Awesome start. Will we be getting the brand? As far as I can remember that actually happened in Rome’s army yes?
A little bit of a delay, but here is the update.
@Fenris20, glad you like the game so far. About being branded, I wasn’t planning on it. Perhaps a tatoo, as it is said that that also happened. But I believe that branding was more late Roman empire, if it actually happened, the origional source telling about it isn’t too clear.
You will get a lead dogtag 
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Not to be a stickler but I thought metal dogtags were not around until after the American civil war?
Alright, well I copied one mistake but didn’t think to paste then elsewhere before now, so here it is:
“‘It’s nice to see someone who actually knowns what he is talking about.’ With that he takes back the helmet and passes you another one.”
Knowns should be knows
Also as to who the people Pritus and Victus should be attracted to Victus most likely both, since A. If you’re a guy it says he’s open minded, and B. He’s says Pritus is his so obviously he’s not gay. Pritus don’t know. I don’t typically play as females so I don’t know much about her but I’m guessing she’s attracted to guys since if she was lesbian she’d more likely to not care about what Victus thinks.
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Found me an error (well, two):
“Of course, even if Cassia got no game you are still beaten by a woman
Vitus. So your entire story about women being unfit to join the legion
is noncense no matter {firstname}'s result.”
Spelling mistake: noncese → nonsense
Name error: {firstname} should evidently be the first name of the MC
Q&A’s:
- Stat screen is fine, as are explanations and the face that I don’t see people I haven’t met
- Hmm, if I had to say something then I would say, give us more Marcus before we ‘greet’ him so we know him a bit?
- I haven’t, only play as a women
- Not my place to tell them who to like
Up to you. - A bit more (not much) of the life before the legion (Marcus, for instance) – just so we know a wee bit more?
< grumbles about conscience > 
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Okay, time for my reply round. Starting with @Fenris20. Possibly. I’m using Legionary: The Roman Soldier’s (Unofficial) Manual as reverence for that. Nice book and so far everything pretty much matches what I know about Romans. And I know I have read about it before, but perhaps that was clay, although i’m not sure if that would survive a battle intact. There are also discussions that Spartans for instance used wooden tags (Skytalis).
Anyway, even if it aren’t militairy tags, hereby some links to ancient metal tags. One for a slave (or dog), another of some trader.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=463968&partId=1
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/signaculum.html
and the wikipedia page (I know, not reliable, but you can look up the terminology and see for yourself if you can find something).
@TheMeek
Thanks for the feedback, and posting from the start 
. Appreciate it and I have made the corrections.
About the relationsships. You might be right about Vitus. Could make him available for both male and female characters.
Also, that question is slightly cheating from my part as it gives me a way to find out how people experience both Vitus and Prisca as characters. But if I ask that I will never get an answer 
@JTAL Wow, thanks for having been bothered by your conscience. Also corrected the mistakes you showed. About your comments / answers.
.1. Good, yea, other positive sounds I’m not making but writing anyway.
.2. I am planning on giving him a larger role, But that starts in chapter three by writing a letter to him, and later when you return to the capital. You get to pick more background then.
.3. Well, you played till the end, so I guess that route works, just like the male one (which the meek played).
.4. There are far to few girls who say that I should decide who likes who. (Might be because I would favour myself.) So thanks for that 
.5. Will take that in account (was planning on it, after all, still need to give a good explanatoin why you can read and write. No clue at the moment, but I’m sure I will come up with something).
Laughs at you for having a conscience. Sounded somewhat like a secondhand vilans laugh in case you were wondering.
So, once again, thanks everyone for reading / playing and for the lack of negative feedback. Please do not read that last statement as a challenge. Thank you in advance.
Oh, and just for myself: 932 times that the link has been used. 
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Oh boy, I must have been tired when I wrote that! 
face = fact 
women = woman 
And since you twist my arm (ow, ow), I’ll say this – if you are considering adding romance (flirting or above), try to cater to as many as possible without compromising your own vision. 
Challenge… ignored? 
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So, just updated my game again. Gone to almost 40K words. Didn’t test it as much as previous times, but think everything works.
Anyway, as before, this is just a ill-conceived text to get my game higher in the recent posts so you guys / girls can find it again.
