Britannicus, a Legion Arena Mod

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Redpossum
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Britannicus, a Legion Arena Mod

Post by Redpossum »

Britannicus in Britain, a new Legion Arena Celtic campaign.,

Download the mod >here<

Install Notes

1) Point the unzip operation at your Legion Arena directory. This is usually C:\Program Files\BlackBean\LegionArena. The zipfile will create a \mod directory and the \brit directory under that.

2) Zipfile is brit_100.zip, size is about 260K, unzipped size of mod is about 3.3 megs.

Run Notes

1) Start the game. If you did the install right, you should see a screen asking you what mod to use. The two choices are "None" and "Brit".

2) Start a new campaign, choose the Celtic Campaign.


Player Notes

1. This campaign is intended for the experienced player, who has completed both of the standard campaigns in Legion Arena. This campaign is intended to be played on the middle difficulty setting ("Hard", in the english language version). This campaign is intended to be challenging. But feel free to play it any way you like. Because lower difficulty settings yield less fame, it may be the case that playing on the "Normal" difficulty setting is not really much easier, (see note #2 immediately below).

2. Fame is handled a bit differently in the early game. Most of us are accustomed to having huge excesses of fame, won in major battles witnessed by thousands, (and affecting the fates of many times that number). The initial parts of this campaign deal with obscure events off on the fringes of the empire, or hidden away from public view. Thus, the gain in fame is very small at first. Instead of accumulating a huge surplus of fame, you may find yourself doling out what little you have for much-needed replacements. This is intentional, but really only an issue for the first three scenarios, while you are en route to Britannia.

3. If the "Heal All" button is not active, but the hearts are red, it means you don't have enough fame to heal all units. You can still heal some by double-clicking on the spinning red heart of the unit you wish to heal.

4. If the hearts are black, it means you are not allowed to get replacements now. The next battle happens very soon after this one, and there simply isn't time.

5. Do not neglect the direct combat skills of your leader, or his personal equipment. To win the 7th scenario, he will probably need to have Weapons 2, a helmet, and a half-dozen combat skills. The ones with the little sword next to them are my personal favorites ;)

6. In scenario #3, watch out for the bandit skirmishers, they may be the one dangerous enemy unit in this scenario.

7. Suggestions. My suggestion is that you keep all 4 of your starting units. The first 8 units you buy might be something like this - 1x Archers, 1x Nobles, 3x Warriors, 3x Veterans. And try to get your units to Weapons 1 and Armor 1 as you go along. Don't try to fill the roster before starting to buy equipment.


Download the mod >here<

Historical Notes

1) This is historical fiction. In actual fact, Britannicus stayed in Rome to contest the succession with Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Lucius or his mother Agrippina murdered the Emperor Claudius, Lucius took the throne as emperor Nero, and Britannicus was murdered shortly before his 14th birthday.

2) Agrippina was known as Agrippinilla in her youth, because her mother was also named Agrippina.

3) The general period was one of great unrest and turmoil. The actual Iceni rebellion ended rather differently, but it was followed by the Batavian rebellion 7 years later, and the year after Nero finally died was known as the year of 4 emperors. So while the scenario is fiction, it is by no means impossible.
Last edited by Redpossum on Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
ste
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Post by ste »

Awesome :-)
pipfromslitherine
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Post by pipfromslitherine »

Very cool. Well done on the first full campaign Mod :)

Cheers

Pip
spedius01
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Post by spedius01 »

Ave possum,

Very well done, my friend!

It takes a certain person who has a certain something to create a master-piece. Let's call it the "X" factor, you mate, have it in spades. I do wish that I could join in with you but I have my own major project. However, perhaps others will be so inspired by your example that they will try their own mods.

I was so impressed by your achievement that I've created a link back to this topic. I do hope this hasn't started a circular process and, consequently, we will all continue to loop into infinity.

Check out my last post in this topic over at RomanArmyTalk.

http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=5911

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo
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~~~Jim Poulton~~~
"If you build it, they will come"
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IainMcNeil
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Post by IainMcNeil »

I've downloaded it and will play through. The first problem I had was that the Celtic campaign needs to be unlocked before you can play. I'm not sure why though as your data seems to specify that it defaults to unlocked, so I'll check it out.
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Post by IainMcNeil »

My mistake - if you set the arenaside.txt file entry for Gauls from

Gauls 1 0 10 0 4 21 3 7 1 0 0 93

to

Gauls 1 0 10 0 4 21 3 7 1 -1 0 93

It will allow people who have not finished the Roman campaign to play. I'm 3 scenarios in and its great! You have made great use of fame to limit which caasualties you can replace. We wanted to do teh same but in testing foudn that too many players were getting stuck half way through a campaign & could not progress. You have put this feature back in and used it as intended which is fine, because you don't have to worry about pleasing everyone!

