Slitherine

Welcome all!
We're on turn 1, 1200 BC. Turn orders will be due in about a week from now (May 5). As this is the first turn, I won't worry about enforcing deadlines, but if you ever can't get a turn in on time I can always generate your realm's orders using the AI.

IF YOU WANT TO USE THE UNITY TOOL
Download the tool from this thread:
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=85060

Download the latest turn save document. 1200 BC is here. I can also email them.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/2e9dn3ec ... .save/file

Put the save document in this file on your computer. If it doesn't exist, you can double check the address on the load/save screen of the Tides of Conquest tool.
C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\LocalLow\DefaultCompany\TidesOfConquestUnity
Do your orders (see below).
Save your orders
Find the orders file and email it to me
Add a pretext for your invasions if you want for the battle flavor text

IF THE TOOL DOESN"T WORK FOR YOU
Just let me know and I'll run you through the options. I'll generate some AI orders, and you can tell if you approve or would alter them shortly.

STARTING BATTLES
The attacker issues the challenge. Both army lists and the terrain should be listed in the list of battles. Default size should be 1200 points, but you can do 1600-point battles if you both agree. The attacker can choose allies, but the defender should use the vanilla list (this is so that the attacker can issue challenges quickly). Report to me the scores when done.
I know that sometimes both sides end up in terrain where neither side wants to attack. In this case, the attacking side should probably bit the bullet, as a 0-0 draw means that the attacker's resources are wasted.

SCORING AND STRATEGY:
This is supposed to be more of an immersive experience than a competitive one, but the game does keep track of wins and losses as well as a general "Legacy" score. If your realm gets wiped out, you get to start over with a new one (often a successor state) on the next turn.
Don't worry too much about the politcal decisions! All realms decay over time, but as long as you can win battles, you should be able to keep going.
Attack, if you have the resources. Even successful raiding gets victory points that expand your sphere of influence. Think of it as something like this: your neighbor mistreats your merchants, as often happens, so you launch a punitive expedition. Now all the weaker states around you are giving your merchants preferential terms. If you attack a neutral, then it will ally with another player who will control the army.
The only tricky part is running a migratory horde. You want to conquer a new homeland before your endurance runs out. This usually gives you about 5-7 turns, depending on how battles go. You need to win a solid victory, by a margin greater than twice the province's defense, to settle.

PLAYER LIST
BRONZE AGE, 1200 BC:
Egyptians - anderarcos11 ORDERS IN
Assyrians - Karvon - ORDERS IN
Mycenaeans - Kronenblatt - ORDERS IN
Hittites - Cuddlefission - ORDERS IN
Gasgans - SpeedyCM
Sherdan - Indibil - ORDERS IN

For centuries, Pharaonic Egypt, Assyria and Hattusa have dominated the Middle East, fighting each other for control of the smaller principalities of the Levant. But new threats to these empires have arisen - the fierce Gasgans in Anatolia, a coalition of pirate-warlords known as the Sea Peoples, and the city states of Achaea dominated by the High King of Mycenae. Which of these old lions shall survive the coming storm, and if any fall, which of the upstarts shall take their place?
TURN 1

All orders are in!
The Pharaoh of Egypt hears of attacks by the Kush kingdom on its Nubian allies. In a demonstration of his majesty, he launches a punitive raid southwards. The Nubians have heard rumors of seaborne invaders descending on the Delta, and reach out to the Pharaoh's foes. Egypt also sends diplomats to Assyria exploring the potential of a truce, but there is so far no response.

King Glados of Sparta declares his right as High King of the Achaeans to lead the cities of the Peloponnese into war. He chooses as his target the northern tribes of Epirus, whose sheep-raiding antics have long troubled the peninsula. The Epirotes reach out to the Gasgans, whose own pillaging exploits have caused great excitement among the Balkan tribes.

