Rome AARisen - a Byzantine AAR
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Sophie. Smart women are hot.
(Plus, she's handled enough assassination and intrigue on her own to make pissing her off a very bad idea. I can't say the same of Safiya or her mother.)
Sophie is a worthy contender, yes. Very hot indeed, if a little thin. BTW, I checked back to find her. She was betrothed to Basil on page 37!!!
That's nearly 200 pages ago!:wacko:
That's nearly 200 pages ago!:wacko:
Sophie is a worthy contender, yes. Very hot indeed, if a little thin. BTW, I checked back to find her. She was betrothed to Basil on page 37!!!
Basil is 200 pages old?! Wow, I thought he was around page 90 or something. Shows that the updates were more frequent back then.
And I've decided. Sophie.
Yep.
One peculiarity that I have noticed is that from around pages 50 to 70, less and less screenshots from CK are being used. By page 70, they have basically disappeared from the AAR except for a few unique cases.
Much better this way, to be honest. Adds more to the story and immersion, and these days any map needed is done on a blank CK map, I believe.
Yeah, the writing has definitely evolved, but that's definitely not saying it's for the worse! I too prefer the shots from action movies or the real people for portraits, it adds immersion and it gives me a much better mental picture for a character and the scenes in general. Also, the updates WERE much more frequent back then, but the viewers of this thread have also probably multiplied nearly fifty fold since the beginning, (I believe I came in circa page 50 or so, and posted in the 100 pages somewhere first, and I've been reading this for multiple years.) and the update length has probably increased on average as well. Also, I think BT has become a better writer/storyteller over the course of this whole adventure/project/magnum opus?, so I feel we get our bang for our buck, especially considering we don't PAY any bucks in the first place for days worth of reading pleasure. (I think this story might already take someone over 24hrs to read from page 1 to now, if they sat down, drank a lot of redbull/combusted large amounts of freebase cocaine and forced themselves to read it at once.)
Is there any way to say how many pages this would be if this were printed on paper?
Go to BT's inkwell where he has every update linked and copy it into Word. Would be time consuming put would give you a pretty acurate picture.
Well, just estimating, but I'd say that each update takes about ten minutes to read on average, and we probably have an average of one update per page, considering for at least the first eighty or so pages, the updates are usually two and sometimes three to a page, that'd be roughly 200-250 updates, and 200minutesx10 = 2000 minutes, which is well over 24 hours. (1440 minutes to a day, one of those weird things I made myself memorize as a kid, never forgot it, has actually turned out to be quite useful.)
As far as how many pages in an average sized book, going with the 200 update estimation, each update is essentially equal to a chapter of a book, giving this book 150-175 chapters after condensing some of the smaller updates together, and if each chapter is 3-7 pages in the book, averaging 5 pages per chapter, that'd leave us with nearly 1000 pages so far. Of course, some books have larger chapters, (I think I'd put 5 pages a chapter at the lower end of an average novel in terms of chapter length.) leaving us with less chapters, but I still believe we would be nearing a 1000 page mark in a regular sized book.
As far as how many pages in an average sized book, going with the 200 update estimation, each update is essentially equal to a chapter of a book, giving this book 150-175 chapters after condensing some of the smaller updates together, and if each chapter is 3-7 pages in the book, averaging 5 pages per chapter, that'd leave us with nearly 1000 pages so far. Of course, some books have larger chapters, (I think I'd put 5 pages a chapter at the lower end of an average novel in terms of chapter length.) leaving us with less chapters, but I still believe we would be nearing a 1000 page mark in a regular sized book.
Damn, BT should really think about publishing this somehow, it'll be the 21st century LOTR!
Hawkeye1489 – I’m actually a little scared to know how long this thing has become! I have a Word file from back around the days of Thomas I that had every update.. it was over 900 pages of text, 12 point Times New Roman, single spaced!
von Sachsen – Nope, because Christophoros was not ever crowned as Emperor. He was Megos Domestikos, then Kaisar, but he died before he could be crowned.
Kirsch27 – Wow, a whole bunch to reply to here!
1)I’m glad to hear you think the writing’s evolved for the better! Even now I read the first few pages and cringe often at the graphics or the text. Back then I did update more often—I think my record was four times in one week. Now I’ve settled on a more sedate pace of once, perhaps twice per week. Far more manageable. The update size actually has remained close to the same I think—early on there were large updates as well…
2) Frederica definitely brings the physical charms to the table… as well as who knows what else!
3) The Egyptian armies, last we heard, are off in North Africa under their aged Despotes Theodoros, and have yet to return home. One aspect of Egypt you’re forgetting in this scenario is that it is still a breadbasket at this point. Huge amounts of grain come from there to feed the teeming capital, as well as other parts of the Empire. That power rivals the strength of any tagmata if someone wielded it properly…
4) Nope, haven’t met Nikephoros, but I do write about him. Nikephoros is playing a risky game—for once. He’s shifting the backbone of the Persian field army West. Yes, there’ll be a sizeable force left in the homeland, but he’ll be relying on the politikoi along the borders to stall and slow anything if the Mongols decide to lunge. And you’re right, he’s gambling he won’t have to face all of the potential might Andie and his army supporters could bring. The Persian Komnenids could take the Anatolikon and Basilkion Stratoi. Egypt added? The Balkans added? The numbers start to get daunting.
Then again, Gabriel’s faced daunting numbers before.
vadermath – 1) That’s become my philosophy, to be honest. Photoshopped blank CK maps are better looking, and suit my writing style better.
2) The Romans can certainly hope that’s all Arghun is after. If they’re committed and he wants more, it could spell major trouble.
Sudaxe – Part of the disappearing screenshots was my transition from using just naked CK map screens to using a blank CK map and Photoshop to make something prettier. The other part comes from a change in the way I played the game… I went from being religious about taking screenies all the time to far more lax—less screenies = less screenshots used in the end. As for Andronikos—he’d appreciate the loyalty!
Hasimir Fenring – Welcome to the thread, Count! Love the name!
Vesimir –
1) That pic looks like it could be a modern day head-of-a-spy-agency Sophie.
2) As for the great hottie contest, I’m not fully qualified to weigh in on the women side of things.
3)I thought there was a blood and gore mod for M&B?
4)I saved this update up for you and all the other Gabriel-lovers. I thought you might like it!
Nikolai – It’s a little sobering to think Basil was that long ago. Much of it is simply there’s been a huge increase in the number of replies after each post. In perspective, the end of Manuel’s reign was 1/3 through the Table of Contents… yet is only on page 50 in the thread!
Fulcrumvale – 1)Frederica killed someone, but it was rather casual and she obviously never fully understood the danger she was in. Sophie was magnificent at her job. Except when Basil got in the way…
2)If all falls according to Andronikos’ plan, it’ll be Andronikos versus Gabriel for the big one. One has years of experience, the other has… well. Youth? We’ll see what happens!
AlexanderPrimus – Yup. Frederica was Morgana from Merlin, Safiya is Lindsay Lohan, Christina was Lucilla from Gladiator, Sophie was Sibylla from Kingdom of Heaven, and Basiliea de Hauteville was Anne Boleyn from The Tudors. Cecilia, incidentally, is Jane Seymour from the same.
And thank you, as always, for the kind words and support!
Drake Rlugia – Welcome to the thread! And it’s been too long since Altani—maybe you like her because she’s a kickass warlord in her own right? Or that even in defeat she shows defiance? Hopefully the next update meets with your same approval!
Qorten – QFT. This has become the hallmark of the later generations of Komnenids. Call it dynastic success or dynastic dysfunction, but the Komnenids are concerned about themselves and their place, not their family, not the empire. While there are and will be some stunning exceptions to this rule, the trend is only going to get worse the more the Komnenid blood spreads…
RGB – 1)They might have many HP, but do they have epic feats or cohorts?
2) As for the Song, I’m not sure. They’re likely fighting for their life tooth and nail against the Mongols still…
cezar87 – Rooting for Roman Persia doesn’t go against rooting for Altani. Altani can do just fine if Arghun meets resistance…
Enewald – Gabriel’s only 48. Even in old CK he could still have quite a few years left!
I dig the little ditty. I like it a lot in fact. Especially “The Lion is coming.” May I borrow it as a song or ditty in a later update?
asd21593 – This is not the Vader quote you are looking for. *moves hand*
Iceman2508 – Welcome to the thread! Well, Gabriel has the best claim to Thomas II (he is the only son left in Roman lands)…
Whew, that was a lot of replies!
Next update is coming together somewhat, it should be up sometime either tomorrow or Saturday, if all goes according to plan, and I don’t get sidetracked again. Sidetracked by what, you ask?
Well, for those of you that are strategically minded, I have a problem you can analyze.
It’s from an ongoing game of Distant Worlds (a 4x real time space empire game I’m playing), where shortly (maybe 30 minutes real time after I restart from where I saved, and maybe six months to a year game time, I’m going to find myself involved in a major intergalactic war that will literally find every single race in the galaxy at war.
The war pits me (The Earth Federation) and my allies (Azamol Confederation, several others) against the evil Mortalen Empire (seriously, their reputation has descended from notorious to evil, they’ve slagged several planets). It will be an epic struggle, a fight to the… well, maybe not the death. See below.
This is the current galactic map and situation:
Blue is me and my allies, Red are the Mortalens. Zentabia Fluid, Loros Fruit and Korrabian Spice are ultra rare resources that immensely boost colony happiness. I control the first two, the Mortalens control the last.
Now, my advantages:
1) Vastly superior population size and economy. My alliance includes 3 of the top four galactic economies. In GDP we have a 6-1 advantage over the enemy, and in tax income we have a whopping 8-1 advantage. This has led to advantage number 2…
2) Fleet size. My fleet has a combat power of 71000 altogether, while my two largest allies have about 30k each. Smaller allies together have perhaps 15k, for a grand total of nearly 150k fleet combat power versus their 80k or so.
However, these are mitigated by my disadvantages:
1) Government- My allies economy, as well as my own, are driven by the fact we are democracies, and thus have very high war exhaustion compared to the Mortalen monarchy. I can survive perhaps a year or two of war before war exhaustion starts crippling my economy and thus my ability to support my fleets in the field.
2) Breadth. I have the fastest engines in the galaxy, but we have far more real estate to defend than they do, and far more vulnerable infrastructure. Additionally more of my own fleet combat power has been grouped into my 5 offensive fleets, whereas the Mortalens have a significant portion of their firepower either in reserve, guarding stations, or unknown location.
3) Technology – the Mortalen fleet is almost universally high tech, while my ships outside of the five fleets are a mishmash.
My war plan is as follows:
1) Use the last few months in game before the shooting starts to retrofit my older ships in fleets to ultramodern standard.
2) Ready load troops into each fleet for instant invasion capability
3) Design and commission a new class of heavy destroyer, with heavy torpedo weapons and high speed. These will be grouped into three separate fleets of ten ships apiece, and will be commerce raiders. They’ll hit Mortalen gas mining facilities with the goal of crippling their fleet’s fuel situation
4) Adopt an overall defensive initial stance with the main battlefleets. Use intel to find the enemy’s target systems, and especially the locations they plan to refuel. At the latter, arrange for two of my fleets to be in position to intercept them as they’re low on fuel. Once the initial three Mortalen fleets have been eliminated,
5) Move to full scale offensive operations. Primary target—Mortalen supply of Korrabian Spice.
6) Profit.
Comments, suggestions? The game is extremely in depth in terms of its economy management and strategic decisions… its addicting.
I have a Word file from back around the days of Thomas I that had every update.. it was over 900 pages of text, 12 point Times New Roman, single spaced!von Sachsen – Nope, because Christophoros was not ever crowned as Emperor. He was Megos Domestikos, then Kaisar, but he died before he could be crowned.
Kirsch27 – Wow, a whole bunch to reply to here!
1)I’m glad to hear you think the writing’s evolved for the better! Even now I read the first few pages and cringe often at the graphics or the text. Back then I did update more often—I think my record was four times in one week. Now I’ve settled on a more sedate pace of once, perhaps twice per week. Far more manageable. The update size actually has remained close to the same I think—early on there were large updates as well…
2) Frederica definitely brings the physical charms to the table… as well as who knows what else!
3) The Egyptian armies, last we heard, are off in North Africa under their aged Despotes Theodoros, and have yet to return home. One aspect of Egypt you’re forgetting in this scenario is that it is still a breadbasket at this point. Huge amounts of grain come from there to feed the teeming capital, as well as other parts of the Empire. That power rivals the strength of any tagmata if someone wielded it properly…
4) Nope, haven’t met Nikephoros, but I do write about him.
Nikephoros is playing a risky game—for once. He’s shifting the backbone of the Persian field army West. Yes, there’ll be a sizeable force left in the homeland, but he’ll be relying on the politikoi along the borders to stall and slow anything if the Mongols decide to lunge. And you’re right, he’s gambling he won’t have to face all of the potential might Andie and his army supporters could bring. The Persian Komnenids could take the Anatolikon and Basilkion Stratoi. Egypt added? The Balkans added? The numbers start to get daunting.Then again, Gabriel’s faced daunting numbers before.
vadermath – 1) That’s become my philosophy, to be honest. Photoshopped blank CK maps are better looking, and suit my writing style better.
2) The Romans can certainly hope that’s all Arghun is after. If they’re committed and he wants more, it could spell major trouble.