Great job so far!
Redpossum
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Post by Redpossum »

Well, thank you all for your kind words.

But Spedius, I think "masterpiece" is going too far =) So, Spedius, have you actually played this beast yet?

I am a bit anxious to know two things.

First, how it works for you folks as pure game.

Second, what you thought of the "storyline". I was fairly pleased with how I managed to merge it into actual historical events. I started with just a concept, made an outline, then started editing scenarios. Somewhere along the way, it occurred to me that I could merge this idea almost seamlessly into the actual events of the Iceni rebellion.

I don't want to say anymore here, since I don't want to spoil the story for those who have not yet checked it out.

Anyhow, I am waiting to see what sort of a reception this campaign gets.
hidde
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Post by hidde »

I don't have time to play very much right now but this sounds so interesting I had to download just to have a look.
Problem is I haven't been able to get it to work. I don't see any screen asking me about wich mod to use. I have a mod directory and a brit directory in the right place as far as I can tell. Any idea as to what is the problem?
Thanks
pipfromslitherine
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Post by pipfromslitherine »

Do you have the patch installed? Can you give me the exact path of your MOD directory?

Cheers

Pip
hidde
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Post by hidde »

Thanks.
I missed the latest patch. The screen is there now but I have another question.
Do I have to play through the roman campaign one more time? The Celtic one is locked just as it was when I bought the game.
Not very fun.
pipfromslitherine
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Post by pipfromslitherine »

Wasn't that issue mentioned above? Is it only a problem when you play the mod?

Cheers

Pip
hidde
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Post by hidde »

It was :oops:
Thanks again!
Redpossum
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Post by Redpossum »

I think the problem is the patch. Applying it relocks all the campaigns, at least it did for me.

So, Hidde, how did you get around this? Did you edit the arenasides.txt file?

I'll create one modified per Ian's directions and add it to the zip archive. This should be handled in the next hour.
Redpossum
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Post by Redpossum »

Done.

The copy of the mod linked for download in the first post above now includes the arenasides.txt file edited as per Ian's suggestion.

Apologies for the confusion.
hidde
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Post by hidde »

So, Hidde, how did you get around this? Did you edit the arenasides.txt file?
Yes, and it works fine now.
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Post by IainMcNeil »

I've only played teh first 3 scenarios but not being able to heal up all your casualties adds a whole new level to the gameplay. I think players should save before each mission in case you lose too many men and have to reload :)
Redpossum
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Post by Redpossum »

Please note that the issue of fame-limited replacements is really only an issue for the first 4 scenarios, while the player is in transit from Italia to his new home among the Trinovante in Britannia. Once the player is established among the Trinovante, the issue is behind him, and replacements are never again a problem.

I think a player should do a clearly-labelled manual save after each battle throughout the whole campaign, and that applies to every campaign, not just mine =)

But let me suggest ways to play those first four scenarios that will minimise casualties.

Lucius' Ambush

The key here is, as always, terrain. The Street Thugs are really nothing to worry about, it's the Gladiators that are the threat. So, be sure you fight them in the mud.

Deploy your Auxilia in offensive formation hard against the right/east map edge, as far north as possible. Deploy your Velites in the same offensive formation, right behind the Auxilia, also hard against the right map edge. Give them both a charge order.

Deploy your Militia in offensive formation just toward the east edge of the central muddy strip, as far north as possible, with either hold order.

When the game starts, your Auxilia and Velites will deal with the Thugs north of them with no further orders from you.

Order the Militia to move north a bit from their starting position. Position them carefully within the central muddy strip, but close to its east edge. The function of this Militia unit is to act as a stopper, just to prevent any hostile units from getting east of the muddy strip.

About the same time your Auxilia/Velites rout the east Thugs unit, the other Thugs unit will attack your Militia. This is fine, your Militia can take them.

Bring your Auxilia west, barely into the muddy strip, and position it just north of your Militia. Bring the Velites up behind the Militia and Auxilia. Put your leader anywhere you like. Unless you let him be surrounded by the Gladiators, his life is in no real danger.

About this time, the Gladiators will wake up from their Hold order, and surge east to the attack. If you've done all this right, the fight will take place well within the muddy strip that runs north/south down the middle of the map. In this terrain, your Auxilia and Militia, backed up by the Velites, should slaughter the Gladiators with minimal losses.

Use available Fame to heal the Auxilia first, then the Velites, with Militia last priority.



