Roman: Brutii

[Doug-Thompson]

There's an impressive thread on squalor in the Collosseum. Here's the bottom line: Squalor goes up with your population at a fixed rate, and there's really not a #!&% thing you can do about it.

"Happy" buildings, sanitation and so forth just treat the effects of squalor. The only thing that actually cuts downs squalor itself are new "city hall" buildings like a imperial palace. A few governor's traits also help.

Things like constructing units only seem to reduce squalor, but that's only because they're reducing the population also.

This is a serious problem for the Brutii in particular, because we conquer heavily populated Greece right off the bat. However, I'd rather have the power in Greece.

[Accounting Troll]

Always build temples of Mars in your two Italian cities so they can become major troop producing centres.

I always take wardogs with me when I'm fighting any faction that has hoplites. They break the enemy formation and also inlict a morale penalty, thus making it easier for your hastatii and principles to rout them. Even Spartans find it hard to concentrate on what is in front of them when they are being bitten in the rear by hungry dogs. This is particularly useful in city assaults where your skirmishers and cavalry don't have room to manovere.

When you conquer Greece, relocate your capital to a more central location such as Athens to reduce problems with unhappiness caused by the distance to your capital.

I prefer to conquer the entire Balkans up to the Danube, including Illrya and Dacia. A fort on each side of each fording point of the Danube will defend your cities against barbarian raids. As your borders will be less porous, brigands will be far less of a problem.

Once you have consolidated your position in the Balkans, invade Asia Minor for the wonders.

[HopAlongBunny]

Excellent guide Doug-Thompson

I did much the same thing but my first expedition was a disaster.

Took Apollinia and the town to the North. Consolodated. Launched a small force to take Pratavium (sp). I had it all! (Yay me! )

The Greeks showed up with 80 boats; sunk my fleets; ate my armies for lunch. I was surprised that they did not pursue me into Italy. After years of rebuilding the Senate said, "Get thee to Corinth!"; I figured why not? It was either that or give up.

Corinth-Sparta-Thermon-Athens all in short order. Once you get started, no detours I guess

edit: I never managed to get a fleet going; the Greeks would show up everytime I thought I was gonna start rolling and sank every boat.

[Slaists]

don't make the mistake i made playing brutii: building the mars line of temples in your capital... sure, you get +3 experience troops but the cost is you having all the generals that pop in the capital having the anger/madness line of vices with bad influence, management, and command consequences... rather, build it in some province that you can keep running without a governor. Just drop in a governor with unit producing discount traits in to que up units from time to time and take him out right after... Julii have a similar detrimental effect with their Bachus line of temples. But they do not need Bachus for producing troops.

as to squalor: the brutii have the ultimate squalor fighting mechanism: the juno line of temples. note, it does not fight the squalor itself: it raises happiness due to health by a considerable amount negating the detrimental effect of squalor.

[Kekkonen]

as to squalor: the brutii have the ultimate squalor fighting mechanism: the juno line of temples. note, it does not fight the squalor itself: it raises happiness due to health by a considerable amount negating the detrimental effect of squalor.

Isn't that a two-edged sword though? I'm pretty sure health has a positive effect on population growth as well.

A hint for Brutii players: you start with no missile units, but have no fear. When you have the time and a little extra cash, take one of your generals to a short vacation in Crete. There he can recruit excellent Cretan mercenary archers, who have longer range than your regular guys with bows. You need about 800 denarii or so for that; if you have extra to spare, there may even be some Rhodos slingers (capable stand-in for regular archers) available for about the same amount of cash. Just beware: try to land on a spot with no woods (pref. east of the island's only city); the natives may be waiting in the bushes, and they're definitely not friendly.

[Racoth]

Actually you can find Cretan mercenary archers in every greek province now and then.
They 're simply the best archers in the Rome-Balcan-Minor Asia region...

[Maltz]

In my current Brutii campaign (VHard/VHard) I am about 15 years into the game, and I have 20 provinces & 150k in the bank. It is probably the easiest fraction I have ever played. Here is what I did:

[Stage 1]: City 2 -> 4

Occupy the rebel town (Senate mission) in turn 1, then occupy the rebel town just north of it. Ship all available armies, diplomat and spy east to the Balkan pennisula. Turn one of the starting cities into a troop producing base.

