strategy
Posts: 34
Joined: 6/20/2000 Status: offline
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Just to name some of the issues involved in ancient times as compared to napoleonic warfare: Military Options: Assymetric forces. EIA essentially assumes that armies are the same and only distinguished by morale, whether we are dealing with Turkish militia, Austrian line infantry, or French Guard (the guard being the only one to be a little bit special). The same is not true in the ancient world, where armies differed not only strategically but also tactically. And this is without going into problems such as the ability of an army to avoid a battle it doesn't want to fight 95% of the time (unlike in EiA). Political Options: Political fragmentation. EIA assumes the stable monarchies which - mostly - characterized the period. In the Ancient period, instability was the norm rather than the exception, and almost every state had significant factions willing to cooperate with even the most hated enemy in order to gain advantage. For example, prior to the Roman destruction, Carthage had several political "factions", one favoring cooperation with the Romans, one favoring cooperation with Numidia, and one in favor of strict independence. And this is without even going into the problems of subjected populations. Economic options: Again assymetry. EIA assumes that all states have the type and form of economy; i.e., infantry costs $3 whether its Russian or French. In ancient times, this was far from the case. For example, Macedonian infantry were entirely paid for by the King's purse, whereas Roman infantry (for most of the Republics history) provided their own equipment. This is without considering that many states didn't even have a monetary economy to begin with. And lets just forget about blockades - blockading was quite simply not a possibility in this period. Piracy and raids, on the other hand, were a major factor. quote:
I think it will have a different flavor in the Roman era, but would still be an enjoyable game. It wouldn't just have a different flavor, it would be an entirely different game (at least if you want it to pretend to any kind of historicity ). Regards,
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