Double Domination: Roman Rumble

[damienreave]

Double Domination: Roman Rumble
​

Note: The 'Double Domination' style of game, as well as the characters of Jim and Bob, were created by knul and are used with permission. I encourage you to go read the original Double Domination: Germany vs Japan. This AAR is inspired entirely by his work.

AAR Style: Double Domination
Game Version: Death and Taxes 3.4
Starting Point: October 1399
Countries: Byzantium and Austria

Finally, my AAR Red Lioness of Holland remains my first priority. This AAR will be updated when possible, but probably not as often.

*****​

Jim: Hello folks, and welcome to another exciting episode of Double Domination. Boy, do we have an exciting match for you folks tonight!

Bob: That's right Jim. Our teams for tonight have chosen two powerful nations situated quite close to one another. The fighting will start in Europe and will only spread from there. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Why don't you explain the rules for our first time viewers.

Jim: Alright. "Double Domination" is a kind of gameplay that involves sending two teams of players back in time to control nations in Earth's history. Each team plays in ten year increments for their respective team while the other team sits on the bench and watches.

Bob: Why don't they both play at the same time?

Jim: Well, the time machine is only big enough for one team at a time.

Bob: Sounds reasonable to me. Well, I'll go ahead and introduce our combatants. In the red corner, we have the team who's chosen to represent Byzantium!

Audience: *cheers*

Jim: Byzantium is an extremely powerful nation, despite starting with only two provinces and five thousand troops.

Bob: That's right. Although it has an awful starting position, if it can get off to a good start, Byzantium is quite strong in every other way. Viewers familiar only with the 'vanilla' version of history might be surprised by how many advantages Byzantium has this time around. In addition to its staggering forty six cored provinces awaiting to be retaken, Byzantium starts controlling a moderately rich center of trade in its capital, and has some great unique missions, unique modifiers, and unique decisions. The most powerful of all is the ability to restore the powerful Roman Empire.

Jim: Which is why they're one half of the Roman Rumble that we're holding tonight.

Audience: *cheers*

Jim: But in the blue corner is the team hoping to shut Byzantium down.

​

Jim: Austria is a powerful Catholic nation that starts with twelve provinces. Austria's economy begins strong, ranked fifth in the world from the outset of the game. Austria also has several good unique missions. Austria's greatest advantage, though, is the ability to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, with the massive bonuses that brings. They hope to unify all of the Imperial lands under their banner as the Holy Roman Empire.

Bob: So Byzantium hopes to restore the Roman Empire, and Austria hopes to form the Holy Roman Empire. Who is the true heir to Ceasar? I don't know, but I can promise it will be bloody!

Audience: *cheers*

Jim: The Byzantine team won the coin toss, so they're headed into the Chronodyne XS-35. While the fission power reactors spin up, lets remind the audience of our rules.

Bob: First and foremost, the contestants are required to follow the rules of the Referee. His word is law. Secondly, they are forbidden from directly fighting until 1770 for the Final Battle. Any wars that DO occur for whatever reason between the two teams' nations will be erased from the timeline immediately by the Ref.

Jim: This leads to some strange circumstances with entangling alliances. For simplicity and fairness, teams are not allowed to manually ally or guarantee nations during the course of play. However, alliances resulting from other sources, such as the release of a nation during a peace treaty, is fine.

Bob: Alliances and guarantees made by the natives while the teams are away are also valid. To prevent a lucky alliance made by natives from stymieing the other team's expansion routes, each team is allowed to ask the Referee to nullify one alliance per turn.

Jim: Now on to balance issues. The Byzantine team complained that so long as Austria is the Holy Roman Emperor, they won't be able to attack any Imperial subjects without drawing Austria into the war. How will they deal with that?

Referee: The Byzantine team will be given an equivalent advantage. The Austrian team is hereby not allowed to invade any city required for the restoration of the Roman Empire until the Final Battle begins.

Bob: Which cities are those?

Jim: There's seventeen of them, but most are in the starting lands of the Ottomans or southern Italy. The only ones Austria would realistically be interested in during the early game are Venice and Rome itself.

Bob: Ouch. So no rushing for Rome then, huh?

Jim: That's right. The Byzantines are guaranteed to be able to nab that powerful city, so long as they can take it from the natives. Venice is nothing to scoff at either.

Bob: Any other balancing issues?

Referee: Two minor points. The Byzantine team is not allowed to take the National Idea 'Unam Sanctam' nor use the Imperialism casus belli until the Austrian team does so first.

Jim: Alright then. Looks like the Byzantine team is loaded into the timeline. Let's get down to the action!

 

[JKNUBZ]

Love the Roman-off premise, and will be following. On a more selfish note, I hope writing a more lighthearted AAR will help you relax enough so as never to experience significant writer's block in writing about Jacqueline et al.

 

[MastahCheef117]

I love Germany vs Japan, and I no doubt will love this just as much Eagerly awaiting the first update

 

[Ashantai]

Love it! Looking forward to see where you take this.

 

[DisgruntledLemming]

I will be watching.

 

[no7892142]

*cheers*

.. Looks promising!

 

[Memento Mori]

Interesting... Bob and Jim are hosing 2 matches simultaneously. I believe they must have used the time machine on themselves to accomplish such a feat. But if they are using a time machine, to use a time machine, doesn't this create some sort of paradox?
... On the other hand, it would be strange if paradoxes didn't occur in the game made by this company

 

[damienreave]

Love the Roman-off premise, and will be following. On a more selfish note, I hope writing a more lighthearted AAR will help you relax enough so as never to experience significant writer's block in writing about Jacqueline et al.

I'd sell my soul to never experience writers block. But yes, the idea of this is to help with that

I love Germany vs Japan, and I no doubt will love this just as much Eagerly awaiting the first update

Here ya go!

Love it! Looking forward to see where you take this.

So am I actually I've only played 20 years forward.

I will be watching.

Good to have you onboard!

*cheers*

.. Looks promising!

Now even more promising with actual content!

But if they are using a time machine, to use a time machine....

INCEPTION

Or the more likely explanation is that they recorded the episodes at different times and they are only just now airing .

 

[damienreave]

Chapter One: Ottomans Must Die! (1400 - 1410)​

Jim: The Byzantine team is off to a roaring start straight out of the gate. They immediately declare war on two of the Muslim emirates in the area, Candar and Karaman.

Bob: This is quite smart, as their main neighbor is the Ottomans, who they stand absolutely no chance against. They have a limited amount of time until the Ottomans get enough money to make themselves Islamic Defender of the Faith. Once the Ottomans do that, any Muslim power is off limits unless the Byzantine team feels strong enough to take on the Turks.

Bob: As a side note, astute viewers will note that virtually every single province on the viewscreen right now is a Byzantine core. And there are many more in the Balkans not shown!

Jim: So true. The Byzantine team hopes to capitalize on the free cores for a powerful start. They split their navy, sending most of the galleys to bottle up Karaman's fleet while the cogs drop off an invasion force into Candar.

Bob: I see that they're also cranking out troops as fast as two provinces can produce them.

Jim: By September 1400, the Byzantines have already overrun Candar. Its annexed, doubling the size of the Empire.

Bob: Troops are rapidly being shifted south to finish taking Karaman now. By January 1401, Karaman too is annexed, meaning the team has tripled their starting holdings in a little over a year.

​

Jim: Meanwhile, the Ottomans decide to declare a jihad against the extremely heavily guaranteed catholic duchy of Achaea. They overrun and annex it in a matter of months, but find themselves at war with all of Christendom, in a coalition lead by no one other than Austria!

Austrian Team: Boooo!!!

Bob: That's right Jim. The Austrians are booing their own natives for helping out Byzantium.

Jim: The Byzantines spot the Ottoman fleet in a weakened state after a fight with Milan's ships. They declare war on the Turks and pounce on the fleet, hoping to keep the Turkish armies pinned in the west while they take the east.

​

Bob: Who's that conquering the Balkans?

Jim: That's Poland. Despite being alliance leader, Austria doesn't seem to be sending in any troops.

Bob: And wow, that 'Resisting The Turks' modifier is insane.

Jim: It does help quite a bit.

​

Jim: The Byzantine armies spread out to besiege the empty provinces. But vultures are circling, and a motley array of other powers joins the fight against the Turks in separate wars, including notables such as Cyprus, Mecklenburg, Ragusa, Montenegro, Riga, Utrecht, Ferrara, and Gelre! And that's only the alliance leaders. When it rains, it pours.

Bob: Even with only a portion of them actually contributing troops, there's a startling number of powers competing for territory to siege, since the Turk armies were wiped out by the Polish, who seem to have done all the work, a while back.

Jim: You know, I was going to comment about how lucky the Byzantine team was for this dogpile, but now I'm getting the sense its actually TOO many nations attacking. They're hard pressed to find land to occupy.