Note: Senate asked me to blockade the Carthagians on Sicily; I ignored.

[Stage 2]: City 4 -> 7

Arrange an alliance with the Macedonian, attack and enslave all Greek (not Macedon) settlements there incl. Athen. Turn Sparta into a Principe mass-production base for its already-built 2nd level barrack, and sign a ceasefire with the Greek. Move your capital to Athen for its already-built Academy. (Good for young family members)

Note: Senate asked me to blockade the Greeks on Sicily; I ignored.

[Stage 3]: City 7 -> 11

Break the alliance and attack Macedon with everything. Exterminate every town from this point (unless its population is < 1000) and destroy Macedon as soon as possible. Quickly generate a lot of troops from the Macedonian cities. There will be a plague in the old Macedonian capital at about 250BC (which I haven't encountered), so don't leave family member(s) there.

[Stage 4]: City 11 -> 14

Field a 2nd army to occupy the Crete Island. Hire as many Crete archer mercenaries you can because they are the best archers you will have for dozens of years. Then, land 2 armies simultaniously to the Greek cities on the east side & Rhode to avoid all the struggle with the might Greek navy. Declare war to the Greeks again and occupy both cities in one turn. Cease fire (and ally) with the Greeks again.

[Stage 5]: City 14 -> 20 (I am at this stage now)

In the meantime, field a 3rd army to the northeast for Thracians & then Scy*ians (sorry can't spell). Field a 4th army, which also heads north but turns west to handle Dacian. Field the 5th army to expand towards Sicily. In my game the impotent Roman Scipii hasn't expanded any further in Sicily.

Continue the eastern expansion with army no.1 & 2. Declare war to the Selucid Emprie and Pontus and keep going east while picking up rebel colonies. Ally with the Egyptians and Numadians to stay out of naval threat.

Hope this helps.

[LestaT]

Unless I am mistaken, war dogs main purpose in real life was to pursue routers.

========



I'm not sure about war dogs but my idea is to charge into pack shield wall. It sure disrupt formation in real life situation, but in the game terms..

[Vikings]

I would say Brutii is my favorite faction of all. Why becuz they have nice Temple bonuses but too bad not the Neptune. Having a few Mars Temples for recruiting, one for Juno to train your governors/generals then the rest is Mercury.

Mercury have nice bonus on trade depend on traffic conditions and cities populations.

Amazing seeing Macedon's Artemis:Hunting with a whopping +5 missile upgrade for missile type units. They are very handy Temples indeed, esp defending a fort or mega city.

I usually let out pack of spies and diplomats to search for other good leaders and if they are not protected well enough and that leader has good skills like Retinues, bribe them and take that skill that you cannot possibly have.

Maximum of 8 Retinues is what i heard, but nice to have all that bonuses on governors and generals. Btw, watchout for leader faction besure not to leave any valueable Retinues on him, if he dies it all lost.

-Vikings

[Slon]

Just a note about defeating Egypt:

By the time you get to these guys, they will be VERY powerful. I find that the best way to defeat them is to start training Legionaries, some cavalry and archers. Heavy onagers won't hurt (if you have them), either. If you don't have them, don't worry. The Egyptian cities are fully upgraded and you can train them after you take the first city, as well as retraining your elite troops in Egypt. While your troops get ready to attack, send LOTS of spies and assassins to the main Egyptian cities (memphis, alexandria, thebes). Send at least 10 each. Then, train your spies a little bit in spying by spying on some of the diplomats/roaming armies. Do the same with your assassins by killing off enemy captains over and over again. Then, infiltrate thebes with ALL of your assassins and start blowing up public order-increasing structures with your assassins. Before you know it, that city will revolt and Egypt will lose control of it. This will allow you to move in and take over the city without actually declaring war on Egypt! Or, if you're really rich, you can buy some of the Egyptian settlements. However, don't do this unless you're really desperate, since Egypt will use that money to push you back once you attack.

Once your armies (I recommend two huge ones) land in Egypt, beseige Alexandria and Memphis in one turn. They will fall at the same time (probably) and be a crushing blow to Egypt. If the enemy attacks, your powerful Legionaries will have no trouble holding the enemies off from a hilltop. Once you take Egypt, there will no longer be any powerful enemies for you to compete with. I also recommend attacking Pontus at the same time since they can attack your other cities if they are allied with Egypt. By this time, cash should really be pouring in if you kept building Mercury temples. Also, I recommend taking the Pontic cities early because there are two Juicy wonders right there, waiting to be captured!

