How to ally with Cyrenaica: Basically, you need to lose some territories and then regain them in order to make them ally with you. This is what works for me so far: 1. By "losing a territory" I mean losing it to a marauding army. Losing it due to rebellions does not seem to work for me. 2. The territories must not be ones that are wealthy, or ones that have Fierce soldiers. If you lose one of these territories, Cyrenaica will be unwilling to ally with you, even if you regain it immediately. Usually, I try to lose and regain the mediocre territories close to Italia (such as Alpes, Dalmatia, and Narbonensis), which will not make Cyrenaica refuse me. 3. After you lose each territory, you must move in an army and regain it immediately. 4. You must lose (and regain) 2-3 territories in this fashion. 5. The interval between territory losses must not be too long (I'd say 2 turns to be on the safe side). 6. You must march into Cyrenaica very shortly after you have lost and regained your second or third territory. The command sequence with Cyrenaica is Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance - Low. As mentioned in another comment, if the response to your first command is something like "We welcome our fellow brigand. We are as brothers" this means you are on the right path. Additional requirements: 1. You must march in with at least a Cavalry-sized army. 2. You need some rank (worked for me with General rank). 3. You need at least some victories against high-quality opponents (such as Carthago, Macedonia, or Parthia) before Cyrenaica (or any other country, for that matter) is willing to ally with you.
When doing gladiator shows pick a large guy for your enemy and train him for 20 talents and pick a small guy for yourself and train him for 10 talents. Don't bother blocking and just hit away, even if you loose it will have been a great show for the crowd.
As for Cilicia, you need to plunder one or more territories in order to make them ally with you. This can be tricky, however, since plundering above a certain threshold will make them unwilling to ally with you. Plundering Macedonia once (gives you 80 talents) is always enough to make an alliance with Cilicia. Note. however, that other countries will refuse to ally with you for a while after plundering. In order to shake off the stigma and make other countries willing to ally with you once again, you need to win several battles after you plunder (preferably against high-quality opponents such as Carthago, Macedonia, and Parthia).
If you plunder too much, you can get in a situation where certain countries never will ally or sometimes even talk to you.(Brittania, Syria and Sardinia springs to mind). I usually leave countries requiring plundering to last.
As i write in the description of the video, all countries will refuse to talk to you in the beginning of the game, and it's sometimes more than 2 turns. I played both the PC and the Amiga version a lot, and i'm almost certain the 2 versions are identical with alliances(same bugs seems to appear in both versions indicating copy/paste). Did you plunder anything to ruin your reputation? did you try wait some more turns?
The best is, in the very beginning just earn money in the races, in order to start gladiator combats as soon as possible, and to wait untill someone other attacks you first.
The case of Syria is similar to Pontus and Asia. You need to invade with an army smaller than theirs and be friendly. In my case when I invaded first I defeated their marauding army, so my army shrinked and then when talking to their leader I open friendly and he said something like "we admire your courage" so you know you are on the right path.
Cyrenaica is definitely possible, but I only got it in the very first game I won. I can confirm you need an alliance with Cilicia, but I don't remember the other conditions. They'll say something like "If we are both sharks, let us swim together!" :) I also managed to get Mesopotamia to surrender to me (chose "Ultimatum" at the end), but I've never managed to repeat that.
I played a ton of this when I was a kid, but on Sega Genesis. The negotiation pathways are the same, but slightly different words used. For example, Diplomacy is "Formal" and Aggressive is called "Nasty". You are virtually guaranteed to be able to negotiate with almost any country with the rank of Consul and a Consular army. Some of the in-game options are different, too. You can hold games to make your provinces mood improve, but its' only a text description once you select a game type. The only side game are the chariot races, which seem like a necessity due to the amount of talents you need to run your empire. I basically do a chariot race for the first 9 turns in a row, usually winning 8.
...There was a rebellion in Carthago in the same turn though - not sure if that had any effect. I think it does, because other leaders would not speak to me that turn. So it's either that you need to earn a lot, or you simply need to take a reputation hit.
1:01 I'm sorry, but I can't get to ally with neither Gaul nor Germania, not matter what do I do; I'm even Proconsul and Arminius aknowleged that I treat the provinces well. Is there an army size requirement?
OK, I've played again, still no luck with Cyrenaica. I have found out some additional requirements though: Asia, Pontus - Consul rank required Armenia, Brittania, Mauretania - need army larger than theirs Cilicia - you simply need to take a significant hit to your reputation. Britannia rebelling wasn't enough, nor was plundering a poor province. Plundering Carthago was enough, however. Syria - you need a smaller army than theirs
OK, I've played again but was not able to repeat any of it. For Mauretania, losing a province, rebellions etc. have nothing to do with it. It also has nothing to do with how much you earn, plunder etc. Neither is army size a factor. On the other hand, I was also unable to get Brittania or Syria either, despite following the same choice above. The one thing I did find out is that you do not need to plunder to get Cilicia.I simply set the tribute to maximum in all provinces and they joined...
