1.0x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Teleklos Archelaou]

That's right, post 'em if you've got 'em. Shots from, let's say, 262 are not as helpful as shots from later or a series of shots over time.

Here's the old 0.8x AI Faction Progression Thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=74123

[Kampfkrebs]

first!


Playing as epirus VH campaign, and M battlemap, its 256b.c. atm.
First kicked the makedons out of thessalia and fortified taras.
After some years my economy was (thanks to illyrian gold mines) strong enough to take athens, and from there Ive blitzed the remaining makedon FMs to death (Lesbos rebelled, so they got owned), and kicked the KH stacks of akontistai out of hellas.
Pyrrhos died in the battle of thermon, so I took a no name guy (which is my main general in italia now), and gave him pyrrhos army, put him into a ship, and went crazy in italy.
First took rhegion, then arpi and now capua. The romaoi are throwing every unit they can offer at me, but I am crazy-ass-rich. I make like 20000mnai per round, and I could press even more out of my mines.

The ptolys are trying to bribe pella since Ive captured it, put my general there has a +100% loyalty trait, so they can try since the end of times.

ATM the Carthaginians are going crazy, conquered nearly all of africa, and now they are sieging Sicilia and some settlement in Iberia. I fear Ill have to face them soon.

I also fear the getai, they got 2 full stack of elite units lurking at my border, and sieging kallatis with another.

Pontos seems to wake up already, they took sinope and the bithynoi city last turn, also does the sweboz (lying siege on 2 citys).

Parthia is fightin a steppe war against the sauromatae and the blue death is the same like every campaign.
Sauromataes are at war with the KH, cause theyve sieged olbia.
Sakae are a vassal kingdom of bactria.
Saba and Ptolys are right on a collision course, and its smells like war down there (some stacks are facing each other there)
Hayasdan is a bit dissappointin, doning nothing but taking one settlement since the game started, also does the gauls and casse.

All in all I am quite comfortable with my campaign, and its a lot of fun to play finally a WHOLE campaign

[Dooz]

Well, here are the first 20 years of my Casse campaign (Hard, BI.exe). Good things happening, I'm liking the progressions so far.

One problem has been Getai, who have their stack and a half parked next to the capital and haven't moved.

Maks have gotten steamrolled by the Epirotes and Greeks, their situation isn't looking too good with only two cities left (one's in Asia Minor, heavily fortified).

Germans are moving well, sending stacks around and conquering tribes. They're sieging another town at this moment.

The Arverni have a slight edge in the Gallic wars, Auedi don't seem to be doing much at all.

As you can see, the Lusotannan have been doing well, beating their plowshares into weapons and farming some enemies.

Carthage expanding in Africa, now they're trying to take the city on the north tip of that part of Africa, directly south of Greece, I forget the name.

The Romans haven't gone too far but have expanded nicely within their boundaries.

Epirus and the Koinon of course doing well, taking apart the Maks and expanding their own territories nicely.

Ptollies have done all right for themselves so far, holding their own against the Seleukids.

AS of course having a bit of trouble against Baktria and Parthia, who have moved in on their eastern borders and continue to pose a threat to the silver giant.

Saka is doing pretty well for itself, which is nice to see, instead of bitching up to Baktria early on.

Sarmations are having a tough time of it against my Armos, who always seem to like that northward expansion into the steppes. Those hills can get daunting after a while I suppose.

Pontus hasn't done too much, not exactly sure if they're even trying at this point. I'll check back on them soon.

[CountArach]

It's a pity to not see the Romans moving too much there.

[LordCurlyton]

Just out of curiosity, if you run on BI, can you still get the intro video(s) for Pahlava and the others when the others are finally made and released? Cuz I'm all for intro vids. I'll have a Romani screenie in a few days, max.

[CountArach]

I'll check tomorrow. I know it doesn't play the game intro video.

[Dooz]

I think it should play the video, and I'm pretty sure it shows the game intro one too. At least it did the first time I ran it, then I included the -nm. CA will check and say for sure I suppose.


Here are the next 10 years of my Casse campaign. (Hard, BI.exe) Not terribly much has happened, but there are a few interesting things to note.

