Factions you LOST with (anonymous inquiry)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Hi everyone,

playing which factions did you lose your EB campaign? This inquiry is anonymous.:grin:

I reveal it straight out: I lost with Casse. My very first EB campaign in which I got eaten up by hungry barbarian Eleutheroi.

[socal_infidel]

I didn't technically lose since I quit when things got hopeless, but I "lost" the first time I played Hayasdan on 1.0. I've since learned that Scythian horse archers and Hay FMs are a powerful combo when dealing with the AS.

[johnhughthom]

Lost with Casse once myself, disbanded everything but FMs to build up before expanding and got attacked by Eleutheroi, if only I hadn't build those bloody roads...

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I wonder who lost as Romani? Joking I guess. This is a serious inquiry!

[Senshi]

Got my ass beaten by the Seleucids and the Ptolemaioi once they formed an alliance (first and only time this ever occured between those two) and suddenly started sending out army over army in every direction (I had secured northern Asia Minor by that time while the Ptolemaioi managed to occupy southern Asia Minor from the AS before they formed an alliance...soon afterwards, I was REALLY diminished and yeah, I played this one to the bitter end which came shortly after. But I wasn't the only one steamrolled by the super-alliance, Hayasdan and Baktria fell even before I did and both of them were slashing their way through their bordering Eleutheroi cities...was one of the craziest game I had....

Also once I lost with Pahlava when I got engaged from all sides, Sauromatae from the North (who always advance VERY quickly), the Saka Rauka from north-east, Baktria from the East and the Arche from the south...no way to stand against them, even with your super cavalry...:no:

[Maeran]

Yep, Casse have a serious problem if you take on those Eleutheroi before you are truly ready.

I also have lost twice as the Pahlava. In my defence, they were my first two attempts at a HA army and the AS are relentless. If they ally with the Sakae you are in trouble. Or I was.

Doing better this time, but it does seem to always turn into an attrition campaign against the AS.

[Obelics]

If you want to see the defeat screen for Pahlava in 0.81:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=74598

[Cristian]

i only lost one campaign, that being my first one with casse, the other times i quit a campaign was, either because it was boring or because i, like had to fight to many enemies on to many fronts and i just didn't have the patience to fight every battle (3,4 per turn). once in my pontos campaign selukos and ptolei had allied against me but i manged to best them after a few heroic victories and made myself master of asia minor.

[Irishmafia2020]

I lost with Baktria... My favorite faction on 1.0, but if you get into a pissing match against SAKA, AS, Pahlava and the Elutheroi (captured 2 cities!) in the first five years then you are doomed... I gave up, although maybe I should have played it out. I learned to play conservatively though, since it was my blitzing style that left me so uncovered in the first place in that game...

[Olaf The Great]

Saba, for some reason my capital city revolted(???)
Koinion Hellenon, all FM's mysteriously died(7.2)

I don't consider those defeats though :P

[Ibrahim]

never lost, let alone get close to. my friend Chris calls my "pro". I call it cunning diplomacy (in ROP recently I played Athenians against Spartans. In EB as the romani, I did that between the Ptolemaioi, Carthage, and the Aedui. In Ibfd as ERE I really played around with WRE, Sassanids, Franks, both goths and the burgundii. my best diplomacy to this day is from that ERE game).

[chenkai11]

I lost once with my first campaign as Hayasdan in 0.81a (VH/VH), that was my first time playing EB. Was struggling to get out of debt. By the time I thought I was starting to get recovered and plan to expand. The AS started their invasion.

[sgsandor]

I lost with SPQR because i cheated and blitzed and the game wasnt fun for me and that made me a loser...But on the bright side i learned how to play right

[The Celtic Viking]

I've lost as Casse in 0.81 when I disbanded and Eleutheroi attacked. A sad day in my record book. :shame:

[Ayce]

Casse, by accidentally having declared war on the Eleutheroi. (Actually I quit after having my main army destroyed and stack coming towards my capital)

KH, by trying to migrate to a Bosphoran faction, lost all my FMs in a series of amphibious assaults.

[Nobo]

Baktria... the distance between my cities killed me. Also, I wasn't prepared to face HA at all :skull:

[Strategos Alexandros]

Lost with Casse once myself, disbanded everything but FMs to build up before expanding and got attacked by Eleutheroi, if only I hadn't build those bloody roads...

Same here. That :furious3: stack of caledonian skirmishers besieged me on turn 3!

[Eisenhorn538]

I lost a Saba campaign when AS and the ptolemaioi ganged up on me.

[Kromulan]

Lost my first campaign with Saka.
I did a great job crushing Baktria and parrying AS' clumsy jabs at me (pikemen??? really? vs HA? hahaha).
Then the Pahlav and Sauromate showed up, both angry and both in BIG numbers. I considered using auto_win to fend them off, then decided "damn the cataphracts! full speed ahead" and went down in a blaze of glory (hail of arrows, more like it).
I blitzed early and got blitzed. . . pretty early. . .

[Hooahguy]

the Eleutheroi? :gah:

[BerkeleyBoi]

Lost as the Saba when Yellow and Silver ganged up on me.

[Flying Pig]

I lost a huge battle as the KH when my line of 1000 elite hoplites broke to Roman attack... GAH! I'd spent about thrice my budget on them!

[alatar]

KH, lost a big battle in the first turn then got a CTD.

Who lost as Romani?

[Barae]

Lost with Pontos :oops:

I had only conquered about 4 cities around my starting city when the Ptolemaioi broke their alliance with me and allied with the AS and Macedon, it seemed like hells gates opened to my Pontans!
:end:
well for the next 40 turns I fought for my existance, I was surprised to actually be able to withstand the enemy armies for that time, the first 4 years I was even able to keep them off my cities and only fought field battles ( at that time it was only the AS and the Ptolemaioi fighting me) and then the Macedonians joined :dizzy2: they sent 1 full stack at the same time as the Ptolemaioi did, also the AS came with half a stack that turn, so I cleared all my cities apart from my starting city and just about got together on stack, ( this all may seem unrealistick but as I lost lost many troopes at each battle I had started mass producing soldiers ready to die) I fought my last battle on the field as well and lost miserably due to being outnumbered, at least my king and all my family members died heroic deaths.

A similar thing happened in my Hayasdan campaign just that I was bigger and after that first set back I reconquered the land they took of me ( didnt loose with Hayasdan) :crown:

[Ibrahim]

Lost my first campaign with Saka.
I did a great job crushing Baktria and parrying AS' clumsy jabs at me (pikemen??? really? vs HA? hahaha).
Then the Pahlav and Sauromate showed up, both angry and both in BIG numbers. I considered using auto_win to fend them off, then decided "damn the cataphracts! full speed ahead" and went down in a blaze of glory (hail of arrows, more like it).
I blitzed early and got blitzed. . . pretty early. . .

gory! gory! what a horrible way to die!...*sings to to the tune of glory glory*(sorry reminds me of that song)

I'm not surprised you lost-fighting Pahlava is a nightmare, especially after reforms, and then with the Sauromatae with them-you did well considering who they were. well, at least you managed to bash Baktria and AS first. :2thumbsup:

as to the loss with romani: poeple lose playing the romani?!

[Disciple of Tacitus]

My sig says it all.

[Irishmafia2020]

Poor Samaurtae - nobody plays with them, so nobody loses with them...

[Ibrahim]

the sauromatae lack te "cool" factor I guess. I mean, statistically, they are more likely to fight with romani, hellenistic factions, and of course Pahlava:book:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Definitely, also they lack those supercool reforms like Saka and Pahlava. So if somebody wants to play HA, he'll most likely opt for the latter.

[We shall fwee...Wodewick]

I have done some Casse campaigns where I disbanded and built up. On the first attempt I lost trying to actually fight the last battle where the eles besiege you, but in the second attempt, I let my Family members autocalc it as they had high leadership and they slaughtered the swine that attacked. I then went on to domination.

