Just to say i have not forgotten this - i have been thinking it over a lot over the last month, i have just not had the time to do anything with it.
I have realised that the tech tree was stupid - the techs were indeed far too basic for this time period. However, it is hard to place technological advances in such a small time period.
I have come up with the following techs. Opinions anyone?
Romans
- Seamanship - Corvus
- Legions - Increased Legion Size
- Roman Determination, Roman Patriotism, Roman Discipline
- Private Vessels
Seamanship
Represents the Roman building of a fleet in 261 BC. Would give the ability to build Quinquiremes (and maybe triremes, weaker, faster ships?). Both can end turn in sea squares. This leads to the Corvus.
Corvus
Represents the Corvus design the Roman ships started using in 259 BC. I was thinking, increases attack strength of quinquiremes, but makes them sink in sea squares. That last bit is because it is suggested that the reason so many Roman ships sunk in storms because they were very unbalanced because of the Corvus.
Legions
Starting Tech that represents the Roman use of legions. Gives the ability to build Hastati, Principes, Triarii and Velites (More on them later). This leads to increased legion size.
Increased Legion Size
A bit iffy on this one. Each Roman legion was approximately 4,500 men at the start of the war, but by the end it was about 6,000. I was thinking about the ability to build larger Legion units, but they have a lower defense to represent the greater disorganisation in this size of legion.
Roman Determination, Roman Patriotism, Roman Discipline
These are techs the Romans start with, which represent unique parts of the Roman culture during the war.
Roman Determination represents the determination to win and win no matter the cost. I was thinking this could be put in to make population costs for units higher than their carthaginian counterparts (if population costs are implemented). This conveys a disadvantage on the Romans, as some parts of Italy were neglected during the war due to all the men joining the army or navy.
Roman Patriotism represents the nationalism of the Romans during the war. It symbolises the fact that Roman units are cheaper that their carthaginian counterparts, because so many men wanted to join up.This leads to Private Vessels.
Roman Discipline explains the higher attack and defense levels of Roman units compared to mercenaries and some Carthaginian units.
Private Vessels
This tech is possible by the starting tech of Roman Patriotism. It represents the fact that once Rome's finances were exhausted after storms and they could not build further ships, some citizens banded together and built a private vessel. This would introduce a new type of ship, cheap and with no upkeep, but which has a bad attack, speed and defense level compared to normal ships.
That just covers Rome for now, and comments are welcome, along with thoughts for Carthage - i think a different tech tree is in order, with civ specific techs like the Romans (Carthaginian Seamanship? Mercenaries?)
Population Costs
Should it be implemented? I think so, because it adds more of an element of conserving your resources, and the concept of limited manpower in Rome and Carthage is actually used. Would also encourage mercenaries, which would not cost manpower.
Population costs would mean non-mercenary units would take population away from the city they are built. For example, a Velite may cost 1 population point, and a quinquirime may cost 2.
Opinions on that?
The Triplex Axcies
This (may be spelt wrong) was the early Roman legion formation. The
Hastati (young troops) in the front line.
Principes in the seond line, older, more experienced soldiers.
Triarii in the back line, armed with spears and the
Gladius.
Hastati and
Principes both had
pilums and the
Gladius. Velites in the front line to bombard the enemy, then usually shift to the wings to support the cavalry, which were always there.
I want to use the Hastati, Principe and Triarii as separate units. I think they should be used so that using them all in a stack, with velites and cavalry, is a big advantage than just all infantry or cavalry stacks. This could happen like this:
Hastati - Average attack, Average defense
Principe - Good attack, average defense
Triarii - Poor Attack, Excellent defense (spears against cavalry, most experienced troops)
Velites - Average attack, poor defense, defensive bombardment
Cavalry - Good Attack, poor defense, faster than others (sweep around for enemy units)
Opinions on that?
Thats all i am going to write for now, i have other things to say, but not the time to write them.