I used Low Taxes for both provinces, and I went into the 260's, so I waited more than 2 turns. I played in Galley Slave level (don't know if it's importan). I'm going to upload some footage taken from DOSBox.
I'll be making a few comments on the video over the next few days. First, regarding Gaul and Germania: 1. In the PC version at least, you definitely have to reduce their army strength to less than 6,000 soldiers by attacking them and then retreating from battle. If you do not do this, they will refuse to ally with you, no matter how many other milestones you have achieved. 2. Once you weaken their armies, you will need to march in with an army larger than theirs and follow the commands outlined in the video. Additional requirements: 1. You need some rank (probably General but I'm not 100% certain). 2. You need to have defeated high-quality opponents several times (i.e. Carthago, Macedonia, and Parthia) before they (or any other country, for that matter) are willing to ally with you.
Thank you, it had never been able to ally with Germany and Gaul, but it worked like a charm! In my case I reduced their armies to 3000 or less with my first consular army before retreating. Then I invaded with my 2nd consular army with something like a 2:1 advantage. This time both leaders were more than willing to submit :)
I think Italia must be Restless (at least), because I held a couple of games, and finally I managed to ally with Sicilia in 258BC. Thanks for your help! Cheers!
I remember allying with Scythia by choosing medium tribute. Actually, it was the first country I was able to ally with and the refusal of lowest tribute seemed logical to me (they may suspect that the offer is too good to be honest). Now I see it was rather a bug..
For Macedonia, as that, "greetings, General,..." dialogue hints, you must have at least the rank of General. For Hispania, it actually helps quite a bit if you've just won a few extra battles fending off marauding armies recently. For Syria, send a small army so they'll think you're brave to approach them after working up a reasonable battle record. As for Scythia, I really think it's not a "bug," but that dialogue was put there to tease you, and in practice there's no allying them(as hinted by Friendly-then-Diplomatic, "Now my patience ends. never a choice for us, always battle!").
For Macedonia, you need to be at least a General and have a large army. I tried approaching them once with a Consular army that had just survived a tough battle. I got all the way to offer alliance, but when I said "Join us and the armies of Rome will protect you", the Macedonian general replied something like "your army is rather small. Perhaps we should protect you?" I left in peace, added to my army, came back and was able to negotiate an alliance.
I was able to ally to Cyrenaica using Friendly (answered something like "we welcome our fellow brigands"), Friendly (said something similar to Cilicia, like "sure, who wouldn't want to become friends with pirates/brigands"), Offer Alliance, Low (accepted saying something like "wolves stick together"), yesterday. Apparently he wasn't being sarcastic about becoming friends with brigands since he accepted my alliance offer :P Year: 247 BC Status: proconsul Provinces: still missing Syria and Cilicia, Gaul and Germany. Rest are a mix of Content, Restless and Angry, no Rebellious. All Consular armies. Got "friendly" with Cleopatra... Plundered: none yet I have tried Syria but withdrew a few times, he still thinks I'm lying... No real attempt in Cilicia yet, though I might have fought a marauding army there and had to withdraw after because he refused my offer, I'm not sure. Germany and Gaul are still giving me the finger... I have lost Dalmatia on the same turn (247 BC) to a German Marauding army (didn't have an army to defend the place), I took it back just before trying Cyrenaica (same turn). So as for what is described in the video, I lost a province in the same turn, but I have none of the 2 other conditions mentioned. Maybe it'll help to figure out what is needed !
I think you need to have a whole consular army (6000 infantry 600 cavalry) to succeed in negotiation with Arabia with 1. diplomat, 2 agressive, 3 offer an alliance
it's just so luck-based. I wish they had invented some strategic rules for alliances (like getting more info about their attitude, bribing the leader, ...)
Been a while so i loaded up the game in DOSBox. The problem is that you start with bad morale in Rome, which is a factor when negotiating alliances. Take Narbonensis and wait a few turns until you can afford an amphitheater + gladiator training and your morale should raise to restless. This was enough for me for both Sicilia and Dalmatia wanting to ally.
HI,my name is Francesco and I am an Italian boy who liked Centurion,so much! I also made several alliances and I Didn't know about the 'possible alliances with some of these nations but can anyone explain me how can I make alliance with Scythya and how can we remove the bug preventing us from doing it? Thanks!
Francesco Lauri Hi, Francesco. I've looked for an answer to that Scythia problem too, but I haven't found any answer either. Maybe, as somebody else said, it's not a bug but is actually just there to tease. I really wish I could help.