[Swordmaster]

Definitely, also they lack those supercool reforms like Saka and Pahlava. So if somebody wants to play HA, he'll most likely opt for the latter.

Actually, I played the Sarmatians for a good fifty turns, but I didn't like the horse archers one bit. I guess it'll have to become an acquired taste.

[konny]

I have lost, I don't know how many times, with Pontos and Hayasdan. That is as soon as AS decides that they will crush me, even if it will be the last thing they do before beeing eaten alive by the yellow death.

I have also been crushed with Baktria. AS was no problems, but my entire army got butchered on the first encounter with Saka.

After that, I avoided playing any faction East of Makedonia (save for AS and the Ptolees, but with both I can not motivate myself to play more than a few turns).

With Makedonia and KH it all depends on the first turn of either Epeiros. In one campaign with the Maks I was defeated in one turn: Pella conquered, all other settlements, save Mytilene, besieged and the only army left after the first battle to weak to do anything.

In one campaign with KH the Epeirote moved their army away from Pella and Antigonos did not march North to go for Serdike but decided to get rid of me once and for all. I was able to kill his first stack of pikemen by the loss of my own army, and a few turns later - not enough to even conquer Korinth - the next forrest of pikes came marching down from Pella. With only FMs and two units of Haploi, I gave up.

[Reno Melitensis]

Never lost a game in EB because failed to complete one. But my most dramatic defeats as Romani was in .82 against the Carthaginians in Iberia, and in 1.1 when over confidentially send a legion north to confront the Norici, total massacre.

Cheers

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

With Makedonia and KH it all depends on the first turn of either Epeiros. In one campaign with the Maks I was defeated in one turn: Pella conquered, all other settlements, save Mytilene, besieged and the only army left after the first battle to weak to do anything.

In one campaign with KH the Epeirote moved their army away from Pella and Antigonos did not march North to go for Serdike but decided to get rid of me once and for all. I was able to kill his first stack of pikemen by the loss of my own army, and a few turns later - not enough to even conquer Korinth - the next forrest of pikes came marching down from Pella. With only FMs and two units of Haploi, I gave up.
Wow, that's tough!

In my current Makedonian campaign the Epeirotes laid siege to Pella in turn 1 and I decided to let the KH alone for the time being and sailed north. Thank god the Epeirotes at Pella were only some kind of advanced guard with mostly Gallic mercenaries and elephants. They didn't wait to build rams and tried to batter down the tiny wall with the nellies. I had ordered my Sphendonetai and Akontistai at the spot and let them rain their ammunition on the elephants, and they evantually ran amok having only two animals left. They killed a good deal of Gauls, than had Alkyoneus' sally forth and kill the remaining two. That was the end of the battle. I must say though that Sphendonetai prooved nearly useless against elephants, in contrast to the Akonstistai. The next turn Antigonos was in Makedonia again with most of the army, and I had ordered the recruitment of Levy Phalangites in Pella, and so I combined both armies, leaving Pella alone. I confronted Pyrrhos directly, annihilated his army and killed him. The next turn the Greeks seized Korinth, but that was no real problem. One turn later again I regained it, and shortly after Sparte, than two battles at the Isthmos, and gone was the KH - all their FMs were dead. Then I headed north again towards Epeiros, leaving a small force to siege Athens only. No problem at all. My condolences to you for your bad luck!

Edit: Post #1000!

[Puupertti Ruma]

Got my ass handed to me by the eleuthoroi on my first Sauromatae campaign when I just didn't know how to use horsearchers against other horsearchers. I never got out of debt and even if I won most of my battles, I suffered too much casualties. After a while I was streched too thin on too big area and started to lose cities. I think I didn't play long enough to see the actually losing screen, but gave up after having two or three cities with only 1 or 2 defenders in each and still not enough money to never get out of debt. It was quite cool campaign actually, fighting a long war of attrition with the eleutheroi around me and finally losing to the pressure. Losing isn't a thing you encounter often these days in strategy games.

