Please help me!

[piratehooker]

Ive recently downloaded this mod and its been great. just wonderful.
Until i play an epeiros campaign and start with taras with roughly -6000 mnai! What? So i go broke in a few turns even after taking pella and demetrias.
Okay so i restart it, this time i abandon it and destroy everything in it. okay i have a ton of money, but when it revolts, my other settlements go into super negative, even pella and demetrias which i have conquered. What am I doing wrong? I try a ceasefire with Rome and they refuse twice. eggg help me! Epeiros is one of my favorite factions and i really want to go far with them, but taras has me bogged down!
Not to mention almost every faction except for carthage and rome goes into debt in a few turns even after conquering places. help me!

[A Very Super Market]

Thats just how EB rolls. Everyone goes into debt. Its actually alright. Don't destroy buildings, but disband units instead. Don't take them all away though, just take away the biggest offenders, your elephants. Although you shouldn't be going into depth after you take the Mak cities.

[Africanvs]

Just because a city is showing negative income, doesn't mean it is bogging you down, it just means that it is paying the majority of your unit costs. For example one city may show -4000 and you might have 5 making +1000 each. That translates into a profit of 1000 per season.

As Epeiros, you start with an awesome military advantage. You're going to go into debt for the first couple of years anyway, so use your starting cash to train a couple more units. Take that starting army, pick someone you're at war with and start conquering settlements. Be careful to lose as few men as possible because you won't have the money to retrain them for a while. Elephants can be disbanded because they cost a lot, but they can also help you if you know how to use them. Once you have conquered a few settlements, you will see that income start to go up slowly. Just keep conquering and building financial buildings until you start to make money. Once you have apretty secure position which is usually after you kick the Makedonians and KH out of Greece, you should be able to disband some armies and focus on your finances for a while. Build mines wherever you can, they make a lot of cash. You might lose Taras because it is hard to fight both the Romans and the Maks/KH all at once. You simply don't have the resources. Once you get set up in Greece, just send an army over to Italy an show the Romans who is boss, or more fun, let them build up for a while so you will have more of a challenge against them. Once you have your economy going you will get a feel for how many armies you can support.

As far as diplomacy, it's the fault of the RTW engine. Diplomacy is a crap shoot. If you want something from the AI you have to have to butter them up with gifts first before they will accept. Sometimes they will accept a ceasefire right away, sometimes they could be down to one city and still telling you to go to hell. Thee is a force diplomacy mod if you like to roleplay the diplomacy. You can use it to make factions accept your terms.

Since you're new to EB I would start with m/m difficulty until you get the hang of it. Once you want more challenge, moe it up to VH/M. Never put battles higher than M unless you want the AI to have a lot of synthetic attack and defense bonuses in combat. And finally, always remember to start the script! Welcome to EB, it's a great mod. :)

[seienchin]

Disband your fleet!!! At least 2 of your ships. They cost 700 a turn:dizzy2:

[geala]

I second that. My strategy was to bring all units except one from Taras to Greece and then disband the ships. You don't need them and you cannot defend Taras against the Romans imho. I disbanded my elephants only after the Macedons first big armies were defeated. So it was easier against the phalanxes (attack from the side or behind even with elephants and beware of skirmishers!).

[Nachtmeister]

Yes, never allow your elephants to get hit by javelins - they die like flies when that happens.
Best way to use them is to wait until both battle lines are engaged, then send them around the enemy flank, form up behind the enemy line - and charge the center. That way they will be jammed between your infantry and your elephants. :skull:
In EB battles, your main objective is to make the enemy army flee and to cut them down with light cavalry. The faster you can get them to panic and run, the fewer soldiers you lose.

It has been said to be possible to move the majority of the army (along with the elephants) over to Italy at the start of the game, then rush at the Roman settlements (not necessarily Rome itself because of the stone walls). There, you could raze all buildings, kill the population, then desert the conquered city. It will revolt to the romans - but it will be no use to them without any buildings. They won't even be able to recruit units in the cities.
When you have neutralized the Roman threat, you should be swimming in loot-cash and can return to Hellas to defeat the Makedonians. Better be quick about it though as Makedonia gets some very powerful infantry if it is allowed sufficient time to upgrade it's military infrastructure. Beware of "peltastai makedonikoi" and anything containing the word "agema". :laugh4:

Be aware that this can, depending upon what sort of player you are, spoil all the fun in the game early on.

Oh and your cavalry generals are slightly less potent in melee than the makedonian ones but have somewhat better stamina/do not tire easily (which is more important in hard battles). Just be aware that you will probably lose 1on1 head-to-head fights and arrange for some spear infantry or additional cavalry support. Do never attack infantry with cavalry from the front (exception: invulnerable cataphracts, but I don't think they are available ot Epeiros). There is a guide in the "gameplay guides" thread about how to use cavalry; I strongly recommend that you read it:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=103172
It makes all the difference between cavalry being the wonder weapon of choice and a useless, very expensive, very easily dieing, toothless slug.

[Skullheadhq]

Disband your elephants when you take Pella and Demetrias. They are way to expensive in the beginning.

Yay! 200 posts!

[piratehooker]

ive started fresh and after taking pella i disbanded the elephants and two of my ships, and took demetrias. and im about breaking even. thanks guys :2thumbsup: