LOST LEGIONS scenario released!

[Cyrion]

In 53 BC, Marcus Licinus Crassus led an army of 45'000 Romans into Parthia, where he managed to get his legions slaughtered by about 10'000 Parthian horsemen!

Among the survivors, a part of the gallic cavalry led to Crassus by Caesar.

Can you bring them and their family back home?

[Cyrion]

Lost Legions is a pseudo-historical Test of Time scenario based on a comic strip by Jacques Martin!

Thanks to all of you who helped me: I would never have managed it without you!

Take a look at the readme file and... enjoy!

Lost Legions game files

Lost Legions sound files

[McMonkey]

Love the title! Along with the read me it sets the scene very well. Always satisfying to see a scenario completed!

The files are downloaded and I'm giving it a go right now

[Cyrion]

Thanks for your answer, Drew!

One week after release, only 1 post: I have to admit that, even if I develop scens mostly for my own enjoyment, I am rather disappointed!

Is actually anybody (except for the friends who supported me during development: your help is appreciated, mates! ) interested in this scen and trying it?

I had intended to start working on the ToT version of Pomarj, but seeing the lack of interest generated by LL, I'm not sure I'll have the motivation any longer...

[McMonkey]

I am carrying on my game this morning and it is a classic scenario IMHO!

Unfortunately, due to the modest size of the CivII community I think that masses of feedback is unlikely nowadays. I do expect that most SL members will play and enjoy this scenario but if they are anything like me thay may be saving it for a rainy day

I have seen quite a few scenarios released recently and get little comment which is disheartening for the creators.

On the other hand I am still finding old classics, such as Casus Belli, and enjoying them years after the creator has left the CivII scene!

In the long term I am sure that Lost Legions will be remembered as a classic scenario and be enjoyed by many people

[McMonkey]

Week 20. Most of my troops (- a few cavalry) are safely on the rafts...just!

[Boco]

This has caught my eye, McWerdy. When RL gives me a chance to blink, Cyrion, I'd like to give this a spin!

[curtsibling]

Will be trying this out soon - Looking really good!

[Cyrion]

Did anybody play it to the end?

Try it, it's not as bad as you think...

Actually, it's a quick scen, and I'm quite pleased with the wa it turned out, so trust me!

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by Cyrion
Did anybody play it to the end?

Try it, it's not as bad as you think...

Actually, it's a quick scen, and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out, so trust me!

You should be pleased. I rank it among the very few marvelous scens that exert great pressure on players: Market Garden, Up the Deadly Boot, El Aurens 2, the first ~8 turns of Red Front and, to some extent, Frederick the Great.

That said, I also have wondered about how much play the new scenarios are getting. Excepting oddball type regulars on this forum who specialize in playtesting, I would conclude that the creative people who are the backbone of Scenario Creation have little time for playing after RL and their creative work. I have no idea of how many individuals visit this forum, read few or many of the recent posts and either go on their way or download something that strikes their fancy.

Would it help designers if:

1. The scenario downloads section could be modified so it keeps track of how many times each scen has been downloaded.

2. A link could be set up from this forum to SL Home. Right now there is no easy, obvious link for someone who is interested in downloading a scen after reading about it.

[McMonkey]

I played it when you released the final version and did as pants as ever. I have been meaning to play again with a view to completing it but have been busy with my own projects and RL recently.

Also I tend to go through periods of creating and periods of creating. Currently I am neither playing or creating scenarios but sorting out other projects!

I would point out that there must be many more CivII fans out there that play the games but never post in the forums. My WWII Europa Scenario at Civ Fanatics is up to about 4-500 downloads but I have only had feedback from maybe a dozen people! Not sure how many people have played that game and how many were just curious, looking for graphics or just downloaded by mistake but it goes to show there is a silent fan base for CivII still.

For anyone who has not played Lost Legions yet I would recommend giving it a go. I believe it to be one of thew most original, challenging and well finished scenarios in recent years

[Jerec]

Looks like a neat scen. I love reading about Roman infantry tactics. (Or any type of military strategy, for that matter! ) Does anybody know if there is an MGE version of this? I don't have ToT, so I can't play it at the moment.

[Cyrion]

Hi Jerec,

Sorry but no MPGE version: I started to develop it under MPGE but had to swith to ToT because of the additional events possibilities (size + new events)!

[McMonkey]

Jerec

I would highly recommend finding a copy of ToT. Should be able to pick one up cheap at Amazon or E-Bay!

Some of the highest quality scenarios are ToT games such as Frederick the Great, Lost Legions, El Aurens, Roman Civil Wars, Operation Market Garden and the Red Front Redux. I think most new scenarios in development will be for Test of Time now.

BTW, btw stands for by the way

IMHO = In my humble opinion

It took me a while to work that out too

[Arthedain]

Didn't we have a discussion some months back that ToT was available for a free LEGAL download somewhere? I think Curt was talking about it..

[Jerec]

Thanks for the help McMonkey! I'll get a copy of Tot sooner or later, if only to play Lost Legions.

btw is there any playing difference between Tot and MGE? (besides graphics)

[McMonkey]

The events file is 3x as big and allows more complex events. There are more units (about 17?!). The rules file allows such things as impassable terrain. Once installed you can run ToT with the MGE disc in the drive so they use the same core files. I think ToT was designed to give scenario creators more creative scope.

[Jerec]

Got Tot. Streaked for this.

I believe it to be one of the most original, challenging and well finished scenarios in recent years

Yowch. It was challenging all right. In survival stuff I always had a hard time because I never accepted casualties. I lost 2 cavalry to the Skythians. I lost 1 infantry to the Dacians. And I lost the game twice to the river flood. Too dang slow, I guess. I could get only 1 raft through the rapids and I got 2 cavalry and 2 civilians to the final landing zone before the raft got wiped away. Using just those 4 units is no way to fight a greedy Roman commander with masses of troops. In any case, Cyrion, wonderful scen. Never seen a scen like it before, with no citites, just units, and on a trek. Couldn't believe the various interesting events either. And Agricola was right, it's a real thriller. I thought I was going to crack the mouse from gripping it too hard when the Skythians were closing in on my last few units loading up on the rafts. Mind filling me in on the rest of the story? It seems improper to rejuvenate my units on the far landing zone through cheat mode.

As it is, I'll console my miserable failure with Fred the Great or El Aurens.

[AGRICOLA]

Originally posted by Jerec
. . . . I'll console my miserable failure with Fred the Great or El Aurens.

IMHO, the correct thinking at this point should be

. . . . I'll try no to worsen my miserable failure with disasters in Fred the Great or El Aurens.

I have good reason to believe that those two evil scens were designed by a couple of ingeniously inventive sadists.

[Tuttle_77]

Never seen a scen like it before, with no citites, just units, and on a trek.

You should try Jesús Balsinde " Quest for El Dorado" It is similar. You can get it from the Spanish site http://spanish.apolyton.net/.

I too just got TOT today, seeing as it's the way of things. However I have to say I am really dissapointed by the fact you need the disc into play. My laptop doesn't have an internal hard-drive. Usually the games I play are the EU-series, alpaha centuarri and now Civ2 MGE. Specifically because you don't need the cd in to play. Is there some way you can bypass needing the CD into play?

All I've done is load it up on the install, egad the regular game has awful graphics. So haven't tried anyone's scenario out for TOT, don't know If i will either at this point, hooking up the external cd-drive is a pain all the time, MGE and no cd is still good enough for me.

[Cyrion]

There is a no-cd patch which works just as well as the one for MPGE!

As linking to it is frowned upon here, try looking at civfanatics...

[curtsibling]

This is a simply wonderful adventure - The feel of it is just right - A fight against the odds!

Getting the people home is tough but a rewarding challenge. Loads of excellent little features.

It's like taking part in an epic tale....And the scen looks great too!

Top marks, Cyrion -

[curtsibling]

Having great fun!

I would advise deleting the purple GFX surround from the nature terrain 'rapids' feature, as it shows up on the interface.

[Jerec]

I'm doing amazingly well with Fred the Great. Scens like this are my type. Pretty short, heavy on enemies (which translates into targets), start off with a good army...

You should try Jesús Balsinde " Quest for El Dorado"

Did. I got bored out of my skull moving units forever, with no enemies but bugs and some strange invisible units. Also, your civ does have a city, which was invisible (pop 0 I guess) but it got to pop 1 and I started building indian guides. I know that there is probably a good battle at the end of the scen, but I just couldn't spend enough time to get there. In Lost Legions, there was always something next.

I'll try Lost Legions one more time before I give up and switch to cheat mode to rejuvenate the units at the far landing point. I think I know how to get more than 1 raft through the rapids.

[McMonkey]

I have not completed Lost Legions yet but I did manage to get through the Skythian section relatively unscathed. My approach was to keep your troops close together, fight only if necessary, damaged units loose movement and become vulnerable. Use the watering holes to regroup and replenish but don't linger too long!

The rafts are like triremes and may be lost if they don't end their turn next to land! With a little patience you should be able to get all the rafts through the rapids safely.

Instead of using the cheat menu why don't you save regularly so that you can restart the game if you do make a howling error. I think it takes away the fun if you do cheat. Saving and reloading for me is acceptable in this type of game, unless you are a twisted purist

[Jerec]

The rafts are like triremes and may be lost if they don't end their turn next to land! With a little patience you should be able to get all the rafts through the rapids safely.

