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Perhaps the current consul is Gaius Julius Caesar hiding behind a fake identity without his nickname and driving the country to a chaos so he can seize it all when the time is ripe..?
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The thought crossed my mind :) - but considering how blithering an idiot this version is... Even if it's only an act, it's not a particularly smart one. The original Julius C. was extremely good at self-promotion, won over the allegiance of his legions and, with that powerbase securely in place, put himself on the throne (for all intents and purposes).

It's hard to see this hapless sack of sh... nothing... ever build up anything like a powerbase, or achieve massive foreign success, which would allow him to rise up and declare himself Dictator. Still, stranger things have happened. ;)
 
Wait, Massilia is still independent and most of Gaul too? What kind of roman empire IS this? I say it deserves to get torn apart by the Populists. :laugh:
 
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Those armies they got are what in more peaceful times would be standard rebel scum. One of the risks of civil war when there is noticeable revolt risk (though luckily any revolts on rebel lands would join you, though getting commanders to them can be tricky).

Well, good luck, not that you need it when you have the greatest consul to ever have lived to lead the republic. Any idea what was up with that Lycian that got imprisoned (Machares Alcetid)?

He really surprised me, esp as Lycia is my ally and actually took a couple of provinces for me. But when I took Malta I had about 8 pop-ups of individuals I'd arrested (and that I'd already executed Catulus) and he was on the list.

Yes the armies that popped up for them were annoying but pretty useless. 70-80% militia, a few archers, maybe some cavalry, precisely the mix you want to fight with an army based around Heavy Infantry

Always exciting to find another loki100 AAR, even more exciting to find a loki100 Rome AAR!

welcome aboard and thank you

Wow, the Civil War is over, but did you really 'win' it, considering you have a Consul who shows fewer signs of intelligent life than a bag of moldy potatoes*?

You leave us with a nice cliffhanger. I wonder what it all means - what reason could you possibly have to not immediately put Marius to death, along with all of his rebellious cronies? Are you that short on government talent (or even warm bodies), that you need to keep a bunch of traitors ready to come off the bench?

And how about your economy and, more importantly, your manpower? How long until you can resume offensive operations the pacification and civilization of barbarian lands, for the Greater Good of all involved?

Questions, questions, questions. :)

*I know the Romans didn't have potatoes. I haven't decided yet whether or not to pretend this makes my remark extra clever, or if I should just admit it's a far-fetched metaphor to begin with.

think of him as a particularly mouldy meat rissole and you are possibly being a bit more historically accurate. In years of playing CK/EU/Rome I have never had a numpty of that standard in charge ... and as you know in CK I managed a few who really gave grounds to doubt the whole concept of evolution.

Marius causes no real problems, just the dilemna of what to do with a former consul, who rebuilt the Republic's armies, saved it from invasion and then threw his lot in with an already lost cause. As they said in this part of the world 'Inter arma enim leges silent' (but then you know what that means [1]

An end to the war, and a new colony! The sound toll is certainly no small prize, as well.

Once (if?) your manpower recovers, I suppose you've got to find someone to knock down... I wonder what Numidia is up to. They're sitting on some more than modest holdings and are in a position from which they can threaten most of your empire, though they probably don't have access to Iron, if memory serves. Numidia delenda est!

that sound toll is a huge boost for income. manpower slowly rebuilds, but a single big battle with the barbarians costs me two months, but I manage to recoup a lot by disbanding and sending 0 manpower cohorts that are loyal to someone off into the wilderness around the middle Danube to do something terribly brave.

Yep, the next section is really dominated by the urge to make sure that Numidia is never going to be a threat again.

New Consul - new meaning to the terms -dumber than a box of rocks & bag of hammers.:D
Been mostly just reading lately

As above, he is unique ... in a way that one should be thankful for. If I'd been paying attention I think a bit of judicious smearing of his reputation (how hard could that have been?) would have bounced him from the succession.

Perhaps the current consul is Gaius Julius Caesar hiding behind a fake identity without his nickname and driving the country to a chaos so he can seize it all when the time is ripe..?
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The thought crossed my mind :) - but considering how blithering an idiot this version is... Even if it's only an act, it's not a particularly smart one. The original Julius C. was extremely good at self-promotion, won over the allegiance of his legions and, with that powerbase securely in place, put himself on the throne (for all intents and purposes).