The Lusotannan are doing pretty good, in a constant state of warfare as one would hope. They took one or two more settlement since we last saw them and though their numbers are weaker from all the fighting, they're still going at it with neighboring tribes.

Carthage is duking it out with Rome and expanding in Sicily. They have Capua but I'm not sure if they took it from Rome directly or if it was from Epirus. I'm guessing Rome because last I checked, they were sieging Epirote occupied Capua so they probably eventually had taken it... Also there is a minor on-again off-again sand war going on with the Ptollies it seems. Not a major focus for either faction.


Nice little army all the way from Africa, Garamantines and all... or at least what's left of it. Looks like they won't hang on for much longer though, unless reinforcements come quick.

Speaking of Rome, they've taken north-east Sicily so the fighting there against Carthage is heating up, as is the fighting in Italy itself where they are currently sieging Capua to reclaim it. Other than that however, they haven't had much luck expanding northward against very heavily defended barbarians. I'm not even sure if they've been trying or if all their attention has been on Carthage.

The Sweboz are still doing well and are currently sieging the northern most settlement, but I doubt they'll get it this time with their small Chauci party. But they're trying and will no doubt get it sometime soon. An interesting thing to note here is that a disloyal general of theirs took a southern town, but apparently rebelled and claimed it for his own, freeing slaves and recruiting them for his own cause. Very cool.


Awesome. Rauzwihaz the Rebel as he's known now.

Epirus and Koinon Hellenon have continued their expansion and completely eradicated the Maks from the mainland. Now they're relegated to their one stronghold in Asia Minor, which won't fall anytime soon but it's not looking good. They have however sent a couple of armies against Rhodes and look like they might actually take it, something the Ptollies couldn't do years ago, who had also sent a force to take the famed city.


The Maks are trying to extend their lifetime in this crazy world. They have a good chance.

The Ptolemies have been doing really well against the Seleukids and have expanded nicely into Asia Minor, while the Seleuks themselves have continued to get torn up from all sides. Baktria is just driving a wedge right into the heart of the empire.

Saka and Sarms haven't changed too much, except that the Armos have moved in a little more into Sarmatian lands. And Pahlava lost a little strip of land back to AS, but is otherwise doing fine. Oh and the Saba are having a bit of trouble getting out of the southern deserts, but have a nice army and another half, they look like they're trying to make a move.


For a moment there I thought the Saba were being lead by a bluesman.... Who would'a thunk?

Getai....... content.......

[The Errant]

Thanks. Keep them coming.

[CountArach]

lol at Muddy Waters!

[quackingduck]

how do you get the whole map revealed???

[Dooz]

You press the ~ button, then a window comes up. Type toggle_fow and press enter. Voila, you can see it all. Press ~ again to get rid of the window.

[Dooz]

Here we go folks, another 20 years have gone by and the world is changing. Here's the continuation of my Casse campaign. (Hard, BI.exe)









The Lusotannan - haven't been able to expand in the past 2 decades, but not for lack of trying. They have been fighting small skirmishes and large battle throughout Iberia all throughout. They have 2 main armies, one decent one lead by a general near their capital and another militia army hanging around the northeast which hasn't made too much of a move yet but is threatening. They have a pretty firm grip on Iberia for the moment.


Main Lusotannan army near Oxtraca, 222 B.C.


Militia army in northeast Iberia

Carthage - has expanded a little in Iberia, taking over an independent town there, but I believe they're still at peace with the Lusotannan. They also have small contingents in eastern Africa fighting little skirmishes here and there with their on-again off-again war with the Ptolemies. The real action for the Phoenicians is taking place in the western Mediterranean, in Italy, Sicily and the islands of Corisca and Sardinia where the Punic Wars are raging. They were kicked out of Capua, traded the islands back and forth and have heavy fighting in Sicily, eventually getting completely kicked out by the Romans by 222 B.C.


Punic Wars on islands at 229 B.C.


Carthage's African main forces 222 B.C.

Speaking of the Romans - they have finally turned it on, expanding northward and finally winning the war in Italy and Sicily against the Carthies. Their northern borders are fairly well consolidated with nice armies around that could move further and take more land for the Republic.


