need my speed
Rex Omnium Imperarium
The depraved madness of Nezahualcoyotl and his Hindu priests and prophets caused an uproar in worldwide Christian society. The Concord of Civilisation was called upon.
Tommy Vercetti, realising his doom was fast approaching, quickly called off the war with Gondor and prayed for mercy to all his Hindu gods - and according to some, even the Christian God with its many aspects. For even the mighty Vikings were now falling to Hyperion soldiers guided by Christianity. The Vikings, who had single-handedly conquered Claude Speed's civilisation, starting life as but a small uprising, but ending up taking over the entire country like wildfire - if Handsome Jack could project this much power, how much more could Rome project, and indeed, how much more could all of Christianity?
The encampment of Delere - 'to destroy' - was turned into a more permanent fortification, and in time, a proper city. Here, those wounded during the utter and complete destruction of Clymenus would rest and recharge, overlooking the salted rubble that had once been Clymenus. Quod Clymenus deletus est.
The rest of the army marched south, advancing on Bayshore Avenue, following those that were just beyond the desert bordering the city. They would have brought much-needed bombards, but the Frumentarii were already in the city, ready to receive the army.
Little Haiti, on the other hand, wasn't ready to receive the cuirassiers of Gaius Marius.
The city was a bulwark of Hinduism, much like Escobar had been, but whereas the streets of Escobar had been filled with Hindu prophets whipping the populace up into a frenzy bereft of all sanity, Little Haiti had constructed magnific monuments to the Hindu gods. One such monument, Angkor Wat, was immediately appropriated by the Roman administration, dedicating it to Christianity and setting up a temporary office inside. In time, it would come to be a noteworthy monument to Christianity, and it would serve as the beacon from where the chaos of Hinduism would be systematically extinguished.
The way to Ocean Beach was now open, there where Hinduism was first conceived of, back when its most controversial feature was a caste system, back before Sauron corrupted the faith into an orgy of chaos and debauchery. But a pincher strike on Ocean Beach, though possibly thanks to the speed and firepower of the cuirassiers, would only doom the Roman war effort; the populous Little Havana had undoubtedly thousands of civilians to call upon, to arm and march towards Ocean Beach in the blink of an eye, and Fort Baxter was sure to hold a large and powerful army, easily capable of marching behind Roman lines and dooming Gaius Marius and his forces. For now, the Roman army would resupply itself, holding the line here, with Gondor safely at their backs.
All these victories had given cause for celebration in Rome, of course, and Raven Rock was not remiss at all when it came to honouring all the brave soldiers doing their part. That further glorification of the military could only lead to more men enlisting was a very convenient benefit of these heroic epics as well.
At this time, the mighty and influential of the Concord of Civilisation had arrived in Cumae's Apostolic Palace, and although surprisingly many were of the opinion that, now that Gondor was safe, no further action was needed, Rome carried the day.
The fact that Harkuf, a wealthy politician, travelled from Rome to Cumae to disperse part of his fortune into the pockets of those who came to vote on the matters of the Concord, helped too.
Despite the reservations of the Concord - somewhat lessened by the fact that both Hyperion and Rhovanion continued to score one victory after the other - Marcus Antonius began the assault on Bayshore Avenue.
The Frumentarii carried out more assassinations than strictly proper, but then, this was war. And even so, Tommy Vercetti had managed to train skilled squads of musketmen that were set up strategically all throughout the city itself - Rome's shock infantry carrying maces and swords would certainly suffer losses.
But cuirassiers, aided by volleys of crossbowmen, managed to cause enough havoc for the macemen to charge into the city and overrun the hodgepodge fortifications altogether. Soon, Bayshore Avenue burned, and its people with it.
There was a lesson to be learned in this victory, though; it had been the cuirassiers that made the defenders dissolve into chaos - it had been the cuirassiers that enabled the macemen to sack the city. There was, after all, a reason why the military trained men in the art of riding and fighting on horseback, and in the brutal reality of gunpowder warfare, but less so in swordsmanship and archery. More and more generals, instead of flocking to Raven Rock, established their own academies in the cities of Rome, specialising in all the kinds of fighting one could see on horseback.
