1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Marcus Darkstar]

update from my campaign. In the past 14 Years Pontos has had to contend with the Yellow death and their at their death throws now. where they once got into the very heart of the Syrian Kingdom they now face the yellow death. Though im hoping at least for a Parthain Empire to form to put the yellow death in its place. Pahvala is already on the verge of getting those Indian provinces.

Carthage is still around. We almost had a Third Punic War until i decided to ally with their ally Macedon to cemate a cease-fire. They even sided with Macedon after they were attacked by the yellow death. So i think the Anti-Bacrid faction has gotten more power in Carthage now. Which is good since the Lusotan attacked my far flung Iberian holdings and I've about finished them off they put up a hell of a fight though had to sacrifice allmost my entire pre-polybian army of my early era Roman Legions plus Iberian allied forces AND hired every mercenary i could find.

Which is good because my Faction Leader isnt going to live for another long campaign. At least its going to give him a legacy to be proud of since his wife died a natural death and he has no sons to carry on his line.



He killed 3-4 Fullstacks of Lusotan troops. One by funnelling them throw a narrow bridge as a chokepoint (they failed to ambush him while my leader was crossing it), and another Lusotan fullstack my roman forces actually hid in the forests of Iberia to AMBUSH THEM and issuing them a crushing defeat! Thats how i got the devoution of the Iberian warriors. Then i fought two Lusotan half stacks with the remenants of my roman forces and iberian allies in a battle where i had roughly 2000 troops to their 3800. after i crushed them i was attacked while besieging Oxtraca here with the remenants of the Lusotan.Then it was a simple march onto the city where i burned and pillaged the place to set an example to their former capital to those barbarians who would think of attacking Rome and her allies.

Ah Marcus Semproninus Longus I will remember you always even if youll have no direct descendents.

[Marcus Darkstar]

For further infromation My pre-polybian roman legions consisted of 4 Hastasti, 4 Princeps, 4 Triari, 8 Leves, 4 Republican Slingers, 4 Equites. Constitued into two legions most of which were veterans of the first Punic War + capturing northern italy etc so many of them were silver cheveron.

Needless to say Lusotan gave me a good war. I always have fun in Iberia :). Its Africa i hate though trying to conquer Tuat and Garama is a pain in the rear end to finish Carthage off.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Hai campaign. I have conquered the Caucasus, most of Persia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Syria, Media, Eastern Arabia, and parts of Cappadocia. At this point I have just defeated 3/4 of the Ptolemaic offensive they directed at Syria after I kicked the Seleucids out. I just have to defeat the army besieging Antioch.

Lusotanians: Destroyed. I've never seen Carthage so tenacious in Iberia and this was obviously to the detriment of the Lusitanians. I believe they started the war and actually took one of Carthages holdings but Carthage fought back and gradually conquered all of Lusotann's settlements.

Carthage: Again, never seen Carthage do so well in any of my games. They own all of Spain, after slowly and painfully beating back the Lusitanians. They attacked the Arverni and made them their protectorate which in effect allowed Rome to concentrate on the Aedui and conquer half of Gaul. Currently, Carthage has attacked the Romans and is fighting with them over southern Italy. I expect Carthage to win if they can transport some of their larger stacks from Spain to Sicily.

Rome: The Romans had a very interesting go of things this time around. They were slow to unify Italy and warred with Epirus for some time over Tarentum and later Illyria. They had a very tough time kicking the Aedui out of Mediolanum and almost lost Massalia several times to the Arverni. They have had multiple full stacks crushed when attacking the Gauls but once Carthage protectorated the Arverni and since Rome and Carthage were allies at the time, Rome and Arverni got ceasefire and they could focus all attacks on the Aedui. They crushed them and now are fighting with Carthage over southern Italy and tentatively attacking the Central European provinces. They also made Epirus their protectorate at some point.

Aedui: Destroyed. They resisted the twin pressures of Rome and Sweboz for a long time but once the Arverni left the fight, the Aedui crumpled under Roman attacks.

