Too easy? Try Numidia...

[Red Harvest]

You haven't felt pain until you've tried Numidia on very hard/very hard. You might get more money on other settings...I haven't tried them. Numidia makes Spain's starting position look strong. With Numidia you start with no roads, long marches, no money making buildings to speak of, and very little capacity to build troops (not that you could afford any.) You are looking at being lucky to break even money-wise the first few turns, and probably going negative for several turns. After playing them you really wonder why they will never ally and stay allied to Carthage...they need trade with their neighbor, not war.

Numidia is in a race to capture Lepcis Magna before Carthage. Of course, it will become a magnet for Scipii attacks later, so perhaps it is not a good idea. You really need Lepcis and Nepte to make any money though, Catch-22.

The Egyptians are the wolf at Numidia's door. Siwa is utterly untenable. Egypt will send a full stack at the Siwa garrison, your best army. I march out of Siwa to take Cyrene, and leave a unit or two behind, then let Siwa go into revolt just before the Egyptians arrive. Saves me a war (I demolish a few structures for money on the final turn.) The Egyptians will not accept it as a gift.

I build ports and traders ASAP, and only buy merc cav or build units when I must to start feeding missile cav to Lepcis and Cyrene.

I ally with Spain and Gaul and Carthage when I can. Egypt rarely accepts, or attacks anyway. Spain eventually starts landing little armies in Tingi. When it lands enough, it attacks. I usually watch the boats, and hit the turn before it has enough for the job. With allies like these...

Just about the time I get the rebel provinces, build some structures and get some money coming in (actually quite a bit for Numidia, about 2,000 denarii a turn)...but before I can build/buy any full size armies...the Scipii attack Lepcis Magna, and the Egyptians hit Cyrene, while the Spanish hit Tingi. The first Roman armies are easily beaten despite their numerical superiority, but the 3rd is a full stack and I can't crack it with 1/3rd stack of very light troups. The Egyptians usually are a full stack...with chariots, archers, cav, and spearmen--an ideal army to counter Numidia's light javelin cavalry. Rarely I get to whip a "small" Egyptian army that only outnumbers me by less than 2:1.

[Tamur]

Hehehe... I had suspected this Red, but I hadn't been gutsy enough to try it. And the fact that you're saying this makes it even worse! I think I might stay well away for a bit.

[DisruptorX]

Spain is much harder than Numidia. Numidia is easy, the only country near you is carthage, the weakest AI faction in the game. With Spain, you start off near gaul, who outnumber you and have better troops. I'm having trouble with Spain on easy! Numidia I played normally, and didn't have any real major problems.

Just don't build any troops the first couple of turns, except where vital, and build trade related buildings.

[Red Harvest]

Spain is much harder than Numidia. Numidia is easy, the only country near you is carthage, the weakest AI faction in the game. With Spain, you start off near gaul, who outnumber you and have better troops. I'm having trouble with Spain on easy! Numidia I played normally, and didn't have any real major problems.

Just don't build any troops the first couple of turns, except where vital, and build trade related buildings.

Was that on very hard/very hard? Spain was difficult, but once you figure out how to handle the Scipii while building your economy, you have it made. With Spain I didn't go negative every time on the 2nd or 3rd turn while waiting for economic buildings to be completed. I have to capture two provinces quickly just to get some cash in the coffers. And with Spain I wasn't attacked by Gaul at the start, where Egypt always does so because it wants Siwa--the only province I have capable of building archers. With Numidia, Scipii and Egypt always attack me on almost the same turn. I've tried at least 7 different strategies now, and every time Egypt delivers the blow that destroys any chance of winning or having any money. Lose one province and the finances go negative and stay that way.

Spain was easier. I had to figure out how to deal with the Julii (they were the wildcard), then killed off Cordoba, then cleared out the Gaul in Numantia. After that I could face the Gaul armies with good full stacks at my own pace. Fighting the Gauls is easier than fighting the Egpytians.

I'm probably going to drop down to hard/hard to see if that is enough to pull it off.

[Oleander Ardens]

Started yesterday a Numidian campaign after your description;

The finance situation and the devellopment of your city is, well not so amusing. I however made a different approach.

Thought about my Experiences with Controlling and started to:

A) radically reduce my spending, to get a positive bilance and the possibility of further investments. After having fixed the target to transform Numidia in a well-working robust economy I got to work.

So I dismissed in turn one so many units that I had only to pay around 2000 denarii a year instead of almost 3000, bolstering also the population in some very smallsized citys, getting a boost to taxes. Obviously you have to check if public order how strongly public order is affected, and how high you tax income was determined by it, but with a now better RTW experience all work perfectly out.

To assure longterm effects I invested:

B) Builded up the infrastructure with first ports, than streets and than markets. With many firmed trade agreements I making after ten years 2200 denarii in Tignis with a simple port and 2 tier streets and markets.

More to come soon: