Aje demo released

[Grim.Reaper]

For those that don't own yet. Give a try.

http://www.aleajactaest-game.com/

[TheCommandTent]

Thanks for the link.  I hope I can get some time to give this a try.

[PanzersEast]

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

[MengJiao]

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.

[PanzersEast]

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

[MengJiao]

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.

[JudgeDredd]

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.

[Tuna]

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..

[Kushan]

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.

[JudgeDredd]

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)

[JudgeDredd]

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?

[Kushan]

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?

[JudgeDredd]

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!

[Tuna]

I think, watching the videos, flashing means it's an objective, or something like that.

[JudgeDredd]

I wish I could find the answer in the manual though  >:(