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Completed SIGNA FERTE or Let's Play A Legionary's Life

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
I like the idea behind the combat encounters a lot - that you don't have to actually defeat your opponents, only survive long enough for the other boys in red to break their backs. This is how it should work in way more games.

Defeating opponents is still recommended (well, you get some recognition and it's even the point!) and the game spices up combat with duels and special encounters (like your common bandits during foraging) that require a different approach. And of course, there's the final boss of the game (that's both a massive pain in the ass for weak characters and a stroke of genius from the author, if I may say).

But even if the game is somewhat on the "light" side, it's worth the seven or so bucks.

If you run out of time, forage/hunt till you have enough food. Your superiors will be more understanding if you're late but have enough grub.

Italians aren't Romans, thank God. Thanks, but we truly got the worst run I've ever had on a foraging mission. I'm not joking, first one I fail ever. Four villages, three with random events that lessened the amount of food found, two failed Fishing checks, no way to find food out of the villages.

A RNG outlier.

Can you tell us a bit about Roman approach to religion? I'd be very interested :)

"I like to ask simple questions: the Understatement of the Century"

Roman religious belief is frankly an insanely deep (and wide) subject, and I've completely forgot the authors I've studied, like, almost a decade ago. Even the terms aren't directly translatable (religio doesn't means exactly religion!) but to oversimplify: the Romans thought of themselves as a deeply religious people, and it was an essential part of their self-representation. The stereotypical Roman hero from the augustan literature, Aeneas, is not only a warrior hero in the typical tradition, but he has also the greatest pietas, that we can roughly translate as the greatest respect for the Gods, for the family, and for the State. If a Roman would compare himself to another people, even before their military prowess or anything else, he would have probably pointed out that they were pious.

Roman belief can be personal (and we have proof of that) but the essential part is social and public: what's essential is partecipation in the religious community (be it your family or even more importantly the state) performed in public places. Following correctly rituals and keeping a good relationships with the Gods guaranteed the success of the Roman state and of course of the individual Roman. As you say, it's a rather "contractual" approach, but it was indeed typical of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern religion of the time (amusingly and similarly enough, what's the Jewish relationship with God if not a pact?).

There's of course the immense variety of Gods (that evolves through time thanks to cultural contact) and the religious orders (that almost all have, unsurprisingly, a public role). You can have belief in the supernatural and the otherwordly, the role of public festivities and the immense role of divination (how the heck where you supposed to know the will of the Gods?).

Again, if I have to move a critique to Legionary's Life, is the complete absence of religion bar a couple bits and the Sacrfice option. I do understand the author's approach, but it was such a central part of Roman life that it feels somewhat off to let it go.

To make an amusing and typical example: Publius Claudius Pulcher before the naval battle of Drepana performed, as expected, divination through sacred chickens. He threw some food at them, and by reading their feeding pattern he would understand the chances for the battle. Cicero tells us that the chickens refused to eat, the worst sign possible, and that utterly terrified the Romans: Pulcher tried to play it smart by throwing the chickens out of the ships and saying:

"If they won't eat, they'll drink!"

The battle was of course lost and Pulcher got convicted for the blasphemy. We don't really care if this happened or not, but it's useful to see how even Cicero, a cultured man centuries later, perceived that in military matters, like in all things, divine help was sought and needed, and that the real reason of the defeat wasn't the enemy or anything, but the failure of the Roman general to heed the will of the Gods properly, and committing a sacrilege.

Funny to notice how Polybius apparently doesn't tell us the story, but Polybius was a soulless greek, what should he know about being loved by the Gods

By the way read Polybius, he's frankly awesome and the source of the vast majority of this game's setting

(also if I say heresies regarding Roman history, pliz correct me, it has been a decade and it ain't my field of expertise)
 
Unwanted

Kalin

Unwanted
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Messages
1,868,264
Location
Al Scandiya
This is what you get for being a bleeding heart librul. It's a universal principle that farmers always lie and have tons of extra food hidden! Oh and great job not paying for boom boom, no no can't do that, gotta save up, gotta hold on to mah moniz - immediately loses the yehzah to a stinking taffer in the night. :lol::salute:
 

sqeecoo

Arcane
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,615
Thanks, I think that's well-explained! So Rome the series got it pretty well, then? I'd agree that portraying legionnaires without religion is like describing Medieval chivalry without Christianity.

