Julii campaign help? :p

[Leet Eriksson]

OK so i got the game a few hours ago, but the guals seem outright impossible to beat, anyway to kick their butts quickly (short campaign, medium/medium difficulty)?

The rediculous part is the guals are 1 mighty and united faction, no devide and conquer tactics, and when i asked them to attack germania all they did was..... well they didn't do anything so eh.. diplomacy was kinda crap. Invading them is also almost suicide.

I also have financial problems, and the senate just keep massing up their armies near Rome doing nothing, or helping the rival families, while i go in debt trying to hold the frontier against large barbarian hordes.

[Kraxis]

OK so i got the game a few hours ago, but the guals seem outright impossible to beat, anyway to kick their butts quickly (short campaign, medium/medium difficulty)?

The rediculous part is the guals are 1 mighty and united faction, no devide and conquer tactics, and when i asked them to attack germania all they did was..... well they didn't do anything so eh.. diplomacy was kinda crap. Invading them is also almost suicide.

I also have financial problems, and the senate just keep massing up their armies near Rome doing nothing, or helping the rival families, while i go in debt trying to hold the frontier against large barbarian hordes.

Gah! Feeling like the forgotten son?
Well, I will advise you to actually try to beat the Gauls in battle. Remember how it has always been possible to beat the impossible time and again...

[Leet Eriksson]

Hey kraxis its been sometime ~:wave: ~:)

I have to say though, its a bit difficult as it is, i lost a good general (4 star) early on, and one of my sons who was nontheless an extra unit ~;p

Also i can't figure out how to upgrade the city, i'm stuck with militia barracks and governers villa, how do i upgrade these?

[bhutavarna]

i'm playing julii on very hard. you have to put pressure on gauls immediately. capture patavium and mediolanum as quickly as possible because if you don't the gauls will be a real pain. in battles, be defensive with hastatis. make sure you have reserves just in case the enemy heavy cavalry charge you. use up the javelins before you charge if you can. most importantly, try not to fight in winter, especially against gaul cavalries because they get bonus fighting in snow.

[bhutavarna]

Hey kraxis its been sometime ~:wave: ~:)

I have to say though, its a bit difficult as it is, i lost a good general (4 star) early on, and one of my sons who was nontheless an extra unit ~;p

Also i can't figure out how to upgrade the city, i'm stuck with militia barracks and governers villa, how do i upgrade these?

you have to wait for the population to grow. the construction parchment tells you what your pop is and how many you need to reach the next level.

[Kraxis]

Hey kraxis its been sometime ~:wave: ~:)

I have to say though, its a bit difficult as it is, i lost a good general (4 star) early on, and one of my sons who was nontheless an extra unit ~;p

Also i can't figure out how to upgrade the city, i'm stuck with militia barracks and governers villa, how do i upgrade these?

~:wave: Yeah, it has been a long time indeed... Well not that long, remember my little interest in the Mythical MOD? You helped me bit with the arabs.

Anyway, I don't know anything about the game really, I don't have it yet. It no come out in Europe, so me no get it yet. ~:cool:
But I do remember the recipie for beating strong factions in MTW, and that was taking the fight to them fast, endure the horrible next 20 years of constant battling stronger enemies until they finally run out of steam. Can't tell you how many times I have been forced to launch offensives against Italy, Denmark, France, Poland and Hungary all at once as HRE only a few years into the game. It can't possible be much different here.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

The Gauls are easy. Put your legions in formation and advance with all pila carrying troops on "fire at will" when you get close enough the unruly Gauls will charge. When they do charge, halt immediately and you should get a couple of volleys in before they reach your lines. After that, they should be easy to beat in H2H. ~;)

[Thoros of Myr]

On hard/hard they put up a decent fight at first but after you clean them out of the Alps they will tuck-tail and run like wipped dogs, at one point I cuaght them hiding thier family in the mountains lol. They will probly fight to the end though, diplomacy doesent seem to work on them often if you are julii or any romans for that matter. The main thing is keep pressure on them and spread out your armies so they cant focus thier resistance in one place.

[Grifman]

Ok, here's a bit of grand strategy playing as the Juli. You don't want the other Roman factions to get too powerful, so you need to cripple them early on - but you don't want to attack them - so here's how you do it. After taking the province of Venetia, north of where you start, you'll find Illyria controlled by a rebel barbarian tribe. Take it and you can hurt the Bruti. They often take it and use it to build up to attack the Greeks - but now you have it.

