Ayer Sega dio una conferencia de prensa en la Gamescon, dedicada 100% a Total War Rome II. Aquí hay algunos detalles que se pillaron el tiempo real (tarda un par de segundos en cargar):
The Siege of Carthage
We are currently introducing ROME II with a depiction of the bloody and hard-won battle of Carthage. The destruction of this mighty city – the trade-hub of North Africa, and the home of Hannibal – marked the end of the Punic Wars, and the beginning of Rome’s total domination of the Mediterranean. Rome produced many great heroes, and none more capable and self-aware than Scipio Africanus the Younger: a true Roman, a superb tactician, and later, a great statesman.
Carthage, and Scipio’s part in the city’s downfall, gives us an opportunity to demonstrate some of the new features we’re aiming to bring to Total War with ROME II. In particular, the way we’re pushing both ends of the spectrum of scale: from truly colossal battlefields, with combined naval and land actions, right down to the human level drama, the experiences of individual men. If you’d like to know more about Scipio and the events that led to one of the greatest sackings in history, we’ve compiled some further information here.
Scipio Africanus the Younger
Scipio Aemilianus, more formally known as Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, and to history as Scipio Africanus the Younger, was the adopted grandson of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. Scipio the elder was the man who beat Hannibal, after the great Carthaginian General crossed the Alps with his elephants to threaten Rome directly.
Scipio Aemilianus fought in Iberia (modern-day Spain), was made consul in 149BC, and was then charged with besieging Carthage. He went about his task with Roman efficiency and a thoroughly Roman lack of mercy towards the enemy. The city was destroyed; Scipio was awarded a triumph, and the title of “Africanus”, or “Conqueror of Africa”.
The massacre, however, weighed on his mind, as he was a cultured man as well as a Roman general. As all victorious Romans, he returned to politics and made a point of fighting corruption, immorality and injustice. Unsurprisingly, this made him many enemies, and in 139BC he was put on trial for high treason. Characteristically, he talked his way out of trouble and was given command at the siege of Numantia in Iberia. In 134BC his blockade reduced the Numantians to cannibalism, starvation and mass suicide. The city was levelled, the survivors sold as slaves, and Scipio added “Numantinus” to his already famous name.
He returned once more to Rome and city politics, and opposed reforms introduced by Tiberius Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, a distant relative who had fought with him at Carthage. Scipio was open in his contempt for Gracchus, and publically expressed his satisfaction at Gracchus’ death. Gracchus had been a popular man in Rome, so there was little surprise when Scipio was found dead in bed with “marks on his body”. Probably strangled or suffocated as he slept, he was 56 years old. Rome mourned, but the mystery of how he died was never fully investigated. Virtuous patriots, of great ability, can sometimes be very inconvenient…
The Siege of Carthage
“A day will come when sacred Troy shall perish,
And Priam and the people over whom he rules shall be slain.”
Homer’s Iliad, quoted by Scipio after Carthage fell
After Roman-backed raids by Numidians into their lands provoked the Carthaginians into retaliation, Rome’s longstanding hatred of Carthage rose to the fore once more in 149BC. This time the Romans were intent on destroying the Carthaginians.
Although the opening stages of the third Punic War went badly for Rome, the personal heroism of Scipio made him the only choice to be consul, and the obvious man to attack Carthage itself. The siege lasted for two years before the final assault came, as in 146BC the Romans successfully attacked the city’s circular military harbour. Once inside, they moved away from the docks and attacked the Agora, or market, and looted the Temple of Athena.
The following day, the Romans marched on the citadel known as the Byrsa, the political centre of the city. The fighting, up steep streets hemmed in with houses, was brutal. The people of Carthage threw everything they could at the attacking Romans, and Scipio retaliated by ordering the houses burned. The fighting lasted for six days before the Carthaginian elders begged for an end to the slaughter of their people. The 50,000 survivors who surrendered were later sold into slavery.
Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian leader, his family, and nearly a thousand Roman deserters retreated to the Temple of Eshmoun. When all seemed lost, Hasdrubal surrendered, but the other defenders set fire to the temple and leapt into the flames. Hasdrubal’s wife threw her children and herself into the fire in shame. Hasdrubal was utterly humiliated but was left unharmed, and lived out his remaining years as a Roman prisoner.
Some recommended reading:
Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise And Fall Of An Ancient Empire – Richard miles
The Complete Histories of Polybius – translation by W. R. Paton
The Punic Wars, 264-146BC – Nigel Bagnall