Rome EB

[Tia]

Hi all, I would like to take advantage of your experience to ask for some advice for my campaign with Rome EB.
I'm in the year 236 B.C. and I conquered all the Carthaginian territories in Africa and the islands in the western Mediterranean.
But now I do not know where to go, I'm undecided on 4 areas.

1)Greece: time for the Macedonians are my allies, but I could send 3 legions and see if I can subdue them and Epirus.


2) Egypt and Cyrenaica those funny dei Tolomei constantly trying to conquer Libya, but with a full army on the river does not pass anything. I was planning to land in Cyrenaica and then continue towards the Nile.

3) Spain: The third option is to invade the Iberian Peninsula and permanently delete the Carthaginians and maybe even the Iberian tribes.

4) Northern Italy: a last option, unify Italy at the expense of the Gauls, who are still killing each other.

Unfortunately I'm not insert image links.
I rely on you ^^
Sorry for my bad English.

[Ludens]

Since this isn't really a guide or an AAR, I'm moving it to the main forum.

New member cannot post links until they've posted a few messages. This makes it harder for spambots to slip through.

As for your question: I'd conquer Egypt as soon as possible. It's an extremely rich territory, and the Ptolemeans are likely to waste all that money by throwing army after army at you. Since you are already at war with them, I see no need to pick another fight.

[Tia]

Thanks for the advice and explanations about the link :)

[d'Arthez]

I would actually go for Greece and Illyria first. Supply lines will be a lot shorter, and if you have a bit of money to spare you can invest in mines. In Pella, Dalmation and Segestica they should net you vast sums of money every turn. You could also go for just Epeiros, and see if the Makedones break the alliance or try a "surprise" attack. As an added bonus, distance to capital penalties will be a lot smaller too.

Egypt of itself is quite wealthy, but you will have supply issues, as it will take you some time to get your military there. Furthermore population-induced / distance to capital induced can be a real pain, forcing you to send ten units, just to appease the local population a bit. That can quickly eat into your income, and thus empty the covers.

[Tia]

In fact I have difficulty in managing African territories seized from Carthage.
Crossing the Adriatic Sea on the other hand is much simpler.

[d'Arthez]

Part of the problem is that most cities in Africa are quite far removed from Rome. Thus, you'll suffer substantial distance to capital penalties. Even for Lepki it is 40%, and for Egypt it will be 80% (the max), unless you move your capital from Rome to a place that is substantially closer to Egypt.

Another problem is that cultural penalties will be quite high too, no matter whose territories you take over (that is because Romans have a unique culture slot). Upgrading governor's buildings (if possible - if you conquered Kart-Hadast after 255 BC, chances are it already has the biggest; same applies to Alexandreia), marketplaces, etc. will help to reduce those penalties. But that will take years, possibly even a decade or two to achieve.

Good governors with high influence can help, but once they die or leave the settlement morale will collapse. And while a Type-4 government lets you recruit a local ruler, they are quite expensive. Furthermore Type-4 governments restrict the options for infrastructure development, meaning that it may be hard to get rid of the culture penalties. Unless of course you'd tear down most of the buildings that provide these penalties, but that is really restricting on your economy.

Distance to capital penalties in Greece are far lower and local recruitment options tend to be decent. In addition to that, distances between provinces are limited. It really helps that you don't have to march your armies for 3 or 4 seasons just to get to the next settlement. Which can be a bit of a problem in Africa as well.

Ideally in the case of trying to conquer Egypt, you have a presence in Asia Minor. Just to keep the supply lines reasonable.