As for the divination in battle thing, I was always annoyed at the stupidity of it until I read this article: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/06/04/book-review-the-secret-of-our-success/
Apparently the utility of divination was that it served as a form of randomization that allowed you to not become predictable in your choices. Pretty cool.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,321
Italians aren't Romans, thank God. Thanks, but we truly got the worst run I've ever had on a foraging mission. I'm not joking, first one I fail ever. Four villages, three with random events that lessened the amount of food found, two failed Fishing checks, no way to find food out of the villages.

A RNG outlier.

How exactly does the foraging\hunting work? Step on a tile and RNG?
 

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
How exactly does the foraging\hunting work? Step on a tile and RNG?

You are given an overmap and control your party with movement keys. Four types of tiles (plain, no chance of ambush and fast travel, forest and broken terrain, slower to traverse and with varying chances of ambushes, and villages, main sources of supply). You can also get randomly generated fishing/hunting spots or forage for food on standard tiles, but it's inefficient. Better to beeline for villages and you'll get enough 99%.

Bar last time.

Back on traaack.

Back on camp, training routine. We could hit the market and try to find better armour, but to get truly good pieces (mail shirt and the like, we aren't going for crappy linen!) we'd need more money than we have. I wonder if we could try to get into the grace of our Centurion with a little extra guard duty, but ehrrrm.... better train more. We need the sword skills more.

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Let's see what we get.

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Huh, this one is new to me. Didn't see all the events, methinks. NONE SHALL THROW STONES AGAINST US

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We're "bleeding heart liberals", so we merely scare him. Goddamn.

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At last we can use this to regain some respect from our companions thanks to our charismatic way of scaring shitless young Iberian boys. Troop opinion is rather important, as it gives access to the best training. Sparring is essential.

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A quaestor is a public official, the first step on the so-called cursus honorum (the standard career for Roman politicians). They usually had financial responsibilities, and in this case probably financial responsabilities in military matters. It's not the biggest appointment one could get, but it's a political starting point typical for young noblemen and, honestly, we're nothing in the great scheme.

I don't think he would appreciate a bottom-tier soldier trying to make small talk. Let's focus on our duty.

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A job well done, at least.

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Three years in this dump. We got even better on the physical side of things, but our skillset is still on the "mediocre" side. I mean, now we could easily chop up bandits and militia, but I seriously doubt we can take veteran troops or strong Celtic warriors.

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Celtiberians are a somewhat ill-defined bunch of Celts (I should not use the term Celts, as it's rather disliked by contemporary historiography, but well, follow me) settled in Iberia and mixing with the local population. Bunch of hardasses, made excellent weapons and kept being a general pain in the ass for Rome for several centuries, even up to Cesarian times.

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Fuck, we fail the END check. Even high skills or characteristics don't guarantee success, there's always a dice roll.

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To risk or not to risk.... Gaius isn't a coward, merely a wise man. Could be a chance to prove himself, and we won't overdo it.

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At least we get back some RESPECT from our Centurion.

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Hmmmm..... Let's balance this. Better mediocre info than no info or being discovered.

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We aren't good enough to get better info, but at least we didn't get spotted. Or worse.

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Well, Gaius has better ears than eyes. Sound of combat isn't good. What to do, what to do.... well, we played it safe before. Let's rush for it! Lives, ROMAN lives, could be in danger!

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We aren't fast enough.

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:negative:

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REVENGE FOR OUR FALLEN BRETHREN

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Greeeat throw.

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This is a rather complex combat, with three of us and three of 'em. Our Iberian scout is lightly equipped, but the enemy Caetrati are wounded, thanks to our unfortunate companions. This should not be impossible.

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Eat a javelin in the dick, murderer.

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We kill the wounded Caetratus with a good sword blow. They lack armour, it's making our job so much easier.

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The second Caetratus falls soon after.

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And we personally dispatch the last one with a good hit. Excellent job, we killed them without a scratch.

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And we get some loot. Mostly useless, but it's still 42 bucks.

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Sad.

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Legionary burial is a fascinating subject, but I'll leave it to another time. Maybe when we die.

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Ahh, we got an award. It's even historically correct!

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Let's get back and proceed.

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We got 'em by surprise. Good thing we didn't fucked up the recon at all.