[Imperator]

When I played with the Brutii I found that my biggest problem was the Macadonians. The Greeks only own about 2 cities in Greece, and they never seem to take a serious offensive against you. But the macadonians get all the cities north of Athens. Sometimes the Greeks still have Thermon, but that city is never very well defended. The Macadonians are supposed to be like the Greeks in their fighting style, phalanxes galore, but they aren't. With me, (I'm playing on hard/hard) they kept making light lancers, which are highly mediocre cavalry. They had a little infantry, but I always found myself staring at 5 or 6 regiments of those light cavalry, but those things will just get slaughtered by an organized regiment of precipes, or even hastati sometimes. () So my campaign was long and difficult, but not all that hard once I got how to beat them. Let them throw their light cavalry at you, once they are engaged with your infantry, quickly send your equites to charge (send 2 regiments to charge the same target at a time, that scares them out of their minds.) all you have to do is get their cavalry regiments to rout one by one, and since they almost always seem to throw their general in that charge, try to kill him too. But once all their cavalry is gone, it is easy to get their infantry to rout. then mop up the fleeing infantry with your exhausted cavalry. Easy. After you finish off Macedon and Greece, the Dacians might or might not attack you. If they do, throw everything you have at them. They aren't tough, they just have a few really really big armies, bribe the smaller ones, and then gang up on the big ones. The next real campaign will be in Egypt. The Egyptian cities are huge, and almost untakable. Make a beachhead in Libya, then march your armies on Memphis, NOT ALEXANDRIA! Alexandria looks cute and undefended, but they will just throw you out the minute you take over, no matter what you do. Memphis will be tough, but the Egyptians aren't very good against heavy cavalry or spearman. Use Legionary cavalry to run over their chariots, and maybe flank any spearman they might have. Once you are sieging Memphins wait about five turns or just starve them out. It is EXTREMELY difficult to take the Egyptian cities by a full scale invasion because of all their archers, they will tire all your men out, then run over them with chariots. (the best way to take their cities if you must is with sapping points) Bribe their smaller armies with diplomats and slowly take all their lands. It won't be easy, but hopefully after you have taken Egypt from the Egyptians, they will run out of steam. Once Egypt is crushed the world is yours. by then you should have seen Marius come and go, and you should be able to march on Rome. Do it. Lots of land to be had, take the Lands from the Julii and Scipii, much closer to home, and no culture penalty. Then just take a few more settlements and you shoult be at 50 settlments.

Good Luck!

[Dutch_guy]

my Brutii campain was by far the easiest I have ever done.
Once you get Athens Corinth and Sparta it get's really easy.
the only problem I had with the Macidonians was with the city Larissa, I captured it, but they sieged it the next turn with their best army ( commanded by a family member ) and they got their city back, for the moment
I then ( in a hard fun battle ) killed their main army ( marked by a famous battle marker on the battle map ) and tooke larissa, Thessalonica and Bylazora from them.
I was by that time making good money and expanded to asia minor ( Peragarum ) and destroyed the greeks. by the time the marian-reform started i was filthy rich and could afford to built every building and maintain many armies.
At that time the senate orderd me to kill my faction leader, which I of course didn't do, they outlawed me and I sacked Rome in a matter of turns, with their Scipii friends, the Julii actually held out for a long time.
I didn't even have to go to egypt, since I got 50 regions after I finally eliminated Macedon ( who were still holding a settlement in Libia : Cyrene )

if you expand fast you will encounter little resistance from Macidonians and the greeks. and even less frm the Dacians. I didn't take Thrace because of our aliance whitch lasted for about 25 years

[Lord Preston]

don't make the mistake i made playing brutii: building the mars line of temples in your capital... sure, you get +3 experience troops but the cost is you having all the generals that pop in the capital having the anger/madness line of vices with bad influence, management, and command consequences... rather, build it in some province that you can keep running without a governor. Just drop in a governor with unit producing discount traits in to que up units from time to time and take him out right after... Julii have a similar detrimental effect with their Bachus line of temples. But they do not need Bachus for producing troops.

i notaced this.... moving the capital to athens worked for me. puts the capital in the middle of my empire so distance from capital is less.

