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Thread: Germania

  1. #31

    Default Re: Germania

    G'day,

    I am new to this. However i would like to offer my oppion on the Germans..

    I have been playing Rome total war for awhile and Germania is the best Culture. Why?

    because of thier spear-warbands (i put unit scale to huge, which means spear-warbands are 241men). i personally only used these at the beginning. i am a peaceful player however when i am prompted into war i am ruthless. i made an alliance with the Dacians, the sythians, the britons, the Gauls. i knew from exprience that the Gauls and the Britons attack you, sooo i exploited the idea of forts. There is a bridge near Batavodurum, i put a fort within march of the bridge and that helped stop attacks from briton getting to far. than Trier. i built one fort with a small garrision where the gap in the forest joins Belgica. i than set up i think about 5 forts in a line along the border of Central Gaul. i set 400 men in each fort than placed another fort behind the middle on with 800 men to help reinforce any attack. this stops the Gauls. well, forwhile.

    i took Bordesholm, Vicus Gothi and Lovosice before the gauls broke thier allaince and attacked me. they didnt get past my forts and were soon running home with very deep wounds to lick. Briton felt over confident and attacked me. i took Samarobriva, i massacared the poplace. i than left the town for the Rebels to take and the Briton to be pre occupied while i delt with Gaul. i than took Alesia and it suffered the same fate.

    Soon i the Britons attacked again so as i recruited an army to destroy them, i sent emesarries to Rome. i gained all roman factions on side and i tried to convince Julii to attack Gaul, funnliy enough they would have none of it so i went to rome and offered them 10k gold and thus the Gauls had a very distracting nieghbour to thier soul.

    Now i finally took Samarobriva. the british decided to drop men off with their navy i than saw a Gaulish navy near-by. so i searched and in Armorica had a port, thus i split my forces in Samarobriva and took Armorica with little trouble thanx to the Julli. i than created my navy, i destroyed the british navy. thus like some of you have said i thought it was safe and turned all of my armies south wards. the british snuck a small army over so i pulled all forces north and dropped them in britian. i currently hold all of Britian and ireland, however i am having trouble with Rebels. so if anyone knows how to stop Rebels appearing...

    i have currently destoryed Gaul...well i control all thier terrioteries. i stopped the Romans from annoying me by building forts in the mountian passes in Transalpine Gaul and Iuvaum.

    now while i was worrying about Briton Thrace and Dacia went to war. i didnt care about them so i let them settle it. Dacia was almost destroyed, Thrace descieded to attack me, every turn either Lovosice or Vicus Marcomannii is under siege. i than countered this but building 500 night raiders (tough lil buggers) and i use them to weaken Thrace i have currently weakened them by taking thier cities and massacring the and than leaving a brilliant stratergy, becase you dont always have time to take and settle the settlements to destroying them and giving them back is better because they are unable to attack you.

    i am focusing on taking Rome and than Spain, than the Balkans, Russian, Greece because of thier huge trade income.i than plan on moving on to old Persia thand africa than finially Egypt...

    if anyone has any comments they would be gratly aprrcienated... or if you wish to contact me McDoogle@toowoomba.com just tell me your from the forums..

    thanx hope this helped..
    And he rose, and spoke forth, "Go my warriors, go forward to victory!"

  2. #32

    Default Re: Germania

    Just a question. When I played as Germania, after I sacked Roman cities which by the time they are very advanced and have buldings that produced seige/artilleries , why can't I use them ? I don't expect to produce German Legions but it would be nice to throw in some heavy artilleries once in a while. MAkes the sieges quicker.
    Say: O unbelievers, I serve not what you serve, nor do you serve what I serve, nor shall I serve what you are serving, nor shall you be serving what I serve.
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  3. #33
    War Story Recorder Senior Member Maltz's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Hello: I think this is because Germania is a barbarian tribe, so you are not allowed to build such advanced units. You can check which units you can use by a unit guide (you can find the link in SP forum's index), or just go to a custom battle and see which units are available.

  4. #34

    Default Re: Germania

    Germania is probably the best barbarian faction in the long run. However, they start out very poor, their settlements are small and their population growth is extremely slow. Your main unit of choice in the beginning will be the spear warband. Send a few units to Alesia as soon as possible to get some income. Once this is done, take some important gallic settlements (such as longdunum) and 1-2 Dacian settlements to cripple both factions. They will almost certainly stop attacking then. After that, make sure you take the British foothold and expand into Britannia, taking all of their provinces (even Tara). The british have fairly weak units in the beginning. From there it will be easy for a while. Your army should consist of lots of spear warbands, a few units of night raiders (the only large axe unit worth getting) and some berserkers. Then, Gothic Cavalry and chosen archers will greatly help, too. The key thing to remember as this faction is to avoid pulling punches with the Romans early on. They will destroy you. Once you take patavium and everything north of the Julii settlements, stop there. Place 3-4 units of spear warbands (and archers once you get them) on each of the 2 bridges to keep the julii from attacking once they declare war. The spear warbands will almost always hold bridges. The only time you might have trouble is when the enemy uses archers. To deal with this, bring some chosen archers. The Brutii will eventually attack from the east (if they already took those settlements) and might really mess up your plans. Hopefully you have enough of an army by now to attack the Julii's relentless attacks. Take their big settlements first and make sure you still have an army north of there to guard patavium! Also, don't launch an attack on rome across the bridges until you have a very good income. In my game, my faction basically became bankrupt while fielding a few units against the Julii. Expanding just isn't worth the risk of losing Patavium. If you aren't ready, just hold the bridges with spearmen while you expand farther into Gaul and Spain to take their settlements (and their money).

    The key thing to remember is to take Patavium and those bridges as soon as possible. Once the Julii start their expansion, they will become truly unstoppable. Actually, they are already fairly difficult to stop even with their first 4 settlements under their control. I guess taking those might help with stopping them. In my game, I had a fairly sizeable army and I had to fight against a battle against the julii, brutii and the SPQR. ALL IN ONE BATTLE! I found a nice hilltop and just pelted them with arrows and flanked them. I lost about 90 units and they collectively lost around 1600. The next few turns, I became bankrupt and they beseiged 3 of my settlements in the same turn. I just gave up at this point.

  5. #35
    Member Member Mightypeon's Avatar
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    Default Dont fear the Romans

    Well, it is true that the roman legions can get pretty nasty, however people are forgetting two things:
    A) You tend to get your chosen Axes before they get their legions
    B) If you have chosen Axes, you dont have to worry about legions that much.
    C) However, if they get legionarys, they happen to produce hem faster than you can pump out your elites.

    As the Germans you have 2 windows of opportunity to sack rome.
    1: Right at the start: Take your spears, go south and show the romans the real meaning of Phalanx warfare, clever positioning can easily beat the senate army
    2: If youre good with cavalry: As soon as you rpduce walour 2 weapon one Barb Light Cav from Damme and Montigiacum (+Aleisa if you took it)
    This Cav is lightears ahead of anyhing mounted the romans can build, but it tends to be used against the pesky Britons, Gauls whatsorver.
    3: If you have just enslaved Gaul (you have to, they will attack you and they wont make peace) grab some chosen archers get you vet spears and smack the romans.

  6. #36
    Date Harumune Member Herakleitos's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I took them on right after Gaul. The Gauls developed Mediolanum really well and have a +2 missile weapons temple there so I am just churning out chosen archers there. As far as I'm concerned those legionairs don't function all that well with lots of arrows sticking out of them...

    Only thing I wasn't aware of is the fact that Germans don't sap... I was besieging Arretium and built two sap points but couldn't get anyone to dig some tunnels! Fortunately my spy opened the gate for me (lost over 500 men though, most of them on the bbq).
    'ho polemos pater pantoon'

  7. #37
    Pelekyphoros Barbaros Member Rurik the Chieftain's Avatar
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    Post Re: Germania

    I love the Germans, in fact they're my favorite faction (would've never guessed, huh?)But...a serious issue with the Germans is their lack of siege weapons. They don't even get a single onager. Nuthin! But fear not, for most of the time this allows you to make more men than would be usually made due to the fact that you don't have to worry about siege equipment. Go out there and use those siege ladders!

  8. #38
    War Story Recorder Senior Member Maltz's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I just had some experience of Germania (Vh/Vh/Huge/patch1.1). I followed the advice of taking Rome very early on. Now it is 262BC and I have 21 settlements - Germania is invincible. I blieve with some practice, everybody can easily take out an little-missle enemy that is 3 times as large on an open field - or definitely more than that in a city as long as time is enough, and yes, on VH. The key is simple:

    - Spear Warband is GOD!

    Seriously I think spear warband should belong to at least the 2000 level town barrack, or even 6000. They are just way too powerful. It is the only melee unit that I could win, 1 vs. 1, in a 10 to 1 kill ratio in VH. In fact, I just routed 3 units of rebels (naked fanatics + 2 bar. warband) with 1 unit of spearwarband. All I did was camping them at the corner.

    These phalanx are supposely to be the crap, but they turn out to be the best. They never switch to that f* little knife whenever an enemy comes close, and they come in great numbers. I defeated the Senate army with 7 units of spear warband holding everything - Roman generals, trarii, everything.

    Against regular infantry on the field, you only need 3 rank deep of spears for them to become invincible, since only the first three rows will ever touch the enemy. The trick, as many others have pointed out, is to form a LONG, THING WALL OF SPEARS, and let them "walk to a distant point beyond the enemy in phalanx mode". Always works, always invincible. This way, the formation is not disrupted as they would when you order them to simply attack (annoying). To keep the wall continuous, you need to stop the advance of all other units when any one is engaged. This way, you have no weakness exposed. The AI is pretty smart somtimes, that it will try to flank your phalanx. So you really don't want to disrupt your wall or things will turn out to be very ugly.

    Formation also tends to screw up when the engaged enemy routs. You might think "guard mode" will help - NO! When you leave the guade mode on you will see your spearmen do all the funny things, sometimes rotate 180 degres to show their back to the second wave of charge. They way I do it is to hit "stop" when the enemy routs, and point to their new movement destination. Just keep them occupied.

    The greatest weakness of phalanx is missle - but you don't have to worry, you have chosen archer warbands - long ranged! If you take Rome early on, you can mass produce them off the bat. Barbarian cav. is good enough for all kinds of flanking and chasing purpose.

    Germania does not have any weakness - just full of strength. With that only working RTW phalanx you only need to worry about "other phalanx", but you have long range weapons and cavalry - no worry at all.

  9. #39
    Member Member tnt_73's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Yeah, the german phalanx is good. But i used them only 4 the beginning. Now i'm a german cavalery man. I use horses in masses, and some night raiders and berserkers to climb up the walls :D. And of course elite bow men :D 4 support.

  10. #40
    Member Member afrit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I found Germania pretty easy on Medium/Medium

    My experience has been a long blitz. Here's what I found useful:

    TACTICS

    - Spear warbands rule. In fact, they are overpowered. As other posters said, stretch them out a bit, then advance them to march beyond the enemy line. Their one downside is their lack of speed and maneuvrability. Try turning off phalanx to run, and then turning it back on just before engaging enemy. Even then they are still cumbersome. This lack of maneuvrability is compensated by Barbarian cavalry, one of the speediest units in the game. Barbarian cav is key to totally annihilating your enemies by chasing all routers. My armies consisted mainly of center line of 2-3 spears and the rest is flanking cavalry.

    - I did not see the need to produce any missile units (in fact I hate them because of the friendly fire which causes more causalties than the enemy). A combo of spears and barabarian cav could annihilate anything. Most of your early enemies (Gauls/Britons/Early romans) do not deploy much long range missiles, so you can handle them with spears and horses. Avoiding the missile line of development saves money on the range buildings.

    STRATEGY

    - Early eastward expansion into Lovosice and Iuvavum will deprive Dacia of "lebensraum" while giving you extra money/land and potentially a way into Italy (via Iuvavum). I thought it was worth sparing some troops from the Briton/Gallic front.

    - German towns are poor and low population. Trade income is meager. Since your main income is taxes, which depend on population, you must watch your population closely. I therefore used barbarian mercs liberally to avoid draining my population. Build all farms levels in Germany.

    -Trier works as a great focus for conducting the war against Britain and Gaul. A single army there can threaten Samarobriva or Alesia while defending your hinterlands. I managed to pick off Gallic and Briton stacks one by one using one large army based around Trier . The spy you get early is key to keeping an eye on them.

    -It is possible to blitz across Gaul quickly once you take Alesia. I took Alesia in 262 BC. 6 years later (256 BC) all Gaul, including Massilia was German. You incur no cultural penalty in Gallic lands, and their low population means you can garrison with one or two units and move on to the next town.

    -Moving against Rome early is better than late. I captured Rome in 252 BC (and almost got it in 253 , having captured the town square 30 seconds before the darn timer expired). I did this with mostly barbarian cavalry and spears. The Julii and Brutii were still fielding Hastati and Velites mostly. Pretty easy targets.

    I am now poised to strike at the heart of the Brutii and Scipii lands. I may run into trouble, but it is starting to have that inevitable win feeling.
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  11. #41
    Member Member tnt_73's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Yeah, a little update. 2 huge armies are sitting in 2 forts in front of rome (at the bridges in front of the italian homeland). But i have time :D. First i conquer the world and than i destroy rome. The romans can't left their homeland *lol*. So i enjoy the harmless attacks with my german super men.

  12. #42
    Member Member Tyrac's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    These spear phalanx are rediculously over powered.
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  13. #43

    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by Es Arkajae
    * A tactic I considered when going up against the Julii/SPQR army, its a gross exploit so I didn't use it, by result the battle was much closer but I felt more manly but if you're stuck then maybe its for you.

    Plant your spear wall right in the corner of the deployment screen on defensive battles with a flank on each edge, as soon as the battle starts move them backwards so that there is no way around their flanks at all, stick all your other units behind them. Use screeching women/warcries whatever to buck up your line, maybe stick some skimirshers behind it too.

    Unless you fight like 'an old woman or an idiot' you will not lose that battle.
    Yep. In multi-player battles we have a name for this tactic -- "corner camping". Many tournaments have a rule which bans it. It is ok to use a feature of the map like a village, rock outcrop, or water to anchor one or even both ends of your line, but using the edge of the map is considered cheesy.
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  14. #44
    Pelekyphoros Barbaros Member Rurik the Chieftain's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Big object of emphasis for Germany: TAKE ROME EARLY. I decided to conquer all of Gaul instead of heading down to Italy, and by the time I got there, things didn't seem so bad. The Julii had idiotically allied with the Gauls and had about 3 provinces, so were no problem. The real problem was the Brutii. In my campaign, the Brutii had all of Greece up to Macedonia, and all of Southern Italy. The Scipii were all in Africa so not a problem. Apparently, 3 of the roman factions sat around and did nothing, while the Brutii became unstoppable. Right now I'm at around 173 B.C. and in a continuing deadlock with the Brutii. They are at the point where they can just send a continual river of full stack armies to my 3-4 cities in north Italy. I'm trying to go through their back door by sending armies through the balkans to greece. But right now they show no signs of stopping. Hopefully I'll make a breakthrough soon and deal with the other, weak romans. Believe me, fighting 20 legions every turn isn't fun.

  15. #45
    Member Member dismal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    I finished my German campaign yesterday and am here to pass on the learnings.

    The campaign was set on VH/H and resulted in victory around 200 BC.

    The basic order of events was:

    1) Grab nearby rebel provinces. I was able to quickly get up to 10-11 contiguous provinces bouned by Domus Dulci Doums and Vicus Venedae to the East, and the Gauls and Britons to the West.

    2) Fend off the Gauls and Britons. Formed a big army to push the Britons off to into the sea. Fought scrambling rear-guard action versus the Gauls in my homelands until big army was done with Britons. Sent big army to take Alesia and the Gauls were on the defensive the rest of the way.

    3) Taking Britain and France. As soon as a boat was available I got an army over to Britain and took London. A huge plus to the economy. The rest of Britain fell easily. As for Gaul, I pushed west first, taking the Atlantic coast of France. Avoided contact with the Julii, who were rampaging their armies all across the Mediterranean coast of France and Spain. While taking northern france, I built up some big "roman ready armies" of upgraded CAWBs and Spears in Alesia and Trier. Eventually, Julii attacked and I drove these armies to the southern coast of France, splitting the Julii in two.