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Let's go for an officer. Fortuna, oh Mighty Goddess, be with us... for ONCE....

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All whores. I swear, women, divine or human, are just a source of pain. Poor Gaius. He deserves better.

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How the tables have turned. Now we're the standard grunt and others are the newbies. Three years make a change.

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We kill the Scutarius after a brief exchange. Could have been faster if we didn't fuck up the last two attacks.

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Our second opponent is far more skilled, and he manages to scratch us while we completely fail to get a good hit in. Back to the rear for resting.

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It doesn't last long.

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Another scutarius, but this time he's tired. Superior Roman drilling. By the way, a scutarium is, unsurprisingly enough, a shieldman, more specifically someone with medium or large shield.

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We chop at each other for a while, but both of us fail to inflict a killing blow.

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They rout.

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We have nipped the problem in the bud, and won a solid victory. Pity for the scouting party though, maybe in another world someone will have better luck and win a corona civica, the result of saving the life of a fellow Roman countryman. Need to pump that Quickness, though.

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More skills raised.

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We truly did a good job. An Armilla is a military .... say, fuck it.

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Maxfield, Military Decorations Of the Roman Army, for those interested.


Normally I should stop the update here, but hey, still got some time and I want to play a bit more. Another Camp section and I'll keep up the training. Maybe with some extra payments we can afford a nice chainmail....

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FORAGING II: THE REVENGE OF THE CORN

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Got fish this time. Off to a GREAT start!

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I'll fully admit my virtuous approach is sorta battered by the last foraging failure.... uhrghhhh...let's try to....NEGOTIATE.

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Fuck you too, mentula. Let's try to...capture them?

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I can already feel this going bad.

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GODDAMN IBERIAN VILLAGES AND VILLAGERS

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We need to destroy the village to save it.

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Like, seriously. I tried to make this work. I tried.

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The fight was short and bloody.

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I tried, Gaius, I tried. I'm sorry.

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But hey, got corn. For lives.

We reach another village and....

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THIS ISN't HAPPENING AGAIN

iSn'T HaPpEnNiiIIinG AgAiIIiN

NOTHING HAPPENED.

NOTHING.

YOU SAW NOTHING.

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NO ONE SAW ANYTHING AND WE GOT THE SUPPLIES BACK.

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One of the few ways to improve intellect and charisma.


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Another random event....

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Good news from home. Maybe we'll win this war after all.

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And we get immediately another random.

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Ah, fever. Can't touch our physique.

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The burden of the do-gooder.

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"What the hell, kind legionaries? What's the world coming to? Next you'll tell me we'll worship some dude on a cross. Madness, I say."

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I hit the market before our CAMP time ends. I don't find a good chainmail, but I find a good Pectoral Plate on the cheap. I buy that and a better-quality Celtic helmet, I'd like to avoid having my head split in half.

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This ain't good. But Scipio is supposed to be a genius, let's hope the fame holds up.

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Numidians, dangerous stuff.

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Do we risk a duel or not? Our opponent is mounted, and the battle is still to come. I'm conflicted. throws coin

No risks.

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We don't want to add our body to the pile, right?

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Inconclusive.

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Gaius fails at keeping his nerves in check, but something will change....

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Light infantry, I like.

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Roman discipline. Gaius, you should quit bitching though.

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After shitty javelin throws, we impact on the enemy line. Light infantry, this going to be easy.

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We kill our opponent, but he manages a lucky hit on our arms.

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The second Caetratus is more skilled (enemies, even the ones in the same category, can have varied equipment and skill ranks) and he manages both to wound us and survive. Back to rest.

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When we get to the fight again, we quickly kill a tired enemy.

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We overexpose ourselves. The enemy gets a lucky neck hit, that could have been terrible. We're severely wounded, time to take this more....conservatively.

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No need though. Our enemies fumbles bad, losing his balance. He'll never get the chance to recover as we ran him through.

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They're keeping up. Cheeky bastards.

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But they'll have to face, weakened, heavier and more skilled troops.

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Victory is close.

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Poor bastard.

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Gaius is many things, but not a coward. We'll fight conservatively, but we'll fight.

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And we get in exchange in a fight with a fully kitted Lybian Spearman. This is bad. Very bad. They are very good troops, he's more armoured than us, and he has range and height avdantage.

Maybe I didn't think this through.

