Between A Rock and a Hard Place

[Lofman]

Good to see you reclaim your namesake homeland! Now, there's the nagging voice at the back of my head that wonders if you could've pushed the Egyptians further, perhaps claim some more provinces, perhaps push up their war exhaustion and create some rebellions... But then again, who knows when they'll make peace with the Macedonians and direct their full fury at you?

The absolute worst that could happen (as far as Egypt is concerned) is that the Egyptians make peace with Macedon, rebuild their armies and come at you with a vengeance. But even if that happens, you're still in a better position now than you were before Cyrene and Cyrenaica were welcomed back into the loving embrace of your state.

I also wonder if I could have gotten more. Well probably not at the time I signed peace but who knows if I kept it up.

Good job!

Thanks.

well done, so good to see Cyrenicia back in Cyrenicia.

this AAR really does showcase just how much good fun is to had with Rome

The only thing is that I don't really show much of the character stuff happening. Some of it can be quite interesting.

Nicely done, good to see the starting provinces are all back! Hopefully that Macedon conflict lasts even longer so that you'd get the chance to bring them down a peg still.

As long as the Macedonian-Egyptian war doesn't end in a massive Egyptian victory. That would be bad.

How do you guys take those pictures with the black edges where it shows the updated nations?

Just press F12.

Damn Romans they took your Elephants, well the Egyptians still got some you can take.

Well luckily the Romans may be interested in trading, so I can still get those elephants, although I am not getting the province anytime soon.

 

[Lofman]

Between A Rock and a Hard Place
​

We have Elephants​

There was talk about getting access to Elephants. Unfortunately Rome conquered the closest available province before we where in any shape to do so ourselves. Luckily they have no problem trading with us so we can get some elephants in our armies anyway. Said and done (well training takes quite some time so I only go for two units of elephants). The navy is also increased and a brief war is fought against Carthage in which Cinithii is gained.

Other then the war with Carthage it is a fairly peaceful decade for Cyrenaica (trying to let my manpower fully recover (can be just under 100k now) as well as reducing my war exhaustion). For the other major powers not so much. Egypt and Macedonia continues with their fierce war which ends after more then twenty years with Macedonia ceding Thessaly. And Rome crushes some barbarians, and briefly losses territory to some other barbarians and is thrown into a brief civil war as one Numerius Aemilius Lepidus tries to grab power (he fails).

​

As the decade ends how does the world look as we enter the year 630 AUC?

​

Well Rome is big. As is Egypt. Armenia reconquered a province from Pontus while Parthia expanded into Mesopotamia. Carthage is nearly gone, only one province and no allies they will probably not last if or more exactly when Rome decide to finish them off. While they lost a province to Egypt Macedonia have managed to expand through colonization.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Rome is like the late Western Roman Empire on steroids! And Macedonia looks blobby, though it's hard to know how many of those provinces are really worth much - I imagine a lot of them are pretty poor, just past the colonial state. Oh, and your eternal enemy Egypt is still massive, while the Seleucids have all but disappeared.

So Egypt has peace and is probably greedily eyeing Cyrenaica once more. At least you have some elephants to bring to the party...

By the way, to what nation does Sardinia belong? Is it part of Numidia?

 

[loki100]

that is becoming a world of powerful large empires - odd as my Rome worlds tend to fragment. Realise you feel a wee bit squeezed but spare a thought for the Lexovii ...

the Seleucids may now last some time. I'd guess that none of their potential suitors can run up much warscore (apart from Parthia) due to the splintered nature of their remaining provinces. If you're lucky, the Egyptians may waste quite a lot of time trying to finish them off.

the ending of the Macedon-Egypt war was bad news, clearly, even if it took ages, Egypt has the beating of them. As Stuyvesant says, guess their current holdings are large but poor ... could lead to a spectacular collapse?

 

[Lofman]

Rome is like the late Western Roman Empire on steroids! And Macedonia looks blobby, though it's hard to know how many of those provinces are really worth much - I imagine a lot of them are pretty poor, just past the colonial state. Oh, and your eternal enemy Egypt is still massive, while the Seleucids have all but disappeared.