[konny]

My condolences to you for your bad luck!

Now I am enyoing a Makedonian campaign in which the start was as desired:

Pyrrhos moved his elephants away in turn #1 to conquer some Illyrian villages. Alkyoneus was able to hold Makedonia and Thessalia the next years by serial of swift campaigns with his army of levys (Haploi, slingers, only occasionaly Phalangitai Deuteroi):

The Epeirotes attacked Demetrias when Alkyoneus was in Pella. And because Demetrias was only guarded by one unit of Haploi, the Epeirote force was comparable weak, what allowed him to crush it with his levy from Pella.

While the army was in Thessalia, Epeiros invaded Makedonia, but again with a very weak force because Pella then was only guarded by 1x Akontistai. That was easyly crushed by Alkyoneus on his return from Demetrias. This went on for years, made Alkyoneus a famous general and kept open Makedonia and Thessaly to provide the main army with reinforcements.

Meanwhile the royal army under Antigonos subdued Greece. The first move was to lift the siege of Korinth. Afterwards Athens was besieged without allowing for further diversions by the Greeks on Korinth. Than followed the decisive battle against the Greek main army that was gathering en masse around Sparta. During that battle the Spartiates routed after a very short fight against the Makedonian phalanx leaving open the entire Greek left flank - a glorious victory.

After Sparta had been mercyless burnded to the gorund, Antigonos force marched the army North because a very strong Epeirote force was operating in NW Makedonia under the personal command of Pyrrhos (I think that was heading for Serdike). The following battle somewhere in the mountains saw the Epeirote king dead and the road to the Adriatic open.

But the main Epeirote army had still to be defeated, what happened in the battle of Ambrakia. A most remarkable day because both the kings of Epeiros (forgott his name) and Makedonia (Antigonos) died during a clash of their Hetairoi on the right flank. In the center the Epeirote elephants run amok and killed more men of their own side than of the Makedonians. And on the right wing the Epeirote Hypaspistai fought to the last man pinned between Phalanx, Pletastai, Hoplites and cavalry - and still routing several seasoned Makedonian units. What a difference to the Spartiates!

The further campaign against Epeiros, now lead by the new king Alkyoneus, was no problem. The last members of Aiakides family hide in Dalminion where they were caught and executed. The following days Taras opened her gates to the Romans - Epeiros was no more.

Now I am in 265 BC, have a good king who is barley 30, a strong economy and no enemies on my broders. May be it is time to turn East to claim what is rightfully mine.....

[Swordmaster]

Losing isn't a thing you encounter often these days in strategy games.

Back in my days playing CIV3 on deity. :yes:

[Kromulan]

I had forgotten this one. . . made me so *&%# mad!
I had a Saba campaign where I was fighting yellow, blue and grey death on 3 fronts (they were all allied). Blue was starting to push me out of India, grey was pushing down the east coast of arabia, and I was holding the line @ Hierosolyma vs yellow.
Then my save corrupted and I couldn't load!! Everything else worked, it just wouldn't load the bloody save.
I loaded an earlier save and tried to re-create the campaign, but this time Hay, Pontos, Pahlav and Saka all jumped on grey and blue and I crushed yellow.
Definitely one of the could-have-been great campaigns, lost to unreadable save file.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

After Sparta had been mercyless burnded to the gorund, Antigonos force marched the army North because a very strong Epeirote force was operating in NW Makedonia under the personal command of Pyrrhos (I think that was heading for Serdike). The following battle somewhere in the mountains saw the Epeirote king dead and the road to the Adriatic open.

But the main Epeirote army had still to be defeated, what happened in the battle of Ambrakia. A most remarkable day because both the kings of Epeiros (forgott his name) and Makedonia (Antigonos) died during a clash of their Hetairoi on the right flank. In the center the Epeirote elephants run amok and killed more men of their own side than of the Makedonians. And on the right wing the Epeirote Hypaspistai fought to the last man pinned between Phalanx, Pletastai, Hoplites and cavalry - and still routing several seasoned Makedonian units. What a difference to the Spartiates!