I have once succeeded to convince Scythia - there must have been multiple conditions, I haven't found what kind, but one of them was winning a battle on their own territory in the same turn (over an invading/passing army or their own one - I don't remember). But only once, I haven't found how to repeat it. It might have been their own defences strongly weakened, or maybe contrarily the rest of my army of much lower number then theirs (maybe I was weakened yet before the battle and had only hundreds of men remaining after - I can't remember well, but I have surely proven an impressive military skill), maybe also my empire not yet too large but already strong (I think I hadn't yet allied Armenia in the case, the encountered army came from there... - it's a long time)... needs to be searched for. Also Sarmatia is working. If I remember well, the dialogue is a combination like some southern province (first friendly, then diplomatic or aggresive ? ...), but there is surely some more condition, maybe good treatment with provinces already owned, maybe also a rank not too high and territory not too great. I don't remember because it's very long time I haven't played (the most recent Windows versions don't support it - if you know how to replay it anyway, please tell me). Alliing with barbarian provinces from the north - up to my opinion, the crucial condition is to march there with an army bigger then theirs (Germania must be weakened before because you never outnumber their 8000 with any roman army) and not to angry them previously. But thanks for the tips in the type Asia, Pontus... - I have succeeded accidentaly but not really found the conditions. And the one I have never understood was Syria - I have succeeded maybe twice... The last one but of which I am not already sure were Narbonensis and even Dacia. I think I have found the way in both cases but I am really not very sure of it now (Maybe Narbonensis could be similar to Sarmatia?). So who have rested really unalliable for me were Carthage and Parthia - those are, like in the true history, two existential foes of Rome. If you succeed to make all alliances (excluding Carth and Parth) in one game, I would be very interested of the fact. I have an impression that some alliances must exclude some other ones - or could be the way a well chosen time order of incorporating particular provinces? What more I have found that counts in making alliances is the charisma of your general - Scipio Africanus is more likely to succeed then Albertus Discreditus. (I think It worked for example in Mauretania). The very last tip, not concerning alliances - I have found it very lately, to my surprise - maritime provinces not neighbouring with another one (typically Sardinia and Brittania) may also gain a more peaceful attitude of people and evolve into colonies and citizen status - if you retain a good reputation, provide them with security and a lot of games (the more expensive the better) for enough long time.
I invaded Narbonensis with Ital I, then I tried to negotiate an alliance with Sicilia and Dalmatia, and didn't even get the options you chose, so I think in the PC the diplomacy is different.
When I played that game as a kid I was so pissed off that ALL dialogs always led to war. I was also disturbed by the fact that the Cleopatra image shown at the back of the box was not the same as in-game. I ended up thinking that this screenshot was fake (maybe from development stages) and that the diplomatic part had never been properly implemented. I'm baffled to discover today that diplomacy COULD actually work, with large armies and a rank high enough. Too bad there were no hints to that or that it was not clearly explained in the manual. Or was it?
I just tried all these and the only problems I had (besides Cilicia) is Syria, Gaul and Germany. As soon as I could parlay with both Gaul and Germany after the offer alliance it was ultimatum, war or withdraw. I tried it over several turns until I only had them to add and still did not work. Is it that maybe if your empire gets too big they don't want to associate with you? And Syria well, I waited and waited and could not get passed the first Friendly. It was immediately war or withdraw
at amiga version i made a treaty with dalmatia n put them to pay medium ransom..but passed so many years..ih yes n at pc the diplomacy change..n its so hard to start think diplomacy cuz if germans or gaul send u an army u just screw it..n i played two lvls up from easy n it was very diff
Guys, this issue has been cursing me for almost 20 years, please help!!!!!!! 1. open up OVL0.OVL with windows notepad or any text editor 2. search "Gaul" 3. the third search result is "Gaul was divided into three parts... No, four parts. One indomitable village still held out against the Roman invaders", like the story of Asterix and Obelix!!!! Did anybody ever manage to let such sentence appear? I tried thousands of times with alliances, rebellions, re-conquests etc., but no success with those Gauls.....
The string is at 0x010A76 and have its relative index at 0x010BBC (word value 7656). So it is meant to be displayed but there isn't any evidence of a push command. Thus I think it is an easter egg for hex hunters only. You will never find it in-game but I could be wrong. Have you tried to contact the original game designer Kellyn Beck?
+Stefano Crespi Wow, very interesting info! Is there anything more you can get from the strings and indexes? I looked for Bits of Magic but it closed long ago... Any suggestion?
Would love to hear should you manage to recreate any of this. Mesopotamia surrendering is completely new to me, i assume you killed most of their army and retreated the turn before?
