Have played the occasional (cough) game over the past month. TWINSv6 and v7 were both IRON MANned for 1,147,950 and 1,148,240 points respectively. Then managed to go ten campaigns in a row without another IRON MAN. TWINSv8 to v16 were all in the range of 1,148,230—1,148,455, so I achieved consistency if nothing else, but there was always at least one failure. The usual suspects: Adys, Giants, Vercellae. And so onto...
TWIN FREAKS v17/18/19
TWINSv17 is my new high score. Was 150pts up on any previous attempt when we reached #42 Cynoscephalae. Usual 'defensive formation stroll into central rough'. Found the tiny, 'invisible' patch of open ground when meleeing the enemy cavalry, then got dragged onto the righthand plain when facing the infantry. Both units were routed. Cyno is one of those battles I've mastered without any understanding why the death toll can be 20 or so one battle, and more than double that the next. I believe this is the *only* Cyno loss I've experienced using the TWIN FREAK setup. Frustrating!
Once the IRON MAN has failed I cease to be rigorous about not restarting battles so I assume that the v17 score benefited from a couple of resets after Cyno, but over the course of the remaining battles the score was no more than 50pts better than 3-4 other TWINS campaigns. The score was built on the pre-Cyno performance. I think I could play another twenty games and not top this score.
TWINSv18 made a blistering start (from the starting point of #19 Claudine Forks): the first five battles were all heal-less. Then the wheels fell off: compared to v17 there were ten consecutive worse scores to #44 Cypsela, including another horrific (but victorious) 52 death Cyno. Then outscored every previous campaign from #52 Mount Vesuvius to the end. The long sequences of comparatively 'good' and 'bad' battles are puzzling, given that the units are extremely near to identically trained/equipped at every stage.
TWINSv19 was very solid throughout but dropped away a little towards the end. The 'danger battles' were all relatively comfortable with the exception of #51 Vercellae, which I won with zero minutes remaining and my auxilia smeared over half the screen and their flag floating by itself somewhere in the middle of the woods.
To give you an idea of the variations in score between individual battles: comparing the two most recent IRON MAN campaigns, v17 was 554/680 healed/total casualties, and v18 was 500/614. Taking the better result of the two, the composite total would be 378 heals and 527 total deaths for a score of 1,149,110.
I'm now quite tempted to have a SAVE SCUM attempt to see just how far the score can be pushed...
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For fun, also had a go at a single aux campaign (MONO MADNESS?) on 'normal' difficulty. The level progression wasn't as accelerated as I'd imagined: as an indication they reached L26 and Achilles armour on the eve of #35 Adys, when the TWINS auxilia are typically L22/23. Final standings were Legate L274 and Auxilia L87 (way beyond any possible further skills). Only one battle took more than 2-3 attempts, and casualties were ridiculously low (289 heals, 336 total). Bloodiest battle was 20 casualties at #65 Africa.
The one battle which seems unwinnable with a single unit is #64 Zela. After perhaps a dozen attempts I was always in contact with the last 2-3 cavalry, but never close to routing them all. Think I got down to a single, basically intact, cavalry unit once. Had to resort to buying my own pincushion cavalry to immediately charge the enemy infantry. They were mown down instantly (obviously) but got near enough to the opposition cavalry column to 'activate' them, and obligingly come at my superheroes in plenty of time to be slaughtered.
Fun times!