Roman: Julii

[frogbeastegg]

Guide.

[Quietus]

Here's the initial argument for Julii (very hard/very hard, unpatched): Two choices.

1) Strictly North (Gauls & Rebels). Easier but offer less denari in the future.
2) Go North and South (Caralis, Carthage, Thapsus etc.). It is a tougher campaign, involving more coasts and trading possibilities. It is more financially and geographically secure in the long run. Do it when you have enough denari to fund such expedition and make it coincide with a Senate mission to get the reward. One cautionary note: Carthage owns the sea early in the game.

Initial troop selection (Large unit size)(base cost/upkeep cost):
1) Hastati(80)(440d/170d) - will be the initial backbone of the army.(Only option against the Gauls).
2) Town Watch(80)(150d/100d) - will form half of the back bone (They are cheap to train and excellent fodder). You lose half of your Town Watch you only lose 75 denari.
3. Equites(54)(390d/110d) - These are your flankers and chasers. Spread them 2 ½- 3 ½ deep to cover.
4. Velites(80)(270d/170d) - These are special troops useful only when you outnumber the Gaul army. Use them with your Equites and hit the Warbands along the extreme edge. When they give chase, you can sandwich for an easy rout. Their loose formation makes them a liability and the upkeep isn't welcome as well.
5. You may receive an archer as start up troop. Preserve them! They are excellent when besieging Gaul and Rebel settlements.
a) Hit the troops behind the gates.
b) Hit the troops inside the city square, once you have them surrounded. That way, you won't lose too many soldiers when melee starts. You can also use Hastati to let lose with their pila. But make sure the enemy is noncommital to charging.
6. Wardogs (680d/50d) Two turns. I'm gonna try using some of them because of their cheap upkeep. I'll post some more about them later. So no comment yet.

General direction of attack: Segesta, Mediolanium, Patavium, Massilia, Narbo Martius, Lugdunium, Condate Redonium, Alesia....It doesn't have to be in this exact direction or order, but the point is don't spread too wide and utilize chokepoints. For example, you can defer the conquest of Rebel Lugdunium as a buffer against Gaul, while you take out Narbo Martius, Lemonium etc.

You can also go attack Caralis down south then Thapsus (because Carthage is heavily defended). Build your troops down there and send reinforcements if possible. Be careful, because Carthage has a large Navy. If the Carthaginian army leaves the capital and you don't have enough troops to fight. It is suitable to just bribe it (they will disperse). Bribe, ONLY when you have much disposable money and if convinient! Finally, you can attack with your army. However, don't bribe them once they are inside the city or else the city will revolt!!! I bought Lepcis Magna from the Numidians and they revolted after one turn. You have to conquer with your army.

City development:
1) Don't over rely on one province to supply troops you must spread them in deference to their relative population, population growth and distance from the next settlement cap relief upgrade.
2) Always construct trade buildings in coastal provinces, the port will increase trade dramatically.
3. Roads add to trade too.
4. Farm first if the farming profits are very high. Just assess for each province which you should prioritize: farming or trade
5. Build Shrines and Temples to keep you population happy.
6. Build public health buildings. This is the second most important when you conquered a largely populated province, after the shrine.
7. Walls and Enclosures also bring happiness and security, so build them afterwards

Others:
1. Destroy any heretofore Shrines/Temples of other cultures and replace them with your own culture's, so the population becomes converted over time.(edit: other temples oddly lower culture penalties too, however, they cannot be upgraded)
2. Use your selected Heir in battles, when they become the faction leader. Retire him to the Capital. Do the same to your selected Heir.
3. Use a spy to enter enemy settlements. They may open the gate when storm the city.
4. Use Spy or a Diplomat to scout ahead of your army to prevent ambushes.
5. Position at least one diplomat in the proximity of your roman allies. They may be useful in a tight situation. You can ask them to attack a faction, such as the Carthaginians in Lilybaeum while you assault their main settlements in North Africa.

That is all for now. I'll edit later as the game progresses.

[Morindin]

War Dogs are extremely useful against the Gauls I've found.

Currently I own all of France, Half of Germany, Caralis, Illyria + its neighbouring areas, and heading into Macedonian territory. The tricky part is that now I have quite a large space to defend (France + German territory).

Alliances are the key. Have one ally on your borders and spread the other way. This is easy if you ally with the Scythians or whatever because they box in Germany, and the other Roman factions never war with them. Im also allied with Spain to anchor that front.

The Gaul citys are quite poor and under populated but they hardly ever give me any problems with revolts etc due to this.
In general the Gauls are easy and can give you over-confidence.
The Germans have spearmen cable of beating your Histari and even Principes in a front on fight, and the British have chariots that scare the heck out of your troops.

[d6veteran]

Hard/Hard

I am going to increase it next time. I think I lucked out starting with the following strategy as it has been easy going:

Quickly took the two Gaul settlements in N. Italy and then built 3 forts along the mountains to block the Gauls from coming in. I really thought I would have to fight to sustain these forts but they have never been attacked. I think that might be a bug. Why would they attack settlements with 100s of men and not a fort with a small garrison?

I then pushed west, leapfrogging with my navy and secured some of the islands in the west med. I got lucky with a windfall of Senate missions to blockade ports in the west med.

I then used the following tactic to assist in subduing the Gauls -- park my largest army on Gaul settlements and then use a diplomat to demand tribute. I didn't attack but kept demanding money and then just built up a second and third large army.

Then I moved those through Gaul in a counter clockwise motion and used to lots of assassins to kill off faction leaders ahead of my attacks. It was a spy who actually ended the Gauls as a faction.

