[RFC] Rome, the Conquering Empire

[baseballpie]

I just read all 17 pages, and so far: I love it. Great job Tycho.

 

[Tycho]

The opening shots of the siege of the far northern Ottoman city begins, with cannon artillery pounding Roman positions in the surrounding hills and highlands. Multiple regiments and divisions are hit hard, primarily shock musket divisions in the hilltops, but they are knocked out of the fight for the moment. This will be the first of many artillery exchanges in the next few weeks of the siege that will claim thousands of lives on both sides as the perpetual bombardment and counterbattery fire from each side destroys and maims soldiers and civilians alike. War has come to the Ottoman Empire, and the strain of it is already starting to be felt as thousands upon thousands of refugees rush through Asia Minor heading south towards Jerusalem and the Holy Land.



With these opening shots underway, the Roman Army proceeds to shatter the defenses Tiflis with it's own cannons and exchange fire with musket units from the Ottoman Army. Many are killed and maimed in this bombardment of the city as the artillery battle begins in earnest for the hope that the Tiflis garrison can be sufficiently worn down for the Roman Army to take the city and end the war before much more damage can be done. These battles see both sides use canister rounds, filled with thousands of fragments, shells, and balls of iron and steel which detonate in the air and spread a cloud of metal rain over the positions of each side. This brutal new tactic sees thousands more injured and killed and maimed in horrific fashion, leaving behind limp forms with shredded bodies and missing limbs from the grievous injuries.



The bombardment over, the shock musket regiments are sent in to mop up the remnants of the Ottoman garrison at Tiflis. The shock muskets fight in the broken streets, scarred by the canister rounds that were fired over the city and with men missing fingers, eyes, limbs and sometimes large portions of their bodies. One Roman soldier recounts that the allies of the city were filled with dead bodies of civilians and soldiers that had been hit with canister shot and put into the allies in order to clear the streets and the houses for the soldiers to man and walk through for the defense of the city. Slowly the Turks are pushed further and further and further into the city before taking up a final defense in the main square the city that sees their garrison slaughtered to a single man.




At this time, negotiations with the Russian Empire are taken up, but they are proven to be rather fruitless with the odd demand that Roma stop trading with the leader of the Malinese province, Mansa Musa. Roma cannot abide by this insult in which Russia rather overtly seeks to subvert the power that the Roman Empire has built upon so far, and therefore repulses the offer, sending the Russian diplomat back with empty hands save for a note personally penned by the head diplomat of the Roman Empire with insulting remarks about Tsar Aleksandr the Fifth's mother and father and his ancestry as to how it occurred. The head diplomat may or may not have been summarily executed for his actions afterwards because it violated everything the Emperor of Rome stood for while still being a humorous action, but no one can truly say as his name disappears from any and all official documents from this point on.



Below is a summary of the political events and stances that different nations held towards each other at the time.



The Roman Army in the Northern part of Asia Minor readies itself and rests, restoring the strength of the legions in preparation for the vicious march south towards the Ottoman capital of Sur and the assorted cities of the Holy Land down there. The Pope of the Catholic Church calls for a Crusade against the Ottomans, bringing forth tens of thousands of Christian warriors forth to fight in the Arabian lands in order to wrest control of the Holy Land away from the heathen Ottomans in return for the promise of absolvement of all sins committed by the people going to take the Holy Land in the name of the Christian faith, as well as passage into the Kingdom of Heaven and absolution for the dying, a right that was denied to dedicated sinners and those that had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church's associated officials and leaders.



Talks with the Viking Council of Scandanavia up in the north prove fruitful; as a summary, for those that do not know, the Viking Council was strongly allied with Rome at this time as both were dedicated trade partners. There were seventeen nations in total in Scandanavia at the time that had split apart and did business with each other, but each nation had delegates on the Viking Council in order to conduct business of the small states and align them together so that way work and trade could flow and prosper between all of the nations involved. As this was a valuable arrangement, the Viking Council proposed a defensive pact with the Roman Empire should either side be attacked by another entity at the time, which would surely meet with their utter destruction and annihilation between the combined armed forces of both entities.



Further exploration by Roman sailors along the coastline of the Americas shows the might of the Incan Empire, which was one of the most powerful of the Native American empires in existence at the time. Their largest city, Qusqu, held more than two million people at it's height of power and the advanced sanitation systems of the Incans were much like the ones that the Romans had developed centuries in the past. Further exploratory efforts would yield such explorers like Tibus Jorgeson, Gustav Bacchus, and Francois Leonhardt. Further to the north, the development of the Roman colonies in central America can be clearly seen, with the export of dyes, silver, and corn already making their way to the Old World in order to be processed and for finished products like muskets, wine, and construction materials sent back to further the development of the colonies. Each city represents the capital of a specific colony, of which Tikala was the most prosperous.




The Arabian Caliphate, still furious at the Roman Empire for their actions, ask for Rome's assistance against the Persians in the east. Unfortunately, at the present time, Rome cannot handle that as it is and must instead focus on finishing off delivering the death blow to the Ottoman Protectorate and deliver the crushing victory that the Roman Emperor demands. Of course, the Arabian Caliphate is only further incensed by this proposed slight, and angrily close their embassy for the seventh time in a five day span.