I meant past all the rapids to the River Burg. In the last part of the river beyond the Dacian landing spot, there is a stretch where the raft can't touch land for one turn. I got one raft past that point, the first time I tried it. The one time of "grace", that is built into the game, I guess. If I moved all the rafts at the same time, I'm assuming that that one "grace" would protect all of them.

unless you are a twisted purist

Nope. I save, but just 2-3 turns back at a time. It would have to go 5-6 turns back to correct my raft error. As such, I've restarted.

In case you haven't gotten to this part in the game yet, McMonkey, it's like this. You land at the Dacian landing point. You fight your way through the forest, fending off Dacian warriors. You reach a connecting point between the two sides of the river, with a city (River Burg) on the land bridge. Once you destroy the River Burg, part of the land bridge disappears so that the rafts can get through. You (I assume) are supposed to load up the units on the rafts again and land them on the last landing point at the far end of the river. You have 3 turns to do get your units to the final landing point before an event is triggered that wipes away all units in the river.

If my plan fails, I intend to cheat and rejuvenate all my units (- the ones I lost to the Skythians and Dacians) at the last landing point, NOT cheat the whole way through the rest of the story with an endless unit supply.

[Cyrion]

Jerec, I'll give you hints about how to handle that soon! But not right now, as I've had more than enough to drink tonight and need to be fit for some good skiing tomorrow!

[Cyrion]

Here come the (sober) explanations!

Beware, the following lines will include spoilers, so read at your own risk!

Originally posted by Jerec
Yowch. It was challenging all right.

I sure hope so!

I lost 2 cavalry to the Skythians. I lost 1 infantry to the Dacians.

Doesn't sound too bad so far!

And I lost the game twice to the river flood. Too dang slow, I guess. I could get only 1 raft through the rapids and I got 2 cavalry and 2 civilians to the final landing zone before the raft got wiped away.

Now that is much much worse!

Actually, you are supposed to lose a few rafts in the rapids, but not so many!

As you noticed, there is 1 spot where you can't avoid staying away for the shore, and so risk losing your rafts!

So here is how I do it:
- I unload all units just before reaching this spot (the landing zone is pretty easy to identify!)
- I send the empty rafts in the rapids, one after the other, avoiding to stack them at the "open water" spot (because a drowning raft would take all the others with it: this is probably a civ bug, but that's how the engine behaves...)
- I board the rafts again just after the rapids

If you do it right, and are not too unlucky, you should loose 1-2 rafts, not more, and maybe 1-3 land units to the Dacians!

Using just those 4 units is no way to fight a greedy Roman commander with masses of troops.

Of course, if you haven't got most of your units at that point (and at least 1 pioneer), you are doomed!

BTW: there is a way to bribe the greedy commander! If you still have what's necessary with you, of course...

In any case, Cyrion, wonderful scen. Never seen a scen like it before, with no citites, just units, and on a trek. Couldn't believe the various interesting events either. And Agricola was right, it's a real thriller. I thought I was going to crack the mouse from gripping it too hard when the Skythians were closing in on my last few units loading up on the rafts.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

With the hints above, I'm sure you can make it without rejuvenating your units!

And what you could do, as McMonkey suggested, is save sometimes (not to reload after every fight result you don't like, that would spoil your fun), for instance after an episode (like when you board, when you leave the Dacians behind, and so on) and then try the next episode until you master it!

And one more advice: protect your pioneers, you will need them to the end of the scenario!

[Cyrion]

Originally posted by curtsibling
This is a simply wonderful adventure - The feel of it is just right - A fight against the odds!

Getting the people home is tough but a rewarding challenge. Loads of excellent little features.

It's like taking part in an epic tale....And the scen looks great too!

Top marks, Cyrion -

Thank you my friend!

[Jerec]

Thank you for the hints, Cyrion, but they were too late. I finished the scen last night, shooting the rapids all the way past the river burg with the rafts fully loaded. No landing needed! The last time, I tried moving only one raft through the rapids at a time, using the "grace" for the first raft alone. All the others sank, and I hopelessly tried to move all my units from the river burg to the final landing point with that one raft.

In the end of my restarted game, I ended with 70%. All but one of my infantry were whittled down and finally destroyed by the German hordes. I was left with 3 cavalry, of which two were destroyed by renegades by the end of my game. When I entered the plains, I seriously sighed with relief after having the Germans nipping at my heels, and got the shock of my life at having one more task. But I beat them...

Again, fantastic scen Cryion! It was a blast. Not to mention a wonderful adventure tale!