Community Game - Rome on Monarch/Marathon

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

Be part of the Empire Council and lead the Roman Empire from the ashes to the stars.

In this community game everyone can partecipate and discuss the best strategy and plans every turn. With the progressive expansion of the empire, consuls and generals will be needed to administrate specific regions or armies.

Become consul, lead armies to war, control the empire finances, turn barbaric populations into Roman people with acculturation, vote for the construction of a Great Wonder.

Play the best mod in the history of Civilization, but cooperatively, by living a mix of an RPG and a Strategy Game experience.

Participate the Council, suggest to other generals, learn from other consuls great strategies. Build the best empire possible, with the help of other enthusiast strategists like you.

You can make the difference. You can make your motherland ethernal.

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Was it too much?

Short explanation now.

A new game file for every turn played together will be uploaded.
I will use this post also for:
1) the rules of the community game;
2) a register of what happened every turn.

Any kind of help and cooperation is highly appreciated!

RULES (wip)

- everyone can discuss the decisions to be taken like we were in the Empire Council;
- if somebody is interested in the administration of a specific region/legion of the Empire can apply for it and be the main responsible for the actions taken in that region/war;
- (more to come)

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REGISTER

- Turn 277
The legions are going to navigate on the galleys through Neapolis to reach the Greek Peninsula and attack the Greeks. The archers are being sent to the North to conquest Mediolanum, together with the Settler that will settle Aquileia.

- Turn 278
Mediolanum asked to join the Empire, gifting 2 archer units and 1 warrior unit.
The Empire Army was arranged in Legio Sagittariorum, Galeae, Legio Centuriae and Milites.
Legio Centuriae I, II, III and IV embarked near Neapolis and navigated to the Greek border in order to prepare an invasion. In Neapolis, the building of a monument have begun.
The settler, escorted by Legio Sagittariorum I, II and III is travelling to settle Aquileia in 3E2N(Roma).

- Turn 279
Legio Centuriae I, II, III and IV landed on 2N2E(Neapolis).
The whole army of Legio Centuriae, Legio Sagittariorum and Milites has been sent to the Greek Peninsula, seeking for workers to be captured.
The Galeae I and II have been sent in the East Mediterranean, to acquire strategic information over the Egyptian Kingdom.
In Mediolanum, roman people started the building of a granary.

- Turn 280
We traded Literature for Shipbuilding with Carthago.
We met the Cleopatra, from the Egyptian Kingdom.
The legions keep advancing in the Greek peninsula.

- Turn 281
The legions keep advancing in the Greek peninsula, towards the barbarian city (probably Bizantium).
Aquileia was settled in 2N3E(Roma) and it started producing a worker.

- Turn 282
The Legio Centuriae and Milites I entered the barbarian city of Bizantion borders.
The Legio Sagittariorum are approaching the Greek border and are ready to capture a worker, which is chopping down a forest.

- Turn 283
Bizantium was captured and became a 100% Roman city, in an amazing strategic position.
The Empire Council is discussing the best way to capture the workers on the Greek border and then invade Egypt.

- Turn 284
The Legio Sagittariorum were retired from the greek border in order to protect Mediolanum and Aquileia from celts invasions. One Legio Sagittariorum was sent to the Chinese and the 4 Legio Centuriae are getting ready to attack the Greeks.

- Turn 285
...




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[Gianmarco Silvestro]

First file for the game. I did not save at the exact beginning of the game, so i sent the archers to the North to capture Mediolanum and the Settler in the South so Settle Pompeii (which i think we might call Neapolis).

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

[Turn 277]
My opinions, strategy and general ideas for the current turn.

We might send the active galley from 1S1W(Rome) to 2S1E(Rome), in order to explore the East Mediterranean and get strategic information about Egypt (which is generally well-developed when Rome starts).

I would immediately send the legions to attack Greece, because Carthago is too strong at the moment.
I would send the 4 legions on the Pig at 1S1E(Rome) and on the next turn embark them on the two galleys to reach as fast as possible the tile on 4E(Rome).