For every knight - and more recently, cuirassier - has its unique name and promotion line depending on the city it was built in (in total there are currently 60 cuirassiers in the field):
Neapolis Knights: Cover + Combat (9)
Fraternitas Brothers: Cover + Combat (7)
Cumae Philospatha: City Raider + Combat (6)
Antium Cuirassiers: City Raider + Combat (6)
Absolvum Inquisitor: City Raider + Combat (5)
Arpinum Pilum: Pinch + City Raider + Combat (2)
Roma Caput: Pinch + Combat (1)
Libertas Libertine: Pinch + Combat (1)
Christurb Crusader: Combat (7)
Ravenna Corvus: Combat (4)
Silvarum Equites: Drill (5)
Michel Delving Hobbits: Formation + Drill (3)
Serenitas Pacifico: City Raider + Drill (1)
Mediolanum Scutum: City Garrison + Drill (3)
That is to say... Knights? Cuirassiers? No...
Cavalry outfitted with the most advanced gunpowder weaponry in existence; rifles. Muskets were inaccurate and slow to reload, facts that were made use of by lengthening the barrel to such a degree that rows of soldiers behind one another could all fire past each other in volleys, reminiscent of archers. Facts that were made use of by affixing a bayonet to the long barrel of the musket, reminiscent of pikes. This way, musketmen combined the separate strengths of various forces into one deadly combination. And of course, the battlefield would quickly be filled with smoke - pinpoint accuracy hardly mattered in such circumstances.
But Rome's cuirassiers operated at range, harassing opposing forces - ideally, they would have little use for bayonets, and instead, would need all the accuracy they could get. As such, a fortress in Christurb - the Kremlin - was secretly re-purposed to perfecting the musket. The technique of rifling was discovered here, cutting curves into the interior of a musket's barrel so that bullets would spin as they came out, and because of this, fly farther and more accurately than ever before (approximately five times as much, especially in the hands of a trained cavalryman). This did, however, require bullets of special make; not any ball would do, and indeed, it was quickly discovered that a conical instead of a circular bullet would fly faster and pierce through any flesh or bone it found on its path. The Kremlin would need time to manufacture these Minae bullets - meaning both 'pinnacles' and 'threats' - but once they would be delivered to the front... All hell would break lose in Vice City.
The city of Antonium was founded just south of the ruins of Bayshore Avenue, to give Roman soldiers a resting place after trekking through the harsh desert. And also, to store crates of Minae bullets as far as the eye could see - for why would only the cavalry make use of these new rifles? Why not the footmen of his army? The macemen, the pikemen, the crossbowmen, even the musketmen... They would be riflemen, once enough rifles arrived. For now, Marcus Antonius would be content with training his diverse forces into the new ways of an even deadlier kind of warfare.
The conquests of Rome had certainly given Marcus Antonius enough men to rapidly build up his new city into an impenetrable fortress.
This in distinct contrast to the conquests of Vice City... Of which there were none, Vice City's army now trapped in the wilderness north of Imloth Melui, resorting to banditry just to survive until Vice City's navy could give them safe passage home.
Another city would be established by Rome - Cannae, which would forever compete with Delere over telling the most gruesome stories of the war - but as Rome sought to reintroduce proper civilisation to the people of Vice City - in as much as this was possible - Tommy Vercetti restructured his society to practically fetishise the military, and further declared himself to be the entire Hindu pantheon made flesh, ruling as a god over a people driven mad with desire to wield weapons and kill kill kill in the names of their gods and their leader. Utter insanity reigned - the last breaths of a rotting carcass. But Rome and Vice City were not the only ones busy with defining what civilisation meant.
The missionaries of the Devotus, sent to bring Christianity to Liberty, reported many things to Rome. They wondered whether they were not better off heading south. To be sure, the north of Liberty was overwhelmingly Taoist, and there were plenty of places where the people welcomed Christianity - but Oceania lay to the south.
And the missionaries had heard reports that Toni Cipriani, of Liberty, had succeeded in conquering and Oceania, sealing his victory with the capture of the city of Ingsoc, now busy trying to establish a modicum of civilisation for the formerly Oceanic people. And surely, they who had known nothing but the worst of oppression for generations on end, needed the light of Christianity far more.