It's hard to see this hapless sack of sh... nothing... ever build up anything like a powerbase, or achieve massive foreign success, which would allow him to rise up and declare himself Dictator. Still, stranger things have happened. ;)

I'm with Stuyvesant on this one - no one that dim is up for a double bluff. At the moment, most of my senior ambitious individuals are happy to play in the confines of an oligarchic republic but I do come close to a second civil war on a few occasions. (I'm up to 17 years ahead in game play).

Wait, Massilia is still independent and most of Gaul too? What kind of roman empire IS this? I say it deserves to get torn apart by the Populists. :laugh:

Just for you I checked. It would cost me -4 stab to take them out. So Massilia stays a loyal ally for now. Gaul I'm thinking of cleaning up but at the moment I have bigger worries.

[1] - this statement is one of the foundations to at least one of the 'just war' traditions (the one that Stalin liked ... anything goes as long as you win), it was Cicero being a lawyer rather than a humane person. You all of course know what it means but just in case - "in time of war, the law falls silent"

And, of course, if you haven't already done so - go vote in the ACAs, less than one voting week to go
 
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Chapter Two: The Conquest of the West - 662-679AUC

With the end of the Civil War, domestically the Republic slipped into an uneasy peace. Political intrigue and the abuse of public life for personal gain remained the norm. Many nominally prestigious men (and some women) found it expendiant to arrange for the murder of a rival. However, to many commentators, after the drama of the trials of the main consipirators, the main events of this period were international.

The period commenced and ended with war in North Africa and by the end of the second, Rome was the undisputed mistress of the Western Mediterranean.



However, the brief Colchis war had given already rich men a taste for the greater wealth to be had if Rome was mistress of the east too. Equally the brief Colchis war had given sensible men, who had the Republic's interests at heart, deep cause for concern. Out of sight since the wars of a century ago, the Greek kingdoms of the Levant and the new Parthian empire, now laying claim to the legacy of Darius, had risen back to power. Rome was compelled to pay attention and by the end of this period the east – source of wealth, source of power, source of threat – was the focus of so many discussions and debates in the Senate.

And yet, the ongoing sore of the wars on the Danube claimed the attention of at least 4 legions. If each barbarian incursion was finally held, and if Roman colonies slowly spread, then each war cost the Republic hard to replace manpower. With the bulk of the Republic's armies tied down on the borders, dealing with internal revolt or pacifying newly acquired lands in N Africa how was the Republic to deal with the fast rising powers in the East?

However, before we can turn our attention to that stage of Rome's history, first we must cover the period when the West dominated life in the Republic, even if the East claimed the attention and dreams of many men.
 
I love that map: the enormous red blob that is the Roman Empire Republic, the tiny little rust-brown smear on the extreme northern border that is labeled 'Emerging Gallic threat'. Do they have weapons of mass destruction (disease-ridden cow corpses for the catapults, perhaps?), or do they harbor known terrorists? :p

Looking forward to the East, where the real threats and opportunities lie, but certainly interested in seeing how the West will drain the Republic of yet more hard-to-replace manpower. :)
 
Would you give us some ledger stats about the current great powers? It would be nice to see how much difference they make and who has the best chances of slowing down the inevitable Roman world conquest :D
 
Would you give us some ledger stats about the current great powers? It would be nice to see how much difference they make and who has the best chances of slowing down the inevitable Roman world conquest :D

From the world map alone it seems only Parthia can really slow down the Romans.
 
I love that map: the enormous red blob that is the Roman Empire Republic, the tiny little rust-brown smear on the extreme northern border that is labeled 'Emerging Gallic threat'. Do they have weapons of mass destruction (disease-ridden cow corpses for the catapults, perhaps?), or do they harbor known terrorists? :p

The next one will blame it all on the Picts and stress how much a threat they are to civilisation etc. I mean look at the size of them.

Looking forward to the East, where the real threats and opportunities lie, but certainly interested in seeing how the West will drain the Republic of yet more hard-to-replace manpower. :)
Would you give us some ledger stats about the current great powers? It would be nice to see how much difference they make and who has the best chances of slowing down the inevitable Roman world conquest :D
From the world map alone it seems only Parthia can really slow down the Romans.

