Numidia

[Seth]

Numidia is easy to play against Egypt I dont know why you are having such a hard time with it. Just started my first Numidia game and have taken alexandria and Memphis from Egpyt by the late 240s to 250s BC. And I have killed off mutliple family members of them when they assaulted Alexandria to get it back. Egypt is basicly dead

[Deus ret.]

Numidia is easy to play against Egypt I dont know why you are having such a hard time with it. Just started my first Numidia game and have taken alexandria and Memphis from Egpyt by the late 240s to 250s BC. And I have killed off mutliple family members of them when they assaulted Alexandria to get it back. Egypt is basicly dead

Congratulations! How did you manage? In my experience, there isn't enough time to build up Siwa properly before the Eggies attack. They won't be beaten by javelinmen alone, and your limited financial means (soflty spoken ) are not sufficient to hire mercs on a large scale.

Egypt's principal cities are very close and they easily outproduce you. Accordingly you soon get swamped by endless hordes of bowmen/phalanx/desert cav, not to mention their %$§*#-chariots.

Retreating to Western Africa most often contains the Eggies in their corner and lets them go after the Seleucids as usual; simultaneously, the conquest of Carthage will strengthen your strategic position considerably.

[Seth]

i will tell you all what i did and i'm not worried about the dam bowmen i defeated 2 armies with over 1200 men total when only having 600. And I spread Egypt out a bit so they are thin and I have taken out there two highest tech cities Memphis and Alexandria. They only have Jersualum and sidon and thebes for possible tech locations. Thebes i hit earlier and enslaved/destroyed all buildings so that is down along with blocking ports Egypt economy isn't what it use to be

[Seamus Fermanagh]

i will tell you all what i did and i'm not worried about the dam bowmen i defeated 2 armies with over 1200 men total when only having 600. And I spread Egypt out a bit so they are thin and I have taken out there two highest tech cities Memphis and Alexandria. They only have Jersualum and sidon and thebes for possible tech locations. Thebes i hit earlier and enslaved/destroyed all buildings so that is down along with blocking ports Egypt economy isn't what it use to be

Given earlier comments this seems suprising. Congrats.

1. What is the composition of your primary army?

2. What tactical approach do you take during a field battle?

3. What difficulty settings are being used? (strat/battle)

SF

[Seth]

My army i used to assault Alexandria consisted of 2 Family Generals 3 Cretan Archers 3 Archers 3 Mercenary Hoplities and the rest your infan... formation

Flank| |Center| |Flank
Hoplities|infan|Hoplities|infan|Hoplities
Archers in Back

Have both family members in either right or left flank offset to counter the Egpytians where they threaten your flank if it Cavalry or Chariots they should be able to handle it.
When trying to take Alexandria only seige the city and build a ram wait for the them to bring extra troops to attack you while your under seige. They will use most of the time use their reforments to attack you so you wont be having to deal with the walls and taking the city. Then just move your forces to fight them dont wait for the extra troops to arrive. Use your cavalry to chase the routing units. Then turn everything else facing the extra troops that are on their way. Once your family members have cleaned up the routing troops send them back to the either flank. After the battle the garrison in Alexandria should be reduced in numbers procceed to ram the wall or gate you pick and clean up the house

After taking Alexandria procceed to retrain your units you are going to need it. And build The long cavalry you will need four units of them reduced the number of the infan.
I will explain how i got those mercs. later

[pezhetairoi]

Can tell where you got those mercs, merc hoplites from Carthaginian Africa, Cretan Archers are self-explanatory, right?

Impressive. I found your Hoplite-infantry formation mildly reminiscent of Crecy... assuming the infantry was javelinmen. Maybe Numidia isn't so boring after all. But really, how'd you beat their stacks with your qualitatively inferior (let no one doubt it) troops while outnumbered? What kind of losses did you sustain?

[dodge]

Tried Numidia after success with Carthage, Pontus, Britannia and Brutii. Oh dear. Everything was going well (though like some others I lost Siwi to the Egyptians). Then the hammer blow - Carthage bribed Thrasus which I had captured and the bulk of my army deserted with this city). After this North Africa became a tale of disaster with Carthage being overwelmingly powerful and very aggressive. I was left with Caralis and Palma. After a dubious and futile attack on the Iberian peninsular the Romans decided that they had to get me and Caralis fell to two huge Scipii armies.

