Abaddon
Deity
Why not re-load from 5 turns ago, gift them a city, then take it?
The Conquests
- Thread starter choxorn
- Start date
Great sequence of games. I've read through all three of them and really enjoyed it. I would actually vote for Cordova or the Fatimids. It'd be interesting to see how you approach it. Thanks, Choxorn! Sorry about the loss but it was a fun read.
Byzantines and Vikings seem pretty easy. Viking Civs just use their early military superiority to kill people. I usually take over one or two Civs with an early rush. Byzantines and Abassids start off in good position to make themselves dominant.
Byzantines and Vikings seem pretty easy. Viking Civs just use their early military superiority to kill people. I usually take over one or two Civs with an early rush. Byzantines and Abassids start off in good position to make themselves dominant.
CivRulesAll
The Void Beyond
- Joined
- May 1, 2007
- Messages
- 590
Because that's too much of an exploit for me to do that.
Byzantines aren't actually that powerful- they tend to end up at war with pretty much everyone at some point.
No, I'm not playing as Poland.
MaxaTheGreat
Feel Prussian Iron!
Or if you really want to win, you can take Denmark.
mythmonster2
BEC NOIR! RUN!
Vikings and Abassids are pretty easy to win with, at least with my limited experience, and we don't want that!
Abaddon
Deity
Your limited experience, or a easy win? 
aukrest
History Buff
I vote Cordova or Burgundy for the challenge
CivRulesAll
The Void Beyond
- Joined
- May 1, 2007
- Messages
- 590
I vote for England if not Poland
CELTICEMPIRE
Zulu Conqueror
I vote for Norway
MaxaTheGreat
Feel Prussian Iron!
I think it's the hardest of the easy nations, but I'm not sure. But I agree.
Plus they're the most barbaric nations in the conquest.
madviking
north american scum
I vote Poland into space.
MaxaTheGreat
Feel Prussian Iron!
Remember in the Interesting Screenshots thread, when Dumanios said you would soon play the Middle Ages conquest?
Well, you were pretty close
Of course, with the rate at which I'm completing these conquests, "soon" will probably be "some time next spring."
Well, you were pretty close
Votes for Middle Ages Civ:
Byzantines: 2
Poles: 3
Cordova or Fatamids: 1
Cordova or Burgundy: 1
England: 2
Norway: 1
I've already said screw Poland, so that seems to leave Cordova, the English, and the Byzantines. Cordova's the only one of those three I haven't done yet, so I'll go with them or maybe one of the Viking Civs if nobody else wants to vote.
Writing the final update of part 3 now.
Byzantines: 2
Poles: 3
Cordova or Fatamids: 1
Cordova or Burgundy: 1
England: 2
Norway: 1
I've already said screw Poland, so that seems to leave Cordova, the English, and the Byzantines. Cordova's the only one of those three I haven't done yet, so I'll go with them or maybe one of the Viking Civs if nobody else wants to vote.
Writing the final update of part 3 now.
Chapter 24: The Fall of Rome
The longer the Vandals waited to attack the Romans, the less time they'd have to finish the job. Both halves of the empire had, for some time now, been accumulating a mysterious thing that was known only as "Victory Points" that would enable them to "Win" if they got enough of them, whatever that meant. They couldn't even afford to wait and fight some other, weaker enemy first- they had to fight and destroy the Romans, now, before it was too late. The only things they could afford to do in the meantime were get some of their soldiers back home from the Northwest where they had been fighting the Franks and mobilize them against Western Rome, and upgrade a few with better equipment. The Visigoths occupying space was something they'd have to live with, for now. Maybe they could get the Romans to destroy some of those cities for them. Heh.
As it turned out, the period of building up would not be able to last even a decade. Over the next 8 years, the only things that happened were preparing for this inevitable war. Well, and a lone Eastern Roman demand of a small thing, but that was instantly rejected, since the Vandals no longer cared about being at war with them. And no war started anyway.
Finally, it was noticed in 524 that it couldn't go on any longer. They weren't fully prepared, but they were prepared enough. At current rates, the Eastern Romans were no more than 50 years from getting the victory points they needed. They had to be destroyed, and now.
The trade deals with Western Rome were immediately canceled, and shortly thereafter, a message was sent to both halves of the empire declaring war.
Of course, the Vandals couldn't take on the entire Roman Empire alone, and they certainly couldn't take it down in enough time. So they got the help of everyone else. Every other barbarian tribe was paid to declare war on one half of the empire. Both halves were unnecessary, as the other half would join as soon as the first half was attacked. The reasoning used to determine which half was first "Which are they closer to" and if about the same distance "which is cheaper." In the end, all 6 of the other remaining barbarians joined the war.