Few ledger images below (all from 679 so the same date as the world map). In truth my problem is manpower. Even with no major wars, in a good year I add about 5000 net, in a bad year (& this is the running sore in the Balkans), I have a deficit. I managed to build up a reserve by 2 rounds of ruthless culling of cohorts and sending 0 manpower 'loyal' cohorts off on their own to establish Roman power beyond the Danube. In combination that gave me both a surplus and got rid of the worst drains on my MP (hence the 80,000 I have now). I think about 20,000 needs to go to current legions, so if I can avoid any more attrition heavy wars (& I'm not that fussed about what is left of Numidia as they are being pulled apart by revolts), then I'd like to raise 4-5 (80,000 men) new Legions for a war in the East (at the moment I have 2-3 that are not permanently bogged down or that I daren't move (I have 1 in Spain, 1 in Gaul, 'just in case') 4 on the Danube, 2 in Italy permanently dealing with revolts.







next post will be up soonish. I've had a major work related disaster and lost about 500 records & the entire structure from a citation software that I rely on. Sufficient to say I'm torn between trying to repair the damage and into serious work evasion as a consequence.
 
That is an absolutely terrifying Egypt...and not even that huge, either! Rome needs to pick up its game, there've been too many distractions in the west!
 
That is an absolutely terrifying Egypt...and not even that huge, either! Rome needs to pick up its game, there've been too many distractions in the west!

Indeed, its looking at that makes me wonder if my obsession with the Selucids is rather ill-placed (prob too much playing from the early start dates and watching the yellow blob spread). Even worse war with Eqypt will be attrition heavy as well as the inevitable losses in battle. Cleopatra may yet have her way?
 
The Trial of Marius

Catulus' summary execution on the dockside in Malta in many ways deprived the Senate of its opportunity to take full revenge and to reassert the power of the Republic after the chaos of civil war.



In many cases, factional politics dominated over any pretence of legality or judicial process.



Those with friends in the dominant factions secured their release, those aligned to the Populist faction were left in jail.

However, across all this manouvering and taking of petty revenges stood the dilemna of what to do with Gaius Marius. Consul, revered saviour of Rome, creator of the modern legion structure, he had defected but taken no active part in the Civil War. To some, he above all deserved leniency. If the wounds of war were to be healed then a display of reconciliation was needed. To others he had abandoned the Republic in its hour of need, fled his fleet even as it set sail to overcome the curse of piracy that had flourished in the chaos, and, far worse, had been complicit in the decision to arm the slaves when the conspirators had made their last bid for victory.

To those who held such a view there was only one decision.



The trial took place in a packed Senate. Marius' defense rested on three claims. That he had followed personal loyalty in joining the revolt, not personal ambition. That when the prize is great any act is permissable and that in time of war, the normal laws were to be set aside. Finally that acting in self-interest justified any act that advanced those interests [1].

Unfortunately for Marius, his defense was flawed. Not least in claiming that in war any act was valid left him open to the response that the Republic was still at war with those who had tried to overthrow the Senate.

The damning act though was the arming of run away slaves. This went to the core of the Senate's fears of servile revolt bringing to an end the entire order. That those of their own class had taken this step was too much to tolerate.

The only mercy shown to Marius in the end was the right to commit suicide. If he did so, the Senate could avoid condemning one of its own leading members and his family would be allowed to keep the bulk of his wealth.



With that, the first Civil War ended.

[1] – this conflates the arguments (at different times for and against) that Cicero put forward in one or the other of the trials in the late Republic. He wasn't exactly consistent when in Court.

And as is usual - a reminder to vote in the ACAs, less than 2 voting days left.
 
Hurrah, a grand victory for Rome!
 
Marius' defense seems just as useable as an indictment for his behavior (if seen from the Republic's side). Not really the kind of arguments I'd like to make if my neck were on the line...

In the end, he really invited his own execution. Assuming at least that Roman law allows for precedent, it would be a horrible precedent to set: "Oh well, you took up arms in rebellion, caused untold deaths and damages, but you did it out of conviction, so right, off you go, enjoy the rest of your life in freedom." Doesn't have much of a deterrent factor now, does it? :)

Sorry to hear about your work-related disaster - hope it clears itself up somehow, without too much pain involved.