Uasserme, king of the Hittites and upholder of laws and traditions, hears a petition from his Hurrian allies: a local ruler in Syria has delivered a heinous affront to the temple of a Hurrian god. The pious king summons his army to go forth and punish those responsible. The Syrians turn to Assyria for help.

The Assyrian king sends envoys to the surrounding tribes of Syria, Anatolia and the Zagros, assuring them that the blameless have nothing to fear from his might. The wicked, however, must quail in terror - and to demonstrate this, he sends his armies forth to chastise the petty king of Chaldea, who has been mistreating his merchants. The Chaldeans turn to the Hittites.

The sea-warriors of the Sherden, who recently descended upon the isle of Crete and burned Minos's palace to the ground, set sail once more. This time their destination is the Nile Delta. The fleet anchors off Tanis and the Sherden march inland while the local nomarchs gather their forces near Memphis in a desperate attempt to hold them off.

Drought in northwest Anatolia forces the local Gasgan tribes to unite and set off looking for new lands to call their own. Their warriors descend on the Aegean coast, where the local cities under the leadership of Ilium, a client state of the Hittites, gather to meet them.

Gasgans have 2 battles, Hittites 3, Mycenaeans 1, Sherden 2, Egyptians 2, Assyrians 2

Side 1 (the attacker) should issue the challenge, 1200 vs 1200. (You can do 1600 vs 1600 if both agree.) Attacker can choose allies while the defender does not. (This assumes that invaders are more likely to hire mercenaries while defenders will rely on local troops.)

Please post a message in this thread when you've issued your challenges.


BATTLES:
Gasgan horde try to settle in Hittite-allied Ilusha
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1 (Gasgans - SpeedyCM): Gasgan (1450BC to 1076BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Hittites - Cuddlefission): Trojan (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles

Mycenaeans attack Gasgan-allied Epirus
Map: Mediterranean Mountainous
Side 1 (Mycenaeans - Kronenblatt): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Gasgans - SpeedyCM): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles

Sherden horde try to settle in Egyptian-ruled Lower Egypt
Map: Middle Eastern Agricultural
Side 1 (Sherden - Indibil): Sea Peoples (1208BC to 1167BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Egyptians - anderarcos11 ): Egyptian (1276BC to 1201BC) Swifter than Eagles

Assyrians attack Hittite-allied Chaldea
Map: Middle Eastern Agricultural
Side 1 (Assyrians - Karvon): Assyrian (1365BC to 891BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Hittites - Cuddlefission): Babylonian (1594BC to 891BC) Swifter than Eagles

Egyptians attack Sherden-allied Kush
Map: Desert
Side 1 (Egyptians - anderarcos11): Egyptian (1276BC to 1201BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Sherden - Indibil): Nubian 3000 to 1281 BC (StE)

Hittites attack Assyrian-allied Syria
Map: Mediterranean Hilly
Side 1 (Hittites - Cuddlefission): Hittite (1275BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Assyrians - Karvon): Syro-Canaanite (1207BC to 1100BC) Swifter than Eagles

Assyrians attack Hittite-allied Chaldea
Map: Middle Eastern Agricultural
Side 1 (Assyrians - Karvon): Assyrian (1365BC to 891BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Hittites - Cuddlefission): Babylonian (1594BC to 891BC) Swifter than Eagles

The Assyrians explorers are ready.

pw karvon
pm sent

Karvon

The Sherden horde, with Libyan allies, on the way to the delta Nile river

Private message to anderarcos11
pw: anderarcos

Mycenaeans attack Gasgan-allied Epirus
Map: Mediterranean Mountainous
Side 1 (Mycenaeans - Kronenblatt): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Gasgans - SpeedyCM): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles

=> Game set up, with password EPIRUS

PM sent

Hittites attack Assyrian-allied Syria
Map: Mediterranean Hilly
Side 1 (Hittites - Cuddlefission): Hittite (1275BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Assyrians - Karvon): Syro-Canaanite (1207BC to 1100BC) Swifter than Eagles

Challenge created and PM sent. Excited!