[Oshidashi]

I have had a really strange bruttii experience

Ofcourse I took appollonia and the other rebel city at the start. After that i send out my diplomats to my allies and bribed as many roman army's and generals as i could. I suspect the bribe thing is the reason for my strange game.

What happenned is that in turn 10 or so the senate announced me to be outlawed. If you think that's weird check this out: They also outlawed the scippii and the jullii! At the same time they gave me two final missions which was destroying the julli and the scippii. Surprised as I was i checked the diplomacy screen and noticed that all four roman factions were now at war with eachother, like a major civil war! I was like

I now had to turn all my military attention towards italy. I concentrated recruitment in the cities on my fleet and got my army through bribing the other roman army's because this is much cheaper then recruiting yourself and at the same time you will weaken your enemy's.

Note that you cannot bribe units which you can't build yourself. An exeption is made for generals thank god.

I was able to take Capua in turn 15 or so and then i made a ceasefire with the senate so I didn't had to take up against there elite army and had more time bribing their great units to! The jullii where taken easily after suffering from a large number of bribes. During their destruction the senate declared war on me again but now I was ready for them. It took me quite some more turns to get the scippi on sicily because I had to respond to an invasion of the Gauls.

Because i exterminated many (not all) of the roman city's I was rich like hell and able to recruit a large mercenary army which took the greek city of Thermon. Somewhat later i conquered Syracuse and by this time I was already pressing the Gauls into France. Those crazy barbarians did annoy me by making an alliance with the macedon, the carthaganians and with the Germans. The Carthaganians were also allied with Spain so this large alliance caused me to watch my borders a little more against invasion. I also started to make alliances myself with the Thracians and the Dacians

In the medditteranian I have like 2 fleets of 20 ships but not enough to fight the other great naval powers effectively. I've now declared war on macedon together with Thrace and my finances are good, my units experienced and my family is large. Hope to get this to a good end after all.

Peace

[Aggie]

I can't relate to Oshidashi's comments. But it sounds very interesting! In my H/H game I bribed a lot as well, but the senate only got really annoyed at me after I controlled the complete middle-east (including Egypt).

I'm now playing a VH/H game with the Brutii. My first VH-attempt. I followed the suggestions from this threat and took everything I could into Greece/Macedonia. My first aim were the rebel and Greek towns and after securing Sparta and Athens I decided that Macedonia had to go. The only real difficulty was Thessaloniki, where their main army with their king was located. But the Macedonians fell very quickly indeed. And the Greeks after that. The senate gave me the mission to conquer Rhodes, which was a bonus, because that island was no 1 on my list anyway (the Colossus). Meanwhile the Seleucid empire declared war, which made my next targets even more simple to determine.

I had my biggest issues with the Greek fleet. I took me quite long to get rid of them to get a safe passage to Asia minor and the islands.

Money was never a problem until now. From the start I had a couple of diplomats getting trade rights and selling maps around. I'm now at about 100K and the year is 256 B.C. I deliberately avoided bribing, to ensure a challenging endgame vs the other Roman tribes. Unfortunately they are doing a very bad job and only the Scipii managed to get a town until now: Syracuse.

EDIT: What followed was that my income went sky-high. Around 250 B.C. I was on 200K. Getting the Seleucid empire under my wings was never a problem. I also took over Dacia and Thrace. They were both very weak and I had troops that I didn't want to have unused. Then Germany declared on me, so I took 4 towns from them.

At 248 B.C. the reforms kicked in and in the same turn I was told that the people love me so much that they'd like to see me conquer Rome. So I made peace with Germany and Carthage. Then I sent half of my troops back to Italy and the other half to Egypt. It's 245 B.C. now and I'm standing in front of the gates of Memphis. I also conquered Rome and much of Italy.

My tactic with Rome was that I attacked a rather small stack just outside the borders with an overwhelming force. The senate troops from within Rome came to help -leaving Rome- and I won the battle convincingly. I then could enter into an empty Rome and never had to siege the place!

I was happy to see that the Julii and the Scipii managed to gain a lot of territory between 256 and 250. The Julii most of the former Gaul lands and the Brutii controlled Sicily and were quite far in conquering North Africa. The Germans, Britons and Egyptians were big empires as well.

