Fifth and Final Update (for now), Turn 62, 249 BCE
The alliance has crumbled. The tribes are weak and will never compete with Rome. However, we will rise again! Here is the status, learnings, then next steps.
Gothones was plagued by poor lands and poor health. In the last decade they have been ravaged by plague and pestilence. The leaders, desperately afraid of cultural decay, were not growing the food supply. They managed to survive a few internal and external threats, and re-formed and held onto their four core regions, but their military was too weak to expand.
Rhaeti suffered from violent neighbors and a weak military, hampered by the poor conditions in their mountain regions. In the final few years, they had a revolt and then were invaded by three different opponents, losing their capital. The primary issue was not enough commerce to support sufficient troops to defend their two provinces. They had a glory period of about two decades, but within a few more years will be vanquished.
Cheruscii had rebuilt from three internal revolts, which whittled their lands from from 15 regions to 3. They slowly re-conquered their old lands, and are just now able to provide positive commerce and culture from regional buildings. They are successful growing their population and industry, and have maintained a large military force. However, Marcomani, holding the richest region in the Germanic lands, was never conquered, and they spilled out and attacked Rhaeti from the north. Cheruscii can maintain their own lands, but do not have the will to fight their neighbor’s battles.
Belgea prospered! Their rich and fertile lands sustained a growing population and a large military. They conquered a few neighbors and took their regions. However, their aggression has put them into a state of constant war with their opponents, slowly trading regions back and forth, and its having long-term consequences on their culture and the stability of their government.
In the end, all factions decayed to Decadent. This was due to the inexperience of the four human players more than anything else. We misunderstood the rules and thought decaying below Decadent would kill the faction. It does not! The faction merely decays down to Stable, which is actually an improvement (with fewer penalties). The impact is that 20+ turns were spent desperately putting all workers on culture, and not growing or building infrastructure, while the opposing factions grew stronger. We now understand how it works - its OK to decay below Decadent.
Here is the final map. Note how small Gothones continues to be, and that half of Rheati’s old lands are occupied.
Population is a good measure of progress. A small population produces less of everything. Here is the allies progress over time:
Adding Rome to see the difference:
Likewise, land military power of the Allies:
Adding Rome:
We restarted a new game! Same 4 players co-op versus Rome. We swapped around a few factions, for example someone will play Bohoieme instead of Gothones. I will continue the second version of this story after we play the opening turns.