With all of that taken care of, the only thing left to do was move the Vandal army towards the 3 Roman cities on the front line that they hoped to take: Vindobona, Aquincum, and Augusta Vindelicum.
And already, in 525, others were making progress. One obvious sign was the Eastern Romans declaring war on the 3 Western barbarian tribes that had declared war on Western Rome the previous year, and the Western Romans declaring war on the Huns, even if they for the moment remained not fighting the Sassanids and Ostrogoths.
Another one, and a very strange one, was that the Huns had managed to capture the Eastern Roman city of Caesarea. The strange thing about this was that Caesarea was in Southern Palestine. Why the heck did the Huns have an army over there? Oh well, at least the Eastern Romans didn't control it anymore- it was one of the 10 cities giving them Victory Points.
In more expectable news, a Warlord was killed by Western Roman Cavalry, and the Vandal Golden Age came to an end. No matter, they'd produced more than enough, they didn't even need a Golden Age anymore.
In 526, the Vandals were ready to advance again. It was a year of disappointments. First, a unit of Heavy Cavalry attacked Roman Cavalry to avenge the Warlords who had died last year, and failed to do any damage at all. Farther West, some Warlords attempted to dislodge a Legion from a Roman border fort in the forest, with similar luck. It was a good thing that another unit of Warlords managed to kill the Legion and take the Fort, or the General of the Vandal Army may have found himself without a job, and possibly without one or more important body parts. Some miscommunication that caused part of the army to needlessly move around a weak Roman unit didn't help his job prospects (I hate the game's pathfinding sometimes...).
Luckily, they had better luck when the Romans counter attacked in 527, using just that damn Cavalry unit again to attack a Warlord unit again. Said Cavalry had their heads separated from their bodies as a result. Heh.
In other news, the Anglo-Saxons convinced the Ostrogoths to declare war on Western Rome that year, which seemed kind of pointless, as they'd eventually invade the Eastern Romans and start that war anyway, but whatever.
They also captured Durcortorum, near their border with Western Rome. It was good to see that the Romans didn't control this city anymore, as it was one of the 10 that was giving them Victory Points by the sheer virtue of existing. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxons controlling the location didn't seem much better- although, they were still pretty weak.
Finally, in more "How the heck did they get their troops over there" news, the Visigoths captured Lutetia, a city in the Pyrenees mountains mostly surrounded by other Western Roman cities. Gaiseric somewhat doubts their ability to hold this city.
In 528, the Vandals were in position to attack some Roman cities. They started with Aquincum, the location of another Victory Point source. The 3 Warlord units outside the city performed admirably, destroying 3 of the Legions defending the city and bringing back the few survivors of the battle as 2 new enslaved Marauder units. These Marauders were then sent to attack the remaining defenders- they didn't do so well. A single Legion was able to hold them both off with some casualties to itself, but nothing too big.
The Heavy Cavalry at Augusta Vindelicum to the West proved more successful, mainly due to their greater numbers. Before the city itself was attacked, a Legion nearby found itself considerably flatter than before. The defenders inside the city proved no more capable of fighting off the powerful Cavalry- neither the 2 Legions or the 2 Garrisons were able to inflict more than a few injuries upon the attackers. The death of another Legion to the East of the city signaled the end of the battle as an easy Vandal victory.
The Western Roman counterattack in 529 continued to be next to nothing. The only thing of note was a Legion being slaughtered by Warlords.
In the East, the city of Tureng Tepe was destroyed. Gaiseric assumes the Huns to be responsible, as Western Rome hasn't declared war on the Sassanids yet, and the Ostrogoths likely aren't strong enough to do that this quickly. Eastern Rome is down 2 cities now, Western Rome is down 3.
The assault on Aquincum continued in 530, reinforced by the arrival of some Heavy Cavalry. Sadly, they were less... competent than the ones at Vindelicum. 2 of them met their dooms, and one managed to kill a Legion, but not by much. An injured Warlord unit also failed to defeat a Legion. This does not bode well for us. Worse, both halves of the Empire are gaining more Victory Points from the sheer act of winning battles. The longer this war goes on, and the more they win, the closer they get to victory. This cannot be allowed to happen.
The last ones not to be completely in the war joined in 531, when the Visigoths got the Sassanids to stop being lazy and declare war on Western Rome. Gaiseric was surprised they hadn't invaded any Eastern Roman territory yet. Really, are they that bad?
Perhaps funnier was when, shortly after, the Visigoths declared war on the Sassanids at the urging of the Celts. Gaiseric had almost forgotten that war was still going on.
Speaking of the Celts, were they ever busy that year. They captured 2 Roman cities in the British Isles, Deva and Artaxata. Deva was to be expected, as it was one of the two cities on the Northern border, but Artaxata was on the coast of the channel separating Britain from Europe, prompting more cries of "How the hell did they even get their army there, at least not without taking something else first?"
On the bright side for the Romans, they did manage to retake Lutetia from the Visigoths.
With all this happening, the Vandals decided 532 was a year they'd have to get busy, and finally capture Aquincum and Vindobona. They now had much more sizable forces outside of both cities, so it was perfectly reasonable to expect that to happen.
Vindobona, defended by 3 Legions and a Garrison, was first. The Vandal casualties were only 1 Warlord unit, lost attacking one of the Legions. Aside from that, capturing the city was easy.
A bit after that, the Legion to the west of the city was destroyed by a unit of Warlords.
Aquincum, defended by 2 Legions and a Garrison instead of 3 Legions and a Garrison, nevertheless proved as stubborn as ever, and the Romans took down two Warlord units with them. But the city's fall was still inevitable at this point, and now the Vandals had one of the valuable VP sources. 8 were left- and the Romans probably wouldn't even survive long enough to lose them all.
They were fast collapsing at this point with the loss of so many cities so quickly. Maybe even one more and, with the loss and continued barbarian threat, they might just completely collapse.
That prediction proved correct- one more was all it took. In 533, Augusta Treverorum, the Western Romans' Northernmost city on the mainland, was captured by the nearby Anglo-Saxons. With this, the Empire started falling into chaos. The entire northern border had fallen. Britain was soon to fall to the Celts. The Visigoths had earlier managed to reach the Pyrenees, and there were plenty of more armies on their way, including Vandal ones headed to Italy. Facing all this, it might have lasted a bit longer. Then the Emperor died, presumably either by his own hand or someone else wanting to kill him. Following the Billionth Roman Post-Ruler-Death-Happening-Of-Bad-Stuff, it finally collapsed for good. Where more than 30 somewhat thriving Roman cities used to exist, now there was only rubble.
One threat to a "Victory Point Win" was now dealt with. Now the Eastern Romans had to go. And fast, as they were getting a bit too strong for anyone's taste.
For that matter, the Western Romans' destruction and brought someone new into 2nd place- the Anglo-Saxons had gained a lot of Victory Points for destroying an entire civilization. They were also the weakest nation in the world- that probably isn't a good thing for them.
In lesser news, the Sassanids got the Ostrogoths to declare war on the Celts. And that war looked like it was so close to dying for good a few years ago.
With the Western Romans gone, their former Victory Point locations were now up for grabs. Aquincum and Durcortorum had already been secured for a bit prior to their destruction, and the one that used to be Londinium was grabbed by the Celts shortly after. However, in 534, the remaining 7 had no cities near them, so they'd be claimed by whoever could get some military there fastest- and luckily, the Vandals had several Cavalry to the North of the Italian peninsula earlier preparing to attack Italy that could now easily claim a few. One was able to claim the one at the ruins of Aquileia that year.
The one at what was Milan was already either taken by the Visigoths or about to be taken by them, and the one on Carthage was in Africa, and thus out of the Vandals' reach. Lugdunum, Ravenna, Rome, and Carthago Nova, though, could probably be secured if the Cavalry got there fast enough.
(And it also might have cost me the game, assuming a couple more Cavalry could have taken Salonae faster without going above the ER VP limit... sigh)
535 was one of the least eventful years ever, the only thing of note being that the Sassanids had finally captured Nisibis. What the heck took you guys so long?
536 continued to be uneventful, although the Ravenna ruins were secured and the Vandals got their VP points from it, and also saw visual confirmation that the Visigoths were occupying the ruins of Milan. They were also very much in the way of the Vandal armies that was trying to reach the cities of Singidnum, Sirmium, and Salonae. Stupid Visigoths.
2 more locations were secured in 538, although only one, the one at Rome, by the Vandals. The Lugdunum point was under Visigoth control. Only Carthago Nova and possibly Carthage remain outside of the control of anyone.
The Sassanid war continued growing bigger in 539, when the Anglo-Saxons joined it in response to some Visigoth money.
A bit later in the year, Sardica, in Southeast Anatolia, was captured by the Huns. The Eastern Romans have lost 4 cities so far. Damn, at this rate, the Huns and Sassanids will take the Eastern Romans down on their own.
Such silly words that whoever spoke them would later end up kicking themselves.
In 540, the Vandal Cavalry had reached both Salonae in the West and Sirmium/Singidunum in the East. The Warlords and Trebuchet would soon follow. It seemed inevitable at this point that all 3 cities would fall without too much trouble.
3 Cavalry attacked Salonae first, taking down 2 of the Legions defending the city. The remaining Legion killed an attacking unit of Cavalry. Eh, that couldn't be too much of a problem, could it?
Singidunum proved a tougher nut to crack, when the Legions there forced one unit of Cavalry to retreat and destroyed another, with no losses to themselves. This could be more problematic...
Elsewhere, the city of New Saldae was founded, in a gap in what used to be the northern border of West Rome.
The lucrative luxury trade the Vandals had with the Sassanids expired in 541. As they were benefiting a lot from this and need those luxuries, they made sure to renegotiate it immediately, giving them a tech so they'd continue it.
The war took a bad turn for the worse that year, when Eastern Roman Cavalry killed two units of Vandal Cavalry, one at Salonae and one at Singidunum. At least they were about to get some help.
Not that that help would be of any good, as in 542, 3 different units of Heavy Cavalry attacked Sirmium. All 3 managed to almost completely destroy a Legion before dying themselves. OH COME ON!
The bad news continued to get worse and worse in 543, when the Eastern Romans first killed a Warlord unit near Salonae, meaning they didn't have enough units to take the city anymore, and more troops to fight were nowhere in sight, all being farther north. They would have to rely more on the Sassanids and Huns now to kill East Rome fast enough.
Not that they could be of help, seeing as the Eastern Romans managed to retake Caesarea that year. That was a big loss, and it greatly increased the chances that the Eastern Romans would accumulate too many Victory Points to be stopped any more. They'd have to work quickly.
In other news, the Ostrogoths got the Visigoths to declare war on the Celts, and the Celts got the Anglo-Saxons to declare war on the Ostrogoths. It's official: this war doesn't make any goddamn sense anymore.
In 544, the Vandals decided to hold a "Just how screwed are we?" meeting. It showed that the Eastern Romans were roughly 1500 points from winning. They could do that in about a decade if they weren't stopped. Come on, hurry!
Not that the Northern barbarians were of any help, as they'd rather continue fighting among themselves. In 545, the Ostrogoths even signed a peace treaty with the Eastern Romans. Then the Visigoths got the Anglo-Saxons to declare war on the Celts, and the Ostrogoths to declare war on the Sassanids. Gaiseric issued an official statement stating "You all are useless" and started rooting for the Huns and Sassanids to take a couple more cities before it was too late.
A Celtic Pillager killed an Anglo-Saxon Marauder to finish up the year.
The Vandals started keeping an updated tally of the Eastern Roman Victory Points starting in 546. At the beginning of the year, it read "33805."
Luckily, a massive army of Warlords had arrived at Singidunum that year, and was ready to strike. There was no way it would be able to stand up to the assault.
The first group of Warlords to attack were, sadly, a rather foolhardy group, and, in all likelihood, this is why the Legion they attacked killed them. The second, angry at this, and also desperate to finally start winning again, fought with such ferocity that they not only utterly annihilated the defending Legion, they managed to destroy the city's Library, unintentionally. The next two attacked with little of note happening in their victories over two Legions, aside from the fact that they now had some enslaved Marauders. The 5th Warlord attack resulted in the second loss for the Vandals, and more worry for them- every loss fueled the Eastern Romans' victory points. Luckily, they would lose no more. The next two Warlord attacks even got them 2 new enslaved Marauder units from the defeated Legions, and the final remaining Legion was so weak from earlier battle that one of the enslaved Marauders was more than sufficient to kill it. The city had fallen, and a valuable VP point with it. Would it slow the Eastern Romans down? Maybe not, but it would sure help.
Shortly after, another Marauder destroyed a unit of Cavalry outside the city. No sneak attacks for you today, Eastern Rome.
The Northern Wars saw a bit of combat, although the only bit that the Vandals actually saw was Saxon Cavalry trampling over the corpses of Celtic Raiders. Damn, the Celts have quite the outdated army.
And, in really good news, the Sassanids captured Caesarea from the Eastern Romans in 547. Assuming what had been true of the Franks and Western Romans was true of them, they could only afford to lose 2 more cities, and Sirmium was close to falling. Furthermore, losing two of their VP points might even slow them down by a year or two, depending on how many casualties the Vandals, Sassanids, and Huns take. Even so, they'd have to act fast. They didn't have much time to waste.
The VP counter read 34145 in 548. This had to end, now.
Luckily, Sirmium was only defended by 4 Legions. The Vandals lost 1 Warlord in the Battle of Sirmium, while the Eastern Romans lost all 4 of these Legions. The Barracks were destroyed in the battle, and after it, the entire city was burned, as it was too close to Singidunum and just a pain in the event of a war with the Visigoths. Singidunum was a pain, too, but worth keeping due to the VP point there. Some Roman Workers also ended up under Vandal rule.
