For those that don't own yet. Give a try.
http://www.aleajactaest-game.com/
Thanks for the link. I hope I can get some time to give this a try.
Bought and finally got around to playing this weekend and started with the Julius Caesar - Pompey scenario. I believe this is the best scenario (choosing Caesar) for learning the game mechanics and features of the game.
I marched Caesar south to sack Rome and left a force near Spain to deal with any of Pompey's forces remaining there. I used Antony as a screening force with 3 Legions. After I sacked Rome and the Peninsula was secure, I had a decision to make... North Africa, Greece, or Spain.
I decided to send Antony with several detachments of Legions to invade Greece while Caesar drove south to Sicily and then would invade N. Africa. I would leave Spain bottled up with a sizable force in N. Spain (just contain Pompey's forces).
I sent Antony to invade Greece from the North with a screening force of 2 Legions. Caesar easily captured Sicily, however I blundered and did not have enough ships waiting to move him to N. Africa. Now he is setting there while I am building the ships. In the mean time, a new Sicilian Legion was formed and joined him for the invasion placing him with 6 Legions and Aux. at his command. Antony has captured several cities and now has besieged Thessalonica while Caesar continues to wait in Sicily.
I do not know where Pompey's main force is, however I believe and hope to push accross N. Africa (if Pompey is not present) and then join Antony in Greece...... if I don't blunder something else. I am not sure if I have enough forces in Greece and hope to fight a defensive battle, picking my engagements, until Caesar arrives.
So far I find the game very enjoyable and well worth the money. I am still getting use to the games mechanics and feeling my way around, however I love the options and events presented. I have read a lot of Roman history and this really puts you in the setting. I believe it is by far their best work yet and the best game dealing with the period. I hope to see more add-ons including the quest of Gaul.
PE
Quote from: PanzersEast on October 01, 2012, 09:57:17 AM
So far I find the game very enjoyable and well worth the money. I am still getting use to the games mechanics and feeling my way around, however I love the options and events presented. I have read a lot of Roman history and this really puts you in the setting. I believe it is by far their best work yet and the best game dealing with the period. I hope to see more add-ons including the quest of Gaul.
PE
I also just got this game. the map is fantastic and the flow of game play is much better than say Rise of Prussia or Campaigns of Napoleon.
The plundering, pillaging and requisitioning and Pax Romana mechanic (where you drop events onto provinces) is full of instant gratification.
I'm just starting so I haven't seen much, but what I have seen looks very good.
Quote from: MengJiao on October 02, 2012, 01:58:59 PM
I also just got this game. the map is fantastic and the flow of game play is much better than say Rise of Prussia or Campaigns of Napoleon.
The plundering, pillaging and requisitioning and Pax Romana mechanic (where you drop events onto provinces) is full of instant gratification.
I'm just starting so I haven't seen much, but what I have seen looks very good.
Just finished my campaign and went the full turns. I conquered the Italian peninsula, Spain, Greece, N. Africa, and most of W. Asia. Pompey avoided me throughout the entire campaign so I was unable to defeat him in battle, which was ok as I wanted to play through the entire turns by taking my time. I did not use the decision mode very well (nor my reinforcements tab) in the beginning and Pompey used it on just about every turn, mainly to keep his morale as high as he could. In the end he finished with 30 morale, myself with 158. I did notice their losses were 600,000+. They continually harassed me with small units trying to tie down my resources.
PE
Quote from: PanzersEast on October 03, 2012, 08:50:16 AM
Quote from: MengJiao on October 02, 2012, 01:58:59 PM
I also just got this game. the map is fantastic and the flow of game play is much better than say Rise of Prussia or Campaigns of Napoleon.
The plundering, pillaging and requisitioning and Pax Romana mechanic (where you drop events onto provinces) is full of instant gratification.
I'm just starting so I haven't seen much, but what I have seen looks very good.
Just finished my campaign and went the full turns. I conquered the Italian peninsula, Spain, Greece, N. Africa, and most of W. Asia. Pompey avoided me throughout the entire campaign so I was unable to defeat him in battle, which was ok as I wanted to play through the entire turns by taking my time. I did not use the decision mode very well (nor my reinforcements tab) in the beginning and Pompey used it on just about every turn, mainly to keep his morale as high as he could. In the end he finished with 30 morale, myself with 158. I did notice their losses were 600,000+. They continually harassed me with small units trying to tie down my resources.
PE
I'm starting a PBEM as Sulla versus Marius and nutty King Mithradates and his anti-Roman thing. Looks like a wild and intriguing scenario -- but the Optimates have Sulla, Lucullus, Pulcher and Pompey senior just for starters so I'm thinking I really ought to be able to do well despite having most of the known world out to get me one way or another.
I really like this game - though I'm fumbling around alot.
I'm doing alot of fire fighting - moving forces to take back cities just lost!
I've got a Pompeiyan (spelling?) force taken the key city just south of Rome - I have no force in Rome to speak of - Ceaser doesn't have great units under his command and is sitting in Sicily.
I think I'm getting a kicking. I don't really grasp the "stacks" values and therefore tend to have stacks way bigger than required when going to meet a force. I also don't know if I can assault a city or not - so I've has a force sitting in a region beseiging.
Very good game though.
One thing I find a bit annoying in the interface (unless I'm missing an easier way to do this) - checking the command value of a commander who is already in a force with other commanders. For example, you can hover the mouse over the commander and see some stats (attack, defence and another (hide?)) - but you don't see his command value. So you hover the mouse over the tab for him and you see his maximum command rating. BUT - if he's in another unit with other commanders - you see their accumulated command rating - and have to remove him from the unit so he has his own tab before you can see his command rating. I've yet to find another way to do this - and it's rather annoying because I want to see what his command rating is before I send him off to command a unit.
It goes by rank Judge, think there's an appendix at the end of the manual that will tell you the standard CP by rank..In the Civil War game, you could gain or lose CP's by extra units, abilities.. etc.. not sure on this game, I bought it, but haven't attempted it yet..
Judge, it helps to leave 2-4 legions and some auxiliaries in each region to keep it secure. Remember you can recruit more troops by clicking on the eagle on the bottom left of the UI above to mini map.
For cities with a fort level of 1 or less you can assault without siegeing. Just set your force to assault mode (red). You can set your force to assault during the movement phase and they will assault the first city they come to when moving (assuming they don't encounter an enemy force first). For cities with a fort level 2+ then you have to siege until a breach is made, then set your force to assault mode. I there is no breach your forces will just sit outside the city and continue the siege, but they have to be set to assault mode once the breech is made in order for them to use it. If you maintain the siege it will continue to generate breeches, the more breeches the better chance that an assault will succeed.
Thanks Tuna - I was rtfm last night and found some info on CPs - though it didn't make a load of sense. Yep - by rank - but it was 4, 12 and something else - and yet I've seen commanders with 5cps (and I suspect other values). But I didn't read the whole section - so maybe the rank is the base level and then they get more for certain "things".
As for leaving 2-4 Legions in an area...really? Legions are the icons with the Eagle icon right? If so - they are my best units and need to do all my battles...or are legions the ones that cost 250 each? Thing is - I don't have a load of money - about 450 dinarii.
I've just lost all transport capability too. I split my transports off from the warships to have the warships blockade a port. I didn't see a problem with it and there wasn't - the seas seemed quite - and than BAM...the whole sea has been flooded with other factions ships.
I really am dead here :-)
Actually enjoying this one.
Funny thing with AGEoD games is I loved the ones I didn't think I'd like (Wars in America I and II and AJE) and never got into the one I did think I'd like (American Civil War)
ok - I select the Strategic button above the mini map to show strategic cities - and it shows them in whatever colour of the faction the city belongs to - but for some (mine) the region is flashing red.
I've searched the manual for "flashing red", "flashing", "strategic city", "strategic" and "strategic locations" and any entries I find with any of these word have absolutely no mention of why some of my regions are flashing red!
Any ideas?
I meant keep 2-4 in Italy, 2-4 in Spain when you take it, etc. One decently sized army should be enough to deal with most of the counterattacks the AI likes to do. The legions you start with have an eagle icon, new ones that you recruit have a legionary icon.
