Best Campaign

[Telys]

Good stuff neco, severous. Ive never tried playing as spain. It's always bothered me that they have no archers, just slingers.

[Telys]

S.P.Q.R. became my protectorate but remained neutral, very weird.
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[Diurpaneus]

WOW! How those gauls conquered Britannia ??? I never saw something like this.Can u give more informations ?

[Telys]

I actually conquered britain and then gave it to gaul so I didnt have to stay there and the territories would still count as mine. The weird thing is they have still yet to put a single unit in any of those settlements, and they still own them. I'm surprised they havent revolted, but i guess they have no need to cause britannia is dead or something like that.

[Garvanko]

The weird thing is they have still yet to put a single unit in any of those settlements, and they still own them.

Thats just the AI cheating.

Im still intrigued by your strategy. What did you offer for those protectorates?

[Telys]

Most of the weaker factions will just give up after most of their army has been defeated and I've taken a few of their settlements, sometimes it takes alittle bit of money too. The stronger factions take lots and lots of money and sometimes land, it took 300,000 to get spqr and one time i spent 1,000,000 denari to get carthage, but I had alot of cash reserves from other protectorates, and I only paid that much because I didnt really feel like fighting them.

[Telys]

Finally beat it, again.

100,000 denari and four settlements bought pontus

The brutii kept attacking dacia cancelling my alliance, almost messed up my campaign.

[Neco]

Wow! That's pretty cool! Are you going to try to get the rest of the factions in the game to become you protectorate? I might try that strategy sometime.

Here are some new screens from my Spain game:


My faction heir



As you can see, the Brutii are still throwing armies at me, but I plan to cripple them by sending a force into poorly defended Greece and taking their richest cities.

I hope you noticed the east, where Pontus has taken control. Well, the Romans are at war with them, but have left their eastern border completely unprotected. Hopefully Pontus will attack them and cause a distraction and give me a break for a while.

[Garvanko]

Neco, those Brutii stacks will never stop coming, but your strategy for attacking Greece is sound. I used the same for dealing with them in my Julii campaign.

Have you managed to isolate the SPQR armies? I'd send about seven spies into Rome, so that when you do attack, attack when those stacks are far enough away so as not to be able to interfere. Your spies should have a 100% plus chance of opening the gates.

Telys: Congratulations. Still flummoxed by your impressive strategy of gunboat diplomacy. Ave!

[Telys]

Wow! That's pretty cool! Are you going to try to get the rest of the factions in the game to become you protectorate? I might try that strategy sometime.

I would, but I am limited to who I can attack due to the alliances of my protectorates. If I attack one of their allies they will immediately cancel their alliance to me, which I think is stupid. That's the only reason germania is still independent, I can't afford to lose gaul who are allies with them.

Telys: Congratulations. Still flummoxed by your impressive strategy of gunboat diplomacy. Ave!

Thank you Garvanko

[Telys]

My latest campaign as The Greek Cities on hard. Macedon gave up after two turns, one settlement and 10,000 denarii, and if you're wondering how i got the money so quickly, I sold a whole bunch of map information.

[Neco]

Neco, those Brutii stacks will never stop coming, but your strategy for attacking Greece is sound. I used the same for dealing with them in my Julii campaign.

Have you managed to isolate the SPQR armies? I'd send about seven spies into Rome, so that when you do attack, attack when those stacks are far enough away so as not to be able to interfere. Your spies should have a 100% plus chance of opening the gates.

I still need to take Capua to have Rome surrounded. Should I try to take Rome before I hop over to Greece, or should I try to cripple the Brutii as fast as possible?

[Glaucus]

Telys, that is a brilliant strategy, I'm going to try and use it in my Dacia campaign I just started. But say I get Macedon to be a protectrate, and they are allied to the Brutii, then I can't attack the Brutii? or if the Brutii attack me I lose the protectrate? And last queston for yalls, how much do protectrates pay you a turn? thanks you, Glaucus

[Garvanko]

Neco..

SPQR (don't expand) and Scipii (too weak) won't attack you. SO you need to consolidate in Northern Italy. The Brutii are basically holding the Roman Empire together and have probably been given senate missions that focus solely on you. You're making enough money, but you need to defend northern Italy and take patavium. Use Sicily to train troops for the fight there. Use Tarentum and Croton to stage an invasion of Greece.

Attacking Greece will, of course, cause a panic all over that green expanse. And it will give you breathing room in Italy.


Some more screenshots of my Julii Campaign..

Invasion moving at a steady pace.



Reinforcements!



Flanking, campaign-map-style. Sneaking up on Egypt from the blindside!

[Telys]

Telys, that is a brilliant strategy, I'm going to try and use it in my Dacia campaign I just started. But say I get Macedon to be a protectrate, and they are allied to the Brutii, then I can't attack the Brutii? or if the Brutii attack me I lose the protectrate? And last queston for yalls, how much do protectrates pay you a turn? thanks you, Glaucus

Protectorates will only cancel their alliance if you attack one their allies or try and demand something of them. If one of their allies attacks you I'm pretty sure they cancel their alliance with them or atleast thats how it has always played out for me. Now for your second question it all depends on the size of the protectorate, for example macedon in my latest campaign has three settlements a pays me around 1200 denari each turn. Also if you look under the financial tab at tributes/diplomacy it'll show how much money you gained that turn from all your protectorates and any money transactions with other factions.

[Telys]

Some more screenshots of my Julii Campaign..

Invasion moving at a steady pace.



Reinforcements!



Flanking, campaign-map-style. Sneaking up on Egypt from the blindside!

Are you gonna keep going until you conquer the whole world?