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Despite his superior equipment, his skills aren't that good. We manage to make him lose his balance. Maybe we can get some hits in...

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Excellent job. We wound him heavily on the unprotected arms and legs, and he's just a little more tired than us. We need to survive long enough for another opening or for his formation to collapse under our numbers.

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As predicted. We get some extra recognition, we managed to wound Heavy Infantry after all, and in a difficult situation.

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And then they say the Gods do not exist.

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In the ends, it matters little: their army is broken and there's just a mop-up operation to finish.

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We're doing well. I'm surprised!

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Back home at last.

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Gaius, this isn't going to end well.

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Volunteers? GAIUS YOU BARELY SURVIVED THE LAST

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(There's a chance to refuse, but I DOUBT that anyone would vote for it, right?)

Baaack to the grind. I guess someone doesn't want to hunt for pretty girls and instead wants extra glory.

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The Consul knows us apparently "That guy who volunteered a couple of times". Great.

I'll stop this here for now. It's a pity we didn't got promoted at least to Optio. Gaius isn't doing bad, but for some weird reason (FORAGING) no promotions. Whatever, the game is perfectly playable, but just for your amusement I'll tell you it's perfectly possible to get to a nice Centurion rank even after the first campaign.

Also, we finished the first third of the game! Two extra chapters to follow, full of cities to pillage and enemies to kill. I'm somewhat surprised we managed this far without dying, I'd guessed some Iberian would have knifed us sooner than later.
 

Grimwulf

Arcane
Patron
Vatnik
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
4,045
Location
Kodex Kommunistic Kastle
I believe that promotions are mostly affected by the number of awards (cups and armillas) you hold and how well do you perform in combat. Then again, I've never fucked up foraging :lol:

Also, Africa will be Gaius's grave. He should have stayed in Rome.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
We have nipped the problem in the bud, and won a solid victory. Pity for the scouting party though, maybe in another world someone will have better luck and win a corona civica, the result of saving the life of a fellow Roman countryman. Need to pump that Quickness, though.

I managed that just yesterday in fact. When I saw three angry niggas and one battered goy to help, I was sure I was done for. But I won, even though the goy I helped survived with like 1 hp lol.

Netted me like 15 troop opinioun, which was very welcome, because prior to that I actually had it under 50, which made the fuckers bully me and keep bumping my morale down all the freaking time. A legionary's life is pain.
 

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
Then again, I've never fucked up foraging :lol:

NEITHER DID I

LIKE

EVER

Netted me like 15 troop opinioun, which was very welcome, because prior to that I actually had it under 50, which made the fuckers bully me and keep bumping my morale down all the freaking time. A legionary's life is pain.

Low Troop opinion is a killer for morale, but mostly for training (you need good troop op to access to good sparring reliably). Try wasting time playing games and dices, it adds after a while and helps with the morale issue.

I managed that just yesterday in fact. When I saw three angry niggas and one battered goy to help, I was sure I was done for. But I won, even though the goy I helped survived with like 1 hp lol.

Don't worry, there are other chances for a crown, each more lethal than the last. Ironically enough, the first has some steep requirements in AWA and QCK, but the combat is manageable, while the others up the ante a bit.
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Do you have any influence on the big battle or only our personal outcome (ie surviving, wounding/killing enemies) can change?
 

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
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I don't entirely like this place.

Usual training routine at the camp.

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Until something happens.

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Remember that the survivors of Cannae got dumped in Sicily, never to return home until they suffered proper penance.

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Poor Laetorious. Let's be sympathetic.

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As Menander said, ἀνήρ ὁ ϕɛύγων καὶ ράλίν μαχήɛṯαί.

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Epidius may be built like a boar, but we're built like a bull. Let's see if he can withstand our strength.

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It's a small text-based minigame. Gaius is strong, so maybe a quick first strike will gain us an easy first point.

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Goddamn.

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Standard grip it is.

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This ain't going well.

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Hmmm.... we aren't that fast. Another fast one, hoping in better luck!

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And we're back in the game.

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He'll probably expect another push. Standard grip!

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We got this! Or not- we fail the follow up STR check and we're back to square one. Let's push fast again.

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Goshdammit.

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Arseholes.

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The training is over, and we embark for Africa.

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Cheer up, fuckers. You had a riot laughing at me losing the fight, right?

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RIght.

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A small town. We are given the choice to lead the assault or to stay back, but Gaius isn't a coward. On the lead we go.

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Better believe it, soldier!

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Two militiamen try to stop us. We aren't a newbie anymore, they stand no chance. Probably.

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We quickly dispatch the first.

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The second falls soon after, he tries to knock us down with his small shield, fails, and we open his head in two.

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No longer a recruit, aren't we.

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Looting!

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throws coin Small house it is.

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Despite his awesome experiences with the fairer sex, Gaius is essentially a good man.

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Truly a bleeding heart. Let's go all in and leave some food for the kids, or they stand no chance of surviving the aftersiege.

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"I just opened your father's skull in two, but hey, here's some food."

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And we get ambushed two days later for our trouble.

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I'm so not going for their leader. We lead the assault last time, now we stick to the ranks and do our job!

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We trade blows with an enemy light infantryman and manage to kill him just as he starts to pull back.

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But the situation just gets worse for us, as their heavy infantry pushes forth.

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Our opponent is a Lybian Spearman. He's well-armoured (even if his linen armour isn't top of the line) and rather skilled. This could turn ugly fast.

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We manage to keep up well enough, wounding him in the arms (the only unarmoured thing we can see. He manages to get through our armour once, though.

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Back in the fight.

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We almost manage to kill the second Spearman when he fucks up some attacks. No luck tho, he manages to retreat in the safety of his formation.

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At last the cavalry comes out to save our asses. Good job, and another death avoided.

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Ahh, raiding. Profitable. Maybe we'll manage to get that nice chainmail.....

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Little increase in skills.

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Back to the camp and to random events.

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This time is politics: we got the help of some Numidian tribesman, Massinissa or what'shisname. Cool. More troops to help us.

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EVERYONE'S FAVOURITE ACTIVITY

FORAGING III

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And we get ambushed as soon as we enter the first forest. Africa is dangerous, apparently.

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It's only stones. Little to no damage. Lucky us.

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Our food collection goes well, until OH FUCK CARTHAGINIAN CAVALRY

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Chaos reigns in out foraging party, but we manage to parry a spear drive-by.

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I start to believe we're not cut to be officer material. Like, seriously.

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After a while, they give up and we get back to foraging.

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But we complete the job properly.

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After a few days,random encounter during standard patrol.

Quite a few options to deal with this one: we can retreat, let our men attack, lead our men, or challenge their leader. You know, we aren't officer material. It's obvious. Maybe we can solve this with our skills. If someone dies it's us, this time.

Let's propose a duel for the fucker.

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Our men appreciate.

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Ehrrrrrr...... ehrrr.....

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He's very well equipped, but he fumbles his initial attack and we punish him on his exposed arms. FIRST BLOOD TO US!

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Duels have no time limit. That's good, you can apply different strategies. The officer is slowly tiring out, faster than us.

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We trade blows for a long time. Our troops watch fascinated. He's faaar more tired than us, and wounded too. We're going to win this. Patience and method, the usual way for Gaius.

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After softening him up with some feints, we go for his legs. He's exhausted, he feebly tries to defend himself but it's too late. We kill him....

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And strip the body. Just like Epic Poetry!

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His Linen armour is marginally less effective than ours, but it has massive coverage both on our torso and groin. Maybe we can postpone buying chainmail for a while.

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VICTORY

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Maybe we aren't officer material, but we are a good soldier at least.

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Ahh, another traditional job of the Roman soldier. Buying bridges. I guess we're more up for grunt work....

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Told ya.

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:obviously:

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I choose for once to volunteer for extra Patrol duty instead of wasting time relaxing. Gaius' luck strikes again.

GODS WHY DO YOU HATE US

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*screams*

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What I am supposed to do? We're not staying here to get killed. ADVANCING

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We fuck up, but our shield skills are enough to let us go undamaged.

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Gonna....eat....you....alive....

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How satisfying. Seriously. Seriously.


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And a fuckhuge army of Carthaginians and Numidians forces us to abandon the siege.

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Next time we'll see how Scipio is going to deal with this massive problem. We don't want to be counter-sieged, right?

Africa has been good to us until now. Yes, it's dangerous, yes, we're still bottom of the barrel regarding ranks, yes, we are effin' do-gooders, yes, we keep losing men on patrols, but we're still alive and our skills are getting to a comfortable level. Also, won a duel! How cool is that?