That wasn't the only thing of note the Devotus would report back to Rome; sailing by Hyperion lands, they noticed Atlas' presence had been reduced to the frozen and irradiated Dahl Headlands. Still, the alliance between Hitler's Germany and Helga Steele's Atlas held, and Hitler had managed to establish a fort - the Frankfurt - on Liberty's shores.
This caused two drastic realignments in the global balance of power. First, Carolus Magnus formed a permanent alliance with Handsome Jack and adopted more interventionist policies. In private, he told the Triumvirate that Hyperion was far enough away for Holy Rome to remain independent, and that such an alliance with Rome would inevitably mean the erosion of any Holy Roman culture or independence, for the two nations were tied too closely together. He cited recent demonstrations in Vienna, where the Holy Roman people had clamoured to join Rome, as an example. And, he finished with a smile, this would forever tie Hyperion to Rome's cause, for Holy Rome would forever follow Rome. The meeting ended on a positive note, all parties realising that the Christian world had been brought closer together in harmony.
But Toni Cipriani's occupation of Oceania had apparently caused the Revolutionary Chairman of Eastasia to grow fearful of Liberty - and indeed, a poet remarked, is it not entirely fitting that a nation by the name of Liberty would be the one to bring freedom to the oppressed continent? Still, Yekaterina Alekseyevna of Russia was willing to assuage his fears by signing a defensive pact - a totalitarian madman who burned his people and preached that the obliteration of oneself was one's highest goal, now had access to the wiles of the Russian Tsarina. She who had already brought down the horselords of Rohan, and she who was undoubtedly responsible for repeatedly stirring up war between the Dwarves of Durin and the Arnorians of Elendil. A move to be wary of, indeed.
Though, of course, there was far more reason to be wary of Rome - for emerging from deep within the forests and mountains of Christurb, emerging from the so-called Red Square, named for the blood that would soon flow... The Kremlin opened its gates, and rifles were now readily available to Rome's armies. War had taken a turn for the worse - for Vice City...
They didn't know it yet, and bravely sought to execute a surprise attack on Roman soil with the half-starved forces trapped north of Imloth Melui. They were soon trapped again, this time on Roman soil.
And half-starved forces don't make for good soldiers - certainly not against what had just been unleashed from the Kremlin...
While writing this, the game crashed four times. Alas.
Tommy Vercetti, realising his doom was fast approaching, quickly called off the war with Gondor and prayed for mercy to all his Hindu gods - and according to some, even the Christian God with its many aspects. For even the mighty Vikings were now falling to Hyperion soldiers guided by Christianity. The Vikings, who had single-handedly conquered Claude Speed's civilisation, starting life as but a small uprising, but ending up taking over the entire country like wildfire - if Handsome Jack could project this much power, how much more could Rome project, and indeed, how much more could all of Christianity?
The encampment of Delere - 'to destroy' - was turned into a more permanent fortification, and in time, a proper city. Here, those wounded during the utter and complete destruction of Clymenus would rest and recharge, overlooking the salted rubble that had once been Clymenus. Quod Clymenus deletus est.
The rest of the army marched south, advancing on Bayshore Avenue, following those that were just beyond the desert bordering the city. They would have brought much-needed bombards, but the Frumentarii were already in the city, ready to receive the army.
Little Haiti, on the other hand, wasn't ready to receive the cuirassiers of Gaius Marius.
The city was a bulwark of Hinduism, much like Escobar had been, but whereas the streets of Escobar had been filled with Hindu prophets whipping the populace up into a frenzy bereft of all sanity, Little Haiti had constructed magnific monuments to the Hindu gods. One such monument, Angkor Wat, was immediately appropriated by the Roman administration, dedicating it to Christianity and setting up a temporary office inside. In time, it would come to be a noteworthy monument to Christianity, and it would serve as the beacon from where the chaos of Hinduism would be systematically extinguished.
The way to Ocean Beach was now open, there where Hinduism was first conceived of, back when its most controversial feature was a caste system, back before Sauron corrupted the faith into an orgy of chaos and debauchery. But a pincher strike on Ocean Beach, though possibly thanks to the speed and firepower of the cuirassiers, would only doom the Roman war effort; the populous Little Havana had undoubtedly thousands of civilians to call upon, to arm and march towards Ocean Beach in the blink of an eye, and Fort Baxter was sure to hold a large and powerful army, easily capable of marching behind Roman lines and dooming Gaius Marius and his forces. For now, the Roman army would resupply itself, holding the line here, with Gondor safely at their backs.
All these victories had given cause for celebration in Rome, of course, and Raven Rock was not remiss at all when it came to honouring all the brave soldiers doing their part. That further glorification of the military could only lead to more men enlisting was a very convenient benefit of these heroic epics as well.
At this time, the mighty and influential of the Concord of Civilisation had arrived in Cumae's Apostolic Palace, and although surprisingly many were of the opinion that, now that Gondor was safe, no further action was needed, Rome carried the day.
The fact that Harkuf, a wealthy politician, travelled from Rome to Cumae to disperse part of his fortune into the pockets of those who came to vote on the matters of the Concord, helped too.
Despite the reservations of the Concord - somewhat lessened by the fact that both Hyperion and Rhovanion continued to score one victory after the other - Marcus Antonius began the assault on Bayshore Avenue.
The Frumentarii carried out more assassinations than strictly proper, but then, this was war. And even so, Tommy Vercetti had managed to train skilled squads of musketmen that were set up strategically all throughout the city itself - Rome's shock infantry carrying maces and swords would certainly suffer losses.
But cuirassiers, aided by volleys of crossbowmen, managed to cause enough havoc for the macemen to charge into the city and overrun the hodgepodge fortifications altogether. Soon, Bayshore Avenue burned, and its people with it.
There was a lesson to be learned in this victory, though; it had been the cuirassiers that made the defenders dissolve into chaos - it had been the cuirassiers that enabled the macemen to sack the city. There was, after all, a reason why the military trained men in the art of riding and fighting on horseback, and in the brutal reality of gunpowder warfare, but less so in swordsmanship and archery. More and more generals, instead of flocking to Raven Rock, established their own academies in the cities of Rome, specialising in all the kinds of fighting one could see on horseback.
For every knight - and more recently, cuirassier - has its unique name and promotion line depending on the city it was built in (in total there are currently 60 cuirassiers in the field):
Neapolis Knights: Cover + Combat (9)
Fraternitas Brothers: Cover + Combat (7)
Cumae Philospatha: City Raider + Combat (6)
Antium Cuirassiers: City Raider + Combat (6)
Absolvum Inquisitor: City Raider + Combat (5)
Arpinum Pilum: Pinch + City Raider + Combat (2)
Roma Caput: Pinch + Combat (1)
Libertas Libertine: Pinch + Combat (1)
Christurb Crusader: Combat (7)
Ravenna Corvus: Combat (4)
Silvarum Equites: Drill (5)
Michel Delving Hobbits: Formation + Drill (3)
Serenitas Pacifico: City Raider + Drill (1)
Mediolanum Scutum: City Garrison + Drill (3)
That is to say... Knights? Cuirassiers? No...
Cavalry outfitted with the most advanced gunpowder weaponry in existence; rifles. Muskets were inaccurate and slow to reload, facts that were made use of by lengthening the barrel to such a degree that rows of soldiers behind one another could all fire past each other in volleys, reminiscent of archers. Facts that were made use of by affixing a bayonet to the long barrel of the musket, reminiscent of pikes. This way, musketmen combined the separate strengths of various forces into one deadly combination. And of course, the battlefield would quickly be filled with smoke - pinpoint accuracy hardly mattered in such circumstances.
But Rome's cuirassiers operated at range, harassing opposing forces - ideally, they would have little use for bayonets, and instead, would need all the accuracy they could get. As such, a fortress in Christurb - the Kremlin - was secretly re-purposed to perfecting the musket. The technique of rifling was discovered here, cutting curves into the interior of a musket's barrel so that bullets would spin as they came out, and because of this, fly farther and more accurately than ever before (approximately five times as much, especially in the hands of a trained cavalryman). This did, however, require bullets of special make; not any ball would do, and indeed, it was quickly discovered that a conical instead of a circular bullet would fly faster and pierce through any flesh or bone it found on its path. The Kremlin would need time to manufacture these Minae bullets - meaning both 'pinnacles' and 'threats' - but once they would be delivered to the front... All hell would break lose in Vice City.