Sudaxe – Part of the disappearing screenshots was my transition from using just naked CK map screens to using a blank CK map and Photoshop to make something prettier. The other part comes from a change in the way I played the game… I went from being religious about taking screenies all the time to far more lax—less screenies = less screenshots used in the end. As for Andronikos—he’d appreciate the loyalty!
Hasimir Fenring – Welcome to the thread, Count! Love the name!
Vesimir –
1) That pic looks like it could be a modern day head-of-a-spy-agency Sophie.
2) As for the great hottie contest, I’m not fully qualified to weigh in on the women side of things.
3)I thought there was a blood and gore mod for M&B?
4)I saved this update up for you and all the other Gabriel-lovers. I thought you might like it!
Nikolai – It’s a little sobering to think Basil was that long ago. Much of it is simply there’s been a huge increase in the number of replies after each post. In perspective, the end of Manuel’s reign was 1/3 through the Table of Contents… yet is only on page 50 in the thread!
Fulcrumvale – 1)Frederica killed someone, but it was rather casual and she obviously never fully understood the danger she was in. Sophie was magnificent at her job. Except when Basil got in the way…
2)If all falls according to Andronikos’ plan, it’ll be Andronikos versus Gabriel for the big one. One has years of experience, the other has… well. Youth? We’ll see what happens!
AlexanderPrimus – Yup. Frederica was Morgana from Merlin, Safiya is Lindsay Lohan, Christina was Lucilla from Gladiator, Sophie was Sibylla from Kingdom of Heaven, and Basiliea de Hauteville was Anne Boleyn from The Tudors. Cecilia, incidentally, is Jane Seymour from the same.
And thank you, as always, for the kind words and support!
Drake Rlugia – Welcome to the thread! And it’s been too long since Altani—maybe you like her because she’s a kickass warlord in her own right? Or that even in defeat she shows defiance? Hopefully the next update meets with your same approval!
Qorten – QFT. This has become the hallmark of the later generations of Komnenids. Call it dynastic success or dynastic dysfunction, but the Komnenids are concerned about themselves and their place, not their family, not the empire. While there are and will be some stunning exceptions to this rule, the trend is only going to get worse the more the Komnenid blood spreads…
RGB – 1)They might have many HP, but do they have epic feats or cohorts?
2) As for the Song, I’m not sure. They’re likely fighting for their life tooth and nail against the Mongols still…
cezar87 – Rooting for Roman Persia doesn’t go against rooting for Altani. Altani can do just fine if Arghun meets resistance…
Enewald – Gabriel’s only 48. Even in old CK he could still have quite a few years left!
I dig the little ditty. I like it a lot in fact. Especially “The Lion is coming.” May I borrow it as a song or ditty in a later update?
asd21593 – This is not the Vader quote you are looking for. *moves hand*
Iceman2508 – Welcome to the thread! Well, Gabriel has the best claim to Thomas II (he is the only son left in Roman lands)…
Whew, that was a lot of replies!
Next update is coming together somewhat, it should be up sometime either tomorrow or Saturday, if all goes according to plan, and I don’t get sidetracked again. Sidetracked by what, you ask?
Well, for those of you that are strategically minded, I have a problem you can analyze.
It’s from an ongoing game of Distant Worlds (a 4x real time space empire game I’m playing), where shortly (maybe 30 minutes real time after I restart from where I saved, and maybe six months to a year game time, I’m going to find myself involved in a major intergalactic war that will literally find every single race in the galaxy at war.
The war pits me (The Earth Federation) and my allies (Azamol Confederation, several others) against the evil Mortalen Empire (seriously, their reputation has descended from notorious to evil, they’ve slagged several planets). It will be an epic struggle, a fight to the… well, maybe not the death. See below.
This is the current galactic map and situation:
Blue is me and my allies, Red are the Mortalens. Zentabia Fluid, Loros Fruit and Korrabian Spice are ultra rare resources that immensely boost colony happiness. I control the first two, the Mortalens control the last.
Now, my advantages:
1) Vastly superior population size and economy. My alliance includes 3 of the top four galactic economies. In GDP we have a 6-1 advantage over the enemy, and in tax income we have a whopping 8-1 advantage. This has led to advantage number 2…
2) Fleet size. My fleet has a combat power of 71000 altogether, while my two largest allies have about 30k each. Smaller allies together have perhaps 15k, for a grand total of nearly 150k fleet combat power versus their 80k or so.
However, these are mitigated by my disadvantages:
1) Government- My allies economy, as well as my own, are driven by the fact we are democracies, and thus have very high war exhaustion compared to the Mortalen monarchy. I can survive perhaps a year or two of war before war exhaustion starts crippling my economy and thus my ability to support my fleets in the field.
