Roman legion type faction

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Cuyo Quiz
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Post by Cuyo Quiz »

The World of Wesnoth has the Green Isle and the (sorta nameless) Great Continent.

To make a follow up to that i propose this continent from which the first wesnothians migrated to be called the "Old Continent".
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Tomn
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Post by Tomn »

(Note before you read this: I originally wrote this thing up after reading up to around page 6-7, and skimmed some of page 18-19. Therefore, I decided, at the time, to send this as a PM only to unsung, reasoning that, apparently, my idea was more or less incompatible with what was already here, although I still wanted someone to take a look at it.

After reading up to now, around page 18, I decided that I might as well post the whole damn thing here. However, after reading the comments about magic, please change it so that the mage discovers that none of the Romans have any magical ability whatsoever.)

I was just reading the topic from the beginning, and at about page, oh, six or seven, I had an idea for how the Romans could be thrown into Wesnoth. Mind after, after taking a quick glance at the last few pages, the idea is probably moot and useless, but nevertheless..

I haven't brushed up on my ancient history, but let's say that Carthrage is still around and a major world power. A certain, fictional legion limbers up and is about to join the main army in order to attack this or that enemy army (maybe just before the battle between Scipio and Hannibal?), when out of the blue a massive thunderstorm crops up over land. The rain gets so thick and heavy that visibility drops to a foot or two, and all soldiers end up huddling inside their tents for the night.

When the storm finally ends, the legion gets out of the tents to find that they're now in a fairly rich land, and that there's an old, bearded, and apparently exhausted man with a stick in front of them. The leader of the legion goes up to ask such important questions like "Where did the battlefield go?" The man answers with something along the lines of how "He has finally accomplished the summoning, greatest warriors of creation, blades of steel with hands of iron holding them," and all sorts of other poetic nonsense. Then the mage attempts to order his new "minions" around. He soon finds that while he has successfully transported the finest soldiers around to his land, he has failed in binding them properly, so that they are beholden to no man. The mage flees in terror, as he is currently too weak from his efforts to battle his "creations". The legion attempts to capture him, but the mage successfully teleports out of the region.

The legion, now throughly befuddled, decides to send out patrols to discover where the hell they are now. The player-character is the leader of one of the patrols; rank as appropriate. The first real missions won't find much; a number of villages will be found, and the citizens questioned, but all that they'll find is that nobody around has heard of Rome, Carthrage, Numidia, Gaul or any other major power of the times. The player's patrol returns just in time to find the camp under attack by Orcs. By this stage, the Orcs are already fairly weakened, and as the battle goes on more patrols will return and be ready to fight and kill the Orcs. The player only ever commands his own patrol, though. After the battle, the legion will hold council and discuss what the crap is going on. End result of the discussion is that:
A: They're not in Kansas anymore, and
B: There's a major city somewhere nearby.

The leader of the legion (let's call him a praetor for now) decides to march the men over to the city. It's also worth noting that the player cannot recruit anyone at this point; he can only recall the units he originally went on patrol with.

Along the way, the player and another patrol group is sent out ahead to keep the way clear. They're jumped by bandits, and fight them off fairly easily. When they rejoin the main army, they report their findings.

Upon arrival at the city, the town's defense forces panic, and believe the Romans are invading. The full weight of the army (as represented by some of the patrols as allies along with the main army, which is led by the praetor), bears down upon the city, and the player should try to keep his patrol (his cohort?) alive as the army swoops down into the city and smashes it. Again, still no recruitment. This is also the Roman Army's first encounter with battle magic. They are appropriately freaked out by it.

A few weeks pass, and the legion has settled in the city as their home base. Recruitment of citizens into the legion in order to replace their losses begins, and more details are uncovered about the world. The praetor decides that the Roman Army requires some battle magic of its own, and manages to locate a mage at a certain point. The player's cohort is sent out to bring him back alive one way or another. The player, when arriving, will have a short conversation option; the correct choice leads to the mage joining peacefully, and the wrong choice leads to the mage rallying the retired soldiers who live nearby. If the mage joins peacefully, maurading Orcs will appear, and the player will be expected to get out there and help fight them off. If the player ended up fighting the mage, a very small and weak force of Orcs will arrive during the battle.

A few more weeks pass, and attrition begins to tell upon the Romans. The recruits continue to be trained, but their quality is not yet up to that of the true legionaries. The next mission is fairly simple; the cohort will be sent out to drive off a few orcs from a nearby hamlet. There are no suprises, no tricks, and still no recruitment, although the player will be supported by a second cohort.

Upon return, yet a few more weeks pass, and attrition continues to wear down the legions. The battle mage who was previously recruited has begun his training in earnest, and a few of the Roman soldiers have been found to have a certain amount of magical talent. For interest's sake, let's say that the player turns out to be one of them. In the meantime, pacification and skirmishes with the unfamiliar has decapitated most of the cohorts; many of them are now commanded by former second or third in commands. The Romans have by now encountered trolls and undead, albeit the latter in an isolated village. The praetor himself is now crippled, and can only move about with great effort. He remains, however, as sharp as a knife.

The next mission will have the entire Roman Army defending the town from a scouting force by Orcs. The Orcs should be, again, easily defeated. Recruitment is now possible, but only of level 0 crap legionaries, the result of the training efforts by the true Romans. The Romans have, simply put, been too busy erecting temples, streets, laws, and the like to properly educate their militia, as they trust in their Roman strength for now. Once the Orcs are defeated, a scouting force from a second direction should come; this time by royal troops from the kingdom that once owned the town. Although easily defeated, both of these forces will foreshadow the battle to come...

Which will be bloody epic. The Orcs, as part of their mass migration throughout, will attempt to take down the town. They don't really care about the Romans; humans are humans, and these humans are just different. From a second direction will come the Royal Army, which is attempting to retake the town as it is now placed in a strategically vital spot, due to recent defeats on the Orcish front. The Royal Army and the Orcs WILL fight each other if they meet, though both are normally more interested in fighting the Romans. The praetor, seeing that the end has come, tells the player to gather the money in the treasury, while the praetor himself sits the player's unit down next to his and begins to tutor him on the ways of war and how to manage a town. While the player's units try to evacuate the gold, the player should keep a bodyguard near the player's unit for when the praetor has finished his tutoring. When the praetor is done, he will bid the player to escape, and commands him to "Preserve and spread Roman ideas, culture, knowledge, and power." The player will then regain control of his unit, and is now free to flee the area.

The player will encounter no opposition in his flight, as the humans and Orcs will be too busy fighting each other for control of the town once the Romans lie dead. The player will have, as special units, his second in command and the mage originally recruited, who has by now converted to the Roman culture, which he finds fascinating and admirable. As they flee the lands, the cohort will march through the mountains, and encounter the dwarves for the first time. Again, the correct selection of conversation choices will decide whether the dwarves ally with the player, or wage war with him. This should be an important plot point; if the dwarves ally, the player will go on to create, much later, a benevolent Roman Imperium, with the intention of spreading the oh-so-superior Roman culture throughout the land. If he fights with the dwarves, however, the player will later create the same Imperium, but this time with the purpose of exacting revenge for their comrades, as well as, of course, the complete domination of the lands.

Regardless of whether or not the dwarves ally, the player will lead the cohort into a backwater of a village; there will be a few scattered villages about, and a small outpost. The player must crush the outpost, and will then gain control over the surrounding area.

The mission after this one will, if possible within the Wesnoth engine, not be one of battle; the player will instead patrol his regions, and solve a number of domestic situations throughout his realm. Successfully defusing a situation will result in a gold bonus later, which screwing things up results in, well, no gold. Screwing up too many situations will result in an extra mission later on, where the player must fight against a revolt.

I'm going to stop here for the night, but suffice it to say that the Romans go on to, eventually, build up enough to conquer the nearest town, and THIS time defend against all invaders, and even go on to do some of their own invasions. The story will be narrated, side note, in journal form.

So, whatcha think?
unsung
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Post by unsung »

:shock:
one of the best ideas I have ever heard.

too bad I don't know how to make campaigns
Oh no look out its a ray gun.
You should move to avoid the rays
the rays are coming out of the gun
if you are hit by the rays
you will be shot by the rays
the rays are fast so you should be fast to
can you win against the fast rays from the gun?
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Post by Yogibear »

Well, may be i can be of some help. I don't have any talent for drawing and little for stories but if you give me some detailed information about the scenarios, i should be able to set them up. If you are interested, i suggest you provide me with a map (the map editor is really easy to master) and i see what i can do.
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Temuchin Khan
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Post by Temuchin Khan »

Some comments:
Tomn wrote:I haven't brushed up on my ancient history, but let's say that Carthrage is still around and a major world power. A certain, fictional legion limbers up and is about to join the main army in order to attack this or that enemy army (maybe just before the battle between Scipio and Hannibal?)
Laelius, Scipio's second-in-command, and Masinissa send a detachment of Roman legionnaires and Numidian horsemen to scout out the location of a band of the defeated King Syphax's supporters. The detachment never returns and is assumed to be lost....