My luck was that Julii was fighting Germany and the Scipii were in Africa. Italy was relatively empty.

I still have 8 regions to go, but with a force 5 times as big as the next best this will be very easy...

[Brutii fan]

I dont know if anyone has noticed this but if you upgrade to awesome temple of mars or panatheon of mars and you have a dockyard, you start to get a bunch of 3 star admirals. Really helped when I went across the med to egypt.

[Zizka]

LestaT - The War Dogs were largly used by the germanic tribes to help break shield walls, as well as being good for hunting, and a deterant for horsemen. I have no idea why the romans get to use them but no complaints here there are 101 tons of fun.

[RollingWave]

Hmmm i'm doing my first campaign in this game as the Brutiis (dunno ... like the idea of the dudes that exile the roman king) only doing normal/normal though.

it's pretty long way in now . i have all but 1 cities in the balkens (the jullies took the rebel city before i got to it) about 1/2 of asia minor (my allies Pondus and Pathia have the rest.. Egypt still has a city too i think) syracuse, half of north africa (all the Egyptian holdings in NA) and have all the coastal cities of the middle east and making a final push on the eggies (finding it a major pain to reinforce through sea though even with total naval dominace)

the non roman factions are all prett screwed now... Egypt and Germania still has a half decent sized empire and so does Dacia (though extremely remote) all the rest are either gone or holding on to a small kingdom.

I think i'm pretty close to 50 now...

The jullies have all the gaul land and is pushing into both Iberia and Germania, the Scipillies after a very slow start finally have half of north africa. (though both of them have a huge navy... but i think my much more numerous and developed port will ensure naval superiorty)

I'm undecided if i should just march on Rome now and stab my fellow romans now... i'm more inclined to at least killing the egyptian first and pull a huge portion of my army back from the other side of the map... most of my cities near home is heavily fortified but high squaler etc is keeping me from sending them anywhere soon (but then same goes for the other 2 faction.. and i'm positive i can push the Scipillis out of the Continent very fast if war starts)... and also most of them aren't very well designed army probably lacking in either archer/infantry or cav... i think i should just secure the eastern part of the world first ....

The Senate is now giving me ridiculas missions with rather dire consequences ( like taking a settlement in the middle of nowhere ) my favor with them is going down but not rock bottom yet (the jullies are though) my favor with the people is far higher than the others though...

I'm still inexperienced at this so i'm not sure...

[mikkkl]

I have to say the Brutii are by far the easiest faction because they can take the eastern half of the map and have far shorter supply lines than the other Roman factions. Concentrating on taking the good stuff - Greece, at least 1 Sicily, Carthage and core Egypt as your crown jewels and you can't loose. Eventually i will move my capital to Athens which is pretty close to dead centre of your empire and a great base. Playing on hard/hard very early i take the south-east city in Sicily and not too long after head straight to Carthage and take that. Great recruiting cities and the Scipii never have a real chance. Then finish off all of Greece. Using lots of Equites and then Roman Cavalry i wipe all rebels and the Greeks/Macedonians aren't too hard as even with just cavalry you can take out phalanxes. Position 1 cav in front and then charge at side and rear with other cavalry. After Greece and a few other handy cities and having taken the easy cities in Asia i send a fleet with a couple of family members and take the 3 Egyptian cities on the Nile. Egypt will crumble and taking the rest is easy. I then consolidate and take every city on the eastern half of the map from the black sea ports southwards [don't bother taking extreme northern cities] and east from Carthage. Now you will have 40 plus cities and it's time for Rome. I use cavalry extensively everywhere but i have never tried bribing which is probably why i have so few family members and have to slow down from conquest and wait for more while sharing some across nearby cities. I also rarely use family members for battles as i am so short of governors so i have to fix this. The only unit i have trouble with is the Egyptian chariots which always give me a headache.

[Aemilius]

I actually found that Sparta is a easy kill. I rushed most of my troops over, thus killing the lone spartan-über-hoplite unit. Right after the siege I took the greek faction leader out along with his hopeless army.
I took Apollonia out with Aulus Brutus and the few troops he had. He then rushed the remaining greeks in Thermon with reinforcements from Tarentum.
That said I believe it is a good idea to take Sparta before the greeks start spamming fleets in the adriatic, which could ruin your day.

[scipio the even younger]

The Brutii Blitz

Your goal is to conquer Greece. Therefore, your enemies are the Greek cities and Macedon.