It was up to the Huns and Sassanids now. They needed to take just one Eastern Roman city. They had 6, maybe even 8 years to do it. Would they succeed?
In the meantime, stuff happened. The Visigoths proved they were just as useless as the Ostrogoths to start 549 off.
A bit after that, an Eastern Roman Cavalry unit charged up a hill to kill some Vandal Warlords near Salonae. The Warlords did far better than expected, killing the Cavalry and making the survivors a new Warlord unit. If only there was time, they might have been able to take Salonae. Sadly, there wasn't.
The counter ticked at 34445 in 550. The Vandals wished they could get the Huns and Sassanids to hurry, but there wasn't anything that they could do. It was pretty much a luck based thing at this point, from their perspective.
At least they managed to grab the VP point at Carthago Nova, bringing the last of Western Rome's former points outside of Africa under their control.
The Celts and Sassanids ended their long war in 551. The Northern War still continued, though, even if the sides its participants were on had shifted a lot since the start.
The 552 counter had sadly gone up too much. The Sassanids and Huns had one more year to take a city, or it was game over for everyone. People everywhere panicked and told them to hurry the hell up.
It was all for nothing. No city had fallen by 554... and by that point, the Eastern Romans had too many victory points for it to matter anymore.
Time would later see them lose another city to the Huns 4 years later, and perhaps more shortly after that.
But it didn't matter anymore. They weren't fast enough to make the Eastern Roman Empire fall.
The longer the Vandals waited to attack the Romans, the less time they'd have to finish the job. Both halves of the empire had, for some time now, been accumulating a mysterious thing that was known only as "Victory Points" that would enable them to "Win" if they got enough of them, whatever that meant. They couldn't even afford to wait and fight some other, weaker enemy first- they had to fight and destroy the Romans, now, before it was too late. The only things they could afford to do in the meantime were get some of their soldiers back home from the Northwest where they had been fighting the Franks and mobilize them against Western Rome, and upgrade a few with better equipment. The Visigoths occupying space was something they'd have to live with, for now. Maybe they could get the Romans to destroy some of those cities for them. Heh.
As it turned out, the period of building up would not be able to last even a decade. Over the next 8 years, the only things that happened were preparing for this inevitable war. Well, and a lone Eastern Roman demand of a small thing, but that was instantly rejected, since the Vandals no longer cared about being at war with them. And no war started anyway.
Finally, it was noticed in 524 that it couldn't go on any longer. They weren't fully prepared, but they were prepared enough. At current rates, the Eastern Romans were no more than 50 years from getting the victory points they needed. They had to be destroyed, and now.
The trade deals with Western Rome were immediately canceled, and shortly thereafter, a message was sent to both halves of the empire declaring war.
Of course, the Vandals couldn't take on the entire Roman Empire alone, and they certainly couldn't take it down in enough time. So they got the help of everyone else. Every other barbarian tribe was paid to declare war on one half of the empire. Both halves were unnecessary, as the other half would join as soon as the first half was attacked. The reasoning used to determine which half was first "Which are they closer to" and if about the same distance "which is cheaper." In the end, all 6 of the other remaining barbarians joined the war.
With all of that taken care of, the only thing left to do was move the Vandal army towards the 3 Roman cities on the front line that they hoped to take: Vindobona, Aquincum, and Augusta Vindelicum.
And already, in 525, others were making progress. One obvious sign was the Eastern Romans declaring war on the 3 Western barbarian tribes that had declared war on Western Rome the previous year, and the Western Romans declaring war on the Huns, even if they for the moment remained not fighting the Sassanids and Ostrogoths.
Another one, and a very strange one, was that the Huns had managed to capture the Eastern Roman city of Caesarea. The strange thing about this was that Caesarea was in Southern Palestine. Why the heck did the Huns have an army over there? Oh well, at least the Eastern Romans didn't control it anymore- it was one of the 10 cities giving them Victory Points.
In more expectable news, a Warlord was killed by Western Roman Cavalry, and the Vandal Golden Age came to an end. No matter, they'd produced more than enough, they didn't even need a Golden Age anymore.
In 526, the Vandals were ready to advance again. It was a year of disappointments. First, a unit of Heavy Cavalry attacked Roman Cavalry to avenge the Warlords who had died last year, and failed to do any damage at all. Farther West, some Warlords attempted to dislodge a Legion from a Roman border fort in the forest, with similar luck. It was a good thing that another unit of Warlords managed to kill the Legion and take the Fort, or the General of the Vandal Army may have found himself without a job, and possibly without one or more important body parts. Some miscommunication that caused part of the army to needlessly move around a weak Roman unit didn't help his job prospects (I hate the game's pathfinding sometimes...).