Arverni: Protectorate of Carthage. Lost Sequellra to Sweboz who then lost it to Aedui who then lost it to Rome. Managed to come back from just one province to conquer two more and make a viable defense against Rome but when Carthage attacked, they readily accepted protectorate status. Now their only function is to stop conflict between Rome and Carthage in Gaul itself which would have been cool methinks.

Casse: Doing their typical thing, though quicker than normal.

Sweboz: Doing their typical thing. Ally with Rome, unite German tribes, attack Gauls. They may attack Rome soon which would probably doom the followers of Mars.

Getai: Were in the process of getting their ass kicked by Epirus when the latter randomly became Romes protectorate. Whatever. Now fight over Black Sea provinces with Sauromate, face down Central European stacks, and worry about Pontic expansion westwards.

Epirus: Looked poised to conquer Getai while expanding into the Alps and south into Italy against a weaker Rome when suddenly they became Rome's protectorate. I'm currently searching for a way to break that status but I don't know if that will happen. They were strong enough at one point to take the Alpine town with scripted defenders so I really don't know what happened.

Macedonia: Lost Pella early on, got smacked around in Greece by KH but came back from just Euboea to dominate southern Greece again. They can't seem to take Thessaly though and instead just build up stacks on Lesbos to no use. They are the richest faction in the game though.

KH: I've never had a campaign where the KH dominated Greece so I was excited when they fought their way north to Thessaly and had reduced Macedon to just Euboea and Lesbos. Of course they then lost Athens, Corinth and Sparta in quick succession and now hold onto only Thessaly, Rhodes, and Halicarnassus. Fight off occasional Macedonian forays and hope that Pontus doesn't get greedy.

Ptolys: Fought a stalemate with Seleucids for years, then allied with them and attacked Karkiotherta once I owned it. Grrrrrr. They've been my biggest foe this campaign even though the AS has been tenacious, Ptolies are the bigger threat. They have actually been smart this campaign though. Had three stacks waiting once I conquered Syria from AS and beseiged all those towns immediately. Also landed three full stacks in Anatolia to win back lost holdings against Pontus and were mildly successful. At their largest, they owned Byzantion, Cyrene, and Karkiotherta.

Pontus: With Carthage, my favorite so far. One, they have upheld our alliance. Two, they beat the snot out of the Ptolies in Anatolia. Pontus had owned northern half plus Ipsos and Sardis along with Byzantion and Odysai when Ptolies attacked them. They were down to Amaseia, Sinope and Odrysai when I took Mazaka from the Seleucids and prompted Ptolie attacks. Pontus then fought back taking all of Anatolia except Side when Ptolies landed three full stacks against them. Ptolies reconquered back to Pergamum but they became distracted by my conquests in Syria and now Pontus has reduced them to Sardis which is under siege. Pontus will then be poised to either attack me (I hope not), attack KH in Halicarnassus, or expand against Getai or Epirus.

AS: Gradually lost territory to me, Pahlava, and Pontus. Stubbornly held onto Syria until my recent attacks. Now owns Eastern Persia and Cyrene which I'm RP'ing as seperate factions. I plan on taking east Persia next if Pahlava don't get it first.

Saba: Owned Palmyra and Bostra at one point and were a major threat to Ptolies. Now they pester them in Africa and the Levant but nothing serious. Also still my good allies although I conquered Eastern Arabia and border them. Not sure what will happen once I move into the Levant.

Pahlava: Started strong against AS even taking Paropamosidai but they lost that to rebellion and the AS built up a huge garrison which stopped their attacks. Now they occasionaly attack the Sauros even though they don't border them and look to be attacking the AS again. Another true ally. (You can see why I'm enjoying this campaign lol)

Baktria: Fought against Saka and lost Baktra. Regained it in a rebellion instigated by me but also accepted protectorate status to the nomads. Now sit around aimlessly.

Saka: Took Baktra which they lost but gained Baktrians as protectorate. Now they are slowly moving West and attacking Sauros.

Sauromatae: At war with everyone! And still somewhat viable. They were beating on Getai but lost province to Sweboz rebellion. Backstabbed by Saka while Pahlava attack them from across the Caspian. Also had to fight off Greek rebellion on Bosporus.

