Moguntiacum (possible spoiler)

[Timhotep]

I decided to give Ephesus a rest for a while and try Moguntiacum (hope the name is right).

Anyone played this? It is HARD!:eek:

This far I haven´t found a way to survive the first invasion. I have two full heavy infantry kohorts, trained as much as possible. First one also got two blessings from Mars, so they are "experts". There is not much else one can do in the given time. Third kohort would only have a few men and would be totally useless. Both kohorts are killed to the last man! Enemy has also heavy losses, but has still some troops left to burn down forts, weapon and armor factories...

Caesar isn´t very helpful either: he is demanding 30 weapons and after a couple of months 30 armor! I could make that if I only could win the battle.

The key must be the bridge across the Rhein taht is there from the beginning of the mission. It could be walled, but it feels like cheating... like changing difficulty.

I´ll try again in the evening.

[Spearthrower]

Why is walling off the entry route cheating?

Can you imagine in real life...

"Sir, we have an extreme advantage due to the terrain here... we should..."

"An advantage you say? Oh right then - let's move down there to that plain"

:D

Wall off their route in - add towers, turn it into a killing ground... revel in the screams of the dieing. Let your heavy infantry cohorts do what they are supposed to - block the enemy from fleeing/getting past the killing ground.

Don't consider a valid way to beat a game cheating.... perhaps the scenario designer even expected people to wall it off and made the attack substantially harder in order to compensate for that. ;)

[Mikanius]

I ignored the initial demands for weapons and armor and gifted my way back in to favor. And as Spearthrower said by all means wall off the bridge and build towers for defense..................Mikanius

[Mikanius]

edited out

[Timhotep]

OK, I tried the walls and towers and it worked fine. I didn´t close the way to the bridge, but built a u-shaped road with walls and towers on both sides.
So the road to the city is open, but very few enemies make it.

However, there is a problem: the germans have catapults and battering rams. The rams are useless and catapults only destroy a few towers but every time catapults start firing the towers a message: "crimes are occuring" appears. The unemployment in the city is very low and there is tons of food.

Naturally, the security rating drops to 0 (100 needed) and the invasions come so often that there is no time to rise it enough.

In previous missions I have seen that even the most distant farms and mining camps must be protected to keep SR up. But a tower??? It is a defensive structure and the enemy is supposed to attack it! I hate this.

Now i need a new plan again. Perhaps a couple of cavalry kohorts which would take the catapults away...?:cool:

EDIT: all demands are possible to fulfill.

[bexgames]

WOW..looks like a hard one Tim, thanks for the updates.
Let us know how you make it work! (so I know what to do when I get there ;) )
Isn't this game great?
good luck! :)

[Spearthrower]

If they come too regularly to raise your security up then you need to start building up a much larger force. From the sounds of it I would say you need a couple of horse regiments ready to take down their catapults. Their battering rams should be no match for a dedicated light cohort... while a couple of heavy cohorts with archer auxilia support hold the bulk of the attackers in place while your towers do their mass-butchery stuff.

I always was a better general than a city planner! :rolleyes:

[Timhotep]

I made it finally. I tried a bold way of doing it: took all my troops across the river and faced the enemy in the open field...:D So no advantage of towers or landscape this time!
My troops (5 elite kohorts heavy infantry) were superior, they won easily and suffered only minor casualties. This shows how much experience and training means.

The city is not that great.. there is a huge equite unemployment and the patrician block is unfinished... but otherwise it´s OK.

[Timhotep]

A couple of screenshots more; in previous post they were from the very beginning of the city and from the "death row".

[Mikanius]

Moguntiacum has now become the first city I have had to start over. Just too many invasions; one after another after another etc. Finally caught me with just one complete cohort and two fragmented ones and one I had just plunked down that had zero in it. Plowed thru my walls at the river, swept aside my cohort and crossed the river to begin their pillage. I did manage to get them to 'confidence wavering' tho. Two cohorts ravaging your city equals disaster for sure............doing better second try..........Mikanius

[Poxar]

After my quake in Ephesus i decided to go back and play the military missions on empire.

Heres my walls to fend off those attacks. It seems to work very well. I leave all my soldiers inside the outer wall and send one cohort out to take out the catapults after the soldiers begin to climb the walls. Very effective, they have yet to breech the inner wall.

One tip i can offer is the bridge. When i started, the first attack whiped out my city! I reloaded a save and tried the second time by deleting the bridge. This works! The attackers stand around for a few months then leave. One drawback is that cutting off that brigde will also cut off your trade routes! I was prepared better the second time around.

Im still playing the mission, it got too late lastnight to finish it. Any tips for pushing security to 100? Im not sure exactly how this rating works. Ive got perfects everywhere, Jupiter devotion, and walls around everything except a couple mining camps. What else would one need to do? Perhaps i just have to wait a few since i just got it all walled up.

[Timhotep]

One drawback is that cutting off that brigde will also cut off your trade routes! I was prepared better the second time around.

Im still playing the mission, it got too late lastnight to finish it. Any tips for pushing security to 100? Im not sure exactly how this rating works. Ive got perfects everywhere, Jupiter devotion, and walls around everything except a couple mining camps. What else would one need to do? Perhaps i just have to wait a few since i just got it all walled up.

The traders come from migration point, so deleting the bridge has nothing to do with it. During an invasion none comes to the city, no traders, recruits or inhabitants.

You must wall your city to get SR over 50 and there must be no crimes.

[Poxar]

oh ok, i didnt know trade stops during an attack. That would explain it then. You could really cut off the bridge until you had the military to face the attacks then.

[cegman]

Poxar those mining camps might be keeping you from getting 100. I think I read everything needs to be surrounded to get 100

[Poxar]

Yea I plan to delete anything outside walls. Hopefully ill be able to beat this tonight and move on.

[Grumpus]

Some buildings can be outside walls and affect the security rating. sse attached from game help

[LisaMockingbird]

yeah I also found this the toughest invasion city... when they attack if they get a chance to break your wall your security rating takes a huge bite.

After a few attacks I noticed they always entered at exactly the same points... on future attacks I placed my cohorts at those points, had them attack the rams and catapults before the soldiers, let the tower guards shoot arrows at the enemy soldiers.

As I was still building up to 6 cohorts, they took out some towers but I managed to keep em from burning a lot (the first 2 invasions they hit me hardest) eventually I had my 6 full cohorts and then they were able to keep them from even damamging my wall/towers - I deployed my cohorts to the insertion points as soon as I got the warning so they would be ready and waiting... I also moved my walls in a few spaces so they were not too close to the wall...

Once your guys can take them out before their rams/catapults destroy any walls/towers, then your security rating will stay high. Still I had to go 2 or 3 perfect (no hit/damage) invasions before security hit 100.

Sometimes on a first invasion I found it better to let em burn a few buildings and not destroy my cohort. On this and one other scenario, I used 2 recruiting centers to build my cohorts faster.