    4) Spain and Northern Italy. Most of the Julii's big armies started coming back from Spain. These were mosty pre-marian troops that were quite easy to defeat even in full stacks. Julii areas of Spain were defenseless and taken, around to Corduba. I would have left the Spanish alone - they only had two provinces in North Spain, but they attacked me so I dispatched them. While all this was going on, I sent a couple new armies through the Alps and took Mediolanun from the Julliu and Patavium from the Gauls. At this point, the Gauls collapsed, their one province in Spain going rebel. I took it, uniting all of Northwest Europe under my banner.

    5) On to Rome. Actually taking Northern Italy and Rome was a piece of cake. I had 4 or 5 strong armies flowing back from France and Spain. Southern Italy proved to be the toughest point in the campaign. The Brutii, having taken all of Greece and most of Macedonia including Byzantium had full stacks of post-Marian troops everywhere around Tarrentum. Capua also was a struggle because the Scippii got some help from the Julii and shipped in a couple stacks. But I had a decent bank account from all the exterminating I had been doing, and good troop centers in Northern Italy so I eventually ground them down. The Italian penninsula added to my collection, but still need 10 more provinces or so to win.

    6) Next stop Greece. Big problem now is I've built up a huge army paid for with all those 20,000+ denari exterminations that i can't afford straight up. Despite owning huge chunks of land, I'm losing 6000 per turn. I should have mentioned that the Brutii were actually up in my homelands attacking places like Iuvaum and Lovosice while I was busy in Italy so I've got troops up there too. Anyway, a big expensive army is the sort of problem that comes with its own solution. Soon I have 5 or 6 full stacks with good generals in the Greek country side. Again, some tough times with the Brutii, a few lost battles when they manage to get 3000+ guys in the same place at the same time, but eventually I get my 50 provinces.

    Basic tips:

    - Throw away everything you know about buildings from playing as Romans. Build Farms and fertility temples. Population growth is a big issue.
    - Avoid building excess troops. Money is a big issue too. Your garrisons should be kept frighteningly thin.
    - Avoid investing in all but a few military buildings you probably won't have enugh money to use them early, and you won't need them late.
    - Early on, spear warbands plus a general can handle just about anything the Gauls and Britons throw at you.
    - Take out Alesia ASAP. You get CAWBs and prevent the Gauls from getting those Forresters. Keep the Temple of Abdenola for the upgrades.

    Fighting the Romans:

    My basic Army was spears and archers. As the romans got tougher, it was more important to have Cav as well. A good mix for a tough Roman army would be 8-10 spears, 5-6 archers, and 3-4 cav.

    Others may had some success using axemen or cav heavy armies, but I can assure you this one is capable of quite successfully taking on Rome's best. The beauty of it is, the tech-levels required for are so low it can be raised/retrained just about everywhere you go.

    The eternal question is archers in front of or behind spears. This is compicated by two issues: 1) whatever CAWB's are "chosen" for apparently doesn't include being smart enough not to shoot spearmen in the back; and 2) nor does it include being able to skirmish their way back through a tight phalanx. Left unattended, either way you get an ugly mess.

    Plan A is to leave the archers out front with Phalanx off and skirmish off. As enemies approach, you direct the archers back throughthe line, and when they reach safety, set the phalanx. Good in theory, but lots of micro-management Virtually impossible to pull off when being charged by horses.

    Plan B is to put the archers in back of the spears, and let them fire at will until the enemy get close. At that point, turn off fire-at-will and individually direct the archers to safe or strategic ("strategic" meaning "I'm willing to shoot a lot of spearmen in the back to get this unit") targets. Of course, you need to watch out for archers wandering around after their targets this way.

    After much experience, I generally lean to Plan B. Trying to get cute with the phalanx is risky, and the archers probably get off just as many or more rounds standing back (despite being a further distance) than they lose because of the need to skirmish back. As it is, they still keep the skirmishers and softer troops from even getting close. The harder troops (cohorts) are reduced somewhat by arrows, then left to the spear wall. After a little of that, unleash the cav from the flank and the rout is on.

    I might use Plan A with a good hill and an enemy without much horse, and just try to shoot em all before they reach the line.
    Last edited by dismal; 01-17-2005 at 20:21.

  16. #46

    Red face Re: Germania

    I think the germans have a hard time. They have a lot of land but they can be bottlenecked in when enemys put forts between the forests.Plus the german towns basically have no buldings in them, even your capital. It's very difficult.

    Oh, yeah what i did was attack the britons and the gauls right away.(we all know it was to happen).we went to war and I took most of their lands (destroying briton and nearly wiping out the gauls) the gauls then accepted a diplomatic resolution. which favored me. I then regroped for 10 turns, rebuilding towns, and rebuilding armys. That's what i did.


    but i don't know what to do now. move south to finish off the gauls and take out the spanish. or move south and try and take out the julli and theirs allys.

    Tell me what you would do. Write me your answer
    Last edited by roman god's; 02-18-2005 at 01:22.

  17. #47
    Festering ruler of Insectica Member Slug For A Butt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Even though I'm only playing medium/medium I've gotto say, I love the Germans. Even against the legions of Rome, a few spear units with archers behind and some heavy cav on the flanks works like a dream. Mind you, I've started experimenting with chosen axemen instead of spears and the results are highly impressive if you fancy being more agressive.
    One thing I am struggling with though, is the culture penalties. Can anyone enlighten me as to which buidings impose a culture penalty when you sack a city (apart from the shrines obviously). This is driving me nuts, and it may be in the manual but the manual is that useless I stopped referring to it.
    Any help would be appreciated.