Side 1 (Sherden - Indibil): Sea Peoples (1208BC to 1167BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Egyptians - anderarcos11 ): Egyptian (1276BC to 1201BC) Swifter than Eagles

Challengue created

Pm sent

The Assyrians defeated the Chaldeans foolish enough to oppose the empire 60-30.

Our chariots and light massed on our left led the assault, mauling the opposing chariots, lights and a few bowmen, though suffering grievous losses in the process as the enemy infantry turned and rained arrows on them. Our own infantry moved up en-mass and overwhelmed the more scattered and already somewhat weakened enemy foot and chariots breaking the army.

The Sherden horde defeats Egyptian army, 63 - 41
The huge use of chariots in front of the Egyptian line was no enough to break the fierce sherden warriors. Only the left wing of the egyptians, could win its particular battle but on the rest of the line the sherden warriors imposed their law.
Thanks to anderarcos11 for the quick battle.

Nijis wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 5:12 am BATTLES:
Mycenaeans attack Gasgan-allied Epirus
Map: Mediterranean Mountainous
Side 1 (Mycenaeans - Kronenblatt): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2 (Gasgans - SpeedyCM): Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles

Nijis: what happens campaign wise for different outcomes of the battle? i.e., win, loss, draw?

Egyptians beat Sherden allied Nubians, 46 to 11.

The Egyptian chariots surrounded the Nubian army and through charges managed to weaken their archers. The Egyptian center moved quickly to charge the Nubian center, making use of its superior training and equipment. The battle was swift with a crushing victory for the Egyptians.

what happens campaign wise for different outcomes of the battle? i.e., win, loss, draw?

What happens campaign-wise can be a bit complicated. Resources are depleted, spheres of influence shift, provinces can be conquered. Exactly what happens depends on an algorithm, which I will explain below. But it's important to recognize that the winner's final rout level matters a lot, as well as the orders given. Also, most of this happens under the hood, and a player does not really need to fully understand it to do well.

This may seem unnecessarily opaque, but it works reasonably well to simulate the historical ebb and flow of empires. Sometimes wars go on and the frontier barely moves. Then, you might have a dramatic victory like Gaugamela, and huge swathes of territory can re-align. The results can be a little unpredictable but I have tested it a fair amount, and it works the way I like.

It also encourages the kind of far-flung client-state wars that were common in the ancient world and which add variety to the terrain and army lists. If Hannibal is on your doorstep in Italy, you can cripple his offensive (ie, divert reinforcements and undermine his prestige) by intervening in a tribal conflict in Spain.

Basically, each player scores Victory Points based on the difference in rout levels. If the attacker wins, VP equal to (60 - the attacker's final rout level) are awarded to the attacking player. If the defender wins, the defender gets 2/3 of that. Battles where neither realm is directly involved (ie, your ally raids someone else's ally) halve this. At the end of all of this, for each realm vs realm conflict the totals are compared.

Now each war winner (the one with the higher VP total) starts "purchasing" results from the difference in scores. This program does this automatically.

First the program "purchases" first-order results, those that proceed directly from the orders given. You can only conquer provinces where you did a conquer/pacify/unify order, and each province "costs" its Defense value (listed per province). A realm in decline tends to have lower defense values, so realms in decline can suffer catastrophic collapses more quickly. Pillaging a province, or shifting a sphere of influence, costs half the defense value.

Then there are second-order results - additional provinces may capitulate if the winner had at least one conquest order, or ally with the winner, or an ally in the loser's sphere may gain an unrest marker allied with the winner. These cost twice as much as the VP results.

An example - Rome launches a "Conquer" order in Sicily and wins with a result of 35/60. Rome gains 25 VP from that battle. But Carthage has done a raid on Latium and wins with 45/60, while it intervened in Magna Graecia and lost by 60/20.