Take everything that isn't nailed down or can be pryed loose and attack Apollonia immediately. This definitely includes your spy, your diplomat and your very best general. The rebel town is just across the straits and the Senate should give you the town as a mission objective anyway.

You will have to leave some garrison troops in Italy, of course, but keep it to a minimum. None of the other Roman factions want to start a civil war yet.

Take the Greek city of Thermon just south and east of Apollonia. When you can, take troops and build a fort at the mountain pass just north and east of Apollonia. The correct fort site will be one-turn's march for a town guard unit. Once it's built, a couple of town guards will be enough to convince the Macedonians not to break through -- if you keep them busy elsewhere.

At some point early in the game, the Senate will give you a mission to take a Carthaginian town in Sicily. Take the mission and capture the town with new troops recruited in Italy, but then massacre the inhabitants and destroy every building you can. Then put your troops back on the boats and sail them back to the real war in Greece.

I don't recommend barbarity as a rule, but this is a case of necessity. The last thing you want to do this early in the game is tie down a large garrison in a town that's in the Scipii zone of control and is just going to get you into a running fight with the Carthiginians and their navy. Do the job and get out. Furthermore, the complete looting of the town will make you very rich in early game terms. This is a very important factor. It gives you a big head start and is almost necessary to successfully fight the relatively powerful Greeks and Macedonians.

Now that the "Sicilian expedition" is over and the troops are in Greece, drive on the Macedonian town of Larissa. You have now split the Macedonians into Athens and Corinth in the south and Thessalonica in the north. Keep attacking the Macedonian armies, beating them in detail and inflicting losses while rebuilding your units every turn in Larissa.

In army jargon, you are using "interior lines" to inflict a "favorable rate of attrition" on the Macedonians by beating their little armies with your one big, army led by your best general. Also, keep pouring garrison troops out of little Apollonia. You'll need them.

When the Macedonians are weak enough, take Corinth and Athens from them. Taking Corinth will give you the Zeus wonder in Greece and some nice prestige.

Beware the Greeks who are left in Sparta. Pound them down with attrition tactics, rebuilding in Corinth and preventing revolts in Corinth and Athens with all those garrison troops from Apollonia. Take Sparta.

Now you're ready for the endgame in Greece. Force the Macedonians out of the north end of the Larissa valley. You may want to build a fort at the north end to hem the Macedonians in Thessalonica before your final push. When you're ready, take Thessalonica and then the town north of there. Any Macedonians who are left will be some fragment at an overseas colony somewhere.

Congratulations; Greece is rich, populous and the source of endless wealth and good troops. Build highways and a navy, and everything else. Build lots of "happy buildings" too. Collesiums give you the option of yearly, monthly or daily games. Frequent games are very expensive but can save you from a revolt. Don't stop attacking, though. There are still more rich provinces to be had.

I like to finish wars that I start, so I always go for the Greek provinces just across the Aegean Sea on the west coast of Asia Minor. There are no less than three wonders there (including the one at Rhodes). Capturing them will greatly enhance your prestige.

Once again, be sure to take a diplomat. Bribery is very helpful. Captains in particular are cheap to bribe. The Greeks are on their last legs by now, allowing you to pick up some family members with their small remnant armies that are cheap to bribe.

Where you go from there is up to you.

thanks but i find it eaiser to go in all guns blazing.
the wise go to war,
but dohtarts don't. [rory llewelyn]

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Well, the House of Brutii, is my first long campaign (I've played mostly short ones). I started with large unit settings medium/medium difficulty, v1.2. Here's how I played. Firstly, of course, as you mentioned I've taken all my best troops from Italy and landed in Greece taking Appolonia. I must say I used population movement strategy with peasants quite effectively. Soon I was at war with Greek Cities and later Macedon. I thinks this is the hardest stage of Brutii campaign and once these 2 nations are eliminated Brutii is the easiest faction and my favourite as romans in RTW IMO. So I've taken Thermon, later cut Macedons in 2 pieces by taking Larrisa - I had quite tough battles with Macedon (those buggers have way too much good cavalry!) Started building up my navy. When all of the Greece was mine, it was really easy. Now I have 25 provinces (including Thrace as my protectorate) in 240 bc, I'm bathing in money 150k. The real fun with civil war will soon begin... My army: hastati later princepes and triari as a backbone (at least 60 % of army), 4 equites (or 2 equites + 2cav aux) 2 war dogs (they're funny :)), some artillery if available and a powerful navy is all you need as Brutii to conquer the known world...
Good luck to you all!