Hope you will have fun.
So, was just looking at the enormous feedback from you all since the update yesterday, but all of you forgot to write something
But while you are trying to keep me humble, I do have some questions. Here is my most current one.
Since there is finally going to be some kind of proper fight I was wondering if I should add maps to clarify the situation. I know, my writing is amazing enough, but I don’t mind if it will help you all .
So would something like this be a good thing?
And should I add it in the normal game or add it to the stat screen. (Also, at the moment I can’t actually add it to the version you all play, just in my uncompressed file. But I’m certain I will find a way. Or delete this post and pretend I have no idea what you are talking about if it gets mentioned.)
Hope to get some feedback.
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I think this would be a great idea. I haven’t had the time to get to this yet but it makes it easier to do battle planning and looking at a map out mc would most likely be looking at.
Alright, if you use the smashing shield on the guys toes method it’s saying there is errors blocking you to go further.
It is a good idea.
I think it’s better to put them into the normal game, but having them in the stats section is OK too.
So, first of, thanks for whomever deleted the message from the spammer.
Secondly, since it’s been almost three weeks a small update. This time a few words under 50.000 words. Not the update, the total thing 
Still, not to bad even if I think so myself.
Of those 50k you will see an average of about 12 / 13k in a playthrough according to the quicktest.
But since it might get a bit boring having to start from the beginning I have added an option to start from the third challenge. Yes, it’s still not complete. Luckily I’m so terrifying that no one dares to complain about it.
Anyway, there are about 15k words if you start with challenge three. I have no idea how many you will actually see in a play through if you start there. Find out for yourself
Also, since it’s not really a demo (well it is, but apparently I shouldn’t say that because you think it will be the end result as it is, which isn’t true, still correction spelling etc.) but more an open alpha or beta or some ancient Greek letter I could use some feedback if you can make up something. You know, so I can improve it.
Also, although I have managed to find out how to place images in the game, they are not yet implemented even though I did get several ready.
So, that’s all for now, have fun.
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9th Hispana Legion fan myself XD. But happy to see a Ancient Rome based Interactive Fiction game about the Roman legion! Always pumped up to see more Ancient historians too! If ever you need help with research or facts on either Rome or the military let me know! :D. I studied the Roman military back in University so I’m more than down to throw a little help where ever possible… which more times than not can be found in many books now XD… Military historians be a dying breed after all lol.
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@KyleRipper Well, thanks for the offer, good chance I will take you up on it at some point.
The ninth is a nice choice. Caesar, Gaul, Africa, Britannia, and after that …… who knows. Enough room for stories there.
Although I want to keep it at least somewhat realistic I am messing with history quite a bit. In my mind I am leaning towards invasion of Gaul or perhaps Britannia. Fight tribes / small kingdoms instead of empires. More fun to write I think.
Probably won’t call it Gaul or Britannia, but that’s the global idea. I chose the 6th legion because it’s nickname Ironclads and it’s later motto, Fidelis Constans (loyal and steadfast). Got nothing with bulls but it’s there animal so will stick with it.
But they were stationed in the east, not the west. Of course, if you just look up 6th legion you might confuse it with the VI Victrix, who were stationed in Gaul.
Also skipping using full names, just a first and last name is complicated enough. That and personally I’m horrible with remembering names. So just short clear names for main characters. Well, most mean characters.
There is an emperor and military wise it’s around 100 ad since it fits best with the picture that people have of the Roman army. Also, in a less grown up way, I think that the early roman empire is pretty cool.
But I will try to keep the way of fighting historically correct, although I am finding out that writing a convincing fight is hard. Writing 10 variations on it isn’t much easier =)
Okay, I am really starting to ramble here, basically the entire reason of this post was just the first line.
And completely unrelated: 1496 clicks on the link
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lol not a problem, I’ll be around to help in whatever capacity you might need me for :). I enjoy seeing history come to life in works of fiction, so I’m very much looking forward to your finished work man!