I generally keep all my ships in port. I send them out to blockade a city that I'm siegeing, since a sieged city with an non-blockaded port still generates supply. When moving them I bunny hop them from port to port, both to avoid enemy warships and to avoid storms
The hardest part is learning to manage money., since you only get taxes from cities once a year. Remember to play all of your merchant decisions. You can place up to 5 in the Caesar scenario. They last the whole game and have a good chance of generating extra money each month.
I have no clue what the flashing would be. Whats the loyalty of the ones flashing red? Maybe if they were recently conquered and are still loyal to the enemy they flash red?
If you press the little icon to show Strategic cities, you may see some flash red instead of being a steady red colour. In terms of loyalty or occupation - then no....this particular region with my strategic city has been under my control for well over 10 turns or more. Furthermore the loyalty is firmly with me (Caesar)
As for the forces...I'll get back to you...but there are several large enemy forces on Spain and on Italy (purple icon) and the ones in Italy were recently joined by the green icon units (N. Africa?). I'll get the details to you - but basically I'm running about with what units I have (and I do not have many) to put out the fires...but when/if I grab one city back - another falls. Slowly but surely the regions are going purple!
I think, watching the videos, flashing means it's an objective, or something like that.
I wish I could find the answer in the manual though >:(
JDredd honestly I would post over at Ageod forums for specifics. You'll get an answer straight away and most likely from one of the dev team too.
Posted at Matrix thx Bison
No. Post at Ageod. Seriously.
Quote from: Bison on October 08, 2012, 01:47:18 PM
No. Post at Ageod. Seriously.
Erik will probably know an answer or find out for you, but he isn't active in the Matrix forums these days. Slitherine sure won't know and they'll have to go to AGEOD. My advice is to go to the source.
Matrix is a publisher. Ageod is the developer. Publishers as a rule know squat about the mechanics. Plus Ageod has a very active and helpful community.
Yeah - took Bisons advice and gone to the source too. Just another login and password to remember!
What strikes me as rather odd is.....it stuck out like a sore thumb to me! Click the Strategic Cities button on the mini map and some regions are solid red and others are flashing red.
There's nothing in those regions (obvious to me at least lookign at the region stats) that suggests it's in any kind of trouble and it's not obvious whether they are hugely important ones...but I can't believe no-one else hasn't used the strategic cities button - and therefore have to believe that other people have seen these flashing red regions?
I know people here are playing it (or have done) - didn't anyone notice any flashing red regions?
Bizarre
Quote from: Bison on October 08, 2012, 01:51:09 PM
Matrix is a publisher. Ageod is the developer. Publishers as a rule no squat about the mechanics. Plus Ageod has a very active and helpful community.
I know, but Erik was excellent about stuff like this. He actually played most of the games and had the answers at hand or could quickly test for them.
I agree I always felt Erik was helpful however he seems to be religated to an increasingly backseat role over at Matrix. This is quite unfortunate as he was the captain of a stable ship for a long time.
Well - Wodin at Matix answered and it seems he may be correct
When hovering the mouse over solid red regions it says "Strategic Town" - doing the same over a flashing red region it says that and has an extra line of text that says "Caesar Objective Town"
So it seems the flashing red ones are specific to Objective Towns
section 4.6 in the manual should point this out but fails to do so
You got a response at Ageod too. Win-win.
lol - stalker!
I find it really irritating though that wargamers are fed like this. Ok - I'm not going to blow this out of proportion - but it's indicative of the wargaming genre...we're left to burrow to get information and if we're not, then the manual is lacking. I mean - someone programmed those areas to flash red...so why didn't anyone say "the manual should tell users what a flashing red region means - 'cos I made it designate Objective Towns"!
But - I'll give AGEoD their dues - they have brilliant tooltips. They could be better - but they are a damn site better than most other game producers put in their games. Proper feedback is very important for in depth games like these...and AGEoD are almost there :-)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 08, 2012, 02:10:48 PM
Well - Wodin at Matix answered and it seems he may be correct
When hovering the mouse over solid red regions it says "Strategic Town" - doing the same over a flashing red region it says that and has an extra line of text that says "Caesar Objective Town"
So it seems the flashing red ones are specific to Objective Towns
section 4.6 in the manual should point this out but fails to do so
Sorry JD, I hadn't checked this thread in awhile.
