Matrix Games Forums

erichswafford wrote: Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 pm The new game looks amazing. Just remember: The Perfect is the enemy of the (really really) Good.

Just sayin'

Thanks, and I agree 1000% (about the need to avoid perfectionism), but it doesn't hurt to be reminded of this essential wisdom.

Now I don't have anything to post today, but I expect to have something to share next weekend.

P.S. Happy Easter, Orm!

mercenarius wrote: Sun Apr 17, 2022 7:47 pm
Now I don't have anything to post today, but I expect to have something to share next weekend.

Then, could you answer my question on the Peloponnesian War?

Nikel wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:47 pm

mercenarius wrote: Sun Apr 17, 2022 7:47 pm
Now I don't have anything to post today, but I expect to have something to share next weekend.

Then, could you answer my question on the Peloponnesian War?

Of course! Sorry that I missed that! Certainly a Peloponnesian War game is very possible. I am not sure if my existing map for "Fall of Rome" would quite have the granularity needed. I *think* that it does and so a module for that war could be part of a sequel to The Fall of Rome. I want to do a sequel to The Fall of Rome which would focus on the Hellenistic age and a Peloponnesian War module or DLC of some type is definitely possible.

Really? Great


Though a map of the roman empire seems too huge to me for the PW, the scale seems not to be the correct one.

The action happened in this area with many polis and small islands involved.




But waiting for anything you may craft, thanks for answering.

Nice map!

The problem with the map for The Fall of Rome is that it's not detailed enough for the mechanics needed for the scope of the Peloponnesian War. Yes, it's also true that the map is too large but that could be dealt with pretty easily. Well, we'll see somewhere down the road.

In the meantime, I am still working on the recruiting logic. Here is a refinement of the basic dialog:

I've got a little work to do to allow the player to edit the list of "recruit orders" and to finalize any associated transport costs. I have worked out the pathfinding for land (and river) transportation; now I need to add saltwater transport. I'll try to post something next weekend on both of these things.

Thanks again for sharing that map!

Will there be mercenary recruiting from areas outside the Roman Empire?

Orm wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 7:11 am Will there be mercenary recruiting from areas outside the Roman Empire?

Provinces with a "Tribesmen" rating of 1 or higher can supply recruits, especially for auxiliary units, even if they are not under your control. Such a province must at least be adjacent to one of your provinces, however. These are normally volunteers but can be conscripts if raised from areas which are under your control. (Of course, you can raise auxiliaries from areas under your control even if the "Tribesmen" rating is 0. They may or may not be citizens, depending on the period). I don't know if this is what you have in mind, however.

Federates are available under treaty but will appear as their "native" unit type with the supplying faction's tile pattern.

Units supplied as tribute will normally be either converted into Roman unit types or left in the same status as federates in some circumstances.

I haven't coded logic for out-and-out mercenaries. The Hunnic contingent that was supplied to Aetius should probably be considered federate troops under treaty to him?

Thanks for answering my questions on the PW!

Ian Hughes in his book on Aetius considers them foederati, some examples:


NON-ROMAN UNITS
The terminology used for non-Roman units is extremely confusing. This is in part because the Romans appear to have used the same terms for units of widely
differing origin. Furthermore, as the sources do not use the terms in a strict , military sense, but often use whichever word fits with the style or meter of the work being
written, certainty is impossible.

Foederati
A major example of this is the use of the term foederati. Originally the term was applied to non-Romans serving in regular army units under the terms of a foedus
(treaty), possibly such as that signed by Constantine I (306–337) with the ‘Ripuarian’ Franks, or that signed by Julian (355–363) with the ‘Salian’ Franks.

Many of the barbarian units listed in the Notitia probably began their existence as wholly barbarian units, yet it should be noted that these were ‘regular’ Roman units,
trained, supplied and equipped by the empire. As time passed they almost certainly lost their ‘barbarian’ status due to the enlistment of non-barbarian troop s in their
ranks.