Final VP results from battles"
Sicily - 25 in Rome's favor (60 minus 25)
Latium - 15 in Carthage's favor (60 minus 45)
Magna Graecia - 27 in Rome's favor (two-thirds of 60 minus 20).

Final result = 52 in Rome's favor.
Let's say Sicily has a defense of 20. That "costs" 20 VP as a first order result to conquer.
Then the AI starts searching for second-order results. Numidia, Carthage's ally, has a defensiveness of 20. A pro-Roman faction emerges in Numidia, also costing 15 VPs.
Let's say a neutral province in Iberia allies with the Romans, costing its defensiveness (15).
There are 2 VPs remaining. These are added to Rome's "influence," a rating which increases the chance of random events in Rome's favor.

You also lose (RoutLevel / 3) from next turn's income for your losses. A successful pillage gains you 15 resources.

All complicated, I realize! But, players do not really need to learn this system to rule and expand their empires.

Rather, keep in mind the following strategy tips...

1) Issue conquer/pacify/unify orders into provinces that you really want to conquer
2) Raid to spoil someone else's attack if you think they'll attack you, or if you can't do anything else to spread your sphere of influence
3) Intervention is usually a good cost-effective way to spread or maintain your sphere
4) If you want to know why a province changed sides, check provincial events (link in lower left panel)
5) Win battles, and if you can't win, make the winner pay as high a price as possible.

Nijis wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 1:16 pm ...

OK, I see, thanks. Appreciated that it's not really transparent, and I just basically interested in who ("attacker" or "defender") has the highest incentive to actually win in my case. That is, is Gasgan-allied Epirus basically satisfied with preventing my victory (i.e., a draw suffices) or what would it gain from winning.

But it basically boils down to this, right? Each player scores Victory Points based on the difference in rout levels. If the attacker wins, VP equal to (60 - the attacker's final rout level) are awarded to the attacking player. If the defender wins, the defender gets 2/3 of that. Battles where neither realm is directly involved (ie, your ally raids someone else's ally) halve this. At the end of all of this, for each realm vs realm conflict the totals are compared.

A win by the Gasgans' allies in Epirus might still score them some VP, which can cause provinces to ally with them. ("Ally" in this era is more like tributary/client state.) But, the attacker always has a greater incentive to reach a decisive result.

The peace-loving Syrians repelled the blood-thirsty Hittite raiders 47-20.

We sent forward a large screening force of light foot and chariots to engage and delay the Hittites who originally held a strong position on a steep ridge. A prolonged skirmishing battle saw most of our lights and chariots destroyed, but we saw off some of their chariots and absorbed most of their arrows. Our main body of foot awaited the Hittites on a gentle ridge with a few hidden in or behind some small woods off to our right. Our surviving lights and chariots retired drawing the Hittites towards our main force. The Hittites were a bit spread out due to the earlier battles and advanced a bit raggedly. As they drew near our ridge, our rear rank of massed bow began showering the lead units with arrows, disrupting several. The Hittites pressed grimly on to the foot of the ridge. More arrows and disruptions greeted them. They charged up the hill to escape the arrows and were repulsed. We counterattacked down the hill and broke them.

The Gasgans defeat the womanizing Trojans 45-16.

The Gasgan left flank and center overwhelmed their Trojan opponents while the Gasgan right flank held off the Trojans left flank with their lives long enough to secure victory. The Trojan chariots were largely rendered ineffective on the left by light troops supported by a small force of medium infantry and those on the right flank were not able to impact on the fight until to late to effect the outcome.

When does this round expire?

The sign up thread says four weeks for the battles and this rounds battles started two weeks ago so I expect we have till the beginning of June unless all battles finish earlier.

I think the only battle remaining is mine and Kronenblatt's and that has about 10 turns left with casualties in the 20ish % range on both sides.

Thanks for the update! As soon as that battle (in Epirus, I believe) is complete I can process results, put up the new map and start taking orders for the next turn.