Second Ambush

This one is easy. Stick your troops in the river and wait for the cavalry to come get whacked. Seriously, guys, this should be a total no-brainer.


Bandits!

This one can be tricky. The first two units to attack are one light infantry, and one javelins. Do not, Not, NOT engage the light inf with both your melee units and leave the javelins to quill you like a goddam porcupine.

Attack the light inf with one melee unit, and close with the javelins using your other melee unit. Once you get the javelins in melee, they'll melt like ice cream on a hot sidewalk.

After you've dispatched the first two units, the rest are all melee. Just position your Auxilia to meet the first to close from the left, and let the rest of the bandits pile up as they arrive. Your Auxilia should methodically butcher them all. You'll need to use your Militia to engage the remaining attackers from straight north of you, and you can assign your Velites and Leader wherever seems appropriate.

In all of these scenarios, you should try to get your Leader into the fight; he needs the experience. Just be careful not to let him be isolated and surrounded by any of the better enemy units. So long as you keep him with friendly troops, he will be fine, even slugging it out hand to hand.

Traitor
This again is an obvious one. You need to engage the Swordsmen in mid-stream, with your Auxilia. Back them up with your Velites, be sure your Leader is there to add his bonus, and you should send them running back to their mommies in no time. Ignore the other enemy units until the Swordsmen have routed. After that, they're dead meat.



General Notes
As always, I suggest the Possum Formula for troop development.

Infantry
Swordsman, Drill, Feint. Those three in that order, over and over, breaking at L6 to take Disciplined Formations. At L12 you should take Master Swordsman, and at L13 Frenzy will be available to most melee infantry units in this campaign, but not Auxilia. From there, it's up to you. Missile Protection and Block are useful.

Cavalry
Swordsman, Drill, Feint. Those three in that order, over and over, breaking at L8 to take Trample. At L12 you should take Master Swordsman, and at L13 Frenzy will be available to all cavalry units. From there, it's up to you. Missile Protection and Block are useful, and Trample is as well.

Missile Units
This is far less rigid. Obviously, focus on the skills with the red & white target icon next to them, eh? Drill and Endurance are good choices when no missile skills are available. Drill is always useful, for any unit, always. A big point here is equipment. Be certain you do the following three things-

At L4, buy all Archers Stronger Bows.

At L6, buy all missile units Extra Arrows/Javelins

At L12, buy all missile units Heavy Missiles.

By L15 or so, Archers with these three upgrades are truly EVIL, assuming reasonably intelligent skill training decisions.

Note that buying missile units weapons upgrades (other than the above) does not improve their missile fire effectiveness in any way. Weapons bonuses only apply to melee combat. You can prove this to yourself. SAVE, then look at the "Ranged Damage" stat of a missile unit. Then buy that unit Weapons 1, and check "Ranged Damage" again. No change, eh? Now go back and reload that save you made ;)

I hope this helps.

And let me say I am delighted, truly delighted, to receive any and all feedback from anybody who has played this campaign.
Last edited by Redpossum on Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:37 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by IainMcNeil »

I've not tried, but does the mod work with both Legion Arena and Cult of Mithras?
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Post by Redpossum »

iainmcneil wrote:I've not tried, but does the mod work with both Legion Arena and Cult of Mithras?
I honestly have no clue, Ian.

I wanted to be dead certain the mod would work without CoM, so I made a point of not installing CoM until the mod was finished and tested and in a stable state.

In fact, I don't even have CoM yet; I haven't gotten past the CC problem with Softwrap.

It had honestly never occurred to me that installing CoM might break the mod. I was just worried that if I created it with CoM installed, it might not work for those who didn't have CoM.

And please let me say this again -

Please note that the issue of fame-limited replacements is really only an issue for the first 4 scenarios, while the player is in transit from Italia to his new home among the Trinovante in Britannia. Once the player is established among the Trinovante, the issue is behind him, and replacements are never again a problem.
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Post by magobarca »

Please note that the issue of fame-limited replacements is really only an issue for the first 4 scenarios, while the player is in transit from Italia to his new home among the Trinovante in Britannia. Once the player is established among the Trinovante, the issue is behind him, and replacements are never again a problem.
One question, how does one go about replacing one's self!??! Ha ha ha!! Just kidding. :roll: :lol: :shock: :wink:

Actually, if I have a bad commander, ahem, I just replace him by changing his name. :!: :idea:

Haven't installed your mod yet but it sounds very good and interseting!!!!

Now for the Punic and Mithradatic Wars (hint). Oh, I just use Legion Gold and Spartan for those, respectively.

Take care, Magobarca
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