However, over time the term foederati came to be applied more loosely. As a result, when the words foederatus or foederati are used by the sources, the full context
needs to be determined before any deductions are made concerning the exact nature of the troops being described. Therefore, for the purposes of this book,
the term foederati will be used exclusively with regard to barbarian troops serving under their own leaders in non-Roman units, whether these are ‘internal’ forces such
as the Goths or ‘external’ forces such as the Huns.

More:

"...it is clear that as de facto leader of the West Aetius was determined to maintain his personal ties with the Huns. They in turn responded by providing him
with the foederati and other troops he needed to maintain himself in power. Furthermore, it is possible that Aetius was using the Hunnic foederati to offset the
lack of new recruits being provided by the imperial court, and especially the Senate."


There were also Bucellarii or personal guard:

"Aetius may have felt that a new treaty was necessary, since he had always employed Hunnic troops both as bucellarii and foederati and would not want
the source of these troops cut off. "

Orm wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 7:11 am Will there be mercenary recruiting from areas outside the Roman Empire?

There were a couple of points here that I didn't hit too much in my earlier post. Auxiliary units are occasionally represented in various sources with what might be called "native" equipment. And that gives rise to some questions as to their terms of enlistment and pay. For example, Trajan's column (I think) clearly shows African/Berber cavalry riding ponies with equipment just like the Numidian cavalry from Hannibal's days. Now, does this indicate that the artisan knew his Livy, or is that an accurate representation of how that cavalry was outfitted in Trajan's day?

Osprey's book "Roman Battle Tactics" seems to accept that cavalry equipped in the "native" manner would serve alongside Roman Auxiliary cavalry outfitted (and trained) in the standard fashion. It's not clear to me, however, how long this practice persisted.

Certainly, it seems possible to add some support for "native" units that were not serving as federates. That is something that I'll have to leave open for the moment. But it's not a closed subject.

Just a screenshot from the recruiting dialog, which is almost finished. This is how the player will input the identifiers for new legions which are being raised from scratch. The suggested cognomina (fancy! - plural for cognomen) are mostly based on geography, with some eye towards historical usage. For example, a legion raised in Italy would have "Italica" as its suggested cognomen. But a legion raised in Mesopotamia would use "Parthica" as its default suggestion. If nothing else, this avoids the use of certain geographical terms which might be rather clumsy.

The player can change the numbers and names to almost anything, and the game won't try to keep duplicates from being created, except to (maybe) give a warning about that. I am not sure why the Romans stopped numbering legions at 30 (XXX) but that seems to be highest number used in the historical record. I set 50 as an arbitrary limit, although something like "Legio L" seems a bit weird, don't you think?

This is a nice little feature to see implement. However I want ask, will it also work properly for the late Roman units, especially with twin units bearing the same name (only distinguished by a Iuniores or Seniores)?

Nepos96 wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 11:21 pm This is a nice little feature to see implement. However I want ask, will it also work properly for the late Roman units, especially with twin units bearing the same name (only distinguished by a Iuniores or Seniores)?

Well, the short answer is that I am not sure. Long ago I decided that it wouldn't be possible to show such names on the unit tiles. There just isn't enough room. Because of this, and for other reasons, I had originally intended NOT to specify the individual historical units mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum.

I have some qualms that trying to do this will hurt the game more than it will help. But my mind is open and it may be possible to support this. I will revisit this decision a little ways down the road. Right now, raising a "late" legion won't require or allow the player to enter a name.

The reason why the "traditional" legion names are used in the game is that the Prime Cohort is taken to represent the administrative functioning of the legion. It matters where that prime cohort is. It has to be marked differently for this reason. And I added the numbers, but not the names, on the tiles mostly for historical interest. It also distinguishes that use of the Eagle from other uses in icons with different purposes.

After the reforms of Diocletian, legions don't have any of their old ties to civilian administration and weapons production.

