THE RISE OF ROME : Conquest and Diplomacy circa 278 BC

[Nap Bonaparte]

I've seen lots of threads recently regarding "same old boring Civ"...ie poor starts due to terrain/huts/barbs, ICS,same old race for happy wonders,players dropping out due to PG position, etc.

I tested the Rome scenario with some players and it seems to be VERY balanced. Seven civs...19 objective cities...250 turns. REAL SIMPLE Victory Conditions: Civ with the most objectives wins. Immediate victory if 1 civ captures 10 objectives.

I think this is best played as a 4 player game:1) Rome-dominant military power with Great Wall but lots of enemies, 2) Carthage- dominant naval/mercantile power(gold vs. shields), 3)Selucid Greeks-the R&D power of the east, 4)Macedonian Greeks...a little bit of everything in the central position. With 5 players possibly Ptolemaic Greeks. The other 2 civs in the game would be difficult to play 1)Independent Greeks and allies(too spread out), 2)Celts(possibly the perfect civ for War4ever). A 4 player game with 3 AI civs would allow some some relatively easy objectives for each civ(although the AI seems to be particularly nasty in this game).

How you capture the most objectives is up to you and your civ strategy:ICSing,cranking out vet elephants and legions,WLTCD and building up your economy. Perhaps most importantly, diplomacy will be required to prevent any one player from gaining hegemony over the Med.

I envision playing this game on weeknights around 6pm PST. Please post here with intent to play and suggestions.

[KenThur]

Count me in Nap!

As 1 of your playtesters, i don't know all the details, but from what i saw & experienced, this makes for a great change of pace from the same old, tired MP starts.
Plus, as U say, it seems to provide for / require some cooperation if 1 is to be successful in achieving eother of the victory conditions.

The timing = great by me.
Let's do it folks!
----------------------------------------------
Now, if they'd only come out with a scenerio that recreates the era & status of the European & Mediterrainean powers as the board game classic, "Diplomacy" did. Right after the turn of the century, with imperialism at it's height! With cruisers, factories, RR, et al.
And fighters & BB's on the verge of being discovered! Heck, if someone was really good. They could include US, Russia, & Japan as budding imperialistic powers; making it a truely worldwide scenerio... with MODERN era stuff just coming online!!