Dividing the Spoils - Tournament 3: Closed

[kronenblatt]

... His chamberlains put him to bed and attended him closely, but the pain increased and the physicians were summoned. No one was able to do anything helpful and Alexander continued in great discomfort and acute suffering. When he, at length, despaired of life, he took off his ring and handed it to Perdiccas. His Friends asked: "To whom do you leave the kingdom?" and he replied: "To the strongest." He added, and these were his last words, that all of his leading Friends would stage a vast contest in honour of his funeral. This was how he died after a reign of twelve years and seven months. He accomplished greater deeds than any, not only of the kings who had lived before him but also of those who were to come later down to our time...

... For Perdiccas, viewing with suspicion Ptolemy's increase in power, decided that he himself and the kings would make a campaign against Egypt with most of the army, but Eumenes he sent to the Hellespont to prevent Antipater and Craterus from crossing into Asia...

... Consequently about a hundred of the commanders were the first to revolt from him, of whom the most illustrious was Pithon, who had suppressed the rebellious Greeks, a man second to none of the Companions of Alexander in courage and reputation; next, some also of the cavalry conspired together and went to the tent of Perdiccas, where they fell on him in a body and stabbed him to death...

... The Macedonians elected Antipater guardian with full power. When Antipater arrived at Triparadeisus a few days later [...], he distributed the satrapies anew. To Ptolemy he assigned what was already his, for it was impossible to displace him, since he seemed to be holding Egypt by virtue of his own prowess as if it were a prize of war. He gave Syria to Laomedon of Mitylenê and Cilicia to Philoxenus. Of the upper satrapies Mesopotamia and Arbelitis were given to Amphimachus, Babylonia to Seleucus, Susianê to Antigenes because he had been foremost in making the attack on Perdiccas, Persia to Peucestes, Carmania to Tlepolemus, Media to Pithon, Parthia to Philip, Aria and Drangenê to Stasander of Cyprus, Bactrianê and Sogdianê to Stasanor of Soli, who was from that same island. He added Paropanisadae to the domain of Oxyartes, father of Alexander's wife Roxanê, and the part of India bordering on Paropanisadae to Pithon son of Agenor. Of the two neighbouring kingdoms, the one along the Indus River was assigned to Porus and that along the Hydaspes to Taxiles, for it was not possible to remove these kings without employing a royal army and an outstanding general. Of the satrapies that face the north, Cappadocia was assigned to Nicanor, Great Phrygia and Lycia to Antigonus as before, Caria to Asander, Lydia to Cleitus, and Hellespontine Phrygia to Arrhidaeus. As general of the royal army he appointed Antigonus, assigning him the task of finishing the war against Eumenes and Alcetas; but he attached his own son Cassander to Antigonus as chiliarch...

(by Diodorus)

The Dividing the Spoils tournament takes off immediately after the partition of satrapies at Triparadeisus in 321 BC, only a few years after the death of Alexander the Great and Perdiccas' original partition at Babylon, and immediately following the fall and murder of Perdiccas in Egypt while warring unsuccessfully against Ptolemy. Alexander, lying on his deathbed, had left his empire to "the strongest", which was interpreted very differently among his generals...!

This third season involves amended rules but with the same army lists for eight players, dividing into two separate maps with four players in each. Rules have been changed for the sake of simplification, while maintaining the opportunities for alliances (temporary as well as permanent), supports, and betrayals.

Map I

Concluded in round 5 (316 BC) with kronenblatt as winner controlling 15 satrapies.




Map II

Closed in round 5 (316 BC) on December 6, 2023 without any winner due to inactivity.

[kronenblatt]

[kronenblatt]

Overview

• The Dividing the Spoils tournament takes off immediately after the partition of satrapies at Triparadeisus in 321 BC, only a few years after the death of Alexander the Great and Perdiccas' original partition at Babylon, and immediately following the fall and murder of Perdiccas in Egypt while warring unsuccessfully against Ptolemy. Alexander, lying on his deathbed, had left his empire to "the strongest", which was interpreted very differently among his generals.

• Each player represents one of these generals personally knowing and fighting with and for Alexander, having as 'successors' (Diadochi) been assigned satrapies at the partition at Triparadeisus.

• Players must own the Immortal Fire DLC in order to take part in the tournament.

Ending and winning the tournament

• A player who doesn’t control any satrapies has lost and is irrevocably eliminated from the tournament, independent of his Glory.

• The tournament ends as soon as at least one of the following conditions (whichever is the earlier) is fulfilled at the end of a round:
  1. a player controls more than half of the satrapies (i.e., 13 or more), with that player being the winner of the tournament, or
  2. the C-in-C of all non-eliminated players have fallen (at least once) in battle, with the non-eliminated player having the highest Glory being the winner of the tournament.