    One more thing, has anyone else noticed that if your town is beseiged, you only need to have a few units of archers inside to cut the enemy into pieces?
    Just attack the beseiging army from inside the town as soon as they beseige you. Leave your archers behind the stckade or on the walls, use one unit to run outside the walls to entice them closer, and... blammo. They havent had time to build seige units but they will come too close for their own good and your archers can practise their archery with impunity. The real beauty is that you let the timer run down, then do the same thing again on the same turn. Not in the spirit of the game, but just wondered if others had noticed this.

    .
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  18. #48
    Member Member RJV's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by Slug For A Butt
    One thing I am struggling with though, is the culture penalties. Can anyone enlighten me as to which buidings impose a culture penalty when you sack a city (apart from the shrines obviously).
    Hi,

    All buildings of other culture types (ie the non-Barbarian ones) impose the culture penalty. To reduce it, either upgrade them to the next level if possible, or destroy and replace (beware of destroying buildings that carry a happiness penalty, for example, as it may cause a problem while you are waiting for the replacement).

    Cheers,

    Rob.
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  19. #49
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Here’s my first post. The guide is an excellent work. Thank you, Mylady!!
    It really helped my armies in many battles.

    Germania is my third campaign, after Julii and Carthago. I played hard/hard with the unpatched version.

    Germania has really strong spearbands, but it is poor and so you will not have much fun if you are passive. I tried first to be defensive in the west and start collecting the rebel provinces in the east. It didn`t work. I could easily win Saxones, Gothi and Locus Gepidal but that doesn’t help. I found myself in massive defensive battles against Gauls and Britons very soon. It took too long to win and conquer Gaul. When I finally made it the Julii were very strong and killed me. So I tried again.

    De Bello Gallico

    I gathered my armies near Trier. While waiting for the troops coming from the east I produced new units (spearbands, light cav, women) nearby, fought rebels and took Saxones. Then I marched directly to Alesia, the capitol of the Gauls and attacked it at once. I didn`t have many troops and they were inexperienced. But I made it after a tough fight. Holding Alesia breaks the backbone of the Gaulish and it is a good production center. If you get it so early, however, there is not much infrastructure here.

    I refilled my army and rushed south the valley of the river the natives call Rhone. The garrison of Alesia was build by reinforcements I received from home. I took Lugundum. I didn’t go directly to Massilia, because I expected to meet the Julii there. So I took Narbo Martius. I had to reject an Gaulish attack near Alesia. The resistance was poor. I installed a steady flow of reinforcements from Damme, Trier and Alesia south. I also send an army towards Samarobria. They should watch and catch the Britons if they try to invade. Here I had my first major battle.

    My armies used to have spearmen and light cavalry. First to hold the front line second ones to flank and attack. In this battle I had three spearbands, two light and two heavy (chief’s) cavs. I had also some naked fanatics, two skirmishers and one unit of screaming women. I attacked an army of the Britons that was twice as strong in number.

    The battlefield: hills on the right and forests on the left. I told my fanatics to hide in the wood as well as the skirmishers and the women. I posted my spears in the middle of the field and my cav at the right.

    The Britons had a longer frontline than I. They had chariots at both flanks.

    I waited for them to attack. However, that was exactly what they didn’t. I advanced my spears a bit. Nothing happened. I grouped my cav in two pairs (each heavy and light) and let the first pair advance and the second follow. When I almost reached the enemy the chariots on this side attacked. Now there was a big gap between my cav and my spears and another gap between them and the forest. Fortunately my cav killed all the chariots on the right flank easily. The general of the Britons finally decided to attack. His infantry moved to my spears and the chariots from the left came to attack my cavs on the right. My cavs hit them hard and as soon as it was clear that the chariots would loose I sent one light cav in the back of the enemy’s infantry. My spears engaged them frontal and my forest troops attacked screaming on the left flank. Not many enemies left the battleground alive.

    Then I attacked Massilia. I besieged it and took it. Then I built a fortress with a garrison at the mountain pass to Italy. They should protect me from the Julii. With new reinforcements I sent troops to the border of Spain and then north along the Atlantic coast. I walked over any Gaulish troops on the way.

    When I besieged Condate the Britons came with another full army. Again they had more troops with a lot of chariots. The field was plain. I had 4 spearbands, 2 skirmishers and cav. We stood face to face but their frontline was much longer, especially at my left. So I sent my cav there. It was defeated. I send my chief and some skirmishers. My chief was killed. I sent a spear unit to support the left flank. Right then the Britons started to attack my center with chariots and warbands. The chariots broke through (!) and my spears flew (!!). This battle was a disaster.

    I was seeking for bloody revenge. The rest of my beaten army was strengthened by troops from the homeland and the victorious army coming from Condate. Together they had lots of spears, few cav. skirms, women and even some peasants. I besieged Samarobriva. They tried to burst with their infantry. I absorbed them with my spears, softened with skirms and flank them with cav. Their attack collapsed and only few men could run back to the city. I took the gate and send the women and peasant to chase the refugees. Right then the chariots attacked my troops outside the town. They flanked them before they could build their formation. Inside the town the women and peasants took the centre without losses, outside the rest of my army was slaughtered. They run away, followed by the chariots. So my troops in the town were left alone. I had lost this battle but won the town.

  20. #50
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by RJV
    Hi,

    All buildings of other culture types (ie the non-Barbarian ones) impose the culture penalty.
    That is not true. Not every building imposes a penalty. Razing and rebuilding the temple will usually reduce the penalty from 50% to 20%. Upgrading the governor's building as well will eliminate it outright.