The further campaign against Epeiros, now lead by the new king Alkyoneus, was no problem. The last members of Aiakides family hide in Dalminion where they were caught and executed. The following days Taras opened her gates to the Romans - Epeiros was no more.

Now I am in 265 BC, have a good king who is barley 30, a strong economy and no enemies on my broders. May be it is time to turn East to claim what is rightfully mine.....
I had thought it cool and challenging to leave the Epeirotes alive in Hellas proper, but unfortunately they didn't agree, even as I offered them conquered Epidamnos plus some 6000 mnai. So they all had to die and are now reduced to Arpi, where they live under the new name "Italiotai Apeirotai" (see "Epeirotes in Arpi"-Thread).

I had Sparte and Athenai burned and enslaved as well. They had to be punished for their betrayal. And yes, the KH forces in early game are somewhat cheap. No real challenge, mostly missile troops.

Antigonos "died" in my campaign as well, sunk with the entire Makedonian army in the Thermaian Gulf by a fleet of pirates. I reloaded and auto_won the battle. Antigonos now is 65 years old, a restless warmonger calmly waiting to die in Pella. :grin:

[konny]

Keeping any Aiakides alive? Never! The same would be for Seleucids and Ptolemaioi (as soon as the King catches the "Alexander Fever").

Interesseting developement last night: Nikaia rebelled from the Seleucids to me, spawning several units of Galatians. As soon as the King entered Bythinia a Hellen character was offered for mariage to his eldest daughter who then appeared in Nikaia even though it was besieged. I think this plot demands a lot of roleplaying - or even an AAR.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Nice. Last night I lost Demetrios Argeades at the age of only 22. I gave him a nice start-up job in Thermon as governor. Then an Aphistamenoi General spawned, with 1x Levy Hoplites, 1x Greek Cavalry, 1x Peltasts, and Peltasts as bodyguard even. And they dared attack Thermon!!! I had only Demetrios and 1x Levy Hoplites. They fought bravely but eventually lost.

My campaign is on H only. I never experienced such aggressive Rebels in my VH games in 1.0 or back in 0.81. It's a shame my relieve force came one turn too late. :wall: :no: :no: :no:

[Swordmaster]

Nice. Last night I lost Demetrios Argeades at the age of only 22. I gave him a nice start-up job in Thermon as governor. Then an Aphistamenoi General spawned, with 1x Levy Hoplites, 1x Greek Cavalry, 1x Peltasts, and Peltasts as bodyguard even. And they dared attack Thermon!!! I had only Demetrios and 1x Levy Hoplites. They fought bravely but eventually lost.

My campaign is on H only. I never experienced such aggressive Rebels in my VH games in 1.0 or back in 0.81. It's a shame my relieve force came one turn too late. :wall: :no: :no: :no:

Looks like the Aetolians didn't like his governorship. Actually, I've had three rebel stacks of over six units each standing next to Capua last night, but none attacked. Perhaps due to the weather.

[Bouketsu]

Lost my first and only campaign with the Lusotannan.
Made a few mistakes however. :/ I expanded in completely the wrong way. Instead of going south to occupy the regions that pumped out good Iberian infantry, I decided to expand along the coast to have an easily defended position against the Karthadastim. Eventually that lead to my fall however, the Karth got all of the heavy infantry producing settlements and I was stuck with mostly celtic provinces that had MIC that were pumping out mediocre infantry... I thought that maybe once the Romans got their game rolling I could perhaps take the upper hand as the Karth would probably have their hands full but fate decided to go the other way. The White Death just plowed right through the Italian peninsula and to my dismay I was surrounded within a few years and the stacks would not cease. It was the only time I saw things as completely hopeless, and it taught me a lesson to NEVER rely on another faction to turn the game around for you. :P