Westward Roman expansion, about to take Massalia

Sweboz, Arverni and Auedi - have been mixing it up with the Sweboz moving down nicely and especially impressively conquering the tough tribes of Germania. Their also giving the Gauls a tough time while they're down there, not to mention threatening my growing Casse empire along the coast. The Auedi haven't been faring too well in the Gallic wars, losing some lands to their rival Arverni, who have been expanding a bit more to the south more recently and having some success against the Sweboz incursions.


Southern expansion of the Sweboz, a tough time for anyone


Sweboz threatening my European foothold. They looked poised to attack my lightly defended city until I very timely landed the huge invasion army to deter any ill-advised thoughts. That's when they pulled back to behind their own borders


Auedi trying to hang on, with forts built at strategic locations they'll be fighting till the bitter end

Now the Epirotes - were doing real well up until about 235 B.C. when they had taken out the Maks and built themselves a nice kingdom. But with the Greeks attention focused mainly on them after the Maks were gone, not to mention the fact that the Getai finally turned it on after years of docility, they couldn't hold up much longer and kind of fell apart. Now they're divided up into eastern and western territories and the situation isn't looking all that great.


Western Epirote remnants, being scouted out by a Roman advance force for a possible invasion by powerful armies hovering near the borders. Their situation there decent for now, but against relentless attacks they won't stand much of a chance.

The Greek Alliance - has done a hell of a job expanding their influence along the Mediterranean, moving in on Epirote territories and even sending forces into Northern Africa and taking a city there. They did however lose Rhodes to the Maks and more recently lost some more land to them on the mainland, but they seem to be doing fine overall and we'll see how they bounce back.


Greeks in Africa 222 B.C. Lot of action around this area with Ptollies moving in and Carthy remnants from sand wars hanging around, allied to the Greeks but probably won't offer much help in the situation.


Greek stronghold on Krete 222 B.C. that will likely move out to where they're needed most, maybe Africa but more likely the mainland to fight off encroaching Ptollies

The Makedonians - are a tenacious bunch, I'll tell you that much. After being down to one stronghold in Asia Minor, they managed to expand in the area and even took Rhodes and moved back into the western lands. After a brief resurgence they were overtaken by the supreme Ptollies in Asia Minor and their situation is quite interesting to follow.


Maks siege and eventually take Byzantion in 232 B.C. extending their lives and looking like their making good moves.


Last major Makedonian stronghold in conquered Rhodes, but even this is now getting threatened by the Ptolemies.

Now we get to the great Ptolemies - who have blown up into a full-fledged superpower with the destruction of, you guessed it, the Seleukid Empire. That's right, the Seleukids have been completely destroyed, torn apart by the Baktrians and the light yellow menace, and even Hayasdan a little in the northern areas.The Ptollies pretty much reign supreme in their areas and are actually moving across the channel into eastern Europe and Greek lands. I don't believe they're currently at war with Baktria, but their fighting the Greeks pretty hard and recently went to war with the Saba when a chunk of land was taken by them provoking it.


A turbulent Asia Minor at 229 B.C. with the Ptollies taking the Maks out of there for good, and the Pontic armies going after the Getic town, and Greeks in the south up to no good


Possible Ptolly advance on Rhodes


The Ptolemies have officially begun the invasion from Asia Minor into Europe with their full on war on the Greeks.


They've in fact gotten all the way to the western coast, deep into Greek territory

All that remains of Arche Seleukia - are the memories of historic battles in Asia Minor, where they ultimately lost their battles against the Ptolemies and were destroyed.


War memories


More war memories

Pontus - was having a tough time all throughout, and just when they were able to expand west a little bit, the Getai come in and take a city in Asia Minor sparking off a nice war. Pontus was never able to take it back as the Ptollies beat them to it.


Pontic remnants in eastern Europe 222 B.C. from Getic wars

The Getai - have finally awakened and took some lands in eastern Europe, expanding consistently and doing all right at this time.

Hayasdan - doing well against the Sarmatians in the north and even took some Seleukid territories to the south.

Baktria - has taken out the Seleukids in the east and went to war with the Parthians, all but destroying them. Soon enough.

The Saka - stopped their expansion but have held on to what they got well enough. Of course if the blue giant decides to turn on them, they'll stand no chance... although I'm not sure if there might even be a protectorate situation right now.