    It's truly not worth it to rebuild anything other than the temple and the governor's house should be upgraded ASAP anyhow.

    Despite culture penalties, temples esp. high level ones can yield difficult to get bonuses and interesting ancillaries.

    Similarly, getting a colliseum as other factions allow you to keep the population happy easier etc.

  21. #51
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    @Franconius, you don't need to build up to attack Alesia. Sending the army in Trier is already sufficient. You can siege Alesia on the 2nd or 3rd turn (as fast as you can get there). Usually, most of the Gauls will be in a captain led stack outside and the faction leader with small force inside. During the AI turn, the captain led stack will attack you and you can easily shatter them, picking them apart before the faction leader's army arrives as reinforcements.

    Note: it's very important to kill the faction leader and try to run down all the routers from the town as then the town will fall without needing to assault.

    You should rely heavily on your spear warbands. stretch them out 2 ranks deep and have 2 right inside each other with skirmisher warband right behind with skirmish turned off and screechers behind as well. Keep your general in the center of the line. When the enemy general charges your line, they might break through which is troublesome. To prevent this, time a simultaneous countercharge by your general. This will throw enough mass to prevent the enemy cav from breaking through. The enem general will then get bogged down in the spear wall and subject to javs.

    The screechers will cause warbands to rout practically the instant they touch your spear wall. Have the barbarian cav ready to give chase.

    While one army is taking Alesia and gaul, send all the other troops down to Italy, sacking the rebel and Gaullic towns along the way. In this way, I took Rome in 263. Spear warbands and screechers are the best town level combo ever. They are also ridiculously easy to retrain.

    Enjoy. Don't forget Temples of Woden which can turn your spearwarbands into even better meatgrinders.

    In addition, Germans as well has Scythias have supersized wardog units of 60 instead of 48 base size. Fell free to abuse those. They can eat up unarmored units like warbands easily.

  22. #52
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    Thanks Katank! Good advice! I agree. Most important thing is to attack Alesia at once and then keep on pushing!!

    Here`s the rest of the story!

    Franconicus ante porta

    I owned whole France now. I had an alliance with Dacia and agreements with Scythia. The Britons had to leave the mainland. I could not follow because I had no fleet and no harbors. Fortunately the Britons offered peace and I agreed. The Romans didn’t attack so far and all I had to worry were marauding groups of Gauls and rebels. I had now enough income to survive, but without sea trade I wasn’t wealthy at all. My original towns began to grow. Damme and Alesia were my manufactories for troops. The rest of the Gaulish towns were still poor after enslaving.

    My diplomats told me that the Gauls still held the two towns on the other side of the Alps. I wondered what the Julii were doing all the time and decided to attack the Gauls in Italy. I expected to get in conflict with Romans there. I wanted to fight them asap. Mediolanium was the first town I attacked. I had to beat a relief army of the Gauls but then I took the town. Now the Julii attacked me, but not from Italy but coming from Spain. They had their main army in Osca.

    Narbo Martius was attacked by two roman armies, from North and South. I sent reinforcements from Alesia and Samarobriva. The Romans attacked before the reinforcements arrived.

    They had one full army coming from South and a ¾ army from North. They had Hasati, Velites and one Generals cav each. They had no artillery. My troops were 4 spears, 2 light cavs, 1 women, 1 skirm, 1 axe + Chief. I divided my troops and placed 1 spear, one women and one light cav at the northern gate. The Romans here didn’t attack. They moved south to join their other army. My light cav. made a sally and attacked and killed the velites there. Then they got caught by the Roman general. Only few could retreat to the town. Meanwhile the Roman attacked the south gate. They had three battering rams and broke the walls three times. My three spears sealed the holes. Many Romans died trying to break the spear wall. They attacked even with their general’s cav. When the spears were tired my horses and axes attacked from the side and gave them a break. When the situation became critical my spears from the north arrived and could break the Romans attack. My cav killed many retreating Romans. When the northern army arrived, the battle was almost over. The rest of the Romans marched back to Spain.

    I refilled the troops in Narbo. When the troops from Alesia and Samarobriva arrived I started a raid to Osca. I tried a new tactical element. I am not a fan of spies. I took light cavalry for reconnaissance. They are fast and they have some advantages. First they block the trade routes in the enemy’s backland. When they attack the cav. it retreats. This gives my army more time to keep the initiative. Occupying harbors with light cav. before attacking the town is very successful. Usually the enemy will send troops. If they are few your main army can destroy them, if they are many, you can separate them from the town.

    This time I besieged the Romans in Osca. They attacked me. I had 5 spears, 1 skirm, 1 bows, 1 light cav and my chief’s cav. The spears formed one solid line with skirms and bows behind. My chief was on the left my light horses on the right. The Romans came through the gate, velatis first, then triari. It was the first time I met triari. Several hasati were following. My spear line advanced and my chief attacked the velatis. Most of them were killed but then my heavy cav was engaged by the triary and had losses. My light cav attacked the triary from the rear and the chief retreated. My light cav was closed in and abolished. Suddenly several units of Roman general’s cav came from the right. My spears at the right side marched to the city walls and smashed two Roman units. One had already passed. They changed to the left flank and attacked my spears from the side. I send my remaining cav to help there and finally the Romans went back into the town. I didn’t try to follow and the town capitulated in the next round. I sent the conquering troops further to the remaining Gaul settlement. I conquered my first harbor here.