Looking at the core area, i would set 5 cities in the core area:
- Neapolis, at 2S2E(Rome);
- Rome;
- Mediolanum, at 3N1W(Rome);
- Venetia, at 2E(Mediolanum);
- Aquileia, at 4E1S(Mediolanum) / 2N3E(Rome).

The city i would settle first is Aquileia, in order to get control over the NorthEast area and over the copper, which would be within its radius (and which is very useful to later build the Colossus, which is available, at twice the speed). The Colossus would grant Rome +2 Gold per water tile, so it's definetly a worth objective to pursue.

About the Techs, my favourite research order is Currency (via Contract) to Engineering.
Currency is amazing for the Forum, which is Rome special building and is pretty strong, while Engineering is also useful for the Amphiteatres.
Remember that we need to build 4 Amphiteatres and 3 Forums for the 1st UHV.

Carthago has 2 cities: Carthago itself and Sur.
Sur should be in the Middle-East, between Anatolia and Egypt, so if we conquered Carthago, their civ would probably collapse.

Greece has 2 cities too: Athens and Delphoi.
Delphoi, accordingly to their border, should be in the Greek Peninsula (North-West of Athens).

About commerce and Techs exchange, Carthago has more Techs to (eventually) trade, but they don't want to, by now.


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On next turn i will give names to all units (by numbering them).
If anybody has interesting ideas for names i would be happy to hear them.

 

[Ballazic]

I agree with your Athens or Bust strategy. Rome will need the taxes, hammers, and slaves. We may want to wait until we have triremes to escort our galleys before fighting carthage.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

I agree with your Athens or Bust strategy. Rome will need the taxes, hammers, and slaves. We may want to wait until we have triremes to escort our galleys before fighting carthage.

If we think that we can overrun Carthago we could also trade some important technology with them in exchange of Shipbuilding, which would allow us to control the Mediterranean by escorting galleys with war galleys indeed.

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Another think i was thinking about was that one main issue of Marathon games is China Unique Power.
As they research faster technologies that civs they are in contact with don't have knowledge of, we should send an archer asap on their border in order to keep contact with them and avoiding their fast technologic development, which would result in a loss of our 3rd UV.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

I upload here a new picture for Turn 277, that summarizes the main steps for the next turn.

 

[TJDowling]

I agree with this move generally.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

[Turn 278]
File Uploaded.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

[Turn 278]
My opinions, strategy and general ideas for the current turn.

CURRENT TURN (Turn 278)
- what should Neapolis produce?
- where should we land with the legions?
- should we send the archers to explore or to attack the Greeks?
- what should the 2 workers build after the pasture for the pigs?
- commerce, analysis of the other civs...
- general military plans...

Neapolis might build either a monument or a granary. Since the city is not going to grow bigger until we build a pasture on the sheep at 1E(Neapolis), we might prefer to build a monument, in order to increase culture over time and gain control over the seas. After the monument, building a granary would allow the city to grow faster.

The legions might land on 2N2E(Neapolis), in the forest, and then explore the Greek border in order to look for workers to capture (as we are running Slavery right now, which allows us to capture workers instead of killing them).

The archers should probably escort the settler and then we might send them to the Greeks, in order not to waste powerful legions when attacking/defending.
After the war we should send an archer to the Chinese, to slow down a little bit their tech development.

After the pig, the 2 workers might build a pasture on the sheep or a farm on the wheat at 1E(Mediolanum).
I think we should prioritize food resources over strategic and production resources in order to make the cities grow stronger faster.

Delphoi has 3 archers and 1 worker on it right now. They have a very strong defence potential, even if the city does not offer any defense bonuses, so if we want to capture/raze Delphoi we should probably sacrifice some archers before attacking with legions.
Delphoi is on a hill, so the archers have +25% defense on it.
Overall bonus for archers:
+25% fortification
+25% hill
+50% city defense
(the first archer has +70% city defense instead)
Overall defense strenght of first archer is 6.6, which is enough to get legions killed. Losing a legion would be a disaster at this moment of the game.