So Egypt has peace and is probably greedily eyeing Cyrenaica once more. At least you have some elephants to bring to the party...

By the way, to what nation does Sardinia belong? Is it part of Numidia?

Yes, those Macedonian provinces aren't that great (though it is certainly better then nothing) and yes, it is Numidia that has Sardinia.

that is becoming a world of powerful large empires - odd as my Rome worlds tend to fragment. Realise you feel a wee bit squeezed but spare a thought for the Lexovii ...

the Seleucids may now last some time. I'd guess that none of their potential suitors can run up much warscore (apart from Parthia) due to the splintered nature of their remaining provinces. If you're lucky, the Egyptians may waste quite a lot of time trying to finish them off.

the ending of the Macedon-Egypt war was bad news, clearly, even if it took ages, Egypt has the beating of them. As Stuyvesant says, guess their current holdings are large but poor ... could lead to a spectacular collapse?

The Lexovii lasted a little longer then one would expect, but that is mostly that Rome didn't declare war the moment their truce ended.

 

[Lofman]

Between A Rock and a Hard Place
​

Things could be better​

After a few years of peace a massive war erupts in the east as Armenia declares war on Pontus. Pontus asks Macedonia and the Seleucids to help, but they are no longer allied with Egypt so the Ptolemies promptly join the Armenian side. The Bosporans and their Cretan allies decide to take this oppurtunity to invade Pontus as well, while the Parthians attack the Seleucids. Oddly enough we are only called in to aid in Pontus war against the Bosporans and Crete.

Crete is quickly invaded and conquered. Unfortunately Egypt quickly knocks out the Seleucids and Pontus from their war taking the provinces of Bithynia, Galatia and Phrygia while overrunning Macedonia. There is little that can be done to aid the Macedonians so I focus on getting the war with the Bosporans over with as quickly as possible so I can prepare for a probable war with the Egyptian menace. The Bosporans are forced to pay tribute, but a few months before that Carthage is annexed by Rome. The year is 635 AUC (which is 119 BC) when this happens so Carthage lasted almost 30 years longer then they did in history.

I decide to release a few prisoners (captured generals, one Bosporen, one Armenian and one Egyptian). The Armenian one was a previous king, but the new one wasn't very interested in stepping down so there is a brief civil war in Armenia. And after five years of war the Egyptians sign peace with Macedonia (did not intervene as when I was in a position to do so Macedonia was already beaten) taking the provinces of Epirus, Aetolia and Triballi. I decide to increase the size of my forces by raising a third army as I am pretty much on my own, Macedonia is pretty much beaten (but as pretty much all of their interesting provinces are now Egyptian I am keeping the alliance for now) and I notice that Pontus now pays tribute to Egypt.

Well, let us take a brief look at the income of the wealthiest countries, well all remaining countries except Cantabrii and Pictii are on this list. There aren't many countries that remain.

Well at the least Egypt has no manpower, too bad about their massive income which allows them to use truly massive amounts of mercenaries. Parthia would be more interesting as a possible ally if not for the fact that they are lagging quite a bit when it comes to technology. As for the borders in the year 640 AUC well, let's see.

Rome and Egypt are without a doubt the most powerful countries. The other remaining countries simply doesn't compare. Things could certainly be interesting in the future (unfortunately the Romans are not interested in an alliance, fortunately the relations are good enough that I don't think there is any risk that they decide to attack me directly). Parthia did expand against the Seleucids so at least they did well.

 

[Surt]

Last call for Egypt to take on Rome, soon the tech difference will be enough if the manpower advantage of Rome isn't?

 

[Stuyvesant]

I can practically see Cyrenaica getting squeezed between Rome and Egypt in that last screenshot. Options are pretty much gone, now that it's basically Rome, Cyrenaica, Egypt and Macedonia that encircle the entire Mediterranean. I fear this will not end well for Cyrenaica (but it's pretty amazing you made it as far as you did in the first place).

 

[CatKnight]

Read thru this entire AAR in one sitting. You're having a very..intense..game!