And once that's cleared up, let's see what you can do about those horrible Gauls that threaten the very fabric of poor, defenseless Rome! Go pre-emptive strike! You can't wait for the mushroom cloud no wait, that doesn't really work in that time fram... You can't wait for the hordes to pillage Rome again, beat them to it! By pillaging them, I mean. It wouldn't make much sense to pillage Rome yourself.
 
Hurrah, a grand victory for Rome!

and there will be more ... in addition to a number of defeats on the way ... :)

Marius' defense seems just as useable as an indictment for his behavior (if seen from the Republic's side). Not really the kind of arguments I'd like to make if my neck were on the line...

In the end, he really invited his own execution. Assuming at least that Roman law allows for precedent, it would be a horrible precedent to set: "Oh well, you took up arms in rebellion, caused untold deaths and damages, but you did it out of conviction, so right, off you go, enjoy the rest of your life in freedom." Doesn't have much of a deterrent factor now, does it? :)

Sorry to hear about your work-related disaster - hope it clears itself up somehow, without too much pain involved.

And once that's cleared up, let's see what you can do about those horrible Gauls that threaten the very fabric of poor, defenseless Rome! Go pre-emptive strike! You can't wait for the mushroom cloud no wait, that doesn't really work in that time fram... You can't wait for the hordes to pillage Rome again, beat them to it! By pillaging them, I mean. It wouldn't make much sense to pillage Rome yourself.

No it wasn't the most plausible, but it was tried. Of course if you plead that the suspension of law means any act is valid its a bit rich to then plead protection under the law later on.

The Gallic threat has just (this lunchtime actually) been dealt with, its the Picts I've now identified as the core threat to the Republic.

Well I face the gruesome task of putting the database structure back and assigning 3000 records to it (hence the evasion strategy of playing Rome this lunchtime). I've lost about 400 records but I don't need all of them in the longer term so its not that much data input - just boring and frustrating. The problem with this software is its easy to forget to back up both the structure and the content (they are in completely different formats).
 
The development of the legions 662-679 AUC

Across this period the army continued to evolve in terms of size, doctrine and, to a lesser extent, structure. At the end of the Civil War there were 14 legions deployed from west to east as:

Spain – 1 legion; Gaul – 3 legions; Italy – 3 legions; The Danube – 3 legions; Greece – 2 legions; and, Asia Minor – 2 legions.

This deployment was less in terms of strategy (except the Danubian force) and more a product of the campaigns waged to destroy the rebellion. However there were two major problems with this notionally powerful force. Firstly about 35% of the cohorts now owed their allegiance to an individual not the state. If Catulus' defeat had, for now, removed the threat of renewed civil war, the steady growth of private armies indicated that the next general to rebel might bring one or more legions to his cause rather than a disparate collection of city militias [1]. The second problem was that this force of notionally 257,000 men actually only contained an effective army of 160,000.



The result was the Senate decided to reduce the notional size back to 10 legions and use the released manpower to rebuild this core force. Those disbanded were paid off and often settled in new veterans colonies as Roman rule was consolidated on the rebellious Danubian frontier [2].



The end of this process was the notional army was shrunk to just over 220,000 (11 legions of 18 cohorts) and the effective army was some 50,000 less than this complement.


(this is just after another round of disbanding – hence the small surplus)

By the time of the Third Numidian War (676 AUC), the army had been reduced to 8 legions (150,000 effectives) and a small manpower reserve created. The subsequent development of the legions after that war will be covered in chapter three.

In terms of tactics, this was a period of slow developments, primarily in terms of siege works and the layout of legionary camps.



Equally the discipline and organisation of the heavy infantry remained a focus of tactical developments.



Towards the end of this period, reflecting experience in the Numidian Wars, more and more attention was paid to the tactics and equipment of the cavalry. With the expectation of war with the Eastern powers, cavalry became an increasingly important part of the Republic's armies [3]



Beyond this, the organisation within the legions changed. The preferred strength was 18 cohorts (18,000 effectives) and by 675 these were built around a core of 6-8 heavy infantry cohorts. Increasingly archers, skirmishers and cavalry were integrated into the legions to create mixed forces capable of meeting most foes.