The flashing towns are Strategic Objectives, set by the scenario, which will give you a near-instant win if you own them all. I'm not sure if you need 51+% loyalty in them, too, but I believe it's something like if you hold them all more than 1 turn then you'll get an instant win. Similar to the fast win you can get by knocking your enemy's National Morale into the dirt. These special cities also should have a (gold?) star next to their city name in the normal map view. You can also find each one by opening your Objective window and there will be a list with these important objective cities there; you can click on the nationality flag next to each city, there, and it will instantly take you to that city's map location.
There are two types of strategic cities. The regular ones you just get VP for. The Objective cities (the flashing ones in that map filter) both give you VP and the aforementioned victory if they're all held. Depending on the specific AGE game and/or scenario, there can be some randomization as to which cities are considered the special objective ones. A good example would be PONs StratObj cities usually being a few that are the same, and then some are added at random, and yet more as the game progresses. I thought I had seen this in another game or two, also, but I could be wrong. I have no idea if that randomization happens in any AJE scenarios.. as that would be a mechanics question for the devs or scenario designer.
Thanks for that detailed explanation.
I have no idea how I would get these objective cities...I'm busy running about grabbing back what keeps getting taken! I'm seriously not playing this right! :-)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 08, 2012, 05:19:39 PM
Thanks for that detailed explanation.
I have no idea how I would get these objective cities...I'm busy running about grabbing back what keeps getting taken! I'm seriously not playing this right! :-)
Don't forget to recruit more troops. If you haven't been doing that, in your current scenario, the AI will get even further ahead of you.
You'll get a big lump sum from taxes, the first turn of February IIRC. So you can afford to muster a large amount of extra units after that. Just remember that you must pay for upkeep the rest of the year (every monthly turn) and that many Decisions cost money, too. Then again, some decision can create more income at the expense of other things, if you get desperate.
oh yeah - I've been recruiting troops! The AI just has decent armies lodged in the South of Italy (there are about 3 or 4 moving from region to region) and I'm running about with 2 to grab places back. I have a large army in Southern France putting fires out and one over to the east of Italy on the mainland which is slowly taking ground. Caesar is stuck in Sicily with an enemy army grater than his sitting in the north east province - I could ship him off - but that would leave sicily wide open.
I really am struggling to gain ground and only really just managing to re-take ground.
A couple of questions if anyone has the time
1. I see regions going purple (I'm playing Caesar). According to the manual regions change hands based on the last unit to stay there at least one turn. These are normal regions - nothing special - so I guess their only real importance is from a supply point of view? Is there any reason why I should use an army to retake a non important region if it appears to not block my supply chain? Is there any other reason why I should take those regions or can I just let the map turn purple as long as I have strategic and objective cities?
2. I'm building units - but only really have the ability to create a few small spear units (can't remember what they're called - 1 up from plebs) and at the end/beginning of each year I can build a couple of the bigger units (cohorts?) - is it sufficient to leave a single pleb army in a city/town? Should I guard my objectives/strategic cities with cohorts or should I attach the cohorts to my armies and use the plebs to protect cities? Because I don't have enough money to create enough units to guard all the cities AND rebuild my battered armies.
That's all that springs to mind at the mo.
Ta
This is my current status
Spain/France - fire fighting
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1-4.jpg&hash=21621865434a62a38c55419bb1a4e1331176f7b0)
Italy - fire fighting
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap2.jpg&hash=86a82c4355c52c01f4106f992ace9a60482f286b)
The objectives
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap3.jpg&hash=6eb8e9989976d6d50b1051c360776a247c0c8203)
My forces
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap4.jpg&hash=a1fa098c6506fdc318f1055093f143a8efb3ecfc)
The Strat Map
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap5.jpg&hash=427eaeb6274c4d542e03bcf628d217bf15ccc7b6)
I haven't got to even consider landing on Africa or delving into Spain. Should I attack? Would that make the enemy divert forces? Is he leaving his back door open?
I don't get why sometimes it takes so long to move into a region - and more than that - I don't understand why (in this case and others) I can't move into Rhizon without being diverted through Epidaurus or Salluntum?
I mean - I get units forces move at the speed of their slowest unit. But this unit moved into the region it's in in 2 days - now it's going to take 40 to move back and another 40 to move south?
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap7.jpg&hash=84fd827d4394f3d24b02b6d3a8aecacdf6536d81)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 09, 2012, 04:05:17 AM
I don't get why sometimes it takes so long to move into a region - and more than that - I don't understand why (in this case and others) I can't move into Rhizon without being diverted through Epidaurus or Salluntum?
I mean - I get units forces move at the speed of their slowest unit. But this unit moved into the region it's in in 2 days - now it's going to take 40 to move back and another 40 to move south?
I don't know. I'd like to know to. I think it has to do with a combination of the infrastructure, units moving, and the military control of the regions your moving in and out of. I was sieging a city in south-central Sicily, and couldn't move my forces back to Syracus, which I controlled, until I finished my siege.
I've alone had it happen in southern Italy, were it will say it will take 80+ days to move for no apparent reason....
Sorry...I actually got the answer over at AGEoD...it's because I have 2 units in there that are militia or something....looking at the units they have a Speed Coef of 10...whereas my good units have a speed coef of 100 or more
Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 09, 2012, 01:27:28 AM
oh yeah - I've been recruiting troops! The AI just has decent armies lodged in the South of Italy (there are about 3 or 4 moving from region to region) and I'm running about with 2 to grab places back. I have a large army in Southern France putting fires out and one over to the east of Italy on the mainland which is slowly taking ground. Caesar is stuck in Sicily with an enemy army grater than his sitting in the north east province - I could ship him off - but that would leave sicily wide open.
I really am struggling to gain ground and only really just managing to re-take ground.
A couple of questions if anyone has the time
1. I see regions going purple (I'm playing Caesar). According to the manual regions change hands based on the last unit to stay there at least one turn. These are normal regions - nothing special - so I guess their only real importance is from a supply point of view? Is there any reason why I should use an army to retake a non important region if it appears to not block my supply chain? Is there any other reason why I should take those regions or can I just let the map turn purple as long as I have strategic and objective cities?
They
do provide more income at the beginning of the year. And they could also provide quick resupply for small enemy forces, therefore allowing them to spend more time in that area if they have some forces there. But if there's little there to covet, then it's not a big worry (unless aforementioned enemy forces are using it as a base to hit your neighboring ones). Note that there are also decisions you can purchase that can have an effect on ownership & loyalty of regions, even where you have no troops. I suppose those are for bribing local officials and such over to your way of thinking and investing in some smaller security forces/mercs. If you don't want to commit part of your armies, there's always these decisions that could flip regions which are out of the way and unoccupied (if you feel the need).
Quote2. I'm building units - but only really have the ability to create a few small spear units (can't remember what they're called - 1 up from plebs) and at the end/beginning of each year I can build a couple of the bigger units (cohorts?) - is it sufficient to leave a single pleb army in a city/town? Should I guard my objectives/strategic cities with cohorts or should I attach the cohorts to my armies and use the plebs to protect cities? Because I don't have enough money to create enough units to guard all the cities AND rebuild my battered armies.
That's all that springs to mind at the mo.
Ta
I've only played part of one scenario thus far, so I'm not sure of the whole situation you have. It's probably much different than the one I experienced. But I tried to leave some mobile auxilia units spread around a bit, for quick reaction against any uprisings back in my own territory, and just used whatever relatively cheap garrison units I could purchase to defend the important VP cities I owned. That way there is enough of a garrison to hopefully hold out a couple months against any small or raider type force coming through - enough time to get my regional Auxilia there to relieve them hopefully. It won't matter if your enemy manages to get one of his larger armies there, however, so the only defense against that is one of your own large armies. The garrisons and regional defense forces are there just to keep the plebs honest and make sure there's no small enemy unit or barbarians attempting to gain a foothold.
cheers nefaro. I think this games is definitely lost but I'm using it to try things