One of the most important promotions in the early game is the "City Raider" perk, which grants +20% / +25% / +30% city attack to the unit. If we get 2 exp points on the legions before attacking their strenght vs cities would be 9.6 instead of 8.0 and if we get 5 exp points the strenght rises up to an impressive 11.6.

The copper tile already has a road on it, which is nice.

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Any of you members of the council have some advice or plan?

 

[Bautos42]

You could name the legions according to the naming in the roman republic. I`d first improve the sheep, then the iron and finally the wheat. This would improve the most essential resources while minimizing distance. I think getting the iron for Rome should be of high priority, as it will allow to build some further legions. Finally, are you trying to win a historical victory. I am generally against exploiting game mechanics (like sending a scout to china in order to have them tech slower) except if it is unavoidable on the path to victory.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

You could name the legions according to the naming in the roman republic. I`d first improve the sheep, then the iron and finally the wheat. This would improve the most essential resources while minimizing distance. I think getting the iron for Rome should be of high priority, as it will allow to build some further legions. Finally, are you trying to win a historical victory. I am generally against exploiting game mechanics (like sending a scout to china in order to have them tech slower) except if it is unavoidable on the path to victory.

Thanks for the tip about the legions name. I have read the link and i am trying to come up with good ideas with the legion naming.
Should we name legions and other units too (archers for example)? How should we do it?
By now i would call the 4 legions "Legio I-II-III-IV Italica", because we only control the Italian Peninsula. When we conquer and control other regions and we send troops there we will give different names, but what about the archer units? How should we call them?
We can maybe call Legions "Legio Centuria", horsemen "Legio Equestra", archers "Legio Sagittaria" and catapults "Legio Catapulta". Do you like the idea?
Should we name the galleys too?

For the sheep, iron and wheat, i will do some more calculations. Minimizing distance is a pretty good idea, but it all depends on that we need to build/produce in Rome.
Indeed we need iron as soon as possible for more legions, but we need more math here. Help me with that if you want to!

Yes, we are trying to achieve the historical victory and then keep playing to expand the Empire from year to year.

On DOC1.15 China gets pretty strong if not conquered/destroyed in the early game and it gets impossible to keep their rate in tech research. We will try to keep the research as high as possible but i think we should send the scout anyway to prevent problems in the later stages of the game.
There is this thread in the DOC forum where the problem is explained by Leoreth himself.
In my previous games as Rome on Marathon, China tech advancement was too strong and i often needed to cheat to prevent 3rd UHV loss.

Thanks a lot again for your suggestions and ideas!

 

[Alexius08]

Assuming that these names would fit within the character limit, skrimishers/longbowmen should be named as "Legio Velitum"; catapults, "Legio Ballistae"; archers, "Legio Sagittariorum"; horsemen, "Legio Equitum".

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

I love these names. Everything will be updated on the next turn this evening!

You can then check if everything works fine and if we need further adjustments.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

I`d first improve the sheep, then the iron and finally the wheat. This would improve the most essential resources while minimizing distance. I think getting the iron for Rome should be of high priority, as it will allow to build some further legions.

As Bautos42 suggested, i confirm that if we send the workers first to the pig, then to the sheep, iron and finally wheat the improvements benefits should be maximised.
Thanks for your tip Bautos42.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

[Turn 279]
File uploaded.
My opinions, strategy and general ideas for the current turn.

CURRENT TURN (Turn 279)
- what should Mediolanum produce?
- what should the Legio Sagittariorum IV and V do?
- commerce, analysis of the other civs...
- general military plans...

Mediolanum might produce monument or granary. I think that granary would be the best option, because the wheat already produces enough food for the city to grow and the granary would allow the city to grow faster.