Hello everyone and my thanks to all the people who contribute for the video and commentaries, Good summary on the whole and as I managed to ally with both Cilicia and Cyrenaica at cheap cost without plundering (which, I remind you, will make the province poorer for the rest of the game !!!) ; here is how I did... A) To reach such goals your reputation must be at first faultless before it is going to take a hit when you will (for each of them) loose ONE (and only one) undefended province at the hands of a marauding army. B) The level of courage of the fallen province's conscripts is important as this MUST be one with an higher level than the ones of either Cilicians or Cyrenaicans soldiers. C) This means... For Cilicia you may loose one of the following territory : Carthago, Britania, Gaul, Germania, Sarmatia, Thracia, Macedonia, Scythia, Parthia or even... Italia ! (shame on you !) For Cyrenaica you may loose one of the following territory : Hispania, Narbonensis, Sardinia, Sicilia, Armenia, Cilicia, Syria or Aegyptus (leaving Cleopatra at the barbarians !) D) Cilician army has 3600 soldiers and Cyrenaican army 2950 ; Make sure to get more men when on the road to meet theirs leaders. A basic infantry legion at full strength (4200) is enough. E) When interacting with their leaders, use this path : Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance F) The good strategy is to have your "negotiation force" of 4200 men ready at the borders (or off the shores aboard a fleet) the turn BEFORE you will loose the territory. G) Once you start a new turn and effectively have lost one of the territory above mentioned : - DO NOT be caught or engage into a fight (whether on sea or land) with any marauding army, nor rebels uprising from a province (Keep you empire under control). - DO NOT play either racing chariot nor Gladiator show as it would "repair" your reputation. --> Your first action must be to move your "negotiation force" of 4200 men to either Cilicia or Cyrenaica H) Follow the negotiation path "Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance" to secure the deal and ask for a low tribute (you can change it later if you want) F) You will probably not be able to secure others alliances during this turn, and may be a few others after that. To strike new deals you will need to wins chariots races, pay for Gladiators shows and win some battles (You can do all these things on the same turn to move faster depending on your skills and means at the time being) Other subjects are : 1) The people's moral in each province of your empire : I noticed you can increase the moral by defeating either a marauding army or a native's army (when conquering) into a land battle THAT has been fought in a neighboring territory of the province. For instance, I prevailed in Thracia and Macedonian became pleased with this. However, sinking a fleet off the shores (Aegean sea) seems to not have any effect on their moral and I was never able to rise Britons's moral this way. 2) If you defeat a marauding army in their homeland and then secure an alliance with them just after the fight, you will get the maximum conscripts soldiers available for duty (unless you killed them all during the battle but often the amount of survivors combined to the local army is enough) The same effect may occurs if you have to fight their homeland army right away after your first battle, the key factor is to leave as many enemies as possible alive and to make sure your own legion outnumbered them (see map) 3) I recovered a map form a website a couple years ago (I do not remember which one, apologies to the person who published it first ; I do not claim I made this myself, I only edited the image he or she published) where someone has the good idea to put all territories in colors, each colors corresponding to the level of courage of each of them. MAP : image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/05/3/1517404568-courage-armies-fleets.png Courage level colors : Bleu = Fierce White = Good Red = Weak Brown (Mauritania) = Panicky I add the size of the armies I faced (figures can be sometimes different depending of difficulty level and the way you wage wars but not so much) 4) I played always at emperor level, DOS version Hope this will help. If anyone has an idea how to increase moral of Britannia and Sardinia, I take ! Maximus
Okay, I don't think you can get a more detailed description, unless if someone manage to decompile the game. Thanks a lot for sharing Maximus, you clearly have a far greater knowledge about this game than me.
The morale may be increased by providing them with a lot of games, probably in combination with other elements like security, reputation - I am not absolutely sure but I know it can be done.
The Cyrenaica tips you gave are accurate for the most part, but keep in mind this country in particular will not want to ally with you once your empire grows to three territories or more. You must in fact achieve enough rank (win a lot of chariot races), avoid conquering anybody, build a large-enough fleet, and move a big army next to Cyrenaica's shores. Then gain, lose, and regain a middle-quality territory (Narbonensis always seems to work for me), and march your legion into Cyrenaica. Follow the Friendly-Friendly-Offer Alliance-Low path, and you should always get the leader to agree to an alliance. Again, once your empire grows more than just a little bit, Cyrenaica will ALWAYS refuse you, so you have to achieve the alliance very early on in the game (reread my instructions from the beginning). This is so far the trickiest territory I've figured out how to convince.
I have succeeded once, accidentally after a successfull combat in their own territory in the same turn - I think I had few hundreds of soldiers remaining - but it's already a long time. But I haven't succeeded to repeat it.
0:00 - Sardinia
0:21 - Dalmatia
0:40 - Alpes
1:01 - Germania/Gaul
1:40 - Arabia/Britannia/Thracia/Armenia/Mesopotamia/Mauretania
3:09 - Aegyptus
3:56 - Asia/Pontus/Sardinia
4:44 - Hispania/Syria/Macedonia
5:33 - Cilicia
5:51 - Scythia
6:09 - Cyrenaica
6:19 - Carthago/Parthia/Narbonensis/Dacia/Sarmatia
thank you! but at 0:00 is Sicilia
How to ally with Cyrenaica:
Basically, you need to lose some territories and then regain them in order to make them ally with you. This is what works for me so far:
1. By "losing a territory" I mean losing it to a marauding army. Losing it due to rebellions does not seem to work for me.
2. The territories must not be ones that are wealthy, or ones that have Fierce soldiers. If you lose one of these territories, Cyrenaica will be unwilling to ally with you, even if you regain it immediately. Usually, I try to lose and regain the mediocre territories close to Italia (such as Alpes, Dalmatia, and Narbonensis), which will not make Cyrenaica refuse me.
3. After you lose each territory, you must move in an army and regain it immediately.
4. You must lose (and regain) 2-3 territories in this fashion.
5. The interval between territory losses must not be too long (I'd say 2 turns to be on the safe side).
6. You must march into Cyrenaica very shortly after you have lost and regained your second or third territory.
The command sequence with Cyrenaica is Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance - Low. As mentioned in another comment, if the response to your first command is something like "We welcome our fellow brigand. We are as brothers" this means you are on the right path.
Additional requirements:
1. You must march in with at least a Cavalry-sized army.
2. You need some rank (worked for me with General rank).
3. You need at least some victories against high-quality opponents (such as Carthago, Macedonia, or Parthia) before Cyrenaica (or any other country, for that matter) is willing to ally with you.
For real? Why did they bother programming all those criteria?
@@thecappeningchannel515 This is meant to be a complex, epic game. It's sometimes too complex for its own good.
When doing gladiator shows pick a large guy for your enemy and train him for 20 talents and pick a small guy for yourself and train him for 10 talents.
Don't bother blocking and just hit away, even if you loose it will have been a great show for the crowd.
have an animal against any kind of warrior, 10-10 talents, and blocking can up to maximum show, even if you win or lose
As for Cilicia, you need to plunder one or more territories in order to make them ally with you. This can be tricky, however, since plundering above a certain threshold will make them unwilling to ally with you. Plundering Macedonia once (gives you 80 talents) is always enough to make an alliance with Cilicia.
Note. however, that other countries will refuse to ally with you for a while after plundering. In order to shake off the stigma and make other countries willing to ally with you once again, you need to win several battles after you plunder (preferably against high-quality opponents such as Carthago, Macedonia, and Parthia).
If you plunder too much, you can get in a situation where certain countries never will ally or sometimes even talk to you.(Brittania, Syria and Sardinia springs to mind).
I usually leave countries requiring plundering to last.
As i write in the description of the video, all countries will refuse to talk to you in the beginning of the game, and it's sometimes more than 2 turns.
I played both the PC and the Amiga version a lot, and i'm almost certain the 2 versions are identical with alliances(same bugs seems to appear in both versions indicating copy/paste).
Did you plunder anything to ruin your reputation? did you try wait some more turns?
The best is, in the very beginning just earn money in the races, in order to start gladiator combats as soon as possible, and to wait untill someone other attacks you first.
The case of Syria is similar to Pontus and Asia. You need to invade with an army smaller than theirs and be friendly. In my case when I invaded first I defeated their marauding army, so my army shrinked and then when talking to their leader I open friendly and he said something like "we admire your courage" so you know you are on the right path.
Cyrenaica is definitely possible, but I only got it in the very first game I won. I can confirm you need an alliance with Cilicia, but I don't remember the other conditions. They'll say something like "If we are both sharks, let us swim together!" :)
I also managed to get Mesopotamia to surrender to me (chose "Ultimatum" at the end), but I've never managed to repeat that.
I played a ton of this when I was a kid, but on Sega Genesis. The negotiation pathways are the same, but slightly different words used.
For example, Diplomacy is "Formal" and Aggressive is called "Nasty".
You are virtually guaranteed to be able to negotiate with almost any country with the rank of Consul and a Consular army.
Some of the in-game options are different, too. You can hold games to make your provinces mood improve, but its' only a text description once you select a game type.
The only side game are the chariot races, which seem like a necessity due to the amount of talents you need to run your empire.
I basically do a chariot race for the first 9 turns in a row, usually winning 8.
...There was a rebellion in Carthago in the same turn though - not sure if that had any effect. I think it does, because other leaders would not speak to me that turn. So it's either that you need to earn a lot, or you simply need to take a reputation hit.
1:01 I'm sorry, but I can't get to ally with neither Gaul nor Germania, not matter what do I do; I'm even Proconsul and Arminius aknowleged that I treat the provinces well. Is there an army size requirement?
OK, I've played again, still no luck with Cyrenaica. I have found out some additional requirements though:
Asia, Pontus - Consul rank required
Armenia, Brittania, Mauretania - need army larger than theirs
Cilicia - you simply need to take a significant hit to your reputation. Britannia rebelling wasn't enough, nor was plundering a poor province. Plundering Carthago was enough, however.
Syria - you need a smaller army than theirs
I think I have gained Pontus and Asia at lower rank.
OK, I've played again but was not able to repeat any of it. For Mauretania, losing a province, rebellions etc. have nothing to do with it. It also has nothing to do with how much you earn, plunder etc. Neither is army size a factor.
On the other hand, I was also unable to get Brittania or Syria either, despite following the same choice above.
The one thing I did find out is that you do not need to plunder to get Cilicia.I simply set the tribute to maximum in all provinces
and they joined...
I used Low Taxes for both provinces, and I went into the 260's, so I waited more than 2 turns. I played in Galley Slave level (don't know if it's importan). I'm going to upload some footage taken from DOSBox.
