(recent idea spawned by ChrisophU, further embraced with Latnox)

The Tempest of Antiquity!
https://www.warlight.net/SinglePlayer?TemplateID=725594

Unlike some of the other challenge templates thus far, in this one you are not designated to play as one faction. Rather, it is your choice. Bear in mind, however, that each slot is not balanced with every other slot.

Major Powers (recommended to play as) - A (Roma), C (Carthago), F (Egypt), G (Seleucid Dynasty), J (Greece), M (Teutones)

Buffer Powers (Not Recommended) - B (Iberians), D (Numidians), E (Libyans), H (Pergamon), I (Pontic Kingdom), K (Dacians), L (Celts), N (Gauls), O (Interior Iberians)

Difficulty (Major Powers)
Easy - A, C, J, M
Hard - F, G

Difficulty (Buffer Powers)
Normal - B, D, K, N
Hard - E, O
Extremely Difficult - H, I, L

Personally, I recommend playing as Roma, Seleucid, Numidians and Interior Iberians just to get a feel of the template and get an idea of who you might like playing as.

You can turn the fog to normal, I left it at "Light" so I could keep an eye on the rest of the map.


Short Briefing on each Slot

A - Your smaller towns are undermanned, your northern border is weak and Carthage is poised to invade you. You must balance your campaigns and your defenses or you will easily crumble. It is imperative that you do not let Rome fall. The City of Roma is the backbone of everything.

B - The Iberians make for a tough game. You have the similarly strong Gauls to the north, the imperialistic Carthage at your Eastern border and Numidia to the South. However, the real struggle of your campaign is the Interior Iberians who will devastate your bonuses. Think outside of the box.

C - Carthage is very much a premier faction of the template. You have options and you are not stressed. Your heartland is very secure and distant from all but Rome. You can expand through Africa, and then you have the option of military effort focus, be it Rome, Hispania or the Greek World.

D - Numidia focuses on attrition warfare. Let Carthage beat up its stacks, then you move in with your full force and steamroll. From there, you can play like Carthage would.

E - To play Libya properly, you first need to survive the onslaught. You are packed into a corner, and Egypt will walk over you. Fight like a guerilla, and maybe you'll be strong enough to march on Greece.

F - Egypt is relatively easy. Your challenge will be the Seleucids. If you can handle the Seleucids, you can steamroll through Africa and Turkey.

G - The Seleucids have nowhere to go but Up. Just march on through Egypt and Turkey, then make your decision from there.

H - Pergamon is nigh near impossible to win as. In every aspect, Greece overpowers you. Seleucius himself laughs at you in his grave. Alexander would never acknowledge you. It would take a true military-man, somebody with determination and grit, to master this slot. Perhaps invade Pontus?

I - Pontic Kingdom is another hard slot. You only have 2 options : let Seleucids bash against your hastily-built stacks, or give up everything to flank into Pergamon.

J - Greece has options and initial power. You have many good starting options. Advance into Africa, hold up against Roma. Bash Pergamon, invade Balkans, hold up against Rome. Alternatively, try to invade Rome, and you will find yourself in a rough place. It's best to let everybody else smash Rome.

K - You have it easier than most. Just don't let yourself get hooked by the Teutones, and you'll find yourself at a sort of ease.

L - Yeah. No.

M - Have fun.

N - This can be a fun play. You can harass Rome, invade Carthage, or take over Hispania. Just watch out for the Teutones and the AI will play against each other till the end for you.

O - This is a slot I found very hard to play as. However if you think you can properly execute it, all the more power to you. Perhaps if you properly distributed your armies and made smart decisions 24/7, you won't get smashed.

This could make a cool RP. I played as Greece and I won somewhere around 80 turns.

What strategy did you go with as Greece?

I played as Rome first game and it's kind of easy. The difficulty is handling Teutones while keepimg a front against Carthage supplied. Meanwhile, i was on the clock against Greece.

Any interesting things you found about the scenario?

Well usually I seperate my income easily in templates like this, but the imbalance of powers made that very difficult. I played very offensive, I said to myself that I had to keep my income Atleast 75% of the size of the original income, and try to break everyone else. It proved effectively, I'll try Egyptians later.

Holy crap lol I decided I'd run through Carthage just to see how nice playing them is.

I think I was on Turn 5 or so, I already had the highest income at 61. I had marched into Roma with SEVEN armies. No more no less. The real difficulty is in fact handling your Eastern Rivals and the Numidians (for my strategy at least).

I'm gonna write down an Achievements List for fun.

I found the Carthage is the easiest, because of linear expansion.

ACHIEVEMENTS

note, when I say "by turn 5", you should have taken it during Turn 4's resolution. Also, you only have to have taken it, do you not need to own it.

Note 2 When I say take, you only need to have taken it, you do not need to currently control it.

Roma
The First Legion - Own a stack of 600+ armies. 100 Points
Caesar's Ancestor - Take Lugdunum (town) by Turn 5. 100 Points
Scipio's Educator - Own Carthago by Turn 3. 150 Points
Hell And Back - Take Cerasus by Turn 17. 200 Points
The Legendary and the Legionary - Win by Turn 60. 400 Points
Total : 950

Iberians
Celtiberia - Take Tolosa and Colonia Narbo Martius by Turn 6. (you don't need to take them on the same turn. ) 150 Points
The Hook - Take Salamantica by Turn 5. 200 Points
The Original Gladius - Own Rome by Turn 15. 200 Points
Reunited - Conquer your Interior Iberian brothers by Turn 25. 400 Points
Total : 950

Carthage
Colonization - Have 100 income by Turn 11. 150 Points
Friends in Greece - Take Athens by Turn 5. 150 Points
Allies in Hispania - Own Barcino by Turn 3. 200 Points
Hannibal Invicta - Eliminate Rome by Turn 20. 400 Points
Total : 900

Numidia
Bloodlines - Take Mauri Libya Superbonus. 100 Points
Declientization - Take Caesarea (town) by Turn 5. 200 Points
Reverse Clientization - Take Carthago (city) by Turn 7. 200 Points
The True Libyans! - Eliminate Libya by Turn 15. 400 Points
Total : 900

Libya
The City of Origin - Never lose Ammon (town) in a game, or have it be the last territory you lose. 150 Points
Passage to the West - Take Syracuse before Carthage, Rome, Greece or Iberians are eliminated. 200 Points
Push Into Africa - Take Libya Superbonus by Turn 6 (need to have owned entire Superbonus at one point) 200 Points
Successful Rebellion - Take Africa Proconsularis Superbonus by Turn 14. 200 Points
A New Empire - Have 7 enemies be eliminated by Turn 16. 400 Points
Total : 1150

Egypt
Ptolemy's Claim - Own Paraetonium, Caesaria, Salamis, Antiochia, Seleucia Calycanthus (towns), Alexandria and Tyrus (cities) by Turn 8. 100 Points
Heir from the Nile - Own Macedonum, but you must have eliminated the Seleucid Empire first. 200 Points
Battle of Raphia - Take Syria Palestinia by Turn 6. 200 Points
Western Campaign - Own Libya Superbonus by Turn 11. 400 Points
Total : 900

Seleucid Empire
Rapid Campaign - Eliminate Egypt by Turn 9. 150 Points
The False Heir - Own Nicea, Troja and Euphues. 250 Points
Occupation - Own Alexandria by Turn 3. 300 Points
Alexander's Doctrine - Take Asia Superbonus by Turn 10. 400 Points
Aim High - Win the game by Turn 50. 400 Points
Total : 1500

Pergamon
Into Europa - Take Byzantium and Athenae (cities) by Turn 6. 100 Points
Pergamon Defence Force - Always have at least 1 territory in Asia Superbonus. 200 Points
Marine Offensive - Take Cnossus (town) by Turn 2. 250 Points
Heir from Asia Minor - Own Macedonum bonus, but have eliminated Pontus first. 250 Points
Permenion's Renewed Campaign - Own Cilicia bonus by Turn 11. 400 Points
Total : 1200

Kingdom of Pontus
It's Possible - Win as Pontus. 100 Points
Heir from Asia Major - First eliminate Pergamon, then take Macedonum (in that order). 250 Points
Descendants of the Companions - Take Syria Phoenice by Turn 12. 400 Points
Total : 750

Greece
Citizen Hoplite - Don't move any armies from your cities or towns until Turn 5. 100 Points
Battle of Thermopylae - Gather 300 armies at Corinth territory. 150 Points
Pyrrhic Victory - Take Brundisum (town) by Turn 2. 250 Points
Oppression of the Ardiaei - Own Illyricum bonus by Turn 8. 300 Points
Pyrrhus' Ambitions - Win the game by Turn 51. 400 Points
Total : 1200