With the discovery of a working system of economics and the change from Rome's decentralized economy to a free market trade system, anarchy is thrown into order as a standard currency and national bank is set up. The theorycrafter, publisher, and maker of these radical (at the time) economic theories was none other than Klaus Rhinewald, one of the most famous scientists of the Renaissance era that enveloped the Roman Empire at the time. His work went a long way into establishing a dedicated economic movement in the empire spearheaded by the Emperor and others, drawn by the prospect of money and taxing the trade that would run in a greater course throughout the empire.



Stay tuned next time for the shattering of empires, the dusk of civilizations, and the dawn of an ever expanding empire.

In addition...



Never not run an empier not in a perpetual cascade and collapse.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

good update, but cross your fingers and hope not to collapse

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Collapse is inevitable at this point.

The best course of action would be to concentrate all possible troops into the capital and the ones that he can't need to camp in the field.
When he collapses, only the capital and a few random cities will stay loyal while all the others become independent.
At that point, he should go and raze all the cities that he doesn't need and keep 1 city in each core max (1 city in France, 1 city in Spain, etc.) in order to deny a respawn.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

hmm... so rome is going to inevitably collapse...


never seen that happen before...

 

[mrrandomplayer]

I'm sorry...

 

[Tycho]

Collapse is inevitable at this point.

The best course of action would be to concentrate all possible troops into the capital and the ones that he can't need to camp in the field.
When he collapses, only the capital and a few random cities will stay loyal while all the others become independent.
At that point, he should go and raze all the cities that he doesn't need and keep 1 city in each core max (1 city in France, 1 city in Spain, etc.) in order to deny a respawn.

While brutally effective in the method that you describe Dawn, the Empire actually manages to last a lot longer than just up to here; it went on for a lot longer, though there were frequent revolts and uprisings in the later years of the Empire. I actually used your advice from the beginning of the story to decide upon civics and use them to keep the Empire from collapsing (which probably kept me from losing everything for several hundred years at least).

 

[Moai_Spammer]

so you didn't collapse? well that's very un-roman of you!

 

[Tycho]

The funny thing about capitalism is, while it usually works, when it doesn't, everything has a habit of going pear shaped in a quick hurry. For around fifteen years, the Roman economy under the free market system and a centralized currency for the nation and the colonies had made sure that an economic collapse was impossible. The strain however on the Roman Empire from the many and varied wars that had taken up its time in the last thirty years however had left the Senate and the Emperor borrowing huge sums of money from banks and lending institutions from Gaul to Germania to Iberia and Grecia. In fact, this practice of sustaining the Bread and Circuses maxim that had dominated the Empire for so long had already sapped funds and was a huge drain on resources that the Empire needed, but with the embroilment of three wars, the banks quickly started to lose currency to trade to their investors and their customers who trusted them. When an economic scare occurred in late 1580, millions of panicked Romans all over the nation rushed to banks to withdraw money that was not even there; the banks were forced to shut off payments and asked the Empire for the debts that they owed the banks, but were met with refusal. There was not nearly enough money from the Empire to pay back the banks at once, and as a result, multiple banking institutions (including the ancient Stone Bank of Sparta and the Golden Dragon Lenders League) collapsed and shut down. The lashback on the economy was vicious, instituting the First Great Depression of the Roman Empire.



Troubles on the homefront do not deter the Empire from sending more troops to the front, hopeful that a swift and crushing victory against the Turks that sounds their death knell will bolster the economy on spoils of war. Several army units, made up of artillery, heavy cavalry, and shock muskets gather on the border in order to head south, made up of crusaders from the Catholic faith eager for absolution for their sins and entry into heaven should the holy crusade finish. The Roman Empire in the meanwhile is forced to cut soldier's salaries by two thirds, met with much hostility and hatred for the Emperor and the Senate that the Empire gives them war bonds to cash in after the war if they aren't alive or haven't lost them. Rome additionally begins taxing the newly held provinces in Asia Minor heavily, in order to pay for war reparations, sending the entire area into economic turmoil that will last for decades and will generate multiple provinces with the poorest gross domestic product compared to the central heartlands of Italia, Gaul, Germania, and Iberia.



Unfortunately, before the armies of Rome can march southwards to take Sur and the other cities, the Turkish Protectorate collapses due to internal struggling as three successive sultans of the empire are assassinated in violent manners. Rome itself cuts a peace deal with Russia, in return for securing the borders at least for now. However, the Arabians, who have long sent spies into the Roman territories (and failed spectacularly at recovering anything of value for their work), are next up on the chopping block to be extinguished as Emperor Tiberius XIX prepares to punish the Caliphate for it's refusal to bend the knee to Roman supremacy in the land. The independent states surrounding the Caliphate from the recent collapse of the Turkish Protectorate and the subsequent power struggles amongst the multiple generals and warlords in the areas, are likely to fall to the Roman Empire as well when their soldiers march to war against the Caliphate.