I'll be making a few comments on the video over the next few days. First, regarding Gaul and Germania:
1. In the PC version at least, you definitely have to reduce their army strength to less than 6,000 soldiers by attacking them and then retreating from battle. If you do not do this, they will refuse to ally with you, no matter how many other milestones you have achieved.
2. Once you weaken their armies, you will need to march in with an army larger than theirs and follow the commands outlined in the video.
Additional requirements:
1. You need some rank (probably General but I'm not 100% certain).
2. You need to have defeated high-quality opponents several times (i.e. Carthago, Macedonia, and Parthia) before they (or any other country, for that matter) are willing to ally with you.
Thank you, it had never been able to ally with Germany and Gaul, but it worked like a charm!
In my case I reduced their armies to 3000 or less with my first consular army before retreating. Then I invaded with my 2nd consular army with something like a 2:1 advantage. This time both leaders were more than willing to submit :)
I think Italia must be Restless (at least), because I held a couple of games, and finally I managed to ally with Sicilia in 258BC. Thanks for your help! Cheers!
I remember allying with Scythia by choosing medium tribute. Actually, it was the first country I was able to ally with and the refusal of lowest tribute seemed logical to me (they may suspect that the offer is too good to be honest). Now I see it was rather a bug..
For Macedonia, as that, "greetings, General,..." dialogue hints, you must have at least the rank of General. For Hispania, it actually helps quite a bit if you've just won a few extra battles fending off marauding armies recently. For Syria, send a small army so they'll think you're brave to approach them after working up a reasonable battle record. As for Scythia, I really think it's not a "bug," but that dialogue was put there to tease you, and in practice there's no allying them(as hinted by Friendly-then-Diplomatic, "Now my patience ends. never a choice for us, always battle!").
For Macedonia, you need to be at least a General and have a large army. I tried approaching them once with a Consular army that had just survived a tough battle. I got all the way to offer alliance, but when I said "Join us and the armies of Rome will protect you", the Macedonian general replied something like "your army is rather small. Perhaps we should protect you?" I left in peace, added to my army, came back and was able to negotiate an alliance.
See my comment. I have succeeded once in Scythia (directly after a skillful combat).
I was able to ally to Cyrenaica using Friendly (answered something like "we welcome our fellow brigands"), Friendly (said something similar to Cilicia, like "sure, who wouldn't want to become friends with pirates/brigands"), Offer Alliance, Low (accepted saying something like "wolves stick together"), yesterday. Apparently he wasn't being sarcastic about becoming friends with brigands since he accepted my alliance offer :P
Year: 247 BC
Status: proconsul
Provinces: still missing Syria and Cilicia, Gaul and Germany. Rest are a mix of Content, Restless and Angry, no Rebellious.
All Consular armies.
Got "friendly" with Cleopatra...
Plundered: none yet
I have tried Syria but withdrew a few times, he still thinks I'm lying...
No real attempt in Cilicia yet, though I might have fought a marauding army there and had to withdraw after because he refused my offer, I'm not sure.
Germany and Gaul are still giving me the finger...
I have lost Dalmatia on the same turn (247 BC) to a German Marauding army (didn't have an army to defend the place), I took it back just before trying Cyrenaica (same turn).
So as for what is described in the video, I lost a province in the same turn, but I have none of the 2 other conditions mentioned.
Maybe it'll help to figure out what is needed !
its Sicilia not Cilicia
I think you need to have a whole consular army (6000 infantry 600 cavalry) to succeed in negotiation with Arabia with 1. diplomat, 2 agressive, 3 offer an alliance
And if you want Siria as ally you need to go with a minor force too...
it's just so luck-based. I wish they had invented some strategic rules for alliances (like getting more info about their attitude, bribing the leader, ...)
Been a while so i loaded up the game in DOSBox.
The problem is that you start with bad morale in Rome, which is a factor when negotiating alliances.
Take Narbonensis and wait a few turns until you can afford an amphitheater + gladiator training and your morale should raise to restless.
This was enough for me for both Sicilia and Dalmatia wanting to ally.
HI,my name is Francesco and I am an Italian boy who liked Centurion,so much!
I also made several alliances and I Didn't know about the 'possible alliances with some of these nations but can anyone explain me how can I make alliance with Scythya and how can we remove the bug preventing us from doing it?
Thanks!
Francesco Lauri Hi, Francesco. I've looked for an answer to that Scythia problem too, but I haven't found any answer either. Maybe, as somebody else said, it's not a bug but is actually just there to tease. I really wish I could help.
I dont think Schytia can be allied with.
I have succeeded once, but not repeated it. It's an enigma but not a bug.