At one point you wanted to ally with Rome. That still seems to be the best chance of you coming out of this. Any progress?

 

[Lofman]

Last call for Egypt to take on Rome, soon the tech difference will be enough if the manpower advantage of Rome isn't?

The tech difference is fairly constant at only a few tech levels. Egypt may not be catching up but it isn't really falling further behind.

I can practically see Cyrenaica getting squeezed between Rome and Egypt in that last screenshot. Options are pretty much gone, now that it's basically Rome, Cyrenaica, Egypt and Macedonia that encircle the entire Mediterranean. I fear this will not end well for Cyrenaica (but it's pretty amazing you made it as far as you did in the first place).

Yeah, not many options.

Read thru this entire AAR in one sitting. You're having a very..intense..game!

At one point you wanted to ally with Rome. That still seems to be the best chance of you coming out of this. Any progress?

Relations are as good as they can be, there is lot of trade and no causes for conflict, but they are not interested in any alliances (the game give the chance of success as impossible)

 

[Lofman]

Between A Rock and a Hard Place
​

All Alone​

I'm not really fond of Pontus. Not in this game at least. They attack Macedonia, and I though Egypt and Macedonia still had a truce so I joined. Well the war ended up with Macedonia, me and the Seleucids against Egypt and Pontus. As almost 200,000 Egyptians start running around in Greece (well there might have been only around 120,000 to be honest) my local army is annihilated. I do well in Africa however, smashing a 60,000 army and marching towards Egypt itself. And then the foul Macedonian dogs decide that they do not want competent allies. They sign peace by ceding my province of Cyrenaica.

​

If it had been Achaea or Sparta I would not have minded as much as those province where atleast occupied. Well the alliance is ended and if the Macedonians had any decent provinces I would have attacked them. I may not have any allies, but as any possible allies are liabilities at this point it is probably for the best. Sadly the Romans are still not interested in an alliance. Anyway about a year after the peace the Egyptian Pharaoh dies mysteriously.

​

After that I realize that I probably should have seen if I could have killed the wicked king of Macedonia first. Well you live and you learn. Well our old king Ameinias doesn't live that much longer and dies later that year leaving his 14 year old grandson Ameinias as the new king. Ameinias (the new one) is somewhat reckless and is considered cold. He is good at military matters (7 martial) have decent finesse (4) but his charisma is about that of a rotting carcass (0), though it gets better with time (1 as he turns 16 and later he loses the trait cold meaning it is as much as 2). Before the decade ends the Egyptians beat up the Macedonians and force them to cede a couple of worthless provinces, so how does the world look in the year 650 AUC?

Well the Romans have strengthened their hold over Hispania, the Lusitani only have one province left there. In the east Parthia and Armenia (and Egypt obviously) have expanded leaving the Seleucids with only an even smaller handful of scattered provinces and breaking Mesopotamia.

 

[Surt]

with allies like these, who needs enemies!

 

[Belgiumruler]

! Invade the Macedonian Treators!

 

[Stuyvesant]

Ameinias (the new one) is somewhat reckless and is considered cold. He is good at military matters (7 martial) have decent finesse (4) but his charisma is about that of a rotting carcass (0), though it gets better with time (1 as he turns 16 and later he loses the trait cold meaning it is as much as 2).

"As charismatic as a rotting carcass." Charming.

Steamrolled by the Egyptians (in Greece, at least), backstabbed by the Macedonians... Raaagh! Take it out on someone! Anyone! Erm. Basically that only leaves Rhodes. Or Lusitania. Geez, that's depressing.

Could you conquer the Catuvellauni or the Picts to give yourself a nice (sodden) hideaway from the Big Bad Egyptians? I mean, it's not realistic to do or anything, but it gives you something to do until the Egyptians come knocking again.

 

[Lofman]

with allies like these, who needs enemies!

Indeed.

! Invade the Macedonian Treators!

Unfortunately it would only waste resources to get bad provinces I can't defend (but on the other hand if things goes badly it is always something to cede for peace, hmm).