To manage all the settlements I had taken I used my family member with the highest management rating and took him on a tour of conquered settlements, which allowed me to make detailed adjustments on each settlement he visited. To get a really good governor, build academic buildings in one of your core settlements and leave a selected family member there to have his management abilities and retinue increased.

After killing off Gaul, I launched an attack from the forts in the alps and east from Gaul against a large large Germanic army positioned in a settlement. I used Ballistas to knock four holes in the wall and then switched to flaming bolts to drive them away from the breaches. I find that Ballistas are much more effective against wooden walls than battering rams, plus you don't have to stall a turn to build them. Once I poured in through 4 gaps I was able to put my Principe in bottlenecks and run my cavalry through the streets to flank. I massacred 18 Germanic units with a smaller sized Roman force.

After the Germans lost that army I was able to begin demanding payment. Plus I clogged up the forests with forts to funnel any attack they tried to make to my large army ... which they would withdrawal from.

Using the money I extracted from Gaul and Germany, I built 30 units of ships in the Med. With the help of the Senate fleets I was able to defeat the Greek and Carthage navies and then blockade their ports.

I've had a generous amount of families members through the last 20 turns.

I am now at 222 BC.

I think these things are key:

Forts in bottlenecks.
A roaming Governor skilled in management.
Coupling a large army with a skilled diplomat and demand tribute.
Use spies and assassins as the vanguard of your army. They not only trip up the movement of the enemy forces, but act as scouts. Assassins in small groups will wreak havoc on enemy family members.

++++++++++++++++++++

Tonight I begin my invasion of Briton. After reading all of Simon Scarrow's novels how can I not? :)

[Quietus]

Julii Campaign Part 2: Second Phase – Western consolidation.

The campaign has only begun. But by know you would have chewed a sizable chunk of the Gaul realm. In North Africa, you should have already taken Carthage and Thapsus. It is time for the next operations.

Sign trade agreements with the Britons and the Germanic tribes. If you can, sell them map information for a nice profit too. NEVER accept alliance with them. It is time to pay attention to the Iberian peninsula to fight Spain and the last of the Gauls. Target provinces: Osca, Carthago Nova, Numantia, Scalabris, Asturica, Corduba

In North Africa. It is the Numidian’s turn. Depending on where they are strongest, that’s where you first strike. Now that you have a strong foothold in N. Africa, striking big is now doable. You have to take out the Numidian’s power base first This is opposite the Carthaginian approach because you have really weak troops at that time. By now, you would access to more units.

Second phase unit Selections

1)Principes(81)(490d)(170) – This will be your stiff frontline. Three to six units will suffice defending on the enemy and size of battle.

2)Hastati – They cheaper by 50 denari. You can still bring 2 to 3 of these units with that price difference.

3)Town Watch – It is now more difficult to fight with these units. They are now more appropriate for garrison. Against the Numidians, bring just enough to start garrison immediately.
4)Archers(80)(250d/170d) – Each army of yours must now have an archer. You can use them to bait the AI into charging and decimating defenders during sieges. Be careful with friendly fire. Once the melee start, halt them immediately (disable autofire and put on guard mode in prebattle setup). Shooting any missiles behind your troops in now discouraged due to extremely excessive friendly fire, resulting in your own soldiers routing first. However, you are still free to shoot enemy troops that are not engaged.

5)Ballista(24)(?/100d) – The RTW ballista is now an effective weapon. They have tremendous range and power. Use them during bridge battles to create fear and confusion amongst the enemy. With a ballista in an army, you don’t have to wait a turn to construct a siege weapon, you can attack right away, since they ably break down gates. One downside to this is that they move slowly in the strategic map, bogging down your whole army along with it. You might have to abandon them when you have long ways to travel.
For quick or surprise attacks, for example in attacking an island town such as Palma, they are indispensible.

6)Cavalry Auxilla(54)(?/110d) – Much like Velites, the C.A. is a special unit. It is weaker than the Equites. But it can distract enemy heavy cavalry and other shock troops. Against the Numidians, you can position them along the extreme edges of your army and distract some of their heavy cavalry on Cantabrian Circle mode, while you take out their weak infantry with your regular units and Equites. They can be a problem in forced melee due to their unnecessary, squiggly volitions. So watch out!.

7)Triaarii(80)(500d/210d) – You may get access to these heavy spearmen troops on a limited fashion at this point of the campaign. They are tough enough to hold off barbarian shock troops and cavalries, thus they are best put at center. You can put one in the side with conjuction with cavalry and barbarian mercenaries for a sweeping flank. But more on them later.

Mercenary Units: You will likely encounter these units during your campaign. Mercenary units are very useful. They may be expensive but they shore up your weaknesses and can help you when you need them most.

1)Barbarian Mercenaries(120)(800d/200d) – these shock troops will help you fight with much needed counter attack against the Gauls and the Spaniards. When stacked with fearsome shock troops, the only measure you can do is counter attack. They will charge nearly simultaneously, thus your only option is to hold the middle and counterattack with these mercenaries. When used to flank they are able to quick rout the flank the AI just in time to save your middle from breaking down. One other option is to fight headon while the fast cavalry does the devastating flanks. Thus, it depends on your army composition.

2)Balearic Slingers(80)(800/200) – They substitute for archers if you don’t have one or you need a second one at once.

3)Libyan Mercenaries – Similar to Velites but more susceptible to routing

4)Barbarian Cavalry – A mix between Equites and Cavalry Auxilla. Can be used for flanking and harassment.