The city of Antonium was founded just south of the ruins of Bayshore Avenue, to give Roman soldiers a resting place after trekking through the harsh desert. And also, to store crates of Minae bullets as far as the eye could see - for why would only the cavalry make use of these new rifles? Why not the footmen of his army? The macemen, the pikemen, the crossbowmen, even the musketmen... They would be riflemen, once enough rifles arrived. For now, Marcus Antonius would be content with training his diverse forces into the new ways of an even deadlier kind of warfare.
The conquests of Rome had certainly given Marcus Antonius enough men to rapidly build up his new city into an impenetrable fortress.
This in distinct contrast to the conquests of Vice City... Of which there were none, Vice City's army now trapped in the wilderness north of Imloth Melui, resorting to banditry just to survive until Vice City's navy could give them safe passage home.
Another city would be established by Rome - Cannae, which would forever compete with Delere over telling the most gruesome stories of the war - but as Rome sought to reintroduce proper civilisation to the people of Vice City - in as much as this was possible - Tommy Vercetti restructured his society to practically fetishise the military, and further declared himself to be the entire Hindu pantheon made flesh, ruling as a god over a people driven mad with desire to wield weapons and kill kill kill in the names of their gods and their leader. Utter insanity reigned - the last breaths of a rotting carcass. But Rome and Vice City were not the only ones busy with defining what civilisation meant.
The missionaries of the Devotus, sent to bring Christianity to Liberty, reported many things to Rome. They wondered whether they were not better off heading south. To be sure, the north of Liberty was overwhelmingly Taoist, and there were plenty of places where the people welcomed Christianity - but Oceania lay to the south.
And the missionaries had heard reports that Toni Cipriani, of Liberty, had succeeded in conquering and Oceania, sealing his victory with the capture of the city of Ingsoc, now busy trying to establish a modicum of civilisation for the formerly Oceanic people. And surely, they who had known nothing but the worst of oppression for generations on end, needed the light of Christianity far more.
That wasn't the only thing of note the Devotus would report back to Rome; sailing by Hyperion lands, they noticed Atlas' presence had been reduced to the frozen and irradiated Dahl Headlands. Still, the alliance between Hitler's Germany and Helga Steele's Atlas held, and Hitler had managed to establish a fort - the Frankfurt - on Liberty's shores.
This caused two drastic realignments in the global balance of power. First, Carolus Magnus formed a permanent alliance with Handsome Jack and adopted more interventionist policies. In private, he told the Triumvirate that Hyperion was far enough away for Holy Rome to remain independent, and that such an alliance with Rome would inevitably mean the erosion of any Holy Roman culture or independence, for the two nations were tied too closely together. He cited recent demonstrations in Vienna, where the Holy Roman people had clamoured to join Rome, as an example. And, he finished with a smile, this would forever tie Hyperion to Rome's cause, for Holy Rome would forever follow Rome. The meeting ended on a positive note, all parties realising that the Christian world had been brought closer together in harmony.
But Toni Cipriani's occupation of Oceania had apparently caused the Revolutionary Chairman of Eastasia to grow fearful of Liberty - and indeed, a poet remarked, is it not entirely fitting that a nation by the name of Liberty would be the one to bring freedom to the oppressed continent? Still, Yekaterina Alekseyevna of Russia was willing to assuage his fears by signing a defensive pact - a totalitarian madman who burned his people and preached that the obliteration of oneself was one's highest goal, now had access to the wiles of the Russian Tsarina. She who had already brought down the horselords of Rohan, and she who was undoubtedly responsible for repeatedly stirring up war between the Dwarves of Durin and the Arnorians of Elendil. A move to be wary of, indeed.
Though, of course, there was far more reason to be wary of Rome - for emerging from deep within the forests and mountains of Christurb, emerging from the so-called Red Square, named for the blood that would soon flow... The Kremlin opened its gates, and rifles were now readily available to Rome's armies. War had taken a turn for the worse - for Vice City...
They didn't know it yet, and bravely sought to execute a surprise attack on Roman soil with the half-starved forces trapped north of Imloth Melui. They were soon trapped again, this time on Roman soil.
And half-starved forces don't make for good soldiers - certainly not against what had just been unleashed from the Kremlin...
While writing this, the game crashed four times. Alas.
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