    After Mediolanium I took Patavium, the last Gaulish town and I won the first harbor in the Mediterranean. In this battle I could use special reinforcements – a cav army. I had sent a chief from Damme with one Gothic cav down the Sythian route. He hired all mounted mercenaries he could get and attacked all rebels he could find. When he arrived in Italy he had his own bodyguards, 1 Gothic unit, 1 heavy lancers and one mounted archers. They were quite experienced, but they had not full size, because it was impossible to refill them.


    Roman counterstrike

    Now I was in a good position to invade Rome. But first I had to secure my new colonies in Italy and stand a Roman counterstrike. There were small groups of Julii seen in my counties and sometimes Brutii. I decided to do some fore checking to interfere their offensives while I was preparing my invasion. My towns grew, I got some harbors at the coast of Germania, Gaul and the Mediterranian that boosted my economy. And I had some good manufactories in Damme, Alesia, Mediolanium and Patavium that produced spear bands, light cavalry and the new excellent archers and Gothic cavalry. I was also waiting for my Spanish army to come to Italy.

    The Brutii were much more active than the Julii. They sent a strong army and two independent family members to Dacia to invade my hometown directly. I tried to counter this. I took Noricum, which was still a rebel town. I built forts at all fords and bridges across the river Danube. I send a small army to help the Dacian. They were besieged by superior Brutii. I was not strong enough to attack the Brutii but I could keep them busy. I chased their smaller armies and retreated when the big army stopped besieging and tried to attack me. You can call it Mao Tse Tung strategy. So I managed to keep them from conquering the Dacian town and moving to Germania.

    In Italy I besieged Segesta, just to keep the Julii busy. I also send an army to the Brutii town west of Patavium. I sent my horse army (+one spear gang) and besieged it. I didn’t expect to conquer this town, just tried to keep the Brutii busy. What a surprise when I found myself surrounded by three Roman armies (first the small garrison with gerneral , second a general with guard and a third a General with more than 3000 hasatii and velites ). My army was some 400 and I could withdraw. I decided to show the Romans how Germanians (and their mercs) die. I guess you learned about this battle in school - but here are details you may not know The battle was in winter. The terrain was a valley with high mountains on each side. There was some forest in the valley. The earth was covered with snow. I decided not to hide in the wood. I placed my troop on top of a mountain. Spears on the left, then mounted archers and lancers, gothic cav, light cav and chief. Then I saw them coming. It was just the third army and the 3,000 Romans filled the valley as far as the eye could see. They started climbing up the mountain. 3 units of velites tried to flank my left side. I attacked them with my chief and made them run away. Then the light cav attack followed. My horse soldiers dived through the hesatii which were already exhausted from climbing. Then my riders returned to the top of the mountain. All the time arrows were raining on the climbing legionnaires. The Roman general saw his right wing running and he tried to help him. Now I attacked with chief cav, light cav., gothic cav and lancers. The Roman general was killed and the complete first battle line run away. No I even sent my spears to keep them running. My cavalries dived several times into the mass of Roman infantry. The Romans had terrible losses and were running as fast as they could. I gathered my tired troops on top of the mountain again. The second Roman army was approaching. It was just one general with his heavy cav.. This time he was the one who was outnumbered and I was the one who was exhausted. I managed to kill him and his guard flew. The garrison didn’t arrive on the battle ground and so I was the winner. I lost about 100 men, over 2.000 Romans were killed. Although there were still other big battles especially against the Brutii this was the decisive one. The Brutii left the town. The Brutii in Dacia were cut off from reinforcements. I could kill them soon. The Brutii on the Balkan gathered and attacked me again with 2.000 soldiers. This time in summer. I had my horse army reinforced with troops (spearbands, light cav, archers, skirmishers) coming from Patavium and I could slaughter them again. Then this army moved south to conquer the Balkan.

    In Italy the siege of Segesta was going on. I send a 2nd army to block Segesta from the south, but this army was encircled and killed. The Spanish army arrived and another one coming from France. So I was able to attack all three Julii towns simultaneously. Of course I took the harbors first, so the Julii had a significant lack of money! One town after the other capitulated or tried in vain to break through the siege ring. As soon as an army was free I send troops to Rome and built a fort there to stop reinforcement. First Scipii appeared as well as senate’s troops. Here I saw for the first times more advanced troops than hasati and velites. Although they were many they didn’t attack.

    Before I could concentrate on Rome I had to deal with Albion once again. They send a small army to France and three round later they attacked. They defeated one small army but then were hit by a big one I had gathered from Alesia and Damme. Very good soldiers, even night raiders. While still fighting on the continent I landed at the British islands. I send another army to Londonium. The garrison tried to break out. Again a very hard battle against chariots. My army consisted of 2 and 2/3 spearbands, 1 screamimg women, 1 skirmishers and my chief. The Britons came with all kind of infantry, were stopped by my spears and killed by skirmishers and heavy cavalry. The rest flew back into the city followed by my chief and his guard. At the centre place they met the chariots, were encircled and slaughtered. My chief died. Battle luck changed. The chariots hit my infantry which had just passed a whole in the walls and was unorganized. They blow away two spearbands, the skirmishers and the women. My last 2/3 spearband hadn’t passed the wall yet. So they took their position and blocked the whole. The other troops had the chance to leave the town. The chariots attacked my spearband several times and had heavy losses. My spearband didn’t move. The rest of my skirmishers and the women saw this and decided to join the battle again. Together with the spearband they pushed back the chariots and conquered the town. The rest of Briton was easily done.