[Garvanko]

Are you gonna keep going until you conquer the whole world?

Thats my plan, though Im not sure I can hold the empire together.

At the very least I want to take all of Egypts main economic centres - thats means Alexandria, Thebes, Memphis, Antioch, Jerusalem, Tarsus, Sidon etc.. I doubt I'll go deeper into Persia than Hatra.

Someone has done it before with the Julii, though, so its possible.

May have to use diplomacy for the final provinces.

[Avicenna]

Update: finished my campaign now, with 42 provinces and Greek cities as a protectorate. I have all the African-Carthaginian provinces that have access to the sea, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, some little island under Sicily, the whole of Italy, a small foothold in Eastern Spain and in South-Eastern Gaul. I own half of Greece and practically control it (one large-ish army about to take the last Ptolemaic settlement in Greece and two surrounding Corinth, and the rest belonging to the Greeks). Greece also have Crete, and the Macedonians will be dead soon.

In the last few turns I suddenly got a few surprises: new adopted characters, all in their 20s and having at least 3 command stars! Funny thing is one 25 year old got adopted by a 21 year old, who in turn was adopted by a 29 year old. Imagine having a daddy younger than you.

[Telys]

Thats my plan, though Im not sure I can hold the empire together.

At the very least I want to take all of Egypts main economic centres - thats means Alexandria, Thebes, Memphis, Antioch, Jerusalem, Tarsus, Sidon etc.. I doubt I'll go deeper into Persia than Hatra.

Someone has done it before with the Julii, though, so its possible.

May have to use diplomacy for the final provinces.

Yea I tried it once as the brutii, I had everything except spain and britannia then after two turns I lost all my money and couldn't expand any further cause all my armies were tied up in syria subduing revolts.

Update: finished my campaign now, with 42 provinces and Greek cities as a protectorate. I have all the African-Carthaginian provinces that have access to the sea, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, some little island under Sicily, the whole of Italy, a small foothold in Eastern Spain and in South-Eastern Gaul. I own half of Greece and practically control it (one large-ish army about to take the last Ptolemaic settlement in Greece and two surrounding Corinth, and the rest belonging to the Greeks). Greece also have Crete, and the Macedonians will be dead soon.

I've tried so many times to get the greeks to be my protectorate and never could. What did you offer them?

[Telys]

Campaign update:Well the romans are a lot easier to fight than i thought they would be, but I'm having trouble taking lilybaeum from carthage, mostly due to the lack calvary training facilities in sicily, any suggestions on how to take lilybaeum with mostly just infantry and some missle support.

[Garvanko]

I assume you are up against stone walls.

The choice is between sapping or towers. I would sap, then fight on the ground with your hoplites.

[Telys]

Well my problem is every time I attempt a siege carthage brings a full army from the mainland for relief, and while I'm defending against the relief army and the army that is in the settlement my flanks always end up getting overrun by their calvary, but I have taken more lands and have built more training facilities so hopefully I'll be able to counteract their calvary with my own.

[Telys]

The battle for capua.

The julii didn't even demand anything, they just gave up.

[Glaucus]

Now for your second question it all depends on the size of the protectorate, for example macedon in my latest campaign has three settlements a pays me around 1200 denari each turn. Also if you look under the financial tab at tributes/diplomacy it'll show how much money you gained that turn from all your protectorates and any money transactions with other factions.

So that bit where you gave gaul the british isles, you'd get more money from them each turn since they have more places and thus more revenue. So theres another bonus to giving your protectrates their land back.

[NodachiSam]

Great thread guys, I enjoy reading it alot!

[Telys]

Exactly, but remember the AI is not always consistent and sometimes does some weird things that wont make any sense like build massive armies, when having no money and no where to expand, causing more army upkeep which will cause them to give you less money. The best way to get around this is to keep giving them lands, but make sure that it borders their territories or else they will not occupy it, and if the territories are on an island they will not send a garrison there nor will they recruit any new units there.

[Telys]

Great thread guys, I enjoy reading it alot!

Much appreciated.

[Avicenna]

Nothing really. They wanted Tarentum, Croton and Syracuse plus 3.3k. I offered them something like 10-16k and they accepted.

If they take on your forces.. just protect your line of infantry with cavalry on the flanks. If they don't defeat you in 30 mins, ie they don't advance, you win. If they advance, use your infantry to shower them with pila and already rout a unit or two before they arrive. The rest is simple: divide and conquer.

Edit: there's no cavalry to train on sicily, you should just make a massive infantry+italian cavalry army from the mainland and concentrate on the Carthaginians. The Greeks ignore you once you push them off the Italian peninsula, being locked in combat with the Macedonians and Illyrians. Just get trading rights with Gaul and if they're aggressive, attack their lands. In my campaign after they took Arretium and Ariminium they just left a unit in each. Nice and easy.

[Garvanko]

The Greeks ignore you once you push them off the Italian peninsula, being locked in combat with the Macedonians and Illyrians..

Indeed. After you kick them out of Sicily, send a diplomat and negotiate Ceasefire, trade and an Alliance. They will accept.

At least then they won't mess around with your fleet.

Edit: Im thinking of starting a campaign with Macedon. Im itching to try my hand at phalanx warfare once more.

[Telys]

I finally got carthage out of sicily. I just kept letting them attack messana until they had no army left to protect lilybaeum, sadly they still refused to become my protectorate so I settled for a loose alliance. Now my focus has been turned to macedon and gaul. Macedon would be my protectorate if the julii would ever stop declaring war on them, but life isnt perfect so I had to choose between the julii or macedon to keep as a protectorate, the julii generate more income for me so I decided to keep them and just take the rest of greece.