Secondly, send a diplomat and fleet to North Africa to spy out events there. The Scipii will usually take Carthage but have trouble keeping it against rebellion. Keep an army ready and then send it and capture Carthage. That kills the Scipii and fills your coffers with trade money.

I've done both of those in this game and have it won. The Bruti have their original provinces plus the one on the Greek coast they first get orders to take. But that's it - they have a hard time butting their heads up against Macedon and the Greeks. And the Scipi have taken Sicily and the part of North Africa south of Carthage, but nothing else. I control northern Italy, most of Gaul, and the rest of North Africa. When it comes to my final bid for power, they just won't have the economic power to stop me.

Ok for the end game, the Senate will start after you with certain negative orders around your 30th province. So hold off on that last one while you build up your armies and get them teched up. Get them ready and in place. For example, you can put armies in Sicily because the Scipii are allies - but when the war comes, those cities will be easy pickings for you. You can do the same in southern Italy where the Scipi and Bruti have their power base. After that it's just mopping up.

Grifman

[Quietus]

OK so i got the game a few hours ago, but the guals seem outright impossible to beat, anyway to kick their butts quickly (short campaign, medium/medium difficulty)?

The rediculous part is the guals are 1 mighty and united faction, no devide and conquer tactics, and when i asked them to attack germania all they did was..... well they didn't do anything so eh.. diplomacy was kinda crap. Invading them is also almost suicide.

I also have financial problems, and the senate just keep massing up their armies near Rome doing nothing, or helping the rival families, while i go in debt trying to hold the frontier against large barbarian hordes.
I play Julii on Very Hard/Very Hard. Just pick off the Gaul Armies one by one. Just use one army. Use Hastati and Town Watch to hold and Equites and General to flank. Hastati in my game is 440 denari w/170 upkeep so make sure you don't build too many.

Do any Gaul Missions, they may give lots of money on that difficulty level. For military assistance, bring your diplomat to a Roman settlement. "Make a Demand" for them to "Attack Faction", negotiate to your liking. Although, I don't really recommend this because if they conquer the province, you will fight them later. I did this against Carthage. They have a 16 ships full of soldiers at the coast of Caralis since I took it via Senate Mission (I only had 3 bireme to blockade). I had 6 units with 2 unit reinforcements still a year away in the mainland, waiting for another bireme. I asked Scipii for assistance, they agreed. They attacked Lilybaeum, the next turn. And the Carthagian army was DIVERTED to fight the Scipii!!! WHEW!!! WOW!.

For the economy, build trade buildings and ports (they increase your trade) and roads. Farms and Mining too if you have them. Don't rely too much on one settlement, your population there will drop if you keep training soldiers there. Also you can't advance up the tech tree.

Hope that helps. Ask away if you have any more questions.

[Leet Eriksson]

Kraxis - I hope you get the game soon ~:) if you ever wish to revive the mod you planned i'll gladly help. (or..*cough* any other mod with arabs in em ~;p *cough*)

Grifman & Quietus - thanks for the tips, once i return from work i'll check your strategies out.

Everyone - sorry for the short post, but thanks for the help ~:)

[Jagger]

Wait till you try play the Gauls against the Romans.....

[Kraxis]

I just might faisal...

Have you noticed that we have both picked the Hastati to be our avatar?

Anyway, have you made any progress?

[Leet Eriksson]

That is actually the Triarii ~;p but yeah i like Pre-Marian legions, i've done pretty well so far, got patavium and that province is a cash cow, planning for the mediolanium just now. Right now though its kinda getting a bit rediculous, i made a 1000 man army, and the guals got an army of 2000, i wonder how they pump troops this quick ~:eek:

[Kraxis]

Man is actually the Triarii ~;p but yeah i like Pre-Marian legions, i've done pretty well so far, got patavium and that province is a cash cow, planning for the mediolanium just now. Right now though its kinda getting a bit rediculous, i made a 1000 man army, and the guals got an army of 2000, i wonder how they pump troops this quick ~:eek:

A Triarii? Rats! Old man...
Heh... the same old story from MTW. ~D
Just pick a battle with them where you got the terrain on your side, you should be able to use your superior skills to defeat them, or at least give them a bloody nose.