[QuintusSertorius]

239BC in my Epeiros-as-Pergamon game with 1.2:



Mine is the royal blue, the Aedui have Ankyra (not me) after a revolt. I've been using cheats to assist the smaller factions and prevent rebel settlements being swamped (mostly adding units to rebel garrisons). Its my aim to keep as many rebel settlements going in Europe as possible - especially to constrain the Sweboz and SPQR - and maintain a stalemate between Aedui and Arverni, and KH and Makedonia.

I also don't want any faction to die, so if any are starting to look hard-pressed I spawn some units in their cities and use the console to give them gold. I saved the Sauromatae from Hai destruction that way, and the Getai were nearly wiped out by Makedonia.

[FriendlyFire]

Hayasdan H/M campaign, 212 BC. Covering the map roughly from west to east:

Iberia: Carthage have finished conquering Africa, and are allied with the Ptolemaioi, so now they're expanding in Iberia. The Lusos only just woke up from a 50-year hibernation, so things don't look good for them.

Europe: The Aedui are on the verge of extinction against a 3-way alliance of Arverni, SPQR, and Sweboz. They've only held out this long by occasionally getting towns back through rebellion. And the poor Casse can't quite unite Ireland.

Sicily: Carthage lost Messana to rebellious Greeks, who then proceeded to take over the entire island. This leaves Carthage and SPQR free to concentrate on other fronts, although they occasionally squabble over Corsica.

Greece/Thrace/Illyria: Koinon Hellenon are a superpower, having reduced Epeiros to a single Illyrian province, and exiled the Makedonians to Asia Minor. Rebellions in Hellenic coastal cities (Messana, Chersonesos, Halikarnassos) have all been turned into Greek power bases. They're at war with all their neighbors except for their allies the Getai, who are busy expanding north. The Koinon Hellenon are led by a horribly battle-scarred and lame 63-year-old Spartiate with triple-gold-chevron experience, who has left heroic-battle markers strewn across the region.

Asia Minor: A senile Seleucid leader drools on his throne in Ipsos, convinced that he still has an empire. The Makedonians hang on by their fingertips. The Koinon Hellenon are busy eating up Pontos, who wore themselves out defending Kallatis (Pontos actually walked an army past Byzantion and up the coast to conquer Kallatis!). My allies the Arverni got Ankyra by rebellion, and then I conquered and gave them Tarsos and Antiocheia to form a buffer against the Ptolemaioi. They have full stacks of freed slaves not doing anything and not being attacked by anyone.

Syria etc: After some earlier "unpleasantness" (c.f. Tarsos and Antiocheia) I'm now allied with the Ptolemaioi, and we're both at peace with the Arche Seleukeia. Seleucid full stacks are content to sit in their forts, using up resources that could be better used in the east. Saba are stuck in the desert - they got Palmyra through rebellion and then used it as a base to attack me, so I kicked them out and gave it back to the Seleucids in return for a ceasefire.

Hayasdan (me!): I've conquered my first set of historical lands to the east, and am about to intervene in Pontos and Asia Minor to the west. I feel relatively safe against the Sauros in the north (battling Greeks and Getai), and Seleucids in the south (busy doing nothing). But then there's the east...

The east: The big blue Baktrian death machine approaches. They spent 50 years conquering India, then exploded over the past 10. A 3-way alliance in the northeast between Baktria, Pahlava, and the Saka has kept them all chipping away at the Seleucids, but Baktria took all the spoils. If they don't turn on Pahlava or Saka, then I expect to be attacked very soon...

Edit: look at this lovely Baktrian stack I found in Apameia. Mercenary phalangites as the main line, thureophoroi to hold the flanks, Hyrkanian hillmen to run round the back and chop things up, peltastai to annoy, Indo-Iranian cavalry to harass and then charge, and archers to shoot up the enemy as they approach. This is a stack I'd be VERY happy to command, and the AI put it all together itself!

[QuintusSertorius]

Epeiros-as-Pergamon, on M/M, 217BC:



There's been some shameless cheating to preserve and assist the smaller factions on my part. Recently the Arverni were nearly wiped out in Gaul, so I made the Aedui give them Galatia and return one of their provinces. They've since allied with the Romans and the balance of power in Gaul has flipped over. The Aedui have had two recent revolts in their favour, Mediolanium and Singidunum.

KH have held on to Mazaka despite some hard fighting with Pontos. Pahlava are finally moving and the Saka holding their own. Baktria actually went south for a change!

Still giving the rebels lots of money and occasionally boosting garrisons to prevent them being steamrollered.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Edit: look at this lovely Baktrian stack I found in Apameia. Mercenary phalangites as the main line, thureophoroi to hold the flanks, Hyrkanian hillmen to run round the back and chop things up, peltastai to annoy, Indo-Iranian cavalry to harass and then charge, and archers to shoot up the enemy as they approach. This is a stack I'd be VERY happy to command, and the AI put it all together itself!

You do realize that stack was just put together by recruiting all the mercenaries in the pool right?

[Africanus]

My latest Romani campaign, 206 B.C., VH/M, BI exe. All factions still alive. The AS are down to one settlement, but are currently besieging Antioch with a full stack. This is the best I've ever seen Pontos perform, usually they're the first faction eliminated.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Lysimachos]

You do realize that stack was just put together by recruiting all the mercenaries in the pool right?

Ah, could've fooled me!

[johnhughthom]

214, Pahlava campaign.

[FriendlyFire]

You do realize that stack was just put together by recruiting all the mercenaries in the pool right?

Awww, don't spoil my dreams of a smart AI!

Besides, it's still a lovely stack, no matter where it came from

214, Pahlava campaign.

Europe looks very pretty, just the Greeks and Aedui spoiling the nice regular color blocks. That Epeiros-on-the-coast/Makedonia-inland thing going on in Illyria is bizarre but fun. What's happening in Africa -- are Carthage and Ptolemaioi actually at war for a change? And what happened to the Saka lands??

[johnhughthom]

What's happening in Africa -- are Carthage and Ptolemaioi actually at war for a change?

Yup.

And what happened to the Saka lands??

One AS FM wandered up there and in the fifty or so years since his family has carved out their own personal domain.

[QuintusSertorius]

196BC:



Heavily meddled and interfered with by me, both through FD and more direct intervention. Most recently I sent an army to Syria and restored the flagging Seleukids, kicking the Ptolemies back into Egypt.

All those Sabaen holdings in North Africa are gifts from me after taking them from Qarthadast and Egypt. Casse in the Belgae lands, and Lusotanno in Ireland are my doing via FD. As is KH in Syrakousai.

I gave the Romans the Illyrian coast a while back, after taking settlements from Makedonia. Just about to restore Singidunum to the Aedui for yet another war with the Makedones.

My independent little kingdom of Kyrene has held against both the Ptolemies and Qarthadast. With no support from the homeland, just what they can recruit plus mercs.

[QuintusSertorius]

235BC in my Epeiros-as-Massalia game:



Only minor meddling on my part, such as giving Bratosporios to the Casse after taking it, and when the Romans attacked, taking Segesta off them and giving it to their allies (yeah, I know) the Aedui.

224BC in the same game:

[STuNTz2023]

This is my Bactrian campaign.

The AI progression has been very interesting..

Spain has been rather boring.. other than Romans and Aedui fighting over emporiom..

In gaul the romans pushed about half way thru France, only to be beatin back by the Aeudi.. however with the Swezboz now attacking them.. and the Romans.. their future doesnt look bright.

Greece has been most interesting.. First the Makedonians were pushed out to Mytilene where they have expanded to where they are now. Eperius owned everything that KH and Maks have split.. Pella.. Ambrakia.. Byzantion.. and north of that.

KH has pushed and taken over greece, still fighting with the exiled Makedonians and using their resources to overwhelm the enemy.

The yellow death is slowly strangling Carthage like a snake.. They have a peace treaty with the grey death, so not much expansion in Asia.

The parthians and myself pushed and carved our own empires out of the Arche.. however soon after they attacked myself and are currently being crushed.

Saka has yet to try and move south..

[moriluk]

AS244 BI.exe m/m


allies: Epeiros.
enemies Baktria, Hai, Pontos, Kart, Saka.


Nothing too unusual about AI expansion so far except I've never seen Casse so weak or Sauromatae so broken up.

[moriluk]

Romani 223 bi.exe h/m. 3.1 minimod. This for me is the most fun/realistic set up for any faction. used to play rtw.exe all difficulties. just recently started using minimod and bi and permanently switched to hard campaign. Almost feels like a new game. Navy becomes critical. I see ai expansion patterns in BI that I did not see in rtw. Some odd, but overall better.

[LusitanianWolf]

Lusotannan campain at 263 Bc with Alex.exe and Jirisys Mega Pack (Vh/m)

My first with Alex exe and is being quite fun!
I had played Lusos many times (can you belive that? =P ) but usualy I first blitz the Carthies ou of Iberia and then focus in economy and in conquer the rest of it but now I'm doing the things the other way: conquered 2 eleutheroi settlements, paid some tributes to Cartage while developing some basis economy and them waited for them to betray me. Belive me, fighting them all over iberia is much more fun to just siege eleutheroi towns so I'll let them stay around more time. Theire bringing reinforcements by boat (mostly sardinians and balearians), I'm hoping that they bring some elephants, but unfortunly AI almost never use them in my campains, maybe with Alex things will be different (I hope).

And btw LOOK AT THAT GETAI, who gave them steroids?
Thinks are pretty hot in the steppes, almost a shame I'm so far away
And lol, Casse was destroyed very early by eleutheroi.

Its being a fun campain

[Greenlizard0.]

Epiros, medium/medium (bi.exe)

An invasion of Punic troops in Italy from see. (They didn't came from Messana).



In 272 I took Pella and Demetrias and Serdike, the Koinon Hellion took Korinthos the same year. Removing Chalkis did cost the Greek more time though. I lost Taras twice, yet nice rebellions gave it back.

The Koinon sieging and taking Mytilene, while Makedon had succeeded in invading Rhodos isn't someting I've seen often. (Note: In the second picture The Koinon is invading Rhodos). And Pontos has Pergamon.

Edit: AS has Salamis.





However succesful the Free Greeks have been so far, they made a huge mistake in sieging Demetrias, the first time I'm in war with them. I have four full stacks (thanks to the mines, and I have even 5000/6000 mni each turn), they have one stack (with some non-professional alongside some professional troops).






As you can see, the Ptolemaoi, Bactria an Pahlava are doing wel.

[Grouchio]

Anyone care for some more Empire building?

[Satyros]

Don't have a screenshot at the moment but by 230 my Sauromatae empire is quite large , the most successful attempt to date . Alex.exe vh/m huge size units , have "cheated" to win previously ctd'd battles as I hate having to replay at least half an hour of constant micro with the horse archers . Usually I have much more casualties than playing the battle manually ( again ) but I can live with that*edit* After the Ptolemaioi have attacked I can't live with that any more , if this campaign dies , it will be because of my hatred of replaying ctd'd battles *edit* . I hate replaying the same battles . Otherwise I don't cheat at all , not even the "legitimate" cheat of " force diplomacy" .

After uniting the tribes around the starting territory and capturing pantikapaion and ... the other crimean city and olvia ( some heroic victories ), I initially expanded to the west , captured the skythian lands and even expanded a bit ( 2 provinces ) in the baltic , attaching two allied tribes to my growing empire .

Since Saka Rauka proved to be the best ally ever in EB ( almost 40 years of alliance with common borders and without attack ) I then continued my expansion to the south , I passed the Caucasus mountains and destroyed Hayasdan and on the other side of Euxeinos Pontos I stole Kallatis and .... the-city-immediately-to-the-west from Getai . Again tough resistance from both of them . The Getai are quiet ever since , they have probed once or twice with a single unit towards Gawjam Bastarnoj but were beaten back immediately from local militia .

Beside the Getai where nothing interesting is happening , at the moment I am facing the KH which for the past 10 years ( or more ) is rather obsessed with Kallatis , even though it has no bordering province ( Tylis still owned by Eleutheroi ) , they have been very active launching expedition after expedition by sea to Kallatis , I must've killed over 25 thousand of troops . I also face the Ptolemaioi who declared war on me the very next round after we shared a border for the first time .

Other than that I have a severe financial problem , with 21 cities now I still can field 3 quarters of a stack worth of HA units of which 5 units are elite ( of which only two are Aorsi Nobles - not the best one there is ) and the rest are regular non elite Sauromatae Archers or Aorsi Riders . These are splitted three ways : 2 Sauromatae Noble Horse Archers with a family member go rebel hunting , 1 SNHA with 3 Aorsi Riders and 4 SHA and one FM are in the Balkan front and 2 Aorsi Nobles 2 SHA and 2 AR and 2-3 FM's are on the other front , Caucasus etc , the rest of my economy supports guards in the cities , all Sauromatae footmen .

The thing is that I may have some profits now , but I think that if I invest on a third "army" ( practically another halfstack - the rebel hunters barely count as an army ) to conquer more territory I don't think that with the additional garisson costs I will have any profit at all , perhaps I will lose more than I will gain , financially speaking . Non HA armies are worth nothing if they're not supported by elite cavalry , so it's a financial dead end methinks .

Moreover I want that 6-8k profit margin to develop my territory ( slowly ) .

What I think kills me is unrest . Contrary to our settled neighbours we don't have enough happiness / law buildings and on top of that we have many FM who simply want to be in the wild / seek the glory in battle who don't make great administrators .

At the end of the day it's ok , because I was forced to play like a steppe horde is supposed to : I organize raids deep into enemy territory with the sole purpose of sacking cities ( so as to develop territory faster ) :D

Am I doing something wrong ?

Let me know if I do .

Satyros

P.S. : I moved my capital to Tanais , which was a brief relief , but further down the road squalor will hit hard my captured cities . With the exception of the 2 Baltic cities I have migrated everywhere .
P.P.S : If this is not the right thread for this post , perhaps a moderator can move it somewhere more appropriate ? Thanks in advance .
P.P.S. : The Ptolemaioi are monstrous ! Monstrous I tell ya !They've taken ALL of western Seleukeia including famous cities such as Babylon and Seleukeia , they have even managed to keep their provinces in Mikra Asia and currently attack my ally Pontos . I have decided to build a HA army of Doom ( which means about 12 units ( 50% elites ) , 14 with the addition of two FM's and DESTROY THEIR CITIES .

[philosopher260]

excuse me but i got a little confused.......this is the barbarorum 1 or 2?????thank you

[Arthur, king of the Britons]

This is Europa Barbarorum 1.

[moriluk]

Interesting expansion here from Romani. Especially since they were going after Sicily when Gaul had Roma. They continued attacking Sicily while the Celts took everything else. Taras is about to go but Athens is strong and they have owned that and have been allied with Makedonia for almost 20 years.

Using BI h/m with minimod, city mod, realistic movement mod, and some other stuff. AI victory conditions is on. Pontos was wiped out 265. This is my first campaign with realistic movement mod. I thought I would not like it but I actually do, especially for ships.
232bc

[Velho]

Just battle with romani, Thoughted that well lets take out the 1800 men stack but accidentaly got into battle with 2700 men vs my 972 men

[seleucid empire]

seleucids campaign 246 BC on H/M using Realistic Movement Mod

sothis is what happens when you give Rome and Carthage realistic movement...

[Velho]

Romani E/E 225BC

My first campaing what has lasted about 200 turns I have 76 settelments at the moment and trying to get the 90 before ill slow my progress down



Here is picture about my faction leader and his army + his 120 men strong galatikoi tindadoae guards.
they got their silverchevron from smashing plotemaioi stacks




Seems that epeiros has some good stacks out there, and yeah i have done principes spam abit

[Vlad-Tudor]

This is my campaign with the Getai. I haven't seen anyone achieve the victory conditions, so I might just post the empire here. Campaign is on M/M, I usually do play like this because I like bribing FM from time to time so I can culturally enrich my factions with some foreigners.