Do you have any influence on the big battle or only our personal outcome (ie surviving, wounding/killing enemies) can change?

We can influence the outcome of small skirmishes or small encounters at best. There's a single chance in the entire game to influence a big battle, and it has impressive requirements (for even a Centurion to change history, he needs to be a god amongst men). We're in Brechtian story about small men, after all.

I just fucked up foraging

Now I feel better.
 

Binky

Cipher
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
453
THIS ISN't HAPPENING AGAIN

iSn'T HaPpEnNiiIIinG AgAiIIiN
Frail old men. The bane of foragers since time immemorial.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1058430/discussions/0/2763442118808474484/
To summarize, promotions up to centurio posterior depend on your centurion opinion. The promotion to centurio prior depends on your proconsul/consul opinion. The requirements are fixed, while the availability of the position is random, and the chance gets lower as the rank gets higher. In three occasions the position is always available, though: before Africa, before the Second Macedonian War and at a specific time during it, so if you meet the requirements along the way, you will eventually reach the highest rank regardless of your luck. If your Virtue is low enough, you may find shortcuts to fast-track your career, but they can be risky unless your Intellect is high.
Time for Gaius to stop being a pussy playing it safe if he wants to get promoted.
 

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
Shorter update today.

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Scipio has proven to be a good general. He has a plan for sure.

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We aren't going to cause a fight until our commander says so.

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And we're properly rewarded.

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Hmmm, I wonder if we could go if we were Centurions too. Little problem, we have our grunt job and our worries.

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Ahh, Scipio had a good plan then. I'd bet the Centurions did some recon work. Also, Gaius, stop being a bitch and fight.

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We have given them enough time to scramble some defences.

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Like, a single Levy soldier against three hardened Principes. Seems fair.

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It's a butcher's work. We even have the luxury of killing enemies by cutting their throats, the young levy soldiers can barely defend themselves against professional soldiers as we are now.

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The job is soon finished. Not even a single scratch on us.

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While the fire does its work, we manage (INT and AWA check passed) to notice something peculiar about one of the fugitives....

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We aren't going to let this chance go. He could be a useful hostage!

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We're not even an Optio, but we make good points.

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Scipio has managed to utterly annihilate the enemy armies.

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Good, money!

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At this point the Proconsul probably knows us or something. "yes the volunteer guy who got a Carthaginian Senator once, give him a nice place". A man can dream, can't he?

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FUCK YES PROMOTION

An optio is a centurion's second in command, from optare, "to choose" because we are chosen by the Centurion. We help the man to keep the centuria in order and can do his job if he's sick or incapacitated. Excellent chance of getting promoted if the Centurion dies (a rather common occurence, Centurions are expected to lead from the front). We get double pay and a spiffy helmet decoration.

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You know what time it is.

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Nothing happens. We get in, we get supplies, we get out.

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We would only make a fool of ourselves. Let's enjoy the show.

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Someone doesn't know when to quit. The mercs could be a problem, though.

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Well, we do better with grunt jobs. I guess we can take it.

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Strong and silent type, aren't you?

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Amusing. Now we're the elites challenging the young ones to duels. Amusing. Kind-hearted Gaius isn't up to chopping babies, tho.

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Less murder on our conscience? Maybe we will get some rewards for our mercy. Who knows.

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Well, fuck. Velites are Romans too, not Auxilia. Out of character, this is the chance of getting a reward, but the battle is sorta dangerous. Kinda. Sorta. I'll throw a coin to choose for Gaius, it's up to the Goddess Fortuna to lead him to his destiny.

And the coin says we GO

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AWESOME VIRTUE BUT WE'RE SO DEAD

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AND I MEAN DEAD IT'S FIVE VERSUS ONE. On the positive they aren't armoured and they are levies. We can manage this. Maybe. Maybe. Slow and steady.

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Fortuna protects us! Our Javelin breaks one of their shields. One enemy should be easy prey.

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The fight is nerve-wracking. We play in the most cautious way, wounding severely all three enemies. The plan is to finish them off as quickly as possible in succession. Maybe we can pull this off, we are only somewhat tired and scratched.

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One goes down.

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Second one goes down. Maybe...maybe.... but two fresh enemies surge forth.

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It's going horribly. Gaius tried, but they are too many.