Also, you thinking of doing something during the CE or BCE era’s? The invasion of Gaul was in the 1st Century BCE during the time of Julius Caesar, while the Britannia invasion was much later in the… if I remember correctly 43 CE? I know I’m getting it wrong, but the invasion of Britannia was under the rule of Emperor Claudius… which funny enough was more of his way of trying to gain “Military experience” since he had none to speak of when he became the new Emperor. Wasn’t until Trajan that much of Britain was conquered, which was WAY later down the line XD. Either way, I think a story in either times would be cool to see.
Maybe medals and crowns/garlands for achieving certain objectives setup by you, so they fit the bill a bit more if the character becomes a Centurion later on… plus they’d need a lot of honours in order to achieve Pilus Prior Centurio (Commander of a Cohort 200-400 troops).
Sorry… got excited XD. But yeah, totally looking forward to reading more!
Ok, at the risk of turning my game page in the history page, more history.
Gaius Julius Caesar did invaded Britannia twice, once in 55 and once 54 BC. First time he failed, second time he also failed, but managed to get tribute from a king he placed. No real Roman presence. So it was more a prestige thing. (Like the bridge over the Rhine). So there wasn’t any real conquering, but he has been there. But in the game there already is an emperor, with Caesar it was still the senate, which ended in a civil war. Might get a bit too much to add that to the game. Still thinking about it.
Crows are definitely something I plan to get in my game. Try to be first on an enemies wall, or saving a civilians life. Also, double pay if you get them. Well, with some awards. Of course, after getting a crown you can expect to be picked for more dangerous missions.
The game is somewhat linear right now although I like to think it doesn’t feel completely the same when you pick other options. Second chapter will have 2 or 3 ways of playing, but end at the same point. In chapter 3 there will be an actual split into three directions.
At the moment I am thinking about something like.
Normal legionnaire, trying to climb ranks. Although most legionnaires would remain a normal soldier during their service.
Clerk, besides legionnaire (everyone needed to be able to fight after all), might sounds boring, but it would mean more politics, dealing with merchants, negotiating with conquered tribes, getting to know politicians, perhaps at some point go back to Rome. (which I still just call the capital). Try to build your own economic empire perhaps. (if you can get the influence, contacts and bribe money).
Scout, okay, was more auxiliary that handled that, but if you are good enough you might be appointed an officer for one of them. So harassing the enemy, dealing with the auxiliary, more freedom, getting to know the enemy better, perhaps some infiltrating as merchant. Since they were always send some time before the army. Get them to admire Rome so there is less resistance when they invaded.
Anyone reading this. Feel free to add / criticize / praise. It still needs to be written down, so good ideas are especially welcome right now. They will also be welcome when it’s all written, just won’t do anything with them than (errors and mistakes excluded)
This is definately going to become a great game, even more so if you can handle the three unique paths.
Yeah, that is true he did try to invade Britannia, but I think it was more a show of force to try and keep the kingdoms within away. And yeah, he was named a dictator not an emperor like his adopted son Augustus who started the imperial dynasty. But going outside of history I was also going to link you to a rather good source for military structure and ranks within the Roman military if that’s cool with you :). Might help with some of your ideas as well.
Thanks for the corrections, I will correct them. Although they will stay in the current version till I do a new update. (already got part of the new update coded but want to wait till I finish writing the entirely battle before I update again)
Glad to hear you died but also finished the game. Must mean you liked it so far Or at least played it more than once.
Okay, first of, sorry for the delay. I have written quite a bit, but need to fix a few mistakes before I will post the next update. (should be about 71k words).
Secondly, I still have some questions with which you all could help me. So, if you played the game or not, could you perhaps answer the following questions. Thanks.
Question one
Played. Okay, you played the game. Did you have a moment where you felt like you went to long without an option to choice from? (I personally don’t like that in choice of games. Sometime it happens without me noticing because of choices you might have made. And how annoying was this for your play through. )
Didn’t play. After how many pages do you expect to find a choice?
Question two
Played. As you hopefully found out, there will be a mock battle. During this you have the option to give a speech (you can’t get there yet, but I did write a large part of it), but there are three different battlefields you could fight. Can those speeches be the same or not?
Not played. when someone gives a speech, should it just be, you give a great / worthless speech, or written out?
Well, that’s all, although I am certain I will have more questions.