Legio Sagittariorum IV and V, that are in Mediolanum, could either join the other archers or explore Northern Europe. I would prefer to explore nothern Europe instead of letting them join the war. Any suggestions?

Neither Greeks not Phoenicians have anything interesting available for trade at the moment.

As soon as the Legio Centuria I, II, III and IV land on tile 2N2E(Neapolis), we should look for workers on the Greek border to be captured or try to arrange a blitz to conquer a city without too many losses.

 

[TJDowling]

Wait, what does contacting the Chinese do to delay their development? Also, do we have the firepower to roll over the Greeks currently? or will this be a war of attrition?

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

Wait, what does contacting the Chinese do to delay their development? Also, do we have the firepower to roll over the Greeks currently? or will this be a war of attrition?

The Chinese get faster technologic development if none of the Civs they're in contact with master the tech they are researching. Keeping contact with them would significantly slow down their research speed and allow us to achieve our 3rd UHV.

I don't think that we can roll over the Greeks entirely but we might be able to capture some workers, which would massively increase the output of our italic territories in the shortest time possible. Moreover, we don't have anything interesting to be exchanged with the Greeks and we need gold to keep our research speed as high as possible.

Do you have a better idea or plan?

 

[TJDowling]

The Chinese get faster technologic development if none of the Civs they're in contact with master the tech they are researching. Keeping contact with them would significantly slow down their research speed and allow us to achieve our 3rd UHV.

I don't think that we can roll over the Greeks entirely but we might be able to capture some workers, which would massively increase the output of our italic territories in the shortest time possible. Moreover, we don't have anything interesting to be exchanged with the Greeks and we need gold to keep our research speed as high as possible.

Do you have a better idea or plan?

Nope, I'm terrible at Rome. Usually end up getting too aggressive and losing too many units. Working the land and building up sounds good to me.

 

[oktot0320]

Regarding your latest update on the game:
I am in favor of the construction of a granary in Mediolanum.
More legions used for the war would naturally give you advantage, so I say that you direct Sagittariorum IV and V to the war effort, grouping them with Centuria I, II, and III, who should be prepared to blitz Greece. With that, you should plan how you are going to blitz attack Greece. Maybe think of training some more legions while you're at it.

 

[Gianmarco Silvestro]

Regarding your latest update on the game:
I am in favor of the construction of a granary in Mediolanum.
More legions used for the war would naturally give you advantage, so I say that you direct Sagittariorum IV and V to the war effort, grouping them with Centuria I, II, and III, who should be prepared to blitz Greece. With that, you should plan how you are going to blitz attack Greece. Maybe think of training some more legions while you're at it.

To blitz and conquer all Greece we would need approximately twice as much Legio Centuriae, but we can't train them at the moment because all cities will be building up structures to grow up stronger for the next 20/30 turns.
I open here a poll to choose what to do with the Legio Sagittariorum IV and V and in 5 hours i will update the game with that specific choice. The votes will terminate in 5 hours.
Please make sure to propose a path for the Legio Sagittariorum if you don't want to send them to the Greek war.

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My personal opinion is that our attack should prioritize worker capture and getting strategic information over cities location (and how we want our cities to be dislocated in the area).
Moreover, to win more and more wars, i think that we should focus on getting perks/specializations like "Raider" 1/2/3 like i wrote in this post.
I would add that we need 4 cities to be in the Greece+Anatolia region, but i wouldn't keep Delphoi for cultural reasons, as cities with low Roman population are going to cost more over the overextension stability calculation.
We should discuss this too, but it is better if we do this once we have a clear vision over the Greek region, up to the Bosphorus region.

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Poll Open.
THE POLL WILL BE CLOSED AT 23:00 CEST (Rome Time), so in 4 hours approximately.

Like this post to send the Legio Sagittariorum IV and V to war together with the full army.
OR
Comment down here with a description of where you want to send the Legio Sagittariorum IV and V.

By now we have 1 vote (mine) over exploration and 1 vote (oktot0320) over Greek War.