Between A Rock and a Hard Place
The Final Decades
Considering how things looked I decided to actually play more then a decade before posting a new update, after all seeing an update looking almost exactly like the previous one isn't going to be that exciting. Well my sessions still have the same length but I played all the way to the end before writing the update you are now reading. So how did these final decades go?
Well the first one looked grim. While the Romans finally attacked Macedonia (and won, although that should not come as a surprise) the Egyptians decided to in the year 687 AUC to attack Cyrenaica. Fierce fighting ensued and after a few months the Romans also attacked. While I did eventually manage to pay them off, as the war ended in 691 AUC Cyrenaica was in shambles, one army lost, the others in a really bad shape and no manpower. Things were truly looking grim. As for the world in 691 AUC in addition to the reduction of Macedonia the Romans had also established a foothold in Britain.
Ameinias died the next year leaving his second son, the 36 year old Agathocles, a shrewd, intelligent, just but also gluttonous man that had been wounded in the previous war that knew how to get things done although wasn't regarded as very charismatic (martial 6, finesse 7 and charisma 1) as the new king. And then in 693 AUC a great thing happened. At a first glance it might not have seemed important, Pontus declared war on Macedonia. However Macedonia was at this time allied with Rome, having been made a client in their war, so as Pontus called in their Egyptian allies the Macedonians did the same. Rome and Egypt was at war.
As the decade ended it had been a bloody war with still no end sight. Cyrenaica had recovered while the Roman and Egyptian armies had been reduced to a fraction of their former size (from 500% or so larger than the Cyrenaican armies to only around 20-30% bigger) and their manpower reserves had been depleted.
Cyrenaica declares war on Egypt. While the Egyptian armies aren't a real threat being off fighting Rome, their Armenian allies are not involved in that war so are free to send their fairly large armies to Egypt. It is not enough and the first war ends after only one year with the Cyrenaica province once again part of Cyrenaica as it should be. In the years of peace that follows Aqueducts are constructed but almost as soon as the truce ends war is once again declared on Egypt. This time the goal is to force them to give up all claims on my provinces. They put up more of a fight, but after the Armenians head home and the Egyptian army sent against me is running desperately away while most of Egypt proper is either besieged or already occupied they agree to my demands. So in the year 710 AUC things are certainly looking better.
An army is once again trained in Greece, I decide that the next goal will be the liberation of it from Egyptian oppression. An oppurtunity to do something in that direction arises as the Egyptians are thrown into a civil war.
A few months later the Romans also have to deal with the same thing.
They sign peace with each other with Rome paying 20 gold but war still rages against and between the rebels. The Egyptian rebels manage to take control of Greece so I decide to attack them. In the end I only get Argolis (and Egypt once again will have a casus belli) which is decent enough as attacking into a civil war is always risky (as the side you are not at war with may simply march into a rebel-owned province you control and take it). Meanwhile the Romans took Olbia and Alazones from the Egyptian rebels. As the decade ends the Egyptians have their civil war under control, while in Rome the rebels are winning.
In fact in october that year Imperator Gaius Fabius Pictor is the ruler of Rome and one of the most important men in the world. The Egyptians end their civil war the next year in the expected manner (the rebels defeated). And Agathocles dies leaving his oldest son Ariston a foolish and selfish lustful 41 year old glutton with limited charisma (4) almost no finesse (1) but who is a good military leader (9) as the new king.
The following years are peaceful for Cyrenaica, as both Egypt in Rome have seemingly their military in good strength after their civil war (of course it possible it may be large numbers of militia, but how much is proper heavy infantry raised by various people in the civil wars as well as how much of the original armies have recovered I do not know, I do know their armies are once again much larger then mine). But that does not prevent troubles as the Egyptian governor in Asia declares his independence and gets away with it (only ceding Phrygia in exchange for peace) while in Rome Carthage resurfaces, well I say Carthage although it mostly consists of Numidia although that war was still ongoing as the game ends in february 727 AUC (due to the patch that allows the enddate to be changed, it ties it with the date in definces that was originally only the last date you could start, not that playing four years less matters that much).
So in the end Cyrenaica survived. It did fairly well all things considered although I expect a better (or maybe just a more aggressive) player might have been able to conquer a lot more. A little surprised at the Seleucids surviving all the way to the end, those two disconnected provinces really helped out as no one managed to finish them off (although at the end they are completely occupied (Egypt in Antioch and Armenia in the east, the Parthians eventually decided to just take some money) and have massive debt). Good for Rhodes at surviving as well. And the british tribes, although the fact that Rome ended up more or less constantly occupied by other matters after having established their foothold in Britain was probably the most important reason.
And my rulers with the stats they had at their time of death (except the second Ariston him still being alive as the game ended). Had three Ameinias and two Aristons (had a few more potential Ariston II but they all died before they got their chance). I hope you all enjoyed this as it is now at its end.
