History in the Making
As Caesar sat on the throne, he pondered the history of the Roman Empire and how others might perceive Rome as being warmongering and expansionist. Sure, there were the early wars initiated by close borders but certainly that is not unusual. But then there were the conflicts that were thrust upon Rome.
It started with the Arabians of course. Always the Arabians. Close borders and failed diplomacy saw a relatively small force of Roman Axemen march on their capital of Mecca. But then came the Chariots. It looked as if Arabia might be able to successfully defend itself until their government appeared to come to a standstill. [OOC: what is it with a person who leaves in the middle of a fight? Also, my pet peeve here is also people who must queue up orders and then intentionally let the timer expire over and over again. That's grounds for war on its own.
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Then came the conflict with the French. Previous recon had suggested a lack of defenses and they had the city of Lyons established near a precious and rare iron mine. Such a large continent and no iron anywhere near the Roman capital. Not good. A larger attack force primarily of Axemen was put together and despite running into a French Scout almost immediately upon leaving Roman lands, the end result was unchanged. Most of the French defenders, consisting primarily of Chariots, Warriors, and a lone Axemen were destroyed in an initial clash at Lyons. Resistance from then on was virtually non-existent especially when Roman Chariots destroyed another French iron mine discovered to the south.
While the French-Roman War was ongoing, India/Xelor? decided to "help" France and send a force of a half dozen Axemen and a Warrior across the borders of the Roman city of Antium. Unfortunately for them Rome had not neglected its defenses and the addition of 2 newly built Catapaults participated in an ambush waiting for the Xelorian troops to come into the open. They did and there were no survivors. The resulting battles also saw the introduction of the first Roman Spearman, Praetorian, and War Elephant. In any case, Xelorian opposition was fierce and their generals obviously knew what they were doing. Still, the number and quality of Roman troops was too much and Xelor was left to a single city after sueing for peace with a couple of technologies. [OOC: Agemo left the game at this point and the AI took over. The nation was just recently finished off.]
Then there was the English in a war that could only be described as epic. England and Rome had long had good relations until a change in government changed everything. During the war with the Xelorians and French, the new government cancelled the Open Borders agreement. Combine that with the fact that England expansion could only go through Rome and the lack of English diplomacy made war inevitable. The discovery of Construction by the English was the spark that set the fire ablaze and the rest is history. Despite an excellent defense, the sheer number of Roman units combined with a lack of time to build catapaults proved too much for the English to handle.
What does the future hold? Hopefully one of peace and good relations with the remaining nations in the world after first contact is made. Rome has had enough of war for a life time.
Bernout