Fall of Rome, Take 2

So, I plan the scenario to start in the year 335, right after the death of Constantine I (styled 'the Great') and the effective (and not legal in contemporary viewpoint) division of the Roman Empire between his three sons, Constantius II, Constantine II, and Constans !, and his nephew Dalmatius. The 'protagonist' line of the scenario, which covers the main lineage of what is historigraphically called the West Roman Empire, starts with Constans I, who received as his demesne a large territory including Italia, Gallia, Britannia, Hispania, and Africa (in it's limited Roman definition) with his capital at the traditional, ancestral city of Rome. It will likely go into somewhere in the 6th, maybe early 7th Century, to allow for ahistorical success. The other six players (at this point) are the East Romans, Sassanid Persians, Sarmatians, Huns, Germanii, and Picto-Celts. Barbarians encompass such fringe peoples as Nubians, Kuhorsehockyes, Arabs, and Avars, and peoples who revolt against Imperial authority (namely Jewish insurgents and Manacheanistic reactionaries, as well as revolts by the Praetorian Guard and individual Roman generals and provincial governors), and the Dacians, who begin under Roman authority but successfully attained their independence almost a century-and-a-half before the Sack of Rome). A number of noteworthy units are event-spawned important figures, including Emperors (East, West, and Usurper), Shahanshahs, barbarian kings like Attila the Hun, Alaric I, Theodoric I, Odoacer, and Conan Merriadoc, as well as an appearance by Pope Leo I as well. Those are initial thoughts on a very broad breakdown of things.

Sounds interesting! You should initially write a time line with dates, in order to give you an events with major situations appearing.

It would be nice to be to change some of the big events along the way, perhaps the pivotal battles at the end of the empire...

All in all, a good potential for a scenario. Although, I would not fixate too much on individual units, concetrate on creating the pre-dark age world.
Check out Exile's medieval scenarios for how he managed his amazing "less is more" methods of design.

I'll certainly consider your advice seriously Curt! Thanks!

Say, is anyone up to making Improvement and Wonder graphics for my icons.bmp and improvments.bmp files? I have a pretty good idea of what the list said items will be, and unless I have a HUGE brainwave, I don't, at this point, see that part changing too much.

I'm sure I have a large list of improvement gfx posted on the boards under the grapghics thread, if not...PM me and I can email what I have to ya...

Sounds good - good luck with this.

Pssst - the Praetorian Guard ceased to exist after Constantine's victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge

I currently have this for my cities.bmp. I think most of them are alright, but the Medieval-looking cities meant for Germanii, Celts, and possibly Huns after gaining the Feoderati tech really bug me, but I'm not sure of a better alternative just yet (any help or advice is welcome). Also, the West Roman cities (top row) may be a bit antiquated for the 4th-7th Centuries, I'm not sure (can anyone let me know on this one)?

Looks great! Are those Persian/Mideast sets new Gareth creations?

I got them from gapetit's ToT conversion of the old Age of Justinian scenario (as I thought the styles in that would at least be CLOSE to the era I was dealing with). I don't know exactly where he got them, to be honest.

P.S. Did my e-mail get to yet, Curt?

I got the email, sir! And I will begin throwing some icons together this week. I have some essays to mark first for college.

When did you become a professor, Curt? I had no idea. I kind of imagined you as the creepy guy in the run-down house on the corner that children dared each other to run up and touch the door of.

Mind you, that's not exactly mutually exclusive with being a professor. There used to be a Professor of Geology in my old apartment building who was literally a tempermental, burnt-out Hippie (he had the full Hippie appearance, but in the late '90's, early 21st century), so professors seem to vary widely in demeanor.

Anyways, thank-you for the aid you've offered to render. It's greatly appreciated.

Patine said:

When did you become a professor, Curt? I had no idea. I kind of imagined you as the creepy guy in the run-down house on the corner that children dared each other to run up and touch the door of.

Mind you, that's not exactly mutually exclusive with being a professor. There used to be a Professor of Geology in my old apartment building who was literally a tempermental, burnt-out Hippie (he had the full Hippie appearance, but in the late '90's, early 21st century), so professors seem to vary widely in demeanor.

Anyways, thank-you for the aid you've offered to render. It's greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Well, old boy...
Your imaginings are somewhat fuelled by meth, it seems!

I work as a lecturer during semester time, and freelance art in between.
I'm a regular slob who wears rock tees and my house is perfectly nice.

Not meth. Don't touch the stuff. Just my somewhat lacking attempt at humour. This is what gets me booed off the improv stage and why I can't be a multi-millionaire Hollywood comic...

Say, now that everyone's had a look, are there any city-styles out there more indicative in anyone's opinion of a barbarian (as in Germanic, Celtic, and, potentially, but not historically, Hunnic and Sarmatian/Scythian civ's, not the civ called "barbarians" by default) civ upgrading to more settled feodorati status (the one in the "modern" slot)? The current one looks too close to High Middle Ages, and thus seems to "instantly jump" several centuries, which still kind of bothers me.

Say, Fairline (or anyone else willing to have a crack at it), I think my unit roster needs for this scenario, barring further inspiration or other brainwaves, is mosltly complete thanks to a VERY good selection of units out there. There's just four units that don't seem to be present in a up-to-date format that would be nice to have. I'm hoping, and asking nicely, if you could whip me up some basic foot soldiers and cavalry for each of the Thracians and Alans of the era? Though the Thracians were nominally Roman subjects in that days (I'm not sure if the Alans acknowledged Roman suzerainty though), the Thracians, especially Bessian branch seemed to operate very independently of Rome or Constantinople in many of their political and endeavors, and both Thracians and Alans seemed to meddle in the politics of the Empire for their own motives, it would seem, to the point of contemporary historians stating that the General Aspar and Easten Leo I were an Alan and Thracian, respectively, with that statement being expected to have a huge impact on the reader as to the context, tenor, consequences, and explanations for much of their actions in positions in and of themselves.

It seems this is going to end up being a VERY complex scenario in how I want it to run, and will likely require me to learn and gain significant proficient in the Lua language TNO, Grishnach, Plutonian Empire and others are ruminating over on the ToTPP thread. Until I feel confident in this language and it's parameters, I think I'm going to try a simpler scenario ideas first. Sorry to be so fickle, but I want to be sure I can truly settle into a new scenario project before getting entrenched firmly in one.

Understandable, but I'm sure TNO will get Lua working and the more of us that learn it the better it will be for the community. I have been busy recently, off skiing in Andorra, and haven't had a chance to work on my project or look at Lua, but I'm up for the challenge.

Ah, Andorra. A country with two heads of state, neither of whom are resident in the country, if I recall correctly...

Yes, the Bishop of somewhere or other & President Hollande of France. It's a super little country. Loads of duty free shops (Stolichnaya vodka 3.98 euros a litre!), loads of skiing resorts, a mixture of languages (French, Catalan & English) and lovely women everywhere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-6Ti5k956A