    In Italy the last Julii town was occupied and the Julii blasted. Their towns were now manufacturing troops for me. I besieged Rome. The senate lost his nerves and attacked me at once. I killed many of them and Rome fell immediately. It was best troop production city. It was even producing berserkers. I pushed three armies south to attack the home towns of the Scipii and the Brutii. I besieged every town. When the garrison tried to brake I entered the town. Berserkers are excellent street fighters. So I rushed until I hit the tip of the boot. I moved my capital to Rome and called myself now Imperator Chief. My wealth was beyond compare!

    Final

    My Balkan army attacked the Greece and another army coming from Dacia attacked the Macedonian from the north. None of them could stop my armies. I had some troubles with Sparta. 1000 men burned at the gate when I conquered the town. But then they were eliminated.

    I started building boats in France, Italy and Greece. I landed in Sicily and took Messina. The Scipii had lots of troop on the island and besieged me. I landed another army in the western part of the town and a third one to relief Massilia. The Scipii army was attacked from both sides and destroyed. I took Syracuse and besieged the last Scipii town on the island. I didn’t attack because it was filled with troops. I blocked the harbor, of course.

    Meanwhile I landed on Crete and Rhodes and took these islands as well. This even increased my income. The Scipii on Sicily capitulated without even fighting. I landed with three half full armies in Africa. One of them was faced with a big Scipii army. The chief hired as many mercs he could get including some elephants. When the Romans attacked the elephants hit their flank together with other cav units. I could besiege the last three Scippi towns simultaneously. Two of them gave up and suddenly the game was over.

    Resume

    Blitz as fast as you can. Attack the Gauls first and aim their capitol. The rest is easy. Destroy the Britons on the continent. Then rush to Italy. Don’t bother with the Spanish. The Julii are very lacy. While I conquered whole France they just took Osca and Segesta. They still fought with hasati and velites. Brutii are more dangerous. They have already the Balkan and big well trained armies. The Scipii are easy even though they had the best troops (post Marius). At that time you have archers, Gothics, Berserker as much as you want. If you have Italy nothing will stop you. No faction ever had artillery against me!!

    Tactics: Rely on your spear. They are excellent until they are hit from the side or from behind. They are even better with women and skirmishers behind them. You can use them even against the best Roman units. Only chariots were able to break the spear line. Light cav. is sufficient to flank, chief’s guard is excellent. If you have Gothic knights the Romans don’t have anything that comes close. Your archers are excellent. You can soften any Roman legion while hiding behind the spear wall. I read that they are excellent fighters too. In my game they never had to. Unfortunately Germania has no access to artillery. This really slows your blitz.

  23. #53

    Default Re: Germania

    congratulations on that campaign, it sounds like a complete success! well done!

  24. #54

    Post Re: Germania

    i found germina a lot of fun they are the strongest babrian faction but i had a problem to begin with money they are a great team and bersekers are an amazing unit .i did some reasearch on these and apparently they use to get so anrgy they found sheilds with bits of them chewed off and they found heads with huge holes in from a blow to the head with an axe or other weapon they were extronary warriors.gettin back to the game to take areas around u it is easy u have the best troops around so u should take places easyly briton i found harder than the gauls because they have armies full of warband(crap units)so germinia are my favourite babrian faction.
    "Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
    —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
    "I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
    —Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004

    how stupid george bush is !

  25. #55

    Default Re: Germania

    Good research on the beserkers Well done Littlegannon!

  26. #56

    Default Re: Germania

    the germans killed a quater of a million leginories .the german even put julius ceasear himself into a hard battle at Vosges in 58 BC but were evntually beaten but did alot of damage to ceasears army.axmen were a strong part of there force they found hundreds of skuls shatered completely .
    "Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
    —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
    "I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
    —Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004

    how stupid george bush is !

  27. #57

    Default Re: Germania

    Quote Originally Posted by littlegannon
    the germans killed a quater of a million leginories .the german even put julius ceasear himself into a hard battle at Vosges in 58 BC but were evntually beaten but did alot of damage to ceasears army.axmen were a strong part of there force they found hundreds of skuls shatered completely .
    When you say "they found hundreds of skuls shatered completely"
    who's they? the skull-finders? or do you mean archaeologists?

  28. #58
    Humanist Senior Member Franconicus's Avatar
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    Thumbs down Re: Germania

    Just a short comment:

    The warriors of Germanis were very successful against the Romans as long as it was cold. If you look at Cimbern and Teutons they beated the Romans even when they were outnumbered and circled. Note that they were one head larger than the Romans. So the bonus fighting in snow is historically correct.

    When they managed to leave the Alps and entered Italy they had to fight in the sun and were beaten by the Romans. Note that they were strong and wild but due to malnutrition they had bad condition.

    German cavalry seems to be more wellknown than the spearbands. Julius Cesar had mercenaries from Germania, when he attacked Gaul. The riders from Germania defeated the outnumbering Gaulish cavalry several times. So they guaranted the success of JC's campaign. After that Cesar always had cavalry from Germania in his army and so did other Roman emperors.

  29. #59
    Robber Baron Member Brutus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    That's right, the Batavians (from the Lower Rhine region in the modern-day Netherlands) were particularly known for their cavalry and the ability of their horsemen to swim across a river in full armour while accompagnied by their horse.

    Most Romans seem to not to have been able to do that, so large numbers of Batavians were employed in Roman armies... In the year 69 (the year of the death of Nero and 2 other succeeding emperors), they rose up against the Romans and the Romans weren't even able to punish them properly (although admittedly also due to their political troubles at home).
    Last edited by Brutus; 04-08-2005 at 18:14.

  30. #60
    Ultimate Member tibilicus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Germania

    wow you guys are the best history teachers ive ever had........ Thanks guys !.........


    "A lamb goes to the slaughter but a man, he knows when to walk away."

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