There are other mercenary units that you will encounter during the campaign up to this point, but these best supplement to the roman army.

General Strategic Map tactics:

- Build Watchtowers to in between your cities to monitor AI enemy movement
- Use your Spies and diplomats to scout upfront when in foreign soil (you can’t build watchtowers).
- Parking your army between a bridge is ideal. This is a necessity when your army is much weaker than your opponents or when you are still waiting for reinforcements and expecting an attack. This way, you can defend the bridge. I’ll post a bridge defense scheme later. In essence you, you have to hit the enemy units from all sides to make them rout. It is a much different than MTW.
- Switch retinues with an intermediary to best fit your Governor and Army commanders.
- Split your army to trap the enemy. Drop a calvalry or two and a couple of infantry behind your enemy, then attack with your main army. In the battlemap, they will appear as reinforcement, behind the enemy’s back.

Economics strategy:
- Use roaming diplomat/ships to secure trade agreements in other lands.
- Delay farm upgrades in smaller cities, to reduce squalor. When you run out of structures to build (aside from military ones), that means you are ready for the next tech level. At that point, you do the farm upgrade to increase your population for the next tech level.
- In larger towns with governors, they can supply the military force for your army. Use this in conjunction with Enslaving the Population. Enslaving disperses people among the Governor cities ONLY, ensuring steady supply of soldiers.
- Chase off and destroy rebels that are sitting in your trade routes.

That’s all for this edition. Next will be against the terrifying Dacians and the pullout from the Iberian peninsula and N. Africa to open a new front up north.

[Inuyasha12]

Im currently at war with thrace, after taking much of the gallic cities. If Thrace becomes powerfull, try to let the brutii fight them for awhile. Shadow brutiis armies with yours and let them do the fighting. Once there worn down u can take the cities from the thracians. This also denies the brutii access to the balkans and russia. Try not to spread yourself too thin, i did and i had revolts everywhere! After some hard campaining try to look for a way to get money out of your enemies(offer alliance and ask for tribute) when you've build the captured cities up a little attack again!!

[Sethik]

When fighting against Gauls War Dogs are your best friends. They tear un armored warbands to pieces. They are especially useful in seiges. Just send them in as soon as the walls come down and let them make enough space to let your other troops file in. Another great thing is that it doesnt matter if your dogs die so long as the handlers remain alive. The only problem with this is the handlers are the ones who gain experience, not the dogs. Don't let them go up against Druids or Armored Cavalry because they'll be turned into mince meat.


In one city seige early on im my Julli campaign they proved irreplacable. It was 1500(me) vs 3000(Gauls). After breaking down both walls (I attacked from two points) ONE unit of war dogs held FOUR units of warbands. I won the battle with 300 loses. No enemy was left alive. My war dogs alone (I had two untis) kill around 900 some-odd men.

[sapi]

I don't find war dogs to be that effective, just hastali, principles and maybe some triarii!

[Bhruic]

I don't find wardogs to be particularily effective at killing units. But I find they are exceptionally good distractions. The fact that losing them doesn't matter in the slightest (because they seem to have endless supplies of dogs) means that I can unleash them even on cav/heavy inf. They do the initial charge, and take the brunt of the losses, but they hold the unit(s) so that my real troops can do the damage. Also, I can continue to fire on the conflict with missiles, because I really don't care about friendly fire.

Poor doggies, but I'm just cruel that way.

I found as the Julii that because the Gauls are so easy to wipe out, it's easy to overextend, and try and take on too much at once. That's not a problem with the Gauls, but if you get into any other wars at the same time, you can become quite vulnerable. Once the Gauls are down, I like to pause and build up my cities before moving on. It gives me a chance to figure out how the rest of the wars are shaping up, and see who is vulnerable to attack.

Bh

[TinCow]

Wardogs are exceedingly good at killing unarmored units such as warbands. They are also highly effective at holding up enemy units and giving you room to maneauver. One final use for them is as a cavalry sponge. If you have a unit or two of wardogs that have not been released and you find yourself being charged by enemy cavalry, loose the dogs straight into the charge. Even heavy cavalry such as the Noble Cavalry of the Gauls will come to a screeching hault moments after the dogs reach them. For some reason, dogs simply do not seem to take the huge charge hit that other units do. Then you just have to charge in your infantry and cut down the vulnerable riders.

[TN[ KrAzY!]

dogs also make exceptional ambush troops, wherever you have armies hiding in woods waiting to ambush any enemies make sure you got at least 2 units of dogs, as soon as you start the ambush send em straight in. esp against gauls and britons etc.

[Quietus]

Julii Campaign Part 3 – New Fronts.

If you have decided to take the North African route too (see Part I), your trade networks by now would be bustling. Up north you’d be trading with the Britons. You’d be trading trading with your own settlements from North to South and of course you’d be trading with other factions in the Mediterranean.

With North Africa taken cared of (from Lepcis Magna to Tingi), you are now free to open new fronts! In this example, Dacia decided it should be against them, by attacking me. It makes sense because they are close to the Julii capital.

Regions in question: Luvavum, Aquincum Segesta, Campus Lyzages, Porrolissum etc. Again, the order of attacks is up to you; just take into account buffer zones that prevent you from being flanked in the future. At the same time you should be deciding who should be next to fall in the North: Britons or Germans? I’ve decided that the Germanic tribes should be eliminated because attacking Britain would spread me too far with Germania sandwiched too deep, which will cause horrible logistics problem in the future.