Numidia's flag flies supreme in Palma!!! Yea I'm making money and only have the Romans as enemies now. What chance the great come back?

Dodge

[Craterus]

Build up forces on that island. If anyone comes, you'll have an army (and hopefully a navy) to get rid of them. Then, when you're confident, pick a target and sail your stacks of armies over to it. I'd pick Iberia and, with enough armies, you can take the whole peninsular and have yourself a new empire.

[eyupwoof]

Of all the campigns Ive played this one was sure the hardest, if you can survive the first 20 turns or so it can get much easier. First get to love Num cav they are the best your army can field and once you learn how to use them, they can kill just about anything if you use the swarm tactic. Also take Carthenage asap as its a nice city to make an army and prepare yourself for the inevitable clash with rome, in which I made the mistake of allying with at the start only to have stacks and stacks sent over later from Italy. Also abandon that city near egypt and you can usually avoid war with them for a long time. The longer you leave the romans the harder they will be to beat... and as for the barbarians there just experience givers to your army's if you use jav cav right. Only egypt is a challenge to face with all those archers but i didnt get much chance to fight them as I took over West europe.

Hope this helps.

[dodge]

From Palma to victory - with 49 years to go!! Far too many hairy late night sessions. I ended up expanding by quickly taking Sicily off Scipii - it was very poorly defended. Then took Croton / Tarantum and then consolidated there while quickly mopping up the Iberian peninsular. Then came a long war or attrition in both Italy and South France with all the various Roman factions and a strong Spain to deal with. Finally once Italy was conquered the income stream was secure and France, Balkans, Germany, Britan and North Africa fell. My best general won the 50th city - Viscus Gothi.

Some questions.
1. Near then end I had a message warning me the Seleucids were about to win the campaign unless I reacted fast. Took a couple of their cities by diverting standing armies preparing to go to North Africa and obviously this took care of things. Since I owned Rome - what prompted the message?
2. Later I had a battle with the said Seleucids and saw why they were so powerful. They attacked me with 20 or so elephants (some huge) backed up by phalanxes and heavy cavalry. Despite being on a hill with a well experienced and balanced army (leagonaires, cavalry onagers etc) I was wiped out and caused only few losses. How do you deal with massed elephant attacks?

I don't visit this site often. Hardly used jav cavalry - relied on dashing round shield cavalry and legionnaires. Probably this is why I took so long !

[eyupwoof]

Didnt get much chance to face elephants in my campaign but based on your army setup I would say either archers using fire arrows or put the legionaries that are about to be charged by the elephants on loose formation, defensive and fire at will. Part of what makes elephants so deadly is because they mo down tightly packed units. Doing this helps to reduce casualties abit and makes then hold longer. Then swarm the elephants to make them panic from numbers. What i did again them was just take 8 units of num cav and shoot them down a few, then adding fire arrows almost certain to make them go berserk.

[Andy Shadows]

I played this way with numidia.

First of all, get trading rights and perhaps alliance too with carthago. They won't attack you in a while (or didn't attack me atleast). Then go and conquer those rebel cities at south as quicky as possible.

Now the egyptians are rushing against siwa. I managed to keep them out for pretty long. Longer the better. It's vital to keep them out since carthagians and scipii will be rushing at you with fury. Now, attack carthago but remember to have much military force since carthago might have some nasty units like elephants. Conquer carthago (city) first since it's very big city in the beginning and allows recruiting good units. Arm the city to the teeth and attack to the souht and drive the carthagians away.

Now, there will be the number 2 pain in the ass, scipii, bothering you. Just keep you ass in the carthago and defend it. Build up your forces and when you can afford to send units away, send them to alexandria. Don't yet bother sending your troops to cicilia since the kickass navy or rome will crush you. Instead, try to sneak out in alexandria with some boats (quicker).

If you manage to destroy egypt, your life should be much easier. Spanish shouldn't be bothering you. Try to ally / trade with them if possible. Don't bother allying with romans since they will attack you.

That's how I managed to do it.

[Viking]

This gotta be the hardest faction in RTW. If it aint, then I can`t imagine how that faction must be like to play.