I have once succeeded to convince Scythia - there must have been multiple conditions, I haven't found what kind, but one of them was winning a battle on their own territory in the same turn (over an invading/passing army or their own one - I don't remember). But only once, I haven't found how to repeat it. It might have been their own defences strongly weakened, or maybe contrarily the rest of my army of much lower number then theirs (maybe I was weakened yet before the battle and had only hundreds of men remaining after - I can't remember well, but I have surely proven an impressive military skill), maybe also my empire not yet too large but already strong (I think I hadn't yet allied Armenia in the case, the encountered army came from there... - it's a long time)... needs to be searched for.
Also Sarmatia is working. If I remember well, the dialogue is a combination like some southern province (first friendly, then diplomatic or aggresive ? ...), but there is surely some more condition, maybe good treatment with provinces already owned, maybe also a rank not too high and territory not too great. I don't remember because it's very long time I haven't played (the most recent Windows versions don't support it - if you know how to replay it anyway, please tell me).
Alliing with barbarian provinces from the north - up to my opinion, the crucial condition is to march there with an army bigger then theirs (Germania must be weakened before because you never outnumber their 8000 with any roman army) and not to angry them previously.
But thanks for the tips in the type Asia, Pontus... - I have succeeded accidentaly but not really found the conditions. And the one I have never understood was Syria - I have succeeded maybe twice...
The last one but of which I am not already sure were Narbonensis and even Dacia. I think I have found the way in both cases but I am really not very sure of it now (Maybe Narbonensis could be similar to Sarmatia?). So who have rested really unalliable for me were Carthage and Parthia - those are, like in the true history, two existential foes of Rome.
If you succeed to make all alliances (excluding Carth and Parth) in one game, I would be very interested of the fact. I have an impression that some alliances must exclude some other ones - or could be the way a well chosen time order of incorporating particular provinces?
What more I have found that counts in making alliances is the charisma of your general - Scipio Africanus is more likely to succeed then Albertus Discreditus. (I think It worked for example in Mauretania).
The very last tip, not concerning alliances - I have found it very lately, to my surprise - maritime provinces not neighbouring with another one (typically Sardinia and Brittania) may also gain a more peaceful attitude of people and evolve into colonies and citizen status - if you retain a good reputation, provide them with security and a lot of games (the more expensive the better) for enough long time.
I invaded Narbonensis with Ital I, then I tried to negotiate an alliance with Sicilia and Dalmatia, and didn't even get the options you chose, so I think in the PC the diplomacy is different.
Just don't start expansion in very first turns.
When I played that game as a kid I was so pissed off that ALL dialogs always led to war. I was also disturbed by the fact that the Cleopatra image shown at the back of the box was not the same as in-game. I ended up thinking that this screenshot was fake (maybe from development stages) and that the diplomatic part had never been properly implemented. I'm baffled to discover today that diplomacy COULD actually work, with large armies and a rank high enough. Too bad there were no hints to that or that it was not clearly explained in the manual. Or was it?
I just tried all these and the only problems I had (besides Cilicia) is Syria, Gaul and Germany. As soon as I could parlay with both Gaul and Germany after the offer alliance it was ultimatum, war or withdraw. I tried it over several turns until I only had them to add and still did not work. Is it that maybe if your empire gets too big they don't want to associate with you? And Syria well, I waited and waited and could not get passed the first Friendly. It was immediately war or withdraw
at amiga version i made a treaty with dalmatia n put them to pay medium ransom..but passed so many years..ih yes n at pc the diplomacy change..n its so hard to start think diplomacy cuz if germans or gaul send u an army u just screw it..n i played two lvls up from easy n it was very diff
Guys, this issue has been cursing me for almost 20 years, please help!!!!!!!
1. open up OVL0.OVL with windows notepad or any text editor
2. search "Gaul"
3. the third search result is "Gaul was divided into three parts... No, four parts. One indomitable village still held out against the Roman invaders", like the story of Asterix and Obelix!!!!
Did anybody ever manage to let such sentence appear? I tried thousands of times with alliances, rebellions, re-conquests etc., but no success with those Gauls.....
+Scipio That's an easter egg from the Designer.
+Stefano Crespi I'm aware of that, but how can we open this egg?
The string is at 0x010A76 and have its relative index at 0x010BBC (word value 7656). So it is meant to be displayed but there isn't any evidence of a push command. Thus I think it is an easter egg for hex hunters only. You will never find it in-game but I could be wrong.
Have you tried to contact the original game designer Kellyn Beck?
+Stefano Crespi Wow, very interesting info! Is there anything more you can get from the strings and indexes? I looked for Bits of Magic but it closed long ago... Any suggestion?
Have you tried to attack Gaul with all 12 Legions and loose all attacks?
Or you can try to conquer Gaul as last province.
Let us know!
When you say bad morale, do you mean the people have to be content?
Would love to hear should you manage to recreate any of this.
Mesopotamia surrendering is completely new to me, i assume you killed most of their army and retreated the turn before?
I had the same impression for the first time, but later I found the condition is else.
Hello everyone and my thanks to all the people who contribute for the video and commentaries,
Good summary on the whole and as I managed to ally with both Cilicia and Cyrenaica at cheap cost without plundering (which, I remind you, will make the province poorer for the rest of the game !!!) ; here is how I did...
