Dictator in Samnite scenario

[Erik Springelkamp]

I was playing the Samnite War again, as Samnites.

As Rome I played it several times, and against the AI I never fail to win: just beat the enemy armies out of existence with your concentrated Legions.

As Samnites I won once - after giving up several times - when Rome surrendered in an Assault by a relatively weak Etruscan army, although I still don't understand why: isn't Rome a level 3 fort that cannot be assaulted?

Anyway, this time I tried to be careful not to trigger a Dictator with its additional armies, as I feel the Etruscans and Samnites can just about hold out defensively against a consular army. They can take level one fortresses by assault, but when you siege a higher level fortress, the Romans will eventually come with enough legions to beat you.

However, after a year of holding my ground against the Romans, they still got their Dictator, and now it is all going downhill.

So what exactly does trigger a dictator option in this war (and the other wars, probably they all have slightly different conditions)?

My experience so far:
Attacking Neapoli or Capua or Roma with the combined Samnite army does, attacking Velia doesn't.
Conquering Populonia with the Etruscans doesn't.

I did raise all strong infantry units available. Maybe this increased number triggers something?

[bob.]

Good question. I would also like to know EXACTLY the requirements for a dictator, and how many dictators can be called, in each scenario. It is often the single most decisive factor in game!

BTW, in one game my opponent was able to call in a dictator because he put the "requisitions" decisions on Rome and a slave revolt spawned... (at least I think that is the reason why he was able to call in one, as far as I can tell if the enemy is besieging Rome itself the size of the besieging army doesn't matter, it can be very tiny)

[pantsukki]

isn't Rome a level 3 fort that cannot be assaulted?

It can when there are three breaches, or the stack is commanded by a general with the required trait (I've seen only two, Caesar and Sulla).

[Erik Springelkamp]

It can when there are three breaches, or the stack is commanded by a general with the required trait (I've seen only two, Caesar and Sulla).

There were no breaches, as the Etruscans were intending to move through Rome with Assault stance, hunting a small Roman army. They must have been blocked in Rome, as ZOC by a 'siege on the move' often blocks forces that try to march through enemy city provinces. So that ended their move in Rome and somehow they took the city the same turn, ending the game victoriously. It was quite a surprise and I still don't understand it.

[bob.]

Was there combat? If no, then Rome just surrendered. As far as I know surrender can happen any time, even during the first siege turn.
When I played the Samnite war I also besieged Rome and they surrendered after one month. So I guess it's highly unlikely, but it is definitely possible.

[Erik Springelkamp]

Was there combat? If no, then Rome just surrendered. As far as I know surrender can happen any time, even during the first siege turn.
When I played the Samnite war I also besieged Rome and they surrendered after one month. So I guess it's highly unlikely, but it is definitely possible.

That sounds plausible, but when is siege resolved? I usually see the siege message at the beginning of the turn - Caesar sieged Gaul-Village but accomplished nothing

[Franciscus]

Good question. I would also like to know EXACTLY the requirements for a dictator, and how many dictators can be called, in each scenario. It is often the single most decisive factor in game!

OK, you have the right to know, as it is not a state secret (in fact, you can find this info and all that you can possibly want in the game files. For this, look in the OptionsMil files in the events folder - in fact, you can even mod these files directly...). Personally and as a player I never like to know too much, but that is my way...

- For all BOR scenarios save FPW, the requirements for the Dictator option to appear and be playable are the presence of at least 25 enemy elements (elite, line, light and/or cav) in the so called "Rome in Danger area" ($Roma|$Volsinii|$Casinum|$Narnia|$Spoletium|$Beneventum|$Corfinium|$Capua|$Cosa|$Clusium|$Perusia|$Neapolis)
- In Senones scenario, only one dictator will possibly be available; in Samnite War, up to 3; in Pyrrhus War, up to 2

- in FPW scenarios, the requirements are at least 25 enemy elements (same families as above) in all Italia regions; the Dictator option can be triggered up to 5 times

Enjoy the information

[jimwinsor2]

VERY interesting, thanks!

[bob.]

Franciscus, thanks so much!

When I play against the AI I also like to be surprised, but when I play against a good opponent I always want to know what does what so I can actually plan in advance, otherwise I am just randomly moving forces around and hoping for the best which in my opinion kind of works against the principle of a good strategy game
But I understand why encountering these things "on the fly" can make a game fun as well!
Although for later expansions (hurry up, by the way!) I would really appreciate some kind of strategy guide - maybe some beta testers would actually have fun writing it? (Propably demanding a bit much here :cool

[Narwhal]

Reading the event file, it seems that the additional Roman armies created by the event never disappear, so the player can face up to 10 legions in the Samnite scenario ; in that circumstance there is nothing he can do. Is it WAD ? I would propose one of these solutions)

- A monthly NM/VP costs when the extra Legions are around for longer than the dictator (with an option to dissolve them)
- No new legion (or only 1) created when the option is selected a 2nd and 3rd time and the 2 legions above still exist
- An increasing cost for the dictator option, so yes the first 2 legions are free, but the second time you also pay 200 (for instance, needs to be balanced by scenario) and the third time 500, thus showing the increasing difficulty to mobilize young men.

[Zebedee]

Hi guys,

the Beneventum condition is the problematic one for the Samnite scenario. Not sure what impact it would have if it were removed though, at least for this specific scenario? Seems a bit unfair that actively defending the mountain passes triggers sufficient panic in Rome that they're willing to pump out an additional 5 dictatorial armies to get access to your room with a view Thank you for the information though Franciscus - had been puzzling me how I was receiving the option when the Samnites were nicely contained up on top of their mountains.

[Franciscus]

Hi

- First, a little correction: in the samnite scenario the maximum dictators are 3.
- Also,remember that they come each with 2 legions (with no alae), so the maximum legions obtainable are 6, in this scenario
- Finally for the option to fire and to be regenerated, each time 25 enemy fighting elements must be in the regions defined above.

Nevertheless, if somethings are almost impossible to change (ex, some of Narwhal sugestions are AFAIK impossible to implement with available scripts), other aspects of the game are not set in stone. In fact, many of Ageod "patch" changes are in reality fine-tuning and balancing improvements

For example, the regions defined as the area "Rome in Danger" can easily be changed (although affecting all scenarios save for FPW). For example, Beneventum could be left out but Hadria added (that is 2 regions away from Rome, while Beneventum is not).

Further input on this is, I am sure, very welcomed by the rest of the team.

[Franciscus]

Hi

After consulting with the scenario designers, we agreed to remove Beneventum from the regions that can trigger the Dictator options for the Roman player, for patch 1.02b
With the objective of achieving a better balance and making this option more related to a "real" threat to Rome.

Any comments welcome

Regards

[Erik Springelkamp]

Sounds good!