Part 3 units selections: By this time, you would have access to the penultimately powerful Roman Units. There may be units that aren’t here but this are the units I have used so far. The strongest units I will touch upon in the next episode. Here’s a short breakdown:

Triaarii(80)(500d)(210d) – These are tough spearmen. They should always be your center line (pre-marius). You can also put one in your extreme sides to stabilize a swinging flank. Always charge with this unit for the best effect. Against the great dacian melee units, they are the ideal pinners as you flank with Cavalry, Principes, Hastati or other Triaarii units.

Archer Auxillia(81)(430d/170d) – Put them in front of your middle line. As with the earlier archers, use Guard Mode and turn off Fire-at-will. When the AI is baited, move them quickly to the back. With a Chirugeon retinue (or similar types), they heal superbly, thus bring at least 2 units.

Auxillia(81)(430d/170d) – After the Marius event, the Triaarii cannot be trained anymore. However, these are very capable replacements. Because they are cheaper, they can be your replacement frontline fodder. You can do the similar moves as with Triaarii when confronted with melee units.

Light Auxillia(80)(290d)(170d) – They the are the replacement for the Velites. Therefore, they are similarly a special unit (see Velites).

Roman Cavalry (54)(500d)(110d) – For their upkeep cost, these are very fine cavalry. They are mightily effective flankers and especially useful against Phalanx/Pikemen units later (against Thrace). Make sure the enemy phalanx units has their Sarissa(?) lowered against your frontal units BEFORE you charge from the back. If not, your desired effect wont be complete and you will lose much units.

Legionary Cohort(81)(740d)(210) – They are your current elite units and should be conserved in the back. With a 20% discount on unit training, you should build a lot of these units. Let your cheap fodder units such as the Auxillia handle the heavy casualties while you use these conservatively. You just size up your enemy before battle. If you face a significantly tough opponent, it makes sense to put a number of them in the middle and upfront . In normal battles, you can put one of these in your flank for overpowering pincer movement with the help of the Roman Cavalry.

Early Legionary Cohort(81)(610d)(210) – A tad cheaper but also more vulnerable than the Legionary Cohort. In my opinion, their weaker defense isn’t worth saving the denari. However, if needed, they are more useful than a plain Auxillia.

After defeating much of Dacia, it is ideal to take on Thrace too. Why? The Brutii will try to expand there as well. It is better to cut them off before they get too large in the region. The general idea is to have an empire that is defensible in the future, especially in a impending or foreseeable civil war amongst Roman factions.

Once, you’ve consolidate the North by erasing the Germanic tribes, you only have to worry about the Britons. In an event of a civil war, you are free to confront the other rivals, without the consequence of being hit from your backside. Your economy also won’t suffer as much with that conglomeration coastal sea trades and land routes.

Keep in mind of presence of Rebels and Bandits inhabiting your trade routes. I can’t emphasize it enough to root them out by military force or bribery. They do much damage to your trades. Use watchtowers as well as diplomats and spies to discover or spot their location.

Lastly, I planned on posting a bridge battle scheme; however, I am not able to getting around to this yet. I’ll post as soon as I am able to. Also, I won’t be posting anymore strategic map bits and tips since I’ve resolved to put that in my Quick Strategic Map Guide & Primer (already posted!!).

This is the end of third section for now. Part 4 may be fittingly last portion and it will involve the ultimate Roman units and the civil war. Hope you enjoyed reading and found some use for it.

[sapi]

Civil war is much easier if you attack the senate when your allies troops are out of the Italian Penisula. You can decimate their capitols and main production cities and their unit production power will be halved. The only thing to watch out for is trade - you will lose most of your trade once the other roman factions declare war. I forgot to have a big navy and now the brutii and senate (rebel - 1300 men) navies are chasing me around!

[Hurin_Rules]

Quietus,
You said 'walls bring security and happines', but I've never heard anyone else say they had any affect on happines (?order?). Have you or anyone else seen a demonstrable effect on happiness from walls?

Cheers

[Quietus]

Oops. Thx for pointing that out Hurin. I meant to remove that here, but I forgot (hence it wasn't in my A Quick Strategic Guide....) It was based on my very early tests, that now prove just coincidental to either governors gaining retinues/virtues, riots calming down or culture penalty fading. I'll edit it out when I post Julii section 4.

[Hurin_Rules]

Oops. Thx for pointing that out Hurin. I meant to remove that here, but I forgot (hence it wasn't in my A Quick Strategic Guide....) It was based on my very early tests, that now prove just coincidental to either governors gaining retinues/virtues, riots calming down or culture penalty fading. I'll edit it out when I post Julii section 4.

Thanks for clearing that up, and also for all your hard work on the game. We all appreciate it.

[Belenus]

The Julii have the easiest access to land out of the three factions. All that stands in their way are the Gauls, brits, and germans.

On your first turn you should get a mission to take Segesta, so take it garrison it with some troops, and move on. On your border should be a small Gaulish army, on turn two attack. Some people may some wait but the longer you wait the stronger they become so you have to move fast. Take Mediolanium then first, that will cut off pativium, then take pativium. Doing this will really hurt the gauls economically and give you good cash.

For the homefront concetrate on building hastarii for now, while working on getting stables, for cav.

Ok, after you've licked your wounds from taking the first three provinces, move in and take masilla. It's rebel held so it shouldn't be so tough. After that, move a part of your army towards lugdunum, it also should be rebel held. Now you're have the gauls by the threat, and this is what you should do:

If you see any gaul family members around bribe them, you should have enough money if you have a good economic plan(I won't tell you how to build, except to concetrate on getting markets, roads, and stables built,) and after you bribe them, have either a relief army join them or have them hire mercs.