[Leet Eriksson]

Woops i meant That, and not Man ~;p, problem with rome is, you can hang out in good terrain, but the enemy might as well go around my army, unlike MTW, the armies on the map can avoid you this time around ~;p no province jumping like in MTW and chokepoints are scarce.

[Turbo]

OK so i got the game a few hours ago, but the guals seem outright impossible to beat, anyway to kick their butts quickly (short campaign, medium/medium difficulty)?

The rediculous part is the guals are 1 mighty and united faction, no devide and conquer tactics, and when i asked them to attack germania all they did was..... well they didn't do anything so eh.. diplomacy was kinda crap. Invading them is also almost suicide.

I also have financial problems, and the senate just keep massing up their armies near Rome doing nothing, or helping the rival families, while i go in debt trying to hold the frontier against large barbarian hordes.

I am playing on Hard and each of the factions have tough going early on until the army reforms kick in. I recently played the Julei, and they definately are more challenging. Early on, I took out the two Gaul cities in northern Italy and a city in Croatia. The Gauls counter-attacked with 2 armies. I moved out to meet them with a 1200 army and taking the initiative, I attacked. The Gauls had huge armies composed of swordsmen, warband, and barbarian horse (!!) that outclassed anything I could field. Thinking I could still win as I outnumbered their leader by 4 stars, I moved to defeat them in detail. Wrong, they rolled over my army, recaptured both cities. They then moved south on my capital and split forces. Great, I thought, I can defeat them in detail. I moved my top general with a large army containing Hast. Velites, and a few mercs. I was even encouraged by the appearance of a Senate army that was available as reinforcements. Together with the Senate, we outnumbered them 3 to 1. The obvious plan was to link up with the Senate forces but the Gauls skillfully used cavalry charges that forced me to make a stand. I still outnumbered the Gauls and still had that 4 star edge. While I was able to counter the Gaul horse, their infantry decimated mine, and they steamrolled over me. Undettered, I rallied my forces and linked with the Senate forces. In the ensuing battle, the Senate forces was badly beaten. I lost my capital and restarted the campaign.

In retrospect, the Gauls are stronger militarily than the Romans until the reforms kick in. Higher difficulty levels amplify that advantage. A safer approach would have been to expand elsewhere and wait for the reforms to kick in before taking them on.

[Blodrast]

nice feedback, everyone. I'll throw my 2 cents in, although I'm pretty far from finishing a campaign yet.

I also think that one should rush Mediolanium and Patavium. Otherwise, later on, it becomes quite difficult to keep up with the huge amount of armies the Gauls pump up. But once those are gone, you'll have a much easier time.
I believe a good way to do this is by using a single general. Btw, have you noticed that generals gain vnv's much much faster than in MTW ? After a few battles, mine had gotten Legendary Commander (+5 Command), Good Attacker/Defender, etc. It only took a few battles, and I got a jedi with 9 stars (but exceeds 10 in actual battles, because of +2 when attacking/defending, +1 vs barbarians, etc).
On the same note, it also seems that units are gaining experience a lot easier and faster. My vets have all at least 2 silver chevrons, and some have 2 gold ones.
Apparently, exp is not computed on a kill-number basis anymore, but I don't know how it _is_ computed. I've had units gain xp in battles with very very few casualties...Any insight on this ?

I've also had serious financial difficulties in the beginning. (playing hard/hard).
This is another reason why I think one should get the 2 cities fast, otherwise there simply isn't enough to go around by, and you can barely survive. The main difference from MTW is that now your towns cannot expand until they reach the population limits, which they take a long time to do in the beginning (no money, can't upgrade them, the population increases slowly, hence you can't increase your income, etc).
I guess you can only hope for missions with financial rewards from the Senate.

[Leet Eriksson]

Finally managed to get both towns and also managed to get Massilia or whatever the guals can hardly make any armies so i'm kinda tanking the region, managed to beat a combined gual army of 1120 men with my 760 hastati + equites army, their general died at the first impact of the cavalry charge wich helped a whole load.

I think i'm getting the hold of the campaign now... thanks to you guys ~D ~:wave:

[Blodrast]

nice going, faisal.
One note: since units gain exp much much faster, and general gets loads of VnV's much easier, it's really easy to get uber units relatively fast. I'm also basically steamrolling now, having heroic victories and such and with very few unit losses...