New Game?

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.

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mercenarius
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Interesting links, thanks! I always love a good map. This is one thing which really caught my eye:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908_Messina_earthquake

Now, I am afraid that I still haven't done the order of battle for the Diocletian scenario, but that is next on the list. I had some cleanup to do with the earthquakes and their frequency. I don't want any scenarios to start with a disproportional number of earthquakes even if they are "due" in some sense. For example, I don't want to make the destruction of Pompei a certainty for the first scenario. (Pompei isn't in the game, anyway, but everyone understands what I mean).

Here is screenshot of a tidal wave as opposed to an earthquake from testing. Really, the only difference in the end is the icon used for the notification, which is pure chrome, of course. Well, the text is a little different because this is from the 395 scenario and the state religion is now Christianity, so the message has a monotheistic phrasing.

Tidal Wave Notification.jpg
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

So, I have started on the "Diocletian" scenario and here is the scenario menu:

Tetrarchy_Scenario.jpg
Tetrarchy_Scenario.jpg (483.79 KiB) Viewed 2131 times

I am still tweaking the order of battle for this scenario. I will try to post a screenshot or two next weekend.
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Re: New Game?

Post by Orm »

I am still pondering on mercenary recruitment from outside the empire. To me, it seems likely that a lot of mercenaries came from the Scandinavian countries. And if that is true, then could mercenaries have came in large quantities from other areas as well.

Some time ago I heard that mercenaries from Sweden were going to Rome as early as 1 BC (or thereabouts). I suppose I need to search for some literature on the subject. Or perhaps just search the interwebs for information.

To me, this area seems to be lacking in scientific research. But what do I know. :lol:

xxxx

Thank you for the updates. :)
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett

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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Hi Orm,
I am still pondering on mercenary recruitment from outside the empire...
That is an interesting hypothesis. I don't have much information myself on this matter. I do note that A.H.M. Jones said in his book (The Later Roman Empire) that there is no data on the status of "foreign" auxiliaries after retirement. He notes that of the Germanic officers which are attested, all of them retired in the Roman Empire rather than returning "home." Presumably most of the lower-ranking soldiers did, too.

If service in the Roman army was sufficient to attract recruiting from nearby areas, why not from areas somewhat farther away? But I don't know of any organized recruiting by the empire in such areas. Of course, I don't know that they didn't have some mechanism for that, either.
To me, this area seems to be lacking in scientific research. But what do I know. :lol:
Well, you know enough to raise an interesting question. :D

On another topic, I have completed the first pass for the order of battle for the Diocletian scenario. I still have to tweak the figures for the naval personnel, I think. But here they are:

Carinus: land forces = 206,368, naval forces = 19,000,
Diocletian: land forces = 125,652, naval forces = 13,000.

This puts me a little lower than Warren Treadgold's estimate, but I tend to think that in general I aim lower than he does in my view of total numbers.

Without "showing my hand" let me say that Carinus seems to have the upper hand, and that I don't believe very much that a disgruntled officer assassinated him at the crucial moment of the Battle of the Margus. As many know, the supposed motive was a previous act of adultery on the part of Carinus and the officer's wife.
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

I had also promised a screenshot or two, so here is one. I just realized this week that I hadn't made provision for enactments to repair or build baths and aqueducts, or to beautify cities. So, I changed the "Urbs Nova" enactment button to "Urbes" and that button now launches a submenu, which will look like this:

Urbes Menu.jpg
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Re: New Game?

Post by Simicro »

Hi James,

Tony here :)

Activities since the beginning of the year is incredible :D Congrats :!:

Quick question: is this game gonna have PBEM++? I suspect not, but need to ask...
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Hi Tony,
Quick question: is this game gonna have PBEM++? I suspect not, but need to ask...
The short answer is no. The longer answer is "I hope to, eventually."

Now, I had earlier stated that the game would have some kind of multiplayer. And I spent some time on that a while back. But I didn't get much success with it, and I decided that I needed to put it on the back burner.

After the game is released, I plan to first add the tactical battle system which will be a free update. Then I'll tackle the issue of adding some kind of multiplayer as an add-on. I want to do that, but I just don't know how much work it's going to be.
Activities since the beginning of the year is incredible :D Congrats :!:
Thanks for your kind words!
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Re: New Game?

Post by Simicro »

Thanks for your quick reply! Sure I can understand that you need to stabilize the game (and functionalities) first after release before considering multiplayer. Otherwise, in my understanding, there is a risk of going forth and back if some functionalities are not correctly planned for multiplayer. I hope it can be similar to Matrix/Slitherine PBEM++; that is server based (and not email, contrary to what the name implies), and managed in-game.

The context of this question/request: I got hooked to Strategic Command recently, and also to... PBEM++, so joined a french community who is now looking for its next complementary game. Needs to be turn by turn and PBEM. So I proposed Fall of Rome. All right, I'll re-propose it when the PBEM is available ;)
Last edited by Simicro on Tue May 21, 2024 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Game?

Post by Simicro »

mercenarius wrote: Tue May 21, 2024 5:14 pm ...but I just don't know how much work it's going to be.
I'm not a dev myself but I heard that multiplayer is... say a substantial investment.
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Re: New Game?

Post by CSSS »

All silent since May?
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

I am still here, and I am working on the game full time. Right now, I am finishing the Administrative Interface and its enactments. I am also coding the related Ops Commands. For example, a player can order a new bridge to be built using an Administrative Enactment but can also use an Ops Command.

If you select a crossing point on the Strategy Map which doesn't already have a bridge there, this is what the Ops Command menu (which is shown using a Popup Menu) will offer you:

Crossing Point PopUp Menu.png
Crossing Point PopUp Menu.png (172.38 KiB) Viewed 1611 times

To save space, I won't show the dialogs for the "Boat Bridge" or "Wood Bridge" items. But if you click on one of those buttons, you'll get a chance to build a bridge in one turn at that site. Because the Ops Commands are intended to provide immediate results, you cannot build a stone bridge with that method. I figure that such a project cannot be done that quickly.

If you wish to use an Administrative Enactment, you can build any kind of bridge after choosing a suitable site:

Build Bridge Menu.png
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To keep this post from getting too long, I have omitted the sequences of getting to that menu for choosing the bridge type. It's a question of "drilling down" to allow a player to select an enactment, then to find a suitable location. It's actually pretty easy, but it gets to be a bit much for a post on the Forum here.

I also did some work lately on 4K compatibility for The Fall of Rome as well as the "Victory & Glory" games. Unfortunately, the monitor that I bought had compatibility problems and I had to return it. There wasn't much to post regarding that recent work.
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Re: New Game?

Post by CSSS »

Thank you so much! just so looking forward to this game!
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Re: New Game?

Post by Orm »

Any chance for a Christmas release?

Although, I do not mind waiting for a game I suspect will be awesome. :)
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett

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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Any chance for a Christmas release?
Well, I am embarrassed to say, no. :oops:

I especially hate to tell you this, Orm, because you are one of the "old timers" here.

I am working on the game full-time, but I have hit a couple of snags. I sat down to finish the Admin and Operations Commands for fortresses and Defensive Walls and I realized that the walls weren't as finished as I thought. I had to redesign the layout for the Limes Africae in particular. Also, the original artwork for wooden walls didn't have any towers which correspond to those in the stone versions. I don't know why I hadn't noticed that before. So, I had to pretty much redraw most of them. Not a setback, really, just a snag. But a good one.

I am hoping to at least start some form of Alpha testing by the end of the year. I just don't know how, but I am trying to find some ways to simplify where i can. But the work the last 6 weeks went exactly the opposite way. :(

On the other hand, the defensive walls now look pretty good in Africa. Here is a screen shot:

Limes Africa Circa 193.jpg
Limes Africa Circa 193.jpg (154.52 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

I will post some additional screenshots before the weekend. Thanks again for your patience and your interest!
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Just a couple of screenshots to close out the recent work on the defensive walls. This first is from the Optimus Princeps scenario and shows the northern Vallum in the Agri Decumates:

'Vallum Decumanum' Circa 98.jpg
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This is taken from the Restitutor Orbis scenario and shows the other wall in the Agri Decumates after it was destroyed in the years of the "Crisis of the 3rd Century":

Vallum Romanum Circa 270.jpg
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I'll post some more screenshots next week to show some of the rules concerning supplies and logistics.
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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Well, this a little past "next week," but here is what the dialog for the Assign Supplies will look like when that is implemented as an "Ops Command":

Assign Supplies Ops Command.jpg
Assign Supplies Ops Command.jpg (239.37 KiB) Viewed 1017 times

This is partly canned, and I will certainly try to improve the "Priority" input field to use stars instead of Arabic Numerals. The cost is actually the transportation cost only. That will get refined when I program the supply delivery system in the next week or two. I just used the cost from Cirta to the border fort at Thubunae as an example.

(I have already programmed the basic transportation costs and the distances between nodes from their use in the recruiting fulfillment). But I have to program the dynamic fulfillment of supply deliveries from the closest area that will serve as the source for the supplies. The supplies themselves are actually paid out of the soldiers' pay (i.e., they pay for their own food). But the state has to pay for transport. The cost is high in the example because the roads in the Numidian fronter are dirt roads at the start of this scenario and it's expensive to more overland in any case, but dirt roads double the cost - more or less.

The dialog shows but doesn't have room to reiterate a fact that all players will eventually memorize: one supply point feeds 12 strength points for one turn. It is also the same value as one food store unit for a Minor City.
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Re: New Game?

Post by Alikchi2 »

Still looking great! Really looking forward to trying out the various scenarios. There are so many juicy Roman civil wars. Eugenius vs Theodosius and Year of the Four Emperors would be great future content.
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Re: New Game?

Post by Simicro »

Mercenarius, you have my support and respect! What you are doing is beautiful!
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Re: New Game?

Post by Orm »

The game looks like it will be the best ever. I already dream of the first expansion. :D

Edit: Not that I want to add any pressure. :)
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett

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Re: New Game?

Post by mercenarius »

Many, many thanks for everyone's kind words!

I will try to post a couple of screenshots at the start of the weekend. Assuming that I can move after Thanksgiving dinner! :D
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