"As charismatic as a rotting carcass." Charming.

Steamrolled by the Egyptians (in Greece, at least), backstabbed by the Macedonians... Raaagh! Take it out on someone! Anyone! Erm. Basically that only leaves Rhodes. Or Lusitania. Geez, that's depressing.

Could you conquer the Catuvellauni or the Picts to give yourself a nice (sodden) hideaway from the Big Bad Egyptians? I mean, it's not realistic to do or anything, but it gives you something to do until the Egyptians come knocking again.

Invading Britain would require eating up a much larger amount of attrition then I would be happy with. And attacking Rhodes would be just low and only fitting for foul creatures like the Macedonians and Egyptians.

 

[Lofman]

Between A Rock and a Hard Place
​

Still Alive​

Civil war in Macedonia. Great news. I was thinking of wether or not taking their Illyrian provinces would be worth it. On the one hand they aren't worth much but they would be mine and not Egypts, on the other hand it would be more provinces I would not be able to defend against the Egyptians, but this civil war is enough of a punishment for the Macedonians. For now. Especially as they were being beaten by Pontus as the civil war started. But later in the year some less welcome news are had.

Despite +200 relations, lots of trade, no casus belli (and the civ-levels are close enough that they need one, the difference is only 4) and a mission to attack the collapsing Macedonians they decide to attack me. Scum. Well the early engagements in the war are promising.

Our better generals (not to mention better ideas and laws (and appearantly inventions (except when it comes to elephants, theirs have a +10 to offensive that mine lack, but as I have better bonuses for just about everything else, especially the all important heavy infantry, it isn't too bad), as the laws and ideas doesn't explain the entire discrepancy)) win easily. I start pushing into their African provinces smashing army after army, occupying everything. All the time I am worrying about Egypt, while they are dragged into a few minor wars in the east, they are very powerful and unlike Rome actually have reasons to attack me.

Well in western Numidia my advance stops, the Romans have gathered massive armies and managed to get some competent generals in charge, not to mention I got my navy sunk while I wasn't watching. Well I notice it was building up to a new naval battle, but I failed to look more closely so they must have had a decent (or really good) admiral and with equal tech and bad luck, well these things happen.

I act too aggressively and is running the risk of actually losing my armies, so after a fighting retreat and some attempts to get something out of the war or just a white peace, I settle for the next best thing, paying a symbolic sum ending the war.

My army gets back and can recover and luckily the Egyptians doesn't try anything, and the relations with Rome are actually still good (although obviously not as good as they used to be). I start rebuilding my fleet but as the year 660 AUC comes around how does the world look?

Well the Lusitani and Mesopotamia are gone. Macedonia is collapsing and for some inexplicable reason Rome isn't even trying to get their piece of the pie. Parthia has gobbled up more Seleucid provinces so the Seleucids only have two left. Egypt is even more scary and has now changed its government to that of an Empire. Must say Egyptians with the possibly best government in the game is even more scary then Egypt as a theocracy (as the ai tend to do they had changed their government to that quite some time ago).

 

[Surt]

That was an crushing defeat of the Roman fleet, a shame that they sneaked up on you later.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Is there any way to get the Parthians to attack the Egyptians? Other than that, I don't know how you could deal with the Egyptians in a straight-up fight.

You fared better against the Romans (especially in the beginning) than I would've expected, based purely on the size discrepancy on the map. It's really too bad that they decided to go after you, when Macedonia makes a far more logical target. I hope this was a little AI spasm, not a harbinger of future conflicts to come. If Rome has decided they now need to beat up on you, I fear the end game will be a cycle of Rome and Egypt playing tag team to body-slam you into the ground...

 

[Idhrendur]

That went less badly than I would have expected.

 

[Seelmeister]

Some fantastic results in the opening battles there, and the political map at the end highlights how well you did to escape relatively unscathed.

Egypt and Rome continue to look very intimidating on either side of you however, hopefully they will turn their attention to each other. IF Rome would only expand in the Balkans and get a land border, you could get yourself a very useful ally.

It's been years since I played, when does a game of Rome finish?