Right now that is how things stand, but I will revisit the decision when I do the Diocletian scenario.

I haven't forgotten all of you! I am afraid that I had an illness in May and that caused a slowdown in the game's progress. I am back up to speed. Here is a screenshot of the revised "Unit Options" dialog:


Those changed options make more sense than the previous ones. I am still working on how best to show the players the potential transportation costs that are added to the fixed costs. It's a complicated algorithm and it involved some pathfinding. And it depends on all outstanding recruiting orders. So the recruiting will still get a little tweaking. But the basic scheme is in place and works now.

Here is the Choose Praetorian Prefect dialog:


The pool of officials is something that needs a little bit of revision. But the mechanism for choosing will be as you see here.

The necessary revision is in part to seed the pool for each scenario with historical figures. What you see there are only the mix of randomly generated officials. Which is mostly what the players will have in the long run, anyway. But there should be some actual historical figures as choices, especially at the beginning.

The Praetorian Prefect as currently conceived accompanies the emperor but is not placed on the map.

mercenarius wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 6:59 pm

Orm wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 7:11 am Will there be mercenary recruiting from areas outside the Roman Empire?

Provinces with a "Tribesmen" rating of 1 or higher can supply recruits, especially for auxiliary units, even if they are not under your control. Such a province must at least be adjacent to one of your provinces, however. These are normally volunteers but can be conscripts if raised from areas which are under your control. (Of course, you can raise auxiliaries from areas under your control even if the "Tribesmen" rating is 0. They may or may not be citizens, depending on the period). I don't know if this is what you have in mind, however.

Thank you for your answer (in both posts).

I didn't really have anything specifically in mind. I just recalled that I read that some archaeologists (historians?) in Sweden had a theory about men living in what is today Sweden might have been traveling to the Roman Empire to take work as mercenaries. When I heard about it seemed possible that this had begun earlier than what was previously considered.

I am a bit short of time at the moment. I hope to get back to this later on.

Sorry for the delay.

Autumn is here, and winter is closing. Any chance of a release prediction?

Greetings, Orm!

Yes, Autumn is here and Winter will be here sooner than I want it to.

Progress on the game has been a little slow. I actually have new content to show, but I thought that this thread has probably gotten too long as it is.

To answer your question: I want to have a "coming soon" page on Steam before the end of the year.

Truthfully, it doesn't look as if the game can be released to the public before next Summer. That really stinks and I am sorry that you and others have waited so long for a new game from me.

I hope to have some concrete news next month and of course I'll post here as soon as there is something to announce. I haven't forgotten about all of you.

mercenarius wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 4:56 am
Truthfully, it doesn't look as if the game can be released to the public before next Summer. That really stinks and I am sorry that you and others have waited so long for a new game from me.

Well, let's look at it this way: we now know that one year from now we will finally be able to play this game from dawn to sunset.

Season's Greetings Everyone! I haven't forgotten about you. I am not going to be making any announcements on Steam before the end of the year, but I am making progress with The Fall of Rome. I want to post a couple of screenshots from work on the Administrative Interface that I have done this month.

The first shows something fairly rare - changing the pay rate of the army. This is something that players will probably only do in a few of the scenarios. Anyway, here is an example of managing the basic pay rate of the pre-Diocletian army:


This is a popup menu which is accessed through the Admin dialog. The whole thing is a little too large for a screenshot in a forum post, however.

This second popup menu shows making an enactment for contributions of gold to celebrate an accession. While the offering in question is supposed to be voluntary, with the Senate (and cities) deciding what an appropriate contribution is, you can use an activation to send a hint to the Senate:

Julian, on his accession, limited the contributions that cities were allowed to give. That would be done by using the "Restricted" choice in this enactment. The "Oblaticium" is really the contribution of the Senate, but I have combined those made by the cities into one enactment for the sake of simplicity.

That's it for now, I hope that everyone will have a Merry Christmas and a good and safe New Year.