Luckily, they had better luck when the Romans counter attacked in 527, using just that damn Cavalry unit again to attack a Warlord unit again. Said Cavalry had their heads separated from their bodies as a result. Heh.
In other news, the Anglo-Saxons convinced the Ostrogoths to declare war on Western Rome that year, which seemed kind of pointless, as they'd eventually invade the Eastern Romans and start that war anyway, but whatever.
They also captured Durcortorum, near their border with Western Rome. It was good to see that the Romans didn't control this city anymore, as it was one of the 10 that was giving them Victory Points by the sheer virtue of existing. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxons controlling the location didn't seem much better- although, they were still pretty weak.
Finally, in more "How the heck did they get their troops over there" news, the Visigoths captured Lutetia, a city in the Pyrenees mountains mostly surrounded by other Western Roman cities. Gaiseric somewhat doubts their ability to hold this city.
In 528, the Vandals were in position to attack some Roman cities. They started with Aquincum, the location of another Victory Point source. The 3 Warlord units outside the city performed admirably, destroying 3 of the Legions defending the city and bringing back the few survivors of the battle as 2 new enslaved Marauder units. These Marauders were then sent to attack the remaining defenders- they didn't do so well. A single Legion was able to hold them both off with some casualties to itself, but nothing too big.
The Heavy Cavalry at Augusta Vindelicum to the West proved more successful, mainly due to their greater numbers. Before the city itself was attacked, a Legion nearby found itself considerably flatter than before. The defenders inside the city proved no more capable of fighting off the powerful Cavalry- neither the 2 Legions or the 2 Garrisons were able to inflict more than a few injuries upon the attackers. The death of another Legion to the East of the city signaled the end of the battle as an easy Vandal victory.
The Western Roman counterattack in 529 continued to be next to nothing. The only thing of note was a Legion being slaughtered by Warlords.
In the East, the city of Tureng Tepe was destroyed. Gaiseric assumes the Huns to be responsible, as Western Rome hasn't declared war on the Sassanids yet, and the Ostrogoths likely aren't strong enough to do that this quickly. Eastern Rome is down 2 cities now, Western Rome is down 3.
The assault on Aquincum continued in 530, reinforced by the arrival of some Heavy Cavalry. Sadly, they were less... competent than the ones at Vindelicum. 2 of them met their dooms, and one managed to kill a Legion, but not by much. An injured Warlord unit also failed to defeat a Legion. This does not bode well for us. Worse, both halves of the Empire are gaining more Victory Points from the sheer act of winning battles. The longer this war goes on, and the more they win, the closer they get to victory. This cannot be allowed to happen.
The last ones not to be completely in the war joined in 531, when the Visigoths got the Sassanids to stop being lazy and declare war on Western Rome. Gaiseric was surprised they hadn't invaded any Eastern Roman territory yet. Really, are they that bad?
Perhaps funnier was when, shortly after, the Visigoths declared war on the Sassanids at the urging of the Celts. Gaiseric had almost forgotten that war was still going on.
Speaking of the Celts, were they ever busy that year. They captured 2 Roman cities in the British Isles, Deva and Artaxata. Deva was to be expected, as it was one of the two cities on the Northern border, but Artaxata was on the coast of the channel separating Britain from Europe, prompting more cries of "How the hell did they even get their army there, at least not without taking something else first?"
On the bright side for the Romans, they did manage to retake Lutetia from the Visigoths.
With all this happening, the Vandals decided 532 was a year they'd have to get busy, and finally capture Aquincum and Vindobona. They now had much more sizable forces outside of both cities, so it was perfectly reasonable to expect that to happen.
Vindobona, defended by 3 Legions and a Garrison, was first. The Vandal casualties were only 1 Warlord unit, lost attacking one of the Legions. Aside from that, capturing the city was easy.
A bit after that, the Legion to the west of the city was destroyed by a unit of Warlords.
Aquincum, defended by 2 Legions and a Garrison instead of 3 Legions and a Garrison, nevertheless proved as stubborn as ever, and the Romans took down two Warlord units with them. But the city's fall was still inevitable at this point, and now the Vandals had one of the valuable VP sources. 8 were left- and the Romans probably wouldn't even survive long enough to lose them all.
They were fast collapsing at this point with the loss of so many cities so quickly. Maybe even one more and, with the loss and continued barbarian threat, they might just completely collapse.
That prediction proved correct- one more was all it took. In 533, Augusta Treverorum, the Western Romans' Northernmost city on the mainland, was captured by the nearby Anglo-Saxons. With this, the Empire started falling into chaos. The entire northern border had fallen. Britain was soon to fall to the Celts. The Visigoths had earlier managed to reach the Pyrenees, and there were plenty of more armies on their way, including Vandal ones headed to Italy. Facing all this, it might have lasted a bit longer. Then the Emperor died, presumably either by his own hand or someone else wanting to kill him. Following the Billionth Roman Post-Ruler-Death-Happening-Of-Bad-Stuff, it finally collapsed for good. Where more than 30 somewhat thriving Roman cities used to exist, now there was only rubble.
One threat to a "Victory Point Win" was now dealt with. Now the Eastern Romans had to go. And fast, as they were getting a bit too strong for anyone's taste.
For that matter, the Western Romans' destruction and brought someone new into 2nd place- the Anglo-Saxons had gained a lot of Victory Points for destroying an entire civilization. They were also the weakest nation in the world- that probably isn't a good thing for them.
In lesser news, the Sassanids got the Ostrogoths to declare war on the Celts. And that war looked like it was so close to dying for good a few years ago.
With the Western Romans gone, their former Victory Point locations were now up for grabs. Aquincum and Durcortorum had already been secured for a bit prior to their destruction, and the one that used to be Londinium was grabbed by the Celts shortly after. However, in 534, the remaining 7 had no cities near them, so they'd be claimed by whoever could get some military there fastest- and luckily, the Vandals had several Cavalry to the North of the Italian peninsula earlier preparing to attack Italy that could now easily claim a few. One was able to claim the one at the ruins of Aquileia that year.
The one at what was Milan was already either taken by the Visigoths or about to be taken by them, and the one on Carthage was in Africa, and thus out of the Vandals' reach. Lugdunum, Ravenna, Rome, and Carthago Nova, though, could probably be secured if the Cavalry got there fast enough.
(And it also might have cost me the game, assuming a couple more Cavalry could have taken Salonae faster without going above the ER VP limit... sigh)
535 was one of the least eventful years ever, the only thing of note being that the Sassanids had finally captured Nisibis. What the heck took you guys so long?
536 continued to be uneventful, although the Ravenna ruins were secured and the Vandals got their VP points from it, and also saw visual confirmation that the Visigoths were occupying the ruins of Milan. They were also very much in the way of the Vandal armies that was trying to reach the cities of Singidnum, Sirmium, and Salonae. Stupid Visigoths.
2 more locations were secured in 538, although only one, the one at Rome, by the Vandals. The Lugdunum point was under Visigoth control. Only Carthago Nova and possibly Carthage remain outside of the control of anyone.
The Sassanid war continued growing bigger in 539, when the Anglo-Saxons joined it in response to some Visigoth money.
A bit later in the year, Sardica, in Southeast Anatolia, was captured by the Huns. The Eastern Romans have lost 4 cities so far. Damn, at this rate, the Huns and Sassanids will take the Eastern Romans down on their own.
Such silly words that whoever spoke them would later end up kicking themselves.
In 540, the Vandal Cavalry had reached both Salonae in the West and Sirmium/Singidunum in the East. The Warlords and Trebuchet would soon follow. It seemed inevitable at this point that all 3 cities would fall without too much trouble.
3 Cavalry attacked Salonae first, taking down 2 of the Legions defending the city. The remaining Legion killed an attacking unit of Cavalry. Eh, that couldn't be too much of a problem, could it?
Singidunum proved a tougher nut to crack, when the Legions there forced one unit of Cavalry to retreat and destroyed another, with no losses to themselves. This could be more problematic...
Elsewhere, the city of New Saldae was founded, in a gap in what used to be the northern border of West Rome.
The lucrative luxury trade the Vandals had with the Sassanids expired in 541. As they were benefiting a lot from this and need those luxuries, they made sure to renegotiate it immediately, giving them a tech so they'd continue it.
The war took a bad turn for the worse that year, when Eastern Roman Cavalry killed two units of Vandal Cavalry, one at Salonae and one at Singidunum. At least they were about to get some help.
Not that that help would be of any good, as in 542, 3 different units of Heavy Cavalry attacked Sirmium. All 3 managed to almost completely destroy a Legion before dying themselves. OH COME ON!
The bad news continued to get worse and worse in 543, when the Eastern Romans first killed a Warlord unit near Salonae, meaning they didn't have enough units to take the city anymore, and more troops to fight were nowhere in sight, all being farther north. They would have to rely more on the Sassanids and Huns now to kill East Rome fast enough.
Not that they could be of help, seeing as the Eastern Romans managed to retake Caesarea that year. That was a big loss, and it greatly increased the chances that the Eastern Romans would accumulate too many Victory Points to be stopped any more. They'd have to work quickly.
In other news, the Ostrogoths got the Visigoths to declare war on the Celts, and the Celts got the Anglo-Saxons to declare war on the Ostrogoths. It's official: this war doesn't make any goddamn sense anymore.