2) Breadth. I have the fastest engines in the galaxy, but we have far more real estate to defend than they do, and far more vulnerable infrastructure. Additionally more of my own fleet combat power has been grouped into my 5 offensive fleets, whereas the Mortalens have a significant portion of their firepower either in reserve, guarding stations, or unknown location.
3) Technology – the Mortalen fleet is almost universally high tech, while my ships outside of the five fleets are a mishmash.
My war plan is as follows:
1) Use the last few months in game before the shooting starts to retrofit my older ships in fleets to ultramodern standard.
2) Ready load troops into each fleet for instant invasion capability
3) Design and commission a new class of heavy destroyer, with heavy torpedo weapons and high speed. These will be grouped into three separate fleets of ten ships apiece, and will be commerce raiders. They’ll hit Mortalen gas mining facilities with the goal of crippling their fleet’s fuel situation
4) Adopt an overall defensive initial stance with the main battlefleets. Use intel to find the enemy’s target systems, and especially the locations they plan to refuel. At the latter, arrange for two of my fleets to be in position to intercept them as they’re low on fuel. Once the initial three Mortalen fleets have been eliminated,
5) Move to full scale offensive operations. Primary target—Mortalen supply of Korrabian Spice.
6) Profit.
Comments, suggestions? The game is extremely in depth in terms of its economy management and strategic decisions… its addicting.
I can't help you as I never played the game so I'll just give you some half-arsed advice.
Go for their capital, nuke the hell out of it and profit.
If you would need some strategic advice in, say the Total War games, feel free to ask.
Go for their capital, nuke the hell out of it and profit.
If you would need some strategic advice in, say the Total War games, feel free to ask.
Totally forgot to comment to the last post . Looks like a rather evil looking Gabby is on the move again. Just wondering if the Persians don't have too many captains on their ship. The old lion, Alexandros, Nikephoros the only and the sad pretender Thomas. Just who is the man to follow?
On the space-game, never played the game, so I can only limit myself to some timeless (if corny) strategic oneliners:
- Pattons advise: grab 'em by the throat and kick 'em in the ass. (Try to find the enemies fleets, pin them down and destroy them piecemeal. Higher speed should help).
- Guderians advise: you don't hit your enemy with stretched out fingers, you hit them with your fist. (don't spread your fleet too thin trying to defend everything, keep the punch in their assault.)
Hope kicking in some open doors helped you
. Looks like a rather evil looking Gabby is on the move again. Just wondering if the Persians don't have too many captains on their ship. The old lion, Alexandros, Nikephoros the only and the sad pretender Thomas. Just who is the man to follow?On the space-game, never played the game, so I can only limit myself to some timeless (if corny) strategic oneliners:
- Pattons advise: grab 'em by the throat and kick 'em in the ass. (Try to find the enemies fleets, pin them down and destroy them piecemeal. Higher speed should help).
- Guderians advise: you don't hit your enemy with stretched out fingers, you hit them with your fist. (don't spread your fleet too thin trying to defend everything, keep the punch in their assault.)
Hope kicking in some open doors helped you
Rhomanion is starting to look more and more like china during the three kingdoms era which makes for great story telling.
as for Distant worlds, hit their capital as hard and as fast as you can then get back to friendly space before they realize what happened. It ought to hurt their war effort a bit and and will give you time to build more ships should the come en masse.
which makes for great story telling.as for Distant worlds, hit their capital as hard and as fast as you can then get back to friendly space before they realize what happened. It ought to hurt their war effort a bit and and will give you time to build more ships should the come en masse.
Lindsay Lohan is a debauched, used-up, alcoholic wannabe with a terrible character, who was sent to jail because she couldn't comply with her probation conditions even if she wanted to :wacko:
And she doesn't even look particularly good. She has an average face, with a perpetually bitchy-annoyed unsympathetic look on it. The fact that she's only 24 and already has wrinkles around her eyes tells you a lot about the lifestyle of excess... she's going downhill as so many young actresses do who had too much success too early on. She has that impression of a woman who is going to look 40 by the time they are 30... yellow teeth, bad hair, wrinkles, croaky voice. Very unattractive to me personally.
In any case at makes me strongly dislike the Safiya character, and hope she meets a quick and unglorious end in the story
In any case at makes me strongly dislike the Safiya character, and hope she meets a quick and unglorious end in the story
While all that is true, I just don't think about that. For me she's Lindsay Lohan when she looked like a woman. I don't have to keep thinking about what she looks like now. And she simply doesn't look now.