A) To reach such goals your reputation must be at first faultless before it is going to take a hit when you will (for each of them) loose ONE (and only one) undefended province at the hands of a marauding army.
B) The level of courage of the fallen province's conscripts is important as this MUST be one with an higher level than the ones of either Cilicians or Cyrenaicans soldiers.
C) This means...
For Cilicia you may loose one of the following territory : Carthago, Britania, Gaul, Germania, Sarmatia, Thracia, Macedonia, Scythia, Parthia or even... Italia ! (shame on you !)
For Cyrenaica you may loose one of the following territory : Hispania, Narbonensis, Sardinia, Sicilia, Armenia, Cilicia, Syria or Aegyptus (leaving Cleopatra at the barbarians !)
D) Cilician army has 3600 soldiers and Cyrenaican army 2950 ; Make sure to get more men when on the road to meet theirs leaders. A basic infantry legion at full strength (4200) is enough.
E) When interacting with their leaders, use this path :
Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance
F) The good strategy is to have your "negotiation force" of 4200 men ready at the borders (or off the shores aboard a fleet) the turn BEFORE you will loose the territory.
G) Once you start a new turn and effectively have lost one of the territory above mentioned :
- DO NOT be caught or engage into a fight (whether on sea or land) with any marauding army, nor rebels uprising from a province (Keep you empire under control).
- DO NOT play either racing chariot nor Gladiator show as it would "repair" your reputation.
--> Your first action must be to move your "negotiation force" of 4200 men to either Cilicia or Cyrenaica
H) Follow the negotiation path "Friendly - Friendly - Offer Alliance" to secure the deal and ask for a low tribute (you can change it later if you want)
F) You will probably not be able to secure others alliances during this turn, and may be a few others after that. To strike new deals you will need to wins chariots races, pay for Gladiators shows and win some battles (You can do all these things on the same turn to move faster depending on your skills and means at the time being)
Other subjects are :
1) The people's moral in each province of your empire :
I noticed you can increase the moral by defeating either a marauding army or a native's army (when conquering) into a land battle THAT has been fought in a neighboring territory of the province. For instance, I prevailed in Thracia and Macedonian became pleased with this. However, sinking a fleet off the shores (Aegean sea) seems to not have any effect on their moral and I was never able to rise Britons's moral this way.
2) If you defeat a marauding army in their homeland and then secure an alliance with them just after the fight, you will get the maximum conscripts soldiers available for duty (unless you killed them all during the battle but often the amount of survivors combined to the local army is enough)
The same effect may occurs if you have to fight their homeland army right away after your first battle, the key factor is to leave as many enemies as possible alive and to make sure your own legion outnumbered them (see map)
3) I recovered a map form a website a couple years ago (I do not remember which one, apologies to the person who published it first ; I do not claim I made this myself, I only edited the image he or she published) where someone has the good idea to put all territories in colors, each colors corresponding to the level of courage of each of them.
MAP : image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/05/3/1517404568-courage-armies-fleets.png
Courage level colors :
Bleu = Fierce
White = Good
Red = Weak
Brown (Mauritania) = Panicky
I add the size of the armies I faced (figures can be sometimes different depending of difficulty level and the way you wage wars but not so much)
4) I played always at emperor level, DOS version
Hope this will help.
If anyone has an idea how to increase moral of Britannia and Sardinia, I take !
Maximus
Okay, I don't think you can get a more detailed description, unless if someone manage to decompile the game.
Thanks a lot for sharing Maximus, you clearly have a far greater knowledge about this game than me.
The morale may be increased by providing them with a lot of games, probably in combination with other elements like security, reputation - I am not absolutely sure but I know it can be done.
The Cyrenaica tips you gave are accurate for the most part, but keep in mind this country in particular will not want to ally with you once your empire grows to three territories or more. You must in fact achieve enough rank (win a lot of chariot races), avoid conquering anybody, build a large-enough fleet, and move a big army next to Cyrenaica's shores. Then gain, lose, and regain a middle-quality territory (Narbonensis always seems to work for me), and march your legion into Cyrenaica. Follow the Friendly-Friendly-Offer Alliance-Low path, and you should always get the leader to agree to an alliance. Again, once your empire grows more than just a little bit, Cyrenaica will ALWAYS refuse you, so you have to achieve the alliance very early on in the game (reread my instructions from the beginning). This is so far the trickiest territory I've figured out how to convince.
Please, if someone knows how to make alliance with Scythya,I hope that he will warn me,as soon as possible!
Thanks!
I have succeeded once, accidentally after a successfull combat in their own territory in the same turn - I think I had few hundreds of soldiers remaining - but it's already a long time. But I haven't succeeded to repeat it.
footage is from the Amiga version, but as far as i know the PC version is identical alliance wise.
Is this for the PC version?
From Dalmatia i took medium tax
I remember being able to get Pontus to accept an alliance by switching the difficulty level.
Restless was enough for me
Jesus christ! Slow down!