Those legions expected to fight in North Africa often had additional cavalry and the Danubian legions relied more on light infantry support. Although the legions did not have the fixed locations they took under the Principate, nonetheless they started to adjust their structure to the terrain and type of foes they expected to face.



[1] – I believe this is called foreshadowing.
[2] – I sent a lot of the very low manpower 'loyal' cohorts off into the wilds of the Danube where for some unfortunate reason they were destroyed – at least this helped me recovering a manpower reserve as well as restructuring the legions as I wanted them.
[3] – a tiny bit more foreshadowing.
 
Heavy cav. is very nice to have.
Will work nice in the east, armoured heavy cav. would be even better.:laugh:
 
What is this technique called "Foreshadowing"? It sounds... foreboding. :p

Sensible strategy to bring your forces down to a more sustainable size. No point in having a nominally huge army that will fall apart at the first sign of resistance.

One question: why was it so hard to get rid of the unlucky 13th Legion that you had it kill it off four times?
 
Great AAR so far, congratulations! Both very well-written and intriguing. Also, a strong incentive for me to start a new Rome game...

On an unrelated note, I've got a question: I don't recall seeing the "fields" background in the battle screen - is it something you've added yourself? Edit: Nevermind, I've discovered it's already present in the base game (just started playing it... :blush: ).
 
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Excellent post, I love the coverage of the army and military technology. The Legions look a fair bit leaner, but hopefully also a bit meaner, to compensate. :cool:

You mentioned 'dealing with' the Gallic problem, you might also consider colonizing the portions of Iberia and Aquitania that have yet to see the light of Roman rule. It'd certainly shorten the frontier and give you culturally and religiously Roman provinces, poor as they may be.

A question: Is your manpower low, despite such vast holdings, because of wrong-culture provinces? If so, what areas are Roman and which are not?
 
Heavy cav. is very nice to have.
Will work nice in the east, armoured heavy cav. would be even better.:laugh:

I know its the way to go, but there seems something very unRoman about all these horses cluttering up the battlefield, but I am going to need them

What is this technique called "Foreshadowing"? It sounds... foreboding. :p

Sensible strategy to bring your forces down to a more sustainable size. No point in having a nominally huge army that will fall apart at the first sign of resistance.

One question: why was it so hard to get rid of the unlucky 13th Legion that you had it kill it off four times?

well spotted. I think its because every time I split a legion to get rid of a batch of cohorts, it recreated the 13th, just before I disbanded it. I actually end up recruiting mercanaries a bit later (my economy can stand it) to fill in the gaps.

Great AAR so far, congratulations! Both very well-written and intriguing. Also, a strong incentive for me to start a new Rome game...

On an unrelated note, I've got a question: I don't recall seeing the "fields" background in the battle screen - is it something you've added yourself? Edit: Nevermind, I've discovered it's already present in the base game (just started playing it... :blush: ).

I'm glad you are enjoying it. I do like this game, its not as 'busy' as CK can be, but the characters add something.

Certainly wasn't me. My modding skills start and stop at changing the name Manchu to Ming in a simple event file :sad:

Excellent post, I love the coverage of the army and military technology. The Legions look a fair bit leaner, but hopefully also a bit meaner, to compensate. :cool:

You mentioned 'dealing with' the Gallic problem, you might also consider colonizing the portions of Iberia and Aquitania that have yet to see the light of Roman rule. It'd certainly shorten the frontier and give you culturally and religiously Roman provinces, poor as they may be.

A question: Is your manpower low, despite such vast holdings, because of wrong-culture provinces? If so, what areas are Roman and which are not?

Here's the problem. I get a few bits of manpower from other Italian cultures but almost 90% of my manpower comes from 4 provinces (nice that Carthage is so committed to the cause):



So I've maximised them with trade goods etc, about 75% of the time go for the Cupid omen, and all my slaves are pilling into Rome and hopefully producing more freedmen over time. But in a civil war all I need is 2/4 of those to revolt and I'm in deep trouble. Slowly the provinces flip culture which helps, but often they are low manpower even so.