Hannibal: Rome and Carthage Is Updated

[SeanD]

Some improvements, fixes, and changes to keep Carthage marching strong!

Matrix Games, Slitherine, and Forced March Games are pleased release the comprehensive 1.04 update for their ancients strategy game, Hannibal: Rome and Carthage. The update includes changes to play balance, improved AI, additions to the user interface plus some bug and rare crash fixes.

From Cannae to Zama – Bring the mighty Roman Empire to its knees!

Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War is a new and innovative turn-based strategy game that puts you in command of the Carthaginian military during a period of total war over land and sea with the young Roman Republic. With this military juggernaut of the ancient world at your disposal, you will vie for control over Italy, Carthage, Spain and the Mediterranean Sea using a combination of strategic political maneuvering and sheer tactical skill both on land and sea. Play consists of two layers; the first is a strategic layer where you must prudently steer your forces to the destruction of Rome’s army and the ultimate destruction of the Republic and city itself. At your disposal are a variety of unit types and historical commanders from which to form your armies. On the tactical scale, when meeting the enemy in battle, skilled leadership and a knack for war come into play as you use a simple but engaging battle system to best your opponents.

Commanders would do well to be shrewd in both war and politics as they must use diplomacy and cunning to appease and satisfy their own senate while cultivating key alliances in places like Gaul and Syracuse. To ensure that no two games are alike, a variety of historical option cards are available in every game. These cards simulate a variety of plausible events like reinforcements, political influence, revolts, desertion, specialized battle tactics, and more. The end result is engrossing and addictive turn-based gameplay and a challenging AI opponent that will keep you coming back for just one more challenge and to try just one more different strategy. Hannibal features truly unique historically themed artwork in nearly all aspects of the game. This is coupled with loads of high quality, Ancient period music to make for an immersive and wholly enjoyable experience!

Get the update here. The update is comprehensive and will bring all previous versions of Hannibal: Rome and Carthage to 1.04.Get more information on Hannibal: Rome and Carthage from its official product page.

[mariovalleemtl]

[&o]

[gdrover]

Downloaded it and have now played twice on the highest difficulty level.

Game One saw the Romans play a very aggressive overseas strategy where they invaded Spain and North Africa and continued to reinforce these efforts.
I was forced to use Hannibal's main force as a fire brigade, rushing them to Spain and then to North Africa. Despite winning every major battle, Hannibal was not allowed to return to Italy at a critical juncture and so the Romans were able to contintue to raise new armies with the powerful recruiting grounds in Italy undisturbed. After 20 turns, the war ended and despite being unbeaten in the field, Carthage capitulated.

In Game Two, I was determined that the Romans would not have the luxury of recruiting in Italy without interference. After invading Cisalpine Gaul, I recruited aggressively and defeated the Roman army there. The Romans did not invade Spain the way that they usually do, but rather combined armies and came after Hannibal. I avoided battle and force marched into southern Italy. After conquering both of the southern provinces and recruiting Italian forces there, the romans followed. A victory in the south drove them off and forced them to wait while they rebuilt their armies. Meanwhile Syracuse came over to my side and conquered the rest of Sicily, and the combined fleets (Syracuse and Carthage) won a couple of naval battles to secure the waters around Sicily.
By the time the Roman army was rebuilt and drove south to re-take Rhegium, Hannibal slipped north to Cisalpine Gaul again and recruited more Guals, and was reinforced with forces from Spain and Carthage... Hannibal's main force was now 43 units strong vs. 23 for the main Roman army in the south.
What happened next was a bit odd: Instead of moving north to protect Rome, the main Roman army marched East to reconquer the cities of Brundisium. In doing so, they laid Rome open and took 5 critical losses, bringing their main force down to 18. At this point, all of Italy had been stripped of recruits and Rome had only 1 unit above the 8 unit garrison. I marched on Rome and took it without much of a problem.

So, the AI in the new update seems much more aggressive in attacking overseas and/ or coming after Hannibal when they outnumber him, but it also may rank re-conquering Italian cities higher than defending Rome.

Seems like one more tweak may be in order. Either:
a) Always leave extra troops in Rome to make storming it near impossible, or
b) put in a calculation where if a carthaginian army is in Italy, the garrison of Rome must always equal 50% of that army.

All things considered though, this AI is a real bear, and even with perfect strategy, Hannibal has a real challenge on his hands.
GREAT GAME! I can't stop playing it. (Played it 40+ times already with no end in sight...when is the next game coming????)

[mercenarius]

Thanks for your kind words about the game.

The AI may not have quite the right balance in defending Rome but I didn't want to make it impossible to capture Rome if the player is skillful. But I think that you make a good point and this facet of the AI might need a little improvement.

I don't have a target date for the next game yet. All I can say right now is that I am trying very hard to make it a worthy successor to "Hannibal." I realize that I have left you all on tenterhooks, to a certain degree, and I'll post something concrete concerning the new game as soon as I can.