[Aranor]

My current campaign in 233bc. Nothing particularly special here. The KH are going strong, having taken Greece for themselves. The Makes are on their last gasp, and the Saka are going nuts to the east.

[Numahr]

First of all congratulations to the EB team for your dedication and the general incredible level of quality of this mod!!!

I am currently playing a Pontus game. I do not have to much time to play, so the pace os slow, but I will try to upload regularly an update of the world situation.

So, here it starts with:

The world in 255 bc


The world in 250 bc


My impression is that the AI experiences difficulties in expanding. I noticed, while looking at the money assistance script, that it depends partly on the number of cities the human player controls; so maybe me controlling only 3 cities for a long time kind of limited AI-controlled players accordingly. Maybe also it is expected that the Eleutheroi should offer more resistance than before?

It is, BTW, a very smart decision to adjust AI money assistance partly on the number of human-controled provinces.

[Justiciar]

My current campaign in 233bc. Nothing particularly special here. The KH are going strong, having taken Greece for themselves. The Makes are on their last gasp, and the Saka are going nuts to the east.

That's some impressive Getai expansion, there!

[Bava]

Baktria Campaign, H/M, Gen cam only, BI.exe, Large unit size - 237 BCE -



Holy ****, what a game. The early years were though as nails, Saka and Palhava attacked me in 267 and the only stack i had consisted of 5 FM and 7 archers (built my first phallanx unit in 255).
But the revenge was soooooo sweet

Some cute little horsies.



Financial overview, might be of interest to the EB team




Some observations:

- the AS - Ptolemy war seems to last longer now, both are still of equal strength
- no stack spamming so far
- only the small factions are really rich (Rome being the exception)
- the new unit stats are pretty well balanced imo

Edit: Btw, what´s the console command for perfect spy?

[Bava]

Double post? Moi?

[johhny-turbo]

The world in 250 bc

Is that a Saba exclave right there? Did they just storm through the Ptolmies in the first few rounfs but got beaten back or something?

[Aranor]

That's some impressive Getai expansion, there!

The fact that I'm playing as the Getai might be a part of it!

[Justiciar]

The fact that I'm playing as the Getai might be a part of it!

Gah. Damn ye. Still, looks like a fun game.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Really terrific descriptions of campaigns guys, especially that massive one by wonderland!

[Dooz]

BB, you can't toggle perfect spy in-game, which really sucks. It would have been great as a a console command. The way to do it is in the EB/data/scripts/show_me/EBBS_SCRIPT take out the ; in front of ;console_command toggle_perfect_spy and save. When you want to turn it off, just put it back.

And thanks TK! Y'know that update took a long time to put together, I'm kind of thinking of transferring this over to an AAR type deal.... do you think it's a good idea or should I just keep updates smaller and maybe a big one like this every 50 years, the way this was?

[pseudocaesar]

Eep, im already noticing a trend that may go on to be called the Yellow death. Perhaps Yellow Fever lol?

[LordCurlyton]

242 BCE - Romani baybee! H/M, BI-exe
The Punic Wars have been raging for 12 years now between me and Carthage when the dirty Poeni decided to assault Messana, which was much too close for comfort, so I decided Messana had to come under Roma' mantle. I thought I'd have an easy go of dominating the seas, right up until I hit a roadblock called "Poeni Pentere" which made mincemeat of my pretty Trieres and left me fighting an uphill battle in the ocean for the next 7 or so years. They even landed some elite half stacks onto Sicily to try and take ot back after I seized control, but thankfully I had a full stack that had been en route to Karali to divert, which probably saved them from a watery grave. I finally managed to get Cnaeus Africanus named Imperator and Triumphator, I just need to park him back in Roma for a turn or two and hope he doesn't die (age 62 or so) to collect my very first Triumph ever.
Outside of that, I'm not too active as Carthage is keeping me plenty busy. Some other rules I'm going by: Always build Type IV govs outside of Italy and SLOWLY convert to higher govs. The only exceptions are Sicily, Sardina, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles which go straight to Type II. Try to get a Triumph out of every major campaign. Do not let any city build better stuff than Roma (ie if Roma does not have Hippodrome yet, avoid building Hippodrome elsewhere until Roma does). I mean, Roma is supposed to be the jewel of my fledgling empire, no? Finally, go for the coastlines first and only expand into the interior after securing the coasts of the Western Med, which means my future conflicts are basically set for a while. Intervene in Greece if necessary to stop an AS or Ptolie train wreck.