Some addition details about it:

Just because I have achieved the victory conditions doesn't mean the campaing is over. I was thinking to start a AAR from the victory condition with the Getai in this campaing. The same season I achieved victory 230 I had the Egipt betray me - tho they did not attack me; we have no next to next city just an sea invasion is possible.

So where do the Getai stand at the moment? In the north east no real theat, save borders, lots of Eleutheroi to expand. Britain seems tempting to take with 2, 3 stacks, since it's easy to defend. I have an alliance with the Sweboz who are fighting the Aedui and Arveni at the moment, I'm in a war with the Romans who still have two cities. I did chose not to eliminate them so I won't get in a war with Carthage, whom is their enemy. Even so, earlier in the campaing the Romani and Epirus, worst enemies, no? Well they allied against me :D. I hope I can still keep Carthage neutral, else it will be messy. The Getai have a really bad navy, I can't compete with carthaginian war ships. Not even Egiptian ones. At the moment I have, as you can see on the map, a large town in Africa, that i need stone walled asap. Bribed it for the carthaginian FM. That guy is now pointless and skilless. Still is a Carthaginian.
Anyway, what I was planning to do is fortify my borders, all stone walled cities, outposts, forts on the main roads and go take Alexandria and the surrounding with something like two stacks. That might hurt Egipt. This or obtain back the neutrality, which would be better for the time being since most of my offensive stacks are in north ( i have the borders well garrisoned, tho').
Best expansion would be for me to get the western Mediterranean Sea, of course, but the Egipt.. they are the second factions in rankings and a prolong war with them being so far away would leave me in a way way bad shape. War will come, undoubtedly.

[Miaow]

Aedui campaign, 231 BCE, VH/M.

Only provinces left for the victory conditions are in Britain, while my continental extension is greater than needed. I'm currently at war with Rome, the Sweboz and the Lustoanna, though none of them is a threat at present. Roma is currently under siege and should fall next turn (for the fourth time this campaign, this time I'll just finish the SPQR off).

I've been roleplaying and haven't expanded as fast as I could, managing to avoid war with the Sweboz for a long time. The silly Germans were obsessed with Eburodunum as far as I can tell, but never managed to beat the scripted defenders (they never even took Heruskolandam, and I beat them to the Belgae provinces). When I got around to sending a strong enough army to wipe out the Boii, the Germans promptly attacked me. Their assault on Eburodunum was en epic battle I ultimately lost: my governor and last man standing fell in the central square with 2 minutes left on the timer, and the Germans lost 1400 of 1600 attacking soldiers. They held it for less than a year though, just the time to recruit a general and give him an army, and in general they've been losing the war since they started it.

I've also got a border with the Getai but they've been turtling up since achieving their present borders maybe 20 years ago, and are allies (but so were the Sweboz).

The fight for Greece was fairly balanced for a long time, with Epeiros holding Makedon and Makedonia holding Epeiros, which I thought was hilarious. I was bankrolling Epeiros and the Koinon (Makedonia having gone Philoromaios), through legit tribute, not console, so probably negligible on VH campaign, but KH and Epeiros did ally and Makedonia eventually crumbled under their combined pressure and became a protectorate of Epeiros.

In the East, AS did better than I've seen it do before, at one point going up to Jerusalem, before being kicked back to the Euphrates by the Yellow Fever. The combined attacks of Ptolies and Pontos drove the AS out of Mikra Asia, but they've struck back and taken Antiocheia back. Armenia seems to always do well in 1.2, Sauros are being driven West by the Saka and Hay. In the steppes, Saka and Baktria have been dancing, Baktria's been overall getting the better, though they've been bigger than in that screenshot. Pahlava are being nibbled at by the AS, as usual.

In Africa, I think it's the second or third time Kush revolts to Saba. Since Saba finally got Ma'in, they might have a real war with the Ptolies on their hands. If the AS don't keep up the attack in the Levant, then things might get really ugly for the Arabians.