The first shots of the war are south of the border between the Roman Empire and the Arabian Caliphate near Tiflis. Cannons and other artillery pieces soften up the positions of the Arabian armies, causing huge amounts of collateral damage to the troops and the town itself while utterly destroying the defenses. Both sides will use the horrific practice of canister shot again, with the Romans making a deadlier and more improvised canister shot with nails, rusty spikes and broken bits of metal from spears, pikes, spurs, and other such things. This practice, which would be considered grievous war crimes today for the sheer effectiveness of the killing and the goal to maim and disrupt the enemy forces, was widespread and would leave thousands of involuntary amputees littered in every nation, unable to find work due to their handicaps from the use of canister shot against their positions during wartime.

Tyrus is however destined to fall to the Roman forces, who send in the heaviest Cuirassiers in order to deliver the death blow to the Arabian garrison and secure this valuable beachhead further into the Arabian Caliphate's territory in the Middle East and the Holy Land.




The remaining cavalry and shock troops move south towards Al-Quds in order to wrest it from the Caliphate; morale is high, and more than three hundred thousand soldiers are marching south to take the fight right up into the Arabian homefront in the local area. The cavalry in this case makes the bold move to engage the Arabian army inside and on the outskirts of the city without the positions being softened up by artillery fire and shock muskets first, gambling that they can take the city without much effort and outpace the rest of the Roman army marching south. It is a bold move, and Lieutenant General Erwin Vaeger is a gambling man, willing to toss the dice in order to see if his forces come out on top in this engagement. The men are ready, and steeled for the fight that is sure to come and ready for their absolution and their passage into the Kingdom of Heaven, as per the crusade's rules and rewards initially said and told.




The cavalry hurls itself into Al-Quds, taking heavy losses initially from the garrison and troops, losing a handful of regiments to the longbows that are guarding the fortifications of the city. Additional attempts prove more fruitful, and within a matter of hours, the garrison is cracked and routing from the battlefield, or slaughtered to a man in the defensive positions that they take up in the city squares, the gardens, and the complexes inside of the city. Vaeger's gamble in this situation has paid off tremendously, as the invasion of the Caliphate is well under way at this point and in fact ahead of schedule compared to how the Empire expected it to be up to this point (i.e., with a lot more dead Romans and uses of canister shot to soften up the targets and possibly kill thousands of soldiers and civilians).



Empire progress: still collapsing. The First Great Depression in Rome is obviously not assisting matters much, with the economy in turmoil, expansion of the frontier reaching heights that the forefathers of the Emperor and Senators could not have possibly dreamt of, and the struggles and strains that the Empire on the homefront has. On the bright side at least, food riots in Greece and violent crackdowns have stopped for the most part, lessening to one occasion every few months instead of once a week or more in some cities like Sparta or Athens. Attempts to bolster the flagging economy are in the works at this time, but it will be at least a year or two before any progress is made paying back the banks and the others that the Empire borrowed from the assorted establishments. On the plus side, a balanced budget is being tended to in order to carefully make sure that the reparations for debt can be handled swiftly and decisively.



More forces near Tyrus and Jerusalem prepare to march southeast into the Arabian Caliphate and secure more territory and power for the Roman Empire; artillery, shock muskets, and some of the most elite legionnaire troops that the Empire has had to offer yet stand ready to march further south to decapitate the Arabian government and kill the Caliph at the capital of the nation, and are gathering their forces, their strength, and their power to drive home the wedge and split the Caliphate into pieces.



Seeing as the economy is going to hell in a handbasket, strain on the war front against the Caliphate is sucking young men and older ones into the war in order to sustain the troop losses so far, this is the perfect time for the plague to strike Rome and others. Major cities like Cadiz, Manchester, Mediolanium, and others are afflicted with the vile sickness, known as the Grey Death for the pallid color the victim's flesh turns, as it calcifies and begins to literally rot on the body. Amputation of limbs, removal of eyes, and other such horrific things that the Grey Death causes are a necessary part in order to try and stop it from spreading further. Roman sanitation efforts, which have prevented other sicknesses from arising in the past, are no match for the way that the Grey Death spreads as a virulent group of different diseases together carried on the rats, fleas on the rats, and transmitted through sneezing in an airborne variation and through the water in unsanitary parts of the cities in question.



On that note, this update will end; stay tuned for more, in our quest for the Roman Empire to rule the world.

 

[Daedwartin]

....um why are you expanding...your economy is hurting, your collapsing..and your adding foreign area and foreign core area to your empire.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

he's rome, so he's supposed to keep expanding against better advice until collapse

 

[Tycho]

....um why are you expanding...your economy is hurting, your collapsing..and your adding foreign area and foreign core area to your empire.

The game has been over for around a year and a half at this point, and it was my first time playing RFC; something that I like to do in each RFC game is try to take over as much territory before the Empire collapses and take either the Historical Victory or a Time Victory with as much territory as possible.

 

[Tycho]

We'll be back ~soon~ due to minor errors and technical issues on my end.

 

[GreekAnalyzer]

I read the whole thing. Great! But you kept way too many cities.