• In the case of both 1 and 2 having been fulfilled, condition 1 will determine the winner of the tournament.

• Glory aims at reflecting that the Diadochi were all men trying to be like Alexander the Great, and part of his mystique was due to his vast and daring conquests and victories as well as his bravery in battle. Therefore, they are fighting in the vain pursuit of intangibles like fame and reputation, not only of land and satrapies.

• Players therefore accumulate Glory at the end of each round, as follows:
  • from each battle that the player has fought that round divided by the number of battles (i.e., the average):
    • inflicted casualties (in the upper-left corner at the end of the battle), plus
    • 40 if he was the victor of the battle.
  • from each Satrapy that the player controls:
    • 5.

Map

• The map depicts the overall administrative structure with 24 satrapies of the Alexandrian empire, as inherited from the Achaemenids and in turn inherited by the Diadochi.

• Satrapies are connected to each other by land borders and some in addition by sea connections.
  • A satrapy with a land border to another satrapy is considered to neighbour the other satrapy.
  • In addition, the following satrapies are considered neighbours due to sea connections:
    • Aigyptos and Makedonia.
    • Phrygia and Thrake.
    • Phrygia and Makedonia.

• A player is considered neighbouring another player if any of his controlled satrapies neighbour any satrapies controlled by the other player.

• The neighbouring concept has important implications regarding which attacks can be made and which players can gain control over which satrapies, once attacks and corresponding battles are concluded.

• Satrapies can only be spear-won, through battle victories, and can not be received from other players as part of gifts or in any other way, other than what is set out and allowed under Effects of battle outcome below.

• If a player is removed from the tournament, control over each of his satrapies is transferred (one by one, from east to west) to a neighbouring player with the fewest number of controlled satrapies immediately prior to the transfer (and failing that, to the one of these players with the highest inflicted casualty difference upon the removed player).

Technical specifications and preparations

• Download is now available.

• Download the Dividing the Spoils mod with all army lists (to be selected under Select another module button when setting up challenge for battle).

• To download, apply the following steps:
  1. Click on the Download community scenarios button at the top of the main screen of the game.
  2. Select Dividing the Spoils MP Custom Battles v4. (note: should be version 4: v4) (currently near the bottom of the list)
  3. Click on Download the Selected Campaign.
  4. The mod will then be automatically saved into the My Games\FieldOfGlory2\MULTIPLAYER\ folder, within the MP_DIVIDING_SPOILS_V4 folder.

• Please note that a player must own the Immortal Fire DLC in order to take part in the tournament.

Army lists

• All players use the army lists of the Dividing the Spoils mod, with one army list for each satrapy and with a number of vanilla army lists representing allies. (For more details, please see Armies and allies in battles below.)

Units

• All units (except for Heavy Artillery) within an army list are freely available to deploy (other than the standard in-game limitations on numbers, etc.).

• Players are not allowed to select Heavy Artillery for their battles, despite being in the army lists.

Allies

• Allies may only be selected by players controlling certain satrapies:
  • Only the controller of Makedonia (1) may choose Illyrian 680 BC - 25 AD as allies.
  • Only the controllers of Makedonia (1) or Phrygia (3) may choose Greek 460-281 BC as allies.
  • Only the controller of Thrake (2) may choose Thracian (Triballi) 350 BC-46 AD as allies.
  • Only the controllers of Kappadokia (4), Armenia (8), or Atropatene (11) may choose Georgian 331 BC - 252 AD as allies.
  • Only the controller of Aigyptos (6) may choose Kyrenean Greek 321-276 BC as allies.
  • Only the controller of Aigyptos (6) may choose Libyan 549-301 BC as allies.
  • Only the controllers of Syria (7), Mesopotamia (9), or Babylonia (10) may choose Arab 312 BC - 299 AD as allies.
  • Only the controllers of Hyrkania (13), Baktriane (17), or Sogdiane (22) may choose Skythian or Saka 550-301 BC as allies.
  • Only the controllers of Paropamisadai (23) or Indike (24) may choose Indian 500 BC - 319 AD as allies.

• In these cases, it is always up to the player whether allies are in fact selected or not, and the player makes this decision for each individual battle.

Rounds

• A round is represents one year, with the first year being 320 BC (the year following the partition at Triparadeisus in 321 BC).