Dacians
Pirates of Greece - Take Graecia Superbonus by Turn 15. 200 Points
Raiding Campaign - Own Norcium (town) by Turn 7. 200 Points
Lysander's Antithesis - Own Carthago and Roma (cities) by Turn 15. 300 Points
Rulers of the Waves - Win the game by Turn 46. 400 Points
Total : 1100

Celts
Men of Copper - Own a territory in Italia by Turn 4. 200 Points
Men of Bronze - Maintain ownership of Jovia (town) until Turn 11. 300 Points
Men of the Sword - Take Narbonensis bonus by Turn 13. 350 Points
Migration - Take Asia by Turn 26. 400 Points
Total : 1250

TOTAL : 12750 POINTS


(will be completed)

Ranks
500 Points - Novice
2500 Points - Enlisted
4500 Points - Cavalryman
7500 Points - Junior Officer
10000 Points - Senior Officer
15000 Points - General
25000 Points - Emperor

Edited 10/6/2015 22:59:40

Oh no doubt. Carthage is almost a gimme. But if you play a little curvy you'll get wiped. Kind of like with every other faction in the template.

P.S. The full Achievements list will be released bit by bit, but in the meantime, you could try shooting for the Enlisted Rank! I'll tell you right now though that in order to do it you have to complete all the 400 Points achievements, and I made those to be very hard.

Edited 10/5/2015 01:55:40

You can avoid 200 points to get there, but what's the fun in that.

Make sure to keep track of your points.

Idea time : let's make this template into a fun thing for everybody. First off, does anybody want to make expansions to the scenario's area? Add in new factions?

Try to win from the Celts. It's very hard, but I managed to do it in 72 turns. The trick is to try to sneak a stack past Rome's onslaught, and then run to Rome and Carthage. Then use their income to expand outward and try to break as many of the former Rome player's bonuses as possible (since Rome will be the one trying to kill you since you're in Rome.)

I want to see some people win as Interior Iberians lol

I'm gonna be coming up with achievements for 4 more countries, I'm also currently considering expanding the scenario to include either Britain, Nubia or Russia.

Hey guys, there is now a nice abundance of achievements. Novice should be a rank you could get in your sleep. With some effort, Enlisted will come naturally. It might take a while to reach Cavalryman. If you're a true Over-Achiever, shoot for Junior Officer!

There's 8 more nations to go, and bear in mind that I'll be updating a few of the achievements for certain factions. Not to mention, I might bring in new factions.

I played with Pontic Kingdom - Man, that was rough, but finally I managed to gain a game-winning advantage on my 4th or so try. Will upload a few screenshots soon.

This is what it looked like at the start, quite discouraging:



Then I started to wander around, letting the others fight it out, going to France (Turn 20):



And finally from there I established a powerful new empire (Turn 40):




Very good template, nice challenge to play it with an Underdog country! Very well made, Genghis.

Edited 10/6/2015 15:09:42

Thanks a lot! I'm adding in achievements for the rest of the nations, so see what you got?

Also
You were actually playing as Pergamon, but I'm not gonna hold that against you. It's impressive to win against such odds.

Alright, I just finished updating the Achievements list further. With a max of 12750 points, it is now possible to reach Senior Officer! It should be a breeze to reach Cavalryman, and you might have trouble reaching Junior Officer.

Happy achieving! I'll be finishing up the remaining 3 factions, then I'll make a few touch-ups before I begin expanding the scenario.

Also, if it doesn't hurt, could everybody please take 2-4 screenshots of their matches? It helps me (and probably others) visualize the map better, and it more importantly helps me get a better idea of where to improve or expound.

Edited 10/6/2015 23:08:12

Bump, I love this and others should post their pictures. I'm gonna do a run and try to win with Egypt and post pictures.

Edited 10/7/2015 21:14:33

Pics or it didn't happen.

This is really fun Genghis, I would like to see an expansion pack for empires into India even.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/World_in_100_BCE.PNG

Egyptian Story:

I started out as a tiny Empire, with a safe and overpowered starting location.



Turn 10 - I start attacking my neighbors, and begin to overpower them.



Turn 20 - I spread into Turkey and Carthage.



Turn 30 - It's a clear win for me, so I just stopped :P



Edited 10/8/2015 01:42:49