Anyway;

I started defensive. I took Nepte after a few turns to get some extra cash.
Then I sat back and waited for enemies. I intended to keep every city, since I`m pretty sure my campaign will be even harder if I loose/give up a city.
In order to delay the Egyptians to arrive at Siwa, I didn`t build any roads, and recruited a couple of units. It took several turns before they attacked, but then it was pretty much a cakewalk to finish them of thanks to generals bodyguards and desert infantry.
The most important unit to recruit, should without doubt be desert infantry. They have the same attack stats as hastati/princeps(sp), but a bit less defense. The lack of defense doesn`t really matter; the deserts hold the enemy at bay while you hit them in the rear with generals/numidian cavalry/skirmishers.

Back to the campaign map, my biggest trouble come from the Carthaginians and the Scipii, but so far I`ve managed to keep them away.

I`ll probably add some more as campaign progresses.

[kiter]

I've played all factions on vh/vh and this is by far the most challenging.

In the end, I found that the only way I could succeed was to conquer Egypt early on from Siwa via Thebes. All my western cities were used purely to earn money and I really only defended those western cities against carthage and scipii long enough for me to establish a viable base in Egypt. So by the time I had lost those western regions, I had captured the 3 Nile cities. Then it was just a case of building those up and conquering the rest of the Egyptian cities.

Once I had conquered all Egyptian cities, my economy was strong enough to take on the rest of the map. I then attacked both west and north/east.

I may try other strategies soon to see if I can capture just Thebes and Memphis, then move my emphasis to defending my western cities and maybe conquer Carthagian cities. I think Thebes and Memphis might be sufficient to have a viable economy.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I too started a vh/vh numidia campaign.

You are quickly attacked by Carthage, who believe that Cirta is the answer to all of their problems-to-be with Rome. Egypt, of course, prefers Siwa to Antioch in any game where you are Numidia, and so you can expect a fight there. Your economy is weak, but not unusually so.

Assuming that I was about to lose Cirta and Siwa, I abandoned my cities, cut down the total number of troops (bare minimum garrisons in Tingi, Dimidi, Cirta, and Siwa) and began a trek to Cyrene by foot and by boat.

Took Cyrene (losing Cirta and Siwa about that time) and then fleeted all but one family member, along with a couple of units, to Kydonia. With low garrisons, roads, trade centers, and ports, the other cities were generating some cash. I used the wad of cash to land on crete, hire a merc army and take it. I then took Halicarnassus by bribery (my fleet was exterminated at this point by Egypt).

From there I went for developing an Agean empire (lucrative as we all know) and am advancing solidly.

"Up stakes and find a new home" is not too bad a strategy for Numidia.

[Craterus]

I too started a vh/vh numidia campaign.

You are quickly attacked by Carthage, who believe that Cirta is the answer to all of their problems-to-be with Rome. Egypt, of course, prefers Siwa to Antioch in any game where you are Numidia, and so you can expect a fight there. Your economy is weak, but not unusually so.

Assuming that I was about to lose Cirta and Siwa, I abandoned my cities, cut down the total number of troops (bare minimum garrisons in Tingi, Dimidi, Cirta, and Siwa) and began a trek to Cyrene by foot and by boat.

Took Cyrene (losing Cirta and Siwa about that time) and then fleeted all but one family member, along with a couple of units, to Kydonia. With low garrisons, roads, trade centers, and ports, the other cities were generating some cash. I used the wad of cash to land on crete, hire a merc army and take it. I then took Halicarnassus by bribery (my fleet was exterminated at this point by Egypt).

From there I went for developing an Agean empire (lucrative as we all know) and am advancing solidly.

"Up stakes and find a new home" is not too bad a strategy for Numidia.

That's the sort of strategy I'd go for. Pack up and leave the worthless lands of Africa, find an out of the way place to build up and then pick a nearby target and forge an empire.

[Viking]

That's the sort of strategy I'd go for. Pack up and leave the worthless lands of Africa, find an out of the way place to build up and then pick a nearby target and forge an empire.

That`s the coward strategy...I keep my honour intact by fighting for my womenfolk and buildings.

It`s more of a challenge as well.

