Losing Romes - April 87
The situation, expectedly, ain’t good, as I am losing Romes as I go along.
I lost the second Rome to Pontus, after close to 10 vicious assaults. Here is the first battle :
And most of the defenses of the First Rome are gone – the final Populares assault will be for next month :
On the other hand, my troops in Rome evaded the enemy forces and regrouped in Ancona :
Unfortunately, the Populares are regrouping themselves just nearby. I am going to hold my position for now.
In Greece, there is strong Pontic advance, but at least Thebae surrendered without combat :
I need to act fast, and now I will move to Athenae.
Finally, I received good news from Lucullus :
Two new units of ships. Unfortunately, there is a storm just at the exit of Gortyn, so I will not take all my fleet but just one unit, and I will go toward Cyrene :
This is risky (storms can hit hard) but I have little time !
Now, a couple basic beginner’s corners
Beginner’s corner : Activation
In war, your generals are not machines obeying to each and all of your commands. They can be busy intriguing, they may not understand your orders, they may have troubles getting respected.
In game term, to represent this, each leader can be either “active” or “unactive”. The test is run every turn. Under the most common option (this can be changed in settings) :
- An activated leader behaves normally
- A non-activated leader is sulking, distraught or just play lazy : any army he is leading got a (very significant) malus in speed and attack capacity, and more importantly, cannot be set in an offensive or assault posture (see below).
Activation depends on two main factors :
- the skill of the leader in "strategy",
- whether the leader was already active the previous turn.
To see whether the leader is active or not, look at the envelop ABOVE his portrait : if it is white, he is active. If it is yellow, he is not.
For instance, here is Sulla’s icon on the map :
Sulla is obviously filling some important paperwork, and won’t be assaulting any Greek city this turn.
On the other hand, here is Braetius :
Braetius has done his homeworks, except the MAKING HISTORY one - he is now looking for some action !
Beginner’s corner : Posture and ROE - Basics
As you have seen, I give orders to my troops for the next month. But what happens if my troops meet the enemy ? Do they engage ? Do they flee ? Well, much depends on who is their commander… and what posture (a.k.a. “stance”) and Rule of Engagement (ROE) you gave them.
You control that here :
Posture and ROE are given for the month.
There are 4 postures – here are their simplified description :
- Assault Posture (RED icon): your stack will attack any enemy army it encounters, and assault any structure it finishes its moves on, if it can. If you want to attack every structure on the way of your stack, you also need to set its Rule of Engagement to “All-out assault”.
- Attack Posture (ORANGE icon) : your stack will attack any enemy army it encounters, but not the structures.
- Defensive Posture (BLUE icon) : your stack will not attack any enemy on its own, but it will (usually) block its movements, forcing the opponent to attack if it wants to “pass”. The stack will also fortify, thus increasing its bonus each turn (up to a maximum).
- Passive posture (GREEN icon) : your stack will move out of the way (in another province) if it is in the same province as an enemy army, whatever that other army’s posture is. If it is forced into battle, it will try to retreat ASAP.
Small stacks in Passive posture are very difficult to force into battle.
Remember that if the stack is not activated, you CANNOT choose the Assault or Attack Posture (protip : switch the leader if you can).
That there are two related special orders :
- “Evade Combat” which allows small stacks to avoid combat and enemies without actually “moving out of the way”. Better when used with fast or light units.
- “Ambush” will allow a stack to, well, try to set up an ambush (might fail), i.e. attack the enemy with a high surprise bonus and with the opponent losing its eventual range advantage (for instance, archers vs slingers). Ambushes only work if the stack does not move (i.e. downtown Rome is out).
In term of posture, keep a defensive one when you ambush ; if the ambush is successful, in game term, it will be as if your stack is the one "attacked" (it will keep its entrenchment and other bonus of “defensive” posture, while the opponent will have no defensive bonus at all).
Once the battle has started, you might want to decide whether your army attacks aggressively or not. Those are the Rules of Engagement (ROE). There are 4 of them, with different names depending on your posture :
- All out attack / Hold at all cost : The army will NEVER retreats, whatever the odds are. It can still rout, though. It is to be used VERY carefully, because whole armies can be destroyed because you gave that order at the wrong moment. On attack, “All out attack” will also translate into more losses for everyone, especially you. Finally, “all out attack” + “assault posture” will make your stack assault all the structures it meets.
- Sustained attack / Defend : The “standard attack”. Your leader will take the initiative in retreating if he feels the situation gets… difficult.
- Conservative attack / Defend and Retreat : The army will fight a little, then retreat, except if the leader believes he is clearly winning the battle. Losses will be limited for both sides. Good to use when you are not quite sure of what you will meet.
- Feint attack / Retreat if engaged : Your army will retreat very quickly (Feint attack) or immediately. It can be good to exhaust / slow down and enemy or to scout his forces. “Retreat if engaged” is handy, though.
You can see what posture I selected by looking at the color (and shape) of the icon on the upper right corner of the picture of the general on the map :
This stack for instance has the defensive posture (and if you remember the previous Beginner’s Corner – is active).