Now if you bribe one near Narbo Martus have him move in on it quick, it should be easy to take, but be careful, the Gauls most likely have a big army in numantia.

For Alesia, get your best army and move in on it, expect a tough battle, for it's the gaulish capital. Once you take it the Gauls should switch their capital to numantia, so get your army in narbo, make your general hire some mercs, and move them out, (making sure to leave some TW in narbo). Your army may encounter a few large Gaul armies so take them out. Don't let them escape. They also may have a fort on near the bridge leading to the town so take it out. Once you reach numantia, lay siege to it, attack it when you're ready, and the gauls should be finished. Take over the rest of their lands if they're rebel or gaulish,(if they survived). It took me 28 turns to defeat them and this is a very rough guide.

PS: Don't forget to try yo bribe Caralis from the carthagians.

EDIT: Guide to take on the british and germans coming up after I beat them.

[mzhang23]

The Julii start out with the worst potential economy, so the easy thing is to take what the Bruti and Scipio have:

1. Start out taking the Gaul towns north of you. Take enough and you'll cripple them for the rest of the game. As soon as you tech to wardogs, Gauls are no threat.

2. Immediately take the carthaginian town on sicily with an army as soon as you can make biremes. Use diplomats to bribe the Scipio army into reinforcing your attack force if necessary.

3. Move on down into Carthage. Wardogs here will make short work of most of their troops, including elephants. Meanwhile, pressure the rebels and gauls up north by taking a few more towns. Gaul towns don't generate much money, so don't spread thin and try to take too many towns. Once you take Carthage, exterminate the population.

4. Take the Carthaginian town south of Carthage. If the Scipio happen to be trying to seige it, wait a few turns and they'll call off the seige for no reason at all. Then move in and take it yourself.

5. Once Carthage is taken start building troops using Carthage's highly teched buildings (triarii, Legionary cav, etc) and be ready to ship them to Greece. Ready a huge force in mainland (bribe armies, as that's cheaper) and get ready to invade Greece.

6. Now it's simply a matter of taking Greece city by city. Try to go for Thessalonia then Corinth, Athens, Sparta, etc. Corinth first gets you the Zeus wonder, helping lower dissent in your newly captured towns. Always enslave or exterminate, and be sure to demolish their temples to reduce cultural difference.

7. At my point in this Julii game the Scipio basically have nothing while the Bruti only have the western Greek coast towns and Crete. I own everything else. This severely cripples the economies of the other two factions and lets your income soar by 240/230 BC when you own just about everything in North Africa and and Greece.

Good luck! Just because the Gauls and Germans are next to you doesn't mean that you have to take them.

And always remember, use and train diplomats! You can bribe over your allie's full stack armies for about 3-5k, which is a great deal when you need reinforcements out in North Africa and Greece.

P.S. Income is over 10-20k per turn by the end if you follow this strat and do it right.

It is 229 BC right now in my game. Greece, Carthage, Macedonia, and Gaul are now gone. But the most important thing is that the rival Romans only own 11 total provinces - they're asking to get trounced once I go for Rome.

[Sunfire]

I played around with the Julii several times by now and can agree, that they have a disadvantage when it comes to ecomomy.

What mzhang23 says sounds really good, my own strategy is only slightly different.

At the first turn take all your troops and your very best General to greece. Build new ones in your home privinces to take Sagesta. Land your army right in front of Thermon and take it. Don't try to get Apollonia, the Brutii are faster than you are. After Thermon take Larissa. From there, capture Corinth and the Zeus Wonder there. Then Athens ans Sparta. Reinforce Larissa because of the Mecedonians which come down from Tessalonica. Next capture Tessalonica and wipe the Macedonias out.

Meanwhile proceed with your war against the Gauls. When you are finished in Greece, thake your troops back, you'll need them. From then on it's simple. Wipe out the Gauls. Garmans and Britons should be at each others throat in no time, ally with one of them, ignoere the other. Go for Spain next, then Britain or the Germans.

Greece will be your primary source of income and you'll deny the Brutii most of Greece. If you have the time and the resources try to get Carthage, but chances are that you can not hold it for long.

In no time you'll get 20k+ denarii per turn. The Plebejans will love you. The senate won't. But you know what to do against that

I think that it's far easier to capture towns in your enemies lands than to concentrate on the Gauls. In my first game I went 'by the book' (Gallia, Hispania, Britannia, Germany) and it was a real pain at the end.

Greece is really nice for money, aside from that Wonder there

[Leodegar]

I'm posting rather my experiences with battles of pre-marian armies against babarians (Gauls, Germans, Dacians, Britons), than a guide for the strategic game, so, dear moderators, feel free to move it, if you think it doesn't fit here...
In my opinion it is a guide for playing the Julii, because you are most likely to face these enemies right from the beginning of the game. I don't know what experienced players will think about my considerations (feedback very welcome!!!), but perhaps it will be of some help to new players...
I went for the poor northern provinces, Gaul in particular. So I'm very short with money (perhaps not the best strategy, see the other posts!). So my overall plan for battles was to minimize my losses of expensive units.

