executable. But eventually I moved to the BI executable. It adds a lot more to the game, especially with hordes and night battles.

Only a general with the Night Fighter trait can start a night battle, or join in to reinforce one if they are nearby. This is handy when there are three or four full stacks of enemy armies all clustered together. Normally attacking one brings them all into the battle. But if you attack at night, you can fight them separately.

Ever onward, the quest for world domination continues. Looks like good use of assassins; sometimes a few of them (or snipers) can really wreak havoc.

I almost have finished up my Amazonia campaign. After finishing off the Seleucids things got a lot easier. I was able to concentrate on just two fronts: Greece and Egypt, while standing on the defensive in the Caucasus and the Thracian border. I rolled over Egypt with little difficulty, and the Greeks and Macedonians.

I did get a curve ball when a Carthaginian fleet dropped up a full stack of Carthaginian troops next to Appolonia. I had to shift my troops around to get to them before they could lay siege to the city. So now I am at war with Carthage. They have been driven from Africa, and are only left on Sicily and a few islands. So I have put together a big invasion fleet, and just reached Sicily. Once I take the three cities on the island, I will meet the victory conditions of 50 territories.

Even stranger, a Gorgon fleet also showed up, and dropped off one of their armies next to Sparta. They are an Amazon faction that starts in western Africa. They did not attack me however. They just stood there for several turns. Eventually I created a diplomat and bribed them to disband.

Tonight I finished off my Amazonia Campaign. I am kind of fatigued on grand strategy right now. So I might go back to Kotor 2. Or to Baldur's Gate.

Just when I thought I was out, the Amazons pulled me back in. I am now playing a Bean Sidhe (Banshee) campaign. I smashed the Gauls with swordswomen and chariots. Now I am crushing the Germans and Romans. I am about done with Germania. Not because they are nearly wiped out. Beyond them is the Valkyrja empire, which I would rather not fight. They are Amazons as well, and will give me much more trouble. The Germans are easier to deal with. So I intend to leave a narrow strip of their cities between them and me to act as a buffer, and just slaughter the Germans whenever they are foolish enough to raise my ire.

Down south I am going all out against the Romans. I have two full-sized armies down there now, one for the east coast, one for the west. I just got the ability to create onagers and my high-tier archers. So it is going to be a city-taking, slaughter fest.

Complicating things are the Gorgons. They are the final Amazon faction, from the western Sahara. Why they are coming up on boats to land in my territory in northern Italy is beyond me. But they keep doing it, and keep distracting me from the Romans by attacking the cities in my rear. I have been forced to thrash them on numerous occasions. I am going to have to create a picket line of ships out at sea, to ward off their amphibious landings.

Facing off against the Germans

Oh noes! A flash flood!

Charge!

Killer Queen

This game has gone to the dogs


I never got the Marian Reforms the last game. Normally they are triggered when a Roman faction builds an Imperial Palace in one of the cities in Italy. The Imp Palace is the highest tier government building, which you can only create with a Huge level city (24,000+ people).

So I tried using the console to force the reforms. I put a spy in Rome to find out what its population was. Then I went to the console and used the command to add population:

add_population Roma 7,000

Then I waited until the next turn, and hoped that the AI started building an Imperial Palace there. So I used the console to automatically complete all buildings in the queue for the city:

process_cq Roma

That did it! The Romans got their snazzy Imperial Legionaries. And all my generals got their bodyguards upgraded to their armored versions.

Note that you have to use the internal name of the city, from descr_regions_and_settlement_name_lookup.txt. That might be different from what you actually see in the game. Hence in this case Roma, rather than Rome.

Gone to the dogs, eh? Next thing you know there'll be Flaming Pigs.

Mmmmm, bacon...

Those are some very large scale battles! I used to play a few strategy games. Stronghold and its successor (Crusader) comes to mind.

I continued my conquest of Italy, with a few side tracks due to continued invasions by the Gorgons. I decided to split up my two main armies in Italia. One continued straight down the peninsula. The other boarded some ships, and sailed to Sicily. They landed at the western tip of the island, and conquered their way east, as the first army worked its way down toward them. The Romans were pinched off between them, and finally annihilated.

My original plan was to send one army east to invade Greece, and join another army I have that just moved into Apollonia from the overland route, via the eastern coast of the Adriatic. My army that took Sicily was going to land in North Africa and take on the Gorgons. But then the Carthaginians got into the invasion train, and launched a seaborne invasion of Italy. They appear to only exist on two islands, the Baelrics and Sardinia. So instead I am going to wipe them out instead. Then I can either invade North Africa, or continue west into Spain. The Iberians have decided to start attacking my cities in Gaul from Spain. So they might need chastising next.

Finally up north the Valkyrja have finally come into contact with my border when they took a city in the balkans. This means that sooner or later I will be at war with them. So I decided to make a push, and finally exterminate Germania, which lies between us.




Acadian: I just looked, and there is a brand new Stronghold game out now.


Chosen Women

Porcupine

The epic walls of Rome

Rome's last battle

Testudo

The Last Emperor leads the way

Last Emperor standing

End of an era

Rome is now a memory

That is a lot of Bowgirls!

I had to look up testudo - very cool!

Rome's been laid low.

I’ve gotten back into Thrones of Brittania. Currently trying another campaign as the Mide, the Irish Gaelic faction. It’s going “ok�. I’ve made some tactical blunders that have made spreading my clan’s influence slower than it should be, but I’ve got 2 large armies, a decent sized army, and a couple of small armies, plenty of food, and plenty of gold. We’ve taken all of the of the southeastern corner of Ireland and we are currently besieging a Dyflin (a Viking faction) stronghold on the Isle of Man. That particular Viking faction has been beaten pretty bad, so I’m hoping this push will finally remove them from Ireland, and the map in general.

I wish I could get into the new TW games. But the way they made them so difficult to mod really sours my enjoyment of them.

In other news, my invasion of Greece has been successful. The mainland is mine, from Sparta to Bylazora. The Macedonians were exterminated in the process. The Greek Cities still have a few islands left, and their holdings in North Africa. Up north, my armies pushed east against the Valkyrja, to create a good border area along the Vistula river and the Carpathians. In the west, the Carthaginians were annihilated on their islands in the Mediterranean. I left off with that army landing in eastern Spain, to give the Iberians a little surprise at Carthago Nova.

Which gives me my Victory Conditions! 50 territories, including those of mainland Greece. I turned off the fog of war to look around the entire strategic map. The Valkyrja have conquered all of Russia, except for a tiny remnant of the Scythians still holding out in the Crimea. Amazonia has conquered Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and is working their way down the Levant into Egypt. Africa is a combination of the Numidians, Gorgons, and Greeks.

Ah, the sweet taste of victory. You can rest easy now or do like would do; conquer the known world from the Atlantic to India.

Feral Interactive just remastered Rome: Total War 1. The absolute mad lads.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/nLYIHoBb3kM

What’s Changed?: https://youtu.be/gBUWFCEQqd8

Livestream Gameplay: https://youtu.be/SztXPwTqe9k

Oooo color me interested!

That's really interesting. I wonder if mods from the original would work with it? My guess is not.