Spare the Lash, Spoil the Horse

[Jeffrey H.]

Well, it's time I try my hand at a Quadriga campaign AAR.

I used to play AH's Circus Maximus with a group of friends, we disallowed avoiding attacks to make it a max carnage event.

With that experience behind me, I feel like I can pretty much dive right in to Quadriga.

I don't plan to play nice or cautious. I plan to live by the lash and die by it.

I choose the team name, El_Grunteros. The team faction Praesina.

[Jeffrey H.]

I choose; random auriga names, static turns, and normal campaign mode.

[Jeffrey H.]

Next, I must choose a starting city. I have to admit, I don't know what to do here.

El_Grunteros are from the commoner faction, they probably should start at the periphery of the empire. Maybe the going will be

a bit easier on them. But which frontier ?

[Jeffrey H.]

I choose Hispanica, The only city in the region I can start with my noob team in is Mirobriga. The other cities bar the gates at my team.

[Jeffrey H.]

Here's the intro screen to Mirobriga, you can see the track and some background info about the city.

Place sounds kind of nice really, but a little rough around the edges.

[Jeffrey H.]

Without any money, it's no use showing the upgrades to the teams and sevices which can be purchased, cause I can't

make use of any of that.

The race starts out with a theme and allows for bets, (sadly not against your own team, heh) but again, without any money

that part of the game is something I can't use.

[Jeffrey H.]

A last place finish on my first outing. Humble pie, eat it.

I lost in the 1st and 2nd curves, one of my horses was killed and I limped along with 3 to a finish.

The good news is that a finish is a finish and I won 900 quatloos or whatever they are called to blow on fancy

new stuff ! Hooray !

[Jeffrey H.]

I decide to have my battered horse teams see the vet, for 75 quatloos it's the least I can do. For 600 quatloos I buy a new chariot

since my old one was damaged from aggressive cornering, and then I sell the old damaged one for 500 and change. Not a bad

deal overall. So, it's off to the next race with another noob driver.

I decide to get a little side bet going on my team, the odds bookie, (some guy named 'Moose') gives me 7 to 1. I plop

down 100 quatloos. Here we go:

[Jeffrey H.]

Dayam, flipped the chariot on the first turn. Held the rains for two rounds them started spitting blood. Let go and made

a break for it. Trampled and died. Jeez, this is turning out to be a short AAR.

[Jeffrey H.]

Next race, the last noob driver and team. I really need to pull off a finish on this race without suffering too much damage.

The event:

[Jeffrey H.]

Ok, this is rough. I missed seeing a flipped chariot in my lane. I ran over it and then flipped

my chariot on the first turn. Ugh. Good news is that my driver was able to make it out alive.

This is really, really going to be a short AAR.

[Jeffrey H.]

Not looking so good for El_Grunteros. Team morale is in the dumps.

On the positive side, we have an experienced team with rested and ready horses. I decide to buy some vet services for

the battered team which just raced, I tipped the vet to get him to pull my kids wisdom teeth while he was here.

Team Status:

[Jeffrey H.]

The next and possibly last ride of the El_Grunteros.....

I bet the farm on my best chance team and driver....

[Jeffrey H.]

I decide to preserve my team this time, no whipping out of the gates. I just accelerate through the start and into the first turn.

Now it's decision time...<gulp>....

One of these guys is going to break at the first turn, but who ? Is it the guy in front of me ? Just who is

"one of my worst opponents" ? They're all bad. I'm stumped.

[Jeffrey H.]

The conservative thing to do would be to hold in my lane and break. Less conservative would be to hold in my lane and brace

for better control and stability. I can lane shift to the outside but what if the team in that lane brakes ?

I'm going to take some risk and lane shift to the outside. As long as the team in that lane doesn't brake, I should be ok

and I have less risk of flipping the chariot. Done.

[Jeffrey H.]

Success ! An entirely different team brakes, and my team shifts over 1 lane to the outside without a problem.

[Jeffrey H.]

Past the second turn, my team looses some ground because I flubbed up and decelerated instead of accelerated.

Good news is that I'm still in the running and my team is healthy.

There is some debris on the course now, some dead horses. That I need to be aware of but those are for two turns from now.

[Jeffrey H.]

Coming out of the 3rd turn, I'm in good shape. The first place team is off to the left, way out in front.

Small problem is the team in front of me. I need to pick up the pace and start to overtake some of these guys.

There is a horse on the track in the outside lane to me. I am going to break to the inside lane and hopefully

find some room to run wide open.

[Jeffrey H.]

Through the 4th turn, the field narrows down a bit. A chariot flip and succeeding collateral damage from accidents

has brought me to 4th place. One team ahead has lost his chariot. He's not gonna last. I sprained a horse on the last

turn but overall the team is in great shape for my usual races. 3rd place is hurting from damage during the last turn.

First place is a long, long ways off.

[Jeffrey H.]

Into the 5th turn, I'm in 3rd place. I need to finish this one off without major mishaps. Is it too cheeky to hope for a win ?