Pontus declares war?

[Bullman]

Hi

Have started the scenario The Great Mithridatic War as Pontus. The scenario starts with Pontus not at war, In the Diplomatic screen (F5) there is an option to declare war on Rome.

The costs associated with this are explained as follows:

"5 EP if Bithynia has been inherited by Rome. If not, loses an extra -5 NM and -100 VP."

Looking at the map, this region has 80% Roman loyalty but is 100% Bithynia control. (I still don't understand why this region (and others like it) still appear coloured "red" as in Roman controlled when you activate the "Show the owner of all regions" button).

Maybe someone who has played Romans in this scenario may be able to explain to me how the Romans can ever "inherit" Bithynia and why they would ever want to do that.

Is waiting for the Romans to "inherit" Bithynia before declaring war really an option for the Pontus player?

[vonBredow]

AFAIK, there is an event where the Bithynian king (whose name eludes me at the moment) dies, and Rome inherits the kingdom... which pisses off Pontus.

[Random]

When the King of Bithynia dies (and he does at some point by event) he wills his kingdom to Rome. This event in real life triggered Mithridates declaration of war on Rome and in AJE it serves to facilitate the Pontic side doing so.

So hang on for a bit and all will be well...

[vonBredow]

From wikipedia under the Kingdom of Pontus entry:

The Third Mithridatic war broke out when Nicomedes IV of Bithynia died without heirs in 75 and left his kingdom to Rome. In 74 BC Rome mobilized its armies in Asia Minor, probably provoked by some move made by Mithridates, but our sources are not clear on this. In 73 Mithridates invaded Bithynia and his fleet defeated the Romans off Chalcedon and laid siege to Cyzicus. Lucullus marched from Phrygia with his five legions and forced Mithridates to retreat back to Pontus........ etc.

[Bullman]

OK thanks for the historical background. I will sit and wait. 100VP is quite a bit to recover.

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

From my vague memories of this scenario, it takes awile to get that event.

[Bertram]

Yes, somewhere between one and two years. But you can use the time to pay some others to annoy the Romans.

[Bullman]

Yes, somewhere between one and two years. But you can use the time to pay some others to annoy the Romans.

Wow that's quite some time. Pay some others to annoy the Romans? How would I do that? Doesn't that scenario just feature Pontus, Romans, Serotius, Pirates and Barbarians?

[Jim-NC]

Yes, but you can pay the pirates to annoy the Romans for a while.

[Bohémond]

Rome could inherit Bythinia from January 74BC, with a Probability of 20 % each turn.


Regards

[Bullman]

Yes, but you can pay the pirates to annoy the Romans for a while.

How can I "pay" the Pirates to annoy Rome? Aren't they my enemy as well?

[Bohémond]

Pirates are neutral towards Pontus.

Unless I'm mistaken, DB is so huge, you can not pay Pirates to annoy Rome.

Regards