In 544, the Vandals decided to hold a "Just how screwed are we?" meeting. It showed that the Eastern Romans were roughly 1500 points from winning. They could do that in about a decade if they weren't stopped. Come on, hurry!
Not that the Northern barbarians were of any help, as they'd rather continue fighting among themselves. In 545, the Ostrogoths even signed a peace treaty with the Eastern Romans. Then the Visigoths got the Anglo-Saxons to declare war on the Celts, and the Ostrogoths to declare war on the Sassanids. Gaiseric issued an official statement stating "You all are useless" and started rooting for the Huns and Sassanids to take a couple more cities before it was too late.
A Celtic Pillager killed an Anglo-Saxon Marauder to finish up the year.
The Vandals started keeping an updated tally of the Eastern Roman Victory Points starting in 546. At the beginning of the year, it read "33805."
Luckily, a massive army of Warlords had arrived at Singidunum that year, and was ready to strike. There was no way it would be able to stand up to the assault.
The first group of Warlords to attack were, sadly, a rather foolhardy group, and, in all likelihood, this is why the Legion they attacked killed them. The second, angry at this, and also desperate to finally start winning again, fought with such ferocity that they not only utterly annihilated the defending Legion, they managed to destroy the city's Library, unintentionally. The next two attacked with little of note happening in their victories over two Legions, aside from the fact that they now had some enslaved Marauders. The 5th Warlord attack resulted in the second loss for the Vandals, and more worry for them- every loss fueled the Eastern Romans' victory points. Luckily, they would lose no more. The next two Warlord attacks even got them 2 new enslaved Marauder units from the defeated Legions, and the final remaining Legion was so weak from earlier battle that one of the enslaved Marauders was more than sufficient to kill it. The city had fallen, and a valuable VP point with it. Would it slow the Eastern Romans down? Maybe not, but it would sure help.
Shortly after, another Marauder destroyed a unit of Cavalry outside the city. No sneak attacks for you today, Eastern Rome.
The Northern Wars saw a bit of combat, although the only bit that the Vandals actually saw was Saxon Cavalry trampling over the corpses of Celtic Raiders. Damn, the Celts have quite the outdated army.
And, in really good news, the Sassanids captured Caesarea from the Eastern Romans in 547. Assuming what had been true of the Franks and Western Romans was true of them, they could only afford to lose 2 more cities, and Sirmium was close to falling. Furthermore, losing two of their VP points might even slow them down by a year or two, depending on how many casualties the Vandals, Sassanids, and Huns take. Even so, they'd have to act fast. They didn't have much time to waste.
The VP counter read 34145 in 548. This had to end, now.
Luckily, Sirmium was only defended by 4 Legions. The Vandals lost 1 Warlord in the Battle of Sirmium, while the Eastern Romans lost all 4 of these Legions. The Barracks were destroyed in the battle, and after it, the entire city was burned, as it was too close to Singidunum and just a pain in the event of a war with the Visigoths. Singidunum was a pain, too, but worth keeping due to the VP point there. Some Roman Workers also ended up under Vandal rule.
It was up to the Huns and Sassanids now. They needed to take just one Eastern Roman city. They had 6, maybe even 8 years to do it. Would they succeed?
In the meantime, stuff happened. The Visigoths proved they were just as useless as the Ostrogoths to start 549 off.
A bit after that, an Eastern Roman Cavalry unit charged up a hill to kill some Vandal Warlords near Salonae. The Warlords did far better than expected, killing the Cavalry and making the survivors a new Warlord unit. If only there was time, they might have been able to take Salonae. Sadly, there wasn't.
The counter ticked at 34445 in 550. The Vandals wished they could get the Huns and Sassanids to hurry, but there wasn't anything that they could do. It was pretty much a luck based thing at this point, from their perspective.
At least they managed to grab the VP point at Carthago Nova, bringing the last of Western Rome's former points outside of Africa under their control.
The Celts and Sassanids ended their long war in 551. The Northern War still continued, though, even if the sides its participants were on had shifted a lot since the start.
The 552 counter had sadly gone up too much. The Sassanids and Huns had one more year to take a city, or it was game over for everyone. People everywhere panicked and told them to hurry the hell up.
It was all for nothing. No city had fallen by 554... and by that point, the Eastern Romans had too many victory points for it to matter anymore.
Time would later see them lose another city to the Huns 4 years later, and perhaps more shortly after that.
But it didn't matter anymore. They weren't fast enough to make the Eastern Roman Empire fall.
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CivRulesAll
The Void Beyond
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- May 1, 2007
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Sucks.
MaxaTheGreat
Feel Prussian Iron!
Hopefully you do better in the Middle Ages! 
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