Expeditionary campaigns: molding the rest of the world

[Marquis of Roland]

Playing as Brutii right now I have taken Greece and now have lots and lots of cash, and almost no one to attack. Why? Because I've been tired of fighting Egyptians late in the game so I decided to start saving the seleucids so that I can fight a more interesting unit roster later in the game. While they were making a gallant effort against 5 factions at once, they were still losing provinces.

So I decide to send an expeditionary army to the middle east to help them. I took Cyprus as a base of operations and from there took out as many large stacks of Egyptians, Armenians, Parthians, Pontics, and Greeks as I could. In five years of campaigning the Egyptians were pushed back into Egypt proper, Greeks were destroyed at Pergamum, Armenians, Pontics, and Parthians held off, and Seleucids hold pretty much all of the middle east and most of Asia Minor. Mission Accomplished, I will be expecting to fight a strong faction with good units after the reforms take place.

The campaign was so successful that I am now doing the same thing for Carthage and Germania. Fighting the Germans when teched out must be more fun than fighting the same old gauls for hundreds of years. So now through these expeditionary campaigns I am controlling which factions will be the final contenders in the end.

Send out your expeditionary armies! You CAN play better factions in the end, and not have to deal with an extremely annoying egyptian factoin later on......

[The Stranger]

sounds like a total peacekeepers version to me

[bubbanator]

I like the idea. I am going to try something like that.

I would really like to see Carthage become the power that it was. I would like to be Roman so I can get to Spain and Africa. I would have to get an alliance to ensure that the Scipii don't wipe them out. I would have to take the Greek province in Sicily so that I could give it to Carthage so that they could kick the Scipii out.

Then there is the problem of Spain and Africa

[Muska Burnt]

ya i usualy do that but without armies i just give out loads of money like in my briton campaign i have been giveing them money but they where doing fine without me before i gave them tribute they killed greece and macedon so they actualy have some good land its kinda wierd

[bEDEVERE]

This is a good idea. As the germans I wound up expanding so fast I couldn't support my empire and was in negative cash flow real fast. I ended up knocking the various roman factions out of the Italian mainland just to keep them off my back. I got to the point where I was purposely letting cities revolt so I could pillage them a few times. I got very frustrated and spent 12 years reorganizing before I was back in the positive cash flow again.

Doing what you suggested might have worked better if I had encouraged a strong neighbor who was against my enemies.

[Marquis of Roland]

sounds like a total peacekeepers version to me

Well, as "peacekeeper" I've fought with more larger and better armies than I have ever fought had I not gone on any expeditionary campaigns. I also fought a wider variety of opponents than if I had just stayed where I was. Another positive: I don't lay siege to any cities while on expedition, I just destroy standing armies and let my allies mop up the cities. Therefore I don't lose too many men sieging cities, and my men are building up tremendous amounts of experience from all the fighting (and my generals are gaining stars very, very quickly) which will come in quite handy when all the factions I "saved" really start rolling their military AND when the Roman civil war comes along.

So "peacekeeping" is a lot of fun ~:cheers:

And I forgot to mention: this kind of strategy only works if you're a VERY rich faction, so I wouldn't suggest it with say, Germans (unless you cheat, of course).

Bribing is all good, but its more fun to fight :duel:

[Lancome]

I guess thats not a bad Idea in sending peace keeping forces. Too bad I didnt think of it when the Egyptians were smashing the Selucids.

[Azi Tohak]

Now THAT is a good idea. I never thought of it before. I think I'll have to try it, when I get back to playing some RTR (after 7-22 he he).

My only question is, with only one province as a base, how well can you resupply? I play well against the AI, but I do sometimes have a battle that is more costly than I wanted and I need to reinforce/resupply. Holding Cyprus probably works great...until your army is in Petra...

Azi

[professorspatula]

I often do a similiar thing myself. I send in a diplomat, a general and an army to a struggling ally or nation I want to help. I use the diplomat to forge an alliance, and also to gain military access (perhaps even bribe an enemy army too). I then have my general and his army build a fort outside of my new ally's most endangered settlements, recruiting any mercs in the vacinity to boost his strength. Then when my new ally's settlement is attacked, my army can come to their aid. Sometimes, however, the ally is sneaky. He'll send a single peasant or weak unit out of the settlement to attack a large enemy army which is adjacent to my fort, so that I am forced to fight the battle with virtually no help. If my army is strong enough, I'll then have them leave the fort and try and help my friend take on enemy armies and settlements further afield.

I had great fun in my Seleucid campaign trying to save the Gauls from the Julii with just a small mercenary army. My barbarian mercenaries struggled to hold back the far superior Romans, having to retreat to forts time and time again until I could send in a stronger army to back them up.

Propping up a weaker nation, or several, using your own army is definitely something everyone should try. It adds an extra layer of strategy and challenges. And if you don't have a settlement adjacent to your new 'friend' then they are incredibly unlikely to break the alliance. It's a struggle to save Carthage and Seleucid from the start though if you aren't in close promiximity to them. In my Numidian campaign, I fought alongside Carthage at every opportunity, but in the end, they were too stupid to hold on to their settlements so I took them anyway.

[Lancome]

Cyprus can't the only island that could be useful against the egg heads. There is also Rhodes and Crete, But I guess he chose Cyprus because its the nearest island from which he could reinforce from.

[pezhetairoi]

And it's pretty nicely developed. I like this idea! It's something like my sending individual generals into enemy territory on recruitment runs, but I never thought about expanding it to something on a grander scale. It also gives me something to do in my Brutii campaign while I halt empire expansion to await the Marian reforms.

[Marquis of Roland]

Just remember to take a local city as a base of operations, the larger the better (that way you can reinforce your best troops). After your ally is stable enough you can give the city back to them as a gift.

Cyprus was an excellent base against the egyptians. Since the front lines (in the egyptian-seleucid war) are located Sidon/Jerusalem/Damascus area, you won't have to go far to retrain. I moved my capital from Tarentum to Athens to boost public order.

[PseRamesses]

Passing stage 1, the initial build up phase, of the game I´m usually very wealthy making some +10-30k/ turn net. And when confronted with a war outside my current sphere of interest I´m using agents like hell. Spies for recon and intel, diplos for bribes and many assasins to kill family members. My main goal is to reduce opposing factions line, bribe settlements - stripping them of infastructure and give it to an ally or used as leverage in a swift peacedeal with the aggresive counterpart. Usually my treasury is floating around 50k to keep my govs for picking up bad traits and reduce corruption BUT I also have full building roosters so in need I can swiftly free up some 50-100k more. Additional surplus cash is given to friends in need, usually Germans, Numidians and Seleucids. This way I´m only fighting the wars I like and have planned for while keeping other aggressors off with a strong fleet and expert diplomats with a purse full of gold. I can actually shape the whole game in any way I want it to progress this way. It´s a bit Machiavellian but hey, that´s just me! ~;)

[pezhetairoi]

Uh-huh, that's me too, though I draw the line at assassins--I prefer bribing them to join me, no point wasting a perfectly good factioner :-D I'm about to unleash this multi-phase treatment onto Egypt as the Brutii...