In other news, the Aedui and Arveni have sadly not expanded, though they are at least attempting. The Germans are slowly working on expanding. The Luso are going bonkers in Iberia and will probably get up the nerve to challenge Carthaginian settlements there soon. That's a place I am NOT looking forward to fighting. The Casse are being the unopposed Casse. The Greek wars seem to be going the way the usually have in my campaigns: KH and Epeiros tag team Maks and make them irrelevant. However, this time the KH and Epeiros are at war finally so its a 3-way brawl in which the Koinon Hellenon has a significant edge. Pontus and the Getai are pleasantly expanding, with Pontus having even taken Byzantion. The nomads are battering at each other with Pahlava apparently getting the short end of the stick so far. Baktria is starting to drill into the Eastern holding of the Seleukids while the Ptolies have the clear advantage in the Ptolie/AS war, plus they've assaulted the KH and seized Rhodes and have occasionally landed troops in Greege proper but so far they've been repelled. The Hai are also active, seizing some turf and advancing on the Sauromatae.
All in all, it looks like fun times ahead for everyone.
EDIT: While I don't know exactly WHAT I did to flatten my map, it did make the colors nice and crisp. I can only guess that deleting map.rwm after switching to BI after a few years did it. In any case, that's the only noticeable "flaw" that came from my muddlings, and frankly it doesn't bother me. Plus I like the team's new money script, as it seems to be working as intended since the Eleutheroi finally started to build up, right on schedule.

[Artorius Maximus]

Nice screenshots! Due to some setbacks, I haven't been able to download EB 1.0 yet, but I will eventually, perhaps this weekend? In the mean time, I am working on a Vanilla campaign....

-Lucius Julius, Praefectus Illyricum

P.S. Is Praefectus Illyricum correct Latin for Praefect of Illyricum?

[Moros]

Lucius Julius, Praefectus Illyricum
:
P.S. Is Praefectus Illyricum correct Latin for Praefect of Illyricum?

Of Illyricum, should be a genetive in Latin. Thus Illyrici seems to be better.

[Bava]

My latin is a bit rusty (6 years out of school), but if i remember correctly, it should be Praefectus per Illyrium (accusative neuter). The genetiv is used with people and general statements of place (p. legionis / p. urbis). IIRC, that is.

BB, you can't toggle perfect spy in-game, which really sucks. It would have been great as a a console command. The way to do it is in the EB/data/scripts/show_me/EBBS_SCRIPT take out the ; in front of ;console_command toggle_perfect_spy and save. When you want to turn it off, just put it back.

Thank you

[paullus]

Wonderland, thanks for that massive and informative post! Most of the armies you showed seem to demonstrate much improved AI recruitment routines. Would you say that's generally seemed accurate? I mean, the 2 Ptolemaic armies in Kyrenaia are absolutely perfect for an elite Alexandreian army and klerouch/machimoi Nilotic army.

[Dooz]

Wonderland, thanks for that massive and informative post! Most of the armies you showed seem to demonstrate much improved AI recruitment routines. Would you say that's generally seemed accurate? I mean, the 2 Ptolemaic armies in Kyrenaia are absolutely perfect for an elite Alexandreian army and klerouch/machimoi Nilotic army.

I'd say most of the armies around are really well balanced and show good recruiting. There are a few however that still seem to have a few too many mercs or too many lower tier units, skirmishers or militia. Even those have a few good units mixed in there, like the militia Lusotannan army you saw in Iberia (which has since been defeated it seems... no trace of them). But overall, it's a much improved system from 0.8 so good job to the team. I believe I saw mention that there is still being work done on it so I'm sure the little details will eventually be made perfect as well.

[Artorius Maximus]

I notice that the Casse have better expansion AI. In some of my EB 0.8 campaigns, they almost didn't expand at all. Thats good to see they are conquering central Britannia.

-Lucius Julius