Bob: By early 1404, the Ottomans' lands are completely taken. Now we should start to see people peace out.

Jim: Indeed, Austria is the first out, rewarding Poland's hard work by ending the vassalization of Serbia and Bosnia.

Bob: Oh no, the Byzantine Emperor is dead! Oh, but his heir will take the throne before the Byzantine's turn ends.

Jim: Yes, that's one of the interesting parts of Double Domination is that an unlucky regent's death can cripple an entire turn. One more element of chance within the game.

Jim: The Byzantine team demands a huge chunk of the Ottoman empire, leaving the Sultan with his Orthodox Balkan possessions and a few provinces disconnected and threatened by the Timurids. He accepts because he has no other choice.

Bob: Now spanning a healthy eighteen provinces, the Byzantine Empire is well on its way to restoration!

Jim: So true. And they still have half their time left, as it is only April 1405. Its also good to see them finishing the mission assigned to them by the Referee. It was one of the unique missions we talked about. 50% army tradition is a phenomenal reward.

Bob: That new mission looks interesting too. Four additional free cores in southern Italy... as if they don't have enough cores!

Jim: But the Byzantine team is hamstrung by the regency council. Lacking the ability to make offensive war, they instead build up their forces and prepare. Precious time is being wasted. When Wallachia calls in the Byzantines in a defensive war against the Venetians, it seems like a dream come true.

Bob: The Austrian team is screaming bloody murder. Alliances are against the rules!

Jim: Ref?

Referee: Well... *scratches head* I didn't catch it when it happened, so, no penalty.

(Okay, so what happened was I hadn't decided on the 'no alliances' rule until later on, when I realized how unfairly restrictive they could be. We'll grandfather the Byzantium in on this rule.)

Jim: Press gangs are instituted and a large number of carracks are built. Venetians possessions in Greece are quickly overwhelmed, and soon the Lagoon itself is under siege.

Bob: Despite crushing naval losses, Venice itself falls. But despite their namesake city being held, enough Venetian vassals and colonies are untaken that the Venetians are unwilling to surrender much. Unable to further threaten the maritime nation without sea parity, the peace treaty results in only Athens being transferred to Byzantium.

Jim: And just in time! With Ioannes VIII on the throne, the Byzantines have a year and a half to press their claim in southern Italy.

Bob: Wow, what horrible losses. Why did that happen?

Jim: Well Bob, the limited number of cogs forced the team to transport their troops over in smaller batches. What's worse is, despite the horrific cost in human life, Aragon and Sicily seem to have beaten the team to sieging most of the major Neapolitan cities.

Bob: While they are able to take Naples' last two provinces, that's not enough to finish the Ref's mission, so the team regretfully cancels it.

Jim: That's right. They need to prevent the natives from waging war against Aragon, a power the team doesn't trust the natives to fight and win.

Bob: How would you rate that opening turn, Jim?

Jim: Well, the Byzantine team clearly had practiced their opening well. Getting to six provinces for them was a breeze. They also got lucky with how badly the Ottomans were dogpiled, and were skillful enough to exploit that situation to its maximum. But they had bad luck with that regency, and those last two wars in the second half of the round could have gone better.

Bob: Harsh, but true. It will take not only good play, but masterful play to win this series.

Jim: Still, overall I'd say its a huge turn for Byzantium, now sitting pretty comfortably as a strong regional power. They're off to a great start against the Austrians.

Bob: Join us next time!

 

[naggy]

Nice shot against the Turks...dogpiles are useful. One thing you could have tried - sit on the Ottomans at war for 3-4 years and hope a few of the Balkan provinces chose to join you by event. Since you'd have to sit for 10 years, you'd have time to recover anyway.

 

[Arakhor]

That's a swift victory for the Byzantines! Well done, indeed!

 

[DisgruntledLemming]

Wow... It looks like you just kinda kicked the Ottomans where it hurts. Congratulations! I will be rooting for Austria personally.

 

[Magnive]

Don't underestimate Byzantine in D&T, they're quite powerful

But honestly, I'd guess that Austria will win as well, especially if they ally Poland against Byzantium. Poland is outright broken in D&T

 

[Ashantai]

That was an epic victory by Byzantium. Major kudos for that!

 

[unmerged(271561)]

Sweet jesus i love these things!!!!!!!

 

[Rabid]

I'm mildly concerned that the format won't work too well with 2 nations so close together and with conflicting midgame goals but good luck!