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Res Publica: A Quest of Ancient Rome

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Pandemonious Ivy said:
Wait, outside idea.

The aqueduct is outside of the city? Why not poison it by dumping dead bodies in it. Either they'll get starved out in short order or they'll send people to clear it.
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Telamon said:
There are Roman citizens within the city. Nola is most notably not a city of the Samnites, or at least not any more. It is home to as many Romans as Samnites, and has been for centuries. Appius, for his part, is far more merciful than Tercerian, and suffers the people within to live. Many escaped when the Samnites took Nola, but those who did not live in subjugation.

You are already starving out Roman citizens as a necessity of war, but poisoning them or depriving them of water would probably see you in a hot spot of trouble, and could be spun into a case for your exile by a charismatic enemy (i.e any of them) in the future.
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Pandemonious Ivy said:
Wait, outside idea.

The aqueduct is outside of the city? Why not poison it by dumping dead bodies in it. Either they'll get starved out in short order or they'll send people to clear it.
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mentioned it, roman hostages inside make it a really bad PR idea. Mentioned ransoming the romans before messing with the water and that seems to be moderately more viable.

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Nurgle said:
Romans are inside the city so..... not a good idea for the future.
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heh. Nurgle against plague water :p
 
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noliar said:
Could we cut the Nola branch? And dam up/ divert what streams we can? Let's see how well they can stand a siege without water.
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Caesar said:
That's what I'd lean towards, but we would have to cut it pretty close to Nola itself - the branch also serves Pompeii if I remember correctly.

Edit: And apparently there are citizens in Nola. I'd assumed they'd been killed during the Social War. (I might be wrong, but I think the Samnite garrison in Nola starved Roman captives to death.)
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noliar said:
If we have to fight our way in I don't give good odds of protecting them in a sack either.

Cut the water, wait 1 day and then offer generous terms to surrender. Day 2 offer generous terms to everyone but Nola and his top commanders, force a division.
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globalwarmth said:
Hmmm how about ransoming the Romans inside with grain

( less mouths to feed and more food!)

then we cut the water.

if not we do it the normal way
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This seems like a particularly graceful solution.

It handles things politically as well. By cutting the water and announcing publicly every day that there's a chance to get things to stop, it shifts the onus of blame from the Romans, to the occupying forces. Winning a siege due to the people wanting you more than they want to join the rebellion is a nice little soundbite.
 
Simply cutting the water is a much better idea than poisoning it. "That's a Roman aqueduct built with Roman money! Rebels don't get the benefit!"

Thirst is also more reversible than plague. Start negotiating just as soon as they feel it and if they accept the offer then practically no one dies. If they refuse then it's on their heads. Then make the second offer worse than the first, Godfather style to ratchet up the pressure even more.
 
To be fair, I'm waiting on the QM to chime in on the "can we ask if snek" option. Stealth options are lovely if they're accessible.
 
Lets admit that we're here for the long haul.

poison would have been more effective that cutting the aqueduct but its unpopular while Romans live there and its unlikely they will be let go.

how about mining the walls? we tunnel and undermine the fortifications with the engineers? then we set fire to the supports and watch the wall cave in?
 
globalwarmth said:
wood is traditional but to reach it you get pelted with arrows and even if you burn it, its a choquepoint no one would like to storm
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But... if it's open, then even if it's ignored by the Romans, it's a gaping weakpoint that can be used to apply pressure, even from a distance.

No reason not to stack any and all advantages.

Aqueduct damming, gate burning, and stealthy infiltrators can complement one another.

Having a main gate down means that most focus will be directed in that location. Having the aqueduct blocked off, and the people of the city knowing about it, means it's likely that attention will be focused away from it. Combine those two things with infiltrators via the aqueduct, possibly while a distracting ruckus is caused via the army in front of the gate, and you might have good odds.

Plus it's a relatively simple, 3-4 step plan. Could be worth considering, if nothing else.
 
Telamon said:
Ah, yes. Romans. The sneakiest people. Throughout history, they have come up with such dazzlingly complicated and masterful intrigues as 'get together and stab him to death in public', or the almost equally famous 'climb up on top of a building and throw the roof tiles at him until he dies'.

Truly, the masters of subterfuge.
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I'd assume the Gauls and the Samnites are both equally inept? So coming up with a plan relying on stealth and subterfuge would be entirely on us?
 
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