In most battles against babarians you will face spear-warbands, swordsmen, cavalry and some archers. Additionally the Britons will field chariots, Germans and Dacians some special charge units with strong attack, but weak armour and defence (Axemen, Falxmen).
If you are the defender, in about 95% of battles, babarians will simply charge, perhaps after fireing some arrows. If you are the attacker, just move your army towards your enemies, they also are very likely to charge as you come closer. If they don't, just close up and start to throw pilae, then they definately will charge. So basically your army's task is to minimize losses from arrow fire, then to hold their charge, bring them to stop, flank and encircle them, rout and kill them.
Considering that, I came to the following army composition. Velites to take arrowfire and disorder their charge, Hastatii and/or Principes as main battle lines, to absorb the charge, Equites and Wardogs to flank, rout and pursue them. Helpful are some archers (a must against German Spearmen!) or spearmen (Triarii or Barbarian Mercenaries) if the enemy has a lot of cavalry. I basically deploy my forces like that:


---Velites--- ---Velites---
-Hastatii- -Hastatii- -Hastatii- -Hastatii-
-Equites- -Principes- -Principes- -Principes- -Principes- -Equites-
-Wardogs- -General- -Wardogs-


Archers are best used in the front row (if the enemy has very few cavalry), on the flanks, or behind the main army (if facing a lot of cavalry). Spearmen I usually deploy either on the flanks or behind the Principes.
Of course you can use only Hastatii or only Principes, as they are very similar. I normally deploy them 4 lines deep, but if you want to cover more space or have only 3 or 2 infantry units in one line you can also use them 3 or 2 lines deep, but be aware that they are more woulnerable to cavalry charges then. 4 or even more lines deep, Hastatii and Principes can absorb even heavier cavalry quite well.
I set the first line of them to fire-at-will mode, so they will welcome the charging babarians with a lot of thrown pilae. The second line of infantry, must not be set to fire-at-will, as they would throw their pilae at the enemy when they are engaged with your first line, and you would take severe losses yourself. I did it several times and after the battle the stats screen said something like: I lost 250 men, and my enemies only had 150 kills.

The idea is: Use the Velites to take the arrowfire, perhaps in loose formation. The won't take too many losses. And they are cheap. Then, when the enemy starts to charge, start to move your flankers forward. Your enemies might send one of their units to their flanks, to counter your cavalry. A very easy manoever seems to work here, just evade them by moving your Equites away to the outside. If they don't follow them, you just call your cavalry back in to continue the flanking. If they follow your horsemen, just let the dogs loose, which should have been following your cavalry on the flanking operation! Then charge your Equites in. This should be enough to rout the unlucky enemy unit on his flank protection mission. Now you can go on flanking their main army.
Meanwhile, you have a decision to make concerning your Velites. To skirmish, or not to skirmish. If you feel that you have everything under control, the flanking goes well, and you are sure to withstand the charge, just let your Velites skirmish and save them. Let your first infantry line receive them with a pilae shower. As soon as melee combat starts, charge in your Wardogs and Equites from the flanks and the rear. If it is necessary you can additionally send your second infantry line into the fight. Again, don't let them throw their pilae, use alt+mouseclick. That really should be enough to rout them.
If the situation looks more dangerous, and the enemy has a lot of strong units (chosen swordmen, axemen, heavy cavalry,...) and/or is countering your flankers and delaying them, you can decide to let your Velites stand and fight instead of skirmishing. They will get massacred, but they will stop the barbarians for a moment. At pilae throwing distance from your main battle line! This really should stop them, giving your flankers time to complete their duty.
If your opponents have not charged in their whole army, just move your second infantry line to the front, as they still have their pilae. Wait for the second charge or march forward yourself.

This tactic worked very well in my battles so far (very hard setting). I often don't use my second line at all but I have the impression their presence encourages my first line and gives them more staying power. If I was short on units, and could only field one line, they sometimes happened to rout...
If you enemy brought a lot of cavalry, it is nice to have some spearmen. But also your General's Bodyguards are well able to counter any Babarian Cavalry.
Against German Spearmen it is best to use a lot of archers and careful flanking. Never attack them head on!
If I happen to have archers in my armies, I try to have at least one of them, good aims for them are axemen or falxmen. They are quite dangerous in close combat, but have little armour and will take heavy losses from arrowfire.

[LestaT]

Still haven't finish with my first campaign yet... Har... Har... Har... Replaying Julii for the 3rd time...

One question, when I sacked Britons & Germans cities I usually destroyed all buildings (which can be destroyed ) and rebuild with Roman works. Anyway I realize tavern aren't replaceable (or am I wrong ?)

Should I leave the taverns or those are the place that breeds rebellion ( got happiness bonus there if not mistaken ).

Cherioo....

[econ21]

I am not sure you need to destroy British and German buildings. In my campaign, the cities were pretty small and so were not that unhappy. I think you can "overwrite" them with your own buildings when they expand in size anyway. The only building I have heard about destroying is the Temple - doing so reduces the culture penalty, although even there I don't rush and often only destroy it when I want to upgrade it to a bigger Temple of my own kind.

[jjnip]

Roman Factions: Julii

Pre Marius

Peasants Gov. House O pop
Town Watch Barr 0 pop
Hastati Mil Barr 2000
Principes Leg Barr 6000
Triarii Army Barr 12000

Velites Prac Range 2000
Roman Archers Arch Range 6000

Equites Stab 2000
Cav Aux Cav Stab 6000
Roman cav Cav Stab 6000
Leg Cav Hippodr 12000

Wardogs Stab

Post Marius

Peasants Gov House 0
Town Watch Barr 0
Auxilla Mil Barr 2000
Early Leg Leg Barr 6000
Legionnairy Army Barr 12000
Preatorian Imp Palace 24000
Urban Cohort Urb Barr 24000

Light Aux Prac Rng 2000
Archer Arch Rng 6000

Roman Cav Stables 2000
Cav Aux Cav Stab 6000
Leg Cav Hippodr 12000
Pret Cav Circ Max 24000

The above is a breakdown of the minimum population you need in a city before you can A) make the appropriate governor house B) make the appropriate military training facility. Once you have the population then you can make the governor house then the military building then the unit.