[professorspatula]

My Numidian strategy was to hold onto Siwa for as long as possible, before retreating to Cyrene, whilst focusing the main force (mostly Light cavalry) on protecting the African coastline from the Scipii threat, allying with a weak and somewhat lacklustre Carthaginian faction also (I also had a boat leave from near the South of Spain to Cyrene to evacuate my remaining soldiers - one turn before the Egyptians arrived to take it!) The Egyptians are typically too strong to resist for a long period of time, but it depends partly on how they fare up against the Seleucids. If ever the Egyptians want you to become their protectorate - always say yes, and ask for loads of money at the same time. They'll break their alliance almost immediately and you'll have loads of extra money for nothing. If you can hold Siwa, and force back the Egyptian hordes, I suppose it's onwards towards their main cities to the East where great riches await you.

I found it a priority to keep the Romans out of Africa. Every opportunity I got, I thought alongside the Carthies against the Scipii, and eventually stole Carthage after they lost it to a small Roman force. With Carthage captured, the money starts to come in, and it's into Spain to oust the silly natives out of their huts. Masses of light Cavalry and the occasional archer and infantry unit (or merc slingers) utterly destroy the Spanish. Once you have a few settlements in Spain and have your African provences built up a bit, you hopefully have breathing space for a while. In my campaign I used mostly light cavalry as nothing can catch them in the opening years, with the occasional archer and desert infantry unit for garrison or siege duties. Money is Numidians greatest challenge at first, which is why denari for denari, light cavalry are the most cost effective solution to the enemy hordes you'll face early on.

I stopped my campaign after about 25 years as I started to feel too secure and the lack of diversity in the unit roster started to grate a little. It was brilliant up to then though. Actually having to plan in advance strategic withdrawals and counterattacks is something I've never had to do with other factions in the vanilla RTW game.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I found it a priority to keep the Romans out of Africa. Every opportunity I got, I thought alongside the Carthies against the Scipii, and eventually stole Carthage after they lost it to a small Roman force. With Carthage captured, the money starts to come in, and it's into Spain to oust the silly natives out of their huts. Masses of light Cavalry and the occasional archer and infantry unit (or merc slingers) utterly destroy the Spanish. Once you have a few settlements in Spain and have your African provences built up a bit, you hopefully have breathing space for a while. In my campaign I used mostly light cavalry as nothing can catch them in the opening years, with the occasional archer and desert infantry unit for garrison or siege duties. Money is Numidians greatest challenge at first, which is why denari for denari, light cavalry are the most cost effective solution to the enemy hordes you'll face early on.

I'd have gladly done that if the AI Cartha had let me -- its clearly in your interest to keep Carthage in the front lines whilst you tidy up elsewhere.

I found the Eggies (anachronistic advantages or not) were fairly beatable if I just defended Cyrene. I ended up bleeding them badly there (first time with a fight in the square, then sallying from the newly built stone walls). It's a great place to train up generals at Egypt's expense. I suppose you were using Siwa the same way? How hard is it to get Siwa up to stone wall size (where the defense is better off)?

[kiter]

I found that beefing up Siwa was useless because Egypt will send stacks against you. Overall, you will have less battles if you attack and capture Thebes.

[AndyNgFL]

I am a player who like challenges and tried many different approaches with many factions. I started my first campaign on VH/VH and had not tried anything less than that difficulty since.

Numidia ? I tell u. Its VERY EASY.
Even on ver 1.3 or 1.5 VH/VH
If you are attack minded, you can rush your original Siwa army to Thebes. There is a 50% chance that u can exterminate Thebes in 3 turns bcoz it has NO WALLS and poorly defended. But SOMETIMES, it has rebels or small egyptian army blocking the route.
Else, start building a Numidian port in the Capital and ferry a Diplomat across to Spain/Gaul border to negotiate trade and sell maps to get $$$. Concentrate your military build in Siwa, Peasants for garrisons, Archers for Defence (later attack thebes) , Infantry for Attack. Attack Thebes with at least 3 Archers and 3 Infantry and a few Calvary units and the rest of the Egyptian cities are chicken feet. I have tried many approaches, I can take Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria by BC 265.
Personally, I will throw everything I got at Thebes from Siwa once Egypt bought trade rights, map information from me. Its like using thier own money to fight themselves.