Also, if we assume that the Romans are the conquerors on the Old Continent whom everyone was fleeing from (Haldric's people, the Wesfolk/Lich Lords, etc), then we could get away with not having elves or dwarves (or drakes, for that matter) in the Roman campaign at all. Humans and Orcs and Undead would be more than enough -- although perhaps the Romans would meet with certain humans who have already arrived on the Old Continent of Wesnoth's world, as you've suggested.

The Romans permit their Numidian allies to establish an independent nation. Perhaps they were even in a Numidian village when they were whisked to this new world, and have some Numidian females with them....

The Romans would rename the town they finally call their own "Lavinium" (hence, Lavinian Legion), after a town by that name founded early in the history of the original Roman state.

And maybe we could include my idea about the Lavinians enslaving the Orcs and forcing them to fight in the arena?
unsung
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Post by unsung »

just some miscellaneous info: wikipedia says that auxilia actually did use armor most of the time, specifically scale mail and chain mail.
Oh no look out its a ray gun.
You should move to avoid the rays
the rays are coming out of the gun
if you are hit by the rays
you will be shot by the rays
the rays are fast so you should be fast to
can you win against the fast rays from the gun?
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Temuchin Khan
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Post by Temuchin Khan »

unsung wrote:just some miscellaneous info: wikipedia says that auxilia actually did use armor most of the time, specifically scale mail and chain mail.
I suspect that this varied depending on which contingent of auxilia was considered. I would be surprised, for example, if slingers wore armor!

Besides, the auxilia were still more lightly armed than the legionnaires, and were sometimes sent to do tasks for which speed was required such as pursuing a retreating enemy.

I think our auxilia are fine.
Tomn
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Post by Tomn »

Well, I'm not sure how specific I can be about the scenarios. I've often found that I've a fairly poor eye for detail, and the Lord knows that I'm not much good at most games I dabble in. Balancing, as they say, is not my strong point. The best I could come up with is what I think the scenario OUGHT to be like; poor fare at best for someone making the actual missions. Perhaps there's someone around who can balance well and has an eye for detail?
unsung
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Post by unsung »

i fit gets made, I-and probably many others- would be happy to play test and suggest balancing changes.
Oh no look out its a ray gun.
You should move to avoid the rays
the rays are coming out of the gun
if you are hit by the rays
you will be shot by the rays
the rays are fast so you should be fast to
can you win against the fast rays from the gun?
martenzo
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Post by martenzo »

BUG: it is impossible to load saved MP games with this era (and most other custom eras). it says that some unit doesn't exist, the game doesn't count in custom era units when loading.
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Disto
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Post by Disto »

martenzo wrote:BUG: it is impossible to load saved MP games with this era (and most other custom eras). it says that some unit doesn't exist, the game doesn't count in custom era units when loading.
But when you go through the MP menu it's fine.
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irrevenant
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Post by irrevenant »

Suggestion: Since all Lavinian horsemen are Nemidian, could the unit be renamed "Nemidian horseman" to distinguish it from the standard Wesnoth horseman?
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turin
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Post by turin »

No.


I am adamant about this. I will not prefix unit names in the Imperial Era with the faction or race they come from. Why? Because, at least on my resolution, when you can the word "Nemidian" in front of the actual unit name you can't see the unit name in the sidebar. You see "Nemidian Hors ..." or somesuch.

BTW, why not put this in the Imperial Era thread instead of resurrecting this one?
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Post by Ryorin »

Because year old resurrections make no sense.
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irrevenant
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Post by irrevenant »

turin wrote:BTW, why not put this in the Imperial Era thread instead of resurrecting this one?
Because I thought this was the Imperial Era thread. I've only really just started checking out this forum and I guess I haven't completely got a feel for the structure yet.

You're right, Wesnoth does seem to have a recurring problem with names not fitting in the space available. Which gives me an idea...
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