[Coccum_Pugnus]

This was the first faction I finished. It was all pretty much a blur from the begining, I have to say that I love highways, I found them very useful for my Unreleting blitz. strategy., I didn't stop untill I got Egypt in my grasp. This faction in my opinion is the easiest one to play, there 'natuarl' expanison is east and so they never run out of land to conquer where as the other two do. Also they become rich quick, and I put all that mony to good use bribing the other factions armies. All in all I beat the game as this faction in 202 BC.

[orcorama]

i agree that brutii is easy after you wipe macedon off the map.
also when the senate asked me to take lilybium i did and then went on to get carthage and thapsus.
my aproach to macedon was i took appoliana and salona and the illyria province.
meanwhile i had my main army led by my uber 8-10 star general to take thermon then i went to sparta but i was defeated there so i left my army in a boat right next to it and signed a ceasfire with greek cities.
also i had arranged sold trade rights/allience/map info/mutural military access with macedon. you are thinking "what is he doing???" this let me concentrate on sparta and then build up a massive army there to swarm corinth and athens. i took sparta then i built an archery range for balistas. since macedon betrayed me i stormed corinth(which i was going to do anyway) and moved right up to athens. the next turn i took athens and voiala(sp) i had macedon contained to the upper section of greece. i quickly took larissa and after a few more turns took thessilonica and the next turn the last macedon city above it eliminating macedon as a faction.

now it is 256 BC :
i have about 70k and make money every turn. i have taken the two gaulish provinces in northern italia and massila i am sieging lugdunum. i have also taken citra from carthage. i havetrade right with just about everyone.
the julii are sitting outside caralis not sieging or anything just sitting there. they have taken narbo whatever and segesta.
the scipii have syracuse and thats it. they do have a 2/3 stack moving towards lecis magna but my diplomat will get them.
i got mapinfo from numidia and they have every thing else in africa except fot egypt starting lands.

I have taken all of numidia except for tingi spain got that first. I have taken two of the tracian cities and crete and rhodes. i own gaul except for narbo martils up to lemonum and lugdunum.
numidia has one town. gaul has one town. thrace has one town. greek cities has one town i believe. i cant see all of parthia. im ready to finish of thrace and then get dacia. after that ill seriously attack seleulcid and egypt from both directions.
i have about 30 provinces and its looking very good. scipii and julli are still extremely weak thanks to my bribing.
edit after more progress
now i think ill take the rest of gaul up to britannia and either attakc or just sign a treaty.
will update later

[cunobelinus]

i found brutti the best roman group they are in the best postion and have the eaiest people to kill off i went fro carthage to begin with because its an amazing city then i went for greece and macedon then i took the hole of the world this has been my most succesful campaig n and i am so happy with it

[Craterus]

i found brutti the best roman group they are in the best postion and have the eaiest people to kill off i went fro carthage to begin with because its an amazing city then i went for greece and macedon then i took the hole of the world this has been my most succesful campaig n and i am so happy with it

sounds good, maybe you could post a screenshot of this campaign - that could be helpful to other members.

[cunobelinus]

i will try soon thanks for the opinion

[pezhetairoi]

Brutii are definitely the easiest Roman faction (and possibly the easiest faction full-stop) to play in RTW. They get the richest cities from the start, and the highest population ones to boot. What else needs be said?

I mean, when I can end up with over a million denarii (and no idea how to spend it) by the time I knock out Egypt, it says something about how fearsome that faction's economic power is. And I assure you it has nothing to do with me building any trade buildings. Maybe the automanage AI, but not me.

[Craterus]

Egypt are another really easy faction economically. I have over 2 million denarii but I haven't knocked out any Roman factions yet but there is only 7 or 8 factions left.

[pezhetairoi]

How do you people make the transition from pre to post Marian reforms? For me it was pretty terrible when all of a sudden my armies became obsolete at a stroke. Do you people raise new armies, while disbanding the old ones, or scatter the old ones as garrisons and use new ones to attack, or just continue using the old ones until they die out before replacing, or what?