New Game?

[mercenarius]

Is there a possibility or probability of a 2025 release?

There is certainly a possibility. I will try my best to get something released by the end of the year, even if I have to make compromises.

I'll post a couple of new screenshots (of other things) as soon as I get the first four tutorials finished.

[CSSS]

YES!!!

[Don60420]

Day one purchase for me!

[pascalc]

Is there a possibility or probability of a 2025 release?

There is certainly a possibility. I will try my best to get something released by the end of the year, even if I have to make compromises.

I'll post a couple of new screenshots (of other things) as soon as I get the first four tutorials finished.

Don't make compromises. We want to play the game you want to make. We'll wait for it.

[mercenarius]

Don't make compromises. We want to play the game you want to make. We'll wait for it.

First off, thanks for the compliment! I'll try to live up to the spirit of that.

The third tutorial is now done, but it took a little longer than I thought. So, I don't have much new to post on "other" logic in the game right now. But I do have a screenshot from the third tutorial.

I set it up so that the fleet in the Balearic Sea defects to the Gallic Empire upon the death of Quintillus. This can occur as a result of option card play by the AI. Otherwise, that fleet would support Aurelian under most circumstances in that scenario. I did this in the tutorial so that the player can make a naval attack and learn about naval movement (especially as regards supply).

Here is what the notification itself looks like:

Fleet Defected Notice.png (627.35 KiB) Viewed 15629 times

I'll try to post some new screenshots in about two weeks. The fourth tutorial will, I hope, go faster now that I added so much logic to support the battle dialogs in the third tutorial.

[mercenarius]

Well, I haven't forgotten about all of you! This last week or so was crazy with personal business. On top of that, the video card in my 32-bit test machine died and finding a suitable replacement for hardware that old was difficult. But I keep that machine running as a gauge for checking to see if the game can run OK on older hardware. Rebuilding that machine took 2 whole days.

Here is a screenshot of the dialog for the "Gather Supplies" Operational Command:

Gather Supplies.jpg (194.02 KiB) Viewed 15138 times

This is used somewhat rarely and is intended for "expert use" in the game. Mostly it's to allow a player to gather support before marching into a province with no logistical support. Now, normally, that is NOT how Roman Armies want to operate, of course. But I figured that the game needs the player to be able to do this on occasion, and I had added the menu item for it.

I'll post some additional screenshots next weekend, and hopefully, something about the fourth tutorial.

[mercenarius]

Well, I didn't get quite as far - or as fast - as I hoped. But I do have something to share.

Under the "Victualia" section (think "Vittles") of the Limites Department in the Administrative Interface, you will now have access to this menu:

Victualia Menu.png (568.26 KiB) Viewed 15009 times

What is new is the "Plan Out All Logistical Support" option. That is a one-shot enactment to have the Praetorian Prefect (or the Imperial Bureaucracy) specify all needed supply deliveries. This is the usual way that the player will be expected to manage any extra logistical support.

I'll try to post a couple of screenshots next week to show this menu and related activity, such as any Operational Commands, in a little more detail. And something about the fourth tutorial as well, which I promised before but haven't dont yet!

EDIT: this is a stupid idea. I will show the corrected functionality in my next post,

[mercenarius]

OK, the previous idea was a silly one. Here is the corrected version of the "Victualia" menu:

Victualia Menu.png (569 KiB) Viewed 14514 times

Clicking on "Organize Logistical Planning" will bring up a menu for an Administrative Action:

Logistics Authority Menu.png (650.96 KiB) Viewed 14514 times

Usually the players will use the "default" choice which is to assign this responsibility to the Praetorian Prefect. But I'll the give the players other choices which will have at some small difference in game play.

I didn't get as far as I hoped with the other work, because I had to revise this, but I should have more to show concerning the "Limites" department next week.

[mercenarius]

Well, when I said a week, I guess that I meant a fortnight.

I had pretty bad writer's block until this week; I don't know why. But I did make some progress. Here is a revised version of the Limites Department, including most of the summary elements:

Limites Summary.png (344.97 KiB) Viewed 10856 times

As you can see, two are blank and I should have those filled in and working by next week. But I have said that a lot, lately, so we'll see.

The data above is taken from the start of the Trajan scenario. That is why there is only one Wall (Munimentum). Hadrian's wall and the Fossatum Africae haven't been started yet. There is just the one wall in the Agri Decumates in Germania.

The "quick settings" in this department are pretty simple. The two notification settings are things that I am playing around with and will refine. In "Hannibal" the player pretty much gets a look at everything which happens, via messages in the Tool Area. For The Fall of Rome, I want to limit this somewhat. This is a way for the player to specify that.

"Political Events" is a euphemism for things such as mutinies. That should not happen unless things are going very badly, of course. In that case, if you are like me, you will probably just start another game!

[mercenarius]

I realized in doing the previously mentioned work that I hadn't actually done the logic for fortresses to receive supplies by water transport. And I noticed that there are some locations which will need access to water transport but don't have it at present. So, I had to do a little map editing.

In Colchis (modern Georgia) I added a tributary, the Glaucus river, to the Phasis river:

Glaucus Flumen.jpg (106.76 KiB) Viewed 8224 times

Now the fortress at Archaiopolis can receive supplies by river when necessary.

Players can verify such access by looking at the report dialog and choosing the appropriate panel if they want to see more:

Fortress Report Dialog.png (590.49 KiB) Viewed 8224 times

That shows the river access for Archaiopolis and also indicates that it has no road access. (In Roman times that area was very swampy from what I have read).

Cities with water access will build their "Mooring" for water transport without any action by the player. They do this for the sake of their own trade. There was a decent amount of river traffic on the Danube, for example. At least in good times. When the Goths showed up, I imagine that made a difference.

I figure, for now at least, that the player will either do this manually for forts and fortresses, or allow some delegation. The text in the dialog says "supplies and recruits" but animals and armaments can be transported that way, too, of course. The idea is that ships can anchor somewhere and transfer goods as needed via boats which are provided by the fortress itself.

I'll post something about that delegation tomorrow with an extra screenshot or two.

[mercenarius]

So, I have added an extra setting in the Limites settings which allows the player to delegate some authority for maintaining and building defenses.

Here is a small screenshot to show this in action:

Limites Settings.jpg (108.34 KiB) Viewed 7896 times

This is about as close as the game comes to the kind of auto-management that other strategy games sometimes employ. If the player chooses "Emperor Must Approve" that means that the player has to do any relevant construction using an activation (or through an active leader on the strategy map). Delegation will allow that to be done "in the background" so to speak, without using activations or command points from an active leader. But there will be a somewhat increased chance of usurpation when authority is delegated.

All this means that the player must be able to issue an enactment to perform this kind of construction, so I have added a new enactment button to the grouping Castrum et Castellum in the Limites Department. Here is what it now looks like:

Castrum et Castellum.jpg (197.13 KiB) Viewed 7896 times

I think that people have seen enough of this supply stuff, and I'll try to post something different in a couple of weeks after I wrap up the supply assignment logic in the game.

[CSSS]

So looking forward to this game!

[Orm]

I think that people have seen enough of this supply stuff, and I'll try to post something different in a couple of weeks after I wrap up the supply assignment logic in the game.

Not me. I want to see more supply stuff, although I am perfectly happy to find out when I play the game.

Do the player have any options on how to handle supply for the army when on campaign? Or navy?

[mercenarius]

So looking forward to this game!

Many thanks for your kind words!

Do the player have any options on how to handle supply for the army when on campaign? Or navy?

Short answer is yes, the longer answer is yes but the naval supply will need to get some modest revision to match what is already programmed for land movement.

You can gather supplies in the field using the Operations Command menu of a city or a fortress (or a defensive wall):

Assign Supplies Option.jpg (49.05 KiB) Viewed 1180 times

You can also make a decision to order the delivery of extra supplies - on a scheduled basis - at this location with the second item that you see. Usually, the decision to order supply deliveries will be governed by choices in the Administrative Interface. There is often (deliberately) some overlap between what can be ordered by a commander in the field and what can be done through Admin. And this is one of those cases.

Armies themselves also have a "Gather Supplies" item on their Ops Menu as well, of course.

Armies can carry those extra supplies with them when they move into a new area, or just keep them on hand for winter, etc. When moving, the supplies must be used first - before foraging - and a minimum of 1/2 of them are always consumed when moving. This is a simple, if abstract, way of showing the difficulty of transporting supplies by land in ancient times.

Those supply units must also be used first for the supply checks for armies at the end of a turn.

Now, there is also the option to build a Mooring if a city or a Fortress doesn't have any access to transport at all:

Build Mooring Option.jpg (48.94 KiB) Viewed 1180 times

If there is at least road access, then you will see the first set of items. I will add a menu item to handle the situation where there isn't any water access (at an inland location) but there also isn't any land access due to a lack of a road. Probably it makes sense to allow a dirt road to be laid out quickly using an Ops Command in such a case. And it is pretty rare because most roads which can ever be built already exist at the start of the 69 A.D. scenario. But there are a few which don't. One example is Ireland (Hibernia). There is a road network which you can build but isn't in existence at the start of any of the scenarios.

Between attempting to gather supplies, when needed, and ordering deliveries to augment what is otherwise available, you should be able to manage supplies in key areas when campaigning there.

Note, however, that there isn't much you can do about water for field armies. It's too heavy to transport in large amounts (WAY too heavy). Arid areas will always be a problem in this regard. You do have an end-around in the sense that you can hoard your Extended Move cards for such a case. Water, when moving, is calculated as an expense of movement points. If you use an Extended Move card, that gives an active leader an extra 12 points and can reduce or eliminate the net effects of a lower water rating in a province.

Naval supplies can also be gathered using an Ops Command:

Naval Menu Options.jpg (54.54 KiB) Viewed 1180 times

I haven't coded the effect of these cached naval supplies, however. I plan to do that when the land supply is more polished. Probably they will take the form of a new type of "supply ship" with rules somewhat similar to Supply Units used on land.