So your strategy and consequently armies are built around your cities populations. You have to keep in mind your best cities by the nature of their high population are your main factories for units, but you do not want to be too handicapped by fighting with your armies to far from your factories. Why? You need to be able to retrain these units once they take casualties in combat. So keep that in mind when you have Principes that require a Leg Barr and consequently a 6000 pop city before you can retrain them. Off in the wilds of Gaul, Dacia, Brittania, Germania you might not find such good pop cities.


Pre Marius lasts from around 279bc to around 240-220 bc, wich is when the reforms take place. So for these first 40-50 years you will be using Pre Marius units. During this time you will probably get about 25-35 provinces. You will probably have 4-5 cities near about 12000+ in pop.

Mostly you use Peasants and Town Watch to keep civil unrest down, they perform garrison duty.
Hastati, Velites and Equites are your main fighting force during this time.

Hastati Mouse/Key Commands for Combat

With Hastati highlighted right click once on the enemy and the Hastati will walk until close enough then throw a pila and then charge to attack.

With Hastati highlighted double right click or right click and hit "r" on the enemy. The Hastati will run to distance needed, stop throw pila, and then charge for attack. Difference is "walk" vs "run".

If you want the Hastati to attack/charge the enemy quickly without throwing pila, then hold "alt" and right double click on the enemy.

Sometimes a good thing to do is highlight a Hastati unit and make it run at a 45 degree angle to the enemy then have them turn around and attack the enemy in the rear and flank. This is easier if they enemy is already pinned in action. The angle is for distance and also to get the Hastati completely unengaged.

If you are being attacked, it is often good to put Hastati on guard mode. Guard mode seems to increase their defense at expense of attacking power. When Hastati are in guard mode and you are on the defensive then it is good time to have Hastati "fire at will". They will throw their pilas as soon as the enemy close.

Velites

Some people like to put Velites out in front and let them be on Skirmish mode, some like to put them out front and use them as "Arrow fodder" and "bait". I like to put them in "2 deep" stretched left to right formation, with fire at will behind my Hastati. If you are concerned about friendly fire you can pull them back and away once the enemy engage.

Sometimes when the battle is almost over and I sense the enemy route coming I position my velites on my left or right in a position to attack the fleeing enemy. Once the enemy start fleeing, highlight the Velites and hold "alt" and double right click on the enemy, to get them to run/attack draw their daggers even if they have javelins left.

Equites

I used Equites alot, they are monsters, very powerful. The trick is too "not" commit them to early. Do not let them get stuck attacking a unit out in the open, especially a unit you did not want them to attack in the first place, that is the beginning that you did something wrong.

Basically the enemy attacks, once the infantry forces are good and engaged, its kind of like 1-2-3 ok I sense I am winning, I see a clear path to my left around the enemy and behind them. I could attack their enemy in the rear with my equites. So you highlight your equites and right click on the ground at a 45 degree angle as necessary to avoid getting into combat at the main line and hit "r" so they run or just double right click. Its kind of out, up and back.

During my Julii Long Campaign pre Marius I usually had a Army consisting of
4-8 Hastati
2-4 Velites
1-3 Equites
1-2 Merc troops
1 General

Marius Reforms happened for me around 241 bc.

Post Marius

After the Marious Reforms recruit Early and Leg and better Cav. Always good to have a few Archers, Mercenary troops to round out the force.
Early Leg Leg Barr 6000
Legionnairy Army Barr 12000

Around 230-220 bc when I was finishing up my long campaign I had almost 2 cities near 24000+ to give you idea.

221 bc for top 5 Cities:

Patavium 23,216
Mediolamium 22,076
Arretium 15,956
Arriminum 15,442
Corduba 15,212

After I had about 35 territories I attacked Rome and continued down Italy and exterminated every city in Italy and used the money to build my armies to finish off Brutti and get my last 15 faction territories. In fact I exterminated every faction after 35, I needed the money badly.

If I had gone slower, put more money in my cities, waiting a few turns before I attacked I could of built probably a better infrastructure, had a fewer higher population cities and eventually gotten the better units, but that would of pushed me back to probably around 200 bc for endgame and of course everyone else would of been stronger.

I had the money so I spend it and built armies, of
15-18 Hastati, Early, and Leg
1 General

By the time I got into position to take Brutti on after taking Rome I noticed they had about 7-8 full stacks. So I was like give me legion and early and its all I recruited. Any Hastati I had left were from pre. So from then on it was 90% early and leg. It would of been more cost effective and prob more effective to have had:

9-12 Hastati, Early, Leg
2-3 Roman and Leg Cav
3-4 Archers
1 G


There is so much I am leaving out I am sure, for example how could you mention a Roman Julii Campaign without mentioning Barbarian Mercenary Cavalry. These guys rock and I found them to be most effective.

I also found Barbarian Mercenary the ones with the shield and spear (not the peltasts), to be most effective at holding their own, especially in guard mode. The Barbarian Mercenary Peltasts are good too, effective javelin throwers and decent attackers.

The Reforms
One thing I wanted to point out is after the Reforms you cannot retrain your Hastati, that facility now trains Auxilla which is a pretty decent defensive unit. So any and all Hastati you have left will now get merged by you to keep them at full strength, because you cannot retrain them.

So where as before you were pumping out Hastati when you needed them with a Mil barracks, now your next decent unit and brunt force of your army requires a Leg Bar and a 6000 pop city and is called a Early Leg unit. You can win the game with Leg Units but you will want to make Army Barracks in your 12000 pop cities so you can make Legionnair Units. Leg Units are a little better than early leg units.

Only thing better than this Inf unit are Praetorian and Urban Cohorts but they require a 24000 pop city, Imp Palance (praet) and Urban Barracks (urban). You can win with just regular Legionnair units.

Cntr-l S
I kept a copy of my saved game, at some point I will probably go back and load it up to make some Praet and Urban and conquer the rest of the world. Just do a cntrl-s during the video with you marching to victory in the senate to save it for later. Load it up and save it under a new name, like finalbattle something.

[LestaT]

I am not sure you need to destroy British and German buildings. In my campaign, the cities were pretty small and so were not that unhappy. I think you can "overwrite" them with your own buildings when they expand in size anyway. The only building I have heard about destroying is the Temple - doing so reduces the culture penalty, although even there I don't rush and often only destroy it when I want to upgrade it to a bigger Temple of my own kind.

I destroyed the building only for economic reasons. I terminate all population and building to recoup all the war cost unless while 'liberating' other Roman cities. It's easier to manage from scratch anyway.

[LestaT]

I've finish the campaign with many years spared. Is there a way I can continue the campaign because the Brutii still exists.

[YAKOBU]

LestaT: see my comment on this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=39568

[LestaT]

Thanks. Danke schon... will try after I finished all the factions...

[ZIM!!]

I just finished my Julii campaign I had won the game over a month ago but I let Rome rebel and then allowed the Scipii to take it so I could conquer the map it took a long time and a couple of times I was put on the ropes by the Scipii and the Parthians , but I finally conquerd selucia and those elusive cities in Persia that you kow are there but have to search for and at last I trapped the Parthian King in that city due North of the Caspian sea. I had to send calvary scouts to find it when I did the Pathian King was holed up in a huge city with large walls totally unlike any other city in this part of the map he had a huge army with 3 units of Elephants. I waited for years building up my forces shipping them from persia across the caspian sea that had two big stacks of parthian navies in it constantly harassing my convoys of troops, also marcing them across Europe from Germany and shipping them across the black sea from Nicomedia and byzantium even then it was a miserably slow march to get there.. I had to bring in flaming pigs from the balkans it took well over 10 years finally I ran out of paitence and decided to not wait for the flaming pigs to arrive and just hired mercanaries to supplement my meager Roman force by

by the time I reached this point in the game there were no more large cities to conquer (outside the occasional rebellion) to fuel my war machine , my units on the russian steppe were depleted from years of fighting barbarians in Europe and the persians

but crutched with mercanaries including greek hoplites and eastern infantry Samaritans from the black sea javilans from North africa Barbarians from Gual and Briton I thought I would give it a try.. I had units from all over the empire and it was a brutal fight the Elephants gave me a hard time for a bit but I was able to corner them in the narrow city streets.. at the end I won but was so decimated I lost the cirty to rebels the next turn but I eventually recaptured it because the force was mostly peasants. however the capture of this city lead me to the discovery of the last province I was to capture... at the very edge of the world the fabled kingdom of the Amazons.

it was pretty neat it was so far away and hard to get to it literaly to years to march there from the closest city I marched thier with one Roman General and an Army entirely made up of mercanaries as no Roman units were availible or could be spared this far north I finally got there after scouting the city out the year before my army marched in tandem and a unit of Amazon chariots wiped out a straggling unit of mercanaries

it was kind of cool to have this be the last place conquerd a mythical city that took years to get to and a march over hostile territory with a harsh enviornment kind of like the holy grail.. but I was determined to let no land or people go unconquered. The seige was not too bad the city just had wooden walls. the sythced chariots with the amazon archers gave me a hard time before I broke through the walls they are super deadly they just about completely wiped out my units on the rams.. but oh well theyre just mercanaries.... after that I rushed the city the chariots routed a couple of units but they didnt last to long against the cavalary in the confines of the city
The Amazon warriors had a few units of Slave "men" as peasant units but they were just fodder for my blood thirsty mercanaries

so after all this effort to get there and reach this mythical magical city with its proud noble race of beautiful women warriors with a vibrant culture and the great fight to subdue them .. what you ask did you do with these noble and beautiful female warriors?? ... I let my filthy smelly barbarian mercanaries have thier way with them ...got drunk ...then slaughtered them all....
....there was no reason at this point to step out of character....

the Scipii left in Rome were easily defeated of course I had the port blockaded for over a decade I surrounded the city with heavy onagers and destroyed as much of it as I could .. very dramatic .. the rushed in to the burning city through open gates(spies ) and of course slaughterd everyone


The end

[BlackStrider]

The one thing that I can say about the Julii campaign is to rush fast into Gaul. This campaign is mostly about expanding quickly into Europe. Germania wont attack you and are pretty quiet. If an alliance can be made, they will help you beat back Britainnia, who will almost certainly attack you.

[Romulus Augustulus]

This may or may not be helpful, but I've found something out about fighting the Germans. Those spear warbands of theirs can be beaten with light infantry. During the deployment phase, take all of your light infantry, and deploy it in one place, one unit on top of another. If you have light cavalry, use it to kill archers and warlords, and, when their spear warbands are locked in mortal combat, pounce from the rear. I used this to defeat a good sized German force near Trier, which I took a turn later, or so.