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We get overwhelmed and we fall, countless cuts on our arms and legs. Too many.

Thus, as Grimwulf predicted, Gaius finds his end in Africa. Another body for the grave.

Fuck you, Fortuna.

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Evaluation of our career. Hey, at least we got promoted before dying! Enemies defeated, rank and decorations all give you extra points for new characters.

Yes, trying to save the Velite was dumb in retrospective, but I almost pulled it off until a spiral of stance failures forced me to get extra tired to regain the minimum, and I was still against three opponents. Against two? I could have pulled it off.

Second spoiler.

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And so Gaius' life, and this LP; ends. I hope you enjoyed this little game and, well, give the devs some bucks. It's cheap, recommended by the Codex Curator, and interesting.



Ahh, about legionary burials! Now that Gaius is dead, his companions will wait until the end of the battle to collect his corpse. Spoiler, Scipio wins also this one, the Battle of the Great Plains. If we need to relocate quickly, the bodies would be collected and buried/burned en masse: if we get time, individual cremation and our ashes taken to a proper burial site.

Part of our pay was kept to pay for funeral expenses: a commonly known part of legionary life, tho, the funeral clubs, weren't common for soldiers until the Imperial era.

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We'll get a nice tombstone, and centuries later bored students will sit and ask who the fuck this Gaius was and how he managed to die. Little they know....
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
Hah, I had a great run ended exactly on this fight yesterday too. I felt it was bullshit though, because I expected to have the two velites assist me, even if as nothing more than cannon fodder, but it turned out to be 1v5. I killed three, got one down to 25% hp, was about to exhaust the last one, but then luck flipped, arm hit exhausted me and a bunch of recovery failures sealed my fate. At least my score was higher than Gaius :troll:
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Yeah, I bought the game as well, and on my very first run I died having gained exactly 0 points! :lol:

My second run was quite an improvement, and now on my third I'm in africa and not dead yet..
 

Binky

Cipher
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
453
Gaius went sandal-to-sandal with New Carthage's well-armed and armored veteran mercenaries holding high ground as a raw recruit - only to fall to some barechested twats as a veteran later in Africa. Mars sobbed like a little girl. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Great read. Made me reinstall the game.
 

Dayyālu

Arcane
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
4,466
Location
Shaper Crypt
....arm hit exhausted me and a bunch of recovery failures sealed my fate.

I sorta feel the difficulty is right: you are trying to be a hero, a dead hero, and fighting 3vs1 even against scrubs is a mess. Some fights are difficult and not meant to be won without a skilled character or very good optimization (and some luck!). To be honest, of the three "Save a Roman Citizen" fights, the first one is difficult mostly due the AWA and QCK checks, the fight itself is doable, the second one needs an optimized character to stand and fight and the last one needs serious optimization to be won properly due time limits.

Awesome LP, got the game as well, struggling to even get out of Spain. :lol:

The majority of my deaths are, amusingly enough, from Spain as well. When you reach Africa you can pretty much get a somewhat working character, some equipment, and you can pick what fights you feel you can win.

We missed some interesting fights, like Hannibal's veterans, the variety of Hellenic enemies of the third act and of course the FINAL BOSS. But I'm happy people gave this a chance, it's a simple work of love. Dunnow if the author will ever manage to do the same, apparently this required two-three years and ancient historiography isn't chock-full of campaigns that can be adapted like this.

Out of my mind, maybe Procopius gives you enough variety in "follow a general around, see the world, kill people". But that would require mounted combat an' archery and shit and I don't know if the combat engine would support it.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
Patron
Developer
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
4,346
Location
Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
We missed some interesting fights, like Hannibal's veterans, the variety of Hellenic enemies of the third act and of course the FINAL BOSS. But I'm happy people gave this a chance, it's a simple work of love. Dunnow if the author will ever manage to do the same, apparently this required two-three years and ancient historiography isn't chock-full of campaigns that can be adapted like this.

Out of my mind, maybe Procopius gives you enough variety in "follow a general around, see the world, kill people". But that would require mounted combat an' archery and shit and I don't know if the combat engine would support it.

Wouldn't the campaigns of Alexander be well suited for that? They covered a lot of ground after all. Granted, the sarissa may not be super convenient for duels, but they also had sword, and the player could be a hypaspist.
The anabasis could also work.
 

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