The West is obviously dominated by my Aedui at this point. I started out by talking Vesontio from the Arverni and beating their armies until I could force a peace so I could expand East and North while holding back Rome. The Romans rapidly got too insistant to ignore, and that first war against them was really a gruelling affair. Eventually though I managed to field two full stacks at once, so I could beat them and sack Roma, which I returned to them (much damaged) in exchange for peace and tribute. They attacked me after only a few turns, so I retook Roma over the bodies of their Freed Slaves and this time made them a protectorate when giving it back (completely wrecked after two sacks). I got a ridiculous ammount of money out of that, much more than I expected from the SPQR with a gutted capital, but I guess it just shows how much the VH AI "cheats". I really would have preferred getting less money as this feels like an exploit, but protectorate status is the only way to make them keep to the treaty. It also takes all the aggressiveness out of the AI, which is why Rome never went South (except for taking Taras fairly early).

My one bit of console cheating was giving Arsé to the Carthies, because in 250 or so they still hadn't moved at all. This soon led to the Lusos attacking them in Arsé and taking all their Iberian provinces except, ironically, Arsé. It did kickstart Carthie expansion in Africa though, so I'll just roleplay it as meaning Hanno and the landowners' party hold sway in Qart Hadasht.

I did some expanding against Eleutheroi and building my economy until the Arverni, after some hibernation, took Tolosa and Burdigala. I crushed them then, of course Rome was still allied to them and broke the protectorate. I threw together a new army in Italy while my two armies in Gaul crushed the Arverni and sacked Rome again, reducing the Romans to a protectorate again after wiping out the Arverni. At this point, all of Gaul was mine. I took Eburodunum and Vindobonna then, before crossing the Pyrennees. This brought me into conflict with the Lusos while Eburodunum brought on the Sweboz backstab, which Rome used as a pretext to revolt again. I really tried to not wipe out the Romans, but peaceful coexistence is just impossible with some people.

Oh, Casse on their isle have been doing their usual thing on their own. Of course, since I need their lands to achieve the true Celtic empire, their future looks grim...

P.S. this campaign really persuaded me that slingers need to be majorly nerfed. They're the cheapest troop type available yet they're completely overpowered once they get a little experience (and with Type IV gov, Field of Games and Fortress Temple of Teutatis, they start at 3 experience). Some of my battles against the Lusos were like High Wood on the Somme, they advanced on my position, lost over their half their army to slingers on the way, then my line tossed some javelins and the survivors broke and ran. No melee at all, which is just not realistic for large armies in this time frame, as far as I know, especially in the West. These aren't elite Persian or Cretan archers, or Rhodian or Balearic slingers, just run of the mill iosatae and sphendonetai.

[HopliteLegion]

KH campaign, approx 250bc

War with Makedonia isn't going in their favor. They've hit a stone wall against Epieros, and I've run them out of Greece. They're also broke, thanks to a combination of their large inactive army and a three year long blockade against their ports. Just started a new campaign to take their island settlements.

Epieros has been waging a go-nowhere war against the Romani in southern Italy, and haven't even made a move against Thermon.

The Romani seem content to stop at the Alps for now, which doesn't make sense as Carthage is locked in a stalemate with Ptolemy. Money isn't an issue for the Romans either...they are ridiculously rich.

Seleukids made a move against Halikarnassos, causing that settlement to rebel an join me. They haven't made a second attempt due to eastern powers picking away at them.

The Sauromatae have a nice chunk of the steppes conquered and are starting to encroach on Baktria.

The Sweboz are holed up in their forests, seemingly ignorant to Arverni expansion along the Rhine.

The Aedui are still reeling from a few failed attempts to dislodge their Gallic rivals. There's now a temporary peace in Gaul.

The Iberians have been seizing eleutheroi settlements around them, paying little mind to the Carthaginians.

Ptolemy has been more less toying with Carthage while expanding east from Palestine.

Casse is still trying to bring Britain under control.

The Getai have expanded north and have forged a nice little kingdom from the rebel settlements.

Pontus controls most of Asia Minor and are trying to move into Thracia.

Hayasdan has expanded very little thus far, though they and their neighbors are keeping the Seleukids busy.