Campaign idea with the Iberians – looking for feedback and editor tips

[lilypoppy]

Hi @Thalatta

Senario 3

Introduction

After the winter defeat against Aemilianus, the war spreads to other regions of Hispania. Rome sends Servilianus, backed by cavalry and Numidian elephants gifted by King Micipsa. After several engagements, Servilianus seems to gain the upper hand — Viriathus is cornered, forced to retreat before an overwhelming force.

Setup

• No buildings, no resources at the start
• The player begins with a small army, immediately attacked by a much larger Roman army, backed by African elephants
• Scattered around the map are passive units (routed Lusitanian soldiers) that become controllable once approached — representing fleeing troops rallying back to the cause

Objective — 4 stages

1. Immediate retreat
A frontal fight against Servilianus is unwinnable (elephants + overwhelming numbers). The player must flee from the start toward a defensible position — the Hill — without seeking a fight.

2. Rally the scattered troops
Along the way, several groups of passive units are scattered across the map. Approaching them makes them join the player's army (a proximity-based "capture" mechanic) — the only way to rebuild a fighting force.

3. Secure an economy
The player must capture abandoned/neutral buildings (villages or Gaia settlements) to start gathering resources — essential since there's no builder and no starting CC.

4. The turnaround
Once regrouped and reinforced at the Hill, the player must go back on the offensive and capture one or more Roman Command Centres to win the scenario.

Win condition

Capture the designated Roman CCs (e.g. 1 of 2, or both depending on difficulty).

Lose condition

Total loss of the player's army before rallying enough troops or reaching the Hill.

Edited 2 hours ago by lilypoppy

[lilypoppy]

Hi @Thalatta

Scenario 4

Introduction

Viriathus' last victory forced Rome into a peace treaty, recognizing him as a friend of Rome. But Caepio is furious at these terms — he pressures the Senate until hostilities are reignited, breaking the fragile peace.

Setup

• Normal economy on both sides, but Rome starts with the advantage
• Several Gaia dropsites scattered across the map
• Vettones and Callaici present to distract the Romans

Objective

Destroy the Gaia dropsites before Rome captures a set number of them — a race for control, not straight conquest.

Idea to add

Since the Callaici were a coastal Atlantic people, I was wondering if it's possible to include a bit of sea in this map — maybe Rome resupplies by ship along the coast, and the Callaici could get fire ships (brûlots) to intercept and burn them, slowing Rome down. Could also add one Gaia dropsite on a small island, only reachable by boat, for a bit of variety. Not sure if this is too much for the editor though, let me know what you think!

Here's a draft map:

Edited 2 hours ago by lilypoppy
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[lilypoppy]

Hi @Thalatta

scenario 5

Viriathus is dead, murdered in his sleep by men he trusted, bribed by Caepio. Tantalus is made leader in his place. He marches on Saguntum  but Rome answers, and Caepio gives chase. The war Viriathus once turned in his favour now turns against his people for good.

Setup
The player starts as Tantalus, with a weakened army and dwindling resources  no fresh economy, what you have is what you'll have
Caepio's army pursues relentlessly from multiple directions, growing stronger as the player grows weaker
Saguntum appears on the map as a target, but is unreachable/repelled  a reminder that this fight was already lost before it began
Objective — this scenario cannot be won militarily

There is no victory condition. The point is how long you hold, not whether you win:

Retreat to a final defensible position and survive as long as possible
Protect as many of your remaining people/units as you can while resources run out
Once your strength is exhausted (a survival timer, or army/resource threshold), a scripted surrender triggers automatically — not a "Defeat" screen, but the intended ending
What happens at the end

The surrender fades directly into the campaign's closing text — no failure state, no retry prompt. This is the ending: Tantalus surrenders to Caepio, the Lusitanians are given land to live in peace, and the war ends.

[Thalatta]

@lilypoppy, remember: §67) Servilianus marchs to Itucca (Tucci in a previous map), the big battle follows, Servilianus retreats to Itucca; §68) Viriathus returns to Lusitania (which we won't place so far), Servilianus attacks Baeturia, the Cunaei, and then Lusitania (so, took a northwestern direction); §69) stops at Erisana (shown west of Tucci, so he went back southeast, but the exact location of these towns is not really known), which Viriathus then attacks, but instead of killing them, Viriathus obtains peace. This is good because, like it was in part in Scenario 2, you are putting the final targets too close to the base, which in this case would render the southern part of the map almost useless. Thus, to make more chronological and geographical sense, and encourage the use of the whole map, for Scenario 3 the Roman CCs would be Erisana (left) and Tucci (right), the routed units placed on the path of retreat (turning the tide of the battle should be the first thing), and the other settlements should be in control of the natives, but weak and about to be taken by the Romans. So one starts in the lower part, retreats to the upper part, and has to come back to the lower part, with lots of the action taking place on both right and left of the map. To make it more historical, the capture (not destruction) of Erisana would be the objective, but whatever similar could work. It might actually be better to rotate this since the "up" direction would be a bit northwest:

Edit: I'm thinking that maybe routed units should be located only below the centre of the map (another settlement could be placed about it), they are there just to defeat the Roman army (which, historically, would have retreated to Itucca, the CC on the right) before a long retreat. They should not be enough to challenge the Roman CCs.

 

Edited 42 minutes ago by Thalatta

[Thalatta]

@lilypoppy, Scenario 4 seems fine to me, just rotated to align a bit more with geography, and more dropsites:

 

The premise of Scenario 5 seems ok (just rotate it, leaving Saguntum on the right, and that should be on the coast), but my "Ending" was just the outro of the whole campaign, and since you said you wanted Viriathus story in three scenarios, I made it as short as possible, with four. But if you want to add it, it's title could be "The Lands of Sunset", because it's the end of the campaign and their independence proper, and for the lands given and their western location in the Empire.

 

[lilypoppy]

@Thalatta

Thank you! I think we're aiming for a solid, official-quality campaign something that could help people rediscover 0 A.D. a 5th scenario is worth it. I'll keep it in.

I might find more people to help along the way too I actually found someone for the voice-over on my intro and draws !

[Thalatta]

No problem. I'm always happy to contribute towards historical accuracy, which I think, and read was others' motive to check the game, should be a characteristic of it. It's not that easy to achieve unique things in RTS nowadays, and one has to try to make a difference with whatever possible.

Another observation: if you are going to name the campaign "The Fire of Freedom", then Scenario 2 has to have a different name, maybe "The Flames of Carpetania", since "The Raid of Carpetania" would be too literal when compared to the other scenario titles.