Advice needed

[Captain Pugwash]

1. I seem to have aquired the knack of getting dumb, glum and bum FM's. The techniques in RTW for breeding a good roman do not seem to work in EB 1.2. Has some thing changed or is it just unlucky.

2. I fancy a holiday to cathage. Whats best to take there to deal with SC cav and EA pikes. Year 220Fact Roman. Heavy sams/Peds and greek pelts didnt do too well against the elite Mac phalaxes so maybe a change of units? I have Elite thacians and the celtic axe units available which is a bit of a trek but would they do the job.

ta

[Drewski]

1. I seem to have aquired the knack of getting dumb, glum and bum FM's. The techniques in RTW for breeding a good roman do not seem to work in EB 1.2. Has some thing changed or is it just unlucky.

2. I fancy a holiday to cathage. Whats best to take there to deal with SC cav and EA pikes. Year 220Fact Roman. Heavy sams/Peds and greek pelts didnt do too well against the elite Mac phalaxes so maybe a change of units? I have Elite thacians and the celtic axe units available which is a bit of a trek but would they do the job.

ta

As a vet of RTW I feel I can help a little ;)

1a) Send all "coming of age" FM to a city with the highest education building (Rome might be a good idea), and then leave them put for at least 4 yrs. In EB, leaving even the most terrible General stationary, in a well developed city, will allow them to pick up some good ancilleries and good traits. I've sent dull/uncharismatic/langarous Fms with 0/0/0 (star/man/inf) to govern smal provinces, and 5 yrs down the line, even the worst has maybe a couple of man/couple of influence. Good ones to start with, often are at 10/man-10 inf in their 40's. Just DON'T move them once they are settled.

Be careful though, that they don't become TOO educated, as their are some bad traits that they can obtain, e.g. Pedantic, and Hates The Gods. Even then, send them off to govern a province, and they often instantly get married, find religion and generally get better at being a governor. Education is a must for good governors.

b) Now in RTW, to get a good Star/Inf FM, all you had to do was send him out to fight some battles and keep winning. While the same is kinda true in EB, Command stars are less easy to come by. The "Vigorous" trait helps FM get command traits and stars.

So if you have a youngish talented would be General (vigorous), DON'T over-educate him. Make sure he has a herbalist/doctor/surgeon in his retinue (absolutely and utterly essential, this will save you umpteen casualties in the long run). If he hasn't got one of his own, steal one off someone else. Also a geographer helps. Then give him an Army, and send him on his Merry Way. This way, he has plenty of ancillary slots to pick up a "battle general" retinue, e.g. Heroic Savior, (there are many more, won't spoil the fun;)

Overall, the traits the guys start with, plus their ancestory, form the basis for the personality and development. If you keep getting dull/uncharismatic/langurous/selfish/pessimistic/disloyal FMs, then you are damn unlucky. Groom the clever kids to managed your best cities. Give the energetic ones an Army. And the rest, well find them something they can manage, and then leave them to it (but keep an eye on them;))

2) With all respect to the EB developers, Phalanxes just ain't right atm. They are almost untouchable by ANY missile. You can however beat them fine with your normal Roman Army. Just have a unit "hold them" from the front in defend mode, then attack them from behind with your best infantry. Even better, charge them from behind with Equites Extraordinarii (the Lance Cavalry). Their only weakness is behind though (and that isn't very weak).

Thrakian Rambos (The Elite Infantry) are my absolute fav unit in the game, and will make utter mincemeat of ANY phalanx from the rear, and very quickly too. Just don't have them engaged the phalanx from the front, as you'll lose too many. Bringing them all the way from Romania to fight in Africa, is a bit of a logistical nightmare though, and they probably turn to dust in the sunlight too :flybye:

I made a mini mod, to correct what seems to be an oversight concerning all spear and phalanx units, if you are interested its here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=2183522&postcount=3)

[Vasiliyi]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but u seem like u just started playing eb.. what is your difficulty setting? I see the first question was answered quite well, the second might need a few more points.

Ok, so African ELITE phalanx is an ELITE phalanx. That means they are exellently trained, equepped, payed soldiers who can handle their own in many situaltions. But fighting them with the romans shouldn't be too difficult. Remember pila is your best friend. Use them up! Every last pila! Those things are real killers. Now, I prefer to engage the enemies levy units first and destroy the enemy army peicemeal. Leaving the AEP for last. Pin them with your trarii, and then send your FM and any cavalry into their rear, that should cause a rout quickly enough..

Those sacred cavalry are tough too but anything with a spear can take down a horse if they have the correct support. Trarii can do this job aswell.. hope this helped.

[Zradha Pahlavan]

Another tactic is to just avoid the phalanx troopers for as long as you can and try to kill off the general, then swarm as many men as you can around the phalanx. They probably won't try to fight you for long.
This has actually worked for me when I was playing as the Lusitanian guys.

[Captain Pugwash]

Thanks for the cathage tips.

The main gripe is the traits, ie laying seige and becomg a lover of beauty bang goes your command rating. Becoming a drunkard in the time it takes to celebrate a triumphus. Being a attuned and uncomfortable supervisor at the same time. Being a grizzled vet who developes a fear of blood. I thought a lot of these traits could only develope whilst in a city particulaily with the fun temples( bachus?) not stuck on a boat or in the field waiting to ambush.

oh well

[Fluvius Camillus]

Always try to kill the enemy leader, morale drops a lot then.. Take out the cavalry and then the missele/flank/light troops and then defeat the phalanx finally by pinning them down and charging.

If you inflict a mass rout just keep going, it will be like pushing the first domino stone.... first the light/levy troops follow then the other and finally the phalanx:2thumbsup:

Of course there are more "scare tactics" (wild men and such)...

Good luck!

[Spearman]

I've noticed that the AI seems to love horse meat when they posess spear troops. Pick up some mercenary numidian horse troops and use them as bait to pull away some phalanx troops (keep your horse troops just out of range) leaving your main army to take out the rest of the army then all you'll have to deal with is an exhausted and exposed enemy phalanx easy pickings. Works everytime for me.

[Elcmar]

Another thing to do with developing FM's is after their 4 years education send them off hunting eleutheroi (rebel) armies - give them as few troops as possible to win and they should get some good command-related traits

[Vasiliyi]

Another thing to do with developing FM's is after their 4 years education send them off hunting eleutheroi (rebel) armies - give them as few troops as possible to win and they should get some good command-related traits

This is what I do. Most of my FM's are decent cuz of this.