• Each round consists of the following three phases:
  1. Attack declarations: All players announce, one by one in the order as specified below, which attack that they will make.
  • The increasing order in which in which attacks are announced in a round are determined by each player's (minimum, if the player's having fought more than one battle) casualty difference (as represented by routing percentages (inflicted minus incurred casualties) in the upper-left corner at the end of the battle) from battles in the previous round (i.e., the player with the lowest/worst casualty difference announcing first, and so on).
  • In the first round, attacks are announced in a randomly generated order.
  2. Battle resolutions: All battles will be simultaneously played and completed in FoG2 during a period of four weeks.
  3. Administration: Satrapy control changes and Glory calculations.

Attacks
Individual attacks

• Each round requires a player (the "attacker") to announce an attack, in the form of attacking another neighbouring player (the "defender").

• The attack announcement is made in a post in the tournament's thread on the forum, with the attacker specifying from which one of his satrapies that the attack takes place ("attacker satrapy") and which neighbouring satrapy that is attacked ("defender satrapy", together with the attacker satrapy, the "satrapies-at-stake" for that particular attack).
  • Example: rbodleyscott attacks kronenblatt, using the army of Gedrosia and Indian 500 BC - 319 AD allies. Attacker satrapy Babylonia, defender satrapy Mesopotamia.

Wars (consisting of one or several attacks)

• A satrapy already included as a satrapy-at-stake in a player’s attack can again be part of other players’ attacks in the same round.
  • Example: rbodleyscott attacks kronenblatt’s Mesopotamia from Babylonia. kronenblatt in turn attacks Aetius39’s Syria from Mesopotamia. Aetius39 (counter)attacks kronenblatt’s Mesopotamia from Syria. deeter attacks rbodleyscott’s Babylonia from Persis.

• All such satrapies-at-stake, and their attackers and defenders, linked together through one or several attacks are then considered part of the same “War”.

• A War can therefore consist of several satrapies-at-stake (sometimes many more than the original two), involving several players (more than the original two), with the prize of the War for its one victor (if any) being all such satrapies-at-stake.
  • In the example above, rbodleyscott, kronenblatt, Aetius39, and deeter are involved in the same War, with Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Syria, and Persis being satrapies-at-stake in that War.

Battles
Setting up battles

• Each of the attacks are fought out as an individual battle in Field of Glory II - Ancients as follows:
  • The battle takes place in the defender satrapy between the attacker and the defender for the attack in question.
  • Armies and allies: in accordance with Armies and allies in battles below.
  • Scenario: Custom Battle - Open Battle.
  • Force size: Large (1600 FP).
  • Map size: Wide (40x32).
  • Map type: as agreed between the attacker and the defender from among the available terrains of the defender satrapy in accordance with Map terrain in battles below.
  • No map re-rolls are allowed.

• The defender of the attack creates the challenge in the FoG2 Multiplayer Lobby (always password: DiSp) and always with defender as Side B (in order for the other player to immediately be able to deploy when accepting the challenge).
  • Please note that the Dividing the Spoils v4 module (MP_DIVIDING_SPOILS_V4) needs to be selected and launched under Select another module when creating the challenge.
  • When the challenge has been created, the defender, for information, sends a PM to the attacker and makes a post in the tournament thread.

Concluding and reporting battles

• Battle outcome, once resolved, is posted by the victor (or the player having inflicted the most casualties), along with information about combatants' casualties and whether any C-in-C has been killed, through posting in the tournament thread.
  • Example: Aetius39 defeated kronenblatt 48-21, with Aetius 39s C-in-C killed in battle.

• Players commit to concluding their battles within the four-week deadlines after the administrator has listed the battles to be fought that round and to adhere to the results derived from the adjudication mechanism in the case of failure to meet such deadline.

Armies and allies in battles

• The attacker can select any army (and available allies) from his own controlled satrapies.

• The defender can only select the army of the defender satrapy but can select allies available from his own controlled satrapies.

Map terrain in battles

• The attacker and the defender in each battle agree on which map terrain to use, from among the available terrains of the satrapy in which the battle takes place (the defender satrapy).

• If they can't agree on one map terrain, the fallback (i.e., the leftmost) map terrain of the defender satrapy is used.

Effects of battle outcome

Victors of battles

• The player routing the enemy is considered the victor of that battle, and the routed player considered the loser of that battle.

• If neither player routs the enemy, the battle is a draw and neither player is considered victor or loser for that battle.

• Players can agree to a draw before the battle commences or at any time during the battle, in which case neither player is considered victor or loser for that battle.

Victors of Wars

• Only one player (but potentially none) may be the victor of a War and gain (or retain) all the satrapies-at-stake of that War, such player determined as follows:
  • The minimum casualty differences (whether from a victory, draw, or loss) from each of the victors of battles in the War are compared (even if they may have drawn or lost other battles in that War).
    • Players that have only drawn or lost battles in the War are however not included in such comparison (and may therefore only lose and not gain any satrapies-at-stake from that War).
  • The one player with the highest casualty difference is considered the victor of the War and gains control over all the satrapies-at-stake of the War.
  • If two or more players have the highest casualty difference, there is no victor of the War and no change of control to any of the satrapies-at-stake of the War at all.

Redistribution of satrapies

• The victor of a War, having gained control over all the satrapies-at-stake of that War, is allowed (but not obliged) to redistribute control over one or more of such satrapies freely as he deems fit to any other players not yet eliminated, provided that he did not attack or was not attacked by that player during the round (whether in that War or another) and that player already controls a satrapy neighbouring the satrapy to be redistributed.
  • Example: a player gaining control over five satrapies may decide to keep two satrapies for himself and to redistribute two satrapies to a second player and one satrapy to a third player.

Opportunistic gains of satrapies

• If there are no victors from any battles in a War at all, i.e., only draws, all the satrapies-at-stake of the War will instead be gained by the one player (if any) not involved in the War and neighbouring any of the satrapies-at-stake of the War, with the fewest controlled satrapies (at the start of the round).

• If there are several such players, the satrapies-at-stake of the War will be gained by the one player of those with the highest (minimum, if the player's having fought more than one battle) casualty difference in his own battles.

• If there is no such player neighbouring any of the satrapies-at-stake of the War, the drawing players will instead lose an equivalent total number of their controlled satrapies (other than those at stake) to a player (neighbouring any of their controlled satrapies and selecting which satrapies to gain), all based on the same criteria as above, i.e., with the fewest controlled satrapies (at the start of the round) and, if a tie, with the highest (minimum, if the player's having fought more than one battle) casualty difference in his own battles.

[kronenblatt]

• kronenblatt

• Tyronec

• Aetius39

• carpenkm

• ulysisgrunt

• …

The campaign will be run with 4, 6 or maximum 8 players (for even distribution of the 24 satrapies at start). I may (depending on which players are participating) create two separate divisions in order to get level playing fields. So in case you’re interested, please have a look at the rules and if you’re fine with them and would like to participate then send me a PM.

[kronenblatt]

With Armchairbaron joining the list, we're six players. Would like to get it to eight and then stop there and potentially split up into two divisions/maps/parallel universes.

• kronenblatt

• Tyronec

• Aetius39

• carpenkm

• ulysisgrunt

• Armchairbaron

• …

[kronenblatt]

With Geffalrus and Rosedelio having joined as players #7 and #8, we're now full. I'll divide this campaign up into two, on two separate map with four players in each.

[kronenblatt]

So this is the confirmed setup, with players divided up into two separate maps, only fighting the other players on the same map, i.e., this is to be viewed as two fully separate campaigns (albeit within the same forum thread).

Map I

• Armchairbaron

• carpenkm

• kronenblatt

• ulysisgrunt

Map II

• Aetius39

• Geffalrus

• Rosedelio

• tyronec

[kronenblatt]

Map I: Attack declarations

1. ulysisgrunt: May 1
2. carpenkm; May 2
3. Armchairbaron; May 3
4. kronenblatt: May 4

Map II: Attack declarations

1. tyronec: May 1
2. Geffalrus; May 2
3. Rosedelio: May 3
4. Aetius39: May 4

Please note that:

• Attack declarations are posted in the campaign thread.

• Please express attack declarations in the way the following example shows (i.e., specifying both which player you attack, with which army (including any allies), and the attacker and defender satrapies):
  • rbodleyscott attacks kronenblatt using army of Gedrosia and Indian 500 BC - 319 AD allies. Attacker satrapy Babylonia, defender satrapy Mesopotamia.

• Date (midnight CET+1 (Pella) time) above indicates deadline, after which opportunity for you to declare attack is forfeited and the player next in line may declare his attack.

• Once you have declared an attack, please PM the player next in line, who will then be free to declare his attack, up to his deadline, so we all don't need to wait for each player's deadline.

• Rules are found in the third post of the campaign thread.

• The map and province information in the second post of the campaign thread is also useful.

• Please already now also download the "Dividing the Spoils MP Custom Battles v4" module in-game, under Download community scenarios.

In case any of you have any questions (which I'm sure you have, no problems ), please post them in the campaign thread in order for everyone else to see the question as well as the answer.

[tyronec]

Should the army lists have Heavy Arty given that they are meant to be excluded for MP open battles and that they are in the army lists is a bug ?
My own feeling is that games are better without them.
Sorry to be asking this so late, have only got to look at them today because my computer was down last week.


Am not quite understanding what happens if wars result in a draw.
If it is a one battle drawn war are the two satrapies distributed to a third player is one is adjacent ?

In a multi battle war, suppose player A won by 40 and lost by 5 and Player B won by 15 and lost by 10 then the minimum difference for player A is 5 and for player B is 10. Does that mean B wins ? Or does it take into account negative scores ?
If negatives were counted then the player who lost their battle by the smallest margin would be the victor, so in other words you are comparing the worst result of all the players who have won a battle.

[Geffalrus]

Should the army lists have Heavy Arty given that they are meant to be excluded for MP open battles and that they are in the army lists is a bug ?
My own feeling is that games are better without them.
Sorry to be asking this so late, have only got to look at them today because my computer was down last week.

You know, I was this close to posting the same thing a few days ago. Certainly, heavy arty are not without their uses, the most noticeable of which is that they (and light arty) can singlehandedly disrupt cavalry units in range with a lucky shot. In fact, Aetius39 took out one of my lancers in our active AEIF match with nothing but 24 pts worth of light arty. As a result, they can discourage aggressive cavalry and elephant play, which is the exact opposite thing we want for a War of the Diadochi!!! More cavalry and more elephants should be the name of the game. Field artillery don't really show up in any of the accounts of the WotD battles, despite siege technology being extremely popular at the time, so having them present wouldn't feel very authentic.

So in short, I would support at least a house rule that we all just ignore heavy artillery and focus on the wide array of other unit options.

[kronenblatt]

Should the army lists have Heavy Arty given that they are meant to be excluded for MP open battles and that they are in the army lists is a bug ?
My own feeling is that games are better without them.
Sorry to be asking this so late, have only got to look at them today because my computer was down last week.

So in short, I would support at least a house rule that we all just ignore heavy artillery and focus on the wide array of other unit options.

No, it’s not a bug. But the module is from the days when HA in FoG2 was immobile. And I agree that mobile HA shouldn’t be in this campaign. So let’s make a house rule that they’re not to be selected. I’ll clarify that in the rules.

If it is a one battle drawn war are the two satrapies distributed to a third player is one is adjacent ?

Yes.

In a multi battle war, suppose player A won by 40 and lost by 5 and Player B won by 15 and lost by 10 then the minimum difference for player A is 5 and for player B is 10. Does that mean B wins ? Or does it take into account negative scores ?
If negatives were counted then the player who lost their battle by the smallest margin would be the victor, so in other words you are comparing the worst result of all the players who have won a battle.

Actually the minimum difference for player A is -5 and for player B -10. So player A wins the war. And true, the worst result of the players having won at least one battle in the war are compared. Of course, a player winning all his battles in a war will by definition be better off then he who won some and lost some. So it’s deliberate.

[tyronec]

Map II: Attack declarations
tyronec attacks Geffalrus using the army of Aigyptos with Kyrenean Greek allies. Attacker satrapy Aigyptos, defender satrapy Makedonia.

[Geffalrus]

Map II: Attack declarations

Geffalrus attacks Rosedelio using the army of Thrake with Triballi allies. Attacker satrapy Atropatene, defender satrapy Media.

[ulysisgrunt]

Map I

ulysisgrunt attacks Armchairbaron using army of Paropamisadai. Attacker satrapy Paropamisadai, defender satrapy Indike.

[Rosedelio]

Map II: Attack declarations

Rosedelio attacks Aetius39 using army of Paropamisadai. Attacker satrapy Paropamisadai, defender satrapy Indike.

[Armchairbaron]

MAP I challenge

Armchairbaron attacks Ulysisgrunt using the army of Karmania . Attacker satrapy Drangiana, defender satrapy Areia.

[carpenkm]

Map 1

carpenkm attacks ulysisgrunt using army of Atropatene and Georgian allies. Attacker satrapy Atropatene, defender satrapy Media.

I had a lot of luck with Media last time - I'm keen to rejoin with our Median brothers - rise up against your oppressive overlords and throw off your chains! Do we even need to fight?

[kronenblatt]

Map I: attack declaration

kronenblatt attacks Armchairbaron using the army of Aigyptos with Arab 312 BC - 299 AD allies. Attacker satrapy Persis, defender satrapy Parthyaia.

[Armchairbaron]

Map I: attack declaration

kronenblatt attacks Armchairbaron using the army of Aigyptos with Arab 312 BC - 299 AD allies. Attacker satrapy Persis, defender satrapy Parthyaia.

Game's set up. Ready to go.
Enjoy.

[Aetius39]

Aetius attacks tyronec using the army of Karmania. Attacker satrapy Karmania, defender satrapy Persis.