Help me!

[piratehooker]

The mod is working fine, and its supergreatwin...but it seems like all the barbarian factions start in massive debt, especially the sweboz. i mean theyre broke the first turn. No matter what I do. And by the time it starts getting a bit better, im in such massive debt that i cant recover. HELP ME :embarassed:

[A Very Super Market]

You can recover, through quickly taking a few cities with your (significant) armies, then disbanding and waiting a few years.

You can always recover, and it is easiest with a few cities. The game is meant to do this, and you'll eventually find that the Celts and Germans have it easy...

[Nachtmeister]

You might want to start EB with an easy faction such as the Romans or Qarthadast. When you have developed a feeling for what *works* and what does not, you can try the Sweboz. But starting with them will lead you to defeat if you don't know your way about EB economy AND units.
If you wish to bash yourself at the wall anyway, here goes:
Either disband you army (this is the historically accurate way to play them) and wait for ~100 years before doing anything
or blitz all surrounding Eleutheroi settlements with your starting army, making sure you do not gain borders with the Sauromatae:skull: or the Celts, *then* disband your army and build up roads and traders everywhere, then MICs, then conquer the world (this is the completely unrealistic, but very fun way to play them). Obviously, you will want to go with option no. 2; in order to succeed, you will have to merge your armies in order to outnumber Eleutheroi garrisons and use some sound battle tactics when attacking them as you cannot afford to loose many men because this would slow you down which would be contrary to blitzing.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Welcome to teh .Org.:laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:
Plz start with the suggested "guide" factions the Romans and Carthage, for you will find that EB is 82397257x different and AWEZUMER!!!! than vanilla RTW.

[piratehooker]

yeah i tried a few other factions and they were a lot easier, like pahlava and epeiros, as well as the ptolemaios. it said that pahlava was more challenging than sweboz but it doesnt really seem so. im doing quite well on a pahlava campaign now anyway.

thanks for the advice. :2thumbsup:

[A Very Super Market]

That's because Pahlava has two cities in the start, and a same size army. But they have to contend with 4 other (difficult) factions, including the Grey Death.

Sweboz have...... No one around them until Gaul is united, which almost never happens.

[Tollheit]

Disband your cavalry first turn, they are very expensive (side effect: more tax income due to higher population of Swebotrautastamnoz). You may even disband some Dugunthiz, until you have just enough troops left to conquer the first Eleutheroi settlement.

Set tax to max.

Put as many buildings as possible into the building queue before you press "end turn" for the first time.

After you have conquered one or more settlements, you may or may not want to disband your troops, depending on your financial situation.

You can sell peace + trading rights for astonishing amounts of cash to the Auedui & Averni (I think I got more than 5000 out of each of them)

[piratehooker]

cool! i think ill try this.
hey, am i the only one that thinks that the mercenary phalangitai are quite a bit overpriced? and hippeis as well? i mean over 5000 for some pikemen or medium cavalry. is that weird?

[A Very Super Market]

They're mercs. You should only need them when you are strapped for men, and can't train any close by. Remember, they are instantly added to your army. Normal phalangitai aren't cheap either, going to 3000 mnai.

[heldelance]

Take the Hippies :laugh4:
If I remember correctly, they're the awesome light cavalry with AP charge. Fast as hell (great for chasing fleeing generals) but lightly armored so they'll drop like flies if anyone charges or starts fully working them over.

[Nachtmeister]

Take the Hippies :laugh4:
If I remember correctly, they're the awesome light cavalry with AP charge. Fast as hell (great for chasing fleeing generals) but lightly armored so they'll drop like flies if anyone charges or starts fully working them over.

Nope, that's the "PRODROMOI".
Hippeis are only useful for rear-charging and missile unit countering - both against units with VERY low armor. Don't try using them for prolonged melee. They may carry an aspis shield but this is very misleading... They are fairly useful at killing routing enemies although they are much slower than prodromoi. On the bright side, they are rather cheap when recruited as factional troops (KH).
If your chief concern is effectiveness, stick with prodromoi.

But as Sweboz, you will not have access to hellenic cavalry for awhile, so my recommendation here (among the mercs available in northern Europe) is "curepos" (Gallic light cavalry): Javelins, good charge, good morale, great stamina, efficient/fast at killing routing enemies, fast movement, decent upkeep.
Do not use them as assault cav; they will die faster than you can say "knife" if you do.
Use them to "finish off" (rear-charge) already engaged, weakened enemy units or pepper already engaged enemy units with javelins from behind - if absolutely necessary use them to kill off enemy missile troops, though I would avoid this: Archers in the "Sweboz area" have spears...:skull:

As Sweboz, you can afford to leave just one cheap garrison unit in every settlement and take your FMs to war. That way your army will have a tremendous punch with very low upkeep. Use archers when your FMs have engaged all or most of the enemy forces and shoot burning arrows into their rears, then mop them up with curepos. This is how I get my early heroic victories.

[delablake]

Take the Hippies :laugh4:
If I remember correctly, they're the awesome light cavalry with AP charge. Fast as hell (great for chasing fleeing generals) but lightly armored so they'll drop like flies if anyone charges or starts fully working them over.

lol! I just had to imagine reefer-smoking guys with peace-buttons, beards, long hair, dressed in batik-clobber, sweating like hell while piggybacking soldiers across a battlefield :laugh4:

[Nachtmeister]

I suppose it IS fair to say that the riders on those hippE-Is *did* wear sandals. Maybe they even had beards and long hair - the spartan ones might have, or was "Spartans let their hair grow long" another "THIS IS SPARTA" myth? Other than that, I fail to see much resemblance with the 20th century "CE"<=(not really anymore methinks :-/ ) Woodstock culture what with all the blood-lust and phallic fanaticism...

[A Very Super Market]

It was a joke about a typo...

[Nachtmeister]

... And I tried to pick it up and build up on it...
(Apparently I was too dry about it, otherwise you would have smelled the sarcasm :shame:)

[delra]

Nah. You were awesome.