Summary :
All out military build in Siwa. Egypt is a FAT LAND with FAT CITIES to plunder.

[Viking]

I'd have gladly done that if the AI Cartha had let me -- its clearly in your interest to keep Carthage in the front lines whilst you tidy up elsewhere.

I found the Eggies (anachronistic advantages or not) were fairly beatable if I just defended Cyrene. I ended up bleeding them badly there (first time with a fight in the square, then sallying from the newly built stone walls). It's a great place to train up generals at Egypt's expense. I suppose you were using Siwa the same way? How hard is it to get Siwa up to stone wall size (where the defense is better off)?

I haven`t got Siwa up to stonewall size yet, but Siwa is the easiest city to defend. Worst off am I against the Carthaginians and Spanish.
I didn`t build any roads in Siwa before I was at war with Egypt in order to delay them. When they finally started arriving, they weren`t much of a challenge; provided that you stay at the city centre, of course.

I am a player who like challenges and tried many different approaches with many factions. I started my first campaign on VH/VH and had not tried anything less than that difficulty since.

Numidia ? I tell u. Its VERY EASY.
Even on ver 1.3 or 1.5 VH/VH
If you are attack minded, you can rush your original Siwa army to Thebes. There is a 50% chance that u can exterminate Thebes in 3 turns bcoz it has NO WALLS and poorly defended. But SOMETIMES, it has rebels or small egyptian army blocking the route.
Else, start building a Numidian port in the Capital and ferry a Diplomat across to Spain/Gaul border to negotiate trade and sell maps to get $$$. Concentrate your military build in Siwa, Peasants for garrisons, Archers for Defence (later attack thebes) , Infantry for Attack. Attack Thebes with at least 3 Archers and 3 Infantry and a few Calvary units and the rest of the Egyptian cities are chicken feet. I have tried many approaches, I can take Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria by BC 265.
Personally, I will throw everything I got at Thebes from Siwa once Egypt bought trade rights, map information from me. Its like using thier own money to fight themselves.

Summary :
All out military build in Siwa. Egypt is a FAT LAND with FAT CITIES to plunder.

Yeah, rushing and blitzing probably makes it easy, but if you take a relaxed approached, I`m sure you`ll have some problems too..

[Roman_Man#3]

Hey

i started playing as the numidias (m/m) and it seems to be going ok.

Istarted by building roads in every sttlement i could.
I sent every one in my dimmidi garrison except the slingers to take nepte., its has been 12 yrs or so, and no one has attacked me yet. all my cities except nepte have the govenors villa or what ever it is, the second stage. all see side cities have ports, and my army is decent.egypt have left its 3 main cities relativly ungaurded, focusing on the northen front. i plan on taking lepcis magna and cyrene. then building more or less an army in siwa and taking thebes, memphis and alexandria. and maybe go north into spain.

any way, i'll leave another post in a couple years or so(of game time).

later_RM3

[Roman_Man#3]

WARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!

wierd game. I allianced with carthage, map information both ways, military access both ways, and trade rights. siwa was taking by egypt, and i lost 3 generals. i built paved roads in cirta, tarsus or whatever its called, and dimmidi. as soon as they were built, carthage attacked me. a small army attacked dimmidi, and a huge army attacked cirta, two elephants, many long shield and alot iberian, all with level one armour , weapons and xp. before they attacked me, they were wandering around the province. so i sent everyone in thrsus thing by boat to carthage. it landed and i discovered it had good units garrisoned inside, including sacred band infantry.i hired 4 libyans, 2 num-cav, and a merc hoplite and attacked. i got the city, which was hooked up to the max, enslaved it, thereby getting cirta to level 4 and thrsus to lvl 3 or 4. im allianced with the scipii, and things are going well, i havent reached 4k yet, but my financial needs have been quenched with the addition of carthage to my empire.

i plan to take thapsus, leaving lepcis magna as a buffer between egypt and me until my army is good enough to compete with them. until then, ill try going north to the iberian peninsula.

post more later

later_RM3

[Roman_Man#3]

hey

things have been going ok. only conquered thapsus since last post, but i make over 2k per turn, so i dont really have any financial problems.ive amassed a full stack army by carthage's port, and am wondering where to strike. iberian peninsula? or Egypt. any thoughts on this matter would be most appreciated. thank you in advance.

later

[Roman_Man#3]

Hey, bad news.

i sailed my full stack army to alexandria landed and assaulted. it had just rebelled so the garrison was low. they attacked me. over 1k of my troops with one of my best generals vs. an army that attacked attacked me and the garrison as reinforcements, totalling about 400. with a general the same as mine. i lost about 800 men and only killing about 300 or so. im going to offer a ceasefire to egypt, and maybe form an alliance against a common enemy with some of the factions at war with egypt.

EGYPT WILL FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Roy1991]

This is quite an interesting campaign.

241BC:
Greece, Thrace and Dacia are too strong for the Brutii, so now they've decided to attack Gaul and Germania instead
The Greeks managed to drive the Scipii and Carthaginians off Sicily. When I then attacked Sicily, they had 3 full stacks (mainly phalanxes) there, quite effective against my army which consists mainly of light cav
https://img127.imageshack.us/img127/6277/rtwmap2ey7.jpg




229BC:
Conquered most of Italy.
The Greeks completely wiped out Pontus & Seleucia, and are giving me a very hard time now.
They have a huge ammount of full stacks, and most of those consist for about 90% of Hoplites & Armoured Hoplites.
My infantry seems to be unable to even scratch their armour.
I keep surrounding a single hoplite unit with 6 or 7 of my own infantry units, just to see the usual chain rout occur - single hoplite units keep killing hundreds of my men, usually losing less than 10 of their own.
The Brutii & Julii have finally started to attack the barbarians - Thrace still is way too strong for the Brutii to take on.
https://img246.imageshack.us/img246/7413/229bcsz3.jpg




190 BC:
I used to own most of the Middle-East (Sidon, Jerusalem, Damascus, Seleucia, Susa, and everything to the south of that line), but the Greek hoplites & armoured hoplites are just way too strong for the Numidians
When the Greeks managed to break through the line Alexandria-Memphis-Thebes about 10 years ago, I was forced to retreat out of Egypt, Libya and Tripolitana, leaving only some weak units behind to delay the Greeks a bit.
Since then the Greeks have captured Thapsus several times, but I've always been able to retake it.

Conquered all of Sicily & Italy, but taking the rest of the European mainland is proving to be pretty difficult.
The Brutii keep bribing my settlements, and I don't have enough money to bribe them, because of Numidia's weak economy.
I keep taking settlements, just to see the Julii/Brutii retake them several turns later, because the Numidian infantry garrisons can't stand up to the Romans.
The biggest problem probably is that if I destroy the Brutii, there'll be no buffer zone between me and the Greeks, and there's no way I can survive a war with the Greeks on 2 fronts (Africa & Europe).

What surprises me most though, is that it's 190 BC and Thrace is still alive
https://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2928/numidiary0.jpg




161BC:
Thrace actually managed to survive until about 15 turns ago.
Before the Greeks broke their alliance with them, they even owned more provinces than the Brutii! (nearly 20)

There's no way I can win this campaign. Still need 11 more regions to achieve the victory conditions, and with the Greeks attacking on 2 fronts, that's just impossible.
Taking out Brittania and the Julii won't be difficult, but the Brutii are another matter.
Whenever I capture one of their settlements, the Greeks immediately besiege it, and take it 2 or 3 turns later.
https://img159.imageshack.us/img159/...ia161bcdv1.jpg

[Roman_Man#3]

hey, greece and you are quite the superpowers.
just wanted to ask a few questions:

1. what difficulty lvl you playing on (camp/batt)?
2.What mod are you using because i saw in the factions lists scroll in one of the screenshots the icons are different than vanilla rome tw?

later, aND GOOD LUCK AGAINST GREECE.
RM3

[Roy1991]

1- hard/medium
2- Not using any mods. I tried SPQR several months ago, and after uninstalling it and reinstalling vanilla RTW, SPQR's faction icons apparently stayed behind.

[Roman_Man#3]

hey, roy, thought of another question which if you answer will help my new campaign alot.

when you attacked egypt, did you, say send your siwa